Ask Breaking Chains

The Eternal

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The Queen of Dathomir was not summoned for her insolence. There was no call or demand for her to go anywhere. There was no one waiting behind a desk to let her in. There was no quiet and polite setting to allow for explanations and small talk.

Instead the Queen would learn about the panic in her lands on Dathomir. The Queen would learn about the bloodshed. The Queen would learn about death. The Queen would know an entire tribe had been devastated. The Queen would learn that many women and young girls laid dead and strewn about on the ground. The Queen would learn of their charred bodies left unceremoniously on the ground for wild animals to pick at.

The Queen would feel that sense of dread through the Force, the twisted poison that permeated so thick that it was almost tangible. She could almost taste the coppery blood, she could almost smell the stench of fear, she could almost hear the dying, anguished cries of her people as they were butchered like animals.

There was a sick and twisted method to the pattern of slaughter. It was the path that led to the Queen. Any villages and tribes that existed on that path were decimated. Any life that could be sensed was butchered and cast aside.

It was the path the Eternal took to make its way to the Queen of Dathomir in her temple.

The masked figure climbed the steps as two Nightsisters were grasping at their throats while they were lifted in the air. Without a second thought, they were hurled in opposite directions, each having their heads collide against lateral columns. With a resounding and sick crunch their heads smashed against the stone, smearing their blood as they slid down and fell into dead heaps.

“I grow tired,” The rattling, dreadful voice of the Eternal would pierce into Renfry’s mind wherever she was as the Eternal climbed those last steps, “Of continued disobedience.”

@Phoenix
 

Renfry

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She felt it before she saw it. She saw it before she heard it. And she wished she had never heard it. The violence that had arrived at her doorstep was directed at her. It was to make a point. It was the third time members of the Sith had come to slaughter her people.

She could hear the wet and crunching sounds of bodies being broken open and the dying whimpers of those she cared for.

Never. Again.

The wave of emotions that flooded over the Queen threatened to break through in every way. Tears for her people that would come later, then fear for them and her own life, but it was all eclipsed by anger. No, anger was too benign. This was more visceral. Primal. The same primal rage that had turned men and women's bodies to paste under her wrath. It was pure and ancient, tied into this world. No, she could not lose. She could die, but she could not lose.

For the first time since she had taken Dathomir for her domain, she couldn't deny that she felt genuine fear. It crept over her skin like a sickening disease, cold and threatening to sap the strength from her limbs. But the Shadow was born first of fear and then of power. It was the primal force that drove death: to kill or be killed. It was the Force that drove predators to thrive.

Andruil forced the sight of her people's bodies hitting the wall from her mind. She couldn't think on it. She couldn't allow it to distract her when so much hung in the balance.

As the creature climbed the final steps she could finally see it. The object of her hatred and wrath. The object she would annihilate. Her eyes almost glowed a more vibrant version of their natural gold.

I am Dathomir, and I will defend what is mine. The words were ice and a pure echo of those she had once told her Clan Mother as the woman's eyes closed for the last time because of Renfry's blade.

The saber hilt in her hand lit pure red and pointed toward the beast that stood before her. Unreasoning animal of violence. Predator versus predator.

You will find no peace beyond the Veil, she said. In contrast to what she had told her Matriarch, she would ensure this thing never found anything close to peace in the Force. She knew how to curse a creature to eternal torment, and no Jedi would be coming to purge that corruption when she stained a world with the fragments of its soul.

She darted toward the creature, swinging the blade held in her right hand upward from her own low left to right in a diagonal strike aimed to take the creature apart from hip to shoulder.
 

The Eternal

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Sith Order
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Dark Lord of the Sith

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The Eternal stood poised as a wraith as Renfry approached it, not drawing any weapons just yet. It stood atop the platform that opened up into the courtyard of her temple. The haunting mask, though a decoy, fixed its gaze upon the Queen. The red eyes gleamed with animal ferocity, an icy chill emanating from the form that was more shadow than corporeal. Where most Sith had their beasts chained and contained within themselves, the Eternal embraced it as its true nature and state of being. It displayed and wore it externally, its very existence a testament to its submission and devotion to the Dark Side.

“Have you forgotten your teachings?” The chilling whisper echoed once again, “Peace is a lie.”

The Eternal watched Renfry make her initial approach. The creature didn’t draw any weapons. On the contrary, it shifted both hands behind its back to clasp its graceful and slender fingers. As the Queen made her dash, she would feel the Force abruptly coil around her and stop her strike in its tracks. She would be locked in place with her blade mid draw, a sudden friction stopping the arc from completing.

“What is it you hope you achieve with my death?” The voice asked almost with amusement, “Are you prepared to take up the mantle and have a loyal following? Or will you simply keep the seat warm for someone actually worthy?”

With that, the Force blasted out from the Eternal in a repulse with the strength of a speeder slamming into Renfry’s torso. It would be enough to bodily send her flying back. The Eternal remained where it was, fingers still clasped as it began to walk in a half circle on the platform.

“You are more useful serving me,” The voice whispered once more, “I have come here not to take from you, but to remind you of your place. Something you and a few other very meddlesome Sith Lords appear to forget.”
 

Renfry

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She had long known the Eternal was powerful or else it would not have survived for so long, but she didn't expect it to be quite so... potent. So focused on her own next attack or looking for a physical strike, she had left herself open. Foolish. Weak.

By the time the impact came, she was flung backwards, her saber clattering from her hand and bouncing across the ground to land near her. She coughed with the impact, trying to catch her breath. It brought back a flood of memories. Feelings of helplessness and weakness flooded through her. Memories of being throttled, beaten, broken. Some at this exact location. They were not fond memories.

But the Eternal's words cut through those memories. It asked questions directly of her, treating her like a child.

And if she killed it? What then? Could she take its seat? Was she prepared? Strong enough? Confident enough? Why do you doubt yourself so much? You are a Queen. That flat and piercing tone rang out in her mind.

She pushed back to her feet, saber in hand once again, but she didn't move to attack. Not again. Not yet.

Serving you? You who can't keep your own worlds? You who has no vision? You who can't keep your "meddlesome Sith Lords" in line? she asked defiantly. She thought of those other "defiant Sith Lords" and what would happen to them if she failed. No, failure wasn't an option.

And yet, it had brought the Sith out of the Unknown Region. It had brought them together and given them... a purpose if a bad one.

Take your seat? she almost echoed. She had brought it up before. She had long believed the Eternal needed to go, but did she have the arm to direct the blooming Empire? She had been Queen, Sith Lords, ruler of the Northern Kingdom. She was no stranger to responsibility and perhaps it was time for her to stop living in the shadow of another.

She was done second guessing herself. She was done bowing the knee. She was done waiting for someone to provide direction. The safest hands our still our own.

Yes, I think Empress Andruil has a nice ring to it. And if someone wants to take it from me, they can pry it from my cold, dead fingers, she said. Her eyes flicked up, locking with those red, empty visors where eyes should have been. No more reckless attacking, no more lunging forward.

Starting with you former Dark Lord, she said.
 

The Eternal

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The Eternal had no external reaction to Renfry’s words, circling around her as she recovered from the initial blow. The mask stared in silence at the Queen as she rattled off its failures. The Eternal allowed this dialogue, clearly keen on participating in this little game.

“And you will keep them in line and have their unquestionable loyalty?” The piercing whispers echoed as the wraith circled around Renfry, You will have Darth Stolas bend the knee to you? You will have Darth Tiamat bend the knee to you? You will have Darth Asminys bend the knee?” There was brief pause as the red, gleaming eyes pierced into Renfry almost in a sadistic way, “And Darth Raze?”

Empress was a lofty goal and one that could either make or utterly shatter her. She would get nowhere without a solid powerbase. She would get nowhere without loyalty. It had been the only flaw in the Eternal’s grand design. It had been the only hurdle in its path towards galactic dominion. There was no answer to expansion but governing by fear. It was the principle the Eternal had adopted when the Sith were so fractured. There had been no push to rally under one banner.

“They will take it from your cold, dead fingers and they will squander it just as you will have,” The voice hissed with malice.

Without warning, one of its hands came up as electricity crackled and danced between the fingers. Lightning streaked across powerfully and towards Renfry’s torso.

“Do you have the loyalty of anyone but your helpless little witches that I crushed so easily?”
 

Renfry

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She listened to its biting words and the way it sneered at her. Treating her as if she was a child and someone who could never command loyalty and respect. She had had it. She was done with others treating her as if she was unworthy, or perhaps those doubts were really all from within. Maybe no one but herself was so critical of her.

No. They will not take it from me. And neither will you. I will defend what is mine, no matter the cost, she said, hearing her own words for the first time. She was committed. This was not something she would back away from and the repercussions... they would remain to be seen, but she owned them. They were her choices that had led her here, her path that would culminate in this fight and her galaxy to rule.

Lightning leapt from the fingers of the Eternal and her saber came up, snapping into its path as it arced around her. Even with the saber in the way, it threatened to engulf her, snaking like tendrils of pure hatred searching for a target to either side of her.

She could feel it biting at her arms, snaking around her to sting and stun her flesh. But the golden eyes still burned with fire, undeterred and beyond fear. There was nothing remaining but a singular, iron will.

Her left hand came free from the saber as the lightning continued to bear down on her. Her fingers cupped together and a small, green orb appeared in her hand before she launched it forward. Hopefully obscured by the lightning, the bolt would be aimed to strike the Eternal square in the chest, sending it launching backwards and scorching its chest to alleviate the assault on her.

I'm done being your pawn or anyone else's and everyone is going to know it.
 

The Eternal

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The Eternal didn’t miss that the Queen purposely avoided addressing its comments. When she answered with the words ‘no matter what the cost’, the raspy whisper began to outright laugh. It was a cruel, sadistic laugh, but it had clearly found humor in the words.

“Then you seek to force others into submission. Then you care not for their loyalty,” The voice said almost gleefully, “You and I are no different. I’m almost tempted to just let you take it so you learn the futilities of your one dimensional thinking. I’m tempted to let you just take it so I can watch you collapse within yourself. When you realize how isolated and alone you are. When your rule is nothing more than a facade.”

The Eternal amplified the lightning as it spoke, growling its words as it attempted to overwhelm Renfry by its pure strength. Through the attack, it couldn’t quite make out the counterattack Renfry launched, the orb shooting directly at the wraith. The Eternal saw it last second, pivoting its torso as it abandoned the lightning. The green energy seared through the front of its torso as it tilted to the side, eliciting an enraged growl. It left a blaze behind, but it was far from the intended levels of damage.

“You will not need to be anyone else’s pawn,” The Eternal whispered, “You have already become your own. You have already convinced yourself of delusions of grandeur perched atop the shaky foundations of a powerbase that does not exist.”

With that, the Eternal began to close the Force around Renfry’s entire torso. So great was the force of the energy compressing into her that the columns around her and the floor beneath her feet began to crack from pressure. The Eternal sought to begin cracking her bones and make her gasp for air.

“You will be nothing more than a Queen of ashes.”
 

Renfry

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The Eternal's words cut deeper than she would have liked to admit. She knew that that was its goal. She knew it was baiting her. She knew the technique was designed to unbalance her, but after all that had happened. After all the death, all the doubt, all the torment, it clawed into her mind.

She could feel the Force begin to close around her as the Eternal's grip sought to crush her whole. She pressed back with her mind, that same wild rage that had always flowed through her lending her strength as she held her bones back from cracking.

The Force lashed out from her again, a green lash like a whip tore through the air between the pair, made material through sheer willpower, a mix of concussive and flaming magic to strike at that infernal mask.

Another reprieve if only briefly.

Queen of Ashes. The words rung in her mind as time seemed to slow. She could see a war that laid waste to planets and sectors. Battles that ravaged entire planets, abominations tearing into soldiers who were shooting down ships that crashed onto civilians. No, not civilians. Onto Dathomir and her people.

She pushed back to her feet, feeling the way her joints seemed to grind against one another. She wondered if something had broken despite her effort as pain shot through her side.

No, I won't be like you, she said. It was simple. It should have been something more profound. It should have been some witty dialogue or cunning comment, but it wasn't. It was the statement of a simple Nightsister who had been born in the wilds. Pushed to her limits, forced to face a predator that was likely greater than herself, she was forced to look inward. Who was she? Who had she been? How had she gotten here? And how would she continue on?

Did she have to give all of that up to rise? She tried to take one of her deep, steadying breaths but the pain that lanced through her side cut it short. Death is nature, she reminded herself.

Thank you, she said after a moment. Her face wasn't happy or joyful. There was no sarcastic smile on her face, but one thing she had learned long ago was this: pain was education. Every one of the painful things she had been told or subjected to over the years and the pain she suffered now. The words cut deep, but they would never leave her. What she would be as a ruler, perhaps she didn't know, but she wouldn't be this. This dark, soulless reflection of herself was not one that she would embrace.

Now I know what I will not be.
 

The Eternal

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The Eternal felt the concussive wave erupt from the Queen. The force of it sent the wraith flying back, the attack one that roiled with emotions. The Eternal skidded back along the stone, the mask staring back at Renfry. It remained intact, the figure poised in that slightly hunched position. The red eyes gleamed at her, always staring back with judgment. For all the ways many broke their loyalty to the Eternal, it had still taken on a burden no one else wanted. It had brought the Sith out from within the shadows. It had brought them out to be more than rats scuttling about in underground sewers.

That Renfry was able to get this far and have a cause at all was because of the foundations that the Eternal had laid down. Because the purpose of the Eternal was to keep the Sith alive. It was to keep the Sith going.

For the first time, the Eternal said nothing. A saberhilt floated into its hand, slender fingers grasping around it. Without warning, the wraith rushed towards Renfry. It was a simple blur of motions, a crimson blade swiping out in a diagonal arc from her right shoulder to left hip with the blade held in the Eternal’s right hand. Electricity crackled between the fingers of its left hand, poised for a strike in close range.
 

Renfry

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Renfry's feet hit the ground once again and she took a deep breath, wincing through the pain. There was too much adrenaline flowing through her now to be bothered by pain. The Shadow was her ally and she was held up by generations worth of her sisters whose spirits lived on here. When she listened, she could still hear them sing, though that song was no longer one of harmony or joy but of vengeance and violence.

There was no more dialogue and no more opportunity for her to doubt or second-guess herself. She would take its place or die trying. And when she took that position, she would learn. She would rise above, go beyond, and become more.

The Eternal moved toward her and her hand extended, her saber leapt once more to her grip and lit, flying up to meet the downward slash. It was fast. Clearly its power was not of this world, but was the concentration of a potent Force-user.

She slid to her own left, red sabers striking and sending sparks of energy showering all around the pair. Rather than send a physical strike of her own at the masked being, she played to her strengths. A master of the arcane and a well-experienced manipulator of psychic energy, she opened a bridge between the pair of minds, forcing energy through that bridge. It would slam into the mind of the Eternal like an explosion, manifesting as agonizing physical pain lancing through its mind.

The attack served two purposes: the first to unbalance her opponent and assist her in gaining the upper hand. The second was a bait. Bridges went both ways, and she hoped that the Eternal - unknowing of the skill she had learned from the Kravos holocron - would attempt to use it to its advantage and find itself incapacitated or killed. She didn't dare hope, though.
 

The Eternal

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Crimson blades met with violent crackling in the air. Andruil slid to her left and the Eternal did the same to its left, keeping the weapons between the two Sith. Breath exhaled from behind the Dark Lord's mask as both of them manifested their will through the Dark Sides to strike at their foe.

While Renfry focused on her strengths so did the Eternal. It shoved their blades upward away from their center as the electric energy that crackled at the ready in its left hand burst forward toward the woman's abdomen. Meanwhile she built her psychic bridge and blasted pain toward the Dark Lord's mind. The brief lightning strike was powerful and focused, the weight of the strongest amongst the Sith behind it capable of severe electrical damage and throwing her many meters backward. However, the burst of pain and mental attack forced the Eternal shift its focus to defending against Renfry's influence instead.

Dark power began to gather even as it shielded its mind. The Eternal's presence in the Force was like a vast and all-consuming void. When one stared into it, it often stared back. Even if Renfry tried to cut it off the Dark Lord had a hold now on that bridge formed between them. To the side of the paired combatants a surge of will cracked a stone pillar.

The Eternal would also step back after the lightning strike and a 2.5 meter section of pillar broke from where it stood, spinning lengthwise horizontal to the ground toward Renfry's left side. More cracks formed in the ceiling above where the pillar had been with dust and pebbles raining down, the rest of the pillar's unsupported length collapsing entirely with a thunderous crash.
 
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Renfry

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With the Eternal's blade layered above hers, when it tried to push her blade up, she disengaged, pulling her saber downward and into the path of the lightning as she leapt backwards. Rather than catch a ball of powerful lightning to the exposed belly, it slammed into her saber, bouncing free and into the ground near both of their feet.

She leapt back much as the Eternal expected, and it cracked one of the pillars supporting the room. Down fell dirt and stone from the ceiling, destroying much of the room that had served as her throne room for all these years. Dirt clouded everything and she fell back further from the Eternal, letting her saber flash back into darkness. She evaded the falling pillars and heavy rubble, but dirt and dust filled the entire room, obscuring everything from sight.

Unlike the Eternal, this was her home, and she knew it well. Every nook and crevice she could navigate without sight.

You could have done anything with the Sith, she said. She knew how her voice would echo off the walls, giving the impression that she was in many places at once. Tracking her by either sight or sound would be all but impossible. The Eternal was one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, but it would suddenly feel as if it were being circled inside a predator's lair. She knew it wouldn't be afraid, but it should be.

We waited on you, but you put unhinged members on your Council. You didn't fail because you didn't have loyalty. You failed because you picked the wrong people, she said. It wasn't quite clear whether she spoke to it or herself. It was a realization about what would come for her if she managed to make it free from this battle. She needed loyalty, but she needed loyalty and support from the right people.

Amidst the dust that floated throughout the room, Renfry eased her hunting knife free from her belt and slit across her hand, crouching low to the ground and let her blood cross the floor in a runic pattern. Where normally she would use her saber for such things, blood was inherently more powerful, and she couldn't risk the glow of a lightsaber to give away her position.
 

The Eternal

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The Eternal heard the echoing words from the Queen, pausing as it considered its next actions. It was a mistake to assume that the Eternal was the type to be lured into traps. It could see Renfry stayed out of sight on purpose, and the wraith instead stepped backwards. It leapt back off the steps and landed on the grass outside of the temple entirely. It couldn’t see or understand what Renfry was doing, but it chose to capitalize to get on the offensive. When Renfry spoke, the wraith’s voice hissed back.

“I picked the right people to ensure my continued survival,” The Eternal admitted flatly, “When you find the right people, prepare to be deposed immediately,” A hollow laugh followed the words as the Eternal prepared its next attack.

Through the Force, the wraith could make out where Renfry was just vaguely. It channeled the Force and projected towards the Queen, attempting to drive into her mind. It was a speciality of the Eternal to wreck and destroy minds as it had done to Trys Aran. However, instead of a hot knife slicing through butter, the bladed attack met concrete resistance. There was blinding agony that pulsed out to lash back at the Eternal.

An anguished cry erupted as the wraith bent over clutching its head from the defensive attack.

“What….is that…” The voice whispered quietly, reeling from the counter assault on its mind. This did not completely immobilize or knock out the powerful Dark Lord, but it certainly gave it a brief pause.
 

Renfry

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Andruil had her moment of respite. The words that the Eternal said would sit within her mind, but she could give no reply. She refused to believe that she would be so simply overthrown, but then, that was the way of the Sith. If you lost step for even a moment you were consumed.

The runes drawn on the ground in her blood were simple. It wasn't a complex spell but it was a powerful one. A desperate one.

She felt the probing against her mind, but she didn't need to resist. The power of the techniques taught by Kravos's holocron provided safety. Security. Defense and offense all rolled into one.

She was not the greatest duelist of the Sith or the most brilliant tactician. Her power rested in what she knew. Powers untouched by others and difficult to defend against.

Her hand slammed down on the rune and a flash of green tore through the air around her. Dathomir was a world that was the border between life and death. She tore open a portion of that Veil. She was the one who had freed the Sith spirits to reenter the world at Korriban. She had guarded this world since childhood and it was on this very spot that she had offensively summoned the spirits of the dead against Emryc.

But she was far more powerful now. Green spirits of long dead Nightsisters poured into the world and out of the doorway to the temple, tearing at the body of the Eternal. Long talons would tear flesh away from bone while the Eternal's mind was literally rent apart. A piece of its mind that had invaded the Queen's mind was all but torn from it as it found no escape from the labyrinthine fortress that had been created.

With body and flesh under assault, the Queen of Dathomir leapt from the dust still pouring through the doorway of her throne room and fell upon the Eternal like a wild one. Her saber flashed through the air, searching with precision for the inevitable opening created by the Eternal's agony. She would find it. She would end this.
 

The Eternal

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There was a tear that was almost tangible through the Force, a cut that resulted in a rift between two worlds. It was a world ancient and forgotten, but very much alive. It was a world that obeyed its Queen. The Eternal was under direct and brutal assault from the spirits that crossed the threshold to tear and cut away. The wraith sprang back, but its clothing was tattered and agony surged through it.

The Eternal put up mental walls, but the barrage continued both mentally and physically. It was severely weakened, and it propelled itself backwards from the violent strikes. A concussive wave of the Force blasted out from the Eternal’s core, sending the spirits flying back in different directions to offer a brief reprieve.

This was right as Renfry made her jump, coming in with her saber drawn for that final strike. However, she would be met with the wraith with its mask half cracked. Its sleeve was torn entirely off, streaks of cuts and wounds lining the entire arm along with what appeared to be runic tattoos. The arm came up abruptly, Force coiling at the palm to meet the incoming saber.

“Did you think it would end so easily?” A notably female, but ghastly, voice hissed at Renfry moments before that same palm slid down the length of the saber to slam into the hilt. It was a practiced disarming technique that would likely end with shattering the hilt. The Eternal was severely weakened, but not out of the fight just yet.

At the same time, with the other injured arm the Eternal drew her saber hilt to ignite it into Renfry’s torso at close range in a haphazard attempt to catch her off guard.
 

Renfry

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It was only now that Renfry really caught sight of their "leader." The voice was no longer garbled by the helmet and it was that of a woman. What little of her face Renfry could make out looked old, but she didn't have time to linger on it. The Eternal was powerful, and it wouldn't be done in easily.

Even as blood poured freely and its mind was wracked with pain, it continued to fight with the ferocity of a cornered beast. The Force lashed out, slamming into Renfry's saber hand. The blow caught the top of her saber hilt and cracked the metal and she felt at least one of her fingers break as well. A cry of pain escaped her mouth, but she was still moving. Adrenaline and momentum carried her forward.

The Eternal's saber lit and all the Nightsister could do was twist her body, turning the attack from a full impaling into a grazing burn that still sent terrible pain shooting through her side. She wasn't likely to remain on her feet for more than a few more moments, but that was all she needed.

Her left arm snapped down, pinning the Eternal's arm between Renfry's arm and Renfry's body to keep it from moving the saber further. With the injuries she had already taken, the pain alone nearly caused her vision to go blurry, but she couldn't quit now. She wouldn't die like this.

The move placed her own hand next to the hunting knife on her belt. With their bodies slammed up against one another, the Nightsister twisted her wrist and thrust the knife upward to the Eternal's belly. She slammed the hilt with the Shadow so that the entire knife would pass cleanly through. Among other things it would rip through the diaphragm and potentially the heart or spine before tearing out the other side of the Dark Lord's body.

They were beyond the point of no return. It was do or die, and Renfry - even with a body now bruised, burnt, and broken - would not give in as long as she had an ounce of energy left.
 

The Eternal

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86

The Eternal always measured each step, considered every variable, and operated very methodically. She had reviewed and assessed all the different scenarios that could play out on Dathomir. She had thought of the galaxy quickly closing around her. She thought of the ground rapidly giving away beneath her feet. She thought about that sense of dread that traveled up her spine. She thought of all the things she could never divulge. Because she was the Eternal. Because this was what it meant to be the Eternal.

Was Renfry there? Was Renfry prepared to pick up the burdens of an empire in disarray? Was Renfry prepared to bring others to heel? Was Renfry prepared to see beyond her own blinding rage? Flashes of the deaths on Dathomir would erupt within the Queen’s mind. It was not by the Eternal’s design, but of a planet that was weeping. She would see glimpses of that day when Raze burned her people and sought to force his will on the planet. She would see glimpses of a love that was there, but always just beyond her grasp. Things that were just barely out of her control.

Was Renfry prepared to embrace the solitude of leadership? Was she prepared to wear a crown far heavier than what she wore today?

The blade found purchase, a sickening and visceral noise erupting as the Eternal choked and wheezed. Blood trickled down her lips, trailing down her chin. The free hand, the one that would have otherwise launched an attack, could only desperately grasp at the Queen. Behind the broken mask, eyes grew vacant.

“Know….the burden you now carry…” The voice rasped as the wraith began to slide down to collapse. Though powerful, the Eternal was still a mortal in the end.
 

Renfry

Character
Independent
Rank
Nightsister Queen

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Phoenix
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Sep 20, 2020
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Everything froze as Renfry struck the final blow. Memories imprinted on this world, on her, and on the spirits that still tore at the edges of the Veil flowed into her mind. She felt the death and the burning. The defilement of this place that she loved so much. The fear that it would happen again because of her. But she wouldn't let that happen. That was why she was doing this. She wasn't a destroyer, she was a protector.

Even so, the heavy pressure tore at her chest, leaving a stifling feeling of suffocating in her mind as everything snapped once more back to the real world. The doubts of a whole lifetime still pulled at her mind, but she wouldn't allow them in. She would no longer second-guess herself. She couldn't. If she hesitated, she would be dead. As a Sith Councilor she had been one of several rulers, but as the life began to slip away from this being in front of her, the title, weight, and responsibility already began to cling to her. She was now the singular head of the Sith Order.

Those words rang in her ears as the Eternal spoke them, and with them they seemed to carry the weight that came with the mask and the title. The Eternal grabbed at her, but she stepped back, letting the body fall to the ground in front of her. Blood - her own and the Eternal's - covered her clothes and the floor between them. She watched without reaction as those final breaths were pulled, the sickening flopping and spasms of death took their hold, and then there was stillness.

The Queen - no, the Empress - took a step back, her feet feeling unsteady as the adrenaline finished running its course. Her legs felt weak and she all but collapsed down, sitting heavily on the ground.

I refuse to fail, she said quietly. There was no one around to hear her anymore. That wasn't why she said it. It was a promise to herself, to those who were lost, and even to the Eternal lying in front of her. News would spread of what had happened here and with it would come one of two things: a splintering of the Order or a unification that would transform it.

She wouldn't let the Sith fail. The fact that it all now rested on her was almost overwhelming, but there was too much riding on her now to falter. There was no way to go but forward.

The safest hands are still our own. The words of the Kravos holocron rang out in her mind, and with it the understanding that it was on her now. She could make the Sith better. She was not the first and the Sith would not die on her watch.

The Eternal was dead. Long live the Empress.​
 
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