Yandere Elden Ring x reader Concept
This has been in my drafts since June so I'm posting it now, so I no longer have to look at it.
Also, I tried with the old English, okay? Cut me some slack.
Edit from the future: check out this blog for more Elden ring stuff @whitewitchqueen
Masterlist
Your mother always called you a dreamer, your head in the clouds, to distracted to really be aware of the world around you. How could you? War ravaged the Lands Between, and your life with your mother was not exactly the best.
You were extremely poor, and your mother was afflicted with the scarlet rot. As you aged, your mothers condition got worse, until she was immobilized, blinded by the rot that was killing her. From dusk till dawn, your mother groaned and begged for death, but it never came.
You mother wasn't alone in her suffering. You, a young twelve-year-old, was racked with quilt for your mother. After she became bedridden, you took on her work, and attempted to help subside the pain. No matter how much you worked, she only continued to get worse. It didn't help that whenever you went to sleep, your mind was filled with dark thoughts that made you sick. Kill her, they said, kill her and you will be free.
You never listened though and continued to take care of your dying mother. Eventually, your mother grew unresponsive, but thankfully still breathing. During this time, the voices and dreams became worse, now they were ragging on during the day, filling you with dread. They were often urging you to murder your mother, but on rare occasions, they were filling your head with visions, nothing concrete, just jumbles of colors and indistinguishable words, but it didn't help with your concentration.
It was a cold night when your mother died. It wasn't sudden or dramatic, she was simply gone. You didn't feel any pain, never cursing the world for taking her from you. You were simply happy her soul would be welcomed into the Erdtree. Her death did rattle you though. For so long, your life revolved around her, and now she was gone, and you don't know how to continue without her.
You finally allow yourself to cry when you bury her in a simple grave right outside the shack you called a home. You fell to your knees, tears racking your body as you hold yourself tight to find some sense of comfort. Your there for a while before you lay your body down on the grave, your nose runny and face wet as you cry quietly to sleep.
You didn't know where you were when you awoke. Wait, you weren't awake, you were dreaming. Your body felt strangely light and warm, but everything around you felt so real. You felt someone else's presence around you, calling out to them with a small hello. There was no response, but the strange feeling didn't go away, in fact it only got stronger, the warmth nearly consuming you. The light around you was blinding, practically burning you as you pushed yourself to wake up.
You were breathless when you actually awake, sweat rolling down your face. It's morning, and your covered in dirt. However, what's more concerning are the small burns on your arms. It filled you with confusion, but you past it off as old scars. As you slowly stand up with a small wobble, you gaze at the world around you. You sigh, as you fully take in your situation. Your mother, the only person you ever had, is dead, and you are alone.
You walk back into your home, your face expressionless and unmoving. The house is eerily quiet now that it is devoid of the painful moaning of your mother. You trudge to your room, jumping when you come face to face with a doll. Its skin was a light shade of blue and it was wearing mages clothing. It doesn't move at the sight of few, but the sight of it is enough of a worry. You move slowly towards it, picking it up, you move it around to inspect it, dropping in surprise when it speaks.
"Thou dreamer, who are you?" The doll's mouth doesn't move, but the feminine voice surrounds you completely. You don't answer, too fearful to open your mouth. "It does not matter." You hear her say. "Tell me, how does thou enter the land of dreams?"
"I don't know." You whisper, the doll remaining motionless. "Sad." The voice says, going quiet for a minute. "Find me, dreamer." It finally says, "At the Belfries in Liurnia." The voice finishes before the doll disappears in a blue light. Liurnia? Liurnia was days away from your home, you couldn't possibly make it there. You shake off the voice as some strange dream, moving to change into some less dirty clothes. You planned on traveling into the Capital to look for better work, now that you were supporting yourself.
Leyndell was much busier than usual, Queen Marika marriage to the Champion Radagon causing people all around the Lands Between to travel to the Capital. Merchants, finger readers, even worriers, they were all gathered at the Golden Captial. But for you, it felt like eyes were constantly on you. You felt paranoid, scared, and you desperately missed your mother. But you barely got the chance to take a breath before the sound of cheering enveloped your senses, completely overwhelming you.
From a distance, you could see a glimpse of blond. It was brief, only for a moment, but it was enough to get the crowd around you to start singing praises again. It was loud, so, so loud. You head was spinning, and in middle of Lyndell Capital, you fell unconscious.
The way you felt in your dream can only be described as motherly. Worm hands enveloping you from all directions, you felt safe. You wanted to pull the feeling inside of you and never let it go. The feeling made you miss your mother, causing tears to roll down your face like you were a baby again. In an instant, you awoke, the heat of the tears still stuck to your face.
"Oh, my poor, sweet child." There that feeling was again, that warm, motherly feeling. It felt like sweet honey, it filled you with glee. But as you turned your head to look at the voice, the glee was replaced by dread. All-consuming dread as Queen Markia the Eternal carefully stroked your tear covered cheeks, comfort and kindness echoing in her voice. You wanted to back away, but her presence was like a magnet, pulling you in.
Before you even spoke, the Queen beat you too it. "You don't have to worry, my dear. For I will keep you safe. Stay with me." With every stroke of her fingers, you were drawn back into the corners of your mind. The last bits of your consciousness knew she was messing with you, with your memories, with your mind. As her grip slowly got tighter you could feel yourself slipping away, until eventually, you were a shell of yourself. Ready to be molded by the Queen herself, and whatever other forces may be.
You awake suffering no dreams, no dark premonitions. It was a peaceful awakening. But everything around you felt off. The room you were in was vast, the bed was too comfortable, the clothing on your back was soft, you felt different.
Your body moved on its own, towards an unknown destination only your legs knew. You wanted to stop, but it was like your mind was separate from your body. You couldn't make decisions for yourself. Eventually, you stopped in front of an elaborate door, for what reason you knew not. You slowly brought your hand towards its intricate carving, the door opening before you could make contact. "My child, you're awake." The Queen knelt down, grasping your hands, "It is wonderful to see you again." You shake your head, nearly entranced by the golden glow in her eyes.
"Who are you?" Your words were airy, scared even. "Where am I?" The Queen smiled at you, not faced by your questions.
"Oh, my dear dreamer." Her words were bright and warm. "You are finally home." You don't question her further, your mind swarming too fast for you to properly think. "Come now, your father would like to see you."
Dreamer. You've heard that before.
---
A/n: I needed to get this out of my drafts, sorry if this sucks.
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Out of the Hands of Grace pt.2
Part One
Warnings: choking, depictions of violence, kidnapping, blood, mentions of character death, animal death, body horror, gore, Razor being creepy
Word count: 7.2k
Time passed, and Razor didn't return to the hold. It was just as he had told you, and yet it struck you as to how much time had gone by when you realized that a full month had passed and you hadn't seen him since he had last visited.
Even though he had been clear about that, you still worried for him.
Since this had begun, you had seen your fair share of Tarnished that had come and gone, leaving the hold and then never returning. Those who returned from the Lands Between brought back whispers of the fates that the fallen Tarnished had suffered; descriptions of various tortures, deaths and mutilations that you overheard and tried not to think about. You didn't want to imagine that something had happened to Razor, something that would cause him to not return.
If the man who must have been the strongest of all the Tarnished had fallen, then what hope did any of the others have of gathering the Great Runes?
Though those doubts were slowly eating away at you, you continued as though nothing was wrong, helping in the little ways you could with the Tarnished who came to you before the pull of grace guided them to retrieve the runes.
With Razor's absence, Kastro became a more frequent visitor of yours. Soon you found that you were able to recognize it when you heard Kastro approaching, and the two of you began to have conversations similar to the ones you would have with Razor when he would visit you.
There was guilt when you realized how much it felt like you were replacing Razor with Kastro, and it only reminded you further of the other Tarnished who had left and were never seen again. Could that really happen to Razor? Could he really be gone for good?
But as you reminded yourself time and time again, there was little that you could do for him outside of the hold. The most you were capable of doing was just hoping that he would be okay.
More time passed: certain Tarnished stopped coming back to the hold while new faces arrived, some of whom accepted your blessing while others were too distrusting to dare approach you. Kastro came by frequently with stories of what he had encountered in the Lands Between and occasionally brought you back small trinkets. One that he had brought back was a silver chain with a small orange gem that hung from it. It was a simple necklace, but one that you were fond of and you wore it virtually every day. And after a while, you managed to strike up a small friendship with the spirit tuning girl, Roderika, who evidently had been keeping her distance from you because she had felt intimidated by Razor.
That had been a little alarming, but not quite as alarming as when you learned that most in the hold knew to avoid your quarters if Razor was present. He had not been quite as kind to the others at the hold as he had to you, and some felt as though they would face danger if they were to get too close to you.
But as he had done nothing significant to any others, he was still allowed within the walls of the hold.
You weren't sure what to make of this new information. Based on those stories, it almost sounded as though Razor had an issue with jealousy. And the thought you had previously came back to mind, and you once more dismissed it.
That couldn't be right; Razor wasn't like that. And you weren't worth enough for someone to be jealous over you.
Although you still worried for Razor, it was nice to deepen your friendship with Kastro and make one with Roderika.
Your concern over his well-being ended nearly three months since the last time you had seen him.
Things had been slow in the hold when you had woken up. There didn't appear to be many in the hold so the noise level was considerably low, the most consistent sign of activity being the sound of a hammer on metal as the blacksmith continued forging weapons.
There had been no Tarnished in to see you as of yet, and your only guest had been Roderika who had asked to borrow one of your books so she had something to do in between her spirit tuning.
It was a surprisingly calm atmosphere during times like these.
Despite the lack of noise, you couldn't notice when someone entered the hold and made a beeline for your quarters. Either you had been too engrossed in your reading to hear him or he had taken care to not announce his presence too early.
Either way, you were startled when you glanced up at the doorway and found Razor to be standing there.
A mixture of emotions shot through you. You were relieved to see that he was safe, that the worst hadn't happened and he was still alive. And then you felt silly for thinking that he had perished and that your mind continued to dream up worst-case scenarios.
And you would've felt happy upon seeing him back had it not been for something else.
As he stood in the doorway, you were reminded of that time when the two of you had first met. The way his dark eyes looked made you feel vulnerable, and a nervousness began to take over you as the aura that surrounded him now was similar to like it was then.
But even with that, you pushed yourself to say something, forcing yourself to smile as you greeted him with “I'm glad to see you again, Razor.”
He smiled.
“I'm glad to see you, as well,” he replied.
Then he paused before asking “may I come in?”
“Of course,” you answered.
He seemed happy to enter your quarters again.
But the solemn air around him had yet to dissipate.
He stood in front of you, making no move to remove his armor. Clearly, he wanted to talk.
“I wish to apologize,” he said.
You blinked in surprise.
“For what?” you asked.
“For leaving so suddenly and for so long,” he said, “I know it distresses you when Tarnished do not return to the hold.”
“But that's why you told me you wouldn't be back, right? I wasn't worried.”
He was studying you closely when you said that, and you wondered if he could tell that you were lying.
“I'm glad you have faith in me,” said Razor.
You smiled in response. Things felt a bit more normal now, that aura that had surrounded him was now largely gone. Though not completely, and he was clearly still plagued by whatever problems were bothering him, it seemed that you were still able to put him at ease.
It felt as though things were going to return to what they had been; he would come to you in the hold, and you would use your magic on him to help.
Although after what you had heard about him, you might ask him to not be mean to Roderika.
Then his gaze went down to your necklace.
“That's new,” he said.
“Oh, it's something Kastro got for me.”
Immediately, it seemed as though you'd made a mistake in telling him that, as the small smile on his lips vanished and Razor looked down at you coldly again.
Why would he be so upset over Kastro?
“You've seen that man often, then,” he stated.
“I suppose,” you said, “like everyone else, he's trying to gather up the runes so as to fix things. But that takes a lot out of people.”
“Mm.”
This was going badly, and your palms began to sweat as you continued. You needed to divert the conversation in a different direction.
“You must have been traveling a lot since I last saw you. Has that been what was keeping you from coming back to the hold?” you then asked.
“Not completely. There have been other matters that I needed to attend to.”
“Ah, gathering more runes?”
“Among other things.”
The coldness of his answers didn't do much to settle your nerves. In fact, it only served to increase them the longer this conversation continued, the longer he stared at you like that.
Was this what Roderika and the others saw when they looked at Razor? Had he just been hiding it from you, or were you so blind that you simply hadn't noticed it before now?
You tried to avoid thinking about that as you spoke with him more in the hopes that he would engage in the conversation.
“What sort of places have you been to, then?” you asked, “I've heard some of the others speaking about a manor that was built on a volcano. Have you seen-”
“There was something else,” he interrupted.
It wasn't like him to stop you mid-sentence, and you stayed quiet as he continued with “there's something else that I need to apologize to you for.”
“.... What?”
Instead of answering, Razor reached down to place his hands around your neck, the armor making shivers run down your spine as the metal made contact with your skin.
For the first time since you had met him, you felt fear as you gazed up at Razor.
But even as the fear began to creep into your system, you tried ignore it.
“Razor,” you began, “I'm not sure what you're doing, but-”
The armor around you was suddenly tighter as he fully gripped your neck.
And then he began to squeeze.
Too late you had realized what was going on. You were gasping for air as you tried to pry his hands off of your neck. Razor responded by shoving you down onto the bed, leaning over you and easily keeping you in place as he choked you.
The room seemed like it was swirling around you as a darkness began to overtake you. Your attempts to get him off of you were pitiful. Grabbing at the guards on his wrists did nothing, and trying to pry off his hands was even more useless. Even now the strength in your arms was almost gone completely, and when you opened your mouth to beg for Razor to stop, no words could come out. All that came from you was an even smaller, sadder gasping sound.
Dark eyes looked down at your fallen form, his expression surprisingly cold while you silently begged him to stop this.
Why was he doing this?
Why did Razor want to kill you?
Then you heard a voice coming from just outside your room.
“What are you doing?!”
You were still awake enough to identify the voice as belonging to Kastro. But by then unconsciousness was winning, and you blacked out completely.
The last thing you remembered seeing was Razor glancing over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face.
Something was sticking into your back. Whatever it was, it was hard and uncomfortable and you could only assume that you had fallen asleep on top of something. But in that moment, you just wanted to sleep more, so instead of doing what would've been the more responsible thing and getting up to put whatever it was back in its place, you rolled over onto your side as you decided that you would put it back whenever you felt actually alive enough to get out of bed.
But when you turned onto your side, you were surprised at how hard the mattress was beneath the sheet you laid upon.
You had always done your best to count your blessings and be grateful for what you were given, but even if the bed that the hold had provided you wasn't necessarily the best, it had never been quite this harsh to sleep upon.
It was as though you were sleeping on stone.
That thought had you blearily opening your eyes, blinking a few times before your vision cleared and you looked at your surroundings.
You were in a room, about the same size as yours, though perhaps it was a bit smaller. The walls and floor were made of stone, and all over the room were tree roots, completely covering the ceiling as they cascaded down the stone surfaces and reached out to one another on the cold floor, as though they were intent on hiding the the stone within the small area entirely. The only bits of light that were available in the room came from cracks in the ceiling, stray beams of light that allowed you enough visibility to see that you were alone. Though it did appear as though there had been someone with you at some point, given the pack you saw sitting on the other side of the room. That, and the fact that you had been placed on what appeared to be a cloak.
When you reached over to where you had been laying earlier, you found that the thing that had been poking into your back appeared to be a raised tree root.
After waking, it was as though your body had decided that it was now the best time to let you become aware of all of the aches that were affecting you. Though someone had clearly tried to help by placing the cloak down for you, sleeping on such an uncomfortable surface would inevitably take some sort of toll, and you wondered how you had managed to get any sleep at all in this place.
….. Where was 'this place', and why were you here?
It was embarrassing that your mind was so slow to wake up, but once you realized that you were no longer in the hold, panic quickly took over you. What happened? Had the hold been attacked? Had you been captured? That didn't seem too likely, seeing as you hadn't been tied up. But then why were you here?
You took in a deep breath as you tried to calm yourself, doing your best to remember what had happened before all of this, what the last thing you could recall was.
…. You'd been in the hold. As was expected.
Roderika had borrowed one of your books, and after..... After you had waited. Waited for whatever Tarnished would enter the hold and give them your services if they wanted it.
And the Tarnished who had entered had been Razor.
Then it all came back: Razor had apologized for worrying you and you had assured him that everything was fine.
And then.....
What happened then?
Kastro had been there, too, as you felt that you had heard his voice recently. Though you didn't know why, you felt worried for him. As though he had been in some sort of danger.
Your hand went up to your throat when you thought of him, instinctively grabbing for the necklace.
But it was gone.
You were alerted to the sounds of a door creaking open and suddenly there was a lot more light in the room, coming from the top of a stairway that you hadn't initially noticed. The light soon vanished, replaced by the shadow of a figure as they began to descend.
The way the footsteps sounded on the stone stairway were unfamiliar to you, but when you heard the clinking of a chain that came with them, your mind immediately went to one person, and one person alone.
Your suspicions were proven correct when you saw Razor walking down the last few steps. He smiled at you when he saw that you were awake.
“Glad to see that you've woken up,” he said to you, “you've been asleep for much longer than I was anticipating. I was starting to worry.”
…. He was being remarkably nonchalant about this. That worried you a bit, but you did your best to ignore that as you forced yourself to ask him a question.
“Razor, where are we?”
Talking felt slightly difficult as there was a distinct ache in your throat, but you made yourself speak anyway.
“Beneath some ruins. I believe it was a church once,” he said.
Razor walked into the room, heading towards the spot where the pack had been left sitting. He was missing his cloak, you realized, and when you glanced down you saw that the cloak you had been resting on was his.
“.... Why are we not at the hold?” you then asked him.
He didn't answer you at first. He sat himself down on a bit of stone that was tall enough for him to use as a seat, and after pulling out a bit of cloth from his pack, he began to wipe down the morning star. It was bloody and seemed to have bits of flesh sticking to some of the spikes.
And though it was hard to be certain in this light, you thought you saw what appeared to be strands of white hair attached to the spikes.
While that wasn't something you hadn't seen before, this current situation had you being more unsettled by it than you had in the past, and the bad feeling that had been building up inside of you only continued to grow.
Those other times you had witnessed in while in the hold, and while it wasn't the most pleasant thing to see, you had some sense of ease in knowing that whatever creatures Razor would reduce to stains on his armor and weapons were far away from you. Unless the unthinkable happened and they managed to enter the hold, they couldn't get to you.
But now you were no longer in the hold, and you needed answers as to why.
“Razor,” you said when he didn't answer you.
“Razor,” you said again with a bit more force.
He was still cleaning his weapon when he finally answered.
“Because I took you.”
“Took me?”
You weren't sure what you were hearing. But there had to be a good reason for what he was doing, right?
“Why would you take me? Did something happen? Was the hold in danger?” you began asking.
You recalled the other person you remembered hearing before blacking out and asked “is Kastro alright?”
Upon hearing that name Razor frowned, and he placed the cloth and his weapon away before he looked back to you.
“I'd prefer it if you didn't bring up that name,” he said.
“What? Why?” you asked, “what happened, Razor? I don't understand.”
“I thought it would've been obvious when I said that I had taken you,” said Razor.
He sat up straighter then, and told you “I kidnapped you.”
Time seemed to slow a bit as you processed that information. Truthfully, after hearing him say that he had taken you, it had briefly crossed your mind that it had been a kidnapping. But it had just been so outlandish to you that you couldn't believe that it had been the case.
But now that he had flat-out admitted it, it was impossible to deny.
“.... Why don't I remember you doing that?” you asked.
“I decided it would be better if you weren't awake when I took you,” was the reply.
Upon hearing that, you felt a phantom grip around your neck, one that could've easily squeezed the life out of you. One of your hands went up to feel the skin of your throat.
“Don't worry; I doubt the bruising will last for very long,” he said to you.
“... Why..... Why did you do that?” you asked.
“Because seeing what I needed to do to take you from Roundtable Hold would've upset you,” he said, “I thought it would be better if you didn't need to carry around any guilt over what happened when I escaped with you.”
“But why? Why do this? Aside from the blessing, I'm useless! What reason is there to kidnap me?”
Razor gave you a small but wistful smile.
“Are you really so oblivious?” he asked, “you can't tell when someone is in love with you?”
It was silent in the room after he said that.
You weren't sure what to say. Or how to react to such a confession.
Those fleeting thoughts you had months earlier, when you were confronted with Razor's strange behavior, had turned out to be correct. But at the time you had called yourself silly and that you were thinking too highly of yourself.
But the behavior had made sense, even if you had been in denial over it. Razor had been jealous of the other Tarnished that would come to you, and seeing Kastro with you had caused him to act irrationally.
To the point that he had committed violence for your sake.
Maybe in another place, another time, his confession might have touched you, but it was hard to feel much joy from it after what he had also admitted to.
“Why kidnap me to tell me this?” you asked, “why kidnap me at all?”
“Are you saying you would've come with me willingly?”
“Of course not,” you said, “but we could've.... Worked out something. You didn't have to take me. It didn't have to be like this.”
“It did.”
“Why?”
Razor sighed a little.
“I did my best to be understanding of your situation,” Razor said, “it didn't make me happy to know that others were in that room with you, receiving your touch and making you waste your talents on them. But you were dedicated to your position, something that I respected, so I made myself tolerate it. For your sake.”
Razor's expression grew grim as he continued.
“But then I saw you that day with that man. His head on your lap while your arms were around him. And even after I left, it was all I could see. After that, I knew that letting you stay there was no longer an option.”
“.... Why..... Why do you get to decide that?” you asked.
“Because I want to protect you.
“I don't need your protection; I was safe at the hold. And Kastro isn't dangerous.”
“You don't know how the minds of men work,” he said, “and since you were oblivious to my feelings for you, it doesn't surprise me at all that you didn't recognize his feelings.”
“Kastro doesn't feel anything for me! There isn't anything between us!” you insisted.
His mouth twitched at that, one corner of his lips curling up into a small smirk as he looked at you.
“No, there certainly isn't anything now. I've made certain of that.”
You furrowed your brows in question as you asked “what do you mean by that?”
“His days in the Lands Between are over.”
The words he spoke were said with that same small smirk.
You thought of the strands of white hair you had seen on the spikes of his morning star, and the pieces were put together.
You were fearful again.
Kastro was gone, and Razor had been the one responsible. And the only reason he wasn't going into any more detail on that was because whatever decent part of him remained knew that you wouldn't take the information well. Just knowing that he was dead had you feeling ill.
Ill and fearful as to what would happen if you stayed with him any longer.
Standing up on shaking legs, you looked to him, then to the stairway that lead outside. And when you looked back to him you took in a deep breath as you steeled your resolve.
“I'm going back to Roundtable Hold. You don't get to keep me here,” you said.
His gaze went back to you as you said that, and that feeling of danger was in the air again as he sat there, watching you.
“.... Very well.”
That hadn't been the answer you were expecting, and Razor chuckled at you when he saw you blinking in surprise.
“If you want to go back that badly, then I'll let you go” he said, “find your own way to the hold if it means that much to you. After all, you said that you didn't need my protection, correct?”
…... That didn't seem right, especially not with his admissions of what he'd done to take you away from the hold. Was he lying and simply planned on jumping you the instant you turned your back to him? Or perhaps there was some sort of trap in place for you?
Despite your uncertainty, you made your way to the stairs, keeping your eyes on him as you did so. Razor didn't move; he just stayed seated while he watched as you reached the stairs and sprinted up to the door at the top.
The hinges of the door were very rusted and you needed to push your whole weight against its surface to open it, which cost you a few seconds. But even as you opened the door and took the remaining few steps to the surface, you didn't hear Razor coming after you.
Only when you reached the top step was when you were hit by a sudden realization:
In all of your time spent at the hold, you had never seen the outside. All of your time had been spent within the safety of the walls of Roundtable Hold, and as you were too weak to survive on your own, you never ventured out. You had no reason to.
Now you were outside and in the middle of a wilderness that you didn't recognize.
The ruined structure you found yourself in did indeed resemble a church. The ceiling was completely gone, but enough of the walls remained, and the arched outlines of where windows indicated that it had been a place of worship at one point in time. The open entrance had the same shape of the windows, and just outside of the entryway stood a field. The grass was tall, but you could spot a few formations of rocks within the field, rounded at the tops and sitting in formations that almost resembled that of a crescent moon.
Beyond the rubble of the decaying building that the room had been built beneath were green plains, towering cliffs and lush forests. There were more ruins in the distance, great structures of stone that were laying on their sides, as though a great building had once stood but was now in pieces on the land below. And beyond all of that stood a giant tree, one that stood tall above everything else and glowed with a brilliant light that shown down upon where you stood despite how far away it was. All of this beneath a gray, cloudy sky.
The wind blew by you then, causing your clothing to flutter as it pushed through the stone ruins that surrounded you and out into a field that stood directly next to the fallen structure. And as you looked out in that direction, it only occurred to you then:
You had no idea how to get back to the hold. Where would you even begin in an attempt to return to it?
Hearing a noise from the room below you, you glanced behind you briefly. That must've been the reason as to why Razor wasn't concerned when you said you were going back; he knew that you didn't know where you were and that you would have no clue on how to return to the hold. No doubt he was going to come up those stairs to taunt you with that fact.
Despite not knowing anything about your surroundings, you didn't want to give him that satisfaction. So you began to walk, moving away from the stone steps and heading towards the end of the structure, where mostly still intact the entryway stood.
You walking forward had disturbed another who was using the building as a temporary shelter. Just before you reached the entrance, a small creature came rushing out from behind a smaller bit of fallen stone and made a beeline for the doorway. An animal, it seemed. You were inclined to call it a rabbit, but the tail was far too long for any rabbit you had seen before.
It was ultimately unimportant, and as it ran out through the entrance, you looked back up to the tree in the distance. Would it be worthwhile to travel there? Would you even find someone from the hold beneath the tree? It was worth it to try. And though it seemed like it would take some time to get there, maybe you'd be lucky and come across someone who could help you.
If any of the monsters of these lands came across you, they'd kill you. And while you knew that there were a great many of those things that wanted you dead, as long as you were smart and stayed in the shadows, you'd be able to avoid-
You heard the sound of movement coming from just outside the entrance.
Followed by the a squealing sound.
And when you looked towards the source of the noise you saw.....
A hand.
A giant hand that seemed as though it had sprung up from the ground beneath it, holding something tightly in its grasp.
It was the rabbit creature, you realized, as you saw the long tail sticking out through the giant fingers.
The rabbit continued to squeal, trying to squirm its way out as the hand gripped it tighter until you heard a sickening crunch, and then the squealing stopped as the tail of the creature went limp.
Witnessing that had shaken you, and you stood petrified at the doorway, uncertain of what to do. Where had this thing – the hand come from? There was nothing there earlier, only the rocks-
Rocks?
You looked around in the field again, at the rock formations that you had only briefly looked over earlier and realized that you had been mistaken: the rocks were actually the tips of the monsters fingers, and they were laying in wait for some unsuspecting creature to run out and step where they could grab them. It was no doubt what they would've done to you if the rabbit hadn't run out ahead of you.
Glancing over the field once more, you felt a pit form in your stomach when you realized just how many of those things were out there.
Instinct had you stepping back.
And that turned out to be the wrong thing to do, as the instant you did so, about a half dozen of those monsters sprung up. Giant, disembodied hands that used their fingers to run at you, all intent on squeezing out every ounce of your life.
You were going to die.
That seemed certain as those things rushed towards you at speeds that you knew you couldn't outrun. You were going to die and whatever remained of your corpse afterwards would be torn apart by scavengers or left to rot. Though you doubted that it would've done much, you cursed yourself for never taking any time to learn any sort of combat training or spells that could've protected you.
One of the hands was at the doorway while you backed away again-
And then there was an arm around your waist that pulled you back.
You looked over just in time to see Razor bringing his morning star down on the creature. Blood spurted from its flesh and it scurried away after, taking cover with the others that were now far more cautious.
Razor hummed to himself.
“That's quite a few that gathered out here,” he said.
He let you go, pushing you back towards the top of the steps.
“Go back down. I'll take care of this.”
Razor didn't wait for you to give any response to his order; he just dove headfirst into that horde of monsters with that smile of his still on his face.
You would normally be inclined to follow those instructions, but you remained there, still and stupefied by what you were witnessing.
You had known that he was powerful. Despite your lack of combat skills, you had been able to tell just by looking at him that he was strong, stronger than any of the others you had regular interaction with and possibly stronger than Gideon himself.
But it was something else to witness him in action, taking down the beasts that would've killed you within moments. Rolling away from their attacks while running in to batter at their flesh, leaving them more and more bloody with every hit he delivered until eventually they fell to the ground dead. He stomped down on the fingers of one creature hard enough that bent backwards until it broke, blood spurting out of the wound while the broken bones were visible.
And through all of this, Razor seemed to be enjoying himself.
There were only a few more of the hand beasts left when you heard a groan coming from the opposite direction, and it was accompanied vibrations that shook the ground and the structure around you. That was when you turned away to see what was causing all of that, and you were confronted with a creature even more monstrous than the hands.
A giant that stood taller than even Razor, with a wild mane of hair that resembled tree branches while brandishing a sword more than twice your size. The creature's skin seemed to be hugging tightly to its body, allowing you to clearly see its ribs and the bones in its arms. But what was most unsettling was its stomach that was hollowed out, as though everything that had been inside had been removed and all that was left was a clear indent that reached to its back.
And that thing was coming straight towards you.
You heard Razor's voice, this time shouting your name. When you made eye contact again, he sternly told you “go down. Now.”
This time you listened to him.
You rushed down the stone steps, slamming the door behind you before you entered the room. As you heard the sounds of fighting resume above you, you went back to the spot where you had awoken from, picking up Razor's cloak that was still on the floor and wrapping it around yourself as you sank down into the corner.
You were a fool to have thought that you could just walk out of here. That you could walk across these lands and find your way back to the hold. You hadn't even taken ten steps before something had been alerted to your presence, and you only survived because Razor didn't want you to die.
Something from above let out a horrible wailing sound and you felt the earth shake a bit more. The thought that you could end up being buried alive occurred to you, but you weren't willing to go back up to the surface.
Razor had told you to stay down here, and now that your survival was solely dependent on him, you were going to listen to him.
But what would you do if Razor died?
You tried not to think about that, telling yourself to have faith in Razor's strength and fighting abilities. He'd survived in this world for a long while now. He wouldn't die that easily.
And even if he did, that giant wouldn't be able to get to you. Not down here. Though you couldn't say the same for anything else that would be lurking up top. Anything that was smaller than that thing would have no issues breaking down the door.
It felt as though hours had passed as you sat down there, your knees pulled up to your chest while you held the cloak around you. All the while you listened to the sounds of battle above you before you heard the giant let out another great wail that was then followed by an even greater tremor than anything else before. It didn't seem like too much of a stretch to assume that it was the sound of the giant dying, but until Razor returned, you wouldn't be assuming anything.
But you turned out to be correct as Razor reentered the room not long after. Despite the remnants of the carnage left on his weapon and armor, he was just as laid-back as ever, smiling at you when he saw you huddled in the corner.
“I take it you no longer have any plans on walking back to the hold?” he asked.
He was mocking you. That's how it seemed to you, anyway. And although it was upsetting, you didn't answer him, choosing instead to bite your lip and look away from him.
“Don't be like that,” he said. He then walked to the root he'd been using as a chair earlier, sitting down in it as he said “it was a valuable lesson for you to learn.”
“What lesson? That I can't survive without you?” you asked bitterly.
“Exactly.”
The smile on his face as he said that was upsetting, though not as upsetting as the fact that he was absolutely right.
“So you just intend on dragging me with you through the Lands Between? And what will you do when you need to fight again? Stuff me into whatever hole is closest so you can fight without worrying about me?” you asked.
“If that's what needs to be done.”
“..... You're unbelievable.”
“It won't be forever. Just until we reach our destination,” Razor said.
“What destination?”
“You'll find out when we get there,” he told you, “and you'll be safe. I've made sure of it.”
“How are you so certain?” you asked.
“Because I've made the necessary preparations. You didn't think I would take you from the hold without a proper plan in place, did you?”
“I didn't think you'd take me at all,” you replied bitterly, “I didn't think you'd be the sort of person who would do that.”
He didn't reply to that. Nor did he seem especially bothered by it. He had no shame over the things he'd done and saw you being upset by it as only a temporary situation.
He went back to cleaning his weapon, telling you “it'll be dark soon. We'll spend the night in here.”
You didn't respond.
A period of time passed where neither of you spoke; evidently Razor was more concerned with cleaning the newly acquired blood and gore off of his weapon and armor.
But that changed when he was finished and he set his morning star aside before he looked back over to you.
“Come to me.”
Glancing back over, you saw that he was holding out his armored hand towards you, beckoning you to go over to him as he had told you.
Your response was to shake your head as you pulled the cloak tighter around yourself.
Razor kept his arm outstretched to you, but after a few moments passed with you staying firmly in that corner, his mood suddenly changed.
“I'm not interested in games at the moment,” he said.
“Come to me. Now.”
His tone was stern, and the look you saw in his dark eyes told you that there was something bad in store for you if you didn't do as he said.
Still clutching the cloak, you stood on shaky legs and began to walk towards him. He grabbed you once you were close enough, pulling you onto his lap and holding you tight. The edges of his armor were digging into you again, but you didn't say anything about it this time, simply letting him do as he pleased while you chose to sit there and take it.
Then he moved his mouth next to your ear, and you felt his breath hitting your skin as he asked “aren't you meant to hold me?”
At his prompting, you unfolded your arms and slowly wrapped them around his neck. The cloak fell from your shoulders as you did so.
You didn't feel as though you were in the right state of mind to perform the blessing; the stress and fear caused by the situation he had put you in made it impossible for you to take away any such emotions that were festering within him.
He didn't seem to mind, however, just seeming content to have you in his arms while he embraced you.
Razor buried his face in your hair while one of his hands stroked down your back, caressing your skin through the material of your clothing.
The strokes remained tame at first, but not long after you noticed a tugging at your clothing as his fingers attempted to undo the tie at the back.
That made you speak up again.
“Razor, please,” you begged, “not here.”
“Don't worry, I won't take things too far,” he told you, “I've seen what happens when a pair of foolish lovers attempt to have their trysts out in the wilderness, and I have no intention of allowing our first time together to be ruined because some monster overheard and decided to interrupt us.”
“But I would like to see my prize,” he added.
“Prize,” you repeated, the defeat in your tone obvious as you asked “is that all I am? Something to be taken and then thrown away once you've had enough of me?”
He paused.
“Were you not listening to me? I told you that I loved you, and I intend to keep you with me. Does that sound like someone who intends to throw you away?
“People lie,” you said.
“Perhaps. But I'm not.”
Razor picked up where he had left off in undoing the tie at your back as he continued “I'm taking you to a place where you will be safe, a place that I've been preparing for you over the past few months. I'll be able to leave you there without any worry of something happening to you while I'm gone. And instead of wasting your talent on the likes of those in Roundtable Hold, you will dedicate yourself to me, and me alone. And I will do the same for you.”
The neck of your top loosened slightly as he finally undid the knot.
“And when I become Elden Lord, you will still be by my side.”
He pulled you off so that you were no longer clinging to him but still kept you on his lap and pulled down your top, pulling it down to your waist so he could get a good look at your chest.
But his expression softened when he glanced back up to your face and saw that you had begun to tear up, and he leaned in to place a kiss to your forehead. Razor pulled you back in, his hand gently stroking over your hair as he whispered soft reassurances to you.
“It's fine. Let it out now,” he told you, “I promise that in time, you'll understand that all of this was a good thing.”
You couldn't imagine yourself ever thinking that, that you would ever agree that any of this was “good”.
But you kept those thoughts to yourself as you clung to Razor, still shuddering against him as he held you. Shuddering at the thought of this new fate, a new future that was now intertwined with that of Razor, your only means of survival in a world you didn't know, and what would be in store for you from here on out.
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