Ask Eriadu Where There is Anger, There is Pain

[Malou D'Amaris]

Tentatively, Malou had chosen to reach out to Asminys. The last time she had seen the Sith lord was at a party on Serenno, and he didn't stick around for long after a brief interaction with Raze. He was someone she didn't know well, but he had once been a fearsome force in the part of the galaxy she was currently working in. Perhaps he still was, but he'd been quiet for a while now.

Whether it was the name of her master, the knowledge that she was trying to expand the areas he'd claimed for the Sith, curiosity, or boredom, the lord had agreed to meet with her on Eriadu. The Miralukan waited quietly at the spot they'd chosen. It was someplace secluded; there was more than enough room to move around. Truth be told, she was a bit nervous. Malou didn't know Asminys at all, so she couldn't even start to predict how this would go. He was supposedly skilled in combat though, so hopefully, today would be worth it. There was another reason in which she'd come here, but that would be kept to herself for the moment.

She'd brought with her both of her sabers, but not much else other than the clothes on her back and the ignition key to her ship off in the distance.

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys waited among the rafters of the large half finished production facility he had chosen for the meeting with the Sith Crusader that had reached out to him. His presence stifled, his form shrouded by darkness and his image in the force shaded from the Miralukan's view. He had never met the girl or her master, but it was the first time another Sith had reached out to him in quite some time. He kept his struggles on Eiattu silent to the rest of the Empire, stifled the cries for freedom that yearned to breech the system, slaughtered all who would oppose his rule. And yet, cry out the people did.

Perhaps he should have understood it, having once wore chains himself. Perhaps he should have foreseen his inability to rule a once free people, his rage and insatiable need for violence unworthy qualities in a ruler. But all he had seen were a people too weak to rule themselves, to undisciplined to survive in the galaxy that was coming. His lack of foresight had consequences, and even today he found himself hunted on another planet by assassins sent by the Cursed Hand. Anti-Sith extremists.

It was convenience and curiosity that prompted the Sith Lord to accept Malou's request, chosen this meeting place, and now watched from above as the Black Hand kill squad moved in on Malou. Killing two birds with one stone, though Asminys would have preferred to use his hands, the crunching of bones and struggled gasps of the mindless creatures would perhaps bring a brief entertainment to the barely-a-man's bloodlust. Instead of enjoying the slaughter of these men under his own blade however, they would serve as a test for the young Sith Crusader in Asminys eyes. An easy test perhaps, but it would tell him something about the young woman.

He could sense the confusion in the six Sullustan team, as they found themselves approaching not the dreaded Darth Asminys, but a Sith woman. Still a Sith, but they dreamed to hope that perhaps they hadn't been sent to die. Rushing from the shadows to take cover behind durasteel beams that supported the metal girders that supported the roof, they opened fire. A barrage of six scarlet blaster bolts fired not quite in sequence, the first second and third flying towards her chest, fourth and fifth at her right and left thigh, with the sixth angling towards her right shoulder.

@lizzie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

A production facility, especially a place littered with exposed support beams and half-constructed scaffolding, was not the place Malou would have chosen to meet. While she waited, it at least served to help her pass the time as she waited for Asminys to arrive. Her Sight expanded out from her and wandered the layers and walkways of the building, taking in the place as a whole and defining its details. Those same eyes would pass by the Sith Lord waiting above her, though they would not notice him. Not for now.

Instead of finding the Sith Lord, Malou found the six Sullustans. She saw them making their way towards her with cautious movements. Their body language, their weapons, and the silent hand signals they sent to each other betrayed their intention. All they saw was a blindfolded woman standing with her hands folded behind her back, but she saw so much more. Beneath her blindfold, Malou's brows furrowed.

When they rushed before to take cover behind the support beams, Malou was ready. The red a of laser fire was soon met by the red and yellow of her saber, though it was only one which spun to deflect the bolts. In an almost figure-eight maneuver of her wrist, she caught the shots aimed at her chest, then the shots aimed for her thighs, and ended with the one barreling towards her shoulder. Most of them scattered off in aimless directions, though the sixth shot came late enough for her to send it spiraling back to its owner.

You need to understand not only your striking distance but that of your opponents. The words of her master echoed through her head as the shot barreled back into the one Sullustan's chest. He dropped dead to the floor as she darted forward to close the distance between her and the five remaining men. Two fingers jerked away from her blade to send a blast of the Force towards the three grouped together, causing them to stumble and struggle to reign their footing. One of them toppled over. While those three struggled to get their footing back, Malou descended on the two to the left and swung her sabers forward. One caught the blaster bolts they sent her way and the other made quick work of severing heads from necks.

Who the fucks are these guys? Did Asminys send them to kill her? Were they looking for him instead? She wasn't sure, but she could figure that out later.

Their bodies dropped as she pulled the Force into her body. It moved her with inhuman speed as she darted to the side to dodge two blaster bolts from the two who hadn't fallen, then forward to cut through their weapons and bodies with four symmetrical strikes. The final Sullustan had just about gotten to his feet, but a quick swipe of her hand sent his blaster skidding across the floor and out of his reach. He went to reach for his vibroblade, but instead found himself pinned to the ground with a boot pushing down on his neck.

"Who sent you?"

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys watched with contempt as the Crusader deflected the bolts and proceeded to slay the cursed hand operatives. Not a contempt for her skills and abilities, though he was critical of those too. No, just the contempt of a man that hated everything and everyone. He almost hoped she would slip, just so he could watch her fall. Then it would lay to him to kill the cursed hand men. His hand flexed in anticipation as it yearned for the comfortable grip of a saber.

No, she did not fall.

Instead she killed five out of the six sullustans, and pinned the last to the ground with her boot. He watched as each man died, and the last whimpered and flexed his jaw under her boot. Admirable, perhaps. But there was no fun in that.

Dropping from his perch silently, Asminys would land like a ghost on legs of twisted black metal, appearing almost as those of a man if not for the construction of twisting and overlapping metal, narrow slits visible that peered through to the inner workings of the legs. Courtesy of the Empress. He had made a few tweaks here and there as he trained with them and learned to feel them through the force almost as well as his own body, though there was still a sliver of yearning for the ones of flesh and blood that had been taken from him.

He shook himself free of the concealment that covered his aura of darkness as he rose and reached out with hand and force towards the Sullustan. The sense of malice and burning hate that consumed the man slipped free from its shackles as he revealed himself, a sickening dread that left an imprint of hunger and slaughter. His presence like the cracking of bones and rending of flesh. His hand jerked and a crack sounded in the alien's mouth, and then a groan of pain and despair as a small object slipped through the creatures mouth. A tooth, slick with blood that turned to reveal a beeping capsule, a tiny technological device filled with a fast acting poison that the Sullustan had been about to swallow.

"He wont talk." Asminys spoke in a rough and barely used voice. He could have told her who the man was, that they were here to kill him. Not that there had ever been any hope in the mission. The Sullustan's eyes widened and he began to struggle as Darth Asminys strode towards the two of them, his eyes trained on the Sullustan with a malevolent glare. Those eyes imagined death when they looked at the alien, and it was visible on the surface how it played out in the Sith's mind. Over and over again. Terror and hopelessness reflected back in the Sullustan's eyes

"You'll have to take it from him." Asminys spoke again as he came to a stop a few meters away from the pair, standing to the side of the two like a silent observer. A judge. An executioner. He wore little, only a pair of black shorts that seemed to mesh into where they stopped and his artificial legs began. A black sleeveless tunic covered his chest, barbed and vicious Sith tattoos traveling from where the clothing stopped at his shoulders to twist down his arms. A hood covered his head, concealing and obscuring the face beneath from Malou as he stared at the Sullustan. Expectantly.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

The exact moment Asminys shed his concealment, Malou knew exactly where he was. She'd seen him before many years ago, but it had been but a passing glance. For all intents and purposes, this was the first time she had ever been able to see him. He approached her and the Sullustan under her boot, dragging his metal legs along with him. Other than the choked breaths of the Sullustan, the only sound in the building was that of the metallic clanking of his legs and the rough voice that rang out above it. Malou could not see the tattoos that scrawled across his skin, but she could see the wrinkles of hatred etched into his face. She could see the weight of his aura in the air around them. For a moment, she was in awe of it.

A tooth was yanked from the Sullustan's mouth and thrown aside. Asminys, in his hoarse voice, told her to take the information from him. Take it from him? Malou studied the terrified face of the man beneath her boot, only to find his wide black eyes were trained not on her, but on the Sith Lord next to her. Here he lies, beneath my boot and struggling for breath, but it is Asminys he can't take his eyes off of? If he wouldn't talk, then he valued the information he held more than his own life. If he was more scared of the man standing off to her side than the woman crushing his windpipes, maybe he needed to get his priorities checked.

"Look at me." Slowly, the Sullustan's eyes panned over to meet where hers might be. "You have one chance to tell me before I kill you," Malou stated plainly. The pressure on his neck was lifted just enough to allow him to squeak out the words, but nothing followed. Alright then, I can be cruel.

The Force piled onto the man's neck, holding him down by his head as she removed her boot from his neck. The Miralukan took in a deep breath, then extended her fingers down and out towards him. Heat rose from her chest and through her arm until fire spit out from the air of her palm and caught aflame in the man's clothes. The heat of the flame spread quickly across his body, drawing out cries of agony from the pinned man. Only his head was saved, as the weight of the Force held back the hunger of the flames.

She almost winced as he began to cry out, but kept her face neutral as always. "Tell me who sent you, and I will kill you." The promise of death was no longer a threat; it was now mercy. He only lasted about thirty seconds before his unburnt but bruised throat cried out, "The Cursed Hand!" With the information revealed, she reignited a saber and sliced it across the man's face. That is probably the cruelest way I've ever killed someone, Malou thought uneasily as she quelled the flames of their oxygen. Turning to Asminys, she would ask: "Do you know who the Cursed Hand is?"

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys watched as the Crusader first demanded her prisoner's attention. Then she offered the carrot. Life. A useless offer considering what Asminys had just stopped the man from doing. Still, Asminys waited to see what she would do. Rarely was he surprised in this life, but in this, he was. Instead of offering life for the answers she sought, she offered death. Mercy.

A rare tug made his mouth twitch, one side twisting up for a moment as he watched the man burn. The screams were shrill and the air stunk of burned flesh by the time Malou was done. One answer, to one question. She probably could have gotten a little more out of the Sullustan if she had wanted. He could have gotten everything out of him. If he had had the patience and desire. Most likely he would have just killed him.

"Yes." He said as his eyes lingered on the charred corpse, the cleaved face. The terror that still remained in the alien's eyes. After a moment he ripped his gaze away, turned it to Malou. It would be easy. He could draw his saber and they would dance. She would fight him and he would feel the thrill of fighting another Sith once more. It had been a while. The fight played out in his mind, every version of it ending with his saber plunging into her, the stink of seared flesh was already in the air and the distant hunger that rumbled in the back of his mind yearned to feed.

She would see none of these thoughts play out across his eyes, blind as she was, the molten roil of hate that burned within his yellow-orange eyes. The shadows that danced behind the color that depicted their deadly dance. That showed her death a dozen times at his hands. No. Instead she would merely feel his focus on her, the shift of that deadly malice from one target to another as he finally payed her his mind. The shifting of that clawing shadow that seemed to grasp at the edge of her skin, razored claws and jagged teeth slashing and biting just out of reach, held at bay.

"They are Sullustan terrorists." He spoke as if unconcerned by there presence. Which he was. "They were... irrelevant... a test." He revealed before turning and walking away, smooth and silent. The shadow receded and she would feel its attention turn from her as Asminys' mind turned to future deaths that he had planned. "You have passed. Come." He spoke without looking at her as his purposeful stride took him from the room. She could stay, safe and comfortable in the life that she had known, or. She could follow, into an unknown world of ruthless violence that marked the path Darth Asminys walked.

He made his way to the middle of the factory floor, lit by a large opening in the building, an vast unfinished skylight. Mixed among the industrial equipment there was a ship, covered in a large tarp. With a wave of his hand the tarp fluttered away tor reveal a starship.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

He looked first at the corpse, then turned his gaze toward her. It was heavy, pinpointed on her like a knife tilted forward to slice through something with ease. When his eyes, hidden under the fold on his cloak, locked to where hers might be, she briefly wondered if her saber would clash with his. She had heard stories of Asminys and his violence; there were some animals that killed for sport, and he was no different. Malou's gaze would fall back upon him as well, and he would feel it all around him. Though they were not truly looking eye to eye, her head was leveled perfectly in line with his. They were nearly the same height, after all.

Then he spoke. The men were irrelevant, but also a test. A test which she had apparently passed. He said to follow, so after a few seconds, she did.

The tarp she had seen but thought nothing of before was cast aside to reveal a starship. It seemed to be roughly fifty meters long and seemed out of place among the dusty old industrial equipment that surrounded it. Most notably though, it was entirely symmetrical. In small personal craft like this seemed to be, that was debatably rare.

When the ship's door slid open, Malou would wait for Asminys to enter then follow him inside. She began to drink in the details of her surroundings, noting every passage, crevice, and terminal her Sight could find. It was certainly a Sith ship. She wanted to ask him a million questions as impatience filled her chest, but she bit her tongue for now.

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

The boarding ramp was already lowered, awaiting them. Darth Asminys continued his stride, unbroken. He could feel Malou's attention to the details of the ship, as her sight roamed. The ship was modern, containing the latest of technology that was affordable to the empire for its Lords and officers. It was also, at least to Asminys, entirely irrelevant.

"Depart." Asminys spoke to the droid at the cockpit before finding his way to the common area of the ship. He could feel the curiosity bursting from Malou. The impatience that buzzed about her mind. The questions. Always with the questions. It seemed that other people always had them. Which meant talking. Always with the talking. Asminys sighed softly.

"Sit." He gestured to the floor in the middle of the common room, he would wait for her to take to the floor before taking a seat himself, kneeling on both metal shins to rest uneasily, as if rest were an unnatural state for the man. Removing his hood, he would reveal the tattoos that continued from his arms and shoulders to the hidden place beneath his tunic and then up to his bald head. All invisible to the blind woman except for perhaps one. A simple circle at the nape of his neck, starting on the right side, paper thin to start, thickening as it followed its circumference back to the beginning to be no wider than a nail. A simple empty dot marred the thickest section of the circle. Its ink seemed to carry some substance to it, a shadow of darkness that might stand out in the force.

"You may speak." He said as he closed his eyes and waited for the questions to come. He could feel the ship raise and the world begin to fade away in the distance as the droid piloted the ship out of Eriadu's atmosphere. He could see Malou in his mind's eye but kept his closed for now. It was easier this way. He wasn't quite so tempted when he couldn't see them. Couldn't imagine their screams and the light leaving their eyes quite so easily. Of course in this case, there would be no eyes for the light to leave.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

When he motioned for her to sit, she carefully settled down into a cross-legged position. She then watched as he sat down as well, noting the way in which the joints in his metal legs worked to allow such movement from him. There was no pity from her for him, but she wondered what it would be like to lose your lower half like that. Did he feel the ghost of his late limbs like amputees often wrote and spoke about? Who had taken them from him? She studied his now-bare, bald head too. Though she could not discern the shape of the ring, she could sense the pinpoint of darkness that rested in the thickest part of the circle. Is there something there? It was times like these where she wished her eyes weren't so shit that she had to rely on the Sight. Alas, her Sight was still a blessing.

"I've begun operations to connect the territory between Eriadu, Hoth, and Mustafar," she began. "As far as I was told, the South has been your...domain." She wasn't sure if it was official or what, but she wouldn't question the validity of that in front of him. Frankly, she didn't much care where it was or not because it didn't affect her intentions here. "Eriadu is the crossroads of several hyperspace lanes, including the Hydian Way." He would know that, though he had notably done nothing with it. "Hoth is but a small jump away from the Corellian Trade Spine. Both lanes lead straight into the Core." With a sufficient amount of Sith space under their control in the South, they would have footholds in both the North and South. They would have access to hyperspace lanes that could take them straight to the Core.

Malou let that sink in for a few seconds before she continued. She figured if the man had any interest in conquering Free World and Republic space, he would've done it by now. Whether he did or not, she wanted knowledge from him.

"I want to lead an assault against the Southern planets of the Free Worlds, but I have only led the charge against a planet with militia defenses." Rago. It had taken them less than a day to conquer the capital and the planet. If she wanted to improve herself, she would need to face enemies that could match her in strength. If the Free Worlds were attacked, the Jedi showed.

He knew she was here to be taught. She didn't feel the need to ask him to teach her how to kill Jedi, but she did want to give him the courtesy of knowing her plans when it would affect his territory, so to speak.

"Why have you been gone for so long? Have you been keeping tabs on what's been going on?"

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys listened quietly as she spoke, explaining her intentions in the south. Her strategies and considerations for the astrography of the region in relation to the Core. All things that he had once considered as he sought to become a warlord within the Sith. Hyperspace lanes, planets to dominate. The war must be fought. However, he couldn't help but remember something that had once been said to him.

No matter your skill or training, no matter your past, you will always fail until you find a battle truly worth fighting. You are the master of your own destiny, young warrior. If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now.

The words of the late Jedi Grandmaster flowed from his memory and bounced around in his mind. For so long he had fought for survival, and then for the Sith. For power. He had known nothing but fighting for as long as he remembered yet lately the words had been on his mind often. He had yet to figure out if there was some foreign wisdom to them, or merely Jedi mind games. Maybe both.

"I have been aware." He answered her questions without really giving an answer. He owed her nothing, no answers as to what he had been up to all this time, though the answer would probably bore her as much as it bored him. Training, getting used to his new legs. It irked him how long it had taken but he had finally master them and the ability to feel and move them through the force.

"You have ambition." He spoke after a moment of silence. She sought conquest as he had once, perhaps. Her motivations behind her drive for conquest was unclear as of yet. But she was unchallenged. Untested.

"Why?" The question might confuse her. At one time he may never have even thought to ask why, but the longer he dwelled on the Grandmaster's words when the lingered in his mind with meditation, the more he wanted to understand the motives of the other wretched creatures that surrounded him. Perhaps he could then better understand himself. "Why do you fight?" He clarified. Her answer would tell him much. Or maybe nothing at all.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

Why? Why did she fight?

"For myself." The answer came quick and easy to her. She had always fought for herself. Malou didn't want an empire to call her own. She didn't want anything like power in and of herself. "If I don't strive for everything I could be then I'm wasting myself." That's why she had pushed herself so hard as an acolyte, and why she was pushing herself again. "I won't stop until I'm either dead or there is no one who can tread on me."

Malou wondered if Asminys would understand if she were to explain further. She wouldn't, because she knew he wouldn't give a shit, but she still wondered if he knew what it was like. Had he ever been held back by another person like her father had held her back? Who took his legs, and did he desire to never let that person have the power to do that again? Her father had taken her sight before she'd taken it back. Now he could no longer even try.

"This is the next challenge," she added. Once the territories were united, invasions could be led into the Core. There she would face challenges she'd yet to face, and she could either overcome them or perish. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and all that. Images of a battlefield flashed through her mind. Jedi. Sith. Troops. The flashing of clashing sabers, and the whine of blaster bullets. That's where she wanted to be.

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys analyzed the Crusaders words as she answered his question, explained herself more deeply than she might know. A drive to improve, become stronger, he could perhaps understand. To not waste away as a meek and mindless puppet in the galaxy like most of the fools who occupied the realm of the living. To not be pushed around.

The beast within Darth Asminys laughed cruelly in his mind. He could end it for her, right here, right now. No longer would she worry about what others might step on her, what time she might waste in this life. Instead, she would be dead. Dead to the harshness and suffering of this world. Dead to the agonizing existence of a sith ever seeking power and conquest, living a life to destroy and dominate. In the end, she would die whether he killed her now, or if some foe far in the future put her down. In the end, they all died.

She spoke of the next challenge and Asminys mind returned to him, returned to the present. To war and strategies. To the empire that he loosely obeyed and the ever consuming goal of galactic conquest. He wondered if it was even worth it. To bring the galaxy under their boot, and for what? To rule? To control the petty lives of trillions, trillions who would one day die just like all who had come before them. In the end, it was always death.

"And what of death?" He spoke after his rumination. She spoke of death, that she would not stop striving for power until someone stronger came along and put an end to her. His palm itched at the thought. He could feel the sabers at his waist crying out to be used. He ignored them. "What would your death mean. Would it all be a waste then, if someone stronger were to walk across your path and crush you underfoot?" His voice emphasized the word 'crush' as he imagined it literally.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

Death? What did he want to gain from asking her about death? Truth be told, Malou had never really thought about death but once before. In that cold, icy cave on that dark, snowy planet, Malou had been crushed under the weight of something too powerful for her to even comprehend. She had been powerless under it, and it had infuriated her. Defiance, spite, and anger had torn through her veins to strengthen her against something she could not possibly hope to win against. She had fought against the doubt and fear that threatened to snap her string in Fate's hands. That was the only time she'd thought about death like that. She wanted none of it. She wouldn't let it take her until she wanted to go.

So what would her death mean if she were to die right now? If Asminys were to leap for her and crush her throat in his hands? Would it be a waste? "Death will come for all of us one day," Malou began after several moments of silence. "And on that day I'll have to justify the space I've filled. I want to be Death's trophy, not just another soul to collect." Right now, her death would mean nothing; she would be forgotten. But if she strove for greatness—if she never stopped reaching for her greatest potential—then maybe death wouldn't be so bad. It wouldn't be a waste if she died fighting all the way out. "If I died right now, it would be, but I don't intend to let Death take me until I'm ready."

"And you?" Malou turned the question back on him. Would he think that, as a Sith Lord, his death would matter more than hers in the eyes of Death? Would he even answer? That was the better question. Did he fear Death, or simply wait for Her? If he died right now, would he find it a waste?

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys had seen much death in his life. Had watched the life fade from countless beings eyes, or otherwise watched their emptied bodies tumble to the side. Meaningless in his path to power. He had died hundreds of times in the Cadre, the false death that spurred their actions. Victory or death. He had yet to experience the real thing, and there was a burning curiosity within him whenever he thought on the subject. A yearning for the release from this mortal realm of needless suffering.

"Death will not come for you by my hand. Not today." A low growl, almost a chuckle as she spoke of a more immediate death. To walk with Asminys was to walk with death, he knew. The Sith Lord had no disillusions to what he was. Many had called him a monster, or thought it in the secret parts of their mind. He craved violence and death the way many craved food and water. A gift from his upbringing among the Cadre.

"Death comes for all." He replied as she turned the question back to him. A spark of anger, he was the Sith Lord, it was he who asked the questions. But he would indulge her.

"There is no life that matters. All are fated to meet the same end." He opened his eyes and looked at her once more as she sat across from him. The burning rage and screaming hatred that had been sealed away beneath heavy lids once more focused on her, and she would feel the shift as his maliciousness was once more directed at her. "The worlds you seek to conquer. The empires we build. All a waste. All things end. All things die."

For that was the nature of the Darkside. Many thought of it as a tool. Or a gift, to be seized and used. But Asminys knew the truth. The Darkside was cold and uncaring for those who wielded it. It would eat them up and spit them out as it strove to accomplish one thing. Destruction. Suffering. Death.

"Your master. Has he taught you much of the Force? Of the Darkside?" Would she understand of what he spoke, of the secret musings on the force that swirled within the maelstrom of hatred that resided within. Had she been given a foundation to understand the truth, or were her teachings based on a foundation of sweet comforting lies about the darkness.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

Well, that was...reassuring. Not. Asminys rested his eyes upon her with the weight of a ravenous beast. She wouldn't admit it, either to herself or through her expression, but he made her nervous. It was the kind of nervousness that waited in the back of the mind, muttering to itself until it could find the opportunity to take hold of her mind. But Malou had always been good at keeping herself in check, so it would stay there for now.

There is no life that matters. Malou would disagree with him there, but she would not voice it. Life was what you made of it. She understand that nothing really mattered in the eyes of unending entities like the Force, but it was a perspective thing. If she conceded that nothing mattered, why would she try at all?

"He has taught me some," she answered. Exegol was a nexus of the Dark Side. It was a cold, uncaring, empty place. There she had moved among it, but she had never looked to submerge herself in it. Truth be told, Artorgias had taught her little about the Dark Side itself. He, despite his position on the Council, seemed the least affected by it. He had instructed her to use it, but not to lose herself to it. "That it's a tool, but it will take from you as much as you take from it."

The Miralukan recalled her recent trip to Dagobah with Darth Veles and the Cave of Evil they had found destroyed there. That was a different side of the Dark Side. It was alive and seething with hatred. Apathy and anger. Was it apathy or anger? Veles had told her then that he wanted to embrace the Dark Side as much as he could without losing himself. If she tried to do the same, how would she know when she'd passed the point of no return?

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys could tell that the Crusader disagreed with him without her putting words to the thought. She could disagree all she wanted. She would know in the end. Asminys listened as she spoke of her master's teachings, what little she wished to reveal. Some. Not much. Not all of what he knew. And what he had taught her...

Pathetic.

"Your master was wrong." He stated simply as he continued to maintain his gaze on the woman, his eyes locked on the blindfold where hers would be. Many thought of the Darkside as a tool, simply to be wielded as needed and put down when they were idle. A comforting lie told and believed by fools who failed to recognize the truth.

"The Darkside is not a tool." Asminys started, letting the Darkside flow into him as he spoke. She would feel its coldness radiate from the Sith Lord. "Do you cut off your hand and place it on the shelf when you are not using it?" He asked, an edge to his voice. "Do you remove your eyes before you lay down to sleep, for lack of needing to see?" He wondered if that was why she wore the blindfold, had her eyes been gouged out?

"The Darkside is power, and power does not sleep. Power, does not lay idle." To think that merely because one did not draw on it every moment that it did not influence them in their every action. It twisted and warped everything it touched. Corrupted the mind and tarnished the soul at the first touch. To dip ones toes into its dark waters was but a step away from taking the plunge. To be fully immersed in it.

"The Darkside does not give and take." He paused. He had been steeped in the darkside for as long as he could remember. Had not even seen the light until he was a man, released upon the world by his own doing. His chains broken. "The Darkside will give you what you take of it, but in return... It will take. Everything." The darkness within the cabin seemed to breath with a life of its own as Asminys let it. Pulsing. Breathing. It would push at the edges of Malou's vision, muting and blurring her sight. Threatening to overtake if it could. To corrupt her. To consume her. To destroy her.

For that was its nature.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

He thought her master was wrong. Wrong how? That it would take from you what you took of it, or that it was a tool to be used? He said it was not a tool. Rather ironically, he asked her if she removed her eyes before she laid down to sleep, but before she could that amusing the air in the room dropped. Power does not lay idle. She repeated it in her head as a shiver ran down her spine. The closest Malou had danced with the Dark Side was igniting the anger and self-hatred she felt into the flame that burned her enemies. She could feel it even now, coursing through her veins as she warmed her skin against the bitter cold. It was a trick her master had taught her.

It will take. Everything. That she knew. Her master gave that as the reason he did not want to dive into it. Jaikus wanted to go as far as he could into it without sacrificing his freedom and autonomy. When she had asked Veles what it was like to be a Sith Lord, he spoke about the dangers of the Dark Side. Some lose their sense of self completely and succumb to animalistic urges. Others keep them in check but develop an edge of cruelty, and some remain normal people... Some remained normal, he had noted, until one day they broke.

Malou had been vague on purpose to avoid speaking of her personal encounters with Dark Side horrors. That ghost Artorgias fought on Exegol. That eldrich being she and Stolas struggled under on that unknown planet. The ancient evil she and Veles faced on Dagobah. In those moments, she had been submerged in the energies of the Dark Side. It had always been against her. What would it be like to be on the opposite side of that? What would that power feel like in her hands, just a bit of it? She had wondered before, but she didn't want to lose her humanity. She didn't want to fight another side of herself.

She just wanted power. Strength, even. And yet, she knew she would do whatever it took to get there. Surely there wasn't just one path to it? The warmth of her skin cooled as Asminys breathed life into the room. It was lead on her body, whispering in her mind, and hungering for her flesh. For the sake of appearances, she remained seated there with a straight back, but breathing became a bit harder. The images of the cave's illusion on Dagobah flooded back into her mind. Suffocating hallways. Insurmountable pressure. Powerlessness. The image of her master being impaled by her own actions was at the forefront of it all. Her heart rate rose, but she stayed still.

What does he want me to learn from this? Her own voice jumped to the forefront of her mind. She had already beaten the cave's illusions; they were just a pest in the back of her head. To understand its hunger? It's malevolence? The Dark Side had yet to corrupt her. She would fight it. If she lost herself trying to better herself, then what was the point?

tag: @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

Darth Asminys took a moment to ponder why he had shared this information with the young Sith Champion. He hadn't any ulterior motive, any reasoning other than anger at the idea that the Darkside was a mere tool. He could tell that she struggled to accept the words he had spoken, even as she fought to keep the darkness in the room at bay. Fought to understand what it was he was saying.

The lesson.

There was a lesson to his words, one that perhaps she had not yet reached far enough into the darkness to understand. If that was so, then perhaps he was wasting his time with this one. She would fail to achieve what she wished for if she did not understand the nature of the powers with which she played, she would die long before they could bear fruit as the tree withered and died or was otherwise cut down.

And if she did understand them... Then one day her own personal goals would fall from her mind like sand through her fingers as the Darkside filled it. She would slowly embrace it, turning away from any righteous pursuits as it corrupted her mind and soul until nothing was left but the dark and its desires. Day by day the darkness within her would grow to consume her, leaving her a soulless shell of her former self, driven by the desire for power. To give wings to the pain and suffering of her life, to spread it to others so the Darkside could grow further until all Light had been snuffed from the galaxy.

"Stay. Meditate on the darkness." Darth Asminys commanded as he rose silently to his feet and walked away. As he left the room, the Darkside stayed. As he entered his own private room to meditate on his own during their trip, the Darkside would consume the cabin in which Malou sat.

Fueled by Asminys, it would plunge the room into darkness, strip her of her sight and leave her bereft of all senses with nothing but her mind, and the Darkside present. A simulation of the Cadre's Pit of Despair projected onto her from the twisted mind of Darth Asminys and given a life of its own. A dark shadow of memory brought into the world as the ship hurdled through hyperspace.

Was there a point, a lesson to this? Asminys wondered to himself in the quiet of his cabin as he tormented the Sith Champion. Perhaps. Or perhaps he was just bored and wished to spread his own suffering, to further the darkness that he had long ago given himself over to to survive, that he had let consume him completely, first out of necessity and later out of hunger for more. More power. More pain. More death.

@lizziie

 

[Malou D'Amaris]

When she had contacted Asminys in the hopes he would have something to teach her, the Miralukan had thought along the lines of lightsaber combat. What she didn't expect was to be left alone in the dark, surrounded by a force that wanted to consume her. She couldn't even see. The Dark wrapped all around her, stripping her of her senses until she couldn't even feel the touch of cloth against her skin. It was nothing but her thoughts and the hungry void.

Why is it always like this? Every encounter she'd had just the Dark Side in this way was this heavy void of nothingness. Was she still sitting? Was she standing? It was natural to know where each one of her limbs was at all times, but she couldn't even feel herself breathing. Am I breathing?

Was she breathing? She couldn't tell. It was so incredibly unnerving with its nothingness. It was just her and her thoughts. So, bereft of all her senses, Malou began to think. The Darkness around her swirled around in her mind, and though she tried to keep it at bay, she could feel in sinking in through her skin. The feeling was almost intoxicating, like if she just let it in she could experience it fully. She rid herself of her thoughts and focused on the feeling. Could she learn from it without giving in? That is what she wanted to know.

By the time it ended though, whenever that was, Malou would have tentatively dipped her toes into the feeling. Though it was nothing short of intoxicating, and she slammed down a wall between herself and going further, it was still there. Like a little sproutling, it lingered there.

For now though, Malou sat irritably in the void, antsy from the lack of stimulation.

tag @Arcangel

 

[Asminys]

As Malou struggled with the darkness, Darth Asminys entered his own meditation. A seething cauldron of fury, a beast bound in chains in his mind. His legs burned phantom where they once were. The possibilities poured through his mind like fire, and he reached across the dark to observe the Champion.

He could feel the frustration radiating from the young Sith. The hesitation to embrace the darkness. The tentative step. She had yet to embrace the darkness fully and yet she had come to him. To learn. To train. Was it even worth his time. He could leave her in the darkness for the entirety of the trip, to seethe in her irritation. Or he could give her what she wanted. He would teach her the dance of death, and she would know it once and then never more, crushed under the heel of another who was stronger.

He had already told her that death would not come by his hand. His control was absolute when he was idle. But he knew the chains of his control slipped when he swung his saber, when he held them with a tenuous grip.

But here.

A door would slam open in the darkness as Darth Asminys walked into her mind, each footstep echoing as he intruded in its halls. He needed her alive and well for what was to come next, and in the hall of the mind he could cross blades with her, and perhaps pull his punches if need be. Of course, he could harm her mind, leave psychic scars and traumas... but she would be fit and ready to fight when they arrived...

Hopefully.

He made no effort to hide his presence as he stalked to stand behind her in the dark landscape. A single lightsaber ignited in his right hand as he stood there ten meters behind her, his stance casual as the lightsaber sat easily in his hand, running down almost parallel to his leg but angling outwards away from the limb. A phantom limb, its appearance nearly translucent compared to the rest of him which would appear to her in her mind as he looked in real life, projected directly from his own mind instead of being perceived through the sight.

@lizziie