Communion

Chapter 2

It was hard to gauge time in the Evergaol. The place was kept in eternal twilight by the magic that held Blaidd within it, but he was sure it had been at least a month. He didn’t understand why Iji had done it. They had been friends since childhood, why would he trap him here? He once thought he heard footsteps above and had called out but nothing had happened. That was a long time ago. He didn’t know how long. He was beginning to think that no one would come for him, that everyone had abandoned him when he felt a hand grasp the front of his cloak. He was ripped from the Evergaol and out into the night air of Limgrave. Blaidd looked up at the stars, now real now moving, and felt the chill of the night on his fur. 

“Welcome back.” He recognized the voice but couldn’t find the mental capacity to place it as the exhaustion and relief forced him into unconsciousness. 

He woke next to a campfire. A large figure sat on the opposite end of the clearing looking up at the stars. The figure wielded twin great swords, one the shadow recognized as the sword of his stepfather Radagon, the other The Darkmoon Great Sword his sister insisted she would never bestow. They were large and wore the armor of a bloodhound knight, with the exception of a familiar wolf imp helm. 

“Good to see you back with the living.” The Tarnished removed their helm and smiled. He was the same as Blaidd remembered, silver hair and glowing yellow eyes, with the addition of a few new battle scars. “I took your advice,” he gestured toward the cold blade resting by his side, “Ranni is an excellent teacher.”

“So then you and her…”

“Oh Marika’s tits no. It’s purely for the sake of convenience. She would rather rule uninterrupted by boorish suitors. In return, I manage her affairs down here, and get to keep this excellent blade.” 

“Where is she? Ranni that is.” The Tarnished looked up at the stars. 

“You’ve missed a lot my friend. She’s already left on her journey. She would’ve come but well,” The Tarnished looked ashamed, “We weren’t sure what would happen if you saw her. Iji told us that the Evergaol would keep the two fingers from finding you. We were reasonably certain we’d scrubbed the greater will’s influence from the Lands Between but, well we weren’t sure.” 

“And Iji?”

“Dead. Assassins got to him while Ranni and I were traversing The Lake of Rot. He wanted you to know he was sorry.” What The Tarnished had said earlier began to sink in. 

“If Ranni has embarked on her journey and the influence of the greater will has been removed from the lands between…”

“Yes, you stand before the Third Elden Lord.” The Tarnished curtsied comically. He started rummaging around in his pack, now much larger than it was before. “I know the crown is in here somewhere.” Blaidd laughed. Of course he would keep the crown so many had fought for rattling around his pack with his herbs and spare throwing jars. 

“I never would have thought. Never in a thousand years.” 

“Ranni said the same, although she said that’s what made me uniquely suited for the role.” The Tarnished might’ve been needlessly self sacrificing, but he was kind and down to earth in a way that a god or one who was raised to be lord could never hope to be. Even when Blaidd knew him he was wise beyond his years and under Ranni’s tutelage he was sure to have grown in intelligence as well. 

“She’s right. I think you’ll make a great lord.” The Tarnished smiled. 

“Well now that we know the greater will no longer has a hold on you I suppose I can dispense with this,” he gestured to his armor. 

“It’s the middle of the night.”

“Look around you Blaidd,” the night was chill and calm, he could hear crickets and the occasional frog but there was no more screaming, no distant sounds of men or bats fighting in the darkness. No leaves fell from the burnt husk of the Erdtree. It was quiet, mercifully quiet. “We’re safe here.” The Tarnished took off his chest plate. Now Blaidd could tell for certain. It wasn’t merely the armor, his comrade, no, now his lord, had grown larger in his absence. The swell of his chest strained his shirt, showing peeks of the muscle underneath. It was also slightly too short, giving a tantalizing glimpse at the toned stomach underneath. The Tarnished seemed to notice Blaidd staring and grinned as he finished pulling off the gambeson underneath the plates. His arms were now corded with muscle from swinging around his twin great swords, a far cry from the slight caster’s build the man had before. He shucked off his backwards grieves and chausses revealing powerful thighs that strained his leggings. Once he was done he laid back languidly. He had even more scars underneath, including the remains of a massive burn. 

“That looks painful,” Blaidd said weakly.

“It was,” The Tarnished stretched. “I had to take the frenzied flame into myself to burn the Erdtree. I could’ve done it without, but it would’ve required the life of a friend. You had disappeared so I was afraid of losing anyone else.” The Tarnished played with his hands. “The burns didn’t heal until I forced the flame out of me. The flame kept me in blind pain hoping I wouldn’t discover how to drive it out.” 

“May I see?” The Tarnished removed his shirt. A massive three fingered hand print was burned into the flesh of his back. Blaidd’s hand ghosted over the scar. The Tarnished turned around and took Blaidd’s hand. He removed his armored glove, then placed the half-wolf’s hand gently on his back. Blaidd could feel the ridges where the fingerprint was burned into them. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” 

“It would’ve been no help to me if you were.” The Tarnished chuckled darkly. “I would’ve had to kill you. Maybe the chill of your sword could’ve helped soothe the wound.” The Tarnished dug his face into the fur of Blaidd’s neck. “But I’m glad you’re here now.” Blaidd brought his free hand behind the Tarnished’s head. The Tarnished coyly glanced up at Blaidd. “I imagine, my friend, it’s been a while since you’ve taken off your own armor. We’re near a river as well, in case you wish to wash yourself.”

The cool water felt good on Blaidd’s skin after all that time stuck in the same armor. He had been used to regular baths back when he and Ranni were younger but had been unable to regularly find the time or safe place to remove his armor as he traveled the lands between. He had quite sorely missed them. The Tarnished joined him, sticking mostly to the shallows being unable to swim. Now fully uncovered Blaidd could see the full mosaic of burns, scars, and scales that covered his skin. 

“You don’t have fur over your whole body.” It seemed like a question but the Tarnished didn’t phrase it like a question. 

“No, just the head, chest, upper back, and tail.”

“Maliketh did. I could see it in the gaps of his armor when we fought.”

“Ignoring the fact that you just professed to have fought death himself,”

“Killed death himself”

“Ignoring that, despite us both being Shadows, Maliketh was a Beastman and I a half-wolf. Aside from the head and tail, my, er, composition is about the same as a human’s”

“So that’s why his armor fit me.”

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing.” The Tarnished waded closer, still carefully checking the depth. “I was just thinking, you’ve seen me exposed but I’d never seen you.” The Tarnished smiled mischievously and Blaidd suddenly felt ten times more exposed. The Tarnished hadn’t been shy about nudity before, shucking off every scrap of clothing he had on even in the midst of battle insisting it was “for faster rolls”. However Blaidd had never removed even the outer layers of his armor in front of the Tarnished. His friend drew closer. He reached out to Blaidd, his hand hovering inches above his skin. The Tarnished looked up at him with those glowing golden eyes. “It would only be fair after all.” Blaidd took the Tarnished’s rough hand in his own and guided it to the place where fur met skin. He felt the man’s hand gently card through his fur and suddenly felt light headed. The Tarnished grinned, giving Blaidd a peek at those sharpened canines. “I see it’s been a while for you too then.” He brought his hand down to palm Blaidd’s erection. Blaidd could feel himself turning red. His uncovered chest now clearly betrayed his emotions. The Tarnished withdrew his hand. “Was that too much?” Blaidd felt himself turn even redder. 

“No, I just didn’t imagine my first time would be in a river.” An awestruck expression came over the Tarnished’s face. 

“Your first time?”

“Well there was so much time we were alone, I was always busy helping Ranni, and even when times were peaceful, well look at me.” The Tarnished dragged his hand down Blaidd’s chest. 

“Indeed, look at you.” He spoke it softly, his voice full of so much reverence that Blaidd was nearly overcome. “Wait here a moment.” He waded out of the water, still stark naked in the moonlight, walked off and returned moments later with their things. “Take my hand a moment.” Blaidd had barely put his hand inside the Tarnished when he found himself somewhere completely different. It was the inside of a manor. A fire flickered in a grand fireplace in front of a round table with chairs set about it.

 “Where?” 

“The capital, don’t worry no one is here at this hour. We won’t be bothered.” The Tarnished set down their things on two of the chairs. 

“How?”

“We can speak of that later. For now I’m mainly concerned with finding us a good bed. 

The Tarnished found a nice large bed rather quickly. Blaidd heard him quietly thank someone named Fia. He muddled around for a little before coming back with some cloth to dry themselves with. Blaidd’s thick fur was still soaked through from their aborted bath. The Tarnished focused his attention on drying him off. 

“I know you get cold easily, my dear.” The Tarnished himself blushed hearing himself. He wasn’t used to expressing his affection so explicitly without the veil of plausible deniability flirtation gave, especially not to Blaidd. Blaidd bent over the Tarnished, not as far as he once had to and embraced him. 

“I think I’m dry enough now.” The Tarnished held him in turn. 

“May I kiss you?”

“Certainly, although afraid you won’t derive much pleasure from it. I don’t have lips after all, and we’re fairly differently shaped.”

“Do you trust me?” The Tarnished held his gold seal in his hand. “Well?” He shuffled anxiously. 

“Yes. I trust you.” Blaidd gently pressed his nose against the Tarnished’s forehead in his best approximation of a human kiss. The Tarnished gripped his seal harder and his facial features began to shift and lengthen. Scales cascaded over his neck and back filling in the gaps between the dusting that covered his whole body. And in a moment it was over and Blaidd was staring a dragon head in the face. It still had the Tarnished’s kind, yellow eyes. 

“Ranni taught me a thing or two about modifying spells.” He still spoke with the same soft voice. “Most dragon incantations turn at least a part of the caster into a dragon for a short time to take its power for one’s own. But I wondered, could one not simply transform for a little longer if it wasn’t for combat?” The Tarnished brushed his snout against Blaidd’s. “I told you all that time ago that I cared about someone deeply as well. I wanted desperately to be your equal in every way I could so I could offer you this gift.” The Tarnished’s long, lizard-like tongue snaked out of his mouth and gently licked the corner of Blaidd’s. “Will you let me?” Blaidd let his jaws part and the Tarnished practically dove in, locking their jaws together like wolves. He was so warm. The dragon heat conducted through him warming every inch of him. He could feel his tail working like a windmill behind him but didn’t do anything to stop it. The Tarnished’s tongue quickly sought out his own and they wrapped around each other in the damp cavern they’d made together. After what seemed like ages, even longer than the time Blaidd spent in confinement, they withdrew from each other. Both struggled to catch their breath. “How was it?” The Tarnished laid his head on Blaidd’s shoulder. 

“Better than I could’ve ever hoped for.” Blaidd felt his companion bare his teeth against his shoulder in a draconic approximation of a smile. The Tarnished slid a muscular thigh between Blaidd’s legs. 

“Shall we continue this on the bed then?” Blaidd sat down as the Tarnished dragged his pack over. The half-wolf looked at him quizzically. “For later.” Blaidd wasn’t sure what he meant by that but he supposed he’d be finding out soon. The Tarnished gently pushed him down into the soft bedding. He lifted one of Blaidd’s legs and began to carefully run his sharp fangs along the sensitive skin of his inner thigh. The Tarnished lightly nipped the soft flesh and Blaidd jumped. The Tarnished ran his hot tongue over the wound to soothe it. “Is this alright?”

“More than alright, mate.” Blaidd grabbed the Tarnished’s horns and pulled him further up. “Please.”

“Impatient are we?” The Tarnished’s voice conveyed a smirk even if his dragon head was incapable of displaying one. He lowered himself over Blaidd’s cock opening his mouth wide to avoid cutting him and let his newly prehensile tongue do most of the work. Blaidd shuddered as the forks of The Tarnished’s tongue teased at the tip before he wrapped himself around Blaidd’s head. He brought one hand up to card through the fur of Blaidd’s chest as he worked further around and down. The fiery heat of his breath ghosting along Blaidd’s crotch was intoxicating. His wet tongue wrapped around his cock undulated, dragging upwards and downwards. Its wet heat was nothing like Blaidd’s limited experience with his own hand and he could feel himself slipping. He felt the tips of the Tarnished’s forked tongue graze his balls and began to see stars. He breathlessly pawed at the Tarnished’s head.

“Please I’m about to…” The Tarnished suddenly released the incantation and Blaidd felt himself jam up against the back of his throat. His vision whited out and he released into his companion. He felt The Tarnished swallow around him. “I’m sorry, you didn’t get to,” he wheezed out. 

“Don’t worry darling,” the Tarnished wiped some stray spend out of the corner of his mouth, “we’re just getting started.” His companion went to his pack by the bed and pulled out an oil pot. He removed the lid and began slicking up his fingers. He held them just over Blaidd’s entrance. “If you’ll have me that is.” He looked Blaidd in the eyes trying to divine some signal that he was clear to move forward. The intensity of his gaze made Blaidd cover his face with an arm. “Just say the word either way.”

“Please.”

“I didn’t catch that.” 

“Please give it to me.” Blaidd felt the Tarnished work the oil around his hole and then felt something wet and hot pressing against the swell of his ass. He looked down. The Tarnished had recast the incantation and was now licking his way up the half-wolf’s ass to his entrance. He licked his way inside driving his long tongue further and further back. He hit somewhere inside Blaidd and his back arched out of his control. The Tarnished held his hips back down and flicked the spot again. Another blast of pleasure shot through Blaidd and he felt his tongue roll out. The Tarnished chuckled, sending pleasant vibrations down into his lover’s hole and added a finger. 

“Please.” The Tarnished withdrew his tongue and added a second finger.

“Not yet, my love. I want this to be as pleasant as possible for you.” Blaidd writhed under the Tarnished’s ministrations as he scissored his fingers apart. It was somehow too much and not enough all at once. Then after some interminable amount of time he felt the fingers leave. He ground back onto the knight chasing them before he felt a clawed hand hold him down. “Just give me one moment, my dear,” The Tarnished nuzzled against his mane, “I’ll have you satisfied in no time.” Blaidd felt something line up against his entrance and whimpered in need. The Tarnished bent forward and kissed Blaidd again as he slid inside. Blaidd was overwhelmed with sensation. Both the kiss and sudden fullness had him unsure which way was up. And then he felt the second cock slide between his balls to nestle next to his own. He pulled away from the Tarnished and truly looked at him for the first time since they had begun. When he recast the incantation to return the dragon head he’d added a few extras as well. The arms that held him were now scaled and clawed and a second cock sprouted up right above the original. Blaidd brought his hand down between them and held their erections together in a loose grip. The Tarnished growled low in pleasure and Blaidd felt himself nearly come again. The Tarnished flipped their positions now laying under Blaidd and holding him up with his strong clawed arms. Blaidd squirmed a bit until the Tarnished began to ram up into him and his mind went blank. “You’re so good for me. Can you feel it?” The tarnished gripped both their cocks, the friction from the scales made Blaidd feel like he was losing his mind. “How much I care for you?”

“Yes! Yes! I feel it!” Blaidd could barely keep his eyes open between the cock in his ass, the second one rubbing up against his, and the rough hand holding them together. The Tarnished struck the same spot inside of him he had teased with his tongue and Blaidd’s whole body tensed as he came. He clenched around the Tarnished and felt the incantation slip as the Tarnished came as well. The two lay in a tangled heaving mess for a while as they recovered. Blaidd started to laugh, a genuine expression of joy unlike any he’d made in a while. 

“What’s so funny?” Glowing yellow met glowing indigo in the candle light.

“Nothing, it’s just. It could only ever be you couldn’t it. Only you would’ve thought to bed me when you had the entirety of the Lands Between at your feet.” 

“I think you underestimate yourself, my dear consort.” The Tarnished gently kissed the scar on Blaidd’s nose. He rummaged around in his pack looking for some soap and cloth but instead his hand pulled out a familiar golden crown. “Oh here it is.” He jokingly put it on his head. “It truly doesn’t suit me does it?” Blaidd looked at his friend now lover and took in how he glistened with sweat in the candle light. The tapestry of scar and scale and burn singing the tale of how a Tarnished became the Third Elden Lord. His golden eyes, filled with mirth spoke of untold wisdom while the creases next to them spoke of tribulations overcome. Blaidd got out of bed. He took the confused Tarnished’s hand and knelt, pressing it to his forehead. 

“There is no one I think it would suit more.” With his other hand he snatched the crown off the Tarnished’s head and jokingly placed it atop his own. “Besides myself of course.” He joked, putting on a show of false arrogance. The crown easily slid off its perch atop Blaidd's larger head. The two men stared at it on the floor for a moment before bursting out laughing.