Tarnished (Elden Ring x Male Reader)

Varre

A/N: We're just going to skip the Cave of Knowledge. Let's be honest, it's boring writing about a tutorial area unless it's REALLY prevalent to the story. In this case, it is not.

After waking up and discovering the Flask of Crimson Tears and the Flask of Cerulean Tears were planted on his person, the man explored the cave he woke up in. He talked to phantom, jumped down a hole, killed some aggressive peasants, collected some resources/materials, killed a Solider of Godrick, and then looped back to where he woke up. Besides gaining some runes, the man thought the cave was pointless. So, he proceeded onward towards a stone gateway.

After opening some doors under the gateway, the man continued on. He walked only a few feet before walking into a new room. The room was that of stone, which was lit up by white flamed torches, littered with bones and stone coffins and also held a Site of Grace in the middle of it all.

The man touched the Site of Grace briefly, the Grace lighting up in response, before looking at a wall of fog with a statue of two gremlins stacked upon each other to the side of it. The man recognized what this was. It was a gateway that led to another area of the cave/tomb. In order to get passed the fog, a stone key was needed to be inserted into one of the heads of the gremlins. However, the man didn't have said key on his person. So, he pressed on, hopefully to the exit of this place.

He didn't need to walk far. Just up some steps outside of the room was a stone lift. Without much thought, the man stepped on the lift's pressure plate and the lift took him up. At the top, the lift stopped in front of some more steps, which themselves led to a metal door. The man stepped off of the lift and proceeded up the path to the door. When he reached it, he had to lift the door instead of pushing it. What greeted him was the light of the outside world.

Man: Finally.

He spoke with a sigh, clearly having enough with being underground. Outside, the man could see the Erdtree in the distance, the castle he noticed when he was at the chapel, a church a little ways from his position, and just the sprawling landscape before him. The man had found himself in Limgrave.

He walked forward to discover both a Site of Grace and someone in bloody attire in a white mask standing some feet away from the Grace. The man touched the Grace before moving forward to the unknown man.

Unknown Man: Oh, yes... Tarnished, are we? Come to the Lands Between for the Elden Ring, hmm?

The man stayed silent.

Unknown Man: Of course you have. No shame in it. Unfortunately for you, however, you are maidenless.

A/N: I know you all want to say it... So go ahead, you maidenless runts.

Unknown Man: Without guidance, without the strength of runes, and without an invitation to the Roundtable Hold... You are fated, it seems, to die in obscurity.

The man's grip on his sword tightened.

Man: 'I want to stab him.'

Before the man's thoughts could become reality, the Unkown Man continued.

Unknown Man: Luckily for you, however, there is one shining ray of hope for even the maidenless.

Varre: Me. Varre. Take care to listen. Are you familiar with grace? The golden light that gives life to you Tarnished. You may also behold its golden rays pointing in a particular direction at times. That is the guidance of grace. The path that a Tarnished must travel.

The man remains silent, a dead look could only be presumed to be what his face was making behind his helm at the moment.

Varre: Mm, indeed. Grace's guidance holds the answers. It will lead you Tarnished to the path you are meant to follow.

His voice lowered a bit.

Varre: Even if it leads you to your grave.

He shook his head before resuming himself.

Varre: Grace's guidance will reveal the path forward, most certainly. To Castle Stormveil, over on the cliff. The home to the decrepit demigod, Godrick the Grafted.

The man looked over Varre's shoulder to the castle. His assumptions on going there were right after all. He then left Varre without a word, setting off to follow the grace to the church not too far away.

Varre: Be seeing you...

The man either didn't hear him or didn't care.

A/N: I was going to keep on writing up until we meet Melina, but I'm tired and just mentally drained as of late. Thank Elden Ring for that. Anyways, thank you all for reading and for 1K reads! You are amazing. Now, "Away! Away!"