Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Bonus Chapter #9: Lansseax

A/N: Lansseax finally shows up after all.

-x-X-x-

She makes her approach in the guise of a human, for it has been a long time since the Capital has been accepting of her kind. With her cloak up, she hides her inhuman features until the guards will let her pass no further. When they finally seek to bar her way, she throws back her hood, revealing ashen white hair and piercing yellow eyes holding a death's glare. Immediately, they are on guard.

"I am Lansseax, ancient long before the Erdtree was young. On the name of thy Golden Prince, mine brother Fortissax, and the friendship they shared, I would have words with thy new Elden Lord."

Twas, admittedly, a fancy way of saying 'this is above your paygrade, so shoo and get me someone who can either stop me or give me what I want'. She's half-expecting that she'll have to fight her way in, but when she lets a spark of red lightning flash from her golden eyes, the guards exchange a wary glance and then bow as one.

Tis almost as if they were expecting her. Her eyes narrow, as they step aside and let her pass. They narrow further, when an attendant meets her and begins leading her deeper into the Royal Capital in silence. Every part of her is screaming that this is a trap, but she has already backed herself into a corner, hasn't she? By approaching peaceably and making demands that have thus been met, she can no longer rampage without being viewed as the unreasonable one.

Not that a rampage would go well for her, now, would it? Mm, the more things changed, the more things stayed the same. The Lands Between had undergone a paradigm shift, and yet the so-called Eternal Sovereign still reigned here in Leyndell, the Royal Capital. The place was a bit worse for wear, but they were already cleaning up the ash that had fallen from the Erdtree and clearing out the nastier beasties that had made homes within it.

Queen Marika had survived, and yet, for one such as Lansseax, the change was obvious. The Greater Will and the other Outer Gods had seen their influence sufficiently curtailed within these lands. There was a new Elden Lord upon the throne, said to be called the Tarnished Lord, said to be a greater part of the newly formed Elden Ring than any before him.

Tch... Tarnished. A pang cuts through Lansseax's heart, before the Ancient Dragon ruthlessly crushes that moment of emotion. She cannot allow herself to consider the past... even if the past is all that influences her coming here today.

For a moment, she expects to be led to one such as Queen Marika, and quietly disposed of. Not in a million years had she thought her request for audience with the Tarnished Lord would actually be granted. Godwyn had gone out of his way to support the Dragons, and in the time before the Shattering, her people had been as close as outsiders could be with the Golden Order. For as intolerant as the Golden Order was, dragons had shared a... protected status within its realm of influence.

But neither Lansseax nor Fortissax had ever been particularly deluded as to precisely why that was. Nay, twas obvious that it was thanks to Godwyn's favorable opinion that they were so revered. The Golden Prince was a good man. He did not deserve the fate that befell him.

Alas, his death had not only caused the Shattering for the mortal races but had also left her and her kind in the wind. They were far from their ancient power, and in no position to capitalize on the weakness shown by Marika and her ilk. In truth, there was no real unity among the dragons. And after what happened in Caelid in the Shattering War, when the Scarlet Rot bloomed, Lansseax doubted there ever would be again.

That was not to say it was all bad, in the wake of Godwyn's death. Twas only after the Shattering, in more recent times, that Lansseax received the chance to meet Vyke. Vyke, Knight of Roundtable Hold. Vyke the Dragonspear. Vyke... her beloved.