The Road whose bricks move through time, space, and the layers
Ardyn and Atina walked upon the sparkling green and pink bricks before them like they were marching across a lush valley looking for a special bloom. Each brick seemed to know them and want to be part of the road.
The bricked path rose and fell before them; it curved, and it seemed to move through distant shadow. They kept to the path, and Ardyn found herself learning and understanding.
Ardyn stopped, Seraphis' tether quietly active. She heard her aunt and uncle speaking.
"Dear, just ask him to call her here. Sonia is right. We still control her. We just need Ardyn here and she will obey."
"And you believe someone weak controls someone so powerful?"
"She does not control him. The Serpent Lord does."
"You all will not be satisfied until we are all dead."
Ardyn smiled; she looked to Atina. "Wait here for me for a moment." Even as she spoke, a large tent rose on the road before them. Atina looked to it.
"Do not worry, Mistress. I will be okay."
Ardyn nodded and slid down—her body becoming lilac sand and slipping through the cracks of the green and pink bricks.
Michael and Anabel Stronghood both started when Seraphis stepped forward from his shadowed corner. Sweat formed on their foreheads as they imagined the worst. Seraphis took a knee and lowered his head. A pile of lilac sand began to form before him, and suddenly there was a breeze and a female form manifested before Seraphis.
Anabel didn't recognize her, but Michael knew his brother's daughter instantly. Her voice was incredibly beautiful, and they couldn't understand a word. It was just a gentle breeze over a quiet stream. Seraphis nodded and stood; Ardyn turned to her aunt and uncle, and Tomas, Angelica, and Sonia appeared next to their parents.
Ardyn looked around the house that she grew up in; she did not feel anything as memories flooded into her being. She looked to her family and they all shrunk back when they saw her blazing amethyst eyes. Her vine battle staff formed in her hand and vines extended out to touch each one of her family. Seraphis moved behind her as a bright throne of amethyst crystal, green vines, and purple blooms rose between them.
Ardyn sat down and looked over her family, still not ready to speak to them. Her new layered battle robes rippled around her as if they were finding a more comfortable position.
Michael couldn't hold his peace any longer and he lowered his head as he spoke to his niece.
"My Lady Ardyn. Thank you for honoring us with a visit."
Anabel and Sonia scoffed at the same time. Tomas and Angelica stared wide-eyed at Ardyn. She looked to both her aunt and her cousin Sonia.
"Do I honor you, uncle? Even as Aunt Anabel plans to re-enslave me?"
Flowers had bloomed before each of them to protect them and to translate Ardyn's now divine tongue into something they could understand. Sonia began to cry, as if she knew all of them would die soon.
"I will be taking my servant with me. Do as you please, but remember that he has already placed a shadow travel seed in each of you. He will always know where you are and he will be able to appear at your sides in an instant. There is no escape from me. I can already see all that I had intended to ask, but I will never let you go." She looked to the coal shack outside that used to be her bedroom, and all the Stronghoods flinched as one.
Ardyn turned a radiant smile to them and they all had to squint and shield their eyes.
"I will not harm you, but I am not sure what to do with you yet. If it was not for all of you, I would never have met my Emperor and I would never have found my true strength. You will live, but you will live as I dictate."
She stood and Michael quickly spoke. "My… My Lady… Empress, can we work again? We can add to your empire. We can be of value to you."
She looked at her uncle for a long time, then looked to a distant corner of the home and a large pile of treasure grew there. The family watched it touch the ceiling.
"Use this in my name—for good—and it will never finish. Keep your greedy ways and watch all fortune drain away from you like sands through your fingers."
Her vines returned to her battle staff and she again turned to lilac dust. Seraphis opened a door as the throne lowered, and when the door closed behind him, the Stronghoods stood in silence and fear.
Little Ardyn was no longer malleable.