The Fallen Leaves Fall Yet Again..

Tarnished's Tale

She looked like she was holding back tears. 

The Tarnished laughed a bit. "For someone thousands of years old you act very young." 

Marika looked embarrassed her face turning red in seconds. She then kicked the man into a wall, Tiche quickly running to his side to make sure he was okay. 

Marika crossed her arms, and walked over to him and the spirit as he got back up. 

"So, you have sent us back in time. Before you repaired the Elden Ring?" She looked up at him suspiciously. 

"Yes, that's exactly where we are right now, when we leave this church there will be one of Godrick's grafted scions sitting in the yard where a statue of you is residing. After it's dead. I have to jump off of a ledge and..."

Marika raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue. 

He raised his hands, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way. "and die?" 

Marika rolled her eyes, and threw her hands into the air. 

"Die!? Really, your grand plan is to die? You have gone back in time on one of the most jaw dropping adventures, and your first real objective is to die!?" 

The Tarnished sighed, and leaned on Tiche as he explained himself.

"Look, this is my usual routine because I can keep coming back to life, until I become Elden Lord. It is my destiny, I can die an infinite amount of times until that point, and I've found that every time I die at the beginning, I will always end up right in that Stranded Graveyard before the Cave of Knowledge." 

Marika turned to him, and looked confused. "Usual routine? I thought you went back in time because you didn't want to be Elden Lord, that you didn't want to be with me. Yet, you make it sound like you have done this before?" 

Tiche backed up, and The Tarnished rolled his eyes, and looked away from Marika. She moved in front of him, and grabbed his face to face her own. 

"How many times have you done this?" Her voice barely above a whisper she interrogated the man. 

"I lost count a long time ago." He answered truthfully, but she still felt like he was holding back. 

"Was there anything different?" 

The Tarnished knew what she was getting at, but he didn't want to tell her. He feared she might've been his reason for death this time if he did. He attempted to evade the question.

"What do you mean?" Marika hit his chestplate in anger, probably hurting herself more than he himself.

"You know exactly what I mean you bastard! What did you do? How did you experiment with this power! Were there others? Did you even choose to save me every time? No, why would I even ask, of course you didn't. If you had lost count long ago, then you wouldn't treat the woman you'd spent countless lifetimes together with like that!" 

Marika paced in the chapel, biting her finger in anger and thought. 

The Tarnished reached out to her, but she swatted his hand away. 

"You are as evil as the damn outer gods! You toyed with me, and for what? Why did you even help at the Capital if you were going to abandon it all anyway?" 

"I didn't plan to! I promise!" The Tarnished tried to reach out to he, and she stopped waiting for his explanation. 

"I was trying to be content to find my peace, and I was talking to Tiche." 

Marika looked towards the spirit, and Tiche pulled out her... notebook! Marika rolled her eyes and focused on her husband. 

"After she suggested that we do it again-"