The Shadow Breach
Atina stood next to Ardyn and began breathing deeply. Her magic, Shadow Sprout, plumed from her. Her black scales pushed forth magic in long vines and dark buds of energy. Ardyn's battle robes rose as if they had come to life. Crystals dropped to the ground in high piles. Her songs—Nature and Sight—moved forward and wove into the innermost shaft of the dark vine.
Atina's Shadow Sprout went to Ardyn's hand even as her vine battle staff materialized. They stood in each other's shadows, and the Shadow Sprout surrounded them both until they faded into the dark. Atina's Shadow Sprout moved forward, Ardyn's vine battle staff staying deep within its shadow. Vines moved forward and quickly surrounded the black beads of anti-magic.
Using [Shadow Walk], both Ardyn and Atina stepped through the anti-magic veil. Ardyn's battle robes left a large pile of crystals behind. The anti-magic veil drank the magic of the crystals up as the two moved through to the other side.
The sky was grey and the ground was black. There was no true light, but shadow still existed. Ardyn stayed within Atina's shadow. Atina looked to their right, and Ardyn's vine battle staff shot vines out in response. The staff rose up in the air and dark vines shot out in all directions. Deep, ethereal howls rang out from every corner of the anti-magic plain.
The Shadow Sprout technique caught one of the creatures right before Ardyn. It was a being of black shadow; it had no face, but noise, intent, and dark magic poured from its pores. The one in front of Ardyn had been skewered by Shadow Sprout and the vine battle staff. The being howled in pain, dark magic spewing forth like molten lava.
Her battle robes plumed outward. They shielded her and then wrapped the being in voluminous white and lilac fabric. The fabric tightened around the shadow being until it was no more. The battle robes drank the dark magic as if it were Ardyn's pure soul song magics. They Shadow Walked again and again, putting distance between them and the anti-magic veil. Shadow Sprout went out again and more howls erupted throughout the plain. Ardyn's battle robes flared out and shot forth as well. They skewered and wrapped being after being, then absorbed them into the white and lilac fabric.
Ardyn stopped and used her rainbow soul gem to erect a vast dome around her and Atina. The two watched as the faceless beings slammed into the shimmering dome over and over again. Ardyn's battle robes twitched around her; dark crystals were collecting at her feet as the robes continued to filter the dark magic.
"What do we do, Mistress?"
"I am not sure, but I can't believe we are supposed to kill an entire plain of beings."
Another of the shadow beings slammed into the dome, and Atina clenched her fists a bit harder. "Maybe they have invaded here and we need to clear them out."
"You are part shadow, Big Sister. Do you really believe that?"
"I am more than shadow, Mistress. These beings are just shells."
"Just shells?" Ardyn's nose twitched. "Help them understand who we are, Atina. Help them know who they are."
Atina's shadow slip went through the rainbow dome and entered the first two shadow beings it came across. They twitched and slowly began to form facial features. They started with ears, noses, mouths, and finally eyes. Just as these two focused and looked to Atina, as if they were about to speak, the shadow beings around them tore them apart. Then, they slowly reformed back into mindless shadows again.
Ardyn pursed her lips. "Sit down, big sister. You are going to need a lot of power to do this."
Atina sat and began meditating even as Ardyn began replenishing her. Ardyn looked out onto the plain. She sent out her [Song of Sight] to see what she could understand. Her battle robes kept flinching and rising up in winds that were not there. Her battle robes swirled around her, and then she finally noticed it: some, but not all, of the shadow beings looked at the movements of her battle robes. Their faceless heads kept moving with the sway of the fabric.
Ardyn allowed her silver talisman to unite with her battle robes. She was hoping they could move deeper into the realm and closer to the dark song she was hearing. A dark, sweet, ancient song was calling out to her—and she wanted it.