Public Catalyst: Resonance

[Xitli Sacul]

Location: Makeb
Objective: Secure the Anomaly
Tags: Liin Terallo Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus The Lord of Hunger

Notable Equipment:
Tlapixqui

---

Coiling like a serpent Xitli turned, his body moving before his mind had processed the threat approaching from behind them. The Tlapixqui's blade buzzing to life as if responding to him. "We are followed." He hissed, clawed feet biting into the creaking deck. Was it the pilot of the attacking ship? They had done well to track them so far, so quickly, maybe he shouldn't be so surprised given the numbers fawning over Khan Terallo's brilliant mind. Whatever the case he would soon have his answer.

Honing his focus upon the individual he quickly surveyed their equipment. It was familiar yet fleeting, almost as if he'd only seen it briefly once before. The pilot who went to engage their attacker. Xitli slipped his hand away from the spears shaft, resting it once more.

"Welcome back. A herald of good news if I ever saw one. I trust our attacker has been dealt with, or retreated?" He said relaxing his posture. Their presence meant the threat had either been warded away or abandoned their hunt, of course there was a third option but he didn't entertain that idea.

"We are... assessing the nature of this anomaly? Adversary?" Xitli said his voice uncertain. He had ignored the cacophony drumming in his mind, the feeling of static rippling across his body as if he could fly again and was passing through a storm cloud. The only comparison he could make was Metzi, a world sundered by a botched Terraforming project.

He shook his head and stared at Khan Terallo as she explained. Anti-Force? He blinked, his plumage rippling across his spine as clarity replaced uncertainty. A theory forming in his mind, but it necessitated further context. Context offered by Imperius.

"I do not know the Jedi's dogma to argue, let alone the Force. So I must concede that your point has... Merit." He bitterly growled, he had neither the expertise nor in-depth understanding they had. It was frustrating dealing with something that looked at the laws of the universe and called them guidelines. However, it was necessary for anything here to make sense:

The reactor, through some unknown means, perhaps the Force, was interacting with the world around it and reacting inverse. That would explain some of their observations, namely the gravitational anomalies and seismic instability afflicting the region. Furthermore, he did not recall any local aquifers or fault lines, but their sensors could be compromised in this conditions. However, he understood the Force enough to know that it wasn't something interacted with passively. There was always some will or desire behind it, even if it was a subconscious reaction.

"Are you suggesting the Reactor has a persona and is reacting to external stimuli; our presence, as you mentioned before?" He asked, considering for a moment it might be 'alive'. That constituted a serious danger, not only to them but this world as a whole.

Perhaps the reactor itself was the danger, not a mere anomaly to be studied and dealt with. "Whatever the case, I do not like the implications or dangers that would entail. I have seen the heart of a world bleed into the void and have no desire to see another."

< > - Telepathy

Designed by Lossa Darcuhl​

 

[Liin Terallo]

In circuits born of borrowed light,
the echoes wake, the threads unite.
What once was steel begins to dream-
and memory bleeds through every seam.


The words around me blurred into a low, vibrating hum; the Sith’s certainty, the soldier’s blunt honesty, the soft, uneasy rasp of my avian companion. All of it pressed at the edges of my skull like the pressure-drop before a storm.

Part of the same realm. Touched by the Force.

I wanted to argue. To deny it. To insist that what lived inside the Reactor was chemistry, motion, energy and that I had forged it, not some unseen cosmic will. But the ground beneath my boots pulsed again, faint but deliberate; like a heartbeat muffled under stone. And even I could not pretend it was coincidence anymore.

I drew a slow breath, tasting metal and dust and something faintly sweet; the same scent the Reactor gave off when it awoke. “My research did not build a soul,” I murmured, though even as I said it, my voice felt thin. “It was not meant to. If it is reacting to us… if it is aware…” I looked toward the anomaly; the shimmering distortion like a heat haze wrapped around a void. A soft throb rippled through it, and the gemstone set into my ring glowed faintly in response. Not because of a Force user. But because of me.

“It is not supposed to do this.” My fingers curled tightly around my flashlight. “Synthetic Force should not… replicate instinct. Or emotion. It should not recognize anything at all.” A chill crept down my spine, settling between my shoulders like the touch of unseen eyes.

The soldier’s confusion lingered in the air behind me. The Xitli's warning echoed in my ears; the heart of a world bleeding into the void.

Slowly, I shook my head. “No. This is not the world bleeding.” My voice softened, almost a whisper meant only for myself. “It is answering a call I did not know that I made.” My pulse quickened, mirroring the Reactor’s rhythm beneath the surface. “And I do not think that it is finished speaking.”

Eli’s presence shifted beside me - a subtle tightening of breath, a sharpening of focus - but he did not speak at first. He only stared into the trembling wall of distortion, as if he could see deeper than the rest of us. Then he spoke softly; “You’ve always underestimated what you made.” I felt his gaze flick toward me. “You call it a machine. A synthesis. A calculation. But this… this is memory turned inward. This is the Reactor dreaming.”

Before I could request an explanation, the anomaly convulsed. A low, resonant pulse shook the stones beneath our boots, and the distortion peeled open like fabric being torn from the inside. Light spilled into the cavern, bright enough to wash all shadows from the world.

And then there I was. An echo or a projection.
I looked older, exhausted, my hair streaked with white. Wearing a lab coat scorched at the sleeves. My ring - her ring - flickered like a dying heartbeat.

She lifted her head slowly, locking eyes with me. And though her mouth never moved, her voice slid straight into my mind: “Do not go any closer. You do not know what it becomes.”

A cold shiver crawled up my arms.

Eli exhaled sharply as a second figure formed beside her; another version of him, fractured with scars, synthetic energy flickering uncontrollably under his skin. This apparition stared at the real Eli with a look that was almost… pleading.

Eli stiffened. Barely. His jaw clenched hard enough to tremble. “It’s drawing from us,” he murmured, voice low. “Pulling from potential futures. Or fears. Or both.”

The anomaly surged again.

The soldier’s visor reflected a third apparition - someone from his past. A fallen comrade. Reaching out. Asking why they were left behind.

The sound of feathers rustled sharply as for Xitli; a long-lost flock-mate materialized, wings broken, calling out in a voice not meant for the living.

My breath hitched. The anomaly was not just showing us ghosts. It was studying us. Testing. Prying into whatever cracks it could find. The air rippled again, and the hallucinations wavered - their forms stuttering like broken holoprojections. Through the flickering distortion behind them, something new became visible. Something worse.

The Reactor Core.

I saw it not as the pristine theoretical model I built in my mind, but as it truly was; a pulsating, semi-organic mass fused into the rock, glowing biomolecular veins snaking through the stone like roots seeking water. The veins throbbed in rhythm with the anomaly’s pulse, lighting the chamber in a variety of shades of liquid luminance. The biomolecules seeped visibly through fractures in the rock, as if the Reactor had grown impatient with it's containment.

Eli inhaled sharply. “Liin… it’s breaching its substrate.”

The alternate-me turned sharply toward the Reactor behind her, face twisting with fear. Her voice slammed into me again; “You are out of time.”

The anomaly vibrated, the entire cavern trembling with the intensity of the Core’s heartbeat.

I took an involuntary step back as the hallucinations reached toward us - not to harm, but to warn - and then cracked apart like shattered glass; dissolving into drifting motes of light. What remained was worse than any of the visions; a clear, unobstructed view into the Reactor’s chamber beyond the anomaly…
…where the veins of synthetic Force-light pulsed faster and faster. It was far more destabalized than I had feared.

Tags: Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus Xitli Sacul The Lord of Hunger

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: Aboard the Gluttoneria
OBJECTIVE: Safeguard Liin Terallo
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword #1 | Sword #2 | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | Gauntlet | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Liin Terallo | Imperius Indomitus | OPEN

Like a chorus of metal and dust, landing behind the trio of quite unusual people, a tall and quite bulky monster clad in a black armor detailed richly with electrum and aurodium had left their boots in the ground, with a handful of mechanical marvels behind him. he could feel how gravity had somehow shifted after he had dropped into what seemed to be an endless chasm to the heart of the world, the very core of the planet...but it wasn't, in fact it seemed that the depth, while great, was nowhere near being the most dangerous part of this strange and still somewhat auspicious day he had been going through.

His eyes, vibrant and filled with malice and menace, orbs of gold and crimson surrounding a slit pupil darted from Imperius Indomitus to Liin Terallo , from Eli to Xitli Sacul . he was not incorrect by mentally describing these people as an amalgam of the most unusual and unexpected allies...or adversaries. Yet, while they were in their own right interesting, this monster that remained of the man he had once been stared at the strange situation he had come to face. Under his breath, he could only curse and mentally he could not refrain from allowing his inner thoughts to burst out like a telepathic landmine...loud and without any restraint: "Utter fools, synthesising the force and not taking any precautions against the very nature of it... "

It wasn't as if the idea of synthetically recreating the force was a new idea, after all it had in some form or way always been a staple of the Sith to recreate the Force into a more malleable and more importantly more manageable thing. their very creed and dogma was the onset for such behavior and designs, but to think it took a disgruntled ex employee of the N&Z to actually succeed where so many others had failed was quite astonishing. Yet, even if she had succeeded, Liin Terallo had clearly still not enough knowledge on the force to realize the amount of backlash her experiments would create, the ripples her precious creation could, and most likely would send through the very Living Force itself.

"I would have expected you to know how to effectively contain this problem, Imperius," The Lord of Hunger scoffed as he pushed beyond the group, the Gauntlet on his left hand crackling as the crystals started to rebuff and seemingly absorb the streams and pulses of the synthetic force... something which should have been seen as a good thing for Miss Terallo, as it showed that this synthetic force she had created, which was seemingly parasitizing on the Living Force...didn't exactly differ too much from that aforementioned force at all. "Lady Terallo, if you would be so kind to explain to me exactly what you have been doing... solving this...inconvenience would be much easier."​

 

[Imperius Indomitus]

LORD INDOMITUS
Through Fire and Blood.
Through Justice and Strength.

Liin Terallo | Xitli Sacul | The Lord of Hunger | Edward Ashcard

​

Makeb | The Anomaly | Underground

The figure walked, its projection flickering, changing the armor from gold to white and from white to gold. A design that was as old as Imperius was and probably the only one that actually knew it. The figure had bright blue eyes, the hair neatly cut, shaved at the side, long on top and it emitted a sense of overwhelming grief and guilt. It did not merely spread it, it had accused and judged.

Imperius was in fact not uttering a word, not even as Credius arrived. He was speechless, looking into His own eyes, long diseased, long torn out by the cruel torture that His old self would endure not shortly after this.

In the fortress that was Imperius' mind, in the citadel that was His inner most workings, where He was still the young Knight that had lived under the glorious influence of Valkorion, His feeling of shame was infinite and abundant. He could not prevent the death of His Emperor, not of his son, not of anyone and saw the only Empire worth fighting for crumble and be dismantled by disgruntled mongrels and dogmatic zealots, pawns of the Force and their two predominant religions.

Guilt turned into anger. Anger faded into hate. Hate forged wrath.

His fists clenched and the Force itself, even with the anomaly as powerful as it was, was slowly choked from the area. Spreading a void that felt purely unnatural.

 

[Edward Ashcard]

"Our attacker has left. It would appear they lacked the desire to chase us underground, although we should not get used to luck resolving our troubles." Edward stated without emotion in his voice.

"It's dreaming? Only living beings or things designed to imitate life, dream although the application of the force in these matters is far beyond my understanding."

Before Edward could continue he felt the unease of the void creep over him. It did nothing to help the surreal and frightful atmosphere but perhaps one unnatural power would help deal with another?

 

[Xitli Sacul]

Location: Makeb
Objective: Secure the Anomaly
Tags: Liin Terallo Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus The Lord of Hunger

Notable Equipment:
Tlapixqui

---

Xitli listened Khan Terallo's mirror with intrigue, it's words a warning of the danger that lay ahead. Was it a puppet, meant to scare them away or a vision of the near future? Both seemed a reasonable hypothsis with all they had witnessed, all they continued to witness. Perhaps, it had passed the event horizon and escaped, or more likely it was a trick of the mind. Ironically enough, he preferred the first option. After all, he was trained to resist such abilities, the power over glamour was so ingrained into Avali society that it was necessary and expected of any respectable male to exhibit resistance to say it was overcome so easily would be mark against his name. Oh, well, none were here to witness it and appeared focused on Khan Terallo-

The Avali's muscles contracted, his feathers bristled and beak tightened. He caught a glimpse of them, feathers and scales of autumn marred by decay and dirt, it moved without grace, it's wings dragged behind it like a tattered cloak. "Canin tiitztoc, ca tinotonalecapo Xaualquilitl?" The voice was unrecognisable but it's words carried meaning.

"Apozanolotl," Xitli hissed sharply, conducting an internal audit of his mind, how the entity created this was sacrilege was beyond his current understanding had it simply constructed this illusions from fragments of his words or had it penetrated his deepest thoughts without his knowing. He shook his head dismissively and snapped back an accusation "tidare nechnixtlacahui?!"

Unleashing the tension stored in his coils, Xitli exploded into a strike, Tlapixqui raised he readied to slay the sacrilege that had materialised before him until it was consumed by the void. With the apparition and his target gone the serpent cut his claws into the deskplate arresting his momentum. He snapped his beak again as frustration and a new resolve to end this consumed him. Realising this Xitli only remained silent, continuing his efforts to uncover and correct whatever gaps it found in his mind. Of course, it had to be them.

< > - Telepathy

Designed by Lossa Darcuhl​

 

[Liin Terallo]

Whispers hum in fractured stone,
A pulse that’s not the planet’s own.
Light coils tight where shadows slip -
A secret stirs beneath the crypt.
And something calls, through dust and flame,
A spark that answers Liin by name.

The Lord of Hunger had strode past the others, his gauntlet drinking the synthetic Force pulses bleeding off the reactor. Imperius carved a hollow in the air - a void choking the remaining energy. Between them, the chamber grew unnervingly still.

“If you would be so kind to explain to me exactlty what you have been doing....”

My pulse kicked against my ribs. The reactor was faltering- weakening. A window was opening. Another pulse slammed against the gauntlet and vanished. Another collapsed into the Imperial void. The silence deepened.

“I was trying to replicate a non-sentient Force analog,” I answered. “One that is both stable and contained. The Isotope-5 density here amplified the biomolecules unexpectedly. That is why it is bleeding into the stone.”

Eli watched both tense and silent. Admiration, awe, and fear coiled together in his gaze as he followed the reactor’s pulsing. The avian silhouette behind it tilted it's fractured head toward him, aware, curious.

The reactor wasn’t large: maybe two, three feet at most; but it pulsed like a heart in the open. Mechanical plating had split to reveal the bio-tech lattice beneath; the veins of glowing biomolecules crawling outward into the canyon rock as though seeking something, tunneling for more Isotope-5. It was small. But it was relentless. And alive in all the ways that frightened me.

The Sith’s combined pressure made it falter.
For once, it did not push back.

This was the moment.

I swallowed the tightness in my chest and moved closer towards the thing that I had built, the thing that had grown beyond what I intended, the thing that might still answer me if I listened closely enough. I reached the edge of the reactor’s heat. It's pulse met mine.
And carefully I began the work of shutting it down.

First I crouched beside the reactor, letting my fingers trace the cool ridges of it's mechanical casing. The bio-tech lattice pulsed faintly beneath the surface, veins of glowing biomolecules writhing like miniature rivers. Every instinct in me screamed caution. One wrong adjustment, one misapplied current, and the feedback could tear through my arm or worse - but I had no choice. I had to stop it before it consumed more of the planet’s Isotope-5, before it started reshaping itself in ways I could not predict.

I pulled a small calibrator from my pouch and pressed it against the lattice. A low hum vibrated through my fingertips, and the veins of glowing biomolecules reacted instantly, shrinking back from the pressure. Carefully, I routed the energy flow through the disruptor, redirecting it in pulses that mirrored the natural rhythm of the reactor’s own Synthetic Force heartbeat.

The reactor shuddered, flickering between stasis and instability. It's pulse became uneven; like a tiny heart gasping for air. Light spilled across the canyon floor in jagged streams, veins twitching and receding under my touch. It was not perfect - not by far, but it was beginning to respond to me.

The veins pulsed once, twice, faster than the rhythm of the disruptor’s pulses. The lattice trembled, tiny arcs of energy sparking along it's edges. But gradually, the motion slowed. Light no longer spilled wildly into the canyon. The biomolecular veins began to retract, threading back toward the reactor’s core like a living thing curling in on itself. With every careful adjustment, the reactor seemed to calm slightly, as though acknowledging my presence - not a mind exactly, but a fragile, instinctive response to a hand that knew it's patterns.

The abandoned mine seemed to exhale. Gravity, which had been jagged and unpredictable, began to level. Streams of water, once hovering midair in chaotic arcs, fell gently back to the ground, rippling into the mineshaft pools like liquid glass. Loose stones trembled once, then settled. The tiniest dust motes drifted downward, drifting like slow snow, finally obedient to gravity’s pull.

The reactor itself cooled, veins dimming to a soft, steady glow. It was small, fragile, and yet terrifying in its potential - but now, for the first time since it awoke, it was mine to control. I could take it. I could move it. I could contain it.

Carefully, I crouched and looped a harness that I had removed frommy pouch around the core, locking the disruptor into the stabilizer frame. The weight was deceptive; bio-tech intertwined with machine made it heavier than it looked, but the reactor had stopped thrashing. It was pliant and malleable under my hands. I could lift it, carry it, and prevent anyone - or anything - from tearing it apart.

Eli’s eyes followed every move. He stayed close, silent but alert, leaning slightly forward as if ready to react at any sudden lurch. His admiration was tempered now with something sharper; respect, caution, and a hint of disbelief. “You’ve… you’ve actually got it,” he said quietly, almost reverently.

I allowed myself the barest flicker of a smile. Not relief - not yet - but acknowledgment. The reactor was under control. We could leave.

I adjusted the harness one last time before standing to my feet, pivoting on my heels to turn myself around to face the others that had braved the elements to come down here with me. The reactor I had cradled in my arms like some newborn child. “Let us go now. It should be safe." Yet even as I had spoken the last word I knew that safe was just a relative term.

Tags: Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus Xitli Sacul The Lord of Hunger

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: Aboard the Gluttoneria
OBJECTIVE: Safeguard Liin Terallo
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword #1 | Sword #2 | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | Gauntlet | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Liin Terallo | Imperius Indomitus | Edward Ashcard | Xitli Sacul

A cold shiver, an emptiness struck The Lord of Hunger, almost as if the lifeforce, the strength within the synthetic force was being negated. His eyes, burning with their inhuman crimson and golden hues, turned towards the pureblood sith, one of perhaps a handful left, yet seemingly mentally scarred by stories unknown and revelations yet shown, but it was enough to at the very least grab the Lord of Hunger's attention. For despite the all the power he held, despite the fine line between immortality and death he walked, he had always been wary of this particular Sith. Imperius Indomitus was someone he could never disregard, never forget about and who was simply too dangerous to not be put into the equations of His future.

Yet, it seemed He had made one more miscalculation, this... Liin Terallo was perhaps even more dangerous in the short term. She seemed too bright, too smart, yet also to impetious, to impulsive and to driven in this research, so singularly focused on her desires, that she seemed to more follow the tenets of the Sith than she probably realized herself. She was useful, promising even, but in all senses of the word a wildcard, too similar to his own behavior, but lacking the widom and restraint that had come after many setbacks, many failures and ofcourse... a single, inescapable fate.

"Biomolecules...combined with Isotope 5..." Filled with undeniable hunger and desire, his eyes turned to Liin, before turning back towards the reactor, which as it began to be laid bare by stripping away the uncontrolled synthetic force, didn't seem so much out of the ordinary. "That can't be all... can it? What's the filter? What is the binding agent in the mix? What is it that turns the ordinary radioactivity of isotope five and the adaptability of biomolecules into something so...close to the very living force itself?"

As the brilliant scientist wrapped her arms around the reactor, as it almost seemed that everything had been going smoothly, the Lord of Hunger chuckled, his eyes following the woman's feet, her legs, her back, her arms and her head. "WHAT...DID...YOU...DO?!"

Snapping his fingers, the tall, terrifying droids which had come with him removed their cloaks, holding up their verpine handcanons locked onto Liin Terallo and Xitli Sacul . For a moment, the monstrous man would've allowed the droids to point their weapons at Imperius as well, but he knew fully well that they would not be able to even scratch his armor. "I see...you, YOU are the missing piece in the equation...YOU are the catalyst, what was it...your blood, your mind, your soul?"​

 

[Imperius Indomitus]

LORD INDOMITUS
Through Fire and Blood.
Through Justice and Strength.

Liin Terallo | Xitli Sacul | The Lord of Hunger | Edward Ashcard

​

Makeb | The Anomaly | Underground

It took a moment for Imperius to gather Himself and regain some resemblance of control. He released the clench on His fists which had almost cracked the gauntlets they were in and equally retreated the disturbing aura. It had only persisted for split seconds but this loss of control was an extraordinary situation that Imperius experienced and was deeply disgusted by.

His attention turned to Liin and her 'fixing' of the thing she had created or rather, brought to life. She carried it, its vibrations and vivid pulsations and disturbances had ceased, almost completely.

Now was the time that Credius decided to act. To do something. To question what the woman in front of him had done, achieved and how. And to raise the arms of his droid minions at the group.

Naturally, He did not care about the weapon aimed at Him and stepped forward.

"No. Not here." Imperius' movement was diffcult to perceive even if one did pay attention as He traversed the distance to end up next to and somewhat between Liin Terallo and The Lord of Hunger . He did not want to see some hot-headed exchange of scientific specifics here and now, in this place of all.

He did not flex or pushed His words with any support of the Force, but it was a statement as much as a barrier. A testament to His intention of willing to escalate if need should arise, but also to handle this in a less violent manner. The fact that He did care for Terallo's continued existence as an almost independent entity - ignorant and foolish as she was, was perfect and He would not tolerate her going into the fangs of Credius.

"We leave, now."

 

[Xitli Sacul]

Location: Makeb
Objective: Secure the Anomaly
Tags: Liin Terallo Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus The Lord of Hunger

Notable Equipment:
Tlapixqui

---

"Well done. Khan Terallo." Xitli exhaled, he wanted to relish the silence take the opportunity to celebrate and take stock. It would be nice to fall down into a warm nest and tuck into whatever fresh fish he could find, maybe spiced with something to remind him of home. Yes, that sounded nice.

The distinctive hum of energy weapons charging snapped him out of the stupor, he moved quickly to curl around Khan Terallo and her companion to make them harder targets. He did not know what weapons they possessed, given their larger than normal war frames probably something more than capable of punching through his armoured scales and that was before considering the superior threat their master posed.

He was angry, throwing accusations at Khan Terallo's feet. She had blame in this but from his perspective any offense was now resolved, the song was silenced, the planet still and... an uncomfortable truth gone. He considered barraging through them both, dragging Khan Terallo with him. He could probably do it, he had the speed and agility but he couldn't out run blasters.

Xitli recoiled and hissed when Indomitus moved, his spear buzzing to life. He expected an attack but was surprised and relieved when he bridged the gap between them and welcomed the opportunity to commune with his charge.

< Khan Terallo. The situation is delicate, do you have an alternative escape route? >

They needed a plan, even if he stood down he doubted they would allow her to leave free of their custody.

"Please lower the weapons. The anomaly is contained, our job here is done. We can return to the surface and resolve any dispute there. I much prefer you didn't ignite a war." Xitli growled, mustering what strength he could to project an aura of golden benevolence.

< > - Telepathy

Designed by Lossa Darcuhl​

 

[Liin Terallo]

The air tasted different the moment his droids raised their weapons; thin and metallic. It was as if the very tunnel had inhaled and forgotten how to exhale. The reactor’s fading glow shivered along the walls, and for a heartbeat I wondered if it reflected my pulse or my fear.

I forced myself not to step back. “That is not how this works,” I said quietly, though my throat felt too tight for sound. “Not here. And not like this.”

Imperius’ sudden presence beside me was a shield I had not asked for but silently welcomed. Even the air around him felt steadier. Xitli’s intervention; both calm, practical and protective in his own way; only pressed the truth further into me: this could spiral into something none of us walked away from. And yet the look in the Lord of Hunger’s eyes; that ravenous glint they gave. He was looking at me as though I were a formula he could solve by force.

I kept my gaze steady, even as my hands trembled just enough for me to feel it. “There is no other way out,” I admitted, answering Xitli’s telepathic question without taking my eyes off the Lord of Hunger. “The side tunnels are collapsed. We go back the way we came. All of us.” A slow breath. In. Out. I didn’t dare let it shake. “You want answers,” I told him, my voice still low yet firmer now, “but threatening me will not get you any closer to them. I am not handing over my research, my notes, or myself. Not here… not ever.” My heart thudded painfully as every weapon remained leveled at us. “I only want to leave. That is all. You do not have to like that. You only have to let me walk out of this chamber alive. Then you can decide what… discussions you want to pursue on the surface.”

My eyes flicked to Eli, briefly, knowing he would understand the unspoken truth; we needed to get out of this cavern before someone’s pride or hunger ignited something irreversible.

I took one careful step toward the exit tunnel. “Lower the weapons,” I echoed Xitli’s words softly. “No one needs to bleed for a question.”

Tags: Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus Xitli Sacul The Lord of Hunger

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: Aboard the Gluttoneria
OBJECTIVE: Safeguard Liin Terallo
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword #1 | Sword #2 | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | Gauntlet | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Liin Terallo | Imperius Indomitus | Edward Ashcard | Xitli Sacul

All of my sake

The Lord of Hunger's eyes lit up when Imperius Indomitus managed to slip in between himself and Liin Terallo , effectively covering the woman from any potential attack the monstrous individual would execute. the sound of teeth gritting was exagerated through the voicebox of his mask, yet the surroundings began to shift, a feeling of emptiness and cold, it was not a void in the literal sense as what had been emanated by the opposing sith lord, but in every sensation it felt the same, as if someone had just opened the gates to the nether.

"Imperius...if not now...who knows when this opportunity would present itself again?!" Rage could be heard within the Lord of Hunger's voice, a bitterness only those who were so close to the solution to their greatest problem, only to see the possible answer snatched away just outside of their own reach. "Do you truly intend to stand in my way?"

The monster's hand rose, as the Sceleratis' own stance seemed to stiffen and tighten, their grip on their weapons becoming more pronounced, as if they were preparing to unleash hell upon a single command. As it looked like the result of this would certainly cost him more than he'd be willing to bet, the Lord of Hunger's hand finally moved to the side, the sceleratis lowering their weapons and falling back.

"Make no mistake...this is far from over," The masked man's hand began to glow with a wretched combination of green electricity and a black miasma, coagulating into a cohesive vortex of twisted magicks. Since the violent turbulence had seemingly subsided, the Lord of Hunger's use of magicks was no longer a risk. "This...synthetic force... I will have it, Imperius... for the sake of our past I am willing to give you the benefit of this momentary lapse in judgment...but you get only one...there will be no more chances, no more opportunities. Stand in my way again, and I will drain the very soul...not of you, but of your entire bloodline's past, present, and future..."

waving his hand, the dark miasma split off in front of the droids as well, allowing each of them to walk through their own individual vortex each and vanish, all the while the Lord of Hunger himself would walk close to his own vortex, before turning his attention one last time towards Liin Terallo . "Just to clarify...I will have the entire galaxy bleed for the answer, if need be..."

With those words, the man vanished from sight, the black miasma slowly dissolving into thin air.

[thread exit]
​

 

[Xitli Sacul]

Location: Makeb
Objective: Escape
Tags: Liin Terallo Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus

Notable Equipment:
Tlapixqui

---

Xitli's chest rumbled, a growl reverbrating through his neck, his coils tensing like a spring. If The Lord of Hunger wanted a battle he was prepared to give no quarter. Sith and Jedi alike were dangerous, Avali scale was no defence against lightsaber but his beak could crush bone and claws rend flesh if necessary. That however, didn't stop the serpent's wings from falling to his side when the shadow delivered his threat and melted away into the void.

Their words echoed the same avarice that afflicted his species, leaving him to wonder was it blight upon their kind too? He glanced towards Imperius Indomitus giving a nod of thanks and recognition, he couldn't be certain they would have survived the attack had he not acted against their newest arrival.

"Imperius, you have my thanks. Although, would you be willing to satisfy my curiousity? That man, his words echoed those of our most ancient, those afflicted by what might call avarice. Does it affect your species too?"

He relaxed allowing his coils and muscles to unwind, arching his neck towards Khan Terallo he nods again and chirped, "Then let us leave, I think I have seen enough to satisfy my curiousity." He said, eyes lifting back towards where the extinguished core. He still had questions, but he would not find them here. Certainly not while danger still lurked above them, "If fortune favours us, my ship will have cordoned off the airspace. Otherwise, we might be reunited with an old friend."

Suddenly, his head snapped back towards the corridor, his gaze fixated upon the darkness while quills twitched and rippled. The temperature in the room was steadily declining but it wasn't that which concerned him. No, he was more worried about a distant clash of something bashing against metal. The sound was familiar.

"How much water do you suppose we fell through?" Xitli asked, the gills along his chest momentarily opening.

< > - Telepathy

Designed by Lossa Darcuhl​

 

[Liin Terallo]

The portals collapsed with a sound like a breath being pulled out of the world. One moment, the Lord of Hunger stood framed in that impossible geometry with his soldiers flanking him like echoes of a future I refused to claim. And the next there was only damp stone and the low, unsettled groan of the mine shaft settling back into itself. No heat. No ozone. Just absence where the threat had been.

I will have the entire galaxy bleed for the answer, if need be. The words lingered longer than the man.

I did not move right away. Not because I was afraid; but because I had learned the difference between silence and safety. The ring at my finger had already dimmed to it's steady and familiar pulse, sensing nothing nearby but my own quiet resonance.

The chamber felt heavier now. Gravity no longer slipped it's leash. Whatever distortion had been threaded through the mine was easing; reality stitching itself back together one careful seam at a time.

The reactor sat in my arms, solid and real. Idled. Quiet. It's casing cool against my gloves, it's weight unmistakable. Inside it; the isotope-5 biomolecules rested in stasis both enriched, stabilized, and very much intact. The process was complete. The galaxy just did not know it yet.

“How much water do you suppose we fell through?”

“Less than it looked like,” I said.

We moved together through the tunnel, the reactor held close as we returned to the dock chamber. The platform there was no longer drifting or untethered. It rose and fell gently with the water level; guided by old supports that still remembered how to do their job. It had never been meant to float freely - only to adapt.

The climb out was not dramatic. It was a controlled ascent causing wet boots, scraped palms; but nothing more. The mine, it seemed, was finished trying to keep us.

Light filtered down from above as we reached the surface. It was pale and fractured; but real. The Lord of Hunger was gone. But his hunger was not. I adjusted my grip on the reactor, feeling it's weight settle more securely against me. Knowledge always had mass. And once the galaxy realized what could be done with it -what I had already done - It would circle. It always did.

“Let us go,” I said quietly, lifting my gaze toward the open sky. “Before someone else decides that they are after this.” Or after me, I had wanted to say, but did not. It was time to leave the depths behind us.

Tags: Edward Ashcard Imperius Indomitus Xitli Sacul