Chapter 102 – The First that once was Last
Eldora looked to Elsa. "Now we will know how capable and worthy your students are."
Elsa turned to her with her usual easy smile. "I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised." She settled back on her new pillar, a slight smile on her face, confidence in her students roaring through her veins, and new hope for the future within her heart.
Atina started the trial—she refused to allow her connection with her mistress to ever be disrupted—and so she reached Ardyn, and actually reached her.
This started a chain reaction between the four. Once Atina connected to Ardyn, she caused Seraphis to connect; once he connected, Ardyn sought out Varric. And this four-way connection connected the cornerstones with each other and Sidus Serpens.
The trial was set in motion.
Atina cried out—it was not her voice but her soul—it was an ethereal sound filled with understanding, knowledge, and belief. The pain was a hollow echo behind it all.
And then her body was obliterated.
Her body was obliterated, but her soul was fully intact, connected to the other three and to the core chaos of Planar. The chaos corner of Planar pulsed and slowly, methodically, a quiet breeze of a sound came forth.
The voice was a combination of Planar and Atina. A pure chaos fought to be born. "We are she. They are we. There is chaos. There is no calm. Swim through the breeze. Dance on the shore. Chaos is the true breath of who you are."
The chaos expanded, then contracted violently. Atina's voice spoke alone—ancient words of power that cloaked the vast corner in calm, the calm she inherited from Ardyn.
All paused and power rolled outward from the Planar corner, and the other three corners responded with a pulse of power in kind. It caused a low rumbling sound that shook the entire valley. But the valley did not respond by crumbling in on itself. It responded with flowers blooming and grass growing.
It all came back to strike Atina like a horrid magical rebound after a powerful magical work. She screamed anew and slowly, Atina began to reform. The chaos quivered with energy and forced calm.
Above the valley, the High Emperors and Empresses looked on in great confusion. Ryvvan looked to Salton. "What is her trial?"
Salton closed his eyes, his thoughts centered on Atina but not directly focused on her. His gills opened and closed with a steady noise. The smell of a summer breeze over a vast ocean flowed over the pillars.
Salton focused deeper and his black and white skin shone with brilliance as his hidden scales rose to the surface and helped focus his mind and clear the image before him. His voice seemed to come to them over vast amounts of time and from an unimaginable distance. "She has been truly obliterated." His eyes opened. "She is redefining herself, one memory and experience at a time."
The High Emperors and Empresses all turned to the silver sphere as one. None spoke. They all focused on the first of the four to face their trial. They all focused and waited.
Atina shrieked again and another microscopic portion of who she was realigned and settled into place. The other three had no sense of what was happening, their forms seemingly frozen, quiet, waiting their turn.
Inside the Planar corner, Atina's sentience was indeed looking—looking through a vast cosmos of memory. All belonging to her. Some actually happened to her, some were simply her perception, and others were her hopes and dreams.
It was time for her to choose. Sidus Serpens was allowing her to rebuild herself on the most fundamental level. Would she take on all her doubt again? Would she embrace moments of weakness? Or would she decide on a perceived perfection? Each piece, as it slotted into place, forged a new fiery, painful connection to her soul.
Sidus Serpens was allowing her to choose her new self, but her selections would determine the type of Empress she would be after. Would she remain a Minor Empress or rise to a Lower Empress—or move even higher?
Another piece slotted in and her scream sounded out again. Soon scales were being replaced, inky black with shadowy edges. Her hair now hung to her back but looked odd because of her missing parts. Her face was also incomplete and covered in shadow.
But even as incomplete as she was, her power continued to swell.
She chose a memory of her and Ardyn fighting side by side against a tide of giant rodent creatures. They stormed over the two, and Atina and Ardyn burst from the foul mass as one. They fought without hesitation or fear and Atina saved Ardyn on more than one occasion.
It never happened. It was pure fantasy, a moment in time that Atina wished for. It slotted in with the rest and Atina let out another scream. Her eyes opened—one whole and the color of a rainbow after a short rain, the other an empty socket, not yet filled.
She smiled as if seeing the world for the very first time.
Atina continued in this way. Adding to herself. Accepting much, leaving much behind.
When the last piece connected, the Planar corner rose with a thunderous shudder and entered the castle.
Atina looked around—one rainbow eye, one eye of chaotic darkness—she had been made new. She accepted much about herself and decided to carry all her dreams and leave all her baggage and shortcomings.
A new Lower Empress of Sidus Serpens had been born.