Marika
"I SWEAR TO THE GREATER WILL!" Shouted the queen to be again, hanging on another dingy ladder as they climbed, "IF YOU TAKE US TO ONE MORE MINE, I SHALL PERSONALLY SINGE ALL YOUR FAVORITE CUTLETS!!"
She was covered in dust, ash, and even some things she truly hoped to be mistaking for excrement. They had lost too much footing against the encamped forces of Stormveil and had decided to turn away and regrow their strength. Her would-be savior had decided that meant delving into every damnable mine she could find to find these odd stones. While the prior one had made her chuckle when she found quite the fancy hat feathered with an odd cross like crest, it didn't even slightly make up for it.
She had stated to be seeking new armaments and things to improve them, but so far, all they had found were rocks. She had replaced that crooked great saber she had weld against her son with a more appropriate curved sword that had a strange bend in the middle. Taken from a defeated knight in an evergaol, it was a fine weapon of war indeed.
"Oh relax, there's a river near us, and we can wash up. This is the last one anyway!" Her would-be savior called down as she turned and aided her up the final step of the ladder. She looked up and was soon struck in quiet shame. They had traversed toward Caelid, having gone further than she had expected to get. This was yet another squalid pit of slaves worked until the rocks themselves clung to their flesh. She had once been proud of these mines, and her advisors told her of their riches. Yet all she saw around her were broken people and shattered stones.
"Is the fullness of your crimes now beginning to weigh on the heart, My Queen?" It was spoken antagonistically. Even now, their alliance was tense.
"Just.. find us the way to this inner chamber already." She answered in quiet frustration.
The reluctant knight chuckled, walking to one of the nearby miners, and began to try and question them. Marika sighed, turning away and hoping these people understood some sense. She took all of one step before tripping right into a puddle of runoff.
She heard a soft chuckle, and her temper at last cracked. She fumed, turned, and hurled a ball of muck right at her knight who ducked, only for the splatter to strike the face of the miner she had begun to question. To say they were displeased would be an understatement. A roar of anger, a few steps back by her reluctant knight, and she knew about all she had to with a gulp.
"Run!" The would-be savior shouted, grabbing her wrist and making a break for the nearest tunnel entrance. She heard the sound of pots and sloppier things thrown at them and crashing against the walls and dirt angrily.
"I-it was a simple error, c-can't we speak it over?" She asked.
"Sure, you turn around and kindly ask them to be cool with the fact you just hit their foreman in the face with a big pile of wyrm dung, I am sure he will be very understanding!" She shouted between panting breaths as they ran with a sacrastic tone.
"W-well, y-you did not have to say it so rudely," she retored.
"Oh beggest your finest paaaardon-" she started and was swiftly interrupted by a hand pushing her face away with a groan.
"Oh will you shut it with bitchiness whilst we are running for our lives??"
Her response was a chuckle as her hand was removed and then let go of as they both continue on their run. The deeper they delved, the more miners seemed all too eager to turn their pickaxes on them now, and the stench was beginning to make her stomach wretch. Let alone the implication now of what she had fallen into.
"By the Greater will, may there be a hot spring at the end of this cursed place!"
"Judging by how hot it's getting, you may yet be pleased!" She exclaimed with a laugh, and truly, it had grown quite hot as they had run. Dodging by miners and odd nobles, and even a few knights like at the entrance bearing the crest of Caelid. The crest of Radahn. Redmane knights, and one of her most treasured sons.
Before the creeping woe could approach her, her reluctant knight's hand pulled her onto a wooden platform just as it began descending, followed by a shout of "DUCK!" As she was made to drop her head just as two jars crashed against the wall. They sparkled, forming little glintstone pebbles before guidedly flying towards them.
Her savior was quick to notice, moving in front just as they landed to painful grunts against her back. Marika watched her knight's eyes briefly flare with pain before calming so quickly as her own small prayer blessed her quickly with healing. Even though that look was easy to remove, it still haunted Marika now with every sight of it. It was... angry.
That anger scared her.
Her would-be savior sighed, relaxing as her wounds and armor shut. Soon, the elevator ended at a small passage where wooden gates blocked the way. Steam rose from ground in small pockets that bathed the room with humidity. She smiled as what had been a joke turned into a genuine possibility.
"Surely this must be their bath house. Oh, thank the greater will at last, hot water!" She shouted, running for the wooden doors.
"Marika, wait!" She shouted after her, chasing her.
She wasn't sure where the sudden alarm had come as her hands gripped the door. Surely, in a moment, they would be relieved of their worries for a moment or two.
She swung open the doors and was greeted quickly by why her would-be savior had been cautious still. A great wyrn maw rose up to meet her, burning with great heat that rapidly brought sweat to her face.
"Oh." Was about all she got out before her reluctant knight dove, knocking her over just as a splash of crimson lava crashed against the stony ground where she had stood. Within seconds, the gilden queen soon shifted into her spirit body and allowed her knight to rise, something that had become second nature near powerful foes.
It rose up in the center of a trove of gold and clutched a massive volcanic blade in one hand like clawed appendage. It was long and almost serpent-like if not for its substantial girth, with a flatter and rounder head than most dragons. Built for the depths and volcanos of the world. It was a Magma Wyrm.
It raised its sword, preparing a fierce slash as Marika's self dispersed. In her spirit form, she could not cast her beloved miracles as freely to aid her reluctant knight, but it did allow her to observe their foes for weaknesses.
With a swift dive to the left, just as the angled slam shattered the golden ground, ensured the reluctant knight barely avoided the swing, drawing on her larged curved blade with one hand as its wrappings fell away, and throwing three small knives into the eye which caused the beast to reel back briefly. It had not blinded it, but it had certainly pissed it off.
With an angry roar that shook the ceiling, it began a charge that was all too quick and heavy for the small room. It crushed gold and rock alike as its mouth bubbled and spewed out molten stone as easily as another would spit, trying to lunge and take bite of her knight as they ran, diving and dipping between bites and spittles of burning stone.
Marika watched, soon noticing that it seemed to favor its sword hand more so than a normal fighter would, only using its left arm as balance to push down its weight when it would raise up and smash down its blade in an attempt to stagger or outright crush her would-be savior.
'Go for its left side! It seems less able to contest!' She intoned mentally, able to share some thoughts between them.
The golden queen smiled as her reluctant knight was quick to jump on that advantage. Heavy swings that cut into its belly when it stumbled through its overweighted strikes and even a horrific blow when it had briefly collapsed that then rendered its left eye entirely unusable. It bled profusely and was followed by a violently angry roar that soon saw the beast rise up, touching the ceiling with its head nearly. It stood on its back legs slowly as its blade began to glow and warp the air with heat alongside the clenched teeth of its jaw. The blood dripping down its eye boiled away, and its next attack was sudden, fast, and shocking as it nearly tore her knight in half. A smashing slash followed by an even faster swipe that tore open the knights chest and ripped her armor while sending her against a wall nearby with a painful crunch.
Yet, she persisted. Standing up, pulling out a small seal she had begun to carry. A spark, a cough, and then flames crackled on her hand as she pressed them to her chest with a roar of fury as flames licked and seared shut the wound. It would not be a mistake that the sound of the retaliating roar made even the wyrm hesitate for a brief moment before blasting a stream of magma at the reluctant knight.
She lept aside, blade slicing and then batting back a glob of the hot lava right into the wyrms other eye leading it to reel back in shock. It would not certainly blind it outright, but the clinging rock would ensure the now flailing and wildly swinging beast would not be able to see without ripping it off, and its arms were too short.
Crashing slams of sword and tail made the chamber rumble and crack along the ceiling as her would-be savior slashed and struck between blinded strikes before a painful and sudden swipe took the leg of the beast, making it fall forward back onto its belly. Its tail flipped up with the motion, launching a held tight knight high as her blade aimed down.
"DIE." She spoke with a dark finality, spearing the blade through the creatures head with a final, shared, thunderous roar from them both before finally the beast began to still. Its body began to glisten, turning back into the spirit particles that would be healed and remade within her beloved Erdtree.
Her knight landed as she rematerialized in the center with a sigh, starting to replace her hefty sword only to stop as the particles faded entirely, revealing the true treasure at the heart of mine.
In the center of the gilded horde sat a blade with steel like liquid moonlight.