Breathe Into Me (Past RP)

[Anara Valnor]

"I'm going to kill him..."

Her voice was soft as she was herded along by Saul's goons, her mind still trapped some place between the waking world and sleep. Hours ago she had been taken from her bed, but his men had been so skillful in their task that she had only just awoken. Groggily she stepped onto Byss once more, a chill racing up her spine as the events of her last visit flashed through her mind. However, unlike her previous visits to the planet, the Darkness of the planet didn't really affect her; her sensitivity to the Force was so damaged thanks to Saul's destructive power that she couldn't no longer connect to the Force. She hoped her inability to hear the Force was only a temporary after effect of his return to the physical plane, but only time would tell she had been told. However, how much time was still an uncertain variable.

Moridin stood, watching at a distance. He stood, waiting and staring at a group of people below that had come off of a transport. A group of 12 guards, ornately dressed with a sword on each of their backs and a mask resembling that of a demonic face, his own visage when he had dwelt in chaos. The Dreadlord watched with great intensity, stared into the center of them fore there walked the one he truly loved, the one he truly cared for, the only thing he held such emotion for. Anara Valnor, the Jedi who had saved him, the Jedi who had re-created him into this.He had sent his guards to capture her, sent them to grab her from her bed. They had been told to be gentle of course, each one had been threatened under pain of death. They were his loyal guards. None of them would dare question him, none of them would dare question her. To Them she was already their Queen, she just didn't acknowledge it yet.

With each step taken she woke up more and more, her growing alertness allowing her to see things about these goons she had missed before. They treated her with respect, something kidnappers didn't generally do to their victims. With a sigh she continued to play along with Saul's game, amber eyes darting in all directions as sher mind worked to formulate a plan to get her out of this situation. Without the Force life was far more complicated than she remembered.
The Dreadlord tightened his hand into a fist until the blood left him. He watched for a few more seconds, and then he moved. In an instant disappeared from the rocky cliff, and appeared before the guards and his love. His eyes were light, for the first time in 4 years they were not filled with darkness. Only the slightest hint of corruption touched his iris', and as he spoke his voice seemed normal. “I am sorry for this. I truly am.” Moridin spoke with sympathy, and it was clear who he was speaking to. His bright blue eyes looked directly at her, pain filled them. No tears were present of course, the Sith was far above such things, but there was pain in his eyes, and true sorrow in his voice. “One day. You will thank me for what I am doing.”

With a sneer she surged against his goons, but they easily held her back from their Lord. "Like frak I will! What in the name of the Gods do you plan to do this time?" She was seething and without the Force she no longer feared its Darkness warping her; the one small blessing granted from her new standing within the Force was the freedom with which she could express herself. "Get off me!" His goons continued to hold her in place and within seconds she stopped struggling, realizing that it was pointless. Chest aching, throat tight and eyes stinging with tear she refused to shed she stared Saul down, silently berating herself for ever being foolish enough to fall for him.
Darkness swirled up about him, the blackness that was the darkside surrounded him. He knew that this was the only path. He knew that there was no other way. Something was coming, he did not know what, he did not know how to combat it. All he knew was that whatever was coming would destroy them. The galaxy would be ravished, torn apart. Moridin knew this, and so he had decided to seal himself, and his love away.
It was the only way, the only way they would survive. “Forgive me.” Moridin spoke his final words, the final words that he would say to Anara for centuries to come, and as he finished speaking the Dreadlord faded away, consumed by tendrils of blackness.

She screamed in raw anger as he vanished, surging forward once more as a few hot tears slipped down her cheeks. She wanted to tear him to shreds, but another part, a much smaller part wanted to feel his arms aorund her. Sneering she struggled against the guards as they began to march her through the entrance that led into the massive underground palace. "I'll never forgive you..."

A scream filled with rage echoed throughout the palace as she was dragged down a long corridor. Anara struggled with everything she had in the hands of her captors, screeching obscenties with every step. The pair soldiers holding onto her said nothing, it was as though they didn't even feel that she was struggling. Silently they took her into a large room filled with a multitude of stasis pods surrounding a large obsidian sarcophagus. The color drained from the Anaras face as her amber eyes fell upon the sarcophagus and a cold sweat broke out across her body.

"No...You can't be serious! Let me go!"

Her struggles began anew, but her captors ignored her fuitile efforts and quickly got her under control. Tranquilizing her, the drug flooded her system and in minutes she was much quieter and with ease the soldiers slipped her nearly limp body into the massive sarcophagus. The tears she had been holding back now rolled down her cheeks as they placed the lid on, sealing her in darkness. Unbeknownst to her, the entire group of soldiers that had escorted her tomb began entering the stasis pods surrounding her own intricate one. When the last soldier entered his stasis pod the room sealed itself, automated defense turrets activating. At some point she slipped into a deep slumber that would last for only the Gods knew how long.

~ ~ ~
400+ Years Later

. . .

 

[Ayden Cater]

Flying through space was always hazardous. If someone didn't want you dead, space had a few tricks up its sleeves. There were asteroids, solar phenomena, black holes; dozens on dozens of ways for you to end up dead. Add to that the hazards of hyperspace travel, and it sometimes seemed a wonder that anyone made it off their homeworld. You'd have to be mad to tempt such odds.

Well, mad was one way people had described Ayden in the past. The native Corellian had always taken it as a challenge, as most Corellians did, when he was presented with the impossible or potentially deadly. It always made the prize at the end such the sweeter. Of course, he wasn't stupid, and didn't have a deathwish. It would take something of considerable value to convince him to up the dangers by traveling into the Deep Core.

Rumors has begun to circulate that a stash of ancient Imperial and Sith weaponry had been located on Byss. Byss was practically a myth. Few mentions of it could be found in the old records, the ones that he had managed to salvage at any rate. Add to that the near impossibility of traveling the Deep Core, as simple truth rather than observational opinion, meant that such a cache could feasibly go undisturbed for centuries.

After nearly a month of preparations, Ayden had set off. The journey was perilous. From the get-go, he was at risk from pirates or fanatics in the region looking to capture supplies from unwary travelers. Add to that that the star charts were patchy at best, Ayden wasn't taking any chances. Each jump lasted only a hour before he'd drop out and start taking extensive sensor data. Such frequent start and stopping taxed the hyperdrive to its limits, more than weeks of running ever could, but the results were worth it; he'd mapped a path to the planet.

In orbit, Ayden found numerous ruins and abandoned structures. It appeared as though a great deal of fighting had occurred on and around the planet. Power signatures were virtually nil. However, the fact that the planet wasn't technologically dead was both a good sign, and a bad one. "Well, at least I know the trip hasn't been completely worthless." Ayden mused to himself before setting a course for the largest power signature.

The numerous stars in the Deep Core meant that the best sense of "night" the planet had was a multi-color haze. Few planets in the Deep Core could have a true night. It made finding a space to land easy enough, however. The first thing that struck Ayden was an eerie coolness to the planet that was wholly unrelated to its temperature. Something about the planet felt... off to him. It was like a dark echo called out through the Force.

It was enough to put unease into his heart, but Ayden wasn't one to frighten easily. So he pressed on through the ruined streets of what was once a great city. Something, somewhere, had to be of great worth. For all the trouble he had gone to finding this place, Ayden was going to make sure that he didn't walk away empty handed.

 

[Anara Valnor]

Amber eyes took in the sight before them, but their vision was quickly blurred by stinging tears. Ash hung heavy in the air and mixed with the toxic fumes was the cloying stench of death. All around her lay the bodies of the dead, many savaged beyond recognition. She couldn't remember exactly where she was or even what had caused the destruction surrounding her petite form, but she knew in the end that it was all her fault. If only she had been stronger, if only she had been there in the beginning then everything would be alright; these were the things she knew to be certain.

Wiping her tears from her eyes she smeared ash across her face, staining her pale skin with the sin of her inaction. With unsteady steps she moved deeper into the city, searching for...something. Once more she couldn't remember what she was looking for, but she knew it was vitally important that she find it. Somehow, the thing she was searching for, felt like her last hope, as if she found this one thing intact then everything else would be alright.

~ ~ ~

Meanwhile in the waking world a small red light flashed on the console upon the side of her sarcophagus, a message flashing on the read out. Something was wrong with the stasis pod, its energy systems were spiking irregularly.

 

[Rylan Kordel]

Travelling into the deep core could probably be counted among some of the stupidest and biggest dangers in the known galaxy, but sometimes necessity is born of desperation, and this was the case for Zavek. He had no choice but to leave supplies meant for settlers in the outrim to pirates, he of course returned the credits that he could to the people, but that left him with almost nothing to his name, again, and it as tiresome, as the pirates seemed to get more and more dangerous to deal with it, and because of such events he had to fall back on his back up plan. To travel into the deep core on centuries old star charts and look for lost treasures, the smart thing to do in this case would probably be something like recharting some of the charts, but he figured that it was better to let the unknown places be left to smugglers, and possibly the governments to look into, not pirate scum would pillage everything they could, which considering what he had known about the few deep core worlds he heard of, it was best to keep dangerous people far from those planets.

What seemed like hours, turned to day, before Zavek finally found Byss and hopefully something he could turn over for a quick buck to make up for his failure to help the settlers he had met, though only time could tell if that was the case. Reaching over and patting his droid on its red and silver dome, the young man smiled "That's it Red, slow and easy landing. I'll take a look around, and call you if I need help." the droid chirped and whistled at him, "Hey, I can run away much faster than you, plus... Who's going to save the ship if we're both out there?" another set of chirps came, though sounding disappointed they at least where understanding. "Don't worry, soon enough we'll be back in known space, getting you an oil bath, and me a real meal." he smiled at the droid, as he walked out of the cockpit towards the loading ramp in the saucer section of The Star Gazer, stopping to let the ramp down, he took his time to also open one of the security lockers next to the ramp, gathering his bow and quiver of arrows, smiling as he inspected the bow he closed the locker and stepped down the ramp and unto the planets surface.

Looking around he shuddered slightly, the planet gave a very eerie feeling, which caused him to seek the comfort of his hood and an arrow to notch to his bow, he knew that the bow was fairly impractical, but he preferred its silence to the noise of a blaster or a bolter, and at the very least, he still had a pair of combat knives to fall on if he needed. Pushing forward, Zavek cleared his throat and licked his lips, it was hard to want to continue, but he needed to find something, anything that could help him get some credits and a shot at another job, "Red, keep an eye out for any energy fluctuation's, and notify me where they're coming from, odds are it will be something good." a sharp whistle replied through his comm, and he smiled, at least his droid was watching out for him. Shortly after his last communication, the droid called out again, warning of several energy spikes not far off from where the smuggler was, giving his thanks to the droid, he moved off in that direction quickly, but steadily, because honestly he didn't know what to expect from the planet, or what might be waiting for him at the signal.

 

[Anara Valnor]

Rubble shifted beneath her feet and she stumbled, falling to one knee as her amber gaze looked toward what had once been the roof of the now decimated building. There was something up there she needed, something important, but her goal was nearly impossible to reach. The city was in ruins around her and the building she was now struggling to climb seemed to still be shifting under its own weight. With a heavy sigh she started her climb once more, slowly picking her way up the crumbling skyscraper. With each step she got closer to her goal, but with each step her climb got harder.

~ ~ ~

The read out upon the sarcophagus began to scroll with data, over four hundred years worth of data. As the data scrolled, the flashing of the red light increased in frequency; the stasis pod had a sudden spike in its energy output before it dropped to a dangerously low level.