Onyx shifted his weight, the greatsword placed across his shoulders slid aside and turned upside down with a grunt, its many points stabbing into the stone of Castle's Morne's front walls. He'd stop to both take a breath and assuage his curiosity, the man gazing down at the fallen giant soldier just beyond the fortifications' steps.
First, he attempted to speak with the misbegotten. Showed little remorse or regret in killing them once that failed, managing to reunite Irina with her father against all odds. Then rejects lending serious aid to knights, denoting the Golden Order as slavers in the process. But in the next breath he played a decisive role in taking down the strongest misbegotten in the area.
After all that Melina still struggled to find a throughline. A reason, a principal dictating what he did and didn't do. Everyone held something close to their heart. A truth that determined their way of life.
Odd as he was, Onyx should be no exception.
A familiar weight settled upon her as she stepped forward.
"How's it going, Cyclops?" Onyx questioned as she just barely began to appear on the side of the wall opposite to him, overlooking the mass gathering of corpses in the courtyard. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this giant, would you?"
"If you truly believe that the misbegotten were justified in the indiscriminate slaughter they carried out here-" She began without looking back, his question ignored. "-why did you continue to lend aid to those responsible for their suffering?"
No matter how she framed it, it made little sense to her. He'd grown familiar with Irina, but they'd still know each other for a short time. She was hardly reason enough to be the sole driving force behind Onyx's actions.
"Justified, huh?" He muttered. A grunt followed and a moment later he was stepping up beside her, the Grafted Blade hefted across his shoulder. "When I first woke up here, I cut down an entire group of demihumans for clothes and a place to sleep. Was that justified? I've killed plenty of knights when I could've run. Was any of that justified? I attacked you to confirm a little belief of mine. Was that justified?"
She failed to see the point in anything he was asking. All of that paled in comparison to the literal mountain of victims that sat before them.
"Everything I do will be justified to me just as anything another does will be justified to them." He said with a shrug. There was truth in those words. A certain wisdom that the average warrior might only gain after surviving decades of battle.
But it didn't answer her question.
"It's a shame how many people were killed here." He continued, looking down at the bodies alongside her. "It's also a shame that the misbegotten were no more than slaves before this, but Irina's my friend and I wanted to make sure she got back to her father. I'm not going to let someone's else bad circumstances or some arbitrary sense of mortality dictate what I do and don't do."
Bad circumstances? She supposed that was one way to describe the events that transpired here.
While it sounded as though he saw the deaths that took place here as a bad thing just as most would, the way he worded certain things made him difficult to understand. An arbitrary sense of morality? Was that it? He wasn't guided by any set of beliefs, only selfishly doing as he pleased no matter what those whims demanded of him?
Could someone live like that?
Her gaze rose from the bodies to one of the misbegotten kneeling beside them, hands clasped in prayer. She couldn't imagine things would've turned out any better if people lived that way. Such a way of life, without principles and rules, made conflict inevitable, did it not?
"I'm not really in a position to say much to you but do you want some advice? From one friend to another?" Melina glanced his way. Onyx was still gazing down at the courtyard, shoulders haggard by the giant weapon he was now burdened with. How was it he was able to stick that label on someone he didn't even know the name of nor anything else for that matter was another thing beyond her understanding.
"Yes." She answered nevertheless, gaze turned downwards once more. Perhaps whatever he had to say would further her understanding of him.
"Justifications, morals, beliefs, they're all great to have, everyone does, but a life spent obsessing over them is bound to be one full of regrets." He said. "Try to kick back for once and enjoy the moment. You might actually be able to smile if you do."
Melina closed her eye as strong winds blew past them. So that's truly all there was to him? He focus on the moment as he put it and cared little about planning for the future or adhering to more traditional ways of life. "I believe I understand."
"Tsk, see that's what I mean." Unexpected weight fell on her head, her hair pushed about. She opened an eye and was met with an even more confusing sight. "If you take everything so seriously, you won't have time to enjoy much, you know?" He said, while ruffling her hair about.
Melina blinked.
What was he doing and why?
Torrent appeared behind them with a neigh, shaking his head about. "Yeah, I don't think she gets it either, buddy." Onyx agreed, the two of them apparently sharing some sentiment she wasn't privy to. He suddenly snatched his hand back, repositioning it, his balance almost lost beneath the great sword's weight. "Want to help me carry this thing?"
Torrent neighed again, trotting off as blue mist gathered along his body. "Wait, don't just disappear on me, you bastard." Onyx called out, attempting to follow after him.
She reached up, straightening her hair out somewhat, though found her hand lingering in the spot his hand had been. There was something…familiar about the strange gesture.
XOXO
"~Soon may the kellion come, to save our souls and take us home. One day, when the fixing is done, we'll take our leave and go~"
Melina took a small bite of the skewer Onyx had offered to her, listening to one of the varied tunes he tended to hum to himself. He, she, and Torrent all sat on one side of a campfire, the crackling flame and the rays from the Erdtree illuminating the darkened patch of dirt he'd set up on for the night. He hadn't made it far from Castle Morne, not due to his new sword, Torrent helping to ease the load by carrying it for him, but due to his in dept examination of the giant soldier.
It'd given her plenty of time to think.
There were many strange things about Onyx, his extreme combat prowess and senses chief among them, but at his core he was a simple man who followed his whims. Whims that included helping strangers, conversation with even those who would attempt to harm him, and exploring anything foreign.
They might lead him to conflict and he got more than a little joy out of battle but not once did any of those whims call for pointlessly harming another as so many did in these uncertain times.
He may have dubbed morality an arbitrary thing but she was certain a sense of right and wrong played some part in his decisions.
"Onyx." Melina said, digging the base of her skewer beside the fire then turning to him. "Torrent has had your measure from the beginning whereas I was not so easily convinced. I have watched your battles, your actions, and have decided to propose an…accord."
Onyx raised a brow, his own skewer lowered. "An accord?"
"Have you heard of the Finger Maidens?" Seeing his curious stare she elaborated. "They serve the Two Fingers, offering guidance and aid to the tarnished. But you, I am afraid, are maidenless." Of course, for all the information he'd gleamed from those around him, he wasn't completely aware of all that entailed, unbothered by the distinct disadvantage she pointed out. "I can play the role of maiden, turning runes to strength. You need only take me with you. To the foot of the Erdtree."
"Runes? You mean the great runes Kalé talked about?"
"A demonstration then." Melina said, a hand raised from beneath her cloak. "Your hand." He did as she requested, Melina taking his bigger outstretched hand into hers and closing her eye. "Share them with me. Your thoughts. Your ambitions. The principals you would follow."
She'd gathered many runes, miniscule fragments of the Elden Ring scattered all across the Lands Between due to the shattering, during her prolonged observation of Onyx, in no small part thanks to all the hostility aimed his way.
With those ruins, accelerating the growth of his strength would be a simple matter.
A soft golden glow beat back the darkness of her closed eyes and she opened one.
Her brow furrowed.
Gone was the darkness of the night. Gone were the wilds that'd been around them. Gone were Torrent and Onyx. Even the Erdtree and its light was nowhere to be found.
Grass, bushes, and the occasional tall tree, all bearing a distinct shade of blue to their leaves stretched out all around her. Birds, butterflies, rabbits, wolves, and countless other animals populated the expansive oddly colored wild, all freely running about alongside each other.
A fish raced past her cheek as Melina rose from her kneel, her gaze turning upwards.
The coloring of the vegetation was hardly the strangest thing. The rays of light illuminating the place were fractured and schools of fish swam about as though she were underwater. And, despite breathing just fine and her clothes being dry, there was shifts and shimmers around her movements as though she were displacing water. The same went for all others, bubbles even rising up from random positions.
Melina looked about, the endless scene the same no matter which way she turned. Just where was she?
"I didn't expect this."
Melina raised a hand to the handle of her dagger as she leaped away with a twist, turning to face the sudden unfamiliar voice.
A figure, dressed in a full suit of metal armor colored a mix of blue and black towered over all else. Ten, no, twelve feet? She couldn't be sure but even some of unusual trees struggled to reach the same height as the armored figured. Their sword, secured in a metal sheath at the their hip, easily dwarfed her and the dagger she was pulling out several times over.
She landed.
In the exact spot she leaped from, not moving so much as an inch away from the towering figure.
Should she attack? Melina clenched the handle of her dagger and-
"Calm down, Cyclops."
XOXO
I'd say with this were a good distance through what I still consider the opening/set of this story. We've still got a few chapters before some big appearances happen though, especially if conversations end up this drawn out. Didn't expect Melina and her thoughts to make up nearly a whole chapter.