Abyss

[Darth Ayra]

Abyss​

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| [member="Joon"] |

The forests of Sojourn were filled with many exotic species, that each formed a complex pyramid ruled by the simplistic notions such as hunger, survival and so on. As a Sith Lord, Darth Ayra was the manifestation of the dark side of the Force and subsequently understood it's nature. Whilst the beasts and their prey were ruled by the nature of the forests, Darth Ayra was ruled by the individualistic qualities of the darkness. With this understanding, these qualities- when applied to the wider galaxy- allowed one to perceive the subtly of it all and from that, the simplistic needs- hunger, survival- are applied to it as they are in the forest. As the beasts who rest at the top of the food chain hunt their prey for sustenance, Darth Ayra was driven to form the Grand Plan that would eradicate the Jedi. It was the simplistic notion that revenge equated to the sustenance that was not only desired, but was consequentially required, as it was on the Hunter's Moon. How quaint that the Dark Lord and her apprentice found themselves on such a place.

The Gathering had been a complete success. The Praesidium shield was in place on Naboo. Chandrila DataTech was on the verge of advancing to the next level. But if the Dark Lord was to simplify her desires, and what was required of her, then what came next was easy to decide. The Orbalisks that had joined her body since the excursion on Dxun had begun to spread. Noting the transformation over the past months, Darth Ayra concluded that, in time, the parasites would end up covering her entire body. The careful facade that she had built over the past decades was at risk. It was possible that she would have to live with the parasites for the rest of her life- at the very least, it would take years to rid the infection- and so the training of her Sith Apprentice was now paramount to their continued success.

A Sith robe covered the Dark Lord of the Sith, concealing the parasites that had covered her body. She waited in her quarters, out of the sight of everyone else, as it had been since her return from Naboo. As she waited for Justiciara to join her, Darth Ayra studied her reflection in the mirror. She had once been a vibrant woman, considered beautiful and exotic to most. The woman that glared back at her was different. Black eyes had begun to sunk themselves around yellow irises, that brimmed with the power of the dark side. Her hair was matted, unkempt and wildly alive. There was a stoic, stern look that accompanied an aquiline nose, which suggested at any moment she was about to blow up in a cacophony of spite, rage and malice. Gone was the beautiful Alicia Drey, destroyed by the crippling pain of the Orbalisks, which had brought forth Darth Ayra, who had used her for all those years.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Joon received the summoning the Ayra’s quarters, and made no delay in setting down her book in her own little chamber to go and join her Master. Playing with a couple of the red streaks in her hair, Joon didn’t think anything as she walked across the large fort up to the higher levels where she resided.

Up and across the passageways, past the guards and through the already open door, which was strange as they were usually closed.

Not knocking, as was the few benefit of being a loyal Apprentice, Joon walked in and noted the robed figure of Ayra in front of a large mirror, and immediately sensed she was hurting somewhat.

”You called for me, Master.”

Letting her hand linger on the door as she stepped into the room, she looked at nothing except Ayra’s reflection. It was those beasts from the tomb, it had to be. They had changed her since returning, and it wasn’t nice to see.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Turning to face her apprentice, the Dark Lord felt compelled to scream and vent her frustrations upon her. There stood Justiciara Noctare, a woman that she had essentially created, oblivious to the plight of her creator. She hated the smug look that was etched on her face. If only she knew what Darth Ayra was capable of. Moving across the space towards Justiciara, Darth Ayra was reminded as to why she had summoned her here in the first place. Despite her hate for her apprentice, the Dark Lord was acutely aware of the important that Justiciara played, for the short and long term.

When Darth Ayra spoke, her voice was edged, dark and ominous. Her eyes flitted between each syllable she spoke, each one careful not to reveal any weakness to her apprentice. "The shield that I unveiled at the Gathering is in place. We first steps to our attack on the Jedi have been made. And now we will take the next steps together. You must be brought up to speed if you are to join me on Naboo."

"The Lightsaber I gave you on Dxun will do. I will teach you how to wield it." Since Duro, Darth Ayra had tested Justiciara in various ways. Her resourcefulness had been tested first on Korriban, following their crash in the desert. On Dxun, it had been her fear and her abilities with the Force. The Rule of Two and the Sith Code had been explained in their first weeks together, and through experience, Justiciara had come to learn of the wider galaxy, the nuance of their relationship and the power of emotion. Now, it was time to put it all into practice in the form of Lightsaber combat, the tradition in which all Sith learned and subsequently mastered the subtleties of the dark side.

"There is a particular technique known as Soresu. You are not equipped to learn the other techniques, which would ultimately fail you if you try. Soresu relies on an impenetrable defence. You do not block or parry the strikes of your enemy, but instead, divert the blows away from you. Diversion allows you to expend as little energy as possible, whilst your enemy tires over time. And when they have been fatigued enough, you capitalize and strike them down."

Stepping by Justiciara, Darth Ayra moved to the doors and opened them, leaving her quarters and heading down the hallway. When Justiciara followed, the Dark Lord led them down into the main entrance and out through the large wooden gates, outside towards the forest. She hadn't even expended the courtesy of a 'follow' or 'come' as she normally did, which was indicative that her time did not warrant pleasantries and that her patience was now in short supply.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Why did Joon ever, for one moment, think there would be anything more than the cold tone of Ayra to welcome her? To greet her? To open up to her? This was no different. Ayra went straight to business, like when the Apprentice appeared she closed off again. One day, Joon swore she would be equal and even more than the Sith she was learning from to be allowed in and trusted.

But, on that thought, it was clear she wasn’t equal at all.

Hearing the next stage ahead, Joon didn’t speak and simply turned on her heel to follow the billowing cloak of Ayra as she led them back through the fort, down and then out to the surrounding forest. The fresh air hit Joon’s nostrils and the damp smell was wonderful to her lungs, like a cleansing filter. So it seemed the lightsaber would soon be something the clone become familiar with. Ever since she saw the crimson blade come to life, she was fascinated by it. Even using it in a hap-hazard way had been somewhat liberating on Dxun. Hopefully she would be fed more.

”I learnt to struggle through feeling tired. It’s a weakness I wasn’t granted the time to experience, and if I did I was pushed more with my sisters. As you saw on Korriban, I will never stop until I am literally dead.”

Ayra wouldn’t care, why would she? However, Joon made it quite clear to the one training her that she wasn’t wasting her time.

”Just teach me the basics, and I will learn and practice.”

She suppressed the comment about her desire to kill again; it was something she had found engorged since the camp massacre, and she had an urgent need to feel it again. And doing it with the skill wielding a lightsaber would be perfect.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Together, Master and Apprentice entered the forest, moving out of the lights of the Fort and it's many torches. Out of light, Darth Ayra and Justiciara found themselves in an abyss, surrounded by foliage and wildlife. Taking an inhale of breath, the Dark Lord remembered her fight with the Vanx, which had killed one of her Sun Guards months ago. That had been a good fight, she thought to herself. Turning to her Apprentice, Darth Ayra brought her hand into her robe and produced two training sabers.

She under armed threw one to Justiciara, making it easy for her to catch, whilst she sprung the other into ignition. "The reason we train here, rather than in the Fort, is because we must not forget the element of danger. Around us exist creatures that would eviscerate us with no second thought. The same applies to her business outside of Sojourn. Whether it is Chandrila, Naboo or Coruscant, enemies lurk around us at every moment, ready to eviscerate us should they discover who we really are and what we plan."

"As Sith, we do not feel fear. But we know it. We immerse ourselves in it. Alongside death and chaos, fear is an ally that benefits us. For we are Sith, the manifestation of the dark side itself." As she spoke, Darth Ayra shrugged off her Sith robes, revealing her body. A loose, dark vest covered her upper body, alongside combat leggings. But even they could not hide the manifestation that covered the Dark Lord of the Sith. Bits of skin were bare and exposed in sections. They were mere blotches among grey, as the Orbalisks sat along her arms, stomach, chest, back and legs.

"Cruel, aren't they?" said Ayra, as she followed Justiciara's gaze to the creatures on her body. "I cannot explain in words the amount of pain I am in. Despite my best attempts, I cannot remove them. But in an odd sense, they have also made me stronger. Remember the lesson of pain, my apprentice." Vividly, Ayra recalled the lesson on the Home, the first she had taught Justiciara. "I will attack. You shall defend. Focus on diversion and movement, rather than blocking or parrying. Being aware of your limits allows you to, in turn, convert them into strengths. Awareness is key in the heat of battle."

Suddenly, Darth Ayra sprung forward, attacking Justiciara without mercy. She surprised herself. It was like she was being driven to attack Justiciara as if she were her enemy, without resentment or limitation. A sickening feeling of good filled the Dark Lord with each blow and she felt herself becoming lost in the moment.

 

[Connor Harrison]

The horrific sight of Ayra’s exposed body was enough of a distraction for Joon that she didn’t expect the assault. She was too busy looking at the wounds and rippling flesh that moved with the parasites, and it was perversely fascinating.

She heard Ayra talk, but only half took it in. Diversion. Limits. Heat.

With the training saber still de-activated, Joon jumped and flinched, recoiling backwards as the Sith came to life with a forward barrage of strikes with her own weapon. Training they may be, but Joon knew it would hurt both physically and mentally. The forest around them seemed to grow inwards and blacked out, the only line of sight Joon had was on her Master, looking like a real Dark Side monster.

So the training blade sprang to life, and she wasn’t even in a position to try and block. She swiped her blade left and right, letting Ayra’s swing away also left and right.

A swipe came across, so Joon ducked and side rolled across the floor to her feet for a few yards gap to focus. The Sith Master came forward still, and Joon dropped again and twirled around to her side, like a bobbing fighter circling the striking opponent.

The clone felt different. Not afraid, and not worried. She just acted, and didn’t think about the “what if”. Ayra struck again and Joon pushed with her blade to force Ayra’s wider, and brought her blade down in a near vertical strike to the shoulder and upper arm.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Following the diversion of her blade, Darth Ayra followed the momentum of it and moved forward. She felt Justiciara swing her blade after her, aiming for her shoulder and upper arm. Bringing her own blade around, Ayra swatted Justiciara's weapon before it connected, with enough brute force to disarm her apprentice. Turning, the Dark Lord said through gritted teeth: "Diversion. Movement. Defensive. Not diversion, followed by counter attacking. If I wanted to teach you Djem So, I would have said Djem So!"

Rolling her blade along her fingers, Darth Ayra encircled her apprentice. As she moved around, Ayra was certain that she saw a pair of eyes watching her and Justiciara in a nearby bush. Feeling out with the Force, she confirmed that something was there. But through the connection made by her powers, she knew that the animal was merely curious and was not one of the many predators that lurked the forest. It wasn't like any of them could match the two Human women, regardless of the habitat that they stood in. For the Sith were the apex predators of the galaxy, and on this night, of the Hunter's Moon.

"Discipline yourself, apprentice! The art of Soresu is to expend as little energy as possible. Let them- me- do all the hard work of trying to kill you, whilst you focus on diverting their attacks away from you! Only lash out and strike them down when you know they are no longer a match for you!" Bringing her blade over her head, Darth Ayra begun to perform a helicopter rotation of the training Lightsaber, using the momentum of her swing to rain down strike after strike back onto Justiciara. Moving forward as she spun her weapon, Ayra performed a simplistic but brutal demonstration of Djem So, to showcase the subtle difference between her technique and the one that she wanted to teach her apprentice.

Instead of diverting the blade away from her, as Justiciara would learn to do, Ayra's technique pushed her opponent's weapon back onto themselves. The stamina, endurance and strength to maintain such an attack took years of honing ones body, and even then, the user had to have the potential to learn it in the first place. Not every technique was suitable for everyone, and with Justiciara's petite frame, Ayra knew that Soresu was the best technique that her apprentice could ever hope to learn.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Joon grunted and winced, gripping the hilt with two hands as she nodded to herself as she took in Ayra's words, but also started to find she had to exert more strength in defending these attacks; wild, powerful and aggressive.

Maybe it was cowardice, or maybe it was diversion, expending that little energy, that Joon began to simply duck, weave and spin around fluidly after each swing. She didn't glance around at the surrounding forest, but trusted herself to know where the uprooted tree trunks were, the gnarled roots, the small pebbles, the soggy ditch - all moved in or around to prevent her stumbling.

A strange balletic duel, with Master and Apprentice working against and with each other, took place. Joon gained strength, but also gained bruises. She tried to attack when there was a logical opening and she felt power behind it.

It was slightly exhilarating, if not tiring, in the eerie forest that had come alive, and the clone continued on as much as Ayra would attack.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

In the time since she and Justiciara had ventured to Dxun, Darth Ayra had been in seclusion from most, choosing to hide the abominations that now infested her body. As a result, she had not picked up her Lightsaber or used the Force, believing that should the Orbalisks be discovered by either her allies, affiliates or enemies would result in exposure that she could not afford. The nature of the work required subtly and secrecy, so with flesh eating, Force driven parasites consuming her body continuously without relent did not do well, as she was forced to suppress the agony she endured in favour of the concealment of her powers in the Force. People tend to also notice something protruding from a dress or the finer, flimsier clothes she wore on Chandrila, for appearances sake.

But with every swing her weapon, and every time Justiciara managed to evade or divert one of her blows, Darth Ayra found herself sickeningly, threateningly, terribly exhilarated by a force that she ever knew she could summon. She could pause to think, analyze and process why she was feeling this way. Rationality was traded for a base instinct that thought she had evolved beyond in trade for ethics that surpassed most Humans. She longed to cleave Justiciara in two with the training Lightsaber in her hand. If she was thinking on going through with her desires, in conjunction with her superior intellect, then she would have remembered that the weapon in her hand was not designed to kill, instead only to maim and teach.

Yet, Darth Ayra continued to assault Justiciara like she was back on the field of Kashyyk. No... This was well beyond the battle she had shared with Meric Nardun. Even then, as she fought for ancient Sith Lord through the frays of Sith and Republic soldiers, Ayra had been using her brain, not her body, to undo her opponent. As a result, Nardun had fallen to her in battle, outdone by her tactics and strategy. But here, on Sojourn, the searing, burning flash of the training Lightsaber was driven at Justiciara so ferociously that it physically hurt the Dark Lord's wrists with every blow. And yet she continued, and continued, and continued to drive at Justiciara. No longer was this a training spar, but an attempt to murder her apprentice on the spot. Gone was the desire to train and raise her successor, but rather enjoy the momentary lapse of murder and blood before moving onto everything else. To taste the congealed taste of her victims, as she had done on Kursid in the days that had led up to Darth Pandeima's death.

Froth, bile and spit sprung before Darth Ayra's lips. Her hands, once manicured, were not rough and raw from the exertion of her Lightsaber's hilt. Her eyes, brimming with the power of the dark side, were alive and wild, searching only for avenues in which she could destroy Justiciara. In the eye of the planet that Sojourn orbited shined a glow upon both Sith, a glimmering spectacle of green and white off the alien planet's surface upon auburn, dark blonde hair that was static and end from the power of the dark side. Darth Ayra roared, far louder than she had on the Home, with the circular Mou Kei technique, engaging Justiciara's amateur outer defensive ring in an attempt to dismember all four of her limbs, despite the blades inability to do nothing more than maim, paralyze, break but never cut or impale the opponents body.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Joon was on the back-peddle feverously now, with the Sith Master attacking with a worryingly powerful array of swings, jabs and thrusts. The darkness of the forest made it more disorientating as the training blades clashed and sparked off each other and highlighted the contorted facial features of Ayra now and then.

The look of contempt was there, and Joon saw in her eyes that she was letting out more than just training routines, she was letting out a contempt for her young apprentice and the result of how she was wracked with pain due to those disgusting creatures.

With a sharp cry, Joon gritted her teeth and silently fuelled her body with as much energy as she could to hold her block against each violent swing. More than once she stumbled forward as she evaded a blow that would cripple her, and she was losing her will to follow suit.

Spinning around to see the looming frame of Ayra over here again, Joon spat at her and took the chance to vent off her rage towards the Sith who constantly belittled and abused her trust. She launched her swings and strikes with the training saber and weaved left to right.

Ayra wanted her to learn this Soresu form? Forget it – Ayra wanted to fight dirty and wasn’t training her at all, so Joon wasn’t going to expel anymore to give the Sith the satisfaction.

Remembering that she was a Force warrior, Joon let go of her hilt with her left hand and clenched it, and swept to the side in an attempt to batter Ayra with a Force energy pulled from the natural forest around them. She wanted to see the Sith hurt, she wanted to see her dead! She hated her, and she didn’t trust her at all!

Her blade was right back in her hand after the Force expulsion to charge at her and impale her anywhere she could or stand strong with a drive that started to take over her actions and muscles – the drive of the Dark Side.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Flung with the Force, Darth Ayra hit a tree and rebound off it into the floor. The tree itself cracked from the power of the hit, it's bark cracking upwards towards it's branches forming a fissure. As soon as Ayra rebounded into the floor, she was up onto her feet, releasing an animal like snarl as she did. Bringing her Lightsaber above her head, she charged back at Justiciara, relentless and merciless as she always was with those she fought with to the death. She ran at Justiciara, roaring with her charge, giving the apprentice only seconds to dodge or counter-attack.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Her eyes were wide anticipation, her blood boiling with anger. This was the end for Joon now; she was being sought for death by the woman who wanted to help her, but now hated her. For her sisters and legacy as a Force warrior, she would fight until she literally couldn’t.

Swaying with the hilt in both hands, Joon gasped and readied herself as Ayra came back with a venom in her eyes and strength to her cry.

Joon ducked as the blow came and span on her heel under the attacking arm of Ayra. With the turn, she used the momentum to bring the training blade across towards the back of Ayra’s legs; granted it was a blind swipe, but it was aimed where she wanted it to at least connect with.

The sweat plastered her short hair to her brow but she was warm with the Dark Side coursing through her, and now she was letting it control and fuel her to stay alive and stay strong; Darth Ayra wasn’t going to end her here, not today.

[member="Darth Ayra"]