A Mother's Rebuke [Kaine]

[Lief]

Nothing compares to the loss of a son or a daughter. The thought that you have outlived the product of your love to another, the most simplest and innocent of forms. It can haunt a parent to the ends of the Galaxy, drive them to do unimaginable things, but it is worse yet when that parent can touch the Force. When that parent can feel their child's presence dwindle into the Force like a lost soul until it becomes nothing, yet at once everything.

She had been sleeping when she felt the sharp tug of the Force, a sensation which was reminiscent of a rope snapping suddenly. Startled, Asha was moved from her bed in an instant and was sent staggering across the tiny room of her ships sleeping quarters. Tears streamed down her cheeks, yet all the same she was not aware that she was actually crying. Instead she gasped for air, and found that there was none left in the Galaxy to be had. It left her feeling suffocated, isolated, desperate.

Falling to her knees, the former Jedi shook as she felt the Force quake with her loss. Unsecured items flew across the room, her control over the Force slipping despite her so-called Mastery over it. Finally a sob escaped her also, and she gave into the bittersweet embrace of discomforted tears. Cassus, her child, she had mourned for him each and every day. She saw him whenever she looked upon Kobe, his unresembling twin, believing that one day the brothers would be united.

But it was not to be.

The continued tremors in the Force, caused by the shortening of a life, seemed to goad the Epicanthix into action. She did not know where she would be led, but she knew that in following it she would meet the source of her despair.

And Force condemn her if she did not find from it her vengeance.

For restless days the woman travelled, not sleeping, never leaving the cockpit of her vessel, as she made her way to Panatha. And as they neared the destination, Asha felt certain she knew who she was being guided towards.

@[member='Darth Vornskr']

 

[Darth Carnifex]

In the beginning the boy Cassus had appeared to be a monumental success in the early phases of Kaine's tampering with the sentient body and mind, but as time wore on that was proven false. The child's mind and body began to decay after a few short years, and he began to display signs of advanced aging and mental deterioration typically attributed with those in the extremes of old age. Kaine's newer experiments did not show such defects, most likely attributed to his advancement in Alchemy and Magic since his early creations, and thus Kaine found that Cassus could no longer serve his purpose anymore. Thus, the child was murdered by Kaine's servants, and his body disposed of in the laboratories' crematorium. Anything the child had owned was either destroyed, or was given away to the other servants in Kaine's employment. The Panathan Emperor held no remorse for his creation's demise, and continued on as if nothing had happened.

But... something was about to happen.

Several days had passed until the perimeter sensors of Panatha began to go off as an unidentified ship entered Imperial space, but before any actual resistance could be mobilized to intercept the intruder the Emperor commanded that the unknown vessel be allowed to land at the citadel. He had a feeling on who was coming to confront him, and he was willing to give her an audience before he rid himself of her.

Forever.

[member="Asha Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Asha was too seeped in distress to realise that anything was amiss; she did not sense the initial launching of space-troops to stop her, or their almost immediate return to land. She did not sense the stirring of the Force which goaded and warned her both in unison. Everything was lost unto the Mother's inner wrath. They would pay. They would all pay.

So it was that Asha guided her vessel down and, without much care about her immediate safety, left the ship without a word. Her double bladed lightsaber settled in one hand, and as she walked she slowly untwisted the centre of the hilt to allow both sides to fall into adjacent hands. Asha only ever fell into Jar'Kai when it was the last resort, when she knew it was kill or be killed rather than attempting to detain an individual.

Knowing in the back of her mind that this was most definitely a kill or be killed situation, she strode towards the Citadel, knocking aside guards and servants who tried to stop her in her tracks with her superior telekinetic abilities. Not once did she even pause in her stride as she neared the throne room which lay inside...


"KAINE ZAMBRANO. SHOW YOURSELF!"

The woman's rage was palpable, and it could even be seen manifesting itself through the Force as once again any loose objects in the room began to quiver and shake in anticipation.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The doors leading to the throne chamber opened without a sound as Asha approached, revealing the dismal appearance of the hall beyond. High gothic columns rose high up towards the darkened vaulted ceiling above, and in lieu of electronic lights there were various braziers that burned with a eerie purple flame. At first look the throne room seemed to be vacant, save for the raging mother who had just entered, but as the doors began to close behind her the aura of another became clear. At the far enough of the chamber was an elevated platform ringed by three-step stairs, and on that platform was a gargantuan throne made of a sharp, and ugly black iron that was repugnant to the eye. Sitting on that throne was a man wearing long, flowing black zeyd-cloth robes that covered a suit of fine silk over which an armored cuirass was strapped tightly to his chest. His hair was free, and his dark eyes gleamed with mirth as he beheld his fuming guest with a chuckle.

"Ah, Asha Seren, welcome to my kingdom of darkness."

The Sith Lord rose from his throne like a reanimated corpse rose from it's coffin, with stiff and rigid movements that progressively became more fluid as he walked down the steps. With a flourish of his robe he plucked the hilt of his wicked lightsaber from his belt, and held it aloft in his right hand, the unlit emitter pointing directly at the approaching Jedi. "I had a feeling that it would be you to step so brazenly into my domain." With his words he lit his crimson blade, it's scarlet hues clashing awkwardly with the purple gloom throughout the chamber. He knew exactly why she was here, for the bonds between mother and child were strong, stronger than Kaine's ability to eradicate it, and thus he concluded that when Cassus died Asha felt the reverberations of his demise through the Force, and now sought vengeance. "Very well, if it is revenge you harbor in your heart, then I will stoke the flames until all that remains is a charred husk. Then, you can be reunited with your whelp in hell."

[member="Asha Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Asha was in no mood for games.

As the giant Epicanthix made his way towards her she lifted one slender hand upwards and emitted two excessively strong pushes through the Force, her mastery over Telekinesis making the exertion of energy barely noticeable by the woman.

Not bothering to wait around to see if either struck, the woman then proceeded to spin both of her blades in her grasp and light them into ignition. Despite the hilts being the same length, one of the blades was subtly smaller than the other - not that it was necessarily noticeable in the heat of battle.

And it was with this shorter blade that Asha first directed an attack towards Kaine's waist, propelled with the power of the Force yet in her anger it resembled no form that she had ever been trained with. It was raw and unrelenting instead.

Kaine could try his attempts at dun moch on the woman, but he had already pushed her over the edge and towards breaking point.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The attacks against him through the Force were not to be completely unexpected, but even still the strength behind them would still push the Sith Lord back across the marble floor, but his defenses held. It was there that he would stand his ground, waiting as Asha launched herself at him with the fury of her twin blades. He held his blade in a two-handed grip, and held his blade closer to his body as she descended on him, and with tight defensive movements he was able to parry against her strike towards his waist, using her own momentum to deflect the blade away from his body so that he could then bring his blade around again to deal with any strike coming from the opposite blade. Then, applying the fluid riposte of Form V, he then immediately began his own counter-attack by utilizing wide, but swift, slices and chops with his singular blade against her twin sabers, attempting to push the advantage and keep her on the defensive.

"This is futile, Asha. Your child was weak, and utterly worthless. Let us end this self-destructive conflict, and join me as my Queen."

While he had absolute zero intentions of doing such, he still put the idea of a dark, twisted Asha Seren enthralled to Kaine as his queen out into the open. Whether she dwelt on that, he didn't care, his main emphasis was to fan the flames of her burning anger over the death of her son at his own hands. Whether that would work in his favor or not was yet to be seen.

[member="Asha Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Anyone who had ever really watched Asha fight would know her typical tactics... And luckily for her, most of the people she did fight were no longer around to give her game away, either deceased or locked away somewhere. Or otherwise incapacitated. As a result, the moment Asha's attack was parried the woman glided back from her foe against the marble floor, finally beginning to show some sort of form in her lightsaber manuevers. The graceful way she broke from offence to defence was akin to a Makashi practitioner who moved back and forth in a fencing style line of movement. Though Asha did not lunge.

While Kaine succeeded in forcing the woman onto the defensive, she was still extremely irrational. Without warning the woman's hand shot out to catch the blade as it neared her, the seering heat of his lightsaber bade doing little save bolster her as she performed tutaminis upon it. Knowing she could not hold it for long, as the constant circulatory motion of a lightsabers energy relay was overwhelming, the woman instead used the moment she had in order to try and pull Kaine towards her through brute strength alone -- of which Asha had much -- while using the hand which still retained a lightsaber hilt, the longer blade, to try and plunge into his chest.

The second hilt lay upon the ground, discarded for now in her haste to grip his blade.

As much as she wanted to yell at him, Asha channelled all her focus and anger into the fight. She did, however, begin to mutter under her breath, the effect becoming like a crescendo in that it began to get progressively louder over a long period of time.

"You stole him; You mutilated him; You murdered him!"

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He wasn't surprised that she was able to put up this much of a fight with him, she was an Epicanthix after all, and Kaine's darkness grew mighty as the battle wore on. Still, he could tell she was getting reckless now, the hatred that broiled within her was making her moves illogical, and erratic. But, perhaps that was an advantage, Kaine was not expected half of the moves she was pulling on him now, especially when she decided to grab the blade of his lightsaber with her bare hand. The only thing that kept it from searing through her flesh was her application of tutaminis, but even then Kaine was pressing down with all of his strength, and time would tell if she was able to keep it up for much longer. Then, out of the blue, Asha attempted to shove the blade of her other lightsaber through the Sith Lord's chest, but as the blade connected with the breastplate that covered his chest it would come to a dead stop.

While not dressed in his overly ornate Sith phrik armor, he was wearing it's breastplate, and thus what would have otherwise been a fatal blow merely was deflected off of the ridges on the cuirass. He then immediately retaliated by taking one of his hands off of the saber's hilt, and quickly sending his forearm crashing into the underside of Asha's other arm, hopefully knocking the blade out and away from Kaine's center of body. "Yes, I stole him. I mutilated him, and I murdered him. His life was an utter waste, just like yours was." Then, while pressing down on Asha with his blade, he pulled back his free hand as power began to coalesce within his fingers, and then he unleashed that pent up energy in the form of tendrils of blue electricity aimed directly at her midsection and chest.

[member="Asha Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Asha knew the moment she landed a glancing blow against phrik armour that the game had come to an end. Lightsabers were deadly weapons, they were not toys or tools. They were made to defend, they were made to kill. And when you royally messed up a swing like this, usually the penalty was your life. Regardless of how others in this Galaxy might have thought the game worked.

With her hand cast aside, lightsaber included, Asha was left wide open as an arc of lightning flooded towards her body. While she brought her lightsaber towards its path she knew already that she was too late. Lightning struck her body, the lightsaber shifted into its path a few moments later - momentarily returning some of the static power back to its creator. Yet the jolts of electricity which ran through her body forced her to drop her lightsaber and bow to its superior strength.

And to Kaines.

The woman panted; too long had she been in this Galaxy already, those she had loved were lost to her now, gone. The Galaxy was a twisted place, with so much corruption even within the ranks of the Jedi who had sworn to protect it.

And the Force had deemed it her time, she knew. Asha Seren had done a lot for the Galaxy, she had saved lives, raised children and students alike, she had done her part. This would be her reward, to be reunited with her children. Kaine could see it how he wished, he could take it as a victory. Yet Asha? She found herself more at peace now than she had ever been before.

"My life is yours to end, Kaine Zambrano" the woman spoke, her voice oddly soft for one so tall, "you admitted your guilt, in the view of the Force; just do me one service, and the Galaxy will know how you have slain me."

Extending one hand out, Asha called into her hand one of the lightsabers. She knew without looking which it was, and with a bow of her head the defeated woman simply said "send this to Midvinter, they will know what to do with it. Take the other as a trophy, if you seek such trinkets."

Without another word, Asha allowed herself to fold into the Force. Her mind drifted first, as she meditated on all she had learned, all she had mastered, her time as a Jedi. Her firm belief in the Living Force.

And the Force granted Asha Seren her last dying wish, for before Kaine could realise what was happening her body began to de-materialize into a metaphysical state as it became one with the Force, leaving behind just the empty husk of her armour and robes, alongside the distinct sulphuric stench that accompanied Force Lightning.

It was over, and only the victor remained.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Agh!"

The Sith Lord reeled back as a portion of his lightning was deflected back at him, particularly at his breastplate, and began to arc and rebound from the metal of his cuirass and onto his body. While no stranger to pain and lightning, it was simple base reaction that sent his body into small tremors and spasms as the electricity filtered through his body before finally subsiding, leaving his body smoldering slightly as smoke rose up from his robes, but the Lord still stood tall. He did not fear counterattack, for he could feel the submission of his foe, and her acceptance of her untimely end. Thus, he stood silent and stoic as he listened to her final request, and watched with some loathing as her body deteriorated into the Living Force, the only evidence that she was ever there was the crumbled pile of clothes and armor on the floor. Slowly he approached the site where she became one with the Force, and gingerly toed the smoldering clothes with his right foot, somewhat unsure, but soon enough he was satisfied that he was the ultimate victor.

"Such a fool, Seren. To come to this place knowing that you would meet your end, but you faced it like an Epicanthix, like a warrior, and thus I shall uphold your final request, as meaningless as it may be."

Kaine sheathed his weapon, and with a twitch of his hand he brought forth both of Asha's discarded lightsabers into both of his hands. He looked at both of them, before sheathing the slightly smaller blade on his belt, and summoning forth a servant. He held aloft the longer blade towards his servant, and he thereby decreed: "Send this weapon to the planet of Midvinter at all haste, and let them know that Asha Seren has been felled by Vornskr." The servant would comply and bow, before rushing off with the weapon and leaving the Sith Lord alone in his throne, staring absently at the smoldering pile of clothes before he too left the chamber.