Awakenings ~ Darth Hauntruss / Elora

[Scherezade deWinter]

Her arms were not that strong yet. They moved through the water, the heaviness of it making her work harder than she wished to. But this was how swimming worked; you fought the water, and you came out triumphant. There was no other choice but to swim, to come up, and to break the surface.She could feel trickles of it running down her faze as she came up and the calm breeze touched her face. She loved Corstris.

This isn't Corstris, Elora, came the whisper. Not exactly through her ears, but into her mind. This was how they always communicated. "I know," the child answered. It never was. Neither was it ever Coruscant, her parents' ship, or Endelaan. Places she had seen with her physical eyes but were now nothing but an eternal burn sketched into her memory.

Yet everywhere, there was the swimming. Going against the turrets. Pushing on with all she had. She had to come out triumphant. There was no other choice. "You should take me to new places," she said, letting herself float in the water. "I have," came that whisper again, "but they do not take a sufficiently strong presence in your memories." "Then perhaps you are too weak to resume your position as my guardian."

A mental giggle was heard in Elora's mind. "You are just like your parents, Elora. Both sets." "I have but one set of parents, and that is quite enough, thank you." Now came a chuckle.

The scenery changed. No longer was Elora floating in the lakes of Corstris, but now she stood, still dripping, in the lush jungles of Endelaan. "You have grown, Elora." "That is generally what happens after one is born, if I understand biology correctly. Even your powers could not stop that completely."

"That is true," the whisper was harsher now, angry. Elora knew why. It was a soft spot, a place her guardian did not like to be reminded of. If her guardian had been powerful enough, the child would have remained a toddler until the galaxy was ready. Until her parents surfaced again, coming out of their own deep and dark swims. Until the galaxy was ripe and was properly deserving of her legacy.

"You will be gone soon," Elora claimed, crossing her arms, "the last time you woke me up, it had been two centuries. Where do we stand now?"

No answer came.

Elora turned around just in time to see the great monster forming behind her. "Oh, guardian," she chuckled herself this time. Around her the runes began to form in the air, shining a nearly blinding green along with her eyes. They had played this game before. She had learned this way how to protect her mind.

Yet something was different.

"Have I hit you below the belt?" she asked, her voice showing the confusion for the first time. Every sense in her mind tingled and screamed at the growing danger. Her guardian was... Not happy.



[member="Darth Hauntruss"]

 

[Darth Hauntruss]

Vjun. This poisonous planet held within its depths a dark nexus. Inside one of the desert tundra caves swarmed the ether of the Dark Side. Usually this alone would be enough of a draw for Darth Hauntruss to travel to the planet. To bath in its darkness is to re-centre one's self. But in her meditation back on Annaj she was drawn to a separate entity. She could not say exactly what it was, raw in power but unkempt in order. Boiling crucible in the force was calling out to her through the ethereal mist of the force. Not sure what it was, Hauntruss travelled to Vjun. Departing from her transport she dived into the depths of the Vjun caves.

The Dark Side was particularly wild in this area. Coming to columns built by ancient darkside cultists She could feel a force trying to resist her presence. It was as if it sensed her intentions. This unnamed force was attacking her presence. But Hauntruss, or Val'Ryss Zankarr as her realn name was, could not be dissuaded. Her darkness ran deeper than most. Calming her mind, she unleashed her dark presence upon the corridors of the caves. Slithering out like a serpent her darkness filled the area and pushed the force back. Her dark vibrations echoed down the corridor into the deepest part of the cave. She could feel the strange entity that had drawn her to the planet where it was, its beating heart melodically played in her mind.

A small grin with a venomous laugh broke from her black lips. "Hiss, hiss, hiss" she mused, "I can see you. What are you?" She whispered in the force. Strolling down some stairs she came across a large chamber. The darkside was thick here, it obscured her surroundings. "If that's how you want to play it, challenge accepted force." Hauntruss hissed. Kneeling down, she sat in the middle of the chamber cross legged and with her open palms rested ontop of her knees. Hauntruss dived into the force and her meditations began to rip away at the darkness around her, trying to reveal the source of the heart of darkness she sensed near. "You can't hide forever. I can see you." her voice slithered from her minder and poisoned the surrounds around her, searching for her target.

[member="Elora"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She had been ready to test her power out. She had been ready to strike at her guardian, the mysterious presence that had kept her safe all these centuries. Never before had it attempted to attack her as such, but she was not afraid. She would swim, and she would arise triumphant, because there absolutely was no other possibility that existed anywhere or at anytime.

Yet the guardian suddenly vanished, and Elora could not feel its menacing or embracing presence any longer. Looking around with bewildered eyes, she gasped as her surroundings changed once more, but now she was drowning, drowning in the oceans of Spira.

~*~*~*~

Around [member="Darth Hauntruss"] , the darkness fought back. It knew of the Sith that tried to eat away at it, tried to remove it. But the darkness had much to hide, and the Sith's presence was an unknown one. You cannot fight me, the guardian sent the message through the Force, clear and direct. What is not alive can never die.

 

[Darth Hauntruss]

[member="Elora"]

What is not alive can never die.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss." Huantruss chuckled at the guardian of the chamber, "I know that fact very well, spirit. I've lingered in the abyss of the darkside long enough to know what can be killed and what cannot. But, you. You cannot be killed indeed, you are not alive, but you can be- DESTROYED!" Hauntruss roared at the end of her sentence. The darkside then suddenly festered and bubbled out of her body. Like a gale it battered the spirit, then mumbling some long forgotten tongue, Hauntruss whispered Sith Curse, an ancient technique designed to burn away the force connection to whatever confronts her. This curse was just taster in truth a probe to see the full strength of the spirit. "I can feel it spirit. You are wavering. Whatever you are protecting shall not be under your spell for long. I can see it....hiss hiss hiss...or should I say her." Hauntruss chuckled, through her meditation and Sith curses she began to break away at the guardian, she could even she glimpses of a small girl with bright green eyes spewing powerful waves of the force from her being. She was close, so close that Hauntruss focused all her powers and slithered dark words to the girl.

"Shall we leave this place?"​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

The darkness around [member="Darth Hauntruss"] cackled. Wrong, little one, it whispered to her mind. Where that person had come from made no difference. Many had tried. Kill or destroy ultimately led to the same end, but that end did not exist for the guardian and her kind. Amused at the excitement of the woman, the guardian retreated a touch, letting her believe whatever it was she wanted.

~*~*~*~

Elora, the guardian whispered into the girl's mind as her limbs kicked wildly, fighting the mental ebbs and flows of the oceans that held on strongly to her, I believe you have a visitor.

Once again the scenery around Elora changed, and she was standing in a desert now. The child looked curiously at her surroundings. Deserts. She knew what they were, of course, but she could not recall ever being in one, or seeing one. How did she even know this was it? The message was loud and clear this time, a presence that was... Not of her blood, not of her flesh. An offer.

"What will you give me if I were to leave this place?" the child asked, aiming her question to the stranger's presence.

 

[Darth Hauntruss]

[member="Elora"]

Hauntruss, rose up. She had broken through. She moved deeper into the chamber and increased her assault upon the guardian. "Knowledge fro over centuries of life lived." Hauntruss hissed with glee, continuing, "And the galaxy." Hauntruss pushed her way into the imagery of the girl, now standing in a desert, around the force between her dark curse and the guardian's defence shattered the area in bright sparks of lightening. Through the barrier the girl would be able to see at first a pair of dark burning red eyes and then a pale face with long black, until her entire dark form would materialize through the barrier.

Resting her eyes down at girl a dark grin stretched across her black lips, "Ah. Finally we meet." Hauntruss did not move she only waited for the guardian to react knowing full well it would attempt to force her out when the time came. "I am Darth Hauntruss. But you may call me Val'Ryss."

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Elora did not immediately reply. She stared at the red eyes that bore into her, her mind calculating. Red was not her family. Green was the token of strength among all the lines of blood that ran through her young body. Red... Was something she knew was often looked down on, though she was not certain where that knowledge had come from. For all she knew, the guardian could easily be whispering into her mind without her ability to detect so. Such were the woes of a child not yet properly trained in the ways of the Force.

The person who owned the red eyes was now fully in view. A woman. The child still made no reply. In the past, she knew, it would have marked the woman as a Sorceress. Especially considering her ability to step into the protective cocoon of the guardian. Or perhaps... Perhaps, this was a Warrior, and her guardian was merely toying with her.

Or perhaps they were both being toyed with.

"I am Elora," she finally said after a long silence, "and I accept the offer of the Galaxy."

[member="Darth Hauntruss"]

 

[Darth Hauntruss]

[member="Elora"]

Darth Hauntruss stretch out her hand, gesturing to her to grab on and follow. A dark mother for a dark child. Hauntruss smiled. The gaurdian was now getting agitated. Hauntruss' attacks swirled about in a violent malevolence. "You shall become my apprentice and I your master." Hauntruss hissed, "Together your talents shall bloom like a dark flower and infest the galaxy. Your power shall grow and you shall become like me, a powerful master of the dark side." Hauntruss, then stepped out of the chamber taking the young girl with her. She spoke softly now, "Come now is your first test of freedom." Hauntruss' long pale finger pointed at the guardian and hissed in venomous glee, "Destroy what has imprisoned you here for so long."

[Note: sorry been away for a while, was on vacation. But I am back and ready to go!]