Elden Ring: The Deaths of Tirek

by Blackdrag-rose

Exploring the Lakes

After taking a few moments to gather himself, due to his most current death, Tirek moved out from the Grace spot and headed back into the swamp area in front of him, using Torrent to navigate the area while he kept his eyes out for the few enemies that were waiting for him. He made sure to eliminate the Crawlers and the Callers when he spotted them, since he understood that allowing them to overwhelm him was a bad idea, though he steered clear of where the foul monster was resting, since he didn't want to die again. Despite that fact he rushed in with his steed and claimed his Runes before the creature emerged from whatever hiding place it was lurking in, since he didn't want to lose any of them, before riding even deeper into the watery area that stood between him and the next Demigod he was after. While he did that he also noticed a fair number of trees blocking his view of the higher sections of Liurnia, even though he could see a minor Erdtree beyond them, an area he might check out once he knew the lay of the land better, depending on how much this province annoyed him anyway.

All of the scattered ruins, however, told him that this place might have been more like an actual town, or an area with a few towns that were all over the province, meaning there had to be places for him to find more enemies to take down, like the Soldiers for example, instead of the monsters that were near the first Grace.

While he traveled the lakes, searching for the other Graces that he knew were out there, Tirek found what he called a Cold Knight, a horse and it's rider that were emitting chilling mist, which also obscured his vision of them a little, so it was hard to tell if it was an actual knight or just one of the Callers. When he discovered the second Grace, however, he found that there was a break in the trees and that there was a view of everything else in the immediate area, though his gaze rested on what appeared to be a large structure, a school of some kind, up on a lone plateau that was separated from the rest of the land. It was the Academy, he knew that much by looking at it since he could practically feel the magic now that he was a tad bit closer to where it was located, where he had to wonder if he might be able to use his own power to smash the seal that was around it and enter the Academy in his own manner. Such a thing might work better for him, since he had no idea where he might find one of the Glintstone keys that would actually allow one to bypass the ancient seals, which caused him to focus on the structure and little else.

He also discovered a few more enemies for him to either deal with or ignore, such as large bats that screeched when he got close with Torrent, small little guys near one of the cliff edges that liked to throw white smoke rocks that seemed to be designed to put others to sleep, and odd silvery skinned figures who were patrolling a sunken town.

He couldn't tell if the silvery foes were magical or not, or what they were doing here, but Tirek was able to tell that they were enemies and that they had to be taken down, hence why he opened fire on them and blasted those that got close with his magic, even though some did cartwheels before stopping to attack him. They were annoying foes, he figured that out rather easily, and something that confirmed it was the fact that there were a few Soldiers guarding an entry point of sorts, one that had to lead to one of the borders of the sealed area. With that in mind he rushed at them and leapt into the air with Torrent, sailing over his foes while knocking down some of them with his spells, where he found more foes in the area beyond them, complete with some sort of wooden device that spewed fire, one that actually moved since it had a driver inside it. Such a thing made him realize that, before the Shattering, it was possible that the people were making all sorts of things to improve everyday life, but then the Elden Ring was broken and war sprouted up everywhere, where he assumed this was a war 'improvement'.

Regardless of that fact he blasted his way through the Soldiers that were in front of him and found a bridge that lead right to a large magical seal, which had a Grace nearby, with a fallen sorcerer resting nearby who had a map fragment, one that looked like it was close to his current position.

"Well then, let's see to the seal." Tirek said, where he raised his hand and pressed it against the blue magic that was right in front of him, something that caused a rush of energy to happen between where he pressed it and the barrier that the seal was powering right now, and while he extracted a bit of it's power he could tell it wasn't enough to weaken it, "Very interesting... I guess I need the key after all."

With that in mind he realized that he didn't have the actual map for the area that the fragment was for, but he did see a bit of golden in the air and quickly found that it was heading to the northwest, where he made sure to make his way down to what seemed to be a ruined church, totally torn down. From there it was a simple matter to find a new Grace and head to the north for real, where he spotted a number of beetles that were in the air, handing only blue mana orbs that would no doubt refill his cerulean flasks if he struck the carriers down. Beyond that rested a large beast that he recognized, as it was a dragon with crystals growing out of it's tail and other parts of it's body, meaning it had to be the guardian of the key, or maybe an unintended one if it ambushed the sorcerer that held the key. He honestly didn't care which option was right, he wanted the key and there was no stopping him in his quest to get what he wanted, hence why he readied himself for what he was about to do, because with all the crystals, no doubt Glintstone fragments, he suspected that he might not need to do much this time around.

Sure enough the dragon, sensing his arrival, got up and roared at him as he dismissed Torrent, though when it found that he was unwilling to stand down the beast gathered it's breath and loosed a burst of blue flames at him, though he quickly discovered that his thoughts were correct. With all of the crystalline fragments that were embedded in the dragon's body, and it even looked like some pieces were hanging over it's eyes, the beast's breath attack had been altered into a magical version, meaning he could devour the flames with ease. Thanks to that power he was able to lash out at the beast while it tried, in vain, to understand what had just happened, and it even tried to gather it's power into a single point to blast him into the ground with what appeared to be a potent blast of magical energy. All that magic was devoured by Tirek, who just dragged the battle out as long as he could, because the more power he drained from the Glintstone infused dragon the stronger he became, which would aid him in taking down whatever was in the Academy.

After a couple of minutes of tormenting the beast, who didn't even use it's claws or tail to try and take him down, he did it for the dragon, blasting it until he was sure it was dead, allowing him to recover it's heart and it's power, before walking up to the area it had been resting at and found the Glintstone key he was after, which he claimed without delay.

With that done he returned to the Grace outside the seal, by teleporting over there thanks to the power of Grace, and sat at the safe zone for a few moments, channeling all of the dragon's power into himself without wasting time, allowing him to gain far more strength for whatever was guarding the next Demigod. Given that Margit had been protecting Godrick, a fact that still annoyed him a little when he thought about it, he knew there had to be some sort of powerful creature in the Academy, guarding Rennala from whoever sought to harm her. With that in mind Tirek raised his hand, holding the key he had sought out, and found that some sort of magic washed over him, to which he stepped forward and teleported out of the area that the seal was in, as it brought him to a higher point with another seal to his right, attached to a bridge that was broken into two sections. The path to his left, however, was a lift that had to take him up into the Academy, though he did activate the Grace that was in the center of the courtyard before getting a move on, as he walked onto the lift and let it take him upwards for a few moments, right to the edge of the Academy's region.

When it came to a stop, and he could see the magical sky and the magnificent castle that was in front of him, Tirek let a grin appear on his face as he wondered what sort of enemies he'd discover before finally discovering where Rennala was hiding, and he knew he was going to enjoy his time here way too much.