Ask A Monk and an Abomination

[Darth Malicia]

Max. She hadn't expected it, but there was some satisfaction from learning his name while she plotted delivering her retribution. He had refused to leave her childhood home when she asked. He didn't care about disturbing the resting place of her siblings remains, and why should he? He was not ilk. He had no obligation to care. Perhaps, in reality, Jedi and Sith weren't so far apart. Maybe what truly separated them was the fettering vs the preservation of life and not all the other muddied "morals" of their religions.

And who's really had the right to say life shouldn't be fettered? No, not when faced with the brutal realities of this galaxy. Praetor ate prey. It was the natural order of things.

As her darkness spilled into the vent she heard the Jedi speak, and then an explosion of Force and metals sent her flying back. As she flew back in the wave of the Jedi's push, she naturally let out a scream, but it was twisted by the Dark Side and her rage and entirely involuntary.

The scream rippled out in rapid shock waves through the Force, sending the debris straight back at the Jedi. A scream from a powerful Sith Lord once took down an entire building. The sound had the ability to stun and devastate anyone in close enough proximity to hear her at full force, and then carry them away in the shockwaves.

The part of the building they were in began to shake and fall apart around them.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

His Push was powerful but the answering Scream was just as powerful in return. Thankfully she hadn't had time to fully form it, letting it loose more as an instinctive thing than a targeted attack. That meant that while he was sent staggering backward, he was able to wrap the Force around himself to defend himself because the attack was so unfocused that it tore through the walls and ceiling rather than himself.

Of course not being hit by such a blast in a concentrated way was very much preferred but now being underground in a building that was literally falling apart around his ears? That wasn't a good place to be. Cursing, he ignored the Sith Lady and what had become of her from his own attack, instead focusing on running.

Entire sections of the ceiling were coming down with the weight of the upper floors behind each collapse. Cracks were starting to show in the floor as well, which gave Max a mad, desperate, idea that he really hoped he didn't actually have to go through with. Putting his lightsaber away in two parts at his hips, he dug deep into the Force even as he ran and even as sections of stone and plaster grew closer to him.

With a roar, he unleashed the Force ahead of himself, aimed at the floor ahead of him. The cracking had suggested that there was more room underneath him but he couldn't know that for certain. He was throwing everything he had left at a chance that he could escape the demise of the building by going deeper.

Launching himself into and, thankfully, through the hole he had created, Max started to fall. Just like before, he felt the Force tug him to do it and he went along with it; falling in the darkness with sections of building tumbling along after him. As he fell, he looked into the darkness, finding a glow beneath him of fires that had never been put out. Allowing the Force to guide him, Max Pushed himself along through the air during his fall before beginning to drain the momentum and speed from himself as best as he could.

Aiming for a thin stone bridge in the underground cavern, Max braced himself and hit the stone, hard, in a roll. It was harder than he expected, causing him to cry out in pain and mess up his concentration. He rolled further than he had planned, felling one half of his body slip over the edge of the stone walkway.

Turning on a dime, he grabbed hold of the edge of the stone walkway with both hands. His left hand slipped and he right almost did the same but both of the metal fingers dug into the stone too deeply to be easily dislodged. Hanging onto the darkened walkway for dear life, Max couldn't help it.

He started to laugh, even as he reached up to latch on with his left hand too.

"All this... for a bloody... karking... wayfinder?" he muttered as he hauled himself up onto the stone walkway and just lay there for a second, "I hate this place soooo much right now."

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

With the floor already weak, a chunk of the ceiling falling near her made it give in. The floor basically caved, swallowing her with it. As she fell she kept screaming for a short time, pushing away the debris near her before reigning herself in.

She used the Force pad her landing and forced herself to keep moving to avoid more debris. And, to find something to lean on. A cold rock met her hand and helped prop her up.

Her body was starting to feel a little bit heavier, and she looked up. She could hear more of building collapse, evidence by dust and rumbling. She wasn't sure what the extent of damage was, but she had been a good amount of rooms away from her siblings remains, at least. She was certain they were undamanged, though a small worry lingered at the back of her mind.

There was little point continuing to chase after the Jedi now that she had absolutely no clue where he went. She'd rest here awhile, and wait. If he didn't cross her path then she'd find her way back up and stalk the parts of the building that wasn't collapsed. After that, if she didn't find him, she'd look around for his ship even if he'd probably be long gone by then. He had triggered a deep, predatory part of her that hadn't been snuffed out even now.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Of course, it took collapsing half a building and play lothcat and mouse with a Sith Lord for him to find what he was looking for. It seemed that the area he had fallen down onto was carved from the stone as a shrine for something that Dark Side Cultists would find worthy of such reverence; a Wayfinder practically oozing the Dark Side.

He stared at it there on its stone pedestal, silently watching it. Part of him was worried that it wasn’t actually real and the other half of him was worried that it actually was real because then that meant he would have to actually touch it. The Dark Side clung to it like a stench that was all but impossible to be rid of.

Approaching slowly, he kept his eyes peeled as he looked over the surrounding area. He wouldn’t put it past the Cultists that had spawned Malicia to have trapped the area but, well, it seemed they hadn’t thought anyone would be able to find the place in the first place. It had taken falling through several floors for Max to land himself (quite literally) here after all.

Luck or the Force?

Reaching out with his half cybernetic hand, Max carefully picked the wayfinder up. It was cold, smooth, metal beneath his fingers but there was no sudden lurch of a Dark Side attack. No, the wayfinder itself wasn’t a Dark Side artifact with a connection to the Dark Side – it had been a spectator, a witness to such Dark acts that it had carried the marks for millennia.

Max didn’t like to think what could have caused such scars that lasted so long but he didn’t have time to wonder. Instead he put the wayfinder away within the folds of his robes and started his escape. There was a single, narrow, staircase built into the rock that led up to the surface of the planet again.

No bloody handrail at all but he wasn’t surprised.

Reaching his ship took longer than he would have liked but he was able to sink into the pilot’s seat and take off without much issue. Buddy beeped at him and Max nodded, setting the wayfinder down atop one of the consoles in the cockpit.

“We got what we came for, Buddy.”

So why did it feel like he hadn’t?

/End Thread

@Dread