One Worth Watching

(A/N: Updated auxiliary chapter with three new entries since last update, one of whom is a part of the harem for those who want to keep up with the list.)

XOXO

A fraction of a second. A moment quicker than any heartbeat or breath. A sliver in time few could ever hope to perceive in isolation.

It'd been so quick and yet for an instant all froze. The animals. The winds. The few sane that still roamed the roads. All came to a standstill, time itself losing meaning. Even the spirits, she and Torrent included, were not spared from the odd phenomenon, all things physical and spiritual halting for just a flash.

Power, a presence unlike any other, had just entered the Lands Between.

The realization only hit her well after that moment passed.

By the time Melina took hold of Torrent's reins the spectral steed was already galloping across the windy wilds of Limgrave at full speed, perhaps of the same mind.

Whoever or whatever that was, had power in spades. More than enough to set them apart from other tarnished who washed upon the shores of the Lands Between quietly, their arrival completely unnoticed and, in all likelihood, irrelevant. Most lost what little grit they had upon realizing what it was they were brought back to these lands to do.

The destiny of the Elden Lord was not for the faint of heart.

Their brief tracking of the presence, its power having passed as quickly as the moment it smothered her senses, led them to the western shores of Limgrave.

A warrior clad in armor of days passed and armed with the weapons to match.

Perhaps a scholar with knowledge and wit used to wield powers others would be lucky to brush the surface of.

Maybe even some manner of clergyman wrapped in a faith so deeply cultivated that the incantations they were capable of appeared as miracles to those around them.

She expected all of that and so much more, untold years of watching tarnished after tarnished falter and fail in their pursuit of the Elden Ring fueling hopes for someone better. For a figure that stood above the rest.

And all she found was a man.

Naked and alone he had walked himself beyond the sands of the shore until waves pushed past his calves. There he stopped and stared into the water.

She felt none of that time stopping power. Not so much as an echo of that presence that bent time itself to its will. In fact, the man, both armed with and wearing nothing, fell short of even the meager power she'd come to expect from the weakest of tarnished who found themselves beckoned to this land by Grace.

He was not who they were looking for.

And yet, even as she pulled on his reins, Torrent remained rooted to his place on the cliff, not so much as a neigh given to acknowledge her efforts. That left her with no other choice but to watch the man as well.

As he turned from the ocean, if nothing else, it could be said that he was well built, lean form covered entirely in muscle with little, if any, fat to be found. A given for any tarnished. And, despite her best efforts to ignore it, even at a distance there was no getting around the fact that the man was…well-endowed.

A natural observation that any would've made given the situation.

The man stood around for a time before making his way up to the cliff and running a hand across its stone. He took hold of a small crack in it.

Did he truly intend on climbing straight up rather than taking the time to find an easier route?

Whatever the case, a sudden yelp drew him away. Torrent followed of course, keeping to the cliff's edge so they had a clear view of the man. Demi-humans, beating on one of their own, emerged from a cave along the cliff's base.

She'd expected the weakling to flee upon seeing the creatures. She was sure he would've done so once they caught sight of him.

To her surprise he attempted communication, raising his hands in surrender.

Pathetic. Faced with weapons and aggression and he chose to wield nothing but words, leaving his life in the hands of others. Truly pathetic.

And yet Torrent remained, intent on watching the pitiful excuse of a warrior be-

Blood filled the air.

The blood of not the man but the demi-human first to attack him. He'd turn its blade against it, driving the rusted sword through the creature's chest in an instant. The swift death she thought was coming was delayed, the Tarnished taking the old sword as his own before backpedaling away from the rest of the group.

He stepped around, ducked, and backstepped away from the demi-humans attacks for a time. Sweat built up and his breaths grew deeper as he avoided them, sticking solely on the defensive.

Was that first kill a fluke? Even a novice knew that defense alone would not win a fight.

The dark haired man realized that as well.

In an abrupt change of tactics he rushed his attackers, blinding the first with a kick up of sand, and cutting them down. The others were soon to follow, the man dispatching each one without losing any momentum.

By the end he was surrounded by bloodied sand and corpses, slowly regaining his breath.

He lacked strength and endurance but possessed the experience of a seasoned fighter. A good trait to have but not one that could fully supplement those aspects.

Finally, the man moved towards the cave, stopping at the head of the demi-human the others had been beating on.

A quick merciful kill. Perhaps even a slow torture as revenge for the unprovoked assault of its kin. Varied as the tarnished were, either one was possible.

Melina's brow twitched ever so slightly upward, genuine interest flickering to life for the first time since she laid eyes on him.

He had done neither, instead beginning a dialogue with the demi-human. A tarnished with the skills necessary to dispatch such creatures yet restraining from doing so unless attacked.

A first.

Torrent led them closer as the man and demi-human headed towards the cave side by side. A human freely giving aid to a demi-human. Not unheard in times long since passed, but again, a first from a tarnished.

Torrent leaped off the cliff, spectral winds slowing their descent. His hooves hit the sand.

Despite not truly being flesh and blood, Melina found herself nearly jumping out of her skin. She wasn't alone, Torrent releasing a low neigh as he reared back.

The man, a step away from disappearing into the darkness of the cave, had snapped his attention straight to them, dark eyes narrowed into a fierce glare.

It should've been impossible. As they were no one should be able to perceive them. Not unless they willed it so. And yet, beneath the man's gaze she felt as though her very soul was being laid bare, nothing hidden.

What felt like an eternity was no more than the briefest of seconds, the glare dropping and the man disappearing into the cave.

A tarnished lacking strength yet possessing a glare that could inspire an almost primal fear that she hadn't thought herself capable of until now.

Whether or not he was the source of that power, there was something to him that she couldn't perceive. Perhaps that something was what drew Torrent to him.

He was worth watching.

XOXO

Bones cracked beneath Onyx's feet as he stepped back from a demi-human, wrenching his blade from its chest. It fell, cracking more bones as it joined the corpses of the others.

Intelligence and sentience aside, he could tell that the creatures were primitive by nature by how they lived. The narrow tunnels and sizable chambers that made up their cave system were littered with bones, moss, and all sorts of other garbage he steered clear of. The smell was as bad as the place's appearance, his body's labored breaths forcing him to get nosefulls of the putrid scent.

The bar for hygiene in this new world was currently six feet deep. Hopefully these creatures were outliers in that regard. Dragons, liches, demons, devils; all of that was dangerous, but he'd sooner face them as he was now than be stuck in a world where bathing was a foreign concept.

Fighting back a grimace, Onyx glanced into the darkness behind him. Boc, the small hairy demi-human he'd made a deal with, trailed him, keeping at a distance from the short bloody encounters. He doubted it was the first time Boc had been on the receiving end of a beating from his brethren. Though squeamish around the spilled blood, he didn't appear bothered by the gradual slaughter of his people.

Onyx had tried talking, but like the ones outside none of the demi-humans within the cave bothered to listen.

Pushing further into the cave, Onyx stepped around the skulls and other shards of bone, eyes narrowed. He toed his way through another tunnel, picking up on the distant sound of running water and the crackle of a flame. As he reached the end of tunnel, stopping beside an opening that led into yet another chamber, he found what he assumed to be their main gathering area.

Water ran down cracks in the stone above, filling the chamber with a shallow pool of water. A campfire was set up on an elevated gathering of stone, the chamber large enough that the dark smoke coming from it didn't gather up.

He counted just under a dozen demi-humans, some laying around the fire, others screeching at one another, and a few aimlessly strolling about.

A splash filled the chamber.

A demi-human, significantly bigger than the others, stomped through the waters, laying itself beside the fire alongside the others. An alpha or a chief of some kind? There were already quite a few of them. With that one throw into the mix this was going to be difficult. Plus, the back half of the chamber led to a section beyond his few. There was no telling how many laid in waiting.

A direct fight was not the way.

Onyx backed away until he reached Boc who was crouched down in the previous chamber. "Head back. The fight might reach this area." He warned while dropping down and picking up the sharpest bones he could find. Pieces of what looked like a forearm ended up being his choice. Boc nodded and retreated while he headed back to that populated chamber.

Sword placed against the cave, he took one of the bones from his left hand.

He slowed his breaths.

Took aim.

Then threw his hand forward, flicking his wrist.

He readied the next, already taking aim at another.

The first bone cut through the air and found its mark, burying its way into the skulls of one of the smaller ones around the fire. By the time the demi-humans voiced their surprise he'd already thrown two more, dropping another pair in much the same way.

Screeched and screams ripped through the chamber, the demi-humans grabbing their weapons and clambering in his direction. He threw the few bones he had left, dispatching all but the two of the smaller ones as well as the large one.

Despite its size the large one was the first to make it over, shoving one of its arms through into the tunnel to grab at him.

A foolish choice.

Sword handle in both hands, Onyx stepped just out of the grasp before charging back in. Despite the narrow space he had to work with, the right angle and force allowed him to sever the arm in one efficient slash.

The large demi-human shot back, stumbling and screeching as the much smaller ones charged in.

They might have numbers and strength on their side but with their lacking intelligence this whole thing wasn't nearly as dangerous as it should've been.

XOXO

"Th-Thank you so much." Boc, kneeling down in the water filled chamber Onyx had finished clearing out, held a small brown pouch close to his chest, his eyes growing watery and voice shaking. "After they took it from me, I thought I would never see it again. But-but you-"

"Only upholding my end of the bargain. Just make me something decent to wear and we're even." Onyx said, sword raised up in one of the falling streams of water, the blood that stained it washing away. Boc nodded, quickly taking off through the chamber and picking his way through a messy excuse of a stockpile packed in one of the corners. He wouldn't bother with the meat the demi-humans had but they had a few other things that might prove useful to him.

He put off scouring the place for the moment, focusing on the back end of the chamber where another tunnel awaited. Several demi-humans had poured out from there and as he closed in on it, he could feel the faintest draft flowing in from it.

"Where does this lead?" Onyx called out.

Boc was quick to scurry back over. "I'm not sure." He admitted. "Mother warned me to never leave the cave that way. An ancient beast is said to make its home beyond it." Some kind of myth shared amongst his people? Usually, they held some kernel of truth to them.

 "I'll be back." Onyx said, heading towards the darkened tunnel. The spiraling pathway headed upwards, the walls covered in dark green moss like the tunnels before it. Soon he emerged from the cave network and onto grassy dirt. Ahead he caught sight of the same shore he'd awoke on, now separated by a gulf of water.

This must be one of the islands I saw back on the shore. Onyx concluded. He had been too far to make out much, but he was sure he'd seen a ruin of some sort on one of them.

Turning on his heel, he made his way up the slope of the island, passing by grass, trees, and smaller wildlife. He was more than a little relieved to be out of that smelly cave, the salty scent of the scene a far better alternative.

Sure enough, as he broke beyond the healthy green brush Onyx came face to face with the crumbling stone of ruins. Stepping through what remained of the building's entranceway, he found something far more interesting.

The stony statue of a fallen dragon surrounded by much smaller fragmented statues depicting similarly draconic creatures. The statue laid beside some sort of goblet that stood the test of time proudly, the golden cup housing an odd…flowing energy. It held the shape of a crackling flame and as he got close to, released the heat he'd expected from one, but it was an unique shade of red that seemed pinkish at times. The source of it wasn't clear but he could tell that it'd been here burning for quite some time.

Onyx closed his eyes.

He lacked the energy for a proper examination of this place but much like his sharpened sense of direction, he could get a sense for certain things that others couldn't perceive. Perhaps it was due to that that he realized the statue, built in a way that made little sense was no statue at all.

His eyes snapped open, a small smirk forming.

It turned out helping Boc secured him more than just shelter and clothing.

This place, no doubt an altar or church of some kind, would be the perfect place to build his energy.