Private DAGGERFALL | Forge of Dominion.

[Serina Calis]

Forge of Dominion.
Location: Dantooine, Old Rakatan Forge.
Objective: Begin again.
Allies: ???
Opposing Force: ???
Tags: Diarch Rellik

The Force is not my master. It is not my guide. It is mine to wield, to shape, to command. Those who hesitate, who kneel before destiny, who whisper of balance—they are already lost. I will not endure. I will conquer. I will forge myself into something greater, and when I am done, the galaxy will not remember the Jedi. It will not remember the Sith. It will remember me.
​

The altar cracked beneath them.

Stone splintered, metal screamed, the very bones of the temple trembled as Rellik and the Gemini crushed each other into the throne that had so arrogantly been called a seat of power. The two titans tangled in a contest of strength—the past and the future grinding against one another, locked in a stalemate that threatened to tear the very chamber apart.

And Serina…

Serina watched.

The torches flickered in anticipation as her cold, pale gaze narrowed, taking in the beautiful geometry of their entanglement—the perfection of that moment where ancient steel met burning flesh, where legacy met entropy.

And the space between them...

That, she decided, was hers.

She moved without warning.

No roar. No war cry. No flourish.

Only motion—like a blade drawn across silk. Like the snap of a wire pulled taut for too long.

Her halberd gleamed in the haze of the toxin—a comet of obsidian and fire—and as her body twisted in an elegant arc, the molten runes etched into Ebon Requiem's blade flared in response to her intent: Annihilation.

She didn't aim for the heart.

Not at first.

She wanted the creature to feel it.

The blade's edge caught one of the machine's limbs, cleaving it at the elbow in a spray of hydraulic blood and synthetic sinew. The Gemini screamed, a horrible gurgling wail that was neither man nor machine—a sound that did not deserve to exist in this world.

It shook in place, sparking violently, staggering back.

But Serina did not stop.

"Look at you," she cooed, circling the monstrosity, each step slow and serpentine, a sway to her hips that was less performance and more declaration—a woman in complete control.

"You've clung to life for four thousand years, haven't you? Leeching, sucking, consuming like the coward you are. But for all your time, all your pain... you never evolved."

She lunged again—low this time. A precise, snapping thrust that pierced the Gemini's abdomen where the twisted fusion of organic tissue and machinery was weakest. The halberd sank deep, the sound a mix of shattering glass, rending flesh, and warping steel.

The machine shuddered.

So did the body inside it.

Serina leaned in close, her lips near its ravaged ear—where once a Rakatan mind had hunted the stars.

"You never became more. You just became… less."

With a flourish she ripped the halberd free. The Gemini staggered back. One knee dropped. Its second arm, severed by Serina's follow-through, tumbled to the shattered floor.

It was broken.

And that—that was the moment she struck true.

Her eyes flicked to Rellik. Their gazes met—his body beaten and gasping, yet standing. Still alive. Still strong. Still smiling.

She allowed herself a half-smile back.

"This is mine."

And with a final spin of Ebon Requiem, she brought the weapon down in a crescendo—a decapitating sweep that cleaved through the Gemini's throat and severed the connection between the creature's corrupted brain and the machinery that kept it breathing.

There was a flash of light.

Then silence.

The air stilled. The toxin stopped flowing. The hum of the machines died.

And Serina stood above the ruin of what had once believed itself eternal.

Chest rising and falling, sweat glistening at her brow, blood not her own trailing down the haft of her halberd, she exhaled—long, slow, satisfied.

"That," she said, "was almost worth the effort."

She turned to Rellik now, her eyes glowing faintly in the dim light, her voice velvet smooth—dangerous and amused.

"Still alive, Diarch? I must be losing my touch."

She approached him now, slowly, deliberately—not to threaten. Not to finish. But to inspect. To study. To measure.

When she stopped in front of him, her halberd still in hand, she let her free fingers trace a line through the blood caked on his jaw, then down the length of his neck, stopping just above his heart.

"You're wounded. Exhausted. Breathing poison, and yet... you didn't fall." Her voice was a low murmur now, intimate and edged with curiosity. "Fascinating."

The fingers retreated.

She turned her back to him, slowly, halberd over her shoulder like a queen dismissing a subject, or a lover walking away from the edge of indulgence.

"We should find our way out, before this tomb decides it wants to bury us again."

A pause.

"Unless, of course, you'd prefer to stay here... and catch your breath."

The tease lingered in the air like perfume.

She didn't wait for an answer.

Serina Calis walked onward. Victorious. Radiant. Undeniable.

The galaxy would learn her name.

Or it would burn.

 

[Diarch Rellik]

A Beginning or an End​

"Gemini!" The word was a laughing taunt from a madman who's head was tilted upward slightly in a devilish grin. Hoping to provoke something more from the machine.

No resoonse was given, the two were busy annihilating the raised structure that the monstrosity resided upon. Soot, dust, and power filled the air where once a "god" lay.

"It comes my son. A key to the puzzle."

Rellik did not have the time to ponder the message from Kakus.

A streak of power, a that flew by with a flash. The tension in Relliks right side of his body being removed so quickly almost threw him off balance. Taking the momentum Rellik transfered the energy. Twisting his left arm to open the monstrosities body to Serinas angle even more.

It was than that he noticed it. A scream let out that sounded like something drowning but it was not water choking out the beast. It was blood and oil intertwined.

It showed true fear, stumbling back a few feet from the Diarch and leaving itself open for an attack to the abdomen. Than full destructive submission. De-armed on both sides, body and mind shattered.

The Diarch watched in savage fascination. Enjoying the brutality of the moment, enjoying the power on display. A momentary locking of eyes, led to a smile shared between Serina and himself as they both could feel the end coming.

With a final spin of her halberd Serina decapitated the damned monster.

With the control matrix of the Gemeini shut down and the gas stopped. The Diarch took the time to close his eyes and sense the damage to his body. Muscles tight and worked, breaths short and un able to fully fill his needs.

A few days of testing and recovery within the shadow laboratory on Taspir would free him of any lingering effects Hopefully.

"Still alive dear. It does one good to be pushed again. Simple training exercises could never compete with a moment where you might die."

He stood reveling in the auroma of battle. Opening his eyes once he felt Serina moving towards him.

Her posture and frame were holo film perfect with each step. Even the way her Halberd fell along her side was picture esque.

Although pleasing to the eyes. Rellik did not lower his guard. As Serina reached out with simply a finger and traced his jaw he felt something he had probably not since he was a young teen.

A sense of fight, fear, and arousal at a woman's touch.

The nature of it freezing him from speaking for a moment as he instinctually flared his chest with a deep breath as her finger laid against his heart.

the soft warm words she spoke in admiration brought an electric chill down his spine. One that had made his senses scream out.

Than it was gone. Serina turned her back and walked away. The Diarch unsure if she noticed how much she had conquered his more libidinous emotions. Something he would need to meditate on and control.

Her words re-awoke the Diarch and he could not help but give a soft chuckle at her remark. Not waiting for him to catch his breath she moved to exit the tomb. Rellik using one last push of effort to catch up, now stood next to Serina.

"I doubt I could convince someone like you to stay in one place for long so take this communicator and find me again. Frankly I doubt you would need it for our paths to cross in the future but it does not hurt to foster the opportunity further."

As he finished his words the two were already exiting. A whole day passing in the time they were together. With Rellik looking over at Serina one last time as he stood near his Speeder.

A quick glance was sent in both directions before a youthful large smile came over his face.

Reaching with one arm to scratch the back of his head and with a dumb grin he asked

"Do you need a ride to the star port?"

 

[Serina Calis]

Forge of Dominion.
Location: Dantooine, Old Rakatan Forge.
Objective: Begin again.
Allies: ???
Opposing Force: ???
Tags: Diarch Rellik

The Force is not my master. It is not my guide. It is mine to wield, to shape, to command. Those who hesitate, who kneel before destiny, who whisper of balance—they are already lost. I will not endure. I will conquer. I will forge myself into something greater, and when I am done, the galaxy will not remember the Jedi. It will not remember the Sith. It will remember me.
​

Serina paused mid-step, her back still to him, the light of the twin moons beginning to filter faintly into the outer corridors of the tomb's entrance as the veil of smoke and ruin fell behind them. Her halberd rested lazily across one shoulder, the last clinging droplets of oil and blood sliding down its curved hook, glistening in the dim light like ink dripping from the pen of some ancient author writing the end of gods.

She heard the amusement in his voice—that irreverent charm tucked behind wearied breath. He was trying to be light again. Trying to reclaim the air of nonchalance, as if they had not just danced on the edge of oblivion together. As if he had not watched her tear the soul from a machine. As if she had not—very briefly—stolen something far more intimate than a battlefield victory.

She turned.

Slowly.

Her head tilted just enough that her golden hair, now tousled and damp from the heat of the forge and battle, spilled down her shoulder like liquid starlight. Her eyes locked to his, catching him mid-grin—one hand sheepishly scratching the back of his neck like a boy who didn't quite know if he'd just survived or fallen in love.

A cruel, amused smile curved her lips.

"Rellik…" she said his name like a tasting. Smooth. Sultry. The consonants drawn out like silk sliding off a lover's skin. "You are many things—ambitious, resilient, maddeningly persistent… even beautiful when you're bleeding."

She stepped closer again, casually, but with that same calculated predatory grace. Her fingers idly traced along the spine of Ebon Requiem, not in readiness but reverence, like a queen petting her lion.

"But do not mistake my company for consent," she purred, her tone both sensual and sharp. "You fought well. You impressed me. You even made me smile. But I was not done with this place."

Her hand lifted then, and for a moment he might've thought she was going to touch him again—perhaps at the shoulder, the neck, the cheek she had so delicately traced before. But instead, her fingers curled slightly and pointed past him, back toward the ruin that festered in the depths.

"There's more beneath us. Layers upon layers of dust and sin. This place did not just call to me for that… pathetic fusion of rust and rotting flesh. No. This temple wants something. It knows something. And I was summoned here for a reason that has not yet shown its face."

Her voice dipped low, almost conspiratorial, but heavy with intent. A murmur against the skin of the Force.

"There's a voice in the stones, whispering of secrets not even the Sith dared drag into the light. And I want to know why it sings to me."

She took a half-step back from him, the ghost of a smirk still playing on her lips. That sensual coil of her body relaxed, but her eyes—stars above, those eyes—burned hotter than ever. They were the eyes of a woman who had tasted godhood and now sought the recipe.

She extended a hand and took the communicator from his offering. Her fingers brushed against his as she did—just a hint of contact, skin to skin—but in that second, he'd feel the full weight of her presence again. Not the battle-hardened warrior, but the something else that coiled around her soul. The thing that had stared down the Gemini without blinking.

"The next time our paths cross, Diarch," she said, eyes never breaking from his, "I expect a better offering than a ride and a grin."

She turned on her heel, the black hem of her cloak whispering along the ancient stone as she made her way deeper back into the tomb, not sparing a glance behind.

"And don't wait for me," she called over her shoulder, voice echoing like a curse and a promise. "If I don't come back out, it simply means I found something too wonderful to leave behind."

And with that, she was gone—devoured by the darkness once more. Not as a victim of it.

But as its heir.