Elden Ring: Putrefaction of Gold

The Blackest of Knives

 "Godwyn? Godwyn!"

Godwyn was slumped over in a chair on his balcony, with a tipped-over bottle of wine next to him. From what Tiche last heard, he ordered several bottles over the last several days before his mother cut him off. Though, by then, he had amassed an impressive stash of drink to keep him intoxicated for days.

Tiche looked back at Fortissax who gave a shrug of his dragon shoulders. He then nudged Godwyn with his nose hard enough to knock the demigod from his seat.

Godwyn entered a fury, swinging his arms and wailing like a madman. He shouted orders to an invisible army as his unsteady feet gave out and threw him back to the ground before Fortissax pushed him to the ground and pinned him with one claw.

"Godwyn, its us!" exclaimed Tiche.

The fog of battle faded from Godwyn, and he was again aware that he was in Lyndell. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes from both tears and drink.

"I..."

"Don't talk," said Tiche.

"What are you doing here?"

"Worried, obviously."

"Ranni?"

"She's become her mother. Her mind is too broken to even look at the world. So, she's retreated to her own," said Fortissax.

"I need to see her," said Godwyn.

"What thinketh thou canst do for her? Right now thy feet don't even work," said Fortissax.

"Come on," said Tiche, putting his arm around her shoulder to steady him. He leaned hard against her as she led him to where the servants prepared a hot bath.

Godwyn did smell of death.

As a child, Tiche watched from her hiding place among the trees outside the Woodfolk Village. The inhabitants complained about the stench and how it made them sick. They spent the day searching for the little hovel Alecto told her to stay in, determined to wipe it from their presence. Some even stated that the scent was evidence of Marika's failure to remove death from the world.

They were not wrong.

What many did not know—or even consider—was the limits of Marika's power. Death was never destroyed. Taken and sealed away, sure, and even indefinitely. Perhaps Marika would have people consider that "destroyed," but it was far from it. And day by day, Alecto dreamed of a time when she could have it again to exact her justice against Marika for tricking her.

But as others feared it, for Tiche, the smell was something of a comfort. It meant her mother returned, and the little girl knew she was safe again.

"This is my fault," said Godwyn.

"How is this your fault?" Tiche asked as she wiped her hand over Godwyn's shoulders.

"We have all grew up terrified of him," said Godwyn.

"Maliketh?"

"I shouldn't have left her alone with him."

"Mother used to tell stories about Marika's shadow-bound beast and half-brother. How he could destroy demigods," said Tiche. "But your children are alive and hidden away now. I don't see your mother or anyone else letting them be discovered. Not by him."

"I have nightmares about it. Every day, I wake up with dreams of maggots crawling under my skin and thorns tearing out of my body," said Godwyn.

"Shhh. Enough of this," said Tiche.

Once Godwyn was cleaned as good as he could without Tiche getting too intimate, she helped him to his bed to dress him.

As Tiche was combing out his long, golden hair, Godwyn began to sob. She laid her head down on his shoulder. Without knowing why, a single tear rolled down her cheek.