Event Dive into the Unknown

Bir Vuul

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Tulos
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Bir rose to his feet, bouncing from one to the other, as Jerex made his assessment of the situation they found themselves in. Deep within the tunnel system with no one other than each other and whatever these creatures were. Thinking back to their entrance of the cavern and the vessel they had passed on their way in, the Kel Dor pondered if perhaps their attackers were actually the crew of that ship. That perhaps they too had come here, drawn by the same desires for the secrets that lay deep within, only to be consumed and altered by this otherworldly power that resonated all throughout the structure. Even the Kel Dor knew that if they stayed within for too long that they ran the chances of an identical fate, but he couldn’t care less.

Were they growing near to this source of power? Or were they simply three lost fools playing with abominations in the shadows? There truly was only way to find out. Calling his lightsaber to his hand, the slap of metal on metal signifying it’s arrival, the Kel Dor activated the blade and leered further down the passage.

”Is there even a question, my venerable friend?!” Bir blurted out, though careful for once to keep his volume low. He would not turn to face Jerex nor Asminys but continue staring ahead into the blackness. ”We are Sith! We are not afraid, we are fear itself! We must push on! Push on as far as is required! Yes, yes, deeper into the shadows will we find our fates!” Bir began to cackle softly as he put his feet in motion, hunched forward slightly with his saber raised ahead of him and his senses open and alert for any further dangers he would encounter.

 

Asminys

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Finding his feat once more, Asminys found himself surprised that the rush of bodies was over for the time being. Looking down upon the visage of the slain, he was surprised to find almost human like qualities among the bestial grimaces of the dead. He listened idly as one of the Sith prattled on, his attention focused more on the bodies on the ground.

"Onward." He said after a moments consideration. He did not know what mysteries lay above where the other Sith still remained, but he knew the one that lay ahead. Humans twisted into monsters, the passage of time neglecting to turn them into dust. It was a tantalizing mystery for certain.

As he continued the descent into the tunnels, Asminys mind would be focused ahead, but also inward. Curiosity drove this inward reflection as his senses searched for any subtle changes within his own body. Whether the passage of time from man to beast was rapid or took its time, perhaps the source lay deeper within the cavern.

Or perhaps the beasts had taken refuge down here... away from whatever dark powers above that had so transformed them.

@Versok @Tulos @Phoenix
 

Jaikus Thorne

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Despite all of his hesitations and his better judgement, Jaikus had made the decision to gaze upon the rune-carved altar, only to suddenly find himself unable to look away. The lightsaber in his hands suddenly felt limp and the world around him blackened, until only the rune and all the knowledge that came with it remained.

Suddenly, he felt the one-way passage into his mind wretched open, a river of unabated knowledge and power beginning to crash against his mind and overwhelm all other senses. The puzzle-pieces that he had only just glimpsed earlier now began fitting together perfectly, revealing the bigger picture underneath. It was terrifying and yet unimaginably beautiful to behold.

The terrifying reality of what existed on this strange planet, its motivations and weaknesses and all that it was, was clear as crystal in his mind. More than just the secrets of the Entity, Jaikus now felt the mysteries and complexities of the Force knitting together in his mind, how it wove itself into everything and connected the very fabric of existence. What had once been impossible to understand now seeming so obvious in its simplicity. Where once there had been ignorance, his knowledge was now absolute. Where there had once been weakness, the sensation of power at his fingertips was unlimited – bristling across his skin like electricity and causing every hair on his body to stand on edge.

It was terrifying and it was glorious. And then it was gone.

As abruptly as the wellspring of knowledge had been opened and poured itself upon him, it was viciously snatched away. What had only just seconds ago been so clear – all of that knowledge and power and understanding – now only existing as vague echoes in Jaikus' mind, vividly real and yet too distant to understand. It was little more than a cruel joke. Instead of power and knowledge, Jaikus was left with impressions and feelings he could not explain. The feeling of dread radiated through his body, though he could remember what it was that had been the source of it. Most pronounced was the overwhelming fear of the Light that had etched itself into his very soul, revealing just how fragile this place truly was.

It was an exceptionally jarring experience. It took Jaikus a few minutes to fully recover the sensation, only now realizing that he had absently allowed his lightsaber to fall from his hand at one point or another. Collecting it up off the floor, Jaikus turned on a heel and began back the way he came – suddenly deciding that he wanted absolutely nothing else to do with this tunnel.

Unlike Morgan and Stolas, who had been brutally ejected from their tunnel, Jaikus had to manually retrace his steps. Eventually, he made his way back to where the group had congregated in the main chamber, feet carrying him at a decidedly swift pace away from the rune-lined passage. By this point, his jaw had hardened into a hard line and the irritation was plain across his face, frustrated by both the experience he had gone through and the lack of anything tangible to show for it.

His eyes settled finally upon Renfry. “The tunnel is a dead end.” He spoke grumpily, his arms crossed across his chest. “The rune that line it are.. Powerful. More than just symbols, the knowledge contained within them is indescribable.”

“But the visions are fleeting. I can’t remember what was seen, only impressions of it.”
He clenched his teeth a bit. “But whatever this Entity is, it is desperately afraid of the Light – more than anything else. That much I know for certain.”


@Phoenix
 

The Storyteller

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Renfry was listening closely to the stories of the two Sith and looking back at the runes to piece together what had happened as Tiamat began to make her way over to the tunnel. By the time she realized it, it was too late and the other Sith Lord was swallowed by the darkness.

She looked back to the other two with an exasperated expression. Why was Tia wandering in there?!

Okay, okay, she mumbled, more to focus herself than to actually address anyone.

Floating, mental attacks, personal memories. But why? she asked herself. Hosting something? And personal memories? Some sort of audition for something? she wondered aloud. Lucky Tia. She was the next auditioner, it seemed.

Jaikus made his return moments later, looking as if he’d been struck by a truck or witnessed some unspeakable horror that left him nearly catatonic. She focused her attention in on him as he spoke, though his statements were nearly as cryptic as the rest.

Afraid of the Light? That doesn’t really seem to fit with either of you, she said, looking over to the others to see if they had any insight given they were in the tunnel.

@lizziie @Mr. Teatime @jaikus

---​

As the trio of Sith combatants opted to push on, they would be at first unimpeded. Nothing seemed to block their path as if the creatures (or people) still retained some memory of the terror that now faced them. Warriors armed with lightsabers and capable of cutting them down swiftly.

More so than the beings that had retreated from them, their attention would begin to be drawn to the feeling that was here. Once more in contrast to the cold, darkness of this world, there was a Light that seemed to echo ahead of them. As if it had been awoken from a long sleep. They would be able to follow it to a room, but the moment they set foot in the room, they would begin to feel as if they were burning, forced to retreat once more out to the hallway.

At the center of the room a small item of some sort seemed to radiate the energy they now faced. While they would be able to look themselves over and see there were no physical injuries present, being in its presence was exceedingly unpleasant.

@Arclight @Tulos @Versok

---​

As Tiamat crossed the threshold of the darkness, she would find herself swallowed by it just as the previous two Sith had been. Though she was not forced to her knees, the presence would be evident immediately.

Another comes before me.

The voice was once more echoed in every voice that the Sith Lord recognized. It was all around her, inside her mind, outside her body. The words pawed through her mind and even with the learned skill of one of the great Dark Lords of old, there was no keeping at bay whatever this was. It was entirely unfazed.

Your mind is of Old Power. What do you seek?

Flashes would tear through her mind all of a sudden. Moments back in the slums of the city, eating garbage and living in poverty. She would see herself giving over access to the hypergates to the Eternal. She would see herself now, much older but living in poverty, begging on a street corner.

What have you built for yourself, Lyra? You call yourself a Lord, but you are still a child unwilling to take the steps necessary to overcome.

@GABA
 

Amon Aldinari

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Taking his hand, Red was pulled up into a standing position by Amon before he would dust himself off. With another glance offered to the body on the ground, it was pondered whether his reaction was the right thing to have happened. But those thoughts were quickly wiped away, remembering how the creature climbed over his friend with a rusty blade and attempting to dice them into pieces.

Amon glanced over to Red, shrugged his shoulders, and tightened his gloves before heading into the bridge. The cockpit wasn't the smallest but the wasn't the biggest. It provided enough space to be comfortable with, candles in the corners of the room, stacks of books, a small little cot, and other trinkets that littered the space. "Not too bad." He had lived in worse in his teen years, the rooms helping contribute to his claustrophobia as well.

The two of them would move over the console and discovering multiple audio logs placed throughout the room. Taking a seat with a soft groan, he placed both his feet onto one of the counters and on top of each other. "Well, play 'em." If the hermit had been living as long as his room suggested, Amon assumed the ship was clear of any other hostile threat. While Red would play the first one labeled, "landing".

With nimble fingers as the audio began to play, a PDA was pulled out from Amon's jacket and he placed it horizontally by the audio log. On the screen would be a current huttball game, the Sith watching quietly as he interlocked his fingers and leaned back, listening to the logs while intently watching the game. "Cuno is looking for a trade by the way." The tidbit offered quietly when there was a break in the noise, the two discussing huttball unless something was spoken of that demanded their immediate attention.

@Phoenix
 

Darth Tiamat

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It felt nearly weightless and heavy at the same time as she was swallowed into the darkness. Her senses still felt like radio static, no direction, but yet she was pulled in all directions as voices spoke in unison around her. She knew it was not those she had known, but whatever it was that ejected Stolas and Malou only moments earlier. It was the same essence that now broke through her mental barriers and traps laid in her mind to keep lesser beings from learning of her secrets. The redhead closed her eyes and focused, she had felt similar attacks, recalling from her training she knew she couldn't stop it, but she knew how to minimize any damage and keep the self intact.

It recognized her defenses as she followed it through her mind, questioning what it was that she sought. It would bring up the most painful and humiliating of memories as she watched her younger self digging through trash to find something to eat, horribly malnourished, but the woman didn't fight the memory. It was a part of her, choices that she had made then that lead her to where she was now, including when she met with the Eternal and she handed over the gates, but that wasn't the end, a bittersweet moment for the Sith Lord at the time as she felt herself turning to see an much older version of herself back on the streets. A vision that has yet to pass, if she chose that destiny for herself.

It asked her what she had built, using her given name and referencing her as a child who had yet to take those steps.

"I carve my own path as the child, the rigid path of my predecessors is stagnate and cannot be sustained. As the child, I remain creative, I search for questions instead of answers, they are the keys to the gateways I can open.



@Phoenix
 

Bir Vuul

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As if he were a hound with his nose to the ground, Bir hurried through the cavern with renewed energy. His broken mind could not find the rationality of concerning himself with what had happened to their slaughtered victims, what it was that instigated their changes. The only matter of concern was to find the source of the power, not what it may do to it’s victims. It wasn’t the first time he had seen such; Malheion was filled with twisted mutations, though these particular abominations were certainly far more feral. He could allow himself to become absorbed in the what-if’s and how-long’s of the matter… Or he could just run into things head first, as always.

Then they saw it; the light that Bir had worked so tirelessly to pursue this far. Once again it ebbed ahead of them, just beyond their direct sight. Or was he simply imagining it? Was he then too imagining the shiver that radiated down his spine when he looked away from where he saw the glowing light? Or was it perhaps behaving as…

”The beacon! We must follow the beacon!” Bir declared abruptly, not even aware as to whether or not his compatriots too saw what he saw. He would give chase, abolishing any hesitation as he rounded corners in pursuit of his guide.

His efforts would come to a halt as he set foot into the chamber that was the end of the tunnel, but as pain radiated through his foot he would pull it back rapidly, the loose combat boot he had donned upon arrival of this world slipping off and dropping to the floor. In a deeply hunched posture, both hands held away from his hips, Bir first examined his foot until he was sure it was not permanently burned. His eyes would snap upward to the object in the center of the room, an untold power washing off of it like waves.

Bir was woefully inexperienced in moments such as this, his training being less than subpar for the situation. Casting a look back over his shoulder for Asminys and Jerex in hopes that perhaps they had an answer, he would blink repeatedly in silence, the odd twitch of his neck plain for all to see. He certainly hoped they did as the longer he remained in close proximity to the object, it began to feel as though a dark pressure exerted itself over him. It felt as though his skin was being peeled from his body, only that there was no pain. It felt as though the contents of his stomach began to bubble, no fire to bring it to boil. Whatever this was, it was dangerous.

@Phoenix @Arclight @Versok
 

Asminys

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Asminys traversed through the tunnels at a steady but hurried pace. The joining between his thighs and the mechanical contraptions ached. The pain continued in the background of the Sith Lords mind as he focused on the cavern ahead, the force, and how it might be affecting what remained of his mortal frame. There was a beckoning up ahead. An energy that called out in the darkness, that shone in the unnatural silence of the inhabited cave.

And then the world burned. They all felt it.

Asminys stepped back from the threshold, examining the room beyond. He payed particular attention to the item in the center of the room, peering through the shadows and shining brightness through both his eyes and the force. Whatever this object was it was clearly the locus of the energy and barrier. The key to their silent new friends that lurked in the caverns surrounding this beacon. The method of their feral condition and unwitting immortality. Perhaps.

Whatever it was, Darth Asminys had not come all this way to come away from their expedition empty handed.

His eyes travelled the lining of the doorway into the room, identifying where he believed the threshold of the energy field was. He breathed deeply as he drew the darkness in to him. Energy pooled within Asminys, and he took a step with a durasteel foot through the threshold.

And then he walked into the room.

@Phoenix @Versok @Tulos
 

Darth Stolas

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Oh, that's where Jaikus had gone. Morgan only noticed his return once he began to speak at which point his gaze traveled to him, blinking a couple times as he came out of his own thoughts. Malou'd mentioned 'hosting' and Renfry had been processing the whole thing out loud. It didn't make much sense to the Firrerreo either, frankly.

"The Light?" he suddenly repeated, brows deeply furrowed. What did that have to do anything, other than this Entity obviously being a construct of the Dark? Again he trawled through his own memories to find the common threads between them, trying to understand just why he'd been ejected to furiously.

Morgan didn't respond to any questions sent his way for at least a minute, closing his eyes with a deeply pensive expression. He sat very still, as if meditating, and was in fact cataloguing and analyzing everything he'd seen and felt and remembered. Until his eyes shot open and he turned to stare into the darkness.

"... Light?" Morgan looked quite bemused. It didn't feel like a source of light to him but a great flame. But did the Entity feel it in a different way, so strange and Dark as it was? It wasn't 'human', so to speak, after all. Morgan looked at Renfry, then slightly to her left.

"It might not like how one can feel for another." He hoped that got the point across without having to directly put it into words. For some reason it felt awkward to say out loud in present company.


@Phoenix @Altaris @lizziie
 

Jerex Dorn

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Following behind but not too far back, Jerex was deep in thought as the theories about what made the poor souls that came before them turn into rabid beasts like that, of course, it didn't take long to find what could be the answer to his questions, some sort of artifact, its light making Jerex curious as he approached alongside the other two sith...Before feeling a burning sensation so potent, so strong it was almost on par to the reason of his scars, forcing him to retreat.

"Mhm, interesting." The old sith simply declared as he also felt the strange item's presence, being uncomfortable yet...alluring for a person as sickeningly curious as the old legionnaire, of course, that didn't mean he was the first one to approach it, for Darth Asminys took a step inside once more, Jerex looked with his hands behind his back as he noticed that Bir didn't really know what to do. A grim smile formed behind Jerex's mask as he put his hands forward, looking back at the sith with mechanical legs while speaking to the Kel dor.

"Just do as I do, acolyte, there's no need for all of us to go individually retrieve the artifact...when we can help from here" Jerex stated, his voice surprisingly soft even after being modified by his mask as he talked to Bir before calling upon the dark side, the force gently surrounding Asminys in an embrace as Jerex concentrated into forming a barrier to help him resist the foul effects of the artifact, the force was their ally, and they were the masters of the dark side, not the other way around. With their help, the sith lord would conquer the light and get to the end of this.



@Phoenix @Tulos @Arclight
 

Jaikus Thorne

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Still looking exceptionally grumpy with the entire situation, Jaikus folded his arms over his chest and kept his eyes slightly narrowed. Even now, the faint traces of what he had once seen so vividly lingered at the edges of his consciousness, though remained just beyond his reach. It was nothing short of frustrating, and that much was clear across Jaikus’ expression even if he did not divulge the precise details of what had happened.

Only when Morgan spoke did his eyes eventually fall upon the Firrerreo. Jaikus had been fully emerged in his own experience when the Sith Lord and Malou were unceremoniously ejected from their respective path, leaving the Marauder to only piece together the details and surmise that their efforts had been equally fruitless. He listened with growing interest as the man threw out a new hypothesis.

“Perhaps.” Jaikus responded to Morgan after a pause, his head tilting to the side ever-so-slightly. Whatever this Entity was, it was a creature born out of Darkness. It was the very antithesis of the Light that Morgan described, and it was more powerful and ancient than he could put into words. And yet for all the ways it felt powerful, there was an unmistakable fragility that had been exposed through Jaikus' fleeting visions. The immense sense of dread and fear was one of the only things that had been vividly left with the Marauder, and it spoke to a weakness that he could not quite understand. It was not until Morgan spoke that a new possibility emerged.

His eyes turned to Renfry once again. “Perhaps it is these connections that it is most vulnerable to. A spark of light against the void, as it were.”


@Phoenix @Mr. Teatime
 

The Storyteller

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As Amon booted up the logs, he would hear a terrible story of the crew being stranded on this world some thousands of years ago and finding something here. He would hear how the crew went mad with time, deteriorating into savagery, changing unnaturally with time, consuming one another and even reproducing to create more twisted versions of themselves.

He would hear stories of exploration and the finding of "the artifact" that had eventually slipped from their grasp. It had twisted people - body and soul - before abandoning them. He would hear about the Jedi that had arrived, bringing with them a device that was alleged to be capable of defending them only for them, too, to be consumed the planet.

@Orbit

---​

Progressing through the room and toward the light would be an excrutiating process not just of the body, but of the mind. To his benefit, Asminys would be partially shielded by the force of this comrades, but even so it would rip through every fiber of his being.

At first it would be agony, burning like death, but as he drew closer, the feeling would change. He would begin to experience a peace that transcended what he had ever known. As a child he had been forced to endure horrible things in the Cadre and it had left him with little inside himself except a burning anger. Suddenly that anger would all be gone. There would be nothing but a calm serenity and a joy that he hadn't ever experienced in his life.

He would find that it all stemmed from a small scepter with a small switch at its tip that could be rotated to turn it off.

The return trip to the main hall would be without incident for the trio and no further sign of the creatures that had attacked them was presently present.

@Arclight @Tulos @Versok

---​

Renfry might have taken more time to think about the implication behind Morgan's statement, but it was nothing new to her, and at this point she had far more pressing things here.

Together, perhaps they had put together the pieces of the puzzle, but she doubted that a group of Sith Lords alone had enough Light among them to drive back such a creature.

Well, apparently it doesn't like even small amounts of Light, so now we just need to find a bigger source, she said, agreeing with both of the others who had spoken.

@Mr. Teatime @lizziie @Altaris

---​

Tiamat would be able to feel the creature continuing to pervade her mind and being. Searching the corners of her mind for the deceptions and secrets she had hidden there before seeming to be satisfied by what it found.

Your test is yet to come.

And just like that, the darkness rolled back from around her, but not in the direction she had come from but the direction she had begun walking toward. She would quickly find herself confronted by something else.

@GABA
 

Siris Drast

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The pressure that she had felt, almost a sort of drilling into her head, would eventually ease. Instead, it would turn into a sort of caress, like a mother soothing their child when they had become terrified or upset. Tia would feel what could be described as fingers, easily brushing across her hair before burrowing painlessly underneath her scalp and unbeknownst to her, the tips then brushing against her skull itself instead of her skin.

It could almost be considered soothing as they dug deeper and deeper, easily passing whatever defenses that been put up, by her or otherwise. There was no stopping the invasion, it was beyond her control. It was a type of power that she had never come across before. The darkness around her would react, writhing in place as shadows enlarged and shrunk as if physically disturbed by the presence of something else. The air grew heavy as she would feel it weigh against her. That weight would continue to grow until she realized it wasn't that but temperature. Her breath would come out in a frosted column after a few moments, clinging to her own lips desperately before dissipating in the air.

Thin layers of frost caked along the walls and stalagmites that had formed in the tunnel, at first starting in front of her before stretching out to where she was. She could even see her own reflection on the ice if she peered hard enough, revealing a tired and battered woman.

There would be a budding silence at first, only interrupted partly by Tia's eventual shivers and freezing of moisture around the tunnel. If she lifted her gaze, she would be met by a wall of darkness, one that couldn't be penetrated even with the adjustment by her eyes. But if she continued to peer into it, a pair of eyes would eventually open and stare right back at her. They were a pair of piercing silver oceans, almost bright enough to be spotted and most likely giving Tia the feeling of familiarity as someone else she knew had a pair of silver eyes that were almost like it.

But instead of her master, something else stepped out from the shadows. It was a man, hair as black as the darkness in the tunnel. Even with the distance between them, he easily towered over her frame as he fully stepped into view. Scars littered his arms, at least the parts that were visible, a whole variety from blasters, to bite marks, and lightsaber burns. Even in the spectral state, absolute power radiated off of him as did royalty but unfittingly. As he fully removed himself from the black, his true presence would finally be revealed. It was Siris Drast, the first husband of Andraste and the one who had brought the Eternal into the fold of the Sith.

What was most unsettling was his signature, it flickering, almost pulled in opposite directions by invisible hands. The Dark Side coursed through whatever he was, it almost overwhelming as he settled into the tunnel. Even the air around him curled away and fidgeted from his presence. It was unnatural and the world seemed to know it.

Instead of bringing his gaze to Tia, he slowly crouched down and dipped his hand into the sand beneath him. His long fingers easily pierced through before he retrieved a small clump to fidget with. If Tia looked to the spot he had reached, she would find it undisturbed, as if he had never touched it. Siris ran the particles through his fingers when he lifted them to his face, inhaling and exhaling slowly at the coarse feeling of his palm before the sand rained back onto the ground.

When he finished, he finally spoke for the first time, emotionless and resonating. "Children are creative or imaginative because they don't understand their reality. Children search for questions instead of answers because they can't handle the truth." His voice was deep and echoed across the tunnel, it multilayered in some points as Tia would be able to catch hints of women and other men. The words would also trigger the invisible fingers that had submerged themselves within her skin. It would feel like her skull was cracking in multiple places, the fingers breaking through to make a handheld of her bone as they forced her head, mind, and eyes to lock on him.

"So, tell us... why should we care about a child?" Siris would finally open his eyes once more but instead of the pure silver they had once been, they would be marred. Red streaks would break up the unified color, hinting at something that lurked within him.

There would be no help, there would be no intervention by outside forces, it was just Tia and Siris. She would even be able to feel that they were in their own sort of reality as if time had come to a painstakingly slow crawl and would leave her for him to play with for as long as he wanted.

OOC: A big thanks to Orbit for agreeing to DM this part
 
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Darth Tiamat

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Her test was yet to come?

Before she could ask what it meant, the darkness begun to roll away from her, expecting herself to reappear back in the presence of Renfry, Morgan, and Malou when they were ejected from the tunnel. However, there was something different, she could still feel whatever it was in her mind, and the darkness allowed her to move forward. It had been difficult to move earlier, but one step at a time she moved her feet, invisible fingers still veining like lead further into psyche, any shields and protection she had worked to keep others out was no feat for this entity.

Tiamat gritted her teeth, the heaviness remained, but it felt like someone stroking her hair and then her head until it sunk further into her scalp. A soothing sensation that reminded her of safety, a security that no harm would come, but this place, what was this? Who or what was this? There was nothing that she could find in her training that told her how to handle a power that was beyond...time...this was ageless, ancient.

She felt like she wasn't move far, the darkness that remained in the tunnel, or wherever she was now, seemed to have a life to it, it was not shadow, or the absence of light as it moved with a viscosity and life. The redhaired Sith reached out to grasp it, but it seemed to still be just out of reach. Questions tried to form in her mind as to where she was and what was this, but the entity that was in her head, seemed to brush it away with a stroke of its presence. Tiamat inhaled, her breath thin, her lungs burned, and her body was starting to feel as though weights were hanging from it.

Her breath came out as frost; warm air condensed into ice crystals along her lips and her body was start to shiver, but she continued forward, she couldn't turn back, not now. The temperature was colder than outside the tunnel and her cheeks whitened as her blood rushed to her center, her fingertips turning purple when she gave pause, finding just silence, a stillness in a cave of ice. Tia shook her head instinctively, as though it would dismiss whatever it was in her mind and closed her eyes tightly, her body now shaking harshly to keep warm. When she opened them, she saw darkness had returned, mirroring her reflection as the old woman from before. She reached out to touch the woman's cheek but stopped when she starred further, her nose barely touching the glass-like appearance when she saw familiar silvers.

Before she could call for Emryc's name out loud, something stepped out, or someone actually as Tiamat stepped back to give them some space. She looked up, jaw agape for the moment, her shivers stopped as she realized she recognized the figure from millennia past.

Siris Drast...

The woman was floored, literally, automatically falling to her knee for him and she bowed her head as it took all her willpower to remain in stillness for one of the greatest Sith from time itself. She looked up to study everything about him, noting the scars, his figure, his hair, his icy gaze...

Tia watched as he crouched down, touching the sand, but did not at the same time. Her brow narrowed in curiosity and then Siris spoke, but it was entirely a singular voice. Like earlier, there were many voices with him and suddenly she felt others grasping at her; automatically she pulled her arms away, but the sensation remained. It continued through her body and Tiamat gasped as she could feel the caressing fall heavy against her skull, her bones felt they were on the verge of breaking. She wanted to collapse to the ground, the weight was so much, but instead it kept her gaze focused on Siris. Her heart beating a bit faster, he asked her why they would care about a child, but when he looked to her, his eyes were now different. There was someone else within him.

"The truth can change, reality can change, it is never singular." Tiamat gasped trying to keep the pressure from crushing her entirely, "I can accept any truths, it is how the child learns, grows and is molded into something greater." she explained, her fingers digging into the sand and rock, gritting her teeth, "I don't want you to care," she stated breathlessly, "I want respect..."



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Siris Drast

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Those eyes, they bore into her as uttered out whatever words for a response in the frigid air. It felt like they didn't just belong to him but instead contained a whole room of eyes was watching her every move through them. That feeling palpable that someone just stood out from the rest but not because they were special but because they were under suspicion.

Siris didn't blink the entire time as he listened, his eyes a unique and terrifying combination of crimson red and piercing silver, peering at Tia silently as if he was just taking a scalpal and slowly peeling back her layers to retrieve what he wanted to know. When she finished with that she wanted respect, the corner of his mouth twitched before it hardened into a straight line. Without moving an inch of his body, the grip on her skull would pull her forward to him, head first as her knees would be dragged through the sand and cut up with tiny rocks that were there. She would stop a couple of feet in front of him and on all fours before her head was sharply pulled up to gaze at him.

She would feel the air changed around him, heavier and coursed with the Dark Side, it almost pawing at her uncontrollably, wanting and yearning for the force that flowed through her. Siris tilted his head slightly, his words coming out in a sort of sing-song voice as best as he could produce, "Lying Lyra, Lying Lyra..." As he uttered them, she would hear the sound of children singing in her ear, familiar voices that grew louder with each second until it would become unbearable. The words repeated as flashes of her life would come to her; Children she had grown up with, parents, a teacher, and even Emryc, each one as quick as lightning and searing. "The lies never stop, even now."

With the grip still into her bone, she would be lifted up to the point where she would be on her knees in front of him, her arms free to dangle by her sides. Slowly as if almost testing if she was real herself even then, Siris lifted his hand afterward and outstretched it toward Tia's cheek. When his first finger touched her chilled skin, it would be icy cold, nearly to the point it was painful but most likely unnoticed as his entire palm would then press against her cheek. He just stared at her skin, in what appeared to be appreciation.

It had been so long for them.

Tia's signature, force, and emotions would enter into flux by just his touch, as if it was an invasive force and one her system didn't know how to counteract. Even though his hand pressed against her skin, it would feel as if her fingers simply pushed through her flesh and bone like it was a gel and entered into her skull, personally plucking and pulling out what he wanted.

But it only transpired for a few moments before it just suddenly stopped, the sensation retreating rapidly from her as she would feel the pressure and fluctuation inside her almost stop completely. For the first time, he would show emotion, his eyes shutting while his jaw hardened as he turned his head away slightly, his lips forming and almost ready to make a snarl. But he stood up slowly as he let out a humorless chuckle with his hand dropping from her face, one that was meant to substitute the sound of rage. "Kravos..." There would be a buzz in the tunnel, the hushed end of whispers that could barely be caught but only that Siris could hear.

"Never strays too far," Siris spoke to no one but outward as if the Sith Lord was spectating even then. His handiwork was laid throughout her entire mind, a wall to protect an invasion, exactly what he was doing. It made him surprisingly smirk. Even a millennium after their passing, he still found a way to be a thorn in his side in just the right places.

The spectre brought his attention back to Tia before he crouched down once more."Kravos was rather thorough." The defensive techniques he created were practically flawless but he was one sith. Siris was many. Once more, he outstretched his hand but instead of her face, it would go to the center of her chest as he pressed against her skin. Tia would experience a sort of burning sensation, one that went past her flesh and to her core. After he finished, it left a black handprint momentarily before the digits shrunk into the center and turned itself into a nasty and large bruise.

The grip from her skull would release and she would be allowed to look down at the black mark. "We shall be thorough as well." As if on cue, veins underneath the skin slowly inked black as it spread. Immense pain would spill over and crash throughout her entire body right after. It would feel as if her blood was boiling, her veins twisting in knots, nerve endings being lit on fire, her bones aching to that similar of a child experiencing growing pains. An assault from all fronts, it was pure hell. A type of suffering a very few knew in the galaxy and they all stood right in front of her.

Siris would crumble whatever defenses that had been made. It could take seconds, minutes, hours, even longer as it depended on how extensive they were. It did not matter to him, they had nothing but time and each other. It would only end when it was all destroyed and flushed out.

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Darth Tiamat

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She couldn't look away, even if she did, she could still feel them on her. Her body continued to shiver painfully in the cold; she wanted to stop shaking, Siris and whoever else, kept her in place. It was more clear now that it was not just Siris, there was someone, maybe many that were also present. This was no ordinary encounter with the Sith spirit, this was beyond extraordinary. Awe and yet, real, as she could feel him pull her body to him, holding her head in place, dragging her knees along the sand and rock. Tiamat gasped, but there was no stopping until he decided, falling to her hands, her fingers grasping the frozen sand and rock, cutting into her palm.

Her head snapped back to his gaze, her brow narrowed, teeth gritting as she felt instinct look from leverage in control. There was a familiar hum that gave the woman pause and soon the words dripped from his being, Lying Lyra, and soon others would join in the chorus, the voices grew, louder, her ears snapping with the ring of noise as she tried to physically cover her ears to make it stop, people flashed through her sight and Tia let out a yell in an attempt to drown them out. She tried to grasp some level of sanity in this chaos, but it would be the inner darkness that seemed to be humored by the pain she seemed to have forgotten. She suddenly could feel everything and nothing, her heart beating quickly as Siris reached out to touch her cheek, pain searing as though it were a hot blade cutting into her flesh. His eyes still held its icy chill, "Who else..." she managed to whisper, "Who is we, Siris?"

But she quickly forgot her question as she felt as though she were being pulled in several directions, her being exploding like a supernova before suddenly coming to a stop as she felt the power in her mind push back. It appeared to agitate Siris as he seemed to be contemplating something.

But, it was not for very long, as the woman managed to capture some sort of a breath from the twisting chaos in her mind and body. It was hard to think ahead, sinking into skills of survival. He crouched in front of her, mentioning Kravos' work; her brow narrowed, blue eyes bled yellow and orange as she watched his hand reach out to her again, but this time touching her chest. A sharp burning pain as though she were being branded sunk into her chest, taking away her breath and any workings of a yell stolen from throat as she looked down, fingers quickly trying to pry away his hand but she couldn't find a way to grip his arm. When he removed his hand, she quickly tore open her collar, revealing the black handprint on her chest.

Thorough?

"Who...is we?" she managed to all but ask again as suddenly the veins around the handprint blackened. Tiamat couldn't remember falling, but she was on her back, her muscles contracting as unimaginable pain tore through her entire body. She screamed, her heart pounded so hard she thought it would explode. Whoever we is, they were in her mind, her soul, her physical body reflecting the pain as well as the control she was losing.

Tiamat screamed again, calling for Emryc, Renfry, Morgan, Malou, anyone who came to this blasted cave, but nothing. She was alone, somewhere, no one could hear her except for the entity's audience and Siris Drast. It was a familiar feeling, one she lived with so many years, one that made her once despair, and now it just drove her into anger. Tears sat at the corners of her eyes, but she was unable to close them, staring into the darkness that settled above her as the assault continued. The power of Kravos fighting back, almost mockingly knowing the agony it was causing her and the annoyance it was causing Siris. Her body twisted, trying to counter, searching for relief.

Slowly, layer by layer, a timeless process that felt like an eternity, retreating back into the traps and mazes she had built with Kravos in her psyche. Siris was like a slow burn revealing his prizes: her secrets, her joys, her hopes, loss, fear, and anger until it would just leave her, not just Tiamat, but Lyra.



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Siris Drast

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Siris just watched silently as Tiamat writhed in pain, flinging sand around as she tried to have a handle on the sensory overload that was taking place. Her questions were ignored for the time being, the specter deciding not to waste a speck of breath if it hadn't been made clear whether she would live or not. Her emotions tumbled inside her at the predicament of her situation, all of them growing and mixing into a whirlwind, first terror and then morphing into pure rage and then to more. It was a beautiful sight to them, one that was a gateway to possibilities, one that they hadn't caught a glimpse of in years.

Her screams weren't accurate of how the experience she was being put through. To her, it would feel as if her whole body would be transforming, crumbling and rebuilding to make room for something else other then her while her fortress were being dismantled as well. By the time it was finished, Tiamat would be lying in her own sweat, a new weight and sort of pressure that felt like it overlaid her entire skeletal frame, settling in quickly. Siris took a step and stood over her, the combination of crimson and silver boring down on her like a spotlight. "There she finally is." It was no longer Tiamat, no longer a Sith, just Lyra.

When she blinked, she would find herself standing on her feet and somehow right in front of Siris, the pain miraculously disappeared, the fractures and holes made along her skull in the beginning were gone. If she managed to take a peek toward the ice and her reflection, she would find just herself, spared of any scrapes, bruises and appear relatively clean and healthy. But that would be the hint that something was wrong as Siris just simply gazed upon her.

They were inside. Completely.

With slow and precise steps, the towering Drast would stop just a few inches away from her, peering down with a slight tilt to his head. "We do not care for names, we have been given many over the centuries." Then both his hands would come up and grip both of her cheeks gingerly, the cold touch of them no longer present as he gazed upon her eyes and right past them. "The better question is what... and what we are is eternal." The last word echoing and bouncing inside Lyra's mind by multiple voices. Unknown to her during this, her own shadow behind her would slowly enlarge, occupying more space and losing the shape of her body.

Siris would slowly turn and take a few steps away, leaving her frozen in place. He would only get so far before he stopped, not saying anything for a moment until he turned back around. Instead of the crimson, his eyes would just be the pure silver that they had been when they first appeared,
"Good luck, kid." There was a difference in his tone, softer as if he understood what she was going through and about to. But as quickly as it came, it vanished.

Right after his words, invisible chains would wrap around her limbs before yanking her back harshly and into the shadow behind her. Instead of falling into the sand, she would fall through and be completely engulfed in just darkness. There would be no sound, no sight, no smell, just nothing. Only the sensation of falling could be comprehended as she could reach out if she wanted but find nothing to hold onto and nothing reaching back to catch her.

It continued on before it just eventually... ceased. Lyra would then find herself jolting awake, her body aching as it would be contorted for a lounge chair that acted as her bed for a few hours. The heavy blanket of sleep would slowly be pulled off of her, her senses collecting themselves. The sound of beeping, machinery, and numerous voices swarmed her. If she glanced around, she would find herself in the hallway of a hospital, sunlight spilling through the windows and onto her, warming her. Doctors and nurses walked past her as they discussed cases and patients. Everything appeared normal and was indeed so. She would find herself in the clothes she had chosen to wore that day and freshened up how she was then, at least after a not so restful nap.

Everything that she had seen had just been a dream, a terrible one, the constant reading of history books and stress of her presentation about hypergates causing a weird mixture and creating some type of nightmare. Lyra could check where everywhere she wanted on her body, it was all there and just be her, mind, body and spirit. If she glanced around, she would find a box of cupcakes on the chair beside her and be reminded of her true reason for being there, Emryc.

---
Back in reality, If somehow someone was able to enter into the tunnel, they would discover a grotesque sight. Lyra would be in the middle of it, on her knees and staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes would be completely white, rolled to the back of her head as two trails of blood would slowly come out from her nostrils, dripping onto the ground. Tears collected at the corners of her eyes as well, routinely carving down her cheek as she couldn't utter anything. Random parts of her body would twitch, her arms, fingers, head, legs, each a little response to what was happening in her mind. There were no drag marks, no blood from when she had cut up her knees. The only thing in the tunnel was Lyra and the unnatural frigid chill that blew throughout it, a thin layer of ice on the walls and collecting.

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Darth Tiamat

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Vision blurred from the pain, she could hear Siris speaking and observing her as she laid in her own sweat and blood, her body caked in sand and dirt as she had been uncontrollably flailing in her agony during the process. What she knew, who she knew trickle from her fingertips followed by something else that was entering her body. No walls, no barriers, no resistance, just Lyra, the core of who she was for him to complete the dark cleansing. Tightly she shut her eyes, hoping to open them and be back with the others, whispering breathlessly in her prayer that would go unanswered.

However, something was different when she opened her eyes again; the pain and blood was gone, her skull no longer throbbed, and fractures cleanly healed and as though she never ailed a day in her life. Confusion washed through the redhead as she went to check the rest of body, catching her reflection in the ice and doing a double-take. She saw herself, but looking closer, it was hard to determine if that was her, no...

Lyra went to touch the icy reflection but paused as Siris had approached her, not stopping until he was all but a few inches away; uncertain of the trick, the illusion, whatever this was, the woman was on alert and not amused; but what could she do? This thing tore down what she thought would give her a fighting chance in any battle. She looked up at Siris with her blue eyes focused, he answered some of her question, letting her know they had no singular name as he reached to cup her face with his palms. The woman tensed against the anticipated sheering pain to cut into her cheeks, but it would not come and instead, when she heard him speak their identity, the redhaired woman felt her stomach drop, eyes widened as she heard them all echo,

...eternal...

She quickly covered her mouth, feeling herself speak with the others and realized Siris was walking away. Something kept her in stillness, suspended as he turned back around, his brilliant silver eyes remained, his tone soft, genuine, wishing her luck.

"WAIT!-" she cried out, feeling herself suddenly grasped and pulled down, her world or lack of it turning into blackness. Weightless silence as she continued to fall until she jolted awake. The woman was on her feet, the sun blinding as her sight adjusted to the change in light. It took a moment for her to remember where she was last, seeing the doctors and nurses at the hospital, feeling slightly embarrassed for reacting so irrationally to the nightmare she had just experienced.

Lyra looked down at her clothing, smoothing out the wrinkles that formed from laying in the chair for so long. Just for safe measure she felt along her chest for the burn of the handprint from the dream, smirking to herself. It must have been a deep sleep, she couldn't remember when she had finally fallen asleep in the first place. Lyra frowned, pausing and pinched herself just for safe measure. Feeling the sharp pressure and Lyra shrugged it off. She saw the box of cupcakes she had made for Emryc and checked the chrono, realizing he probably was out of the bacta therapy tank by now. Opening the box, she doubled checked to make sure she had the food, and then the napkins and forks. Satisfied, she pushed away the nightmare and walked down the hall to Emryc's room, knocking on the door as she entered, "Emryc? I brought cupcakes this time." she softly spoke, looking to see where he was resting.



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Siris Drast

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The door swung open slowly, revealing a typical hospital room, the bed in the center with one person occupying it and the other standing over them. Hearing the sound, the doctor turned around to find Lyra entering, a young woman with long black hair dressed in a ponytail. A true smile crept onto her face as she assumed it was someone close or related to the patient. She turned back around towards Emryc and placed her hand gently on the railing, "Let me know if you need anything else." Doing all she needed to, she moved away from the bed and towards the door, offering Lyra another warm smile when she walked by.

When the doctor has passed her, the woman's face would completely drop of any emotion, her eyes lifeless and carrying nothing but her body moving and acting completely normally. She felt no different and the moment would only transpire until she opened the door and stepped out, leaving the two to themselves, the door closing behind with a loud thud.

He did not acknowledge her, did not act as if she existed. It was cold and familiar indifference. It was a reminder that she was always an oppressive presence and a nuisance to his existence. It was a reminder that he was a place she ran to so many times hoping for a different outcome, but it was always the same. With the blindfold, there was little difference, his posture and his expression vacant and cold. He did not reach for the food she brought, a hint of disgust displayed at the thought of touching it. She could reach out and touch him, and it would invoke no reaction. She could kiss him, and he wouldn't kiss her back. She could hold him, and he would stand there like a statue, always gazing past her whether blind or not. For all the fire and roiling emotions she felt, he was a statue of frigid ice as he had been for years. A statue she had been hoping to crack at for many years to no avail. Was this a glimpse into what lay beneath? Was she nothing more than an errant nuisance to him this entire time? Did he simply tolerate her presence because he just so happened to be patient? The spikes of doubts that were always within her would bubble and course through her like vitriolic acid.

Lyra would feel her emotions sprout up on their own, a natural reaction to her but one that was unknowingly being forced upon her. It had been a memory of what had already happened but she would be shown another way by an outside hand. Almost involuntarily but not at the same time as they had always been there, lurking and biding their time. An invisible hand reached in and gripped onto the turbulent emotions that had been within Lyra for years; confusion, rage, sadness, all of them pulled into the spotlight. It would just spill throughout her, becoming one of the rare times where her emotions actually took over. Instead of being pushed down and suffocated as they had been years ago, to be compartmentalized and dealt with later, the Eternal simply brought the key and twisted the lock-free.

Memories of their training, adventures, and even sins she had atoned for because of him, flashed before her eyes. Each one replayed in order and highlighting what her master hadn't done, what she had wished for instead of what he had actually taught her over the years. The girl's own voice came to her head, it completely her own and a link to her subconscious, After everything we've been through and he's still like this to me.

It was what she had been feeling but put into words so that Lyra could be aware herself. While it would be herself, it was a guide created by the Eternal, leading her where he wanted her to go. By the time she peered down at the box of cupcakes she brought, the only thing she would be greeted with was disgust. A pathetic attempt by her to force a connection with something that didn't care to be connected to anything. It was dead weight in her hands, just like she would feel herself when it came to Emryc.

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Asminys

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Stepping into the field of 'light', Asminys form was filled with agony. His flesh burned and peeled, yet remained. His blood bubbled and boiled, even as it continued to flow through his veins. Organs ruptured as they remained whole. His heart spasmed and stopped while continuing to beat. Every step was agony, and so was he.

Teeth grit and ground, Asminys willed himself forwards as he held back screams of agony, one mechanical step at a time. Even his legs burned in agony, the legs that were no longer a part of his body.

The fire of the light burned through him was unlike anything he had felt before, penetrating his very mind as an anathema to the darkness that he wallowed in. No pain the Cadre masters had inflicted on him had prepared him for this, and only through sheer determination, and a little help, did he persevere.

The Cadre had not prepared him for the pain, but what came next it had left him even more ill-prepared for.

About halfway to the object, the pain began to subside. He exhaled in relief, not realizing he had been holding his breath, and with that breath the rage that burned within him was expelled. The fire in his soul was snuffed out and the anger in his heart seemed to disappear. His step faltered as serenity washed over him. He could see the source of this now, a small scepter in the middle of the room.

He was overjoyed to see it, a strange warmth washing over him as his lips turned up in a... smile. He could not remember a time he had felt this way in his whole life, with only the faintest memory of happiness was dredged up from within him. The sound of animals braying echoed far away in his mind. The scent of grain and animal droppings lingered in his nostril, an echo of a memory from long ago. A voice, singing lovingly in a language he no longer remembered stirred his heart.

He stopped, just before the scepter and looked around. The darkness of the cave was joyous and he wished to share that joy with others. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the pair of Sith outside the field of light, and they would see his honey brown eyes looking back at them. They looked so angry, so twisted. Mad. If only they could feel the peace he now felt. Perhaps he could show it to them.

Calloused hands reached for the scepter, removing it from its resting place as he examined it. It was a beautiful work of art. His fingers traced its lines gently before finding the switch at the tip. Wondering what the purpose of the switch was, he hummed to himself before twisting it.

Click.

The light snapped off without warning. The peace he had felt. The joy... gone. Ripped from his heart, expelled as the foreign entity that it was. Asminys nearly fell to his knees as he clutched at his chest. The agony of a lifetime of torment roared back into his heart and mind, once more searing his soul, purging all the goodness and joy that had made his heart sing only moments before.

His lip turned up and a snarl escaped his throat. He drew his arm back to smash the scepter against the ground in a fit of rage, only to stop himself in the last moment. No. This was important. Straightening himself up, Asminys turned and walked back to the pair of Sith, scepter in hand.

The honey brown of his eyes was no longer there. Once again they burned with the darkness, roiling rage bubbled like lava under the volcanic surface, mere moments away from eruption. His palm itched as he eyed the pair of Sith that awaited him, the hilt of his saber calling and his eyes flashed with violence as he imagined the multitude of ways he could cut them down. About half of them involved bludgeoning them to death with the accursed scepter.

"We go back." He growled as he passed the pair of Sith, making his way through the cavern and back up to the others. Entering the first branching cavern, scepter in hand, he eyed the gathered Sith. His mind placed everyone except one, and he looked around for a moment before speaking. "Where is Tiamat?"

@Phoenix @Tulos @Versok @Altaris @Mr. Teatime
 
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