Scourge of Gold
"Rise and shine, Imperator Tavlar. Rise and shine," spoke the voice of a vessel long discarded. Words sounded off through a strong veil of confidence, but in truth, Avernus had his doubts about this working. He stood over the Sovereign Imperator's bedside as a sinister projection of his former self, looking down on the sleeping conqueror through the purple, lightless obscurity. The true, tangible form of Darth Avernus resided in the far edges of the galaxy, in an intense dark trance to manifest this intangible image. Varying shades of Crimson that made up his complexion nearly emulsified with the darkness of the chamber. Were it not for the bright and glowing golden sheen of his pureblooded oculi, he might have passed as invisible.
Such a projection, while rare, was not unheard of. Especially not among Sith, who could facilitate such a manifestation with the aid of Qixoni crystals and meditation chambers saturated in the darkest of Sith magic. Avernus' method wasn't much different since the power required to achieve such a thing often meant external aid was required of the practitioner. The technique was what made this even more difficult to achieve. Many illusions and projections relied on the beholder's strength in the force, or even on their own force presence to manifest. Given that the Adekon Nanogene had long erased any of Tavlar's capability to perceive such things, the technique needed to change. A formless projection, with the light around it being bent and twisted to its will. The image was born not from the force itself, but the changes it made around it.
Development had proved challenging. This wasn't the first time Avernus stared down at a sleeping and unaware Imperator in the hopes to rouse him from his slumber. The realization that the voice hadn't been and objective force, but merely a subjective illusion was what sent him back to the drawing board. What he'd developed wasn't perfect; the manipulation of ambient noise and existing vibrations to create the desired sound. It tended to make the voice sound detached, echoey, and like it was coming from all directions at once. It wasn't ideal, the Sith being ever the perfectionist, but it would have to suffice for now. Besides, ominous and directionless sounds always had a sinister quality about them.
A sudden shift of the brow and contortion of the Imperators face evoked a huge sinister grin from the projection. He did not wake, but Avernus knew at that moment his efforts hadn't quite been in vain. The projection sprouted a new, disembodied face just in front of the Imperator's. With a slow glide across the floor, the intangible image of the crimson menace moved across to bed-facing chair, aligning itself as if to give the illusion of sitting. The new face scowled, showing it's matte-white teeth with a curled lip. "IRVERIC!" The name boomed, echoing off the walls of the chamber in sync with the movements of the second face, which faded away just as the sound resigned itself to only reverberations.
Only meters away, the image sat motionless, shimmering slightly around the edges. Watching.
