An Opening in the Mist

[Venthis Zambrano]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yYs0BgqhH4&feature=youtu.be[/media]​

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Outside the Sith Temple,
Dantooine.

An opening in the mist. A chance to meet with one, who could possibly open Venthis' eyes to something he aspired to become. An assassin. The mist had parted and a location was set. [member="Darth Lykos"] has agreed to meet with Venthis Zambrano, an aspiring young or at least young to his species, acolyte. Venthis had fled from his homeworld, due to the ongoing conflicts between the First Order and his own family, the Panathan Empire. Though he knew his cousin, Darth Carnifex, would handle it accordingly.

Venthis appeared confident as he stepped down the ramp from his small fighter, not too far out from the Sith Temple. Glancing around noticing the Temple in brief distance. Giving a soft nod of his head in approval as this was his first visit.

He wore his usual simple attire. Not coming to impress, or to show off. He simply came to expand his knowledge and arsenal of abilities.

An assassin would be what he envisioned himself becoming in the future, though there were many steps and obstacles that would need to be broken before he could call himself an 'assassin'. His emerald eyes glowed as the wind swept his hair to the side. He began to make his way towards the temple, following the tight pathway leading up to the large monolith like structure. Eventually coming to a set of stairs. Upon climbing them he would turn and face outwards to the vast world of Dantooine and fold his arms behind his back awaiting his instructor.

"Far too quiet" he whispered out of his mouth.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

"And yet not quiet enough."

The softly growled words would reach the ears of the young-looking male as the shadows themselves seem to part to reveal the cloaked form of Darth Lykos. Yet, even if they did seem to part around him as reality appeared to suddenly realise that, yes, the Iridonian did indeed exist in that moment and did indeed occupy that space, the shadows also seemed to cling at him. Urging fingers of intangible darkness that claws and desperately tried to grasp at him with ultimate futility. Unexisting nails clawing at the robes and, yet, failing to exist when they needed to do so the most, unheard cries of home and belonging being uttered within the intangible, seeking, begging, clamoring hands.

"Your breath echoes loud and obnoxiously off of the stone. Your footfalls thunderous and shattering. And you speak? You speak when shrouded in the very thing that you must become? Silence and shadows."

By now, Lykos had approached so as to stand barely more than a couple of meters away from Venthis. The Zabrak's tall frame, nearly unheard of within his own species, meant that even with the height that the Zambrano possessed, Lykos still stood taller and, as such, the Zabrak's amber eye, curling with hard shadows, locked with the man's own dark-side corrupted gaze. Steely focused even as the lack of echo from his own footfalls hung heavy with its silence.

"You seek to be an assassin, to be one with the shadows and quiet. And yet you speak against the silence that you must become? You speak against the quiet that you must haunt? Is your focus true, then? Or do you seek the assassin name for the glory that you perceive it to hold? You must become a shadow, silent in all manner. Even when stood before a crowd. The quiet will become your home, you comfort and where you will strike from. Yet, you speak against it? Present criticism against it? is your focus not true? Do you not realise the life you will accept, the life you will never be able to leave, when accepting the life of an assassin? Assassin is no job. Assassin is no duty. Assassin is no title. To be an assassin to to accept a way of life, a path that you must walk and never shy away from. It means to become the quiet, become the silence that you state there is too much of. It means you become Shadow and Quiet at once.

"Do not speak against the quiet until you are it, for, then, you speak not against it but from within it. The words would be true to those that hear it, but false within your mind. Present yourself how you wish, stand against the silence if you must. Be a simple citizen, a mindless beast or present yourself in a manner matching what they invision when they hear Sith Assassin." A tanned, weather-worn hand would emerge from the folds of the robe that the Zabrak robe to gesture at his own form as a silent display of his final few words. "But all must be masks. And you must be the quiet."

Slowly, over the time he had been speaking, Lykos' voice had been dropping lower and lower in volume and, now, his voice would be nothing more than a whisper even as he continued to stare with an unrelenting gaze at Venthis. "The quiet holds secrets, ones never spoken. It passes beneath the focus of the common folk, relaxes them and tell them that there is no harm around them. This must be you. The secret holder, the unnoticed threat. And, within the silence you will inhabit are the shadows that you must accept- the flickers out of the corner of many a being's eyes that is passed off as nothing more than a trick of the light. That is what you must accept into your self, into your life and your fate."

The silence that fell as Lykos trailed off hung heavily for a moment, and, in that moment, if Venthis was skilled enough to notice it, the sound of Lykos' breaths would be none-existent when compared to his own. The Iridonian's chest would rise and fall beneath the heavy robe he wore - the slight disturbance of fabric being an indicator. Breaths would be taken, seen in the flaring of nostrils beneath the shadow of the worn cowl, but they would not be heard - blending in with the very rustle of the wind.

When Lykos spoke again, his voice was no longer a growled, ferocious whisper. Instead, it was an emotionless voice that spoke at the volume he had done so when first presenting himself from the very foot of the monolith. "Venthis Zambrano. You sought me out for a reason. You asked for this meeting with a purpose in mind. Speak your intent."

The heavy silence, void of sound from the Iridonian, would fall once more.


[member="Venthis Zambrano"]

 

[Venthis Zambrano]

As the man emerged into existence, Venthis would turn his head in surprise, widening his eyes. A brief gasp escaped his mouth before he would seemingly fall into a trance listening to the vast words being spoken to the young acolyte. His eyes would keep locked onto the Zabrak Sith Lord. Not flickering once, he kept his focus fully centered onto the new arrival. His arms would remain snapped behind his back, showing a straight posture to the Lord of Oblivion.

Once he finished speaking the young Anzati and Epicanthix hybrid spoke in an attempt to justify himself "My Lord, I've come to learn how to correct all these faults. I want to be able to be invisible, non-existent. Be able to vanish away from eyes of everyone else. I've sought you out, to show me the way of the shadows. I aspire to be..." He would wave his hands in the direction of [member="Darth Lykos"]. "Nothing." He stated, turning back out to the distance, after taking in the appearance of the tall Zabrak, darting his eyes over his hands. The fact that the Sith Lord could simply appear from nothing astonished Venthis. Various schemes began to run throughout his mind. "I want to adopt the lifestyle, an Assassin." He made clear. He glanced to the side, eyeing the Zabrak's response. Though he would continue "It will be something I continue to attempt to do as I continue through my life, I've decided. I'm now committing to that decision." He said genuinely in a stern tone of voice. While still throughout the whole dialogue speaking at a hushed volume.

Again glancing to the side, to check the Zabrak once again. He would bring his arms around to the front, folding them across his chest, before turning and gesturing for them both to enter the temple. Entering the doors would fling open, though completely empty inside. "I want to be no-one, completely unseen to everyone who I want to not be noticed by." He said again, stating his intent. Venthis had come in search of an instructor and hopefully he was able to prove to the Sith that he was worthy of such knowledge. "I want to become a shadow, can you teach me?" He finished with.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

The Acolyte's words washed over Lykos, a stream of noise that may as well have been static with as much attention as Lykos was paying to the words spoken. Instead, his focus was upon the infliction within those words that he ignored, on the shifting of body language and the fluctuation in hormones and scent. With every individual point of data that the Zabrak collected, Lykos gleamed a deeper, more complete version of whatever narrative that Venthis was weaving with words - hearing without hearing what he may be thinking or holding back from his words.

Him turning away from Lykos even as he stared at the very hands that had gestured at him when speaking of being nothing: Venthis was creating schemes relevant to being nothing that did not include Lykos - schemes of what he might do should he possess the ability to become one with the Shadows on a level equal to Lykos. Glancing at him when speaking of being an Assassin: an attempt to curry subconscious favour by seeking both approval through the Zabrak's own body language and by seemingly holding Lykos as the pinnacle of being an Assassin. Turning with his arms folded across his chest: hiding from the outside world, maybe securing his schemes deep within his mind in the moment he blocked the world out? Gesturing for Lykos to follow before entering the temple: an attempt to position himself as higher up the hierachy than Lykos, an attempt to make it clear that even if Lykos was a Sith Lord that Venthis' position as a Zambrano elevated him above that - even if Venthis himself did not consciously realise that was opinion and maybe even deny that fact to himself.

Smirking to himself beneath the stoic facade that left his weathered features emotionless, Lykos decided to not go against Venthis' actions, to instead follow him into the Temple rather than attempt to display his own level of dominance. After all, when one walks behind you, you are only presenting your back to their knife. Dominance was not truly displayed through such mundane attempts of showing power, but through actions from the Shadows, subtle actions that conveyed control and strength - domination through subtly. Even if one stood in prominence, domination would still be show through subtly actions that spoke to the primal part of the brain. Never had there been a need for overt displays - though if one wanted to live in prominence they were tools that were more than efficient.

Pulling himself from his musings, Lykos decided to speak up into the heavy silence that hung, oppressively, within the empty hall of the Temple. "I can teach you, yes. But, near anyone can teach. The question that must be asked is: can you learn? Can you humble yourself enough to learn? To bow and acknowledge your position below another? If the answer is yes, then I can teach you. If your answer is no," Lykos' Presence within the Force would halt its time in obscurity for but a moment, a heavy blanket of dark Shadows seemingly rolling off of the cloaked Iridonian for a few seconds before retreating back into the ether, taking its sudden and oppressive weight with it, "then I will humble you so that you may learn. Potential must not be squandered, after all."

Stopping his progression deeper into the temple, Lykos' amber gaze would lock onto Venthis with a primal intensity coiling within its depths. "What say you?" This time, when he spoke, it was not Darth Lykos that spoke, it was the White Assassin, the Unseen Shadow. A softer and more refined, but infinitely more deadly, tone suddenly layering his gruff voice - doing nothing to detract from the feral sound and instead only serving to add a contradictory layer that spoke a closer truth as to the Iridonian's true nature than the solely feral voice he normally possessed. "What say you, Acolyte?" Again the question would be asked, but, this time, as a whisper that hissed within the pungent silence of the hall.


[member="Venthis Zambrano"]

 

[Venthis Zambrano]

Venthis was clearly weary about the Sith Lord. As he should be with every, though he had reason to be careful around [member="Darth Lykos"]. He had heard of his work, nothing but rumours and whispers. Nothing solid, no dates, no details. A quiet exhale left the mouth of Venthis as he glanced up to the ceiling then back to the Zabrak. Adjusting his arms to behind his back, and interlocking his fingers. He spoke in an attempt to talk in a similar manner to the Zabrak Sith Lord, quiet. "I'll do whatever needs to be done." He said surely. Glancing into the eyes of The White Assassin.

Venthis squinted briefly in the seeming direction of nothing before he would turn back with a plain expression across his face. He took the time to place his hair into a bun, on the back of his head. It seemingly annoying him. The temple halls watched upon the pair, the setting was correct for the occasion. Though, they came to a halt with no one in sight. Just the two of them, seeming as if the entire temple had been evacuated, where it would usually be booming with life. Curious. They stood in the silence.

Though he continued to glare at the changing presence of Darth Lykos. It consistently changes, not staying the same for too long. He raised an eyebrow at the fact, before giving a nod. "I wish to learn, and to be able to learn." In an attempt to persuade him, that he actually did mean what he had said. His arms remaining behind his back for a reason.