Forging Pillars and Couple Moves
Atina moved quickly, her shadow viper heritage revealing itself as Seraphis maintained his original position with a blank look on his face. She shot toward him, and just before she entered his personal space, a dense wall of chaotic energy spread out before him. She was thrown back as if she had hit a wall of concussive air.
As she moved back, her shadow magic spread out, but she did not use any void energy—scared to connect with Noir or Ardyn. Seraphis, on the other hand, allowed shadow and chaos to swirl around him like a dense shield. When Atina attacked, a stream of chaotic shadow shot forth from the shield and stopped her.
Elsa frowned. "Seraphis shows no fear. It seems that Atina still doubts herself."
Ardyn nodded and then sighed. Her hand rose, and a dome of shadow and vines rose above Atina and Seraphis. The dome was dense, and when it was complete, it crackled like electricity. The shadows became clear like thick windows, and the vines thinned and intertwined to become like bars on a prison cell. The shadows inside the dome seemed to riot, then suddenly settle—as if the dome forced them into calm.
Ardyn whispered an ancient incantation and runes settled over the dome. Chaotic void magic rained down on Atina and Seraphis, and the forging of an Emperor and Empress began.
Seraphis added to his swirling magic and built a sentient warding shield around him to respond to his Mistress's magic. Atina's magic already had this sentient ability, but she did not double down like Seraphis; she left her wards as they were and did not add to them. Seraphis subtly looked to his Mistress, and Ardyn nodded slowly. Elsa smiled, and a chair of vines, flowers, and soil rose behind her. She sat down in satisfied anticipation.
"You're going to allow them to forge each other? Good."
Seraphis burst into action. Chaos magic flowed upward in an ordered storm. It pulled Atina's void magic to it, and the chaos warped it to Seraphis's will. Ardyn and Elsa sighed as one as Atina's counter came through with only half her power and intent. The cage glowed in brilliant light and, as Seraphis's strike hit, protected Atina. Still, she was thrown back into the shadow vine dome.
Ardyn shook her head. "I will help her, Teacher. I will take her to my caves and allow her to train there."
Elsa nodded, her eyes still intent on the spar before her. "Good idea. Hopefully she can find herself as you did."
Ardyn nodded. "I need to go help Varric. We are setting the wards today, and tying Serpentia and Sidus Serpens together." She looked to Atina once more, then disappeared from Elsa's side.
Ardyn appeared over Blackcrest Mountain. She looked toward Mount Saber and sensed Varric. She took several breaths; as she did so, her vine wizard staff formed beside her—vines coming into existence to twirl about each other and form a new weapon. It was taller than her battle staff, and its top twirled and knotted three times. A stone grew from each of the knots—crystals from her battle robes. The bottom crystal was of chaos, the top of void, and the center was of Ardyn's pure magic.
The vine wizard staff rose a bit and then thrust itself into the ground. A ripple of power flowed over the two mountain ranges. A wide circular ward formed and moved out just past Silver Vale in the north, Harvest Glen in the southeast, and Porter Sky to the northeast.
The circle pulsed with magic, and Varric began his spell weave. He was focused, and his spell weave moved out quickly. The vine wizard staff responded, and vines moved out to balance and feed the power of the spells. Ardyn responded to Varric and began creating runes with her fingers and speaking ancient words of magic to form, enhance, and solidify them.
She felt the vine wizard staff adding to her power and balancing it. She spoke without pause or breath. The words flowed from her just as her hands danced at her sides, creating rune after rune. The runes pushed forward on her words and began to form circles of power over both mountain ranges. Varric's spell weave moved out over the land, and Serpentia began to respond.
The land settled, then the water became purer, the air fresher, and Serpentia embraced all life within it. There was a sense of safety and connection in every being, creature, and plant. Serpentia was now whole.
Now, the true work was to begin. Ardyn and Varric had to connect Serpentia to Sidus Serpens, stabilize that connection, and then bind it. Their two days of spell casting started now.