The White Deluge
The four stood and watched. The Sand Dwellers were the white sands of the ground itself—humanoid figures that dissolved and were remade over and over again as they surged toward the Emperors and Empresses. Watching this, they all knew that this fight was going to be difficult.
Ardyn and Varric intertwined, moving forward as one. They swept through the plane—the sands seeming to part before them—toward the horde that sounded like a vast, thunderous sandstorm. Atina dove into the dunes, cutting through the ground with her thin, aerodynamic body. Seraphis opened a door of void and arrived above the mass of reforming sands. Then, all four attacked as one.
Ardyn and Varric sent out waves of Dark-Void magic that swept the Sand Dwellers away over and over again. Atina's chaos magic struck them, scattering grains in all directions, and Seraphis's void magic simply erased them from existence. Yet, each time, everything paused, rewound, and restored every obliterated Sand Dweller. It was as if the plane itself had a defensive-restorative ward placed on all of its inhabitants.
The four pushed through the ranks. They worked together and met little resistance, but when they reached the center of the horde, they paused.
"We need to hold time at bay."
Ardyn nodded in agreement with Varric, but then frowned. "This is a plane of time. Holding time back here will be a monumental task."
Varric smiled slyly, and Ardyn felt his excitement and love through their soul tether. "Seraphis and I will handle the light. You and Atina need to handle the sands."
Ardyn looked to him in confusion, then smiled. "Its motion is the flow of time here."
Varric nodded, his huge eyes smiling into hers. "Exactly, my love."
All four moved in a flurry of motion. Varric and Seraphis rose into the air; as they did, darkness spread from them like a thick blanket wanting to help someone drift off into a deep sleep. Varric's spell weave and Seraphis's dark well spread shadows throughout the skies and across the ground. Very quickly, the entire plane was as dark as night, and the Sand Dwellers slowed considerably.
With this, Ardyn and Atina changed tactics and began to strike the sand itself. Ardyn's vine staff sent out thick roots that burrowed deep into the dunes. They sent out pulses of chaotic-void magic that caused the ground to vibrate violently, stripping the sands of their cohesion. Atina followed with waves of shadow-chaos that further separated and scattered the grains. For several heartbeats, the sands froze. The grains hung in the air, releasing small vibrations that indicated their struggle to be released.
The four knew they hadn't won. Varric and Seraphis redoubled their efforts; shadow and darkness fell from the skies, dense and heavy. They spread across the plane, blanketing it in a fabric of still, cool nothingness. Ardyn and Atina allowed their magics to burrow deeper. Atina took her shadow weapon, forming it into a staff, and drove it deep into the ground. Chaos flowed through the dunes and disrupted the flow of time even more.
Then, quite suddenly, everything stopped. After two seconds of absolute silence, the sands all fell to the ground. All was quiet.
The four stood silently, eyes narrowed and bodies tensed. Then, the ground under their feet began to tremble. The sands rose before them—Varric and Seraphis quickly moving out of the way. The mass rose high into the sky and pierced the darkness, allowing blue light to spread over the dunes once more. The plane heaved as if it had released a breath it had been holding too long.
The Sand Dwellers rose again, but instead of charging, they began combining. They walked and jumped into one another, rising into a greater and greater mass. The sands of the entire plane poured into the construction, forming a mountainous humanoid that towered into the sky. It looked down on Ardyn, Varric, Atina, and Seraphis and let out a long, booming sound that was like glass shattering and crashing to the ground.
"It would seem that we only angered it."
Varric raised an eyebrow. "It would seem so."
Ardyn smiled. "Let's show it that we really only want to be friends."
She grew to the same height as the mountainous Sand Dweller. Her hair flowed down over the plane like a living river of lilac and pale blond. Her battle robes writhed with the eagerness of bloodlust. Her vine staff rose into the air and then drove itself into the ground; the mountainous Sand Dweller trembled as oceans of sand fell from its form and back onto the ground.
Varric watched with a small smile and great pride. He shifted to his beastkin form and rose to the same height. He stood next to his loved one and prepared to fight. Atina and Seraphis narrowed their eyes in frustration, yet they still readied themselves to help in any way they could.
Ardyn's calm voice slid over the plane. "We just want to pass. Allow this and live subjugated. Deny our request and become our possession, to do with as we please." She breathed calmly. "What do you choose?"