//------------------------------//
// Into Liurnia 
// Story: Elden Ring: The Deaths of Tirek 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

While Tirek was wandering around the Roundtable Hold he discovered that the lady he had discovered earlier had also found her way to the sanctuary, though he had to talk with both her and the blacksmith to set up some sort of deal that the two could work with. Apparently the lady, Roderika, had the power to use special flowers to empower the ashes of the dead that some Tarnished could use, causing Tirek to wonder if he would return to her at some point in time, since there was a chance that he might need her services for his own ashes. Other than that he didn't discover anything else that was new, save for the arrival of Rogier, whose lower half was now covered in a sheet and seemed to have black vines coming from under it, but he decided not to bother him right now. After checking out the rest of the Hold, and discovering that there was nothing else for him to worry about, Tirek opened his map and returned to Godrick's arena without delay, where he just ignored the prisoner who was stomping on the Demigod's remains and opened the door that was beyond him.

Such a thing revealed a throne chamber that had two paths for him to take, the right being a dead end while the left lead to a path that seemed to be a back entrance to the castle, and instead of worrying about the ladder he just jumped down the length of it, as it was rather short, and walked outside, allowing him to find a new Grace that he ignited.

There was a blind girl, or maybe a blind priestess, near the campsite that served as the Grace's resting place, but she was of no consequence to him as he headed down the path, finding that it lead to a church and another road that had to be what would bring him to Liurnia. Inside the ruined structure he found a man who seemed saddened by the fact that he was no longer allowed inside the school he had been expelled from, Raya Lucaria Academy, but he did have some information for him to digest, that the entrance to the academy was sealed with a powerful ward spell. The only way around said seal was a very special key, a Glintstone Key to be exact, but the chances of finding one outside the academy was slim to none, and the keys were linked to the one they were given to, so to obtain one he would have to find a mage and kill them for their key. Of course the mage informed him that he would be grateful if he found him a key so he could return to his place of learning, something Tirek doubted since the rarity of the item meant he would likely only find one of them during his travels, or maybe not and he'd find a way around the seal.

The other thing he discovered was a chalice with a tear inside it, one that he returned to the Grace to use and found that it empowered his flasks, to restore more of his health or mana, causing him to chuckle as he headed down the other path and found that it lead to a camp. He found a few Soldiers and even a Knight guarding the camp, though with his powers now far stronger than before Tirek used his magic to crush them without wasting too much time and discovered that the camp really had nothing to offer him, so he left through the backside and continued on his way. From there he found yet another Grace, where he considered it weird to have so many near each other, as it wasn't even a challenge with the vast number of spots he could revive at, which he ignited as he ignored the merchant and headed into the swamp that was, for some odd reason, called the 'Lakes'. Tirek knew what his first objective was when he reached a new area, find the map so his map would expand on it's own, to which he carefully approached the watery area that was in front of him, since he had no idea what sort of enemies were waiting for him this time around.

What he found was that there were some crawling creatures who had six arms and leapt at him so they could unleash a flurry of attacks on those they viewed as their enemies, though while fighting them one on one was easy Tirek knew that two or more on one was a bad idea. He discovered that fact the hard way, as two of them ambushed him and struck him multiple times in a row, attacks that actually hurt despite each being a simple slap from one of his foes, but he crushed his foes with his magic and then used a flask to restore his health. With that information in mind he made sure to fire at the Crawlers before they every got close to him, blasting them to pieces as he carefully cleared the way forward, since there was a pillar with a map fragment resting on a small stone wall next to it. The Crawlers were wiped out before they even got close to him, as he could see a few more of them in the immediate area, though once he was sure that the area was clear he grabbed the map fragment and added it to his map, allowing him to see more of the area than before.

The annoying part about obtaining the map fragment was that it contained the eastern half of Liurnia and a section of the middle, so to get everything he needed to figure out how to find the western portion, or maybe a middle and western piece since there was a chance there was more than what he was seeing. He could see the Divine Tower on the map, as it was located off to the right of everything in this area, though he knew it would be best to seek the next target first, since he would need their Great Rune first before he worried about the tower. With this in mind it meant he would have to head deeper into the swamp and see if he could find another map fragment, since he was sure that several more Graces would show up while he was exploring the area, plus he had to be more careful due to the fact that this place had new enemies for him to fight. There was no telling what else was out there, since he knew that what was in Caelid wasn't in Limgrave, or at least not during his time in both regions, so he assumed that Liurnia was going to be full of new challenges, causing him to call forth Torrent so he could escape in case things went south.

While he did that he also spotted some veiled figures, crawling on the ground no less, who rung bells to loose golden bits of magic at whoever happened to be passing through the area, where he summoned his magic and blasted them with a couple of pebbles, taking out the Callers before they did any damage to him. Fortunately those whose magic slipped into his immediate area didn't do a lot of damage to him, rather he ate their attacks, as his innate power was more suited for the area he seemed to be heading towards, before he blasted them in return. Such a thing made him wonder if the whole academy was full of magic users, which it likely was given what the one man had said, meaning he would be able to feast on all of their magic multiple times before he reached the end of his journey in this area. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he really didn't need Blaidd this time around, the mages were totally screwed since he could eat their power, he just had to figure out how to get into the academy.

He wasn't expecting his thoughts to be interrupted as he reached a ruined area and discovered what looked like a far more aggressive version of the Crawlers he had faced so far, one that struck him and Torrent repeatedly before he had a chance to fight back, causing him to return to the last Grace in no time.

"Of course, I finally beat a Demigod and the world decides to screw me over again." Tirek remarked, which seemed to be a consequence of him thinking things were going to be easy after taking down the weakest of the Demigods, meaning he would have to be extra careful in the future, since there was no telling what else might be lurking in the depths of the vast swamp he had discovered.

In that moment he sighed for a few seconds as he considered his options, figuring that he could take things a little slower so he didn't walk into a trap or something, but he knew that, in due time, he would find the next Demigod and take her down, he just had to be patient and things would go his way once more.