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