The Shadow of the Fall
Ardyn looked up at her reflection and she saw a being who was completely different from who she was now, yet absolutely familiar.
Her hair hung in long, thin, curly braids of varying shades of purple. All along the braids were dark barbs, and the braids themselves seemed to move of their own accord and reach toward Ardyn as she looked up. They looked like purple, thorny, creeping vines looking for something to ensnare. Her skin glowed faintly purple and her eyes blazed deep purple. Power radiated from her as she looked down at Ardyn. Sidus Serpens' Ardyn looked down calmly.
Ethereal-transcendent power flowed around Sidus Serpens' Ardyn. She was more than an empress or a goddess. She was an ancient immortal who understood all that came before her. Her magic was perfection and pulled from all other known magics to "become."
Ardyn had to pull her eyes from the reflection above her.
She looked to Elsa and understood that this was her teacher when she was young. Her skin was that of youth, and the position—fetal—was done in fear. Ardyn finally noticed that the Elsa before her was trembling, and she could feel the fear pouring from her.
Ardyn walked to her. "Tea… Elsa? Can you hear me?"
Elsa did not reply, but the plane around them did. Sidus Serpens shimmered and all the lush green became more: older, more dynamic. Ardyn looked toward movement and she saw a plaza form to her right—a plaza surrounding an amphitheater. Seven pillars rose around the plaza and eight beings walked into it. They were all ethereal, ancient, and powerful.
Ardyn focused on three tortoise beastkin. Elsa was to the back, carefully following a male and female tortoise beastkin. She was still young but a bit older than the Elsa in the emerald pool. Elsa walked down to the center of the amphitheater. Sidus Serpens reached out to her—vines and soil rose up to caress her and then settled down around her.
The seven other beings sat upon the pillars and Sidus Serpens trembled in welcome. A fox beastkin spoke; his voice was like a summer breeze in an ancient forest. He looked down at Elsa and she looked up to him without fear.
"Sidus Serpens has chosen you, young one." He looked to the female, then the male tortoise—each on their respective pillar. "As your parents before you were chosen."
His eyes roamed over the other four beastkin, his fellow Emperors and Empresses—a sphinx, a mastodon, a great canine, and a gilled aquatic beast that seemed to be a combination of a shark and an orca—as if to ask if there was some objection. None came. The fox beastkin turned back to Elsa.
"You will be an empress. It is now to go out and find your cornerstone. We are the protectors of Sidus Serpens until our magic dies out."
"Until our magic dies out," all of the beastkin on the pillars spoke as one, and Ardyn felt Sidus Serpens warm around her—as if it rejoiced in their agreement.
The scene wavered and Elsa—again a bit older—walked along with the other two tortoise beastkin from the previous scene. The other female spoke calmly.
"Sidus Serpens is dying. You are now the strongest of us, Elsa. You will go out and rebuild the connection."
"She is only connected to Bratinus, Eva. How will she connect the others?"
"This is the way of Sidus Serpens, Cav. Who are we to question it? You cannot protect our daughter forever."
"And why not? We have lost our way. Maybe this is why Sidus Serpens in in peril."
Sidus Serpens trembled as the two higher beings calmly conversed. Elsa cleared her throat.
"Sidus Serpens has already told me I have to go." She turned and looked directly at Ardyn. Her flawless green skin suddenly became sickly, and she suddenly looked like death. It flaked away to reveal a deathly grey layer beneath. Then the vision flashed away in the blink of an eye. Elsa looked away and began speaking again. "I will go, but you all will die as Sidus Serpens disconnects more and more. This is because you refuse to take in more Emperors and Empresses."
"You don't know that for sure."
"Sit upon your pillar and ask Sidus Serpens for yourself." Elsa sighed. "I will find my students and they will reconnect Sidus Serpens."
The scene changed again. Sidus Serpens flattened out. The lush grass grew tall and swayed in the still air. Elsa stood before Ardyn, her back to Ardyn.
"You are my student."
Elsa looked and spoke as if with no emotion. Her eyes glistened as she looked at Ardyn.
Ardyn nodded. "I am, Teacher. I am here to help you heal your magical pathways."
Elsa looked to Ardyn for a long time, then she looked up to the pale blue sky. "I am cut off. This is natural. My magic is just dying out."
Ardyn stiffened. "What does that mean? You are immortal; you can't die."
Elsa looked to her again. "I am of Sidus Serpens. If the plane is unwell, so am I. If it dies, so do I."
Ardyn shook her head, defiance welling up within her. "I have seen your body; it is fine. It is just your magic that is having a problem." Her teacher would not die—if Elsa died, what had it all meant? What was the purpose of Ardyn ever gaining the Life Way?
"I am a being of magic." Elsa shrugged and looked into Ardyn's eyes. "You have connected with all four cornerstones and somehow have an extremely strong connection with two of them.
You will heal Sidus Serpens—heal it and renew it."