Ask Unwelcome Tidings

[K’Jun]

Jun nodded at her reply. “I had that same problem here on Jedha before I left to join the Crusades.” He told her. “Felt like I was the only one trying to help people anymore.” He told her. “It was all I thought about, the next problem I had to solve.” He sighed. “That’ll eat you alive and leave you hollow if you’re not careful.”

When she said it was for the best, Jun’s ears flicked and he glanced at her. The expression he wore asked are you sure about that? But he didn’t push it. Vanya had been doing this for a long time from what he could tell.

“Music?” He asked with a quirked brow. “What kind?” He continued. “I’m in a similar boat, never left Jedha until…well you know. There’s a lot I haven’t seen and I want to see it while helpin’ people the best I can.” He told her.

When she asked him what he did to relax, then insinuated Z’an, Jun scowled. “I wood carve.” He replied. “It feels good to make somethin’ with my hands every once in a while.” He said as he glanced down at his opened palms. “Z’an and I, never did anythin’ like that. As much as she leads on, she was probably more interested in you than she is me.” He told her with a smirk.

Then Jun tugged the amulet back out and showed it to her. It was a stained wooden amulet carved into the symbol of the Army of Light. Pressed into the middle was a Blue Kyber crystal, his Kyber crystal. He didn’t use a lightsaber, so he never built one but kept the crystal on him. The Matukai in him wouldn’t let it be unused somehow.

“I made this.” He told her.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

I play the Dathomirian pipe and I play a bit of the lute, she said. But I like to hear the music of other cultures. I feel like it tells me something about them, she said.

Ah, I see, she said as he mentioned the information about Z'anni. She sensed that there might have been something unhealed there, and she didn't pry about it, making a note that perhaps she should avoid the topic and implications in the future.

This is amazing! she exclaimed as she took a closer look at it. Between the wood carving itself and the setting around the kyber, it was beautiful and stunning to look at, and it sang in the Essence to her, its own beautiful melody.

That's extremely cool! she said.

Their conversation began to wind down as they arrived at the church itself. Massive and imposing, it was carved out of nearly pure stone, towering on a hill above everything else. Vanya had always had a passing interest in beautiful architecture, and she took just a moment to look up at it and marvel at the design and the grandeur.

She shook her head to shake herself out of it, and turned back to Jun.

Alright, I'll take the rope. Will you be able to make the climb after me? she asked. She assumed that he could based on him being Matukai, but it was a very long climb up and they didn't need him falling halfway up.

With that, she would take the rope and teleport up in a flash of green at both ends, dropping the rope down into the darkness for him to begin the climb upward.

@Apollyon

 

[K’Jun]

"Hmm..." Jun mused for a moment. "Never heard a Dathomirian pipe before, you'll have to show em to me sometime." He told her. "I'll pay for your dinner and drinks in return." He continued, expanding the simple drinks he'd asked her to earlier.

Jun knew the amulet was decent at least, but Vanya's reaction to seeing it caught him a little off-guard. He was no master craftsman, a journeyman at best. But her response to seeing it, made his ears perk and his twin tails sway gently in opposite directions. He smiled at the compliments as Vanya gazed at his work.

"Thanks...it took a few tries to get it how I wanted but I'm happy with it."

While Vanya admired the view, Jun just gawked up at the height. He whistled as they both drank in the sight before them, for very different reasons. Jun barely caught Vanya shaking her head out the corner of his eye, he glanced over as her attention shifted to him. He listened to her plan and then his gaze shifted back to the tower.

"I mean if I can't, it won't be my problem for too long." He chuckled.

Vanya disappeared in a flash of green and reappeared at the top of the tower. Jun assumed she secured the rope and then tossed it down to him. Jun shrugged, took a deep breath, and then drew upon the Force. He channeled it through his body and into the muscles of his arms specifically. Something he was capable of doing thanks to the finely tuned training of the Matukai. He planted his foot on the tower and started his ascent. It would take him about fifteen minutes to make it up the tower but Jun would make the climb up. He definitely worked up a little sweat but he'd be fine after a few minutes.

"Alright, fess up on how to teleport..." He huffed with a smirk as he rested with his hands on his knees. "...that was a work out for sure." He continued before standing up straight with a short groan. "Alright, I'm good. Lets get to the cellar to check out that wine." Jun told her nodding for them to go down the stairs.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Sorry, it's not something I can just teach, she said, cocking her head to the side to say "sorry." She was glad he had made it to the top, although she had been confident he would manage. If he couldn't, she wouldn't have suggested it.

The first part was done, and Vanya couldn't help but wonder if that was the easiest or the hardest part of this whole thing.

She nodded to his suggestion and started creeping her way down. The bell tower to the cellar was about as far as you could possibly need to go, but at this time of day there wasn't really anyone milling around, it seemed. Vanya said a silent prayer of thanks for the fact and continued deeper into the building.

Even though it had been rebuilt, it felt old. It felt like it had been here for generations and the insides were ornate. Yet below that, she could feel a vague sense of... something wrong. The discordant music of the Essence here was unbalanced with a vague, sinister undertone that was both unmistakable and unplaceable. Her own unease grew the further down they went.

Do you sense that? We're definitely in the right place... or the wrong place depending on how you look at it, she said. She knew the Matukai focused more on the physical aspects of the Essence, but surely he would be able to feel it as well.

 

[K’Jun]

Jun was surprisingly stealthy for a Fiani of his size and bulk. He took the lead when they crept down, figuring his massive frame and reach with his gauntlets would enable a better defensive position for Vanya to tele-jump anyone they stumbled into. He was a tiny bit disappointed that she couldn't teach him her teleportation trick, he could almost imagine being able to instantly get onto someone and then giving them a pummeling they wouldn't forget.

As they made their way down to the cellar, Jun was sure to guide them away from prayer rooms, confessional areas, and the massive ceremonial room where sermons were regularly given. Instead, he took them through side passages and looped through large empty or abandoned quarters. Eventually, they would arrive at the cellar and Jun would pull his flashlight from his utility belt, click it on, and then clamp it between his teeth while he searched the room.

When Vanya asked him if he sensed that, Jun paused and focused in with the Force. He felt the chill of something wrong here. There was the stain of ambition, pride, and a thirst for...something. Jun's ears twitched as the turned from side to side, listening for anything in the room. It was the silence that put him on edge. Not even rats squeaked or scampered.

"Vanya...you know how animals get quiet when there is a predator around?" He asked. "And how you kinda just know when somethin's watchin' you?" Jun continued. "I got both vibes in here..." He whispered.

A sudden sloshing from an open wooden barrel caught Jun's attention, he cautiously approached it and peered within. What was within it was a thick, gelatinous substance that reeked with the scent of old blood. But that wasn't what caused Jun to look away in disgust. It was what writhed within the blood jelly. Strange eel like creatures that were covered in dozens of unblinking eyes. None of which were from a single species, but countless of them.

"What is this?" Jun asked looking to Vanya.

Jun's ears picked up on something faint moments later. Several footfalls accompanied by something large, wet slaps against stone floor heralded something's approach, something in the cellar with them. Something shrouded in shadow. The presence of the Dark Side swelled in that moment.

"It was a fuckin' trap..." Jun hissed, his ears pinning back. "How?"

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya nodded at his assertion. She thought back to when she was first learning to hunt on Dathomir and had run afoul of one of Dathomir's reptilian pack hunters. She remembered the feeling of being stalked without being able to see them. It was the same sense she had now.

Vanya glanced into the barrel and it was... heinous. She didn't know what these things were, but the reeked of dark rituals and reminded her of whatever she had seen in the droid's memory cores.

We need to hide, she said, grabbing her lightsaber hilt off of her belt. They were on enemy territory, though, and that was a problem. She wasn't sure there was anywhere to hide.

How later, move or die now, she said, her entire tone changing. There was a serious tone to it now, all levity melting away in the face of the extreme danger they now found themselves in.

@Apollyon

 

[K’Jun]

Vanya snatched the hilt of her lightsaber from her belt. Jun's ears went back, she was right. They needed to get out or find enough cover to pick these guys off. Jun's eyes danced around the room as he looked for an out. The sound of voices growing closer told him that they wouldn't have much time left and the sound of something big moving around there with them told him staying wasn't an option either.

"We'll catch em in the stairs." Jun told Vanya. "Quarters are tight, it'll be harder for em to deal with us." He explained. "Come on." Jun wasn't really sure how many cultists were waiting for them but it was better than fighting whatever was down here and them at the same time.

Connor would wait until he heard the footsteps hit about the midway point of the rounded staircase before rushing forward, his Matukai Gauntlets came to life and let him deflect a few blaster shots before Force empowered blows began to crash into unarmored flesh. Bones broke, flesh was pulped, and Jun showed no hesitation or mercy in each of his thunderous blows.

"Don't let em get out V, get to the top of the staircase." He called to her.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya was bad at a lot of things as a Jedi. Diplomacy, patience, even sometimes investigations, but one thing she was good at was fighting. It was one of her best skills, actually, and one that came in handy when she handled almost everything... the way she handled it.

Jun rushed forward as the cultists came down, the sounds of death, squelching skin, and cracking bone were unpleasant, but hey, at least it meant that they were dealing with the cultists. And... hopefully they really were cultists, right? There was a flash in her mind of a news article about the two Jedi that slaughtered a bunch of helpless priests.

No, but that wouldn't explain whatever monster was down below.

He told her to get to the top of the stairs, but that wasn't really an option. A moment's evaluation told her there was no way to squeeze past them, and in this case, she couldn't teleport there.

Kriff, she spat, her lightsaber bursting to life as she was forced into something of a back to back. It left her to deal with... whatever was down in the chapel. She leapt down to the bottom, saber bursting to life in her hand as she reached the bottom and saw.

WHAT THE?! Vanya practically squealed as she saw... whatever it was that was down there. She couldn't quite tell if the thing was made of leeches or if it was being possessed by leeches or something else, and she wasn't going to find out.

Her left hand rose as she immediately decided she didn't want to get into saber range of that thing. That horrendous, squirming, disgusting thing. Instead, green fire leapt out of her hand, burning away at the creature altogether.

 

[K’Jun]

Well, Vanya wasn't able to get around the cultist. That just meant Jun had to keep doing what he was doing. Which was really unfortunate for the cultists left in his wake. Broken arms or legs didn't kill but the Force enhanced chest or throat stomps often did. That was when Jun heard Vanya squeal, he didn't glance back but kept up his forward push.

"What is it?" He called back as he felt the windpipe of a cultist crunch beneath his fist.

"Kriff this!" One cultist near the rear called out. "We bought enough time for the Final Mass to start." They continued. "Time to bail boys."

As the cultist retreated, Jun turned around to face Vanya. He saw the burning mass of fucking leeches?! "WHAT EVEN IS THAT??" He shouted as Vanya made the correct decision and burned it with fire.

When she turned around, he's see the blood sprayed form of Jun, who wiped at his face to get the slick off of it. "We gotta get up the stairs, something called a Final Mass is startin' and I don't like the sound of it." Jun told her.

He'd motion for her to follow him as the sounds of an organ playing led them towards the main congregation room. But before they could get there, they'd have to pass through an antechamber. Jun paused before opening the door, there was something familiar in there. He could sense. A familiar presence but different somehow. His brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what it was.

Kriff, they didn't have time for this.

Connor pushed the door open and what he saw gave him pause. The feminine form stood in the center of the room. The cultist's that had retreated laid dead before her, husks drained of fluid. The eyes on that misshapen arm peeled open, that all looked at Jun and Vanya. A heavily distorted voice uttered something that almost broke Jun in that moment.

"Juniper? It hurts Juniper."

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya had no idea what the thing was and she wasn't going to ask questions. Should she have? Would that be the Jedi thing to do? Probably, but no, that wasn't happening.

I have no idea! she screamed back as the creature reared away slightly and didn't even turn to look back at Jun. She was afraid to turn her back on this thing for even a moment.

As the fire burned at the leeches, Vanya let the fire fade and instead conjured up another beam of pure radiant energy, unleashing it like a bolt on the creature and singing away what remained of its flesh and darkness, "hammering it" into the ground so to speak until it was fully neutralized. Was it overkill? Probably, but Vanya wasn't here to take any chances, and just eww.

Vanya followed Jun through the antechamber and into the next room where the horror that awaited them was... difficult to swallow. Vanya could immediately feel the emotions flowing off of Jun, and Vanya... couldn't even imagine what he was feeling. Sure, she was saddened upset and sad, but she hadn't known Z'anni for her entire life. From childhood as a friend.

She looked at the woman in front of them, coated in horrors and she froze. She wanted to comfort Jun or drive back the monster or help Z'anni, but she just... didn't know how. She didn't know what to do, and that piece of her that was committed to fighting evil told her it was her duty to wipe this out. That it shouldn't be any different than any other monstrosity. But screw duty. Vanya was tired. Tired of having to always do what was expected. Tired of being uncompromising in her path. She didn't want this woman - this victim - to die. She wanted to help her.

Jun, focus. We need to figure out how to help her, she said, grabbing his arm in an attempt to anchor him. Whatever she was feeling, it was 100x worse for him.

 

[K’Jun]

THEME​

Jun wanted to vomit as tendrils tipped with proboscises retracted from the corpses of the cultists. He felt Vanya’s hand on his arm, he felt the comfort she tried to give him. But he was too focused on that arm that was engorged with those…things, it quivered and swelled. Z’anni screamed, her voice splitting momentarily into countless others before reunifying. Her pupils wavered, the things that were under her skin tried to assume control but she fought them for now.

“Juniper? Jun you gotta run.” She told them, her voice deepening as her size continued to swell and grow. “You said you’d look out for him!” She shouted at Vanya. “You said you’d keep him from gettin’ in over his head!” Her voice an unnatural base tone now. She groaned and her eyes rolled up in her head. “You…y-you…” Her voice was wavering, stuttering, struggling. “…lied.”

The final word was accented by an eruption of needle tipped tendrils. They slammed into the stone walls all around her and where there was no one, cracked them and hoisted the swollen, mutated, and corrupted form of Z’anni into the air. Jun threw his hands forward to create a barrier between the attack and the two of them. He gritted his teeth at the weight of the assault.

“We gotta get those things outta her, V!” He replied. “They gotta have a weakness!” He shouted.

He wasn’t sure if they could, but they’d try their best to save Z’an. And if they couldn’t? At least he’d be there at the end.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya was shaken by what she saw. She had seen all manner of horrors in the galaxy before, but those were usually beings who had chosen that life. They had committed themselves to the Dark Side and from that had become corrupted. Yes, they killed and maimed others, but it wasn't the same as watching someone - an innocent person - be corrupted by that same darkness.

Vanya wasn't sure they even could reverse this, and she realized there was a distinct possibility they would die trying. If it came down to it... one of them would have to strike a finishing blow, and she couldn't rely on Jun to do it. She couldn't expect that from him.

He sent up a barrier to protect the two of them from the spikes, and Vanya raised her hand, letting a stream of Force Light erupt from her open palm, driving back and singing the evil that now resided within the other woman.

See if you can't cut it away! she shouted to Jun only to not have it occur to her that he didn't have an actual lightsaber.

The words that Z'anni said would have no doubt stung more were it not for the fact that she was in desperate fight or flight mode, and had no time to linger on them. More regret would come later... for now, it was about not dying.

@Apollyon

 

[K’Jun]

The Z’anspawn screamed as a beam of radiant light burned through the tendrils that it hit. It quivered, some of the tendrils anchored her to the ceiling and walls writhed momentarily in reaction. Jun couldn’t help but think that maybe they had a shot at this.

Then one of the numerous eyes on her arm rolled upwards before vanishing into her a squirming mass. More of those things rushed to take the place of the ones that has been killed. Jun began to realize, this was designed to waste their time, to keep stalling them.

“V, you gotta go!” He shouted, his gauntlets snapping to life. “Z’an is my friend, I’ll deal with her. But listen to that singin’!” He continued as he channeled the Force into his arms and legs. “Those are more victims, more people, and they still need us!” He told her as he got ready. “I’ll get you an openin’ but you gotta get to them!”

Jun launched himself forward, his force enhanced knee slammed into the Zanspawn’s abdomen before a fist collided with its rapidly altering face. The sound of bone breaking and stone being ripped free echoed in the small chamber as Zanspawn and Jun tumbled together from where it had been perched the marble floor below. Even as they collided, the creatures within her worked to mend Z’an’s corrupt flesh and bone.

Jin glanced to Vanya in that moment, the time it would take the creatures to replicate and restore Z’an. “Go! I’ve got this!” He shouted. Jun’s ears were pinned back, his lips curled into a snarl, the energy he’d used to enhance his strength just a moment ago was repurposed. The surface of his gauntlets ignited and he grasped at living tendrils to burn and tear where he could. And then he was blown backwards and up towards the ceiling by a dozen leeches that erupted from Z’anspawn’s abdomen.

Vanya had a choice to make. Stay and help Jun fight and save Z’an at the cost of the citizens caught in the ritual beyond. Or potentially sacrifice Jun to have an opportunity to prevent the ritual from happening. She wouldn’t have much time to choose, even now the Z’anspawn was recovering.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya heard Jun shout and her only thought was that it was insanity. To split up? Neither of them could deal with this on their own. If they tried to solo this they were surely going to be killed... or worse.

And if she went to the next room and fought whatever was in there, could she even do it alone?

Vanya didn't have the answers to any of these questions and no time to ponder them. Her mind raced through the scenario, boiling it down to the bare necessities. The Clans had taught her how to function when life was on the line. Her mind wanted to race, but she took a moment to halt her thoughts.

ABC, she thought to herself, going back to the hunting algorithm she had been taught as a child for surviving in the wild. Ambush, Baffle, and Clan. At this point, their ambush had failed, they couldn't reposition and baffle their target, but when all else failed, you fell back on your Clan. You never left your Sisters. While it may be the case that Jun wasn't actually a Sister, he was her partner, and that was the closest thing she had out here.

No, we do this together or not at all, she said resolutely. If the decision came to haunt her someday, then so be it, but she fell back on what she knew and what she knew to be for the best.

Already the tentacle things were starting to pull at Z'anni again, and Vanya raised a hand once again, letting the potent, green light burn away at them to keep the flesh from growing back.

Whatever you're going to do, do it now, she hissed. She assumed he had a plan, and in the back of her mind also knew that that assumption was probably... a bold assumption.

You have to get her all the way away from the tentacles while I hold them back, she said.

 

[K’Jun]

Jun's ears rang as his back slammed into the ceiling and he came crashing onto the marble floor. His back and abdomen ached as he tried to re-orient himself. He steadily heard Vanya's response, it took him a moment to realize she wasn't leaving him. Why? It was a question that he could ask later, right now he needed to try and focus.

He groaned as he stood to his feet. He could feel a dozen biting maws trying to bury themselves into his flesh. But they weren't important right now, only dealing with Z'anni was, only trying to help her was. When the green light began to burn away at the tendrils, Jun darted forward. His hands reignited as he jabbed his gauntlet into the massive eyeball on Z'anni's shoulder and then he tore.

A hideous unearthly scream ripped from both the arm and Z'anni. It divided and slip a thousand times as the hive of tendrils, writhed. While Vanya burned, Jun ripped and tore until he felt Z'anni's arm on his palm. Then he began to try to pry her away from them. The fire encasing his hand burned the corrupt flesh and dark side infested tendrils until he was able to separate the hive of abominations from Z'an.

He shoved her prone form across the marble floor and away from whatever those things were. Jun wanted to burn whatever those things were. He wanted to exact his revenge on whatever had forced him into this situation. But now wasn't the time, Vanya would burn them into ash, she didn't need his help. Z'anni did.

Jun would scramable to her side. The shattered cheek where his fist had collided with her was evident. Her body was battered, beat up, and drained. Jun wanted to vomit when he saw her condition. Instead, he just knelt her side, and placed her head in his lap.

"Juniper?" She asked weakly. "I-is that you?" Her hoarse voice asked.

"Y-yeah Z'an, I'm right here, I promise." Jun reassured her, his fingers running through her hair.

"L-looks like you're a hero now huh?" She muttered, her voice growing more faint. "The others need ya help Juniper. Ya gotta be their hero too...not just mine." Z’an whispered, a pained smile touching her face.

"I know. I know." He whispered. "But I need you to stay with us okay?" He told her. "Promise me, you'll stay with me yeah?" He pushed.

Z'an wouldn't answer Jun, instead she'd turn her gaze to Vanya. "Keep this idiot out of trouble for me, will y-" Z'anni's words ended just shy of finishing her question. While she was alive, she was unconscious and her life was rapidly fading.

Jun's eyes went wide, he cradled her limp torso in his arms. They didn't save her? Why couldn't they save her? They did everything right but Z'an was still dying. Why?

"Z'an?" He asked, his mind not comprehending that she was leaving. "V is she?" Jun asked, his eyes breaking from Z'an and to Vanya. "Is she?"

He knew the others needed him but in that moment all he could do was reel, especially without an anchor to bring him back to reality.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya poured her energy into the Essence, the Light mixing with her own wild magick and producing a strange mixture of burning light and green flame that was entirely unique and seemed to cling to the monstrosities here, burning them like fire on gasoline.

The... things screeched and squealed as she drove them back, no longer having to hold back from unleashing the entirety of her power on them in order to spare their victim.

Vanya finally lest cease the flow of energy, and the room was filled with a rotting, putrid scent that was amplified by the heat that now filled the room. It nearly made Vanya gag, and it took everything in her power to keep herself just breathing like a normal person.

Ope, and there was a gag.

Jun, we need to move, she managed to choke out as they were having a moment. Was it insensitive? Absolutely, but Vanya wasn't always known for her gentle demeanor. There were more people in the next room and... well, time didn't feel like it was on their side.

Vanya turned back just in time to see Z'anni seem to fade, and her heart lurched in her chest as Jun - nearly on the verge of a total meltdown - asked if she was dead.

Vanya practically lunged forward to check the woman's pulse, pressing her fingers against her neck and at first not feeling anything. She thought she was going to have to break that terrible news when she suddenly felt a flicker. Something faint just below the surface.

She is alive, but will need medical attention. The sooner we deal with the next room, the sooner she gets it, she said, looking up to Jun and locking eyes with him, trying to get him focused back on task. It wasn't that Vanya didn't care, but the side of her that thrived in chaos was the part that was now driving her mind, and that part of her had a disturbingly small amount of empathy. Sequential, methodical, and problem-oriented. One problem couldn't be solved until the other was.

We clear the next room, bust faces, and call the doctors, yeah? Let's get it done, she said, lightsaber bursting back into life in her hand. There was something that made her feel... alive about this. Fatigue pulled at her mind and her muscles, but she was absolutely amped. Maybe Jedi weren't supposed to revel in combat and warfare, but there was no question that this was where Vanya thrived.

She slammed a fist into the controls for the next door and it slid open to reveal horrors and monstrosities. The inside of the room was like the one they had just come from except far more people were consumed by the tentacley-eyes. Granted, the amalgamation seemed larger but more of it seemed to be made up of people so the density was lower.

Even now, though, Vanya could see that several of the people had become infested beyond repair. Three of the seven prisoners in the room - she knew just by looking at them - were beyond rescue, and she knew that perhaps later, those deaths would haunt her in the small hours of the night.

Death is a natural part of life, she told herself. Now, however, was not the time for mourning. Now was the time for righteous judgment.

 

[K’Jun]

Vanya’s words weren’t gentle. They weren’t calming. They were focused and determined. They were a reminder of duty and purpose beyond just personal feelings. Yes, the two of them were Jedi but they were also more, something else as well. Their beliefs guided them into a world of warfare that was both spiritual and philosophical in nature.

Jun’s eyes pulled from Vanya’s moments before she turned and activated her lightsaber. He gently put Z’an’s head onto the marble floor and rose to his feet. There was a streak of pain that raced up his chest, he glanced down to see leeches swollen and crimson. He brushed them off, feeling that fatigue coursing through him. He couldn’t give up though, Vanya was right, they had to fight.

When the doors parted there was an unnatural gloom. Jun and Vanya could pick out shapes of people that only became clear when they grew closer. Their discordant voices singing until their vocal cords cracked and popped. Tendrils and leeches writhed on the floor and up the legs of glassy eyed men, women, and children. All in a trance and unresponsive. Some of which were entirely overwhelmed and consumed by the tendrils.

Grey flames flickered to life on candelabras, altar candles, and wall mounted torches. It dully illuminated the rest of the room, unveiling the congregation and horrors within. Fleshy growths had overwhelmed the walls, multicolored eyes sprouted from it and peeled themselves open. Those overwhelmed by tendrils were scooped up and pulled into the pupils of these unnatural eyes. Those taken went from singing in broken voices to screaming in wails of agony as they were sacrificed and consumed.

This place of worship had become a charnel house. A place of sacrifice and slaughter to an unknown purpose. If the eyes of the two jedi would pull from the horrors before them and towards the altar, they’d see the architect of this display. Standing a full story above the slaughter below, on a platform made entirely of hardened tendrils, its edge ringed in crimson Kyber, stood a being in white robes. A familiar face fluttered down from that perch, the flayed face of the aged priest. A disguise worn, a skin slipped into and now callously tossed aside. In his place stood a being with a massive red eye in that took up the entirety of their face. It reflected stars and countless other wonders of the night sky but as twisted parodies of their beauty. The creature’s attentions turned to the Jedi, its single eye splitting vertically to reveal countless rows of needle teeth. It spoke into their very minds.

Jedai. The word came as a hateful hiss spoken by an ancient and forgotten enemy. Bear witness to true power. It croaked as a taunt. Before its physical voice joined the dirge as a deafening screech. The sound transcended the physical plane and began to tear asunder reality around them. It ruptured and split the ceiling into a crag and revealed an inky blackness that shouldn’t exist. Debris was sucked up and into the darkness beyond as three distant faintly shining specks came into view.

Those overwhelmed and not yet consumed stopped their singing and their attentions turned to the servants of the light. Hollow screeches ripped from once human voices spilled towards them. Those shambling masses started towards the pair determined to bring doom to them.

Jun’s eyes fell to them before returning to the platform above. He watched as it steadily calcified and expanded. His eyes turned to Vanya, she was the only one that could get up there, he knew that. He smirked and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You gotta go V.” He told her. “I’ll deal with them, you deal with that.” He continued, jutting his chin towards the platform. “May the Force be with you.”

His eyes broke from her at those words. They both had a role to play. They both had duties to fulfill. Balance had to be restored at any cost. And so Jun took a step back as the horde moved in, his yellow eyes hunting for weak spots to destroy and stop this ritual.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya was getting to the point where she probably should have been used to the horrifying. She had encountered the technoabominations under the control of Instance XII in that space station at the edge of the galaxy, she had encountered the Goat-man and his demon-summoning cult, fought Raze's abominations, and she had even had a small hand in driving away the Sith spirit controlling the Killik Queen. Yet somehow, there were always new horrors and new depravities that she was confronted by.

It made her feel sick.

She barely even heard the voice of the creature in her mind. Of course she heard it, but it was nothing to her. It was a bump in the road as her mind calculated the steps to bring down this monstrosity. She could feel anger building within herself at seeing what had been done here.

Fine. You watch your back, she said, and with that she was gone. A flash of green and she had vanished into the Essence only to reappear a moment later high above, slashing almost immediately at the monstrosity above.

She let herself bind with her weapon, the kyber and saber blade becoming an extension of herself as green fire and a glow of green seemed to engulf her blade, the saber striking into flesh and now amplified by the power of magick itself.

@Apollyon

 

[K’Jun]

When Vanya reached apex of the platform, she’d find that the single eye that made of this thing’s “face”, was on the back of it’s head. Its fiery red pupil gazed at her, stars danced in its iris. When Vanya swung her blade, she’d find that it passed through empty robes. This thing had sank into the gooey ground of the platform. If Vanya looked down, she’d see the cyclopian outline as it swam through a massive eye that matched it’s own.

The entire “floor” of this platform was one singular eye that gazed upwards at the rift in the ceiling. The creature re-emerged from the eye and faced her. Devoid of the now split and burning robe, Vanya would see how featureless this thing truly was. Devoid of any sex characteristics or identifiable features, this creature was completely alien, what’s more it felt wrong.

The vertical split on the eye occurred once more, the deafening screech issued from the opened maw. However, this time a trio of whip-like tendrils emerged from its mouth. One of the things was pointed for thrusting, but the other two tongues were edged with slicing blades. The thick scales along the length of each signified that they might be resistant to lightsaber strikes.

The thrusting tongue lanced forward, extending well beyond normal means in attempt to run Vanya through at her naval. The leftmost slashing tendril lashed in a strike that would carve across her upper chest, splitting her shoulder to shoulder. The final slashing tool, was held in reserve to ensure there was a final line of defense.

While the creature dueled with Vanya, it continued to screech. It’s horrible wail was not effected by the tongues that it dueled with. The pitch of its cry steadily began to pick up as the three specks in the rift above drew closer. It would be clear to see now that the three objects were distant planets or moons but there was something odd about them.

————

Down below, Jun was having a bad time of it. He didn’t want to kill these people, he likely knew some of them. But his options were running low because the horde would eventually corner him and likely rip him apart. However, instead of fighting them, he struck at the nearest eye in the wall.

His fist glowed brightly for a second before it ignited and he punched into the eye. There was a moment of nothing, then the eye began to roil, steam poured from where his punch had landed. Then the screams from that eye intensified. It writhed and screamed in a myriad of voices before it shriveled up and died. Beyond that, half a dozen worms sloughed out of their hosts, dead.

Jun grinned, he might have just found a way.

@Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya was all kinds of not sure what she was up against, and the more she looked at the creature, the more confused she became. So in typical fashion of Vanya, she focused on the next very real problem she could face.

In this case, that was the tendril-tongue things that seemed to want to skewer her. One to impale and one to whip across, but Vanya was quick and had spent years training to fight. She had faced down the Sith Empress and survived the other side, and she wouldn't be so easily felled.

She stepped to the side, slashing out at the impaling tongue and sweeping upward, a single lightsaber sweep designed to block both attacks at once while Vanya darted forward, closing in again and realizing that her saber was going to be useless in a fight, which meant it would come down to the Essence and the power of the Winged Spirit.

Her free hand rose, a combination of green flame and Light pouring out to - once again - burn away at her enemy. She could feel fatigue pulling at her, and she knew this was going to be a last ditch attack. She had worked herself hard today, and soon she would be exposed, but she would win because she had to win.

@Apollyon