Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

Guardians of the Throne

The first thing Rarity and Edric did, after learning that they might have given Nashandra exactly what she was after, was backtrack to the bonfire that was closest to them and teleport back to Majula for the last time, where Edric spent his time empowering his weapon, armor, and his body for the battle that was ahead of them. Rarity, on the other hand, heading to a familiar shop and intended to speak with Shalquior about all of this, but instead she found that the cat was missing and that there was a note on the table, one that said they would see each other again when the time was right. There was also a pile of spells, ones that must have come from the various areas that she and Edric had gone through and hadn't collected, as a last minute gift towards her, completing the spellbook in it's entirety. Rarity wasn't sure that she needed all of these spells, but since they were near the end of their journey, and they had no idea how strong Nashandra was, she was more than happy to add them to her existing arsenal.

Once the spellbook was complete, and she glanced around the shop once more, Rarity returned to the bonfire and waited for Edric to finish up with the blacksmith, which was only a few moments later, meaning that she didn't have to wait too long for her friend to prepare himself for the coming battle.

"So, back to Drangelic Castle." Edric said, remembering what Rarity had told him after they had spoken to the echo of King Vendrick, and the fact that apparently they were supposed to be seekers of the throne that was hidden beneath the castle in question.

"That's right." Rarity replied, to which she tapped the bonfire and stared at it, knowing that this was going to be one of the last times she and Edric used this to travel, before she sighed as she turned back to her friend, "We have to stop Nashandra from fulfilling her terrible plan and doing, well, whatever she wants to do with the powerful and mysterious throne that Vendrick kept from her. I'm certain that there's something guarding the throne, on Vendrick's orders, and that our true foe will show herself once we've beaten whatever Vendrick's chosen defenders are."

Edric wondered if she was right or if the defenses were a simple door that they needed to open, but considering that she was generally right about a lot of things he decided that it had been a good idea that he prepare himself accordingly, to which they gathered around the bonfire and used it to teleport over to the bonfire that was above where they had found the Darkdiver some time ago. Instead of heading into the chamber that the sentries and the other creatures were in, which had been their main destination the first time around, they turned to the left and walked down the stairs that were in front of them, where another King's Gate rested. Rarity moved out of the way as Edric approached the gate, where he held his hand out and the King's Ring glowed for a moment, to which the lock turned and came undone before their very eyes, before the path to the throne opened up. From there the duo discovered that the path ahead of them delved deep into the earth, which they were used to at this point in time, though they were pleased to see some familiar faces to their immediate left; Shalquoir and the Emerald Herald.

Shalquoir nodded her head to the duo, indicating that she was pleased to see them again and was happy with their accomplishments so far, while at the same time the Emerald Herald reached up and tugged on the sides of her hood, where she pulled it back and stared at the duo.

"My journey is already complete." the Emerald Herald said, causing the duo to remember that she had been guiding them for some time, with a projection, and that this was likely the same thing, though they remained silent as they listened to what she had to say, "My name is Shanalotte. The dragon gave me this name, for I was born with none. I was born of dragons, contrived by men. By ones who would cozen fate herself… They are the ones who created me. But they failed. I did not come out as intended. Fate would not be bested, and men were cursed once again. If you proceed, Nashandra will come after you. Knowing that you will take the throne, and link the fire. She covets the First Flame, and the Great Soul. Put Nashandra to rest."

"That's why we came here," Rarity replied, to which she stared down the winding path that was in front of them and looked upon the building that was at the very end, where she felt a great deal of power gathering while they were talking with each other, "to end Nashandra."

"Then go and kill the Queen before she claims her prize," Shalquoir commented, though at the same time she tilted her head to the side, as if she knew something that no one else did at that moment, to which Rarity mentally sighed as she started to step away from the duo.

"What about the crowns?" Edric asked, as he still didn't see the reason behind why they went out of their way to collect the four powerful crowns, especially since they could have died had Rarity not been smart enough to overcome every challenge that was thrown at them.

"Their purpose will become known once you best the Queen." Shalquoir replied, though while Rarity was glad to have the omnipotent cat's faith, something that they always had, she was sure that there was something that they weren't being told at that moment.

Instead of questioning Shalquoir, and wasting even more thing than they already had, Rarity started walking down the rocky path that was in front of them, where Edric joined her a few moments later and walked in silence, something that she was grateful for since they needed to prepare for the battle that was ahead of them. It didn't take them long to reach the structure that they had spotted when they first entered this area, though once they reached it they both readied their weapons before they pushed themselves through the fog door. When they walked through the other side of the fog door they discovered two guardians, one that appeared to be a black knight while the other was a white robed mage, waiting for them, though in the back of the chamber rested a stone dome. Rarity was positive that the dome was what Nashandra was after, as she could practically feel the power from where she was standing, but she pushed that thought away as she focused on their enemies... and knew that she would have to find their weakness before she started using the more impressive spells, just like she always did.

The Throne Defender, who was the black knight, charged at Edric while Rarity took on the Throne Watcher, who despite looking like a mage with some armor on didn't really cast any spells at her, meaning that her foes appearance was more for deception than anything else. Rarity quickly discovered that while the Throne Watcher had decent resistances to both fire and dark based spells, and a great resistance to soul based spells, he was weak to lightning based spells. Out of sheer curiosity she used the same lesser spells, one of each type, against the Throne Defender while Edric kept the knight distracted, only to find that it was pretty much the same thing for both of their opponents. Once she had figured out what weaknesses their opponents had, however, Rarity and Edric separated from their foes for a few seconds, where she wove some magic around Edric's blade and empowered it with lightning, before they charged into battle once more. Rarity also let the dark mist surround her eyes while she fought, allowing her to dodge incoming attacks more accurately and avoid her opponent's sword, almost as if the Throne Watcher was moving in slow motion.

As the duo fought them Rarity noticed something interesting, because the moment their foes were halfway defeated, by her best guess anyway, the Throne Watcher empowered his sword with a soul based enchantment while the Throne Defender did the same with a lightning enchantment, making them more deadly to fight against. That caused the duo to raise their guards as they continued fighting, as whenever a powerful creature empowered themselves in such a manner it meant that there was going to be a shift in their attack patterns, but the two knights did the one thing that was smart on their part; they didn't change their attack patterns. The reason it was smart was that anyone with a brain, and had done through all the other creatures to reach this point, would have known that some creatures change attack patterns after empowering themselves, meaning that they would have been looking for new tactics and not old ones. Rarity and Edric both suffered some small cuts that Rarity healed with a healing spell, but that just told them that they needed to be careful and pay more attention to what was going on at the moment, least they get seriously hurt in the process.

Unfortunately not changing their attack patterns quickly became less of an advantage and became a disadvantage for the guardians of the throne, as that meant that Rarity and Edric were able to overcome their defenses and put them both into the ground at the same time... though before they relaxed, however, Rarity felt the air shift as their true opponent finally made herself known as they turned towards the fog door that they had walked through earlier.

Rarity was not expecting the lady they had seen up in the castle to make an appearance down here, as she remembered what Elana looked like, could only guess at what Nadalia looked like before she turned to ash, and had no idea what form Alsanna took on. That was before a tall figure, wearing what appeared to be the lower section of a dress that was made out of bones, skulls, and bits of flesh that also touched the floor and prevented them from seeing the creature's legs, if it had any. The stomach and upper chest of the creature looked like it was made of black bones and whatever else was holding it together, forming what Rarity hesitated to call the top part of a dress, though it was an ugly sight to behold. The creature's arms were devoid of flesh, as they were blackened bones like the rest of the creature's body, and it's head seemed to be a skull with something that resembled hair, in some manner, heading down it's back, though the mouth did not move at all.

As the duo gazed upon Nashandra's true form, where her power truly radiated from her body, Rarity noticed that their foe was carrying a deadly looking scythe in her right hand, one that seemed to have been made of the same dark energy that radiated from her body... despite the fact that it looked like she had taken a rib bone from a young dragon and attached it to a handle, before turning it black like her body.

"Brave Undead, you have proven yourselves to me." Nashandra said, her voice sounding like one would expect from the villain of a story, as it had an echo of some sort and she sounded like she was in complete control of the situation that they all found themselves in, while at the same time she moved until she was between them and the throne, where she ran a finger along the edge of her scythe for a few seconds, "Now, be one, with the Dark…"

"That would have been more threatening, if I wasn't already like that," Rarity replied, to which she focused her mind for a moment and the familiar mist emitted from her eyes, indicating that she had accessed the Dark Magic she had unlocked thanks to what she had been through, "Come Edric, let's take care of business."

Edric nodded and charged at Nashandra as the battle began, though at the same time Rarity stood back and noticed that their opponent was summoning spheres that were releasing curse energy, to which she smirked as she wove her magic through the air and grasped each of the spheres with the darkness that was at her command. Within seconds of grabbing all of them she shattered them, preventing Nashandra from filling the area with whatever curse she was trying to inflict on them, though at the same time Rarity was sure that it her deed annoyed their opponent. Of course that made her an immediate threat in Nashandra's eyes and she responded by gathering the darkness into a beam and fired it at her, though Rarity watched where it was coming from and avoided the attack in it's entirety, while at the same time Edric used the opportunity to attack their foe. Nashandra, feeling Edric's attack cut the lower part of her body, switched her target and swung her scythe at Edric a few times, who had to avoid the weapon before it could touch him, though the duo noticed that she didn't seem too bothered by the damage he had dealt.

That told Rarity that Nashandra had to be even stronger than her sisters, or at least Elana since she was the only fragment the two of them had fought, but that was why they had gone through the process of gathering the four crowns, as it would give them the necessary power to stand up to this opponent... though as it appeared that their foe was taking a slight break in her attacks, however, Edric rushed forward and didn't see the dark beam coming from his left, to which he was knocked backwards as he suffered the damage.

Rarity, seeing that happen, moved over to where Edric was resting and channeled a healing spell over his body, mending his wounds while using a barrier to keep them safe from Nashandra's beam attacks, though once he was back on his feet they separated from each other and continued the fight. The moment the duo split apart Rarity did what she did when they first engaged a powerful creature, she used the lowest level spells in each element and gauged how well Nashandra's defenses were to each one. As she suspected the fragment of the Father of the Abyss had a high resistance to dark based spells, as well as a decent resistance to both fire and soul based spells, but what surprised her was that their foe was more susceptible to lightning based spells, just like a lot of foes they had fought in the past. She wondered why a lot of the enemies they had encountered and overcome since they started their journey happened to be weak to lightning based spells, as it just seemed incredibly odd to her, but she wasn't about to question it, especially since she was trying to take over the world at the moment.

Instead of worrying why so many of their foes were weak to lightning based spells, and opening herself up to some damage in the process, Rarity accessed the power inside her and called the lightning to her hands, while recalling one of the spells that Shalquoir included in the bundle that was inside her shop. The page had called this the Splintering Lightning Spear, to which she formed it like an actual Lightning Spear and hurled it right into Nashandra's chest, though it appeared that doing that was the first stage of the attack, as several more smaller versions of the Lightning Spear rained down on Nashandra and damaged her. Thankfully Edric was already out of the way when the spell struck their foe, but at the same time it was clear that Nashandra was growing tired of playing around with them and decided on one course of action that would help her win this fight. Rarity already knew that sooner or later she would become Nashandra' true opponent, which was confirmed when their foe turned towards her and started 'walking' in her direction, but at the same time she braced herself for the incoming fight... while noticing that the evil creature was ignoring Edric entirely, allowing her friend to score a few hits ever now and then before backing away, so he could look for another opening.

When Nashandra neared her, however, she raised her scythe into the air and swung at her, but Rarity had been expecting something and immediately moved out of the way as the head of the weapon struck the ground where she had been standing a few seconds ago. Instead of allowing Nashandra to pull her weapon back, and swing at her again, Rarity hooked the darkness around it and loosed a powerful Emit Force into her foe's chest, the collision knocking Nashandra backwards as she was forced to leave the scythe behind. The moment Nashandra hit the ground, back in the middle of the chamber where she started this battle, though the first thing Rarity did was stare at the terrible weapon she had ripped from their foe's hands for a few seconds, before throwing it into the wall behind her, where it struck the rock wall and remained embedded in it. A few seconds later Nashandra recovered from what Rarity had done and started firing more of her dark beams at her, to which Rarity used the empowering abilities of the Dark Magic state she had unlocked to avoid them before they even came close to touching her.

At the same time, while she avoided the attacks, she considered what sort of attack she wanted to do while Edric cut into their foe, as she recalled the weaknesses and resistances that Nashandra possessed and knew the best course of action as she remembered what she had done against the Fume Knight. She knew that fusing the elements was possible, if the shadow-fire Forbidden Sun type attack was anything to go by, something that she considered calling the Forbidden Black Nova, and wondered if it was possible to merge three of the four elements together. She knew that trying to do all four was madness, and who knew if it was even possible, but considering that their foe was a fragment of the Father of the Abyss, one of the strongest ones apparently, she decided that now was the time to throw caution to the wind. As such she loosed a hail of magical arrows into the air and let them land in front of Nashandra, where they exploded and kicked up some dust to prevent her from seeing what was happening.

After that was in place Rarity jumped into the air and remained at a point that was higher than Nashandra, which she guessed was possible because of the Dark Magic she was channeling at the moment, and noticed that Edric was moving out of the way... to which she focused her mind and summoned twelve Forbidden Suns into the area around her, though while three of them possessed the element of fire the other three trios were created from the dark, soul, and lightning elements. The moment the twelve spheres were in place she held her hand towards Nashandra and willed the spheres into four larger masses, to which she was surrounded by four Nova level spheres that shook the entire chamber a little bit, before she decided to try her luck. First she merged the dark and fire spheres together, creating the one she had used earlier, before she added the soul based sphere to the mix, which resulted in blue strands of soul magic joining the rings of darkness. After that happened, forming a merged attack that she decided might as well be the Forbidden Hypernova, Rarity braced herself and added the final element to the mix, though as the lightning sphere merged with the existing mix the large sphere became a mass of energy that was comprised of four swirling elements that caused the entire area to shake under the power she had created.

This was an incredibly powerful attack, that much she was sure by simply staring at the sphere, but as the smoke around Nashandra started to clear she focused her attention on her foe and hurled the attack at the fragment that they had been fighting... who spotted the attack coming and used the darkness to try and stop the sphere from reaching where she was standing. The air vibrated as their energies collided with each other, but while Nashandra was the strongest fragment to be born from the Father of the Abyss, stronger than the other three they had encountered, Rarity was a native of Equus, a world where everyone had magic and it took the right circumstances for them to break their limits and gain new power. She remembered her fight with the Darklurker, where she had done something like this to defeat her opponent, and focused her energy on pushing the sphere down towards her target, who was actually backing away from the middle of the chamber and was approaching the wall behind her as she tried to keep the attack away from her... almost as if she feared the power she had brought to bare against her.

Rarity sighed as she gave the sphere one final push and it barreled into Nashandra, consuming their foe in a surge of destructive power as the elements tore apart her existing defenses before finally detonating it's payload, causing the duo to cover their eyes in the process. When the smoke cleared, however, the duo gazed upon where Nashandra had been located and found a smouldering crater in her place, though it was in that moment that Rarity realized that such an attack was more powerful than she originally thought and it had obliterated their foe.

"Rarity?" Edric asked, though at the same time Rarity dropped back to the ground and landed beside her friend, while keeping their eyes on the damage she had caused, "What did you just do?"

"I... Honestly, I have no idea." Rarity admitted, as she hadn't been expecting something like this to happen when she decided to mere the four elements into a single sphere, but that just told her that she needed to be careful with it in the future, if she decided to use it again, "Forbidden Reorigination... that sounds like a fitting name for such a powerful attack, especially one that causes this level of damage and destruction to our foes."

"I wasn't aware that you were naming attacks now," Edric commented, because this was news to him, but all he was doing was distracting himself from what his friend had done to Nashandra, whose soul he still managed to absorb despite the fact that Rarity had obliterated her.

"I've been doing it since the Fume Knight," Rarity said, though at the same time she chuckled as she dismissed the mist from her eyes and left the Dark Magic behind, for the moment anyway, "Oh well, I guess now we should tell Shalquoir and Shanalotte the good news."

Many monarchs have come and gone. a voice said, to which Rarity and Edric looked around as they heard Aldia's voice again, as it was one that they hadn't heard for a long time, but this time around the duo knew that their battle was far from over, One drowned in poison, another succumbed to flame. Another slumbered in a realm of ice. Not one of them stood here, as you do now. You, conqueror of adversities. Give us your answer.

That was followed by an area catching on fire and caused the duo to jump away from it, as it was between them and the door they used to enter this area, but they kept their weapons and spells at the ready as the twisted form of Aldia rose from whatever realm he had been waiting in and came to a stop when he was fully in this area. The moment he was in place the vines that were attached to his body struck the ground around him, where they started to erupt from the area around them and caused the duo to back away from their new foe. As the vines moved through the ground, and chased Rarity and Edric as they separated from each other, flames danced around Aldia's body, though as that happened Rarity sent the lower powered spells at their foe and noticed that he had a good resistance to dark and fire based spells while being weak against soul and lightning based spells. After the spells hit him Aldia surrounded himself in a dark fiery mist and teleported to a new area, which exploded when he arrived, but that didn't stop the duo from following him and keeping their eyes on him.

As Aldia appeared in his new area, however, the flames on his body disappeared, indicating that Edric could charge forward and damage him before the flames returned, while at the same time Rarity decided that they needed to take this seriously and summoned a trio of Forbidden Suns, this time empowered with blue stands of soul magic. A few moments later she hurled the merged form of the attack at Aldia and blasted him, causing his body to shudder for second as Edric attacked from the side, as he waited for the attack to be over before striking. After that Aldia started throwing, in his own manner anyway since he didn't appear to have arms, fireballs at them with his vines, though the duo avoided the attacks and let them hit the ground around them. From there he moved to a new position and started repeating the vines erupting from the ground and throwing fireballs at them, to which Rarity and Edric avoided the attacks and delivered their own to their foe... though instead of using the more powerful Forbidden level spells, that she had developed, Rarity simply used the Lightning Spear and the Crystal Soul Spear to wound their foe.

Eventually Aldia got tired of what they were doing and raised his vines above what was his head, where he gathered both his flames and the darkness into a sphere of energy, like his was copying what Rarity had done, but it was on a lesser level than what Rarity's spells did, as it didn't cause the area to shake at all. Rarity, instead of worrying about the attack, stared at it as Aldia completed it and threw it at her, to which she raised her hand and called upon her power to stop the sphere in it's tracks, before she shattered it into a thousand pieces. That proved to be the perfect distraction, as Edric struck Aldia while his body wasn't covered in flames and dealt with Rarity guessed was the final blow, as a glowing light emitted from his body before he disappeared like all of the other creatures they had fought... indicating that they must have destroyed him on some level.

I lost everything, but remained here, patiently. The throne will certainly receive you. Aldia said, his voice sounding like it was coming from somewhere else this time around, though neither Rarity or Edric bothered to look around for the creature that they had finished fighting, But the question remains… What do you want, truly? Light? Dark? Or something else entirely…

"That's the question that's been on our minds since you two proved yourselves countless times over," a voice said, to which Rarity and Edric turned around and found Shalquoir standing near them, though Rarity wasn't surprised to see that she was there, especially since her powers were unlike anything they had seen before, "Edric, will you take the throne and link the fire, thus allowing this age to continue for a time before the events you went through have to be repeated by another unfortunate Undead? Or will you abandon the throne and leave, allowing the current fire to fade and let the age we are in come to an end, thus allowing you to return to your loved ones with the tools to prevent all of you from becoming hollows?"

"Shalquoir, what are... you..." Rarity started to say, though as she spoke she realized something that both she and Edric had missed, the fact that Vendrick's echo had empowered the four crowns with a new level of power, one that apparently was the very cure the two of them had been looking for, "The crowns!"

"Yes. The four crowns you have acquired are now blessed by a glorious power," Shalquoir continued, though as she spoke Rarity noticed that the cat sounded sad, almost as if she knew the possible future that would come to pass and was seeing if she could change it in some manner, or at least that was what she was thinking of at the moment, "if you wear one of them, now that they have been blessed, you will be immune to the Curse that plagues you and, if something were to 'kill' you while it is being worn, you won't become hollow. In essence you will have beaten the Curse and saved yourself in the process, but the question remains; will you save only yourself, or will you link the fire and prolong this age?"

Rarity remembered why Edric had come to Drangelic in the first place, so he could break the Curse and head back home, to be with his loving family without having to worry about this terrible fate, though as she recalled that information she hoped he would do the right thing. She still wasn't sure what linking the fire entailed, or what the end of this age was supposed to be, but it sounded like something they should prevent, especially since they had overcome everything that would have threatened this age. A few seconds later, however, Edric made his decision, to which he walked over to where Rarity was and opened her pack, where he removed the crowns from where she kept them and headed towards the entrance that they had used to get into this area... with all four of the crowns stored in his own pack, though he barely looked back at her while he did so.

"Edric?" Rarity said, though it appeared that this time around her companion's mind was made up, as he headed towards the entrance and never looked back, completely ignoring her as he departed from the chamber and started the trek back towards his old home, "I can't believe it... he just abandoned our mission, just like that. Did everything we go through, and all of the obstacles we overcame together, not matter to him?"

"His heart was always more focused on his family and himself," Shalquoir replied, to which she glanced at the door for a few seconds, as if she knew something that was going on, before she turned back towards Rarity for a moment, "People come here for all sorts of things, breaking the Curse and gaining power being the highest among them, and Edric simply fell into the first category, especially since he was doing this to be with his family. I guess there's nothing else for us to do, besides sending you back home as well."

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked, though at the same time she waved a hand towards the dome that the throne was resting in, as she could still feel it's power from here, "Surely I can link the fire and save this age from being destroyed... or whatever it is linking the fire is supposed to do for the people of this world."

"If you were native to this world, I'd say go ahead," Shalquoir stated, though at the same time she walked over to the nearby wall and pawed at it for a moment, to which a full body mirror appeared before her, before she beckoned for Rarity to follow her, "but, since you are from an entirely different world, and you have broken your limits, the throne would do nothing with you. Besides, you should look at your shoulder and see your prize for helping Edric reach his decision."

Rarity raised an eyebrow and walked over to the mirror, though when she reached it she remembered where she had learned the mark of the Curse was supposed to be and carefully moved her clothing so she could see her left shoulder, to which her eyes widened in surprise. She remembered the sinister mark that had been on Edric's shoulder, when he showed it to her at the beginning of their journey, and knew that it had been on her own left shoulder when he looked for it, but now it was gone. Her shoulder was bare of any markings, as if the mark of the Curse never existed, to which she looked over at Shalquoir in confusion, as this wasn't something that she was expecting.

"What can I say?" Shalquoir said, to which she pawed the mirror and it transformed into a doorway of some kind, one that appeared to be a portal that would take her to some unknown destination, "You Equestrians are a surprising bunch, because the moment you took the Darklurker's soul and abilities into your body, and made them your own, the mark of the Curse was destroyed. Your mission is complete, as you were meant to be Edric's companion and friend during this venture, and now that you have earned your prize, and acquired powers unlike what you had when you arrived in Drangelic, it's time for you to head home... besides, your family and friends are worried about you."

Rarity remembered the reason behind why she had gone through all of this, so she could get back home to Sweetie Belle and her friends, before she glanced over at the throne for a few moments, knowing that it was likely safe from whatever force tried to use it now. After all, she possessed the item that the Giant Lord had carried and that was the only thing that might make a bridge between them and the dome, but instead of taking it with her Rarity pulled it out of her pack and simply dropped it on the ground, where the dust and sand would cover it in time. Besides, Edric possessed the King's Ring, the only thing that could open the door to this area, and he was bound to lock the gate the moment he left the underground area, so it was going to be safe from those that would misuse it. Once that was done, and Rarity was sure that she had everything she needed, she sighed once more and followed Shalquoir into the portal that the cat had opened for them to take... disappearing into the darkness as she left Drangelic behind.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work.

[Midnight Moon]

Nice, nice... I was hoping they'd reject the throne and flame, to be honest. Edric only ever wanted to be free of the curse so he could rejoin his family. Taking the throne would prevent him from doing that, although Rarity might resent him for it for a time. But, the Age of Fire had to fade eventually. So comes the Age of Dark, the Age of Man.

Also, glad to see you used the spell names I provided. I had my doubts about Forbidden Reorigination for a while, but seeing as it pretty much obliterated Nashandra, it is rather fitting.

[Ze1a7in]

You know, it wasn't until I read the title of this chapter I realized how close we were to the end of this story.

[PrismStrike]

very nice. cant wait to see Book princess's reaction to Rarity and her new powers.

[Randablitz]

"There is no path. Beyond the scope of light, beyond the reach of Dark. What could possibly await us? And yet we seek it insatiably, such is our fate."-Aldia Scholar of the First Sin