"My Host... I sense the presence of kin..."
The Tarnished, who had been preparing to head west, was suddenly stopped by Asimi's voice within him. Unable to contain her restlessness, Asimi manifested herself, emerging from his body.
"Look, Host..." Asimi guided his gaze down toward the depths of a town nestled below the cliffs. There, two tall, feminine humanoid figures stood quietly—Nox people, as Asimi explained.
"It seems this is Sellia... the people here are descendants of the Nox." Sellia served as a surface outpost for the survivors of the Eternal City. In the past, they had deeply revered Master Lusat. However, after Lusat was exiled from the Academy, the people of Sellia also broke away from Raya Lucaria to return to their roots.
They continued to refine their elusive and unrecognizable sorceries—Night Sorceries. Leveraging the stealthy nature of these spells, they became renowned assassins. As for Lusat... his ultimate whereabouts remained a mystery.
While Sellia's Night Sorcery focused primarily on fundamental spells like Night Shard and Night Comet, their unpredictable and swift nature bore a striking resemblance to Lusat's "Stars of Ruin." This was likely why the residents had followed him so fervently in the past.
The cliff where the Tarnished stood was quite high, but obstacles are merely excuses for the uninspired. He gave Asimi a slight nod, signaling for her to watch and learn.
Under Asimi's puzzled gaze, a massive tail manifested behind the Tarnished. The Aspect of the Crucible: Tail extended to its maximum length, anchoring itself into the mountainside halfway down. He swung from the anchor point like a pendulum and then leapt the rest of the way. He landed with a thundering thud, the rising dust obscuring the vision of the two Nox sentries.
"What?! Who goes there?!" The Nox duo was startled by the sudden intrusion. Before they could react, another heavy thud echoed behind them.
"As expected of my Host... I have learned much," said the newcomer. It was Asimi, having mimicked the Tarnished's descent. However, instead of a tail, she had relied on her own fluid, liquid nature to absorb the impact.
"A Silver Tear?! How can one be here... and one so highly evolved?" One of the Nox Swordstresses gripped her flowing blade, her voice trembling.
"It seems they didn't expect your evolution," the Tarnished said, stepping out of the dust. From his perspective, the two Nox women were visibly shaken. Was it fear of death, or something else?
"The reference body for the Silver Tear..." The Nox Priestess stared grimly at the Tarnished. This Tear had mimicked this man's form; for a Tear to reach such a state of autonomy, the original "host" could be no ordinary mortal.
"You needn't worry. My friend here simply said there were kin nearby and wished to catch up," the Tarnished said, showing no intent to attack.
"Nox people... my creators... people of my home. Let us speak... regarding my mission." Asimi reverted to her original silver form, hoping to calm them for a proper conversation.
The two Nox sentries exchanged a look and felt a wave of relief. The power gap was too vast; if these two truly wanted them dead, there would be no need for such civility.
"What is it you wish to ask?" the Swordstress began. "A Silver Tear with such wisdom is far beyond us... I do not think we have anything to teach you."
Asimi remained calm and spoke softly. "The duty of a Lord of Night... what exactly is it? For the Nox, what kind of King is a 'Good King'?"
Though the ambition to become a Lord was etched into her very soul, Asimi's understanding of the Nox was limited to what had been programmed into her. Since talking with the Tarnished, she had begun to think deeper. She did not want to be a mere "slayer" wielded by a god; she wanted to be a guide who could lead the Nox back to glory.
"The King we need... heh, I wonder," the Nox Priestess sighed bitterly. Were they not also tragic creatures? Long ago, they had craved eternal splendor, even attempting to shroud the radiant Sun with a pitch-black Dark Moon.
After that, everything changed. Their glory was not extended; it was annihilated in an instant. Even the Dark Moon they worshipped was shattered. Since then, they had tried to create Kings, create Gods, and even plotted to slay the Greater Will itself.
But every attempt ended in failure. The Silver Tears, despite their potential, were mostly mindless mimics driven by instinct. Their "gods" were not eternal; some died before they even took the throne. As for killing the Greater Will... the Nox had never even seen its true form. How could they kill it? However, not all was in vain. Their "God-Slaying" weapon was a success in theory, for it was a blasphemous object reverse-engineered from the corpse of a dead god.
Even if it couldn't kill the Greater Will, it could sever its "arms" and shatter its divinity. But alas, that weapon could only be wielded by a "Destined One." Only a god has the chance to kill a god. Their "God-Making" project failed, so the weapon remained a mere relic.
"...So even you do not know what the Nox truly seek?" Asimi wasn't discouraged. she knew this path wouldn't be found in a day.
"Sigh... what can we seek? We only wish to see that flawless Moon once more. Just as the Golden people now struggle to mend the Elden Ring, we only wished for our Age to endure. But..." The root of their woe was the attempt to eclipse the Sun. That act drew the direct fury of the Greater Will.
The world never truly understood the history of the Nox. They only knew the Nox had angered the Greater Will, and the rumors of a God-Slaying weapon led many to believe the weapon was the cause of the wrath.
But that wasn't the truth. At that time, the Greater Will required the Sun... for that was when its "Battle Royale" game for the Lands Between truly began. The Nox were merely a minor, insignificant interlude. The Sun is inextricably linked to the origin of life; the Greater Will would not permit the Moon's transgression.
Asimi fell silent. When she looked up to speak to the Tarnished, she found he had already wandered into the building behind the Nox women.
"I smell something good," he said with a hint of excitement as he opened a chest. Inside was a staff tipped with a blue, spherical gemstone that seemed to contain a swirling cluster of meteors—the Lusat's Glintstone Staff.
"Tarnished... put that weapon down. That thing... is not suited for you," the Nox Swordstress warned. They weren't trying to stop him—they knew they couldn't, and they didn't want to die for a stick.
"You think I'm not good enough for it?"
"No... no. We don't mean that. It's just..." The Swordstress flinched. "That is the staff of Master Lusat, the Primeval Sorcerer exiled by the Academy. The 'Primeval Current' is not something a normal person can touch. One wrong step, and you will turn into an entity that looks like a Star-Seed but is, in reality, worlds apart."
As researchers of the stars, the Nox knew exactly what the "Primeval" was. Though their pursuit of the stars differed from modern glintstone sorcery, they had seen the two Masters who had turned into semi-inorganic husks. To the Nox, that wasn't a true "Origin," but a wrong turn. To explore the stars, one must remain human, as the life within the stars is antithetical to becoming a static, inorganic object.
"Well, I'm not much for staves anyway... I'd probably just end up clubbing people with it," the Tarnished said, hefting the staff. The balance felt weird. He casually tossed it to Asimi.
"Give it to her. Think of it as an investment in your future King."
"Ah... haha. You have a... unique sense of humor," the Swordstress muttered, speechless. She couldn't argue with his strength, and he was technically right—it was an investment in Asimi. Both Nox women saw a flicker of hope in the Silver Tear.
"The Eternal Lord of Night... will we ever see the tranquility of the night again?" People said the Greater Will didn't care what Order ruled, but in reality, whether it was Gold or the defeated Death, wasn't every era pushed along by its hidden hand? It didn't "care" only because nothing had ever escaped its control. Even mending the Ring now was just patching a broken system within its constraints.
But the Night? The Night existed outside the Greater Will's chessboard. It was not accepted. Why would it allow the world to regress to something it had already moved past? That would be boring.
"I actually quite like the stars and the night. At the very least, humans need to sleep, and the night is the best environment for that," the Tarnished said, stretching. Mentioning night made him realize how long it had been since he'd actually slept.
As his body recovered its former power, sleep wasn't a biological necessity, but still... life shouldn't betray the three great desires: sleep, appetite, and... the procreative urge.
"My Host... are you looking for a mate?" Asimi's thought drifted into the Tarnished's mind.
"I'm in no rush," he thought back. He had been a bachelor for... well, it wasn't that he lacked suitors, he just never had the time.
"Ahem. Since you are treading the path of the Lord of Night, you must eventually return to our home... Please, seek the counsel of our people there. I believe you will understand then." Even though Asimi was still "just a Tear," the two Nox women had already begun to use the deferential tone of subjects.
"I understand." Asimi returned to her host, and the Tarnished prepared to leave. The two Nox sentries called out a final warning:
"This town is choked by Scarlet Rot and holds no living souls, but many spirits still haunt these streets. Please, escort the Tear safely to the Eternal City."
"Understood," the Tarnished replied, looking back. He had already planned to go to the Eternal City; fulfilling their request was just a natural progression.
Leaving the courtyard, the Tarnished officially entered the once-branch of the Nox: Sellia, Town of Sorcery.
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