[T/N: This chapter contains scenes that has grotesque elements, including depictions of gore. I'll also be uploading the ingame photo, so please be adviced.]
—
Although Lucian did not know that much about the Numens, he at least had Selyra as a point of reference.
And the figure before him matched every visible trait.
After checking again and again, Lucian became more certain that this grotesque being covered in swollen flesh was indeed one of the Numens.
Yet unlike the ordinary members of that people, the flesh covering this one was terribly abnormal, forming a huge, misshapen mass.
For reasons unknown, growths like tumors covered her body, so heavy that her thin legs could barely support the burden.
A tattered strip of cloth was wrapped tightly over her eyes.
After countless years of suffering, the cloth had fused together with the ruined flesh beneath it, becoming one with her body.
Iron restraints still bound her wrists and ankles, though by now they too had long since become embedded into the flesh.
Upon her forehead was a deep branded mark.
It looked like the kind of symbol used to identify a slave.
Lucian looked at the strangely altered Numens before him, while the scattered clues he had gathered earlier began piecing themselves together in his mind.
Soon, they pointed to a single conclusion.
In the hornsent records, Marika had once been described as a shaman.
And Lucian knew that Marika's race was that of the Numens.
'Shamans… were they the Numens?'
Was that simply what the hornsent called them?
Lucian carefully observed the woman as she moved with slow, awkward motions.
She had come from inside the jar. Her body bore so much unnatural flesh that it was obvious she had suffered something unimaginable.
Was this mass the result of wounds endlessly growing over themselves?
No… that wasn't it.
Lucian suddenly noticed that the flesh varied in color, and jagged bones protruded at random angles.
This was not all her own flesh.
These were pieces from other living beings, somehow fused tightly to her body.
Could it be…
Were these remains taken from the hornsent?
Lucian recalled the words spoken by the hornsent spirit earlier.
It was clear the jars had been a source of great fear to them as well, a punishment too cruel to bear in body or mind.
Which meant those hornsent prisoners were likely cut apart and thrown into the jars in pieces.
And then merged together with the Numens, with the shamans.
Did the hornsent truly believe this could make someone into a better, kinder person?
A chill ran across Lucian's scalp as he looked upward at the many giant jars hanging from chains.
He remembered all the jars he had casually passed on the road before coming here.
Were they…
all holding Numens inside?
Even if only one in ten contained one, it would still be a horrifying number.
The blindfolded Numen finally steadied herself and lunged clumsily toward Lucian once more.
Across endless years, her mind had long since been worn to the brink of collapse.
Only by closing herself off, like the eyes hidden beneath the cloth, had she managed to continue existing in this world.
So whenever something from outside disturbed her, that already shattered mind was immediately shaken into senseless frenzy.
It was a defense born to protect what little remained within.
Lucian stepped aside from her weak attack and considered how to calm her without causing harm.
Unfortunately, he had few suitable methods.
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered something he had nearly forgotten.
He took out a branch that shimmered with a soft pink glow.
It was an item he had obtained earlier, a Bewitching Branch, capable of charming living beings and forcibly making them view him with favor.
Lucian poured magic into the branch and released its power.
A pink mist immediately drifted toward the Numen.
Once enveloped by the haze, her movements gradually slowed.
A short while later, she became still.
Quietly, she moved closer to Lucian, then sank weakly to the ground in front of him.
Looking at the masses of flesh shifting along with her movements, Lucian felt deeply unsettled.
Her limbs twitched from time to time, and both hands rose to cover her face, as though she lived in constant pain.
Silently, Lucian placed a hand upon her head.
In this frost-covered underground prison, with nothing to shield her from the cold, her body was freezing.
Under the effect of the Bewitching Branch, she was drawn toward Lucian and, for the first time in who knew how long, seemed to feel a sense of safety.
Because of that, her entire body slowly relaxed.
She gradually calmed down.
Only after the Numen had fully settled did Lucian finally let out a breath.
And then, from deep within his heart, another emotion rose.
Anger.
He felt anger toward what the hornsent had done.
Now he could roughly understand why Marika had slaughtered them.
If the hornsent had long forced the Numens to serve as part of such punishments, then it was no different from massacre.
No, it was worse.
This was not merely the destruction of a people.
It was their destruction accompanied by torment stretched across ages untold.
The thought alone was suffocating.
Though Lucian still did not know the full truth behind it all, the scene before him was already enough to stir fury within him.
Before learning of this, he had still held doubts regarding Marika's slaughter of the hornsent.
Now he finally understood why Leda had said the hornsent were not innocent by nature, but merely those who happened to lose.
If they had committed such acts, then the cause of the crusade became painfully simple.
It was Marika's revenge.
Revenge was a grand undertaking that only those directly involved could truly claim, and to the ones bearing that hatred, it was entirely justified.
Marika's kin had suffered terrible abuse.
Her vengeance was justified.
The hornsent had brought ruin upon themselves.
And yet, after being slaughtered, those who remained would also find their own desire for revenge equally justified.
An outsider could stand apart and judge right from wrong.
But for those trapped within it, what else was there to do?
Only kill.
There was no justice, no moral balance.
Only endless hatred that would not rest until one side was gone.
Unless one people were completely extinguished and the chain broken, that hatred would continue to pass on forever.
And within that whirlpool of vengeance, only one side could prevail.
That was why outsiders had no place interfering.
In the final outcome of this war of revenge,
Queen Marika had won.
—
The Numen's pained breathing pulled Lucian back to the present.
Looking at her suffering form, he forced himself to calm down.
Even in anger, he would not strike at the surviving hornsent.
Because this was not his hatred.
If this were merely a game, Lucian might have acted on anger without hesitation.
But in this reality, Marika had already completed, or nearly completed her revenge.
Lucian could sympathize with the suffering of the Numens, and he could feel anger toward the hornsent, but he would not act rashly.
Unless Melina asked him to.
Only if Melina spoke would he become personally tied to that hatred.
And compared to the few hornsent who still remained, what Lucian wanted more now was to know how these surviving Numens could be helped.
And to uncover the full truth behind everything that had happened.
His first thought was to use the power of the sun to heal the Numen before him.
But these were no longer simple wounds.
The foreign flesh attached to her had already become part of her body.
Ordinary healing likely would not be enough.
After some thought, Lucian decided to try anyway.
Warm, gentle sunlight bloomed from his hand and shone over the Numen.
The comforting radiance soon brought a little warmth back to her frozen body.
The sensation left her dazed.
Within that haze of awareness, it seemed as though she had returned to a homeland that was once peaceful and warm.
From beneath the cloth stained over her eyes, cloudy tears slowly seeped out.
Lucian could sense her emotions and spirit beginning to improve, so he carefully increased the strength of the healing light.
But gradually, as her body revived, the flesh that did not belong to her also began to stir violently.
Those masses seemed to struggle, as though trying to tear themselves free.
Pain spread through her body like something being ripped apart, and the Numen let out another cry of anguish.
Lucian immediately reduced the strength of the sunlight.
He kept it only at the level that would make her feel warm.
Looking at her, Lucian frowned.
Was there any way to heal this?
All the flesh was tightly fused together. In such a state, even surgery would accomplish little.
Even if it could all be cut away and the wounds healed afterward, her body could no longer simply return to what it once was.
Too much had changed across too much time.
Lucian thought of Rennala's rebirth.
But he quickly shook his head and abandoned the idea.
The mental condition of the other Numens was likely no better than the one before him.
Even if reborn, there was no guarantee they would fare any better than the crawling sorcerer apprentices scattered across Raya Lucaria.
Besides, rebirth required Larval Tears.
No matter how much he gathered, the number he could save that way would be limited.
Lucian ran a hand through his hair, deeply frustrated.
For now, setting treatment aside.
Once he brought them out of here, they could recover slowly. They could be cared for. A solution might yet be found.
But the greatest and most immediate problem before him now was something else.
How was he supposed to tell Melina?
Earlier, Melina had wanted to know why Queen Marika slaughtered the hornsent.
Now Lucian had found the answer.
Yet because of that, he no longer knew how to speak of such horrifying cruelty.
Those who had suffered here…
were all her people.
After thinking it over, Lucian decided to suspend any further exploration of the prison for now.
There was no way this place held only a single Numen.
He would likely encounter more deeper inside.
The Bewitching Branch had limited power. He could not calm every one of them that way.
But if left uncontrolled, their frenzied state would create problems in every sense.
So Lucian decided to find Melina first.
If this was the truth, then it should not be hidden.
He took the Numen gently by the hand.
Using gravity magic together with the force of wind, he lifted her body into the air beside him.
The two of them retraced the route by which he had entered, and soon left the prison behind.
Suspended in the air, Lucian focused and sensed the direction of Melina and Torrent.
Once he found it, he immediately flew toward them with the Numen in tow.
Before long, he arrived outside the church where Melina was waiting.
He left the Numen outside and entered alone.
Melina was seated before the headless statue of Queen Marika, while Torrent rested beside her.
When she saw Lucian arrive, her hand paused where it had been brushing Torrent's mane.
She stood at once and walked toward him.
Melina opened her mouth, intending to ask what he had discovered.
But before the words came, she saw the complicated look on Lucian's face and realized something was wrong.
He was never like this without reason.
For a moment, even she found it difficult to speak.
Lucian let out a quiet sigh, took her hand, and led her toward the church entrance.
Just before they stepped outside, he turned to look at her and said:
"Melina… I've found the reason Queen Marika slaughtered the hornsent."
"I still don't know every detail of what happened back then, but the evidence is plain enough."
"…Prepare yourself."
Melina bit her lip, then nodded firmly.
"Yes. I'm ready."
—
Melina had believed she was ready.
She thought no matter what she saw, she could face it calmly.
She was wrong.
The moment she saw the Numen's distorted form, she could no longer steady herself.
Melina hurried forward and took the Numen's hands in both of hers.
Tears streamed down her face.
Her whole body trembled as she whispered in disbelief:
"How could… something like this…"
Lucian stood beside her and placed a hand on her back.
"The hornsent committed unspeakable cruelty against the Numens."
"They called them shamans. They believed that fusing criminals with shamans would let those people be reborn as kinder, better beings."
"Queen Marika slaughtered the hornsent in revenge for the shamans."
"So… you do not need to feel guilt over how those creatures treated you."
"If they committed such acts, then falling to vengeance was only natural."
Lucian drew in a slow breath.
Seeing Melina like this pained him as well.
"As for how to help them… I'll keep searching for a way."
Melina looked at the Numen before her, then slowly stood.
She wiped away her tears and summoned a small golden tree beside the woman.
The phantom Erdtree radiated a soft, gentle light that wrapped around the Numen's body.
After enduring endless suffering in the prison, the Numen now felt a peace that resembled her true homeland.
Bathed in that warmth, she gradually drifted into sleep.
After an age of torment beyond measure,
this was the first time she had slept.
—
[T/N: The Shaman Tribe and Shaman Village ]
The Shamans were a tribe of silver-haired Numen women who followed a matriarch known as the Grandmother, whose body was grafted into a tree.
They lived in Shaman Village, located in the hidden Hinterland area of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. After the Hornsent discovered their flesh's unique ability to meld harmoniously with others, they systematically captured, tortured, and butchered the Shamans, stuffing their remains into jars to create Jar Dwellers/Jar Innards.
Queen Marika was born in this village before leaving to become the Elden Lord; she later returned to find it abandoned, bathing the area in healing gold before never returning. To access this secret location, players must obtain the 'O Mother Gesture' from Bonny Village and perform it before Marika's statue in the Shadow Keep to reveal the path to the Hinterland.