//------------------------------//
// Back to the Lake 
// Story: Elden Ring: The Deaths of Tirek 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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As they left the gaol that Darriwil had been imprisoned in, heading back towards the lake, Tirek told Blaidd about what had happened to him the first time he visited the area in question, about how the dragon crushed the Hollows that had been at the bonfire and pulled a clever move to end him.

"Dragons are known to be crafty, not to mention adaptable." Blaidd said, as if he was speaking from experience, likely due to a foe he had faced at some point in the past, though as he said that Tirek wrapped up his visit to the Grace he had stopped at, empowering himself with the Runes he got from Darriwil, before he glanced down at their target, "I know of one that has adapted to the Rot of Caelid and has become far more dangerous as a result."

"That's the corrupted land to the east, right?" Tirek inquired, because he hadn't found a map detailing the foul section of the continent yet, in fact he would likely have to use a road in Limgrave to find the main path that would, in time, bring him to one of the map fragments, so he had no idea if he and the wolfen warrior were talking about the same place, causing his companion to nod his head, "I hate that place... I opened a chest in the nearby ruins and it teleported me into a mine that was deep in Caelid, full of those pale Pests and some earthen Miners, where I got killed by one of the Pests."

"The Kindred can be quite annoying, I can agree with that." Blaidd stated, meaning he must have been sent to Caelid for a time, either to hunt someone like Darriwil or to do something else that his master wanted of him, and he didn't want to talk about what had happened to him in that area, hence why he focused on the dragon, "Before we begin, are those two spells the only ones you know?"

"In terms of sorceries, yes... tracking down new spells is hard in this world." Tirek replied, where he recalled the vendor in the Roundtable Hold who sold miracles, which required an object he didn't have right now, but other than that he had no idea where to obtain more spells to increase his power and actually do more damage.

"Hm. When we're done with the lake, since I'm sure we'll tackle the nearby mine as well, remind me to show you to one of the nearby ruins, as I heard a rumor of a sorceress residing in the area." Blaidd said, something that caught Tirek's attention almost instantly, because more spells would allow him to even the odds and face his enemies with an increased arsenal, a fact that might ensure his survival since he'd have more options to use in battle, before the wolfen warrior shifted his stance as he gripped the handle of his weapon, "Let's hunt a dragon."

Tirek nodded his head as the two of them rushed down the hill, where he and Torrent got the dragon's attention as he loosed a few pebbles at it's thick tail, something that caused him to grin a little as the beast got up and turned to face him, while Blaidd approached from it's right side and swung at it's now exposed legs. While neither of them had said anything about a plan, in fact they had been too busy talking about other things on the way here, Tirek was perfectly fine with this since it meant that the dragon would focus on Blaidd and not him, something that would expose it to more of his spells as the battle progressed. As the beast slammed one of it's wings into the ground Tirek had a strange idea as he rushed at it and jumped off Torrent's back, allowing him to rush up the limb that was near him and get on the dragon's back, where he leapt into the air before releasing a burst of magical pebbles down on his target's blind spot, the one place it couldn't do anything about. Blaidd waited for a few moments, seeing the beast roar in annoyance, before slashing at it's legs again as the cold started to seep into the area that he was fighting in, showing that he knew it might be the beast's weakness and was making sure to use it before something bad happened.

When the dragon moved back, to fire a burst of flames at them, Tirek had the bright idea to combat the flames with their weakness, frost itself, where he convinced Blaidd to activate the weapon's enchantment while spinning his greatsword, as it created a shield in front of them to stop the flames from roasting them alive.

Truthfully he was surprised that such a thing could be done in the first place, in fact Blaidd was surprised as well and even the dragon seemed shocked, or maybe that was his imagination playing tricks on him, but as the flames died down the pair continued their assault to the best of their ability. Such a thing meant that Tirek had to pick and choose when to use his spells, since he only had two in his arsenal right now, while Blaidd struck whenever he found an opening, forcing the beast to turn on him, giving Tirek a good chance to use the blood dagger as well. He found that the frost enchantment did slow the beast down and the blood enchantment on his new weapon did a bit of damage as well, in fact he was sure that a bloody gash appeared on one of the dragon's legs, something that allowed the frost to penetrate it as well, dealing even more harm to the massive beast. Of course he had to wonder how much more damage the beast could take before they felled it, since he and Blaidd were doing far better than he did when he fought it on his own, before he saw an opening he wasn't expecting to find and used the arc spell, making a vertical wave that crashed into the dragon.

This time around the dragon collapsed before their eyes, where Tirek let out a sigh as it dissolved before their eyes, as he gathered all of it's Runes before discovering a floating heart in the space it had been occupying, a final reward he guessed, as odd as that seemed.

"I've heard of this. Dragons, when they die, drop their hearts, which can be used in Dragon Communion in two very special locations," Blaidd commented, though he was actually impressed that Tirek had managed to survive the battle, given what he had learned about his previous attempt on the creature, before he turned his attention to the heart that was currently in the hands of his temporary companion, "one is located in the wilds of Caelid, the other is somewhere off Limgrave's west shore, on a small island with no bridge leading to it."

"Oh, that island... yeah, I found a cave containing the tunnel that leads to it." Tirek said, in fact it had given him some ideas when he first discovered the location in question, though as he said that he pulled out his map after switching it with the heart that was added to his growing collection of odd things, because an idea had come to mind, "You know, I wonder if I can use the Grace's ability to warp between two points with someone else. Want to try it out?"

Blaidd stared at him for a few moments, wondering if he was joking or not, before deciding to go with it as he stood right behind Tirek and placed a hand on his back for a time, allowing him to focus on the Grace he wanted to travel to and, just like last time, he found that reality seemed to shift as he appeared outside the island church, with Blaidd standing behind him with a shocked look on his face.

"Well what do you know, it did work." Tirek remarked, which was great since it would save them some time riding between the various Graces he had unlocked so far, or running in Blaidd's case, even though he knew it was only a matter of time until the wolfen warrior decided to abandon him for parts unknown.

"That it did." Blaidd said, as while he wasn't one of the Tarnished, in fact he was the Shadow of someone far greater than those the Greater Will brought back with the Grace it had bestowed on the Lands Between, he was still surprised by what had happened, even though such a thing would make traveling easier.

Tirek chuckled for a moment as he approached the central brazier once more and pulled out the heart, where this time he felt someone stirring in his mind, similar to what happened back when he was learning how to fight and pull of the moves of this world, only it felt primal, like a majestic animal. He suspected that it might be the spirit of the dragon who fell here, either that or a god of dragons that was similar to whatever watched over the Graces of the Lands Between, though this time he remained silent as it informed him of what needed to be done. If he wanted the power of dragons he would have to devour the heart in his hand, and the hearts of other dragons, to gain access to several of their various powers, such as the flame breath and even claws to rend the life out of his enemies, even though it meant hunting down more of them to collect their hearts. With that in mind he wasted no time in devouring the heart and added it's power to his own, since he unlocked a new power with it, one that he would have to look into after he and Blaidd left the area, though he didn't feel any different, physically, causing him to grin as he backed away from the brazier.

With this information in hand he now had more targets to take down, though first he intended on returning to the lake so he and Blaidd could finish off whatever he had left behind, and then he could worry about the rest of Limgrave and the powerful creatures that were lurking below it's vast surface.