The Fall of the Giants

Chapter 4: The Fall of the Giants

The Mountaintops of the Giants stretched endlessly into the horizon, the jagged peaks rising like the spines of some ancient, slumbering beast. The air was frigid, biting at the skin, as the Tarnished ascended the slopes toward the heart of the storm—a place where gods had once walked, now forgotten and forsaken. The Great Rune they had claimed from Rykard pulsed with dark energy in their palm, but with every step, the Tarnished could feel a weight heavier than before pressing upon their heart. They were no longer merely seeking power; they were chasing something far more elusive—the true meaning of their existence.

Their journey had led them here, to the Mountaintops, a place steeped in the shattered remnants of ancient battles. The ruins of long-forgotten temples and crumbling fortresses dotted the landscape, each one a silent witness to a past that the gods had long tried to erase. But even in this land of frozen desolation, the Tarnished could feel the lingering presence of the divine—a presence that could not be silenced.

The Tarnished had heard whispers of a being here, a Shardbearer of unimaginable power, a creature whose very existence defied the natural order. This being, known as Malenia, Blade of Miquella, was said to hold dominion over life and death itself, her power drawn from the very essence of the Elden Ring. She was not like the others they had faced; her strength was not one born from the mere desire for control, but from something far more insidious—a curse that bound her to the land.

The Tarnished’s footsteps crunched in the snow as they moved forward, their breath clouding in the bitter cold. They could see the faint glow of something ahead—an ethereal light, flickering like a beacon in the darkness. As they drew closer, the Tarnished found themselves standing before an ancient temple, its doors cracked open, as if beckoning them inside.

They entered cautiously, the air inside thick with the scent of incense and the faint whispers of the long-dead. The temple’s interior was adorned with strange symbols, etched into the stone walls—symbols of a time long forgotten. It was here that they would face Malenia, the Blade of Miquella, and with her, the burden of yet another Great Rune.

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As the Tarnished approached the heart of the temple, they saw her standing there—a woman cloaked in flowing white robes, her back turned to them. Her long, golden hair shimmered in the dim light, her stance regal and unyielding. The air around her seemed to hum with a strange energy, an unnatural pulse that reverberated through the walls of the temple. She did not move as the Tarnished approached, but her presence was suffocating, as though the very land around her had bent to her will.

"You dare enter my domain, Tarnished?" she spoke, her voice calm yet imbued with an unshakable authority. "Do you not understand the burden you bear? The Elden Ring is no mere trinket to be claimed. It is the foundation of the world itself. And yet, you seek to shatter it, to reshape all that the gods have wrought."

The Tarnished stood silent, unsure of how to respond. They had heard the tales of Malenia, but to face her in person was something entirely different. She was a being of unimaginable power, yet there was a sadness in her eyes—an emptiness that spoke of a soul forever bound to the curse of the Elden Ring.

"Your kind… You think you can simply take what does not belong to you," Malenia continued, turning to face the Tarnished fully. Her eyes glowed with an unsettling light, her gaze piercing through the Tarnished as though she could see into their very soul. "I am bound to the Elden Ring, just as you are bound to the Tarnished Curse. We are but two sides of the same coin. You cannot hope to defeat me, for I am Miquella's Blade, and I will not allow you to mar his name."

Her voice echoed through the temple, each word laden with grief and fury. "You seek to break the world, but do you truly understand what it will cost? Every step you take toward the Elden Ring is a step toward your own undoing. I am the last of the Miquellan dynasty. The world that awaits you is a world of madness and ruin. And when you fall, as all others have fallen, I will be there to watch."

The Tarnished tightened their grip on their weapon. There was no turning back now. They had come to this place to confront their fate, to claim what they had been told was rightfully theirs. Yet, as they looked upon Malenia, they could not help but feel the weight of her words—the truth that lingered beneath her voice.

"You will fall," Malenia whispered, her eyes narrowing as she stepped forward, the light around her intensifying. "Just as all who seek the Elden Ring will fall. And when you do, know that I will not mourn you."

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The battle between the Tarnished and Malenia was one of the fiercest yet. Malenia wielded the power of life and death, her blade cutting through the air with a speed and precision that seemed impossible. Each strike she made was a slash of divine wrath, each movement a deadly dance of grace and fury. Her power over the land itself manifested in the very air, the ground beneath their feet quaking as she summoned torrents of water, lightning, and fire to strike down the Tarnished.

As the battle raged on, Malenia’s dialogue echoed in the chaos of the fight, her voice rising above the din of combat.

"You think you can defeat me?" she cried, her form shifting like a wisp of smoke. "The curse of the Elden Ring runs through your veins, just as it runs through mine. But you cannot escape it! It is a part of who you are! You are no different from me. We are bound by fate, bound by the same divine chains!"

The Tarnished pressed on, each blow they struck barely making a dent in her ethereal form. But they could feel her weakening with every passing moment, the Great Rune inside their hand pulsing with a dark light in response. Malenia was a creature of immense strength, but she was also a prisoner of the world—a world that had forsaken her as much as it had forsaken the Tarnished.

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Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Tarnished landed a decisive blow, cutting through Malenia’s defenses and sending her crashing to the ground. The temple trembled, as if the very earth mourned her fall. Malenia, her form flickering like a dying flame, looked up at the Tarnished with one final, sorrowful gaze.

"You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over," she whispered, her voice barely audible above the wind. "The Elden Ring will destroy you, just as it has destroyed me. You will be its next casualty, and the gods will never forgive you."

With that, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, fell silent, her body dissolving into the wind as the Tarnished stood over her fallen form. The Great Rune she had guarded for so long was now in their possession, but the weight of the victory was not as sweet as they had hoped. The price of their ambition was becoming ever clearer, the darkness that surrounded the Elden Ring growing thicker with every step they took.

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The Tarnished stood alone in the ruins of the temple, the sounds of the battle fading into the distance. They had claimed another Great Rune, but the cost of that victory was etched deeply in their soul. There was no turning back. Their journey was far from over, and the road ahead would be even more perilous.

But the Elden Ring awaited, and the Tarnished would not rest until they had claimed it. For better or worse, they were bound to this world, to the gods, and to the curse that had set them on this path. And though the road was fraught with danger and madness, the Tarnished knew that they would see it through to the end.

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