2 The Lands Between

Max POV:

…

What happened?

…

Oh right, I fell.

As I'm trying to get up, I'm also inspecting my body for any injuries. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any at all. But how is this possible? I can clearly see some of my clothes ripped.

That's very strange, anyway looking at my surroundings, once more I immediately recognize where I am. The true starting area.

I started desperately searching for some flasks everywhere, unfortunately there weren't any.

Damnit, just one flask of crimson tears would be a lifesaver.

I looked around the cave and I noticed some differences. There should be a ghost here, but I can't see him.

It appears that the things aren't exactly as they are in the game.

I walked towards the edge and wondered wether I should drop down.

In the end I decided to drop down later. My first goal was to get a weapon, a big stick or anything robust will serve it's purpose. When I drop down, after killing the zombies I can just take their swords.

I was satisfied with this plan so I continued exploring. I stopped by the golden tree for a second to examine it. I tried to break off one of its branches, but I was unable to do so. Even though the branches look weak and frail, this isn't the case. Therefore I moved on and set my sights on finding a Site of Grace, according to my memory, there should be one right after opening this wooden door.

Luckily there was indeed a Site of Grace, although it was completely different then what I imagined. It was just a small, short ray of light on the ground. I tried touching it and the ray of light flickered and then the ray grew bigger in a direction as if it's pointing somewhere.

I was flabbergasted, is this thing trying to tell me where to go?

Nearby was a burnt body, that's also where I found my first usable weapon, a finger severer. Then I made my way towards the lift. On the top I struggled lifting the iron door, barely managing to lift it enough for my body to pass trough.

Expecting to meet the maidenless npc I prepared myself mentally in advance to face the humiliation, only to find no one there.

I walked outside, looking around, searching for him. Still no sign of him. The moonlight and the Erdtree are illuminating the night sky. In the distance I can see a huge horse with golden Armor, but with no rider.

Where is he?

Once I moved closer I found the answer to the mystery. The Sentinel is actually sleeping behind his horse. This should also explain why Varré wasn't there.

I used this opportunity to safely move to the Church of Ellah. Upon arriving close to it I immediately recognized Kalé.

Nice at least he is still there, let's see if his merchandise is the same.

General POV:

A merchant with red clothing was playing a calm melody while sitting besides a fire. Max can be seen slowly approaching the merchant.

Once Kalé saw Max, he stopped playing and asked with his deep voice:

„You there stop! Who are thee? I can see thee tarnished."

Max stopped approaching and was visibly stunned. He clearly did not understand why Kalé is so wary of him.

While Max is giving his best to process these events Kalé continues.

„Why are thee sneaking up to me? What are thee doing in the middle of the night?"

Max opened his mouth trying to say something but no words came out .

„Are you after my head?" asked Kalé, at the same time prepared himself to fight.

Max POV:

Oh shit. This is going in the wrong direction, I didn't even interact with with him and he is already hostile.

Shit.

Why is this happening to me? I slowly raised my hands in the air and then spoke:

„No no no, I come in peace. I mean no harm."

I saw that Kalé wasn't convinced, but he still showed a small sign of hesitation. Yes alright, there is still a chance.

„How could I even hurt you, I don't even have a weapon."

Kalé frowned up.

„Hmm that may be true, however you don't look like you are able to buy something, therefore if you are not buying some wares, go, be on your way then." answered Kalé while looking at my ripped clothes.

I couldn't believe it. Did he just kick me out because of my poor appearance? This bitch. Unbelievable.

My face turned ugly really quick, yet I still chose to take a step back, at least he didn't attack me.

„Fine. I'm sorry to interrupt."

Kalé POV:

Look's like the suspicious tarnished finally left.

His behavior was very strange. The tarnished either has to be very strong or a big fool to wander around during the night.

Ever since the dark rider appeared, my nights have become restless. My memory is still fresh, I remember clearly my encounter with him. I only saw him from the distance, he was very tall and wore heavy full-body armor as black as the night. At the time I saw how a small group of banished knights serving Godrick fought against him, in the beginning they managed to knock him of his horse under casualties, however the dark knight just resummoned his horse. I couldn't believe my eyes, from then on it was a one sided massacre. Scared I jumped on my mount and I escaped at full speed, towards this church.

And this tarnished walks around with ripped clothes and no weapon during the night. As I said he is either the biggest fool I have ever seen or really strong.

Or is he perhaps one of them?

Generel POV:

Kalé kept thinking about the past.

Contrarily to Max, who kept distancing himself from the church and was thinking about his next move.

Meanwhile somebody observed their interaction.

Max POV:

This is bad. If Kalé reacted hostile as soon as he saw, then how will the other NPCs react? I need to be more cautious when I meet them. My knowledge about their past and future should be helpful to ensure I don't get on their bad side.

But I still haven't realized why Kalé almost wanted to fight. After thinking for a while the answer seemed obvious.

I thought, perhaps his reaction had something to do with the fact that it's night? In the game, when you first meet Kalé the sun is shining. Yeah and the fact that I appeared out of nowhere might also have played a role.

After walking around for some time I stumbled upon a big stick on the ground.

I found it!

I finally had some means to defend myself.

While I was examining my first weapon, a noise put me out of my trance.

It was a quiet, deep and slow voice that spoke:

„Keeeeeep seeearchiiing."

Looking towards the direction of the voice, I could recognize 2 silhouettes, one is on the ground digging, while the other one is standing behind the other holding a torch. It's standing there, with a very weird body posture, while commanding with this zombie-like voice the other one.

Are these zombies?

Perfect time to test my stick.

I crouched and quietly circled around them and slowly closed the distance between us. Once I was 4 meters away from them, I sprinted towards the standing one and swung the stick with full force over the top of my head.

Just before my stick and his head collided he turned his head around.

What the hell? Does he have a sixth sense? I screamed inside my head.

His head managed to avoid the stick but not his shoulder.

Once I hit him, the zombi lost his balance and fell. Some soft zombie screams left his mouth.

I swung the stick once more with my full force, but this time successfully hitting it in the head.

His hand was still trembling, so I kept swinging a few more times until it finally stopped. In the meantime the other zombie stoped searching and looked at me.

When I made eye contact with the zombie, I took the opportunity to inspect its rotten body. It was disgusting, the body was dead, it had gray color and you could see some worms sticking out.

I subconsciously took a step back. The zombie then set his gaze onto the other zombies corpse and kept staring at it. I used this moment to launch another attack, hitting its head like a baseball. Effectively killing it in one attack.

This zombie was a lot weaker then the first. Also his reaction speed was a lot slower. It appears that differences in strength and intellect between zombies.

I took a look at my stick, sadly a crack already appeared. Then I searched trough the zombies corpses. Unfortunately, only the stronger zombie had some runes on him, I found them in small bag, near his waste. There were 27 runes in total.

I guess that's still better then nothing.

On my way back I collected some rowa fruits and drunk some water from the lake near the church.

Feeling energized after eating for the first time since arriving I decided that it's time to face the soldier of god.