Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Are You Lost, Little Bird?

There were times when a man needed to distance himself from the prime object of his attentions. To dedicate one's life to a cause was valorous; to let that cause rule every waking second of that life was foolishness. The hounds had been sated, either by blood or servitude, and Mephirium could afford to leave them be for the time being.

The waters were cold to the touch, but not uncomfortable. Mephirium waded waist deep through the dark liquid, his soul tethered by a thin string to his body. His physical form wandered about the deep seemingly at random, whilst his spirit traveled the currents of the Great Ocean unmolested.

He saw terrible things within its depths.

Great demons of salt and ash swallowed worlds. Whirlpools of energy surged in random intervals throughout the ocean, swallowing up any who drew too close. Terrible clouds of smoke and ash suffocated the dwindling lights at the ocean's bottom, yet for every light that went out, another two came to life.

Not for the first time, Mephirium was confounded by the ocean's power. He spent his free time attempting to understand its rhythms, only to find nothing but confusion and an unsated curiosity. Perhaps he-

Something else was present. With a simpel thought, Mephirium returned from the edges of his consciousness to the physical realm. Blue eyes shot open as he looked to the shores of the dead world. Whom would have followed him to this desolate place? The lake of Ambria was not well known, and it had long served as his place of solitude.

Perhaps it had drawn another being into its unfathomable depths. Frowning, he drew his cowl up over his face and wandered to the shore, his eyes narrowing as he peered out into the evening light.

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
Years felt like months to those that knew not of the immensity of the universe. Even the most banal, broken of things had awoken within a former captive a flame of intensity, of a type she had never uncovered before. And she found comfort in the silence. Freedom had been both thrilling and mauling. She had been a queen among her siblings, now she was a particle of dust. For the first time in long years she had felt real blindness. Utter and dark pointlessness. She had learned that not being confined did not meant being free. And now she was neither.

So she lurked, not knowing what she was looking for but determined to find it. Her skin softly vibrated with what she had learned to recognize as a foreign presence and her eyes turned from a diseased grey to a luminescent light-blue. The Force flowed to her eyes, allowing her to see the world as a matter of Force marks and identities. And the first thing she saw was power. She could hear the soft murmur of the water from where she stood, back against a tree. And she pushed her sight a little bit further to observe the man that radiated the dark source of her curiosity.


She did not have a doubt that her presence was known to the stranger, so she walked into the light slowly. All thoughts of the universe that surrounded her now lost in the deep, dark canals of her mind. She moved carefully, the soil she stepped on unmodified by her steps. Most would have walked the other way, but the need to know why the man carried such a mark was worth the risk. And then again, what had she to lose?

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
The intruder approached.

Mephiriumed quirked a brow at her. Most would have turned the other way long ago. The lake itself was a nexus of the darker sides of the ethereal, and its presence alone could drive the weak-minded into insanity. That, coupled with his deep connection to it would've sent most running for the hills, for the wrath Mephirium could deliver here reached far beyond simple death. His lips pressed into a thin line as he got a better look at her -- tall, slender, and more importantly, unafraid.

What a fool she was. With a snort of amusement, Mephirium wandered up out of the waters to the bank of the river. He came to a stop when a few meters stood between them, and gestured with a hand for her to do the same. He watched her curiously, though not with any sense of malcontent. She was no threat to him; not on a normal day, and most certainly not in his sanctuary.

"I should put up an electric fence. No one is supposed to come out this far," he said in greeting, his voice strong yet mollified. His lips pressed into a thin, albeit pleasant smile. "Why do you visit my lake, stranger? It is not the safest place to wander about in."

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
Every pore in her body was saturated by the sizzling darkness of the Force, that drowned the lake and seemed to be channeled through the man as they approached each other. She did not feel fear, she felt something far from it. A fascination she hadn't felt since the day she met one particular member of her creators. Every functional sense in her body had been tied to the figure that stood in front of her, as her deeper, unknown wants marveled at the display of darkness around her. And she stopped immediately when the man raised his hand straightening her posture, a reaction of obedience that had been so enforced in her that in her profound state of contemplation resurfaced to her actions as a simple unconscious response.

Then he spoke and her eyebrows rose ever so slightly, her eyes ever glowing in their icy stare. She realized it had been a long time since she had last spoken. The tone of the man that addressed her again reminded her of her childhood. The memories it brought upon her simply feeding the essence of the Force that slowly crept onto her.

"I did not intend to trespass any boundaries laid on this land. But if shall answer your question, the reason I reached this lake was because of you" Her voice flowed out of her mouth without hesitation, its silky and tantalizing tones braided in her words. "You have a mark I had never seen before...A powerful one" She added, further analyzing what she perceived through Force Sight.

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
Mephirium rumbled with pleasant laughter. He had expected as much. The woman did hold a presence within the Great Ocean, though it was dwarfed by his own. Perhaps it was simply because he had sated himself on the lake, or perhaps it was something else. Either way, he assessed the woman all the same, his eyes meeting the sightless sockets of her own.

"So you did not," he mused, arms folding behind the small of his back as he began to pace. His thoughts went to places beyond, and purposes for the rift he perceived in front of him. She was an odd creature; an amalgamation of things that should not be, yet were. Mephirium decided that such made her unique, just as it made her an abomination. More importantly, it meant that she was alone. He could make use of that.

"My name is Mephirium," he began, "You were likely drawn to this lake as much as you were drawn to me. Thousands of years ago, a sorceress claimed it as her own. She sealed herself within its waters, and used her newfound position to poison the entire world. Those powers still remain, and from time to time, I draw upon them."

He paused.

"Normally, I would have to silence you. I am not the type for killing people of use whom follow my laws, however, so a scrambling of the mind would do, but you..." His brow furrowed. "What shall I call you, my nascent intruder?"

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
The hybrid perceived the man as a very unique phenomenon, not realizing she herself could be in more ways than one classified into such a category. She had always known that a being of her characteristics would not have been a viable prospect under natural circumstances, but she had not been the first unnatural creation and she would not be the last.

All of her attention was at the disposition of the Sith Lord and though her expression was as blank as the waters of the lake were dark, she marveled at the newly acquired information that the powerful man was providing. She wondered by which means could someone draw a power like the one she could see in the inorganic matter of the lake and her curiosity was profoundly heightened.

"My masters called me Enma" she replied, not quivering at the mentioning of the word as most would have. Enma had never hated her creators, they had made her what she was. And even if she had, there was no use in holding grudges with dead people. Her glowing eyes then shifted to the waters of the lake, deep in concentration.

"I wish to learn more about what this lake, and you, possess and chanel..." She spoke her thoughts. This side of the Force she had never seen. She had seen grey marks, blue marks...but this deep red, dark mark filled with promising expectations was slowly settling itself inside the hybrid.

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
"Enma," Mephirium let the name roll over his tongue. He affixed her with an appraising stare, and seemed to find things satisfactory, given the way his smile broadened. he turned about and gestured toward the lake, its dark waters seeming to react to the movement. Where most murky bodies of water were dark, the waters of this lake were black like basalt. To most, they would freeze the skin to the touch. To some, like Mephirium, they were as much a home as any other place, and the connection to the ethereal they provided was invaluable.

"Many wish for the same things. Few can actually accomplish such, however," he began, turning back to face the young woman. "Most fail before they ever begin. Others die along the way, and other still make it to the end, only to have a rival cut them down. What you ask is to understand the fundamental makeup of the galaxy, and how to manipulate it as you see fit. It is not something just anyone can learn."

He paused, turning to glance at the lake, and drew in a deep breath, enjoying the familiar salty-tang of the lakeside air. "Some call it the dark side. Others the bogan. A rare few will call it the truth, and even fewer know it as the ethereal. All these names are true, to varying degrees, but one must come to understand what it is they are dealing with before they even think to partake."

The words hung like stale air, only breaking when Mephirium spoke again. "Whom were your masters?"

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
She smiled ever so slightly at his words. She hadn't had rivals for the last four years of her life. She had had forty-nine the day everything had started. She was created to thrive, why not try thriving at this? She did not fear her death but did want to make it memorable, at least for herself. Enma had risked her life for lesser causes, this was something she saw herself pursuing for a long time. A means to an end.

And as soon as she heard its name everything started falling into place within her mind. This was the dark-side he had spoken about. How far could he have taken her, yet he chose to die. Her jaw clenched for a second when faced to this thought, but she let it go as rapidly as it had come and looked at the Sith Lord.

"I never knew their names except for one...They created us, the hybrids. They raised us and taught us what we know." She replied.

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
Hybrids. Mephirium's brow furrowed at the word. He knew inter-species relations were possible, and quite common at that, but not of the like that Enma was. She bore the traits of too many species; an amalgamation of traits from races that had little in common. He found the girl's traits intriguing, but not worth bringing up. At least, not for the moment.

"I may teach you," he intoned, bringing up the subject with caution in his voice. He had taken a number of students as of late, but none had proven themselves worthy to succeed him. They would serve as useful pawns and followers yes, but none left any lasting impression upon Mephirium. They all craved power for the sake of it, and that would always be their downfall. A Sith Lord who fought for power's sake alone fought for nothing, and in the end it would be their end. It always was.

Shaking his head, Mephirium turned to stare at Enma. His eyes narrowed somewhat, and he stepped forward, his gait almost predatory in nature. "You may embark upon a path of damnation should you seek to learn these things Enma," he said, a hint of real compassion to his words. It was a warning that she might descend into the depths he had been forcibly dragged into. All that Mephirium had done was out of necessity, not for want of strength, but need. He could not bring her down the path if she had any trepidation.

"They are not for the faint of heart, or for one who has anything else to live for. Should you have family, lovers, or friends you care for, you must leave now and never return, lest you damn them with you."

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
Her sensitive ears silenced everything but the words that emanated from the dark Sith Lord. She felt how his warnings downed on her chest and she found a new resilience to them. A new determination. The universe had stripped her of everything a being was supposed to have. She knew no family, lovers or friends. She was a blank canvas, an malleable prospect. And not feeling any emotion at all arise within her, for she had nothing to lose, she replied.

"I have nothing to return to..." Her brain had tried hard enough to muster a memory, not taking the Lord's warning as simple words. But she truly had nothing in this outside world. Her glowing eyes followed his gaze as he approached her, not a flicker of doubt in her glowing eyes that displayed not fear or doubt but a request...A hopeful and dark longing not fueled by hatred or rage but by pure, unbiased desire to become one with the type of Force that now, after all this exposure, trespassed through her in violent waves.

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
Mephirium fell silent as he studied the woman. He would never train the brutes that others of his kind decided to gift the arts. Aside from creating powerful, loyal soldiers, the process would have been a waste of time. For every powerful Sith Warrior, he could find ten better-trained soldiers to do the job for him. Normal men with the skills required were in more abundance than force sensitives, and Mephirium had no time to train an idiot.

Judging the hybrid, he decided that this one was not of their ilk. She was a blank creature; something to be grown and molded as she did so. Whatever she became, she would be formed by the words of those that influenced her. With that in mind, Mephirium made his decision.

"Then I will teach you." He stated simply, turning to face the great lake. A thousand possibilities made themselves evident, some more violent than others. Mephirium had been taught through physical pain and torture. It had not built him, but shattered him and stunted his growth. To express the power of the ethereal via pain was to think like an ingrate. In the end, he had killed his master for the suffering brought onto him anyway, and Mephirium was not looking to create a usurper.

Glancing over his shoulder at the girl, he chose a different tact. "Do you know the Sith Code?"

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
She felt how the sheer overwhelming, stagnant presence of the darkness around her enveloped her and she found a tenebrous calmness in it. She stood still, straight, her hands resting at her side so as to not obstruct the flow of the Force in the slightest of ways. It made her feel the innermost feelings of her mind, even the ones she had never known she harnessed.

She was now to call the man in front of her her new Master and she found she had missed being an apprentice. Apprenticeship granted upon one the gift of earning what one desires. She had worked to earn her freedom before, and was disappointed to find that it was not what she was looking for. Now she was left with the task of keeping on looking and a resonance in the back of her head of her dying master telling her to seek what [member="Darth Mephirium"] had revealed to her: the dark-side.

"I do not, Master Mephirum" She answered, her brain automatically making the association between her new status as an apprentice and the natural instinct of referring to her master as such.
 
He had not expected her to understand. Very few did.

"The Sith code is an ancient and outdated dogma all its own, but it does have its own merits." Mephirium began, turning about to look Enma in the eyes. "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken, the force shall free me." The mantra was one Mephirium had learned as a young boy on Gratos. For a time, he had held it close to his heart until he found the inherent flaws within it. It, like the Jedi code, had been crafted to create a specific kind of being -- a being that would be of no use to Mephirium.

"Elements of this code are correct, others are false. I have studied many of the ancient force-sensitive orders and their traditions, and I will tell you that neither the Jedi, nor the Sith are entirely correct," he paused, "But it is best I help you to understand, first. Peace is a lie, is a lie within itself. As Sith, we strive for contention so that we may grow. At the same time, if the only goal is self-growth, then all that awaits is death. Those who wrote this section of the code were archaic cultists who lived in a society run by warlords. In their mind, peace was a lie because they had never known it."

Another pause. "To let the dark side use you is to be a slave. The force does not free you. It will become a cage for you just as anything else, unless you conquer it. It is why I look down upon Sith whom delve too far into its depths. Once you pass the point of no return, you lose your individuality -- you become a tool of the force, inconsequential, worthless. Peace is the ultimate goal, for when you have peace, you know you have achieved the ultimate victory."

Halting in his tirade, Mephirium offered the woman a thin smile. "What are your thoughts on the prospect of peace, Enma? Speak freely. I will not tolerate a yes-man."

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
The smallest of shivers ran down her spine at the last words of the code her new Master had recited, free. Freedom. The word whispered in her head as a distant promise, white ghosts of her past encouraging her to seek something she had never known, something she would have to recognize on her own or fail and spend the rest of her long days sulking in a misery so deep she would become, as the Lord had said, a worthless tool.

Her eyes had stopped their glow, finding in their blindness the deepest attention to her Master's speech as her ears rapidly became incredibly sensitive to her surroundings. And the pieces fell in place inside her head like a rehearsed puzzle, her brain quickly making the connections as she stared blankly with dead eyes at nothing while witnessing the epiphany that would decide the rest of her existence.

It was not until her the Sith's question that she realized she had decided upon her answer even before having been asked...And lifting her grey eyes towards where she instinctively knew the man's would be, she replied.


"Then peace will become freedom. Knowledge will start its path and discipline will keep it." She spoke not with a knowing tone, the young woman did not pretend to understand matters that she acknowledged were still beyond her, but with honesty as she had been asked. "In a path that if unchanged and uncontrolled it will lead to one's loosing of oneself, reaching balance within its darkness is the goal of the wise." Silence took her for short second, as though she was considering whether to continue or not. "And i do not believe peace to be a lie...I have felt it once"

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
The low, rumbling laugh that came from the back of Mephirium's throat was pleasant. He stepped forward, placing a steady hand on the woman's shoulder, his fingers squeezing. They were metallic in nature -- a phantom of circuits and steel that mimicked the arm that had been lost. The servos whirred as the hand fell back to Mephirium's side, and he smiled approvingly.

"An insightful explanation," he mused, his approval evident in his tone. He took a step past Enma, and lowered down into a crouch. His fingers trailed through the dead sand; little specks rising up in a tiny cyclone at his touch. A brush of cold air passed over the bank of the lake, as if the world itself was reacting to Enma's words. In a way, one might say that Ambria approved as much as Darth Mephirium did.

"I could not have trained you if you answered wrongly. Too many of my kind give themselves over to dogmatic beliefs, and it is always their end. Once they reach that end, everything they built in life crumbles away. It is why I have striven to reeducate myself on the nature of the ethereal and things pertaining to it," he glanced up over his shoulder. "Perhaps I will teach such things to you as well."

He rose back up to his feet before he began again. "Through passion I gain strength. Explain that to me as you did the prospect of peace."

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 
Her body remained relaxed just as much as her mind's attentiveness prevailed, even renewed its interest and rationalization of the new concepts it was acquiring. Enma had been special among her already remarkable brothers and sisters, there had been something about her that set her apart that extended far beyond the achievements of her natural assets as a hybrid. This had been the very same reason why one of her old masters had taken a special interest in her, leaving a mark on her that would linger many years into her adulthood.

She could not help a small pang of pride when faced with the Sith Lord's appraisal of her answer. Enma was not devoid of feelings nor had she ever tried to be. That had never been requested of her as long as it did not interfere with her tasks. And truth was that what Enma could offer as a follower and apprentice, she still had to see she had lost as independence. She could think for herself and plan for herself, but it were rare the times she acted out of her own accord in the past. Habits are hard to kill and even after four years of no tutelage, she still unconsciously sought some kind of guidance.

"Passion is a double-edged weapon, just as much as strength is. If these are the means to power, they can make you blind to your own consumption. Passion is hard to control and an obsession with strength makes one unstable and dull minded. If one must conquer the dark Force to not be enslaved by it, then they shall first feed from their passions but not indulge in them, recognize one's strength without growing delusional about gaining it"

[member="Darth Mephirium"]
 
Once more, Mephirium found himself smiling. He tilted his head forward in a half-nod, and gestured toward the lake behind him. "You've a sharp intellect. It will serve you well in the days to come." He offered nothing else, and instead strode toward the waiting water. His eyes fell to the murky depths, though his perception continued to revolve around Enma. She would be a valuable asset so long as she was correctly cultivated. Perhaps she would come to replace @Gratua Alore as his favored apprentice, or perhaps not. Time would tell, but Mephirium knew he'd found a suitable candidate to possibly replace him in the far flung future.

"I have a shuttle just over the next ridge," he spoke. "Go to it. There is a secondary room near the bridge. These will be your quarters until we return to my fleet. Once there, you will receive more suitable accommodations," he paused, turning to look over his shoulder. "There are readings within the ship's database on the history of the Sith. I want you to look into a figure known as Darth Nihilus, a Sith of the ancient times. Memorize all that you can, and then we will discuss him. I cannot teach you if you are not a well-learned individual."

With that, Mephirium drew back his cowl and strode into the depths. Enma had passed his test, but that did not mean he was ready to give up his solitude just yet.

[member="Enma Jayss"]
 

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