Private Art of Sorcery

[Mika Tai En]

Art of Sorcery

Objective: Learn more about the Dark Side
Location: Sub-temple Deep Abyss, Malachor
Outfit: Casual Outfit
Tags: Seren Gwyn

Following the ascension feast, Mika had been given a bit of time to explore Malachor. Her life had been quite short. Shorter than anyone would think in looking at her. She had never really had what felt like a home. And she wasn’t sure if Malachor would become that. She was being introduced to a whole new existence, but did that mean she would set down roots, or just that her goals had changed. The goals were the most important thing. Who knew what personal desires would drive Mika as she grew into her new dark persona.

One good thing was that there was no fear of the darkside. Though her initial training had not included much in the ways of strict darkside talents, it was chaos not darkness that Mika was preached to fight against. If she was going to follow the truth, Mika was going to learn more of the powers that her Queen used. Maybe even more than that. Mika served her Queen’s wishes for now, but she knew that the Queen wanted her to be her own being once the truth had completely freed her.

In subterranean levels of the Spire on Malachor, Mika found a new place that vibrated with dark powers. As she walked through the corridors, she sensed something different than the power that the Queen possessed. There was something “off” about it. The strangeness was not off-putting to the young knight, quite the contrary. Though it made her proceed with a bit of caution, she was excited to see more of the truth of the galaxy. See more power, and how it was applied. As she walked deeper into the temple she saw a woman in the distance. About her height and maturity level, though the latter was harder for Mika to tell for sure. The woman had darker skin and dark blue-black hair. Her aura pulled Mika closer. This woman knew things of power. Things that Mika did not.

”Hello. I’m Mika Tai En. Knight of the Dark Queen. I come seeking knowledge and power.”

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren paused in the gloom of the corridor, the shadows at her feet folding in toward her like the silent wings of some distant bird. The faint hum of the temple's deep stone resonated in the air around them, ancient and cold. Amber eyes glinted in the half‑light.

"Knight  Mika Tai En," she said, voice low, measured. "You stand in a place few dare enter…and even fewer understand."

She stepped forward, dark blue‑black hair brushing her shoulders, the cloak's hem whispering across the floor. The corridor walls responded to her presence—sigils faintly lighting, shadows leaning inward, curious. Seren's gaze held Mika's with deliberate calm.

"You say you seek knowledge and power. That is good. The dark side offers neither as gifts—it demands depth, mastery, and will. I am Seren Gwyn."

She motioned with a subtle inclination toward the deeper passage of the spire. "Here, in the subterranean levels of Malachor, power is not learned—it is claimed. Not by force alone—but through understanding. Do you understand that?"

There was a pause, the only sound the distant drip of ancient moisture and the faint pulse of the Force in the shadows. Seren's expression did not soften, but a quiet invitation shimmered in her eyes. "Follow me. Stay alert. The peculiar is not always weakness—it may be the threshold of truth."

She lifted her hand, the shadows responding, gathering in arcs around her fingertips like ink drawn in water. "Walk beside me for now. Not as a pupil alone, but as one who might hold the same torch. If your goals shift…You must shift with them. But first—let us see what you are willing to become."

Mika Tai En

 

[Mika Tai En]

Art of Sorcery

Objective: Learn more about the Dark Side
Location: Sub-temple Deep Abyss, Malachor
Outfit: Casual Outfit
Tags: Seren Gwyn

​

It did not surprise Mika to hear that the temple had infrequent visitors. The aura surrounding the place was dark and overwhelming. To hear the woman before her speak such truth did however give Mika a small sense of pride. The Dark Queen had severed her chains to what was safe and orderly. Here there were many truths to be discovered if one would allow themselves the freedom to indulge.

As the woman stepped forward Mika's heart fluttered with the possibilities. The woman was exotic and beautiful, but more importantly she radiated knowledge of the shadows. Mika had been "raised" on honor and order. But she was slowly learning that there were other ways that were far more effective in the galaxy they lived in. Mika had been lied to. The Dark Queen exposed those lies. This woman before Mika would be able to tell more of the truth, Mika could feel that.

The statement that knowledge would come at a price brought a subtle smirk to Mika's lips. For the most part she was still a bit timid. She was still better at taking orders than jumping in. But she had faith in her will and courage. She needed guidance, that much was true, but she would do what it took to find the truths that had been hidden from her. Mika gave a small bow of her head and shoulders and a warm smile as Seren gave her own name.

As they stared deeper into the temple Mika listened carefully to Seren's words. "I understand that knowledge and power is not free. I know that while it is abundant here, that does not mean it is easily attained. I am ready to adapt to what is needed to take what is here."

Between words, Mika noted the attention of Seren drift into the distance. Mika closed her eyes and allowed other senses to take charge. She heard the drips and felt the Force thrumming. She hummed with growing expectations of what would be found, what she would learn. When Seren bid her to follow Mika opened her eyes and nodded. She kept her other senses aware, but her eyes followed the movements of her guide. "Everything since I have met the Dark Queen has been peculiar, and certainly not weak. You don't need to fear my readiness to accept what is slightly unnatural to me. What was hammered into me as natural was a lie. Peculiar is where the truths are."

Mika quite willingly closed the distance between her and Seren and began to follow. Though she gauged Seren to be not very old, Mika guessed her guide to be a master of this domain. Seren calling Mika a pupil seemed to cement that thought. "I am quite new at following my own whims," Mika purred pleasantly as she continued after Seren. "But you will find that I am quite willing to become whatever is necessary. Power is a new thing to me, but I like it quite a bit."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren's amber eyes lingered on Mika, noting the young knight's eagerness and the way she moved—curious, cautious, yet unafraid to follow. A faint smile curved her lips, patient and knowing, as though she were testing the weight of Mika's intent.

"You understand more than you realize, Mika Tai En," Seren said, her voice calm, deliberate, carrying a subtle warmth that brushed against the edges of the chamber. "Knowledge and power are never free. And even when they seem abundant, the cost is rarely only what is asked—it is what the seeker is willing to surrender of themselves."

The shadows around them stirred at her subtle movement, sliding along the walls like liquid, folding into the silver sigils beneath her fingertips. "Here, the unnatural is only a mirror of what the Force allows, and the peculiar…the peculiar often holds truths the orderly cannot see."

Her gaze softened slightly, amber catching the dim glow of the sigils, but her presence remained commanding, an unspoken test pressed into every motion. "You will encounter things that unsettle what you were taught. That is the purpose of this place, and of your choice to follow it."

Seren began to move again, gliding through the corridors with measured steps, the shadows parting to mark her passage. Each movement seemed intentional, a subtle invitation for Mika to match her stride, to keep pace not just with her body but with her mind.

"Do not fear the demands this path places upon you," she murmured, voice dropping a fraction, threaded with something sharper, more intimate. "But do not mistake willingness for mastery. Power is seductive, yes—but discipline…discipline decides whether it bends you or you bend it."

She glanced back, amber eyes flicking toward Mika with a faint smirk that held both challenge and curiosity. "Follow closely, observe. Not only what I reveal, but what the shadows whisper. There is much to learn… and much more to earn. And sometimes," she added softly, letting the words linger just enough to intrigue, "the lesson is as enticing as the truth itself."

With that, she led the way deeper into the sanctum, the heavy pulse of Malachor's history pressing against them like a living thing, testing, guiding, and calling those who dared walk its corridors.

Mika Tai En

 

[Mika Tai En]

Art of Sorcery

Objective: Learn more about the Dark Side
Location: Sub-temple Deep Abyss, Malachor
Outfit: Casual Outfit
Tags: Seren Gwyn

Mika felt Seren's appraising look. In the past she would have shied away questioning the reason for it. In the world of the Dark Court she knew that everyone sized up the person beside them until they thought they knew them well enough. Seren was trying to figure out if Mika was ready for the knowledge offered. Gauging if Mika could take the lessons and make herself stronger. Probably also wondering what if any threat Mika could pose to Seren. Any thought of Mika's aesthetics was immaterial to the young knight. Judging the physical was natural. It would have no bearing on what took place in the depths of the temple.

Seren's statement that Mika was more aware than she realized brought a coy smirk to Mika's lips. The tone in which the words came made Mika hum slightly with pride. The next statement was a warning. There was always a cost to knowledge and power. Mika had grown to expect that. She just wasn't sure what the costs would be. "There was little of me when the Dark Queen called for my service on Deservo. Honor and duty that was pressed upon me to make me a simple drone. I feel like a fresh being since my arrival here. I am not sure what is left for me to give up of who I was. But I am open to sacrifice for certain."

Mika watched the shadows carefully, and how Seren seemed to toy with them. It was an interesting ability. Something that could be quite useful. What was said about the contrast between the peculiar and orderly rang quite true to Mika. Order was what she had been taught. It was quite blinding to the whole truth of the galaxy. Mika's eyes watched the shadows as the played between Seren's fingers. She wondered if the sigils were for effect or if they had meaning and purpose in the power that Seren was weaving. Mika decided it did not matter much. Power was many things, and most often it was flaunted.

"I came here to be taught what was held back from. What I was taught was nothing but lies. I hope what you show me would make the stomachs of my teacher turn over and retch their vile insides. Do not fear me being too soft for what is down here," Mika responded with a smirk and a confidence that surprised herself.

Mika stayed close behind Seren. She didn't want to miss a thing and she did not want to be left behind. That was not out of fear, that was because she felt that her whole life she was expected to be nothing but a pawn. There was much here to learn, to take. Seren seemed to speak in riddles to the very narrow orders that Mika had grown used to. It would take much to decipher what the woman actually meant, but there were words spoken that appealed to Mika greatly: demands, mastery, seduction. They were words that Mika knew the meaning of, but she never truly thought they could pertain to her. This place made it possible that she could be the demander, the master, the seductress. It was all so exciting.

They continued deeper into the temple. Seren spoke just as cryptically. Mika was actually beginning to like it. The mystery that came with not knowing exactly what was being said. If there was more than one meaning. It was especially exciting when Seren mentioned the lesson could sometimes be more of a draw than the "knowledge" that was being offered. "As I have said, this place is a new beginning to me. Consider me a lump of clay to be molded. Not a dumb lump of clay though. I will not just accept everything that I am exposed to."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

"You understand more than you let show," Seren said, her voice quiet, deliberate, letting each word hang in the thick air of the sanctum. "It is not enough to arrive here and simply witness. The shadows, the sigils, the whispers of this place—they do not teach without demand. They require presence, intent, and the willingness to bend without breaking."

She let her fingers trail along a nearby wall, the sigils pulsing faintly under her touch. Shadows shifted and coiled at her command, darting out to follow Mika's movements, as if testing her reflexes, her awareness. "You speak of sacrifice, of what you leave behind. Good. The willingness to offer oneself—to surrender illusions of safety or certainty—is the first key. But knowledge exacts more than that. Power has weight. Every lesson will demand a part of you you did not know was yours to give."

Seren's gaze swept Mika from head to toe, not for vanity, but for intent. "Do not mistake what is peculiar for weakness, nor the unfamiliar for chaos," she continued, amber eyes flicking to the moving shadows. "Here, order is a cage. Peculiarity is the unlock. And yet," she leaned slightly closer, voice lowering, threaded with subtle challenge and intrigue, "to bend without breaking, to command without crushing, to draw without yielding—that is the mastery. That is the lesson some never recognize until it has already consumed them."

She let the sigils flare briefly, ribbons of light dancing between her fingers, teasing at the edges of Mika's awareness. "You wish to know, to taste the power hidden from you," Seren said softly, letting the hum of the Force thread between them like a caress. "Good. Curiosity alone will not suffice. You will be tested—by shadows, by thought, by desire. And sometimes, the lesson is not the knowledge, but the draw, the pull that guides you deeper into understanding than any spoken word could."

Seren's steps led them farther down the corridor, the sigils dimming and brightening in tandem with her movements. She cast a glance over her shoulder, amber eyes glinting. "You say you will not simply accept. That is wise. Only those who challenge themselves, who measure each offering, will bend this place to their will without being broken. Follow closely, Mika Tai En, and let the shadows teach you how to see beyond what is given and take what is earned."

Mika Tai En