Sometimes Seeing Truly is Believing
Atina and Seraphis sparred for two days, while Varric and Ardyn aligned and connected Serpentia with the cornerstones and Sidus Serpens. Each time the two evenly matched warriors battled, Atina lost. She became more and more frustrated, and her magic and moves became increasingly sloppy.
Now, she was breathing heavily, and Seraphis was looking at her with no expression on his face. He cocked his head to the side. "If you keep holding back like that, my Mistress could die. I am not going to allow any harm to come to her."
Atina said nothing, but her head hung a bit lower. Both she and Seraphis looked up to the mountain ranges of Serpentia, but it was Elsa that spoke.
"Your Mistress is done. She will be here soon." She looked out past Bratinus. "Time for me to leave." She looked to Atina with a smile. "You had better be a Lower Empress the next time I see you."
As Varric and Ardyn arrived, a green line extended down from nothing. It parted the air before them, and Varric and Ardyn smiled as they both felt Sidus Serpens reach out to them. Elsa stepped through and was gone—the portal closing behind her. Ardyn turned and looked to Atina.
"Come. I have a quiet place for you to train. Varric, you can start with Seraphis. They need to be Lower Empress and Emperor before we all leave tomorrow."
Varric simply nodded as he rolled his shoulders. Darkness slowly rose from the ground as Ardyn and Atina disappeared.
Ardyn and Atina reappeared in The Cavern of Reflection. The walls of living mirror rippled in greeting, welcoming Ardyn back. She looked at Atina. "You will train here. When you are done, the cave will send you to me." She placed a hand on Atina's shoulder. "You can do this. Both our teacher and myself see it in you. You are capable."
Before Atina could respond, Ardyn was gone. The cave walls around Atina rippled, though the floor and the ceiling remained unmoving. Slowly, two forms came into the room—one from the ceiling, one from the floor. They were both Atina. One looked exactly like Atina except for scales that were mirrors; the second was a human version of Atina with mirror eyes.
These two reflections began to slowly walk around her, their gazes piercing her soul with white-hot fire. She flinched involuntarily, and Mirror-Viper laughed boisterously.
"Vipers don't flinch! You will never truly be a shadow viper."
"Sh! Be quiet, reptile! Allow the weak one to speak." The eyes of Mirror-Human flashed with dangerous light.
Mirror-Viper laughed again. Atina closed her eyes tightly, and there was silence for a long while. Then, Mirror-Human sucked her teeth. "Did you think we would leave that easily?"
"Of course she did. We are wasting our time. Kill her, human! Let's get this over with."
"And why should I kill her? If you have a problem with her, you kill her." Mirror-Human sat down on the air, her legs crossed as she remained suspended in a seated position to Atina's right.
Mirror-Viper hissed. "She is not worth my time. Why should I even consider killing something so worthless?"
"Why would you call her worthless? She looks pretty strong to me."
"What is strength with indecision?"
"Are you indecisive, weak one?"
"Ha! You just said she was weak."
"Of course I did. She is weaker than me." Mirror-Human looked at Atina incredulously. "Why would you want to be like this one so badly? Reptiles are such idiots."
Atina trembled. She trusted Ardyn more than any other being, but she did not see the value of this exercise. Her hands were balled into tight fists. They were so tight that her nails began to dig into her flesh, but she never felt it. All she felt was shame. She was going to fail again. She would have to leave her mistress in shame.
Mirror-Human's eyes shone. "Are you going to cry now?"
Mirror-Viper leaned against an invisible wall. "Of course she will. You heard what she just said. She has already given up. She is going to leave her mistress in shame."
Atina stiffened. Mirror-Human sucked her teeth. "We are you. Why wouldn't we hear your thoughts?" She looked around the cavern. "You have a very smart mistress. We are your strength."
"But, because of you, we are also your weakness."
"So you do have some active brain cells."
Mirror-Viper snarled at Mirror-Human. Before the latter could respond, they both sprang away from Atina. Mirror-Viper's scales flashed, and the Cavern of Reflection exploded with brilliant light. She slid across the mirrored surface of the ceiling and readied for battle.
Mirror-Human smiled broadly as she came to a halt on the cavern floor, her body tense. Dense black chaotic magic flowed out from her. "Good. There is nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe in."
"What do you mean, human! There is nothing wrong with believing in yourself." Mirror-Viper roared as a black two-handed greatsword appeared in her hands and she cleanly sliced through the black chaos.
Mirror-Human chuckled, her nails growing out long and black; they crackled with chaos and tore the black chaos before her to shreds. "Come Atina. Finally accept who you are."