Ranni the Witch

A/N: The chronology of Chapters 14-17 is pretty questionable. Honestly, just wanted to split up the Ranni chapters a little bit. Technically, the Tarnished could have stopped by Latenna's cave on his way back to the Grand Library to pick up the ring, I suppose. Either way, here's what I know a lot of people have been waiting for!

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The ground shakes, and a dragon's roar can be heard overhead. Ah, Ranni's most troublesome Knight, the Glintstone Dragon Adula. The only question was, was this treachery, or misplaced zealotry? Adula was ever a… jealous disciple of hers. But in the end, it seemed it mattered little.

The crashing about on the grasslands above lasts for barely a minute before one last boom, the sound of a dragon's body falling to the earth, can be heard. Then, it is over. In that time, Ranni does not move. Her doll body is in the worst state it's ever been in, but that is not why she does not struggle to rise. She stays where she is… because her part is done. All that is left, is to see what happens next.

Sitting perched there on the edge of the Two Fingers' palm, Ranni is victorious. The Two Fingers, HER Two Fingers, are at long last dead. When she had foregone her Empyrean flesh all that time ago, when she had cast aside her old body and done away with her destiny, Ranni had foolishly thought that would be the end of it.

Unfortunately, it did not take long for the Two Fingers to disabuse her of that notion. They would never stop hunting her. That much had been made abundantly clear. It did not matter to them that Lunar Princess Ranni was no more. It did not matter to them that Marika had cut away the part of her that cared, for the purposes of creating her formless, ever-burning kindling maiden.

All that mattered was her defiance. All that mattered was that she'd spat in the face of the Great Will. They could not abide by her decisions, and so they'd hunted her. And so Ranni… had had to flip the script, so to speak. To turn the tables. To make the hunter, the hunted.

It had taken time, quite a lot of it in fact… and the assistance of one who not even Ranni had thought to count upon. But she'd done it. The Fingerslayer Blade had done its grisly work. Her Two Fingers were dead. She was victorious.

She was also a broken, useless thing, trapped in the body of a doll. At the end of this hard, agonizing road, what did she truly have left to show for it? Ah, but she'd been ready for this end, hadn't she? She'd prepared for this to be where it all… stopped.

Only in more recent times, had she thought to plan for something more. Only in her last encounter with the Tarnished, had she allowed herself to hope. And now… now here he was. The Tarnished lands in the cave beneath the Cathedral of Manus Celes, where the Two Fingers sought to hide. It was a textbook case of refuge in audacity, she supposed, that they would try to lay low here, at the Moonlight Altar.

His knees bend to negate most of the impact of the fall, and then he straightens up, looking to her immediately with a smile on his lips. She remains unresponsive, even in the face of his approach. Her doll body has taken quite the beating. The damage would not be easily repaired, under most circumstances.

She knows, of course, what he had to do to get here. Returning to the Academy, to her mother's… chambers in order to utilize the key he gave her, that was one thing. But the Tarnished had gone even further beyond that, to reach this place. Traversing the Lake of Rot. Bringing low the Naturalborn of the Void, malformed star that he was.

The Death of the Eternal City had in turn been put to death himself by this Tarnished's own hands, in the same way Adula had just experienced up above. Generals and Stars and Dragons alike. Each of them, nothing more than another obstacle in the Tarnished's path. Each of them, calmly faced and destroyed, all for the sake of… of her.

Curse him, for making her feel again. But also bless him, for showing her that her hope was not misplaced.

Kneeling before her, the Tarnished takes the ring that he'd recovered from the Grand Library using her key. As he holds it up, Ranni cannot help but muse over its appearance and purpose, in this the crucial moment. Tis a ring depicting that of a leaden, full moon. Symbolic of a cold oath, it was supposed to be something she gave to her consort, once upon a time.

As an Empyrean, whosoever she gave this ring, would by rights earn the title of Lord. Which… which was why she had long ago endeavored to never give it to ANYONE.

Indeed, she'd gone so far as to engrave a warning within, using her own hands.

Whoever thou mayest be, take not the ring from this place, the solitude beyond the night is better mine alone.

A passing bit of teenage rebellion, her mother had called it. But even them, the Lunar Princess had been ill at ease with her duties and destiny, with the expectations placed upon her by the Two Fingers and the Greater Will that they served. It had been her way of striking back at them, no matter how small, by declaring that she would never choose a consort, never pull another into her life of responsibility and weighty purpose.

Of course, soon after, the Golden Order had been established, her brother had begun to hold back the stars for their father, Lord Godfrey had been banished, and Radagon had returned to Leyndell and abandoned her mother. Things had, understandably, gone to utter shit after that. Everyone else might say it wasn't until Godwyn's death that everything soured, but not for Ranni. Not for her mother either.

What started as a teenage rebellion, became something much more. Ranni had conspired to cause Godwyn's death, and in the aftermath, her own. She had cast aside her Empyrean flesh. She had gone on the run from the Two Fingers, before eventually turning her gaze towards ending her hunters once and for all.

Yet in the midst of all of that… Ranni the Witch had created a failsafe. Even as she cast aside her life as Lunar Princess Ranni, leaving her mother even more bereft of hope then ever before, she had instilled a small fraction of herself in this piece of jewelry, in the Dark Moon Ring. Lunar Princess Ranni had never truly died. Nor had her cold oath.

All of this and more, flits through Ranni's mind as the Tarnished places the ring on her finger, instead of the other way around. The doll that she has inhabited all these years shifts as he takes a respectful step back. The following few moments could be called excruciating, but tis nothing the Empyrean hasn't experienced before.

And… she is Empyrean, once more. As Ranni finally moves, as she rises from her seat, she reflects on the change. She sat down one last time as Ranni the Witch, triumphant in her goal of killing the Two Fingers, but still trapped in her doll-like form. She rises as Lunar Princess Ranni, Empyrean Reborn… but without the shackles of the Greater Will upon her. Fate and destiny are HERS to do with as she pleases now, even as she rises to her full height, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling it out as a smile spreads across her face.

All of it… thanks to this Tarnished before her.

"So, it was thee, who would become my Lord."

He looks to her, solemn but also proud. And why shouldn't he be? All that he has accomplished… and such a short time too. Hah, she was not even his primary quest, was she not? Or maybe she was… no, it did not matter one way or the other. She would support him, no matter what he chose to do next.

For the moment, at least, she steps forward and brings all four hands up to run along his body. The Tarnished, seeming to sense what she desires, helps her in beginning to remove his armor. He is coated with the blood of a certain Glintstone Dragon… but then, the cave itself is filled with the blood of the Two Fingers.

Ranni is not the squeamish short. Nor, would it seem, is her Tarnished.

As she reveals more and more of his body, Ranni allows her lips to quirk up in an amused smile.

"Perhaps I needn't have warned thee."

His mast is revealed, his phallus unfolding from the depths of his armor, and Ranni merely takes hold of it with two of her four hands, while the other two continue to run along his body.

"I am pleased, however. Thou'rt a fitting choice."

Slowly, gracefully, Ranni descends to her knees. She is a Queen now, a Goddess and an Empyrean… but she sees no problem with debasing herself before her Consort. And so, she disrobes as well, easily dispelling her clothing, letting her reconstituted flesh feel air for the first time in… quite a long time. Her breasts bounce a little as they come free, and she wraps them around her Tarnished's member with her free hands, even as she looks up at him.

He gazes back down at her, his eyes filled with warmth and affection. Truly, she did not deserve such a loyal servant, such a devoted consort. But… Ranni had long since stopped caring about what she deserved. This was what he wanted, and so she would give it to him.

Her breasts make quick work of him, needless to say. Utilizing them, as well as her hands, and some light use of her tongue and mouth, she brings her consort to climax, feeling his sticky seed coating her skin, her Empyrean Flesh. Ah, this, she imagines, the Two Fingers would call blasphemy. Finding the thought amusing, Ranni uses one of her four hands to scoop some of her consort's seed up and licks it clean, gauging the taste.

They fuck, afterwards. With nowhere else to prop her up, the corpse of the Two Fingers becomes their bed. Laid out on the palm, Ranni splays her legs apart for her Tarnished, and moans throatily as he fills her with his sizable phallus. She's reminded then, of how her mother moaned when he took her. Reaching up, she wraps all four of her arms around her Tarnished's head and neck, and pulls him down into a kiss, deep and penetrating.

She finds… she does not mind that he laid with her mother. In fact, she would not mind if he did it again. When they finally pull apart from the kiss, a time span that last minutes thanks to her lack of a need to breathe and his CONSIDERABLE lung capacity, Ranni smiles at him.

"Mine Consort. Thou'rt a lecher and a degenerate of the highest order, aren't thee?"

He smiles sheepishly and ducks his head. He does not, however, stop thrusting into her. Her legs wrapped around his waist, Ranni luxuriates in such honesty. This here is a man who knows what he wants and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. She could not have asked for a better Consort, no matter his meager faults.

"I shall not ask of thee to stop thy skirt-chasing. After all… would thou have come this far for anything less?"

Her Consort frowns at that, and Ranni can tell… she has offended him. A laugh, startled and bubbly, expels from her lips as she shakes her head in amusement.

"Ah, perhaps thou wouldst, in truth. I shall never know… because I shan't have this story end any other way."

With those decisive words said, Ranni once more pulls her Consort into a kiss, clinging to him all the harder as he puts her newly made Empyrean body through its paces. She cries out against his lips, and exults in the feeling of her Consort's form, pressed against her own. This… this was beyond anything she'd ever expected to experience.

Hers had always been a Dark Path, and one she had always believed she would walk alone. Even Blaidd and Iji… she had known she would have to leave them behind eventually, for their own safety if nothing else. This right here though? She hadn't anticipated this. Not ever.

And so, she allows herself to bask in it, to bask in her Consort's warm embrace, until finally he spills his essence inside of her. Never before has Ranni felt so full, so complete. She luxuriates in that experience, in that feeling, for as long as she possibly can, before letting out a quiet sigh. Without questioning, her Consort pulls away from her, and stands back up.

In a moment, they are both dressed once more. This, after all, is not beyond Lunar Princess Ranni. With her powers fully restored to her, tis time for her to depart, and for her and her Consort to part ways in truth for the time being. No more of him showing up unannounced, no more of him chasing after her. Where she goes now, he cannot follow… until he has achieved his own goals.

Melina might think she uses this Tarnished, but Ranni sees the truth of it now. He allows her to guide him along a path he has already set, on a journey he knows all too well, somehow. Her curiosity is piqued, admittedly. She can't help but wonder. But… it is not time to ask, just yet.

Though it galls her to admit it, they do not stand as equals. And while she thought that would be because she was Empyrean Unshackled and he was merely Tarnished and not yet a true Lord, tis not the case. Rather, it is SHE who is not equal to him, just yet. A strange feeling, to be able to see the true mountain before her finally, but not be able to reach its peak.

But… tis a situation with a remedy, at least.

"I go now, to the night sky. It is there I shall find mine order. I bid thee, travel the path of the Lord. Once all is done, we shall see each other once more."

She prepares herself for travel, prepares to depart, prepares to see one last mysterious smile of understanding on her Consort's face, along with perhaps a nod. She's not expecting him to frown and step forward, seizing upon her upper pair of hands with his own before she can leave. When her Consort shakes his head, Ranni cocks her own to the side.

He still does not speak, but she finds it easier than ever before to understand him. His meaning hits her, and his desire filters through with ever-increasing ease. Her breath hitches and she lets out a small little 'ah', as her Consort, for the first time in their relationship, takes her to task.

"… Thou'rt right, of course. Blaidd and Iji… I owe them this much at least."

An oversight on her part. Or perhaps an unconscious desire to be done with her past as Ranni the Witch. But that wasn't right. And she knew it. She just needed her Consort to show her the error of her willful blindness. In truth, he was the only one who possibly could. Reaching out, Ranni can feel them. Blaidd, escaped his imprisonment, surrounded by the last of the Two Fingers' assassins, but nevertheless driven mad by his status. And Iji, ever-waiting at his forge for news. The wrong sort of news might break the old blacksmith, drive him mad with grief.

… If she'd let it lie, these final two loose ends would have indeed taken care of themselves. But was that a fair end to their stories? No. No it was not. Looking to her Consort, Ranni smiles a faint smile and bows her head in apology.

"Thy worry was well-placed, mine Consort. I shall take care of them."

Only then, does the Tarnished release her with a smile and a nod. And so Ranni departs, though not without her loyal wolf and devoted war counselor. There will always be a place for them at her side, now that the influence of the Two Fingers wanes. Though, the Greater Will cannot be truly vanquished until her Consort reaches the throne and ascends to his true destiny.

But Ranni does not fret. She does not even hope. What need is there for hope, when she knows with a surety deep in her breast that he WILL succeed? There is no question of failure. His ascension… is inevitable.

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A/N: Poor Melina, how's she supposed to compete with her big sis Ranni like this?! Huehuehue

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