The Prophetic Dream
Varric entered Elsa's Cave without announcing himself, let alone waiting for her to invite him in. He felt the intense need to move, his new, taut muscles aching with kinetic energy. He found her massive tortoise head resting in her favorite crystalline boulder, her huge shell reaching up to the ceiling of the cave. She smirked at him as he entered.
"What happened, Master? Why has Ardyn reverted back to this feeling of worthlessness?" Varric's voice was a deep rasp, laced with barely contained fury.
Elsa's sigh was like a strong gale roaring through the cave, shaking the crystalline formations. "I gave her the things that family of hers stole from her, and she was ready to forgive and forget. She was ready to leave her entire self-worth on the floor of the Tranquility Cave. So, I told her she needs to learn to love herself."
Varric was enraged. That family of hers treating her like less than nothing made him want to destroy all of Silver Vale, reducing it to dust and ash. He exhaled a cloud of silver steam. "Why would you tell her that, Master? You know how deeply that toxic shame is rooted."
"Because it's true, little Lord. She is becoming very powerful. What will happen to her if she has magic on par with you, and her soul is still torn as it is now?" Elsa's great head rose and swayed side to side, her eyes twin liquid pools reflecting his silver scales.
"This is the only way to save her, Varric. To save both of you." She looked at him and his new, beautifully refined form. "You evolve because of her. Sidus Serpens would not allow that if she was not right for you and powerful enough to walk with you. But we both know what uncontrolled magic does to a conflicted soul. Calm yourself. Trust her. She will be okay."
Varric ran a hand over his smooth, silver-lined scale armor, accepting the wisdom. His fear remained, but his trust in Ardyn was absolute.
Ardyn slept within her Tranquility Cave and she dreamed a dream that had roots in reality.
A dream showing her a road that she could take if she was willing to – and if she was stronger enough.
[Prophetic Slumber]
Ardyn walked through rolling mists of a myriad of colors. She didn't know where she was but she felt safe. She could feel the calm of the Tranquility Cave flowing around her and she sensed Sidus Serpens pulsing through that calm.
For her soul these were things tangible – things just for her – things that sustained, healed, and nourished her.
And so she walked – without fear – through this dense mist and allowed it to take her where it willed and to show her what it willed.
Suddenly she walked out of the mist into a land she had never seen before and she felt different, older, and her magic felt… Deeper.
She looked down at herself, and her clothing had changed. She wore layered robes of lilac and cream, stitched with deep purple runes, and she felt power flowing through the runes and into the fabric itself. Her hair was a darker blonde, and the highlights were a deeper violet, cascading down her back in gentle waves that seemed to catch the ambient light. She took a deep breath, looked ahead, and moved forward—she was here to explore and discover.
She journeyed through the world, and she learned. She learned about herself, her family, her magic, and her place. In reality, within the Tranquility Cave, she snuggled down deeper into the soft moss, becoming utterly lost within this odd, purposeful dream.
First came her parents. She was born in a house bigger than she had ever seen. Her mother had soft, pink, jewel-toned eyes, and she looked down at her infant with overwhelming love. Her father was strong and kind, and her older brother was shy and quiet.
She stood in a deep shadow and watched it all. Love surrounded her like thick currents flowing through deep oceans, and she couldn't help but smile and feel an inner warmth that was suddenly comforting and natural to her.
Then it changed. She saw strands of deep, corrosive darkness flow around her family, but strands of brilliant gold surrounded her and pushed the darkness away. She cried as she understood: She always had this magic within her, and it protected her even when she could not protect herself.
Was she lucky, fated, or cursed? She didn't know, but she watched as this darkness flowed thicker and thicker around her parents and brother whenever her Uncle Michael was around. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at his confident, kind smile, seeing the subtle shift in his aura—a greedy, sick green underneath the pleasant surface. She wanted to yell a warning to her father as he clasped his brother on the back in greeting. She wanted this vision to be her reality, to save them all.
But she was swept away, thrown into the reality that fate had dealt her. She was allowed to see the truth of the carriage accident, the swift, intentional act that had killed them all, followed by the viciousness of her aunt, uncle, and cousins' years of emotional abuse. She slowly began to understand the truth: Their hatred had nothing to do with her value and everything to do with their envy and greed, a burning resentment that she, an orphan, held the deeds to a vast inheritance.
But still, she could not hate them. She could not bring herself to think badly of them either. She could not tear down that final wall of perception that told her these people were her family and, regardless of the pain, they should always be forgiven and loved.
And so, she slept, and her soul wept—and Varric sensed it all, vaguely, through the newly forged bond. Rage welled within him as sorrow welled within her. The [Prophetic Slumber] would not let Ardyn go until the condition was met and she found some peace within herself.
Then, the dream shifted one final time.
Ardyn was standing on a mountain peak, her purple and cream robes flowing like banners of power in a crystalline wind. She was older, her face serene, yet undeniably strong. In her hands, a torrent of amethyst and silver light swirled—the ultimate, perfected soul spell. She looked across the vast, misty kingdom to see Varric—no longer merely a Serpent Lord, but a being of sublime, radiant power, standing on an equal peak. She saw the immortality of their bond reflected in his eyes.
"I am your equal," she heard herself whisper, the sound echoing through the cosmic reality of the dream. "I am ready."
And then she heard it – a deep whisper on the wind – and she knew it was Sidus Serpens, so she listened.
"And do you want to know how to get here? How to be this Ardyn both within and without?"
She exhaled a "Yes" into that wind and she felt Sidus Serpens embrace her even more.
"Then sleep a bit longer. Look upon fate and learn how to see and use what has always been yours.
"Sleep and know your true inner song."