History Fanfic / TheMostFearsomeEmpyrean

Countless tries against the Blade of Miquella, a Tarnished of no reknown with his pride in shambles wanders the Consecrated Snowfields until stumboling into the portal to Moghwyn Palace. After fighting his way through the bloody swamp and reaching the Lord of Blood, thanks to the blessed shackle, the Tarnished manages to pull out from the cocoon the being inside and discover Miquella, brother of his most difficult opponent to date, and snatch him away from Mohg's clutches.

** [[spoiler: Turns out Miquella found an injured Torrent when it was a foal and he nursed it back to health. He wasn't allowed to keep it and had to give it to Ranni for further healing; she promised to release the foal so he would found a new master. Torrent then went to choose the Tarnished, and it has been supporting both of its masters now.]]

* BadassInDistress: [[spoiler:The Tarnished]] is captured by Mogh at the end of "Chapter 7" and tortured at "Chapter 8".

* EmotionlessGirl: Melina. To the point she feels nothing over killing Leyndell soldiers efficiently quick; she doesn't feel shame, guilt, or pleasure doing it, she just does what she has to and moves on. The ruthlessness makes Miquella wary.
* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Miquella hates Ranni with a passion after her masterminding of the Night of the Black Knives caused Godwyn's half death. "Chapter 34" makes the betrayal harder once it reveals Miquella and Ranni used to be close. He also hates all outer gods for the curses upon him and his sister, and of course there's also Mogh.

* GrewASpine: Thanks to the Tarnished, Miquella is slowly but surely becoming bolder and assertive. Mogh notices it and he's pissed that [[LovingAShadow Miquella no longer behaves like the demure, helpless boy he saw him as]].
* HeartbrokenBadass: Malenia, regarding Finlay's death.

* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Cleanrot Rothel has obvious feelings for Malenia, but she is not in the mood to pursue any romance after Finlay's death. The fact that Finlay will forever be irreplaceable in Malenia's heart, both as right hand and love interest, is a source of frustration for him.

* MirrorCharacter: The Tarnished and Malenia are surprisingly similar: both are prideful warriors of utmost skill who are willing to move heaven and earth for one person, have struggled in life due to higher powers outside their control, and valued their own determination to surpass any obstacles yet they've had to use something they hate when their strenght alone isn't enough. Lampshaded in chapter 24.

* TheRival: The Tarnished and Malenia feel this way about each other; the Tarnished sees her as the meassure stick he has to surpass, while Malenia is afraid that he might take her place at her brother's side, seeing how close they're getting.

* StormingTheCastle: [[spoiler:With the help of a snowy runebear, Miquella and Melina storm into Moghwyn Palace to rescue the Tarnished.]]

* PlatonicLifePartners: The Tarnished and Melina. She is his first ally and friend, and eternal companion especially with his constant dying threatening to leave him displaced in time. Meanwhile Melina learnt to trust the Tarnished and even grew to admire his determination against adversity, and she believes he's the kind of Elden Lord the Lands Between need.

* MyGreatestFailure: The eruption of the Scarlet Aeonia at Caelid, and Radahn's state, is this for Malenia and the reason she feels she alone should be the one to put him down [[spoiler:once the group decides to start hunting down greater runes.]]

* StormingTheCastle: [[spoiler:With the help of a snowy runebear, Miquella and Melina storm into Moghwyn Palace to rescue the Tarnished.]]

Countless tries against the Blade of Miquella, a Tarnished of no reknown with his pride in shambles wanders the Consecrated Snowfields until stumboling into the portal to Moghwyn Palace. After fighting his way through the bloody swamp and reaching the Lord of Blood, thanks to the blessed shackle, the Tarnished manages to pull out from the cocoon the being inside and discover Miquella, brother of his most difficult opponent to date, and snatch him away from Mogh's clutches.

* AstralProjection: "Chapter 22" implies that Miquella's power over dreams is more this than {{Dream Walk|er}}ing.

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Mogh's torture of the Tarnished turns him into a flaming pulp of flesh, described as a malformed corpse of flesh flipped inside out.]]
* BloodKnight: The Tarnished is portrayed as a bloodlusting brute who loves killing stuff in a good fight.
* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler:Mogh turns the Tarnished's blood into flames that slowly burns him from the inside out for ''hours'' until he's at an inch of his life, only for Mogh to come and (badly) put him back together and repeat it all over again.]]

* ImproperlyParanoid: "Chapter 35" begins with Miquella's creeping doubts about the Tarnished after remembering they encountered Ranni in the past; despite all the proofs the Tarnished gave that his friendship is trustworthy, the addition of Ranni makes Miquella wary, after all he used to trust her as half-sister and she still betrayed him. The Tarnished quickly put such doubts to rest.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Miquella outwardly projects an air of competence and confidence on his abilities but that's because he's very self conscious over his lack of physical strength, and how it makes him look lesser in his very martial oriented family; after all, "a crown is won by strength" is the Golden Lineage's creed. And having Malenia as his sister doesn't help that at all.

* LoopholeAbuse: Mogh understands the workings of the Tarnished's ResurrectiveImmortality so he [[spoiler:settles with capturing and torturing him instead.]]
* MirrorCharacter: The Tarnished and Malenia are surprisingly similar: both are prideful warriors of utmost skill who are willing to move heaven and earth for one person, have struggled in life due to higher powers outside their control, and valued their own determination to surpass any obstacles yet they've had to use something they hate when their strenght alone isn't enough. Lampshaded in "Chapter 24".

* TwinDesynch: Downplayed. Miquella and Malenia are slowly starting to drift apart; when before they would blindly trust eachother, they're starting to harbor secrets and insecurities that they no longer share.

* BloodMagic: Miquella's blood has the capacity of making plants grow, becoming the cornerstone of restoring the Haligtree's agricultural endeavours once he returns.

* IntimateHealing: Downplayed. The Tarnished and Miquella begin their journey just when a [[BravingTheBlizzard snowstorm]] began to fall in the Consecrated Snowfields. Miquella's lean body is incapable of creating enough body heat, so the Tarnished recommends he gets closer to him while they ride on Torrent.

* LoopholeAbuse: Mogh understands the workings of the Tarnished's ResurrectiveImmortality so he [[spoiler:ups with capturing and torturing him instead.]]

* MoralityPet: Thanks to his new found attachment to Miquella, the Tarnished felt guilty for invading the Haligtree and killing a bunch of his soldiers, and so starts to see their humanity. However, he recognises it's not out of an awakening sense of empathy, but more out his personal relationship with Miquella and hating to upset him.

* SilkHidingSteel: Miquella is optimistic, yes, but he isn't a naive idealist; he's aware of the cruelty in the world and he knows there's battles he can't win diplomatically, but if he can avoid unnecessary violence he will do so, and when he cannot, he'll fight in any way he can. He's also aware he can't save everyone, so he focuses on those he cares about. This hidden edge in Miquella's eyes is what makes the Tarnished see him in a better light.

* AndroclesLion: Miquella tames a snow runebear, and later stops the Tarnished from killing it. The runebear later becomes instrumental for [[spoiler:the Tarnished's rescue, to the point of giving its life.]]

* BeyondTheImpossible: The tarnished managed to sucker punch the dung eater while ''inside the Roundtable Hold''; he ended with a broken arm but the mere fact he managed to do it out of sheer HeroicWillpower is an amazing feat.

* TheRival: The Tarnished and Malenia feel this way about each other; the Tarnished sees her as the measure stick he has to surpass, while Malenia is afraid that he might take her place at her brother's side, seeing how close they're getting.

* MoreThanMindControl: Miquella is aware of his [[CharmPerson bewitching powers]], but he still treats everyone around him well and doesn't abuse it. So it's difficult to discern whether Miquella wins over people with his power or just because [[PolitenessJudo he's just so]] [[NiceGuy goddamn nice]].

* PlatonicLifePartners: The Tarnished and Melina. She is his first ally and friend, and eternal companion especially with his constant dying threatening to leave him displaced in time. Meanwhile Melina learnt to trust the Tarnished and even grew to admire his determination against adversity, and she believes he's the symbol that the Lands Between need.
* {{Protectorate}}: Malenia allowed Miquella to journey without her as long as he remained close to the Tarnished, and the Tarnished protected him.
* TheRival: The Tarnished and Malenia feel this way about each other; they would never admit it outright but they can recognize their mutual warrior respect.

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Miquella hates Ranni with a passion after her masterminding of the Night of the Black Knives caused Godwyn's half death. "Chapter 34" makes the betrayal harder once it reveals Miquella and Ranni used to be close. He also hates all outer gods for the curses upon him and his sister, and of course Mogh.

* HiddenHeartOfGold: The Tarnished is a brute loner, yes, but he has lent help to most people than he acknowledged, and those that know him can see virtue in him.
* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Cleanrot Rothel has obvious feelings for Malenia, but she is not in the mood to pursue any romance after Finley's death. The fact that Finley will forever be irreplaceable in Malenia's heart, both as right hand and love interest, is a source of frustration for him.

* MoralityPet: Thanks to his new found attachment to Miquella, the Tarnished felt guilty for invading the Haligtree and killing a bunch of his soldiers, and so starts to see their humanity.

* PlatonicLifePartners: The Tarnished and Melina. She is his first ally and friend, and eternal companion especially with his constant dying threatening to leave him displaced in time. He's willing to [[spoiler: embrace the Frenzied Flame to keep her alive.]]

* PlatonicLifePartners: The Tarnished and Melina.

* WeakButSkilled: Miquella doesn't have the raw power for martial combat nor the stamina to cast multiple spells one after the other, but his mastery of Incantations (from Fundamentalist to Crucible) makes him quite the unpredictable fighter, and able to hold his own against an ambush of Omen Nobles.

* MyGreatestFailure: The eruption of the Aeonian Bloom at Caelid, and Radahn's state, is this for Malenia and the reason she feels she alone should be the one to put him down [[spoiler:once the group decides to start hunting down greater runes.]]

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Miquella hates Ranni with a passion after her masterminding of the Night of the Black Knives caused Godwyn's half death. "Chapter 34" makes the betrayal harder once it reveals Miquella and Ranni used to be close.

* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Miquella is very self conscious over his lack of physical strength, and how it makes him look lesser in his very martial oriented family; after all, "a crown is won by strength" is the Golden Lineage's creed. He also feel very guilty over failing to fulfill all the promises he has made, and so was initially doubtful of returning to the Haligtree empty-handed.

* ColdBloodedTortured: [[spoiler:Mogh turns the Tarnished's blood into flames that slowly burns him from the inside out for ''hours'' until he's at an inch of his life, only for Mogh to come and (badly) put him back together and repeat it all over again.]]

Countless tries against the Blade of Miquella, a Tarnished of no reknown with his pride in shambles wanders the Consecrated Snowfields until reaching the portal to Moghwyn Palace. After fighting his way through the bloody swamp and reaching the Lord of Blood, thanks to the blessed shackle, the Tarnished manages to pull out from the cocoon the being inside and discover Miquella, brother of his most difficult opponent to date, and snatch him away from Mogh's clutches.

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Mogh's torture of the Tarnished turns him into a bloody pulp of flesh, described as a malformed corpse of flesh flipped inside out and flaming blood.]]

* ImmuneToMindControl: Downplayed. The Tarnished can be influenced by Miquella's charming aura but he doesn't become a mindless follower of Miquella, instead just feeling a strong impulse to protect him.

* LoopholeAbuse: Mogh understands the workings of the Tarnished's ResurrectiveImmortality so he [[spoiler:ups to torture him until an inch of his life, without killing him, and (painfully) heal him with his blood magic, while keeping the Tarnished from killing himself. Lather, rinse, repeat.]]

Now, Tarnished and Demigod, find themselves forging an unlikely friendship that might be the key to solve their individual goals and protect those they care about. The Lands Between crushes everyone equally. So perhaps together they can get through it while holding on to those they care for. Or maybe, they will become just another tragic tale.

* LoopholeAbuse: Mogh understands the workings of the Tarnished's ResurrectiveImmortality so he [[spoiler:ups to torture them until an inch of his life, without killing him, and (painfully) heal him with his blood magic, while keeping the Tarnished from killing himself. Lather, rinse, repeat.]]

After countless tries against the Blade of Miquella, a Tarnished of no reknown with his pride in shambles wanders the Consecrated Snowfields until reaching the portal to Moghwyn Palace. After fighting his way through the bloody swamp and reaching the Lord of Blood, thanks to the blessed shackle, the Tarnished manages to pull out from the cocoon the being inside and discover Miquella, brother of his most difficult opponent to date, and snatch him away from Mogh's clutches.

* BeautifulDreamer: Once outside the cocoon, Miquella regains his youthful appeareance, and the Tarnished is momentarily stunned by his cherubic appereance.

* GottaCatchEmAll: [[spoiler:Miquella's plan to remove the throns from the Erdtree require him to grow stronger, so he would need to hunt down and adquire the other demigods' great runes.]]
* GreenThumb: Miquella has the power to control the roots of his Haligtree, which retroactively means [[spoiler: he could remove the throns from the Erdtree, since his Haligtree is an offshoot of it, without the need of sacrificing Melina.]]

* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Miquella is very self concious over his lack of physical strength, and how it makes him look lesser in his very martial oriented family; after all, "a crown is won by strength" is the Golden Lineage's creed. He also feel very guilty over failing to fulfill all the promises he has made, and so was initially doubful of returning to the Haligtree empty-handed.

* ImmuneToMindControl: Downplayed. The Tarnished can be influenced by Miquella's charming aura, but he doesn't become a mindless follower of Miquella, instead just feeling a strong impulse to protect him.

* MoreThanMindControl: Miquella is aware of his [[CharmPerson bewitching powers]], but he still treats everyone around him well and doesn't abuse it. So it's difficult to disern whether Miquella wins over people with his power or just because [[PolitenessJudo he's just so]] [[NiceGuy goddamn nice]].

* MoreThanMindControl: Miquella is aware of his [[CharmPerson bewitching powers]], but he still treats everyone around him well and doesn't abuse it.

* AndroclesLion: Miquella tames a snow runebear, and later stops the Tarnished from killing it. The runebear later becomes instrumental for [[spoiler:the Tarnished's reacue, to the point of giving its life.]]

-->''Their face was hauntingly beautiful, a strange mix of feminine and masculine features. They had incredibly long, golden hair with many small braids intertwined throughout, it was almost brighter than the Erdtree itself. They seemed extremely delicate, as if a gentle breeze could blow them away. But more than anything they looked, no, they felt youthful, like their very body was brimming with new life. For the first time since the tarnished gazed upon the Erdtree, he felt that sense of divine wonder. The tarnished lost his sense of time for a moment and just stared at them, watching them sleep, watching them breathe peacefully.''

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Miquella hates Ranni with a passion after her masterminding of the Night of the Black Knives and Godwyn's half death. "Chapter 34" makes the betrayal harder once it reveals Miquella and Ranni used to be close.

* IOweYouMyLife: Miquella feels this way towards the Tarnished.

* AstralProjection: "Chapter 22" implies that Miquella's power over dreams is more this than {{Dream Walk}}ing.