Amongst the Ghosts of the Past

[Demiurge]

Ziost
Sith Temple of Ziost
Underground Catacombs
Midnight Hour
​

Ziost. An arctic world, frozen to it's very core. Lifeless and barren, the planet was once a lust world of evergreen forests and teeming with life. Now, there were only ice and winds. A focal point for the Dark Side of the Force, Ziost was now one famed as the adopted homeworld of the Sith Lords, after their self-expurgation from Korriban during the rule of Sith King Adas, nearly 30,000 years ago. A world largely forgotten by the galaxy, Ziost held many of the Sith's darkest and most closely guarded secrets, and many of their oldest tenants. But perhaps most intriguingly, is that Ziost was the prime location for many of the earliest Lords of the Sith of the Sith species, the hybrid descendants of the Massassi themselves. No one could deny the importance of this world, least of all, the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.

And it was the Dark Lord himself that walked beneath the surface, in the underground Temple of the Sith, build beneath the ancient ruins of the Sith Citadel. Darth Exodeus was a man with visions of the future, learning from the past only to forsake the failures of his progenitors before him. He cared nothing for the ancient Sith Lords, or their tombs, but never abandoned the power there. The very planet was a nexus of the Force, and deep beneath even the underground temple, in the catacombs, was the center of its energies. Even simply walking amongst the dead, he could not help - could not deny - that he felt the power of this place.

There were in rivalry to it, such as Yavin IV and the Great Massassi Temple, Coruscant and the Old Temple of the Jedi, Empress Teta and the Sage Halls... and then, there were those few that were even greater; Korriban and the Valley of the Dark Lords, Tython and the New Tythonian Temple, and of course, the greatest Nexus of the Force in the fabrics entire galaxy, Ruusan and the Valley of the Jedi. Worlds of power. True power, that few could ever hope to grasp or comprehend. And Exodeus was power, was truth and comprehension. Only he could tame such worlds, bring them under his control and feed from them. Only he held the mantle of power, the right to rule such worlds, and the galaxy.

The Dark Lord continued to walk amongst the dead Lords of the Sith, taking note of each one. Krasso Zhasz, Abogou Nesshh, Trath Wadaka, Yuodo Jeedoshh... all Dark Lords of the Sith... all dead... all failures to their own species and philosophies. Reminders to him, to Exodeus, that his will cannot fail. He was the true Sith, infallible in might, unbreakable in will, strongest among them all, and ruling by his Force-given birthright. And it was through him that the Sith philosophy would see it's ultimate realization. It was through him that the Dark Side would finally seize ultimate victory. The dominance of the fading Light of Ashla was dying in his wake. Now, there was coming a new era, a new Darkness to devour the galaxy, and a new breed of Sith to claim it. Now was the time for the sovereignty of Darth Exodeus.

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste hesitated, her sanity beginning to grow thin. Her thoughts were muddled, as if his mere presence clouded all logic. She began walking down the steps, the darkness almost reaching out to her. Whereas she usually thrived off it, this kind was taxing, as if ripping away at her psyche. It filled every last corner of her mind, filling her with a sense of dread. She was relinquishing logic, suddenly feeling more and more like a child with each step she took. Andraste felt sick to her stomach, hatred and anguish culminating within her. She had been successful at avoiding him thus far, especially with the newly declared war keeping the upper tier of the Sith busy.

The smell of decay hit her abruptly and she had to pause to adjust to it. More than that, there was power throbbing from within the catacombs, and it was beyond what Exodeus projected. It was unclear why he had summoned her to the tombs, and then it hit her abruptly: it was mockery. He knew this darkness would claw at her mind, clashing with her own prophetic future as envisioned by multiple Sith Lords. However, the Dark Lords here were dead, all ultimately surrendering themselves to the Force. Was this a message that she was destined for the same fate?

Her bare foot touched the cold ground of the tombs. She did not have to look up to know where he was. Andraste did not want to face him, quelling the rage that his mere presence invoked. She quietly closed the distance between them, curiosity dictating that she gaze at the tombs as she passed them. This was a hub of dark energy and it was feeding into Exodeus. For the first time since she could remember, she felt betrayed by the Force. It did not obediently come to her, but here she had walked into Exodeus' lair, his domain. Andraste came to stand a few feet away from him, having a vague idea that he had most likely summoned her because she had left a Jedi alive. She finally raised her gaze, her eyes narrowed. When she spoke, she failed to keep the venom out.

"Are you so eager to join your predecessors?"

 

[Demiurge]

By the time Andraste had even set foot on Ziost, Exodeus had been watching her. This world, like so many others, was his domain, a veiled place of the galaxy where the Dark Side ran strong, where it penetrated the very fabrics of his body, fueled him like the blood in his veins. In his eyes, when in such places, Exodeus was a god - none could defeat him. He saw all things, and his presence permeated all things. Join them?, he thought, hearing Andraste's words.

"Did you know, apprentice, that before now, a true Sith had never before existed?" Exodeus' helmet mast whirred electronically as it split down the center, opening up to reveal his face as the face plates retracted to the side of his head, "Since the beginning, the prime defining attribute of a Sith - of a true Sith - had been the defiance of death, superseding the ascension to the afterlife of the netherworld; immortality. A true Sith never dies, never is forced to reclaim his identity after death to achieve power... a true Sith would never taste the chains of death, but would ascend to something greater. Something immortal... godlike."

Exodeus slowly walked about, turning his head discretely as he gazed upon the many tombs.

"But such power comes at a price... A Sith cannot merely attain power, but must follow an ideal - become it. And of these philosophical ideologies, one of the most pivotal is never to concede to mercy. Never abide the weakness of others. This means not only to dominate your enemy, but to expunge them, wipe them from the face of the galaxy in entirety. The Sith of the past, in some manner or another, have consistently failed in this. That is why I am different. That is why I shall prove to be true."

At that, Exodeus turned around, sending a sharp stare into Andraste's eyes, meeting her gaze with his black and red eyes.

"Now then, apprentice... Tell me, about your sparing that Jedi."

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste had to look away to hide her disgust. His arrogance had grown far worse than she had ever experienced before. She detested him, and she knew he loved every bit of it. Andraste did not gaze upon his face, though she knew his haunting visage faced her now. She remained silent as he spoke, delving into ideologies and his own narrowed perception of the galaxy. His obsession with being immortal, as if some kind of god would be his ultimate undoing. Andraste quietly began to walk to the side, running her fingers over the tombs.

"And why do I have to bend to your own falsely concocted ideologies? You may believe otherwise, but you are no god. You call me apprentice, but I do not serve you. I am bound to you, yes, in a way that I cannot explain.."

It was the first time she had admitted such a fact out loud. Andraste could not meet his eyes as she spoke, truly hating herself for accepting that they had a connection she could never explain.

"Sith existed long before you and Sith will exist long after you. They live, they fulfill their destinies and then they rest. Death in itself is a journey all on its own. I will embrace it when my time comes. What will you become? An old, hollowed shell, an imprint of the man you once were."

She smiled bitterly, looking away.

"If you can even call yourself a man. You are more animal than anything. You see only one path, the path of destruction and nothing else. It's mindless, it's not beautiful.."

She grinned, knowing how much he despised that word.

"You will be vanquished by your own blindness, your own failure to see past your boundless quest for dominion. Do you know how even the greatest leaders fall? They forget that the masses beneath them can learn to think for themselves one day. They forget that those under them can band together and destroy them. By then it's too late, the leader is blinded by his own visions of grandeur. Then the support is knocked out from underneath them and they fall. They fall into despair, fall into destruction, the very manifestation of the chaos they try so hard to bring to others. Then they become nothing more than a memory..sealed within a tomb.."

Andraste looked over at the stone tombs.

"Your fate will be no different, my lord. You will never learn what it means to truly manipulate darkness, to truly poison the minds of others, to truly make them serve you."

As he asked about the Jedi, Andraste chuckled softly. So she had been correct in assuming the reasons for her summon after all. It was then that she gazed upon his features.

"I spared him because I have no reason to destroy him. I spared him because I want to know how he thinks, what makes him tick, how he works. I want to know why he was a Jedi. Instead of mindlessly killing him, I want to delve into his thoughts. I want to understand. I want to learn. It's something you know nothing about. It's something I could never explain to you."

 

[Demiurge]

As Andraste spoke her defiant words, Exodeus stood in silence, never once breaking his gaze with her. Standing by a massive central tomb, the light from above beaming down from Ziost's light made him appear as a sceptural figure, unmoving and unaltered. And after she spoke her words to him, the Dark Lord said nothing in return. Instead, there was only an omnipresent silence. No winds above, from Ziost's blizzards storms, steered into the canaals, no ambient sounds resting in the air. It was a perfect void. And then, at the zennith of this moment, a wickedly curved smile carved its way onto Exodeus' face, cackling in an undertone. During that moment, the Dark Lord slowly began to rear his head back and open his mouth and loudly cackle in a sepulchral voice. And as Exodeus' mirth erupted from him, the air in the crypt grew cold, even colder than the frigid airs of the blizzard above. And then, at the heigh of his amusement, the Dark Lord sharply turned his head back down, firing the glare of his blood red eyes directly into Andraste's.

At that moment, a gale not unlike the winds and torrents of a volitle maelstrom reigned throughout the entire catacombs. The stone tombs shuttered and eroded as if they were being crushed under a gravitic pressure, and yet the fiery torches burst out, as if fuel were being fed to them. The seeming winds tearing and searing through the airs of the cave whispered and howled, not unlike the wails of a tortured soul. And then at that moment, the Dark Lord of the Sith thrust out his hand toward Andraste, and a mighty force like a vacuum would pull her, lifting her body towards him as if a vortex were sucking her into his hand until finally her neck would be within his hand. And when he could feel the flesh of her neck weighing in within his grasp, Darth Exodeus lifted his hand, with Andraste's body held captive in it, and slammed it and her down to the ground, creating an impact that fissured like a quake, leaving the Dark Lord staring down at her beneath him.

"DON'T BE CONCEITED, GIRL!"

And then, just as soon as he uttered his words, Exodeus lifted Andraste up, and again slammed her, this time into the wall of a tomb near the center of the catacombs.

"If you are so blinded by your own arrogance, then let me open your eyes. You serve me, even now, because I have allowed you to live. You breathe now, because I have allowed you to breathe. Every choice - every decision you've made - has been because I allowed it to come to pass. But you?"

At that, Exodeus tightened his grip around Andraste's neck even more, so that he could feel her pulse through to his own hand.

"You haughtiness blinds what little insight you have attained thus far. You can't even comprehend what it is you are, child, much less fate... much less destiny - how in your wildest imaginings could you ever wield understanding? You don't know what the Dark Side is, what is means to control the wills of others, what it is to dominate, when all you've ever been, knowingly... acceptingly or not, is a foolish girl - a child... a slave."

After that, Exodeus let a very slight grin work its way onto his face once again, as he finally released his grip on her.

"It's something you know nothing about. It's something I could never explain to you."

 

[Sreeya]

For Exodeus not to say anything after she had spoken defiantly was more chilling than anything she could have possibly imagined. Andraste’s features softened, her courage faltering slightly. She felt hints of fear creep into her mind, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She had to fight back the urge to turn and run, to escape back into the upper chambers of the palace. It was then that she wished she had never been born a Force Sensitive, never been aware of the ubiquitous nature of the Force. She wanted to expel it from her body, fall into the routine of a mindless civilian drone and carry out a meaningless existence. She wanted to create her own story, her own happiness, her own sadness. She wanted to be the writer for her own tale, the artist of her masterpiece. As it stood, the abomination standing before her was the puppeteer, and she hung loosely from the strings.

As he laughed, the area around them chilled her to the bones. The cold cut into her skin like a million shards of glass, and she saw her own foggy breath escape her. Andraste slowly began to step back, wanting to put more distance between them. She realized that he had grown more powerful since their last encounter. His arrogance only added to his strength and he channeled his emotions into the Force. Without warning, a torrential vortex of winds abruptly erupted all around her. It was a cataclysmic phenomenon, one she only saw in her dreams. For a moment Andraste believed she teetered on the edge of reality and the metaphysical. Had he truly been exalted to a status beyond her comprehension? Beyond the understanding of humanity?

Andraste was not granted the time to collect her thoughts, a massive force pushing her off her feet and towards the focal point of the maelstrom. She closed her eyes, helplessly attempting to grasp at the Force like tendrils of rope. To her dismay, the Force betrayed her, slipping through her fingers like water and the waves instead pushing her towards Exodeus. She was in an ocean, drowning as he yanked her down. She felt his aura throb as she approached him. He was a nexus of dark energy, a dismal abyss in the Force. Andraste saw nothing but an opaque black, a solid darkness she couldn’t penetrate. Before she could grasp what had fully happened, she felt his chilling touch, his cold fingers grasping firmly around her delicate neck. A moment later, her breath escaped her as she was slammed down into the ground, pain abruptly exploding all throughout her torso. The ground cracked from the force applied, and for a moment she wondered if he had broken every bone in her body. Andraste couldn’t breathe, her eyes watering slightly as he yelled directly down at her. She couldn’t drown out his voice if she wanted to, his words piercing into her mind as well.

Without much pause, he lifted and slammed her against the wall. Andraste could only muster a gasp, her face beginning to turn red from lack of oxygen. She rolled her eyes up, attempting to withdraw into her mind like she often had as a child whenever he had hurt her. However, she found him there as well, his presence filling up every last corners of her psyche like water in an enclosed box. She was suffocating both physically and mentally. However, his words continued to flow into her mind, and they registered clearly. At long last, he released her, and she slumped weakly to the ground.

For a long moment, she said nothing, taking in deep breaths. Her neck bore the marks of his fingers having been curled around it. Andraste stared into the floor for a long moment before closing her eyes. Pain coursed through her and every movement caused it to pulsate. Nevertheless, she finally raised her gaze, looking into his eyes.

“Then why do you allow it? Why do you allow me to breathe? Why do you allow me to be insolent? Why do you allow me to disobey you?”

She slowly got to her feet, the Force suddenly drawing back to her. It cushioned her and supported her, her emotions drawing it in like moths to a flame. Andraste never took her eyes off Exodeus, her irises beginning to lighten in color.

“Why have you not destroyed me yet?”

She began to grin.

“You need me. You are bound to me. You can defeat any enemy, but you cannot defeat this. You cannot overcome it. You cannot deny it. It festers like an open wound that will never close. It poisons you, it damages you, it leeches away. It twists you. I am in your thoughts when you do not want me there. I govern your emotions, or what little you have. I rule your humanity. I may not understand everything, but I do understand that. I can see it in your eyes. They betray you. I do not fear them, and they are windows into your mind. It’s clear as day. Do you know why I know this?”

Andraste looked down at her wrists, finding the healed wounds on her wrists. It had been years since she had last cut into her own flesh.

“Because I am no longer a child. I am a woman now. You know this. You are well aware of it. It is time you embrace it. I am no longer the weak little girl you found in a cesspool of blood. I have been broken and rebuilt. I have been dead and reborn.”

Her eyes began to glow white, the Force culminating within her rapidly. She looked up at the ceiling, the winds beginning to circle around them once more. She was manipulating his very own energy, a twister churning around them. Within seconds, the vengeful energy slammed and compressed around him. It pressed downwards, the inhuman pressure enough to bring him to his knees. Andraste did not look down, lost within her mind, where she ruled with the Force. The beast roiled within her, the one Exodeus had helped create.

“I serve myself and only myself. You would do well to remember that.”

 

[Demiurge]

When the malevolence of her mind lashed out, the sheer instantaneousness of the attack brought the Dark Lord down onto his right knee, also extending his right fist into the ground. The pressure crushed down upon him like gravity of a star, a force grappling every part of his being. A moment of time passed, no more than several seconds where Exodeus did nothing, but contemplate within his mind. He could have used the Force to immunize himself to the attack, repel her power with his own. Indeed, his own master was a sorcerer of the zenith degree, the strongest of his generation, and Exodeus had to learn to fight against them.

A Sith's power came not from the flesh - the biological aspect one's affinity with the Force - but in the will. The strength of energy over matter, but mind over both. And pain had been his teacher, his lover, since the beginning. It taught him, wrought strength unto him, power. It defined him, gave him the power to do anything. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith. He was the Galactic Emperor. He was Darth Exodeus.

His eyes burned with a luminous red like unbridled fires and brimstone. His clinched fists lifted off the ground and straight to his sides. His fingers parted and slowly curved inward just slightly. And then, remaining bent over slightly, Exodeus slowly rose up from knee and steadied his foot. As if calmly coming to stand, the Dark Lord rose to stand upright, straight and bending his head backward to stare up, as if glaring as the Force crushing him. Waves of pure Force energy rode off his body in waves, distorting the air around him as if extreme heat were gathering and condensing.

He didn't call upon the Force, the Dark Side, to aid him. He didn't negate the energy oppressing him. No, he did the same thing he'd done since he was but a child. He embraced it, the pain. He fed upon it, not resisting the sensation it brought to his body, but absorbed it, let it resonate within him and around him. It was no magics, no sorcery... only his sheer willpower. And then, finally, Exodeus lowered his head, and his fiery red eyes met Andraste's own luminous irises. He never once broke contact after that, never looked away, never strayed his eyes.

With single sightedness, Exodeus lifted his foot from the ground, and began his slow approach toward Andraste. With each step he took, her words echoed in his mind.

“Then why do you allow it? Why do you allow me to breathe? Why do you allow me to be insolent? Why do you allow me to disobey you?”

As the Dark Lord continued his approach, his eyes narrowed slightly, still meeting Andraste's gaze.

“Why have you not destroyed me yet?”

Exodeus felt his upper lip curl slightly, as if something were building up within him.

“You need me. You are bound to me. You can defeat any enemy, but you cannot defeat this. You cannot overcome it. You cannot deny it. It festers like an open wound that will never close. It poisons you, it damages you, it leeches away. It twists you. I am in your thoughts when you do not want me there. I govern your emotions, or what little you have. I rule your humanity. I may not understand everything, but I do understand that. I can see it in your eyes. They betray you. I do not fear them, and they are windows into your mind. It’s clear as day.”

Within the next few steps, the Dark Lord's brow began to descend, almost as if focused... or something else.

“Do you know why I know this?”

His fingers, which had be bend slightly, now began to curl, as if they were claws in his hands, eager to strike.

“Because I am no longer a child. I am a woman now. You know this. You are well aware of it. It is time you embrace it. I am no longer the weak little girl you found in a cesspool of blood. I have been broken and rebuilt. I have been dead and reborn.”

Exodeus' pace now slightly quickened, as if he were dissatisfied by his speed of approaching for some reason... or as if he were growing more and more eager to reach his quarry.

“I serve myself and only myself. You would do well to remember that.”

And finally, the Dark Lord's lips curled up about halfway, showing his teeth bared toward his target until finally he approached her and violently grabbed her face, gripping her cheeks with his one hand as he brought his face close to hers until all he could see were her eyes... the eyes of his creation.

"So tell me then, woman... can you see?"

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste remained lost within the prism of her thoughts, her dark energies like tangible shields that were impenetrable. She remained within the small cage, watching through the glass windows of her eyes. She saw how her words affected him, how they disturbed him. She had hit him in a way he never thought possible, and she had woven into his psyche. She had always existed there, always thrived within it, growing like a malignant tumor. The thought made her smile.

She watched him approach, watched him quicken his pace. It was as if she was watching an incoming storm, the clouds above darkening to pitch black. However, it was not fear that trickled up her spine. The Force was at her command now, as if sensing Exodeus' fraction of a moment of weakness. She grinned as he closed the distance between them. His hand raised then, gripping her face. She gazed upon him through her blinding white eyes, his face mere inches away from hers. His question was met with silence. Andraste's eyes began to return to their normal dark hues.

"I don't need to see. I can sense it, smell it, almost taste it. It was always there, always chained and bound..."

She drew her hand up and traced the tip of her finger along the length of his forearm, mockery playing in her eyes. She knew her life hung by a thread. She knew she was angering him. The Force drove her, guided by her emotions, pulled from the depths of her core.

"You are just as broken as I.."

She spoke with words and the Force, her speech blending into the chilled air and coming out in the fog of her breath. She never lowered her gaze.

"I can see pain. Exquisite, unadulterated pain."

She did not struggle against his hold. The catacombs grew colder, the icy brush of the supernatural gales enough to even chill Exodeus to his bones.

 

[Demiurge]

Exodeus never stopped staring into Andraste's eyes. As they glowed luminous, and even after they reverted back to their natural brown, they were captivating in a way that had transcended words. It was almost as if Exodeus could see his fate in her eyes, or she see hers in his. And as she spoke, her words lingered in his mind, both her speech of mouth and through the Force. And it was through the Force that Exodeus returned his words.

::No... not broken. In pain, there is strength, in anguish, power - these are what forge the strong, temper us as if by fire::

At that, Exodeus pulled his head back slightly, continuing to stare into the eyes of Andraste.

::You've seen pain, you've known suffering... Now, see the truth it bears. See it through through the eyes of one who sought the truth of it all, and found it. See it as it was truly meant to be - and finally - understand::

At that, upon his command, the Dark Side of the Force whirled within the Dark Lord, summoned by his will alone. His hand, which had been at her face, lowered to just below her chin, reaching down to her neck as well, began to glow a vibrant azure, sparking and cackling for an instant before it erupted into a torrent maelstrom of Dark Side energies, enveloping Andraste's entire body. Exodeus had not powered the Force Lightning to a lethal level; it was not meant to kill her... only to torture her. To reign upon her body and mind pain, anguish.... to help her to truly see, and to understand.

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste felt his hand lower down to her neck, heard the crackle, but she did not move. She closed her eyes. For a moment, there was no pain and she felt nothing. She was within her mind, in an endless void, simply existing and lingering. She searched for a way out, reached her hands out to touch, but there was nothing. And then the pain came. Andraste's head jerked back, a cry escaping her as the world within her mind began to crush inwards, choking her.

Her entire body jolted with pain, the tendrils of dark energy binding her. They coursed through her body, painfully dispersing through her extremities. Andraste could not think, her mind exploding with agony. However, that was when the beast churned within her. It spiraled and circled, angry at being forced awake. It no longer served Exodeus, having come under Andraste's command. When Andraste looked down, it was the beast that gazed upon Exodeus, not her.

Within an instant, her arms up and she placed her hands atop his chest. She acted as a superconducting loop, the effects he had on her being absorbed and swallowed by the beast. The monster unleashed its wrath, channeling the energy back through her arms, out to her hands. Her hands glowed white as the energy exploded outwards with enough force to crack the armor there. It was an entirely reflexive action, as she relinquished control to the abomination roiling within her.

There was a crunch and a crack snaked through the ground beneath them, starting at the wall and zigzagging through the stony floor before it shot up through the edge of a tomb. There was a pause and the tomb cracked in half, the debris rising into the air. The entire aftermath was the result of the sheer amount of force she had applied, no longer a victim to his wrath. She thrived in the pain, and it fed the beast. She twisted it, manipulated it and sent it back to its master tenfold. Andraste did not speak, every emotion she ever felt culminating all at once like a tumultuous storm.

 

[Demiurge]

It was as a moment of epiphany, a revelation. As he inflicted pain unto her, streams of dark energy spiraled around her. She did not fight it, didn't resist or repel him. She embraced it, reveled in the pain and in the sensation it brought until it finally culminated as she slowly placed her hand on his chest.

As her hand made contact with him, the Force erupted like a violent storm, delivering the excruciating torment back into his body. The Dark Lord inhaled sharply, staring up as the calvary coursed through him. It was the few things that gave him pleasure, few things that were "truth" to him. Exodeus exhaled deeply as he stared upward, the lightning clouding his sights as it culminated and resonated within him.

And then, in an instant, Exodeus reached and grabbed "Andraste's" wrist with his free hand, reconnecting the loop like a conduit. At first, it was simply to share his ecstasy with her. As he grabbed her wrist, the Dark Lord lowered his head back to gaze at her eyes. As he did this, Exodeus grabbed "Andraste's" other wrist, and pinned both of them back against the tomb wall, drawing ever closer to her until he could feel her breath on his face.

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste felt the pain once again loop back into her. It began superficially, tingling sensations like jolts of electricity that set her skin ablaze. It was a mixture of sensations, the icy chill of the atmosphere amalgamating with searing heat to set her in a blue fire. It then sunk deeper into her, through her skin and down into her flesh. She felt it spasm through her muscles, down to the neurological plane where she could feel the firing of neurotransmitters, could feel the rapid jolts to her mind down to its biological constructs.

She couldn't muster anything more than a gasp. When it channeled through him and then back to her, it was very different from the raw agony that was almost constricting. This was laced with a deep seeded desire, yanked from the bowels of his mind, in a dark corner he never explored. It was a dark corner she was unaccustomed to, and it sent chills up her spine which had nothing to do with the cool atmosphere around them. The beast within her drew it in, sucking from it as if it were a nectar, right from the fruits wrought of chaos. For once she saw beauty in a place she never thought it could exist. The Force danced between the two, drawing from two titans and flowing through both like a serpent with its seductive, spiraling motions.

For a moment, Andraste lost touch of her physicality, exalted to a plane of existence that transcended humanity. It was a place only he visited, the realm of a god. It was escapism, it was nirvana, a metempsychosis of the soul. It wasn't that he did not have a soul, but that it had been raised to another realm of existence, something that was much more ubiquitous and everlasting. She was there with him, her reality blurring into the metaphysical.

The transition to physicality was not broken when he grasped her wrists and pinned them behind her. She was trapped within a prison she never wanted to escape from. Andraste's eyes once again glazed over, glowing an eerie white and staring directly into his eyes. She saw past his eyes, directly into his mind. The wounds on her wrists opened up, blood freely flowing from her forearms, trailing down to the fingers that pinned them. She was oblivious to this, the rupture only heightening the perversion of an incomprehensible ecstasy. Andraste felt his visage draw in closer, her chilled and foggy breath caressing his hardened features.

The pain did not ease, throbbing with every movement. She was unaware of her surroundings, only seeing into the windows before her into a chaotic world that was beautifully crafted and tortured into perfection. It was an abysmal vortex, a reflection of her very own subconscious. The beast wanted to find its home in it, and she wanted to get lost in it. She wanted to fall, to descend down and feel the weightlessness that set her free. Andraste did not control her motions, her face leaning closer.

Andraste relinquished control to something that was much more primal. It traveled down her body, throughout her limbs, down her core, between her legs, out to her thighs, down her legs and all the way to the tips of her toes which curled under the onslaught of sensations. Andraste's lips barely grazed along his jawline, her tender lips trailing over his cracked, hardened visage. She could almost taste his skin, but she did not indulge herself, still blinded by the heightened combination of agony and euphoria. Andraste could feel his energy emanating off him, and she could draw it in, drink from it and feast on it. She continued tracing her lips along the side of his face, coming to a pause near his ear. When she spoke, it was a whisper, but one that would flow into his mind as if it were the antidote to the poison that had been corrupting him for so long. It was an elixir, admixed with a sense of spirituality. She spoke from the realm they had both attained. She spoke in Ancient Sith, the language flowing beautifully from her lips. It was a soft murmur and a whisper all the same.

"Ja'um tu'iea.."

 

[Demiurge]

It was as they had departed, as if the galaxy had vanished around them, or as if they were simply leaving it behind for something greater. He couldn't see the stone around him, couldn't hear the echoes of the ghosts lying in their tombs, he couldn't taste nor smell the bitter cold of the stale air... but he could feel, and he felt in a way unyielding, a way beyond the imaginings of any other.

A surge of feeling and images filled his thoughts as his mind became overrun with influx of it all; the impulse... the arousal... the passion... the sheer enthrallment... and the euphoria. The feelings of such intensity, so all-encompassing, it was like nothing a body of flesh and bone could experience. It was the feeling that came from having ascended, becoming something more than man, or woman. Something higher. Something greater.

Exodeus brought his face ever closer to Andraste's. The lightning danced around them both, spiraling and frantically staggering round about them like a frenzied storm, a power unleashed from its master. The azure fires borne of the darkness within them both culminated between them and erratically bursting out of control between them, as it were trapped between the two as an unstoppable force moving toward an immovable object.

And as the Dark Lord's face came to the grazing point to her's, his lips barely away from from Andraste's. She was all he could see, all he could feel, all he could hear. He could taste her, as if she there, as if she were...

"Ja'um tu'iea.."

Exodeus inhaled the air around Andraste, as if he were taking her in by the ambiance surrounding her. In an instant, Exodeus took his right hand and pulled it around Andraste's head, grasping locks of her hair in his grip and pulling it with a downward tug. Then taking his left hand, the Dark Lord clutched the back of her waist, bringing his arm around the side of her hips as he pulled their bodies together. All the while, his lips remained close to hers. The lightnings sparked from his lips and mouth, striking hers as if it were a symbiotic chain between them, linking them together on a level - on a plane - beyond either of their control.

"Zha'duun nar'hadaak hy'um... Zha'duun saahn-aikah hy'um... Kor'kaur besh'oan zevarusz rall'eth. Tu'zauk vih'iea, tu'zauk Aexokias."

 

[Sreeya]

Andraste's heart beat faster, the consistent rhythm only adding to the dark symphony of their subliminal union. She embraced the complexities, though it was the Force in its most raw form, drawing from them both their most primitive desires. She did not feel the pain anymore, only an influx of ecstasy that drew from an entirely different level of existence. The catacombs began to blend in the background, melting into an artistic abstraction of gray and black. The chill around them grew tangible, like wisps of smokey clouds falling around them like a shroud. She could see nothing but him, her thoughts and memories all dissipating with every gentle brush of his breath against her lips.

She felt him grasp her hair, his armored fingers surprisingly nimble. Her head was yanked backwards, tilting her chin up so she gazed directly upon his features. He loomed above her like a phantom, as if her day of judgment was nigh. He was the final sentry guarding an unholy realm of transcendence that was forbidden. She craved it, needed it and ached for it. Everything was meticulous, every subtle motion, every hushed breath, every pulse bringing her closer to twisted redemption, to corrupted deliverance.

She gasped as he pulled her closer, his body pressing against hers. Their energies clashed, the beast within her grasping onto his aura with its powerful claws. It harshly took hold of his energy, trailing its jagged claws down to invoke a blissful agony that only Exodeus could tolerate. It was a connection she could only have with him, her dark aura mixing with his in its entirety. Outwardly, Andraste felt the cold plating of his armor, her pallid skin dotted with goosebumps. Her eyes continued to glow, her lips finally leaning in to brush against his. She felt the electricity jump from him, torturing her flesh, but eliciting a sensation she could not explain. Andraste could not hold it back any longer, having crossed a threshold. She pressed her lips tighter against his, finally surrendering herself to a kiss. It was laced with ethereal passion, imbued with the darkness that constructed her very being, the monster she attempted to subjugate. When she kissed him, it was beyond her, beyond Andraste. It was with everything she was born as, everything she was, and everything she was destined to be. She drank from him the nightmare that rested within him, she tasted in him the creator of the beast that resided within her, she drew in the passion, the pearl that was pulled from the deep oceans of his being.

The moment seemingly lasted forever, the two joined as one. His words rang within her mind, like the faint echo of her conscience. She smiled against his lips, the taste of him lingering in her mouth. She never wanted to forget it, and it made her hungry for more. She felt as a traveler in the desert, having been wandering till the brink of death, only to be teased with a few drops of water. At the same time, it made her savor him more, every moment exquisite, every touch explosive. Andraste spoke only into his mind.

“Sau sekleti xisad buti is noret. Sau sekleti xisad buti is adata. Sau svaja ak’arak kais tave hya’gaur.”

Andraste pulled away from him, letting him see the smile on her face. She was not out of his grasp, but she did not need to be for him to feel her tug away, as if coming up onto the surface after being submerged. She did not look away from his eyes, her next words teasingly weaving into his mind.

“Tariam j'us svajone sau'm jok yas’zhar ipros?”

 

[Demiurge]

The moment of their consummation was was like a dark miasma overshadowing his soul, yet burned with a celestial intensity. The passion, the desire and the ecstasy, all of these emotions swirling within them became unbounded in that single moment, like a culmination that had reached beyond its critical point, unleashed and restrained no more. The kiss between them became as a transcendental thing, rising above the plane and understanding of his innermost mind and thoughts.

His desires came to a fulmination, bursting into that one single moment. He tasted her, but could not find satisfaction, could not subside his craving for her. Instead, it only festered all the more so, as he beheld her and bonded ever further with her. With the creature that had awakened beneath the surface of Andraste's being. She was like the oasis locked deep within his psyche, growing stronger, more and more dominant. And as she spoke into his mind, it was as if her voice were engraving itself there, cementing it's place within him, even as she slightly pulled herself away from him with her smile born on her face.

"Lauke tai... Ar tai naradak jok yas’zhar ipros..."

Exodeus grabbed Andraste again, bringing his face close again as if to kiss her again, but stopping short, looming over her as he gazed at her lips and her eyes. His armor around his hand and wrist retracted as he slid his hand beneath her thigh, lifting it up as he gripped her flesh and allowed the clothing by her legs to slip up, revealing her smooth skin. His next words were like a whisper lingering in her mind, echoing as they were resonating.

"Antai tariam buti nie svajone. Nuo tezn vi mano geisti nuo j'us khasa dabar mazo sekleti tai dekomet."

 

[Sreeya]

She felt like a mouse, and he the cat, releasing her slightly to let her run before capturing her with his paw once again. She was fleeting, and he was agile to match it. Andraste did not fight him when he pulled her towards him again, nor did she follow the movements of his hand which began to lower away from her upper body. She hung onto his every word, grinning at the poetic connotations. Exodeus was the last person she would have expected to be capable of such speech. Her neck still bore the marks of his assault earlier, from the same hand that now gently glided down her body like the tender caress of a lover. Andraste spoke with words now, a hushed whisper only he could hear.

"Sau valia nenx galas dekomet. Valia j'us xela nuo sau'm tikazi sau svaja kaire?"

She did not betray sadness with her eyes, her expression difficult to read. She was drawing him in, exploring a side of him she did not believe existed. Andraste was taken out of her trance, a gasp escaping her as she felt his hand brush against her leg. The silky material of her dress fluttered and bunched up near the top of her thigh, her creamy, pallid skin vulnerable against his touch. Andraste bit her lip, the simple action only heightening the tension that grew almost tangible between them. It felt as if his very touch had sparked electricity into her skin, the jolt spiraling up her thigh and towards her torso, ending with an explosive desire to have more of him. She was drawn to him, like a moth to a flame. Andraste pressed herself closer against him, feeling the heat between them despite the cutting chill all around them. Her hand rested against his chest, sliding down the plating on his torso. There were entirely too many barriers between them. Andraste brushed her lips against his, her eyes suddenly gazing off to the side. She spoke once more, this time in basic.

"You mock the Sith of old amidst their resting place."

 

[Demiurge]

"Sau valia niekada leisti j'us kia buti kaire sulig sau'm. Dar mirtis valia nenx akida sau'm."

Every barrier that stood between the two, Andraste tore down. It mattered not what they were, physical, emotional, even metaphysical. Everything broke away from her, closing the distance inbetween them. Bringing her, her skin, her heat and essence, closer to him.

Everything about her intoxicated him. Her skin enchanted his eyes while her body called to him. Her own eyes were light fires enticing him to draw into her more and more. And her voice... her voice was the force driving him, both vocally and her speech through the Force. Like a force of nature, it heightened him, bringing his mind and body both into a supernatural state of being.

Her hand on his chest spurred him, as he brought his mouth to the side of her neck, letting his breath whet her skin as he licked the soft flesh there before he lightly bit it. Bringing his lips to the fore, Exodeus kissed her skin passionately, sucking the soft milky whiteness of her neck it as it drugged him, and his hand rose up, grasping her silky dress in his hands. Tightening his grip, the Dark Lord spread his hands to rip it apart, clenching it from her very body until all that remained was her flesh, all the while barely hearing her words to him.

"Then perhaps it is their destiny to be mocked, the failures by their progeny."

 

[Sreeya]

He was moving in like a predator, and as she felt his tongue graze along the skin of her neck, she knew he was alive then. He burned with intensity, a part of him locked beneath his metallic exterior. She felt his warm breath then, not the icy chill of a cold machine. Andraste looked past him at the cracked tombs, the power resonating from the ghosts of Sith Lords past. The electricity danced between the two, and she felt it even in his lips, the jolting sparks dispersing throughout the tender skin of her neck. Andraste did not look down to see what he was doing, simply gasping at the sensations. It was unearthly, a forbidden realm she had been chasing for so long. Now that she faced it, she was afraid of it. Afraid to take the plunge, afraid to indulge herself. Would she be indulging herself or only him? Would this have been his intent all along? She was more vulnerable than ever, dancing dangerously close to the lion.

Andraste barely had a moment to consider his words when he harshly grasped the front of her dress, ripping the material from her body in one fluid motion. She watched the silky tattered remnants of clothing gliding down to the floor like an ebony river that melted into the mesh of black and gray. The chill of the catacombs clung to her at once, taking a vice like grip around her vulnerable body. She stood out in stark contrast, almost glowingly pale next to the darkness around them. Andraste's heartbeats quickened, never having been this exposed before him. She maintained their connection, the Force still coursing through their bodies like streaking electricity.

Andraste moved like water, slipping through the realm of the Force. Her finesse was translated to her physicality, and she skirted out of his grip, suddenly stepping away. She did not mean to escape or run, but she wanted to embrace the death and despair around her, now that she was as the day she had been born. The Force circled around her, her hair flowing serenely and visible energies of the Force dancing between her fingers. She stepped onto the cold, hard floor, taking a few steps before turning to face him again.

"Why do you act as if you are so blind to beauty?"

As she spoke, she used the Force to draw a flower to herself. The flower had been within the confines of her dress. She caught it in thin air, lost in thought. For a moment, it was as if she did not realize that she wasn't alone. She absentmindedly traced the flower down the side of her jaw, down her neck, down her chest, along the curve of a breast, down her abdomen and finally down till it hovered slightly below her pelvis. She then looked up at him, bringing the flower into the palm of her hand and abruptly crushing it. She grinned as the remnants of the petals fell to the ground. Andraste spoke through the Force once again, this time with a chilling resonance.

"J'us aras nenx tave karuvis....ir j'us valia nenx buti tave galas.."