Duo Unus Ex Veni

[Via Dolorosa]

Overhead the sun was turning a reddish hue, a sign that all Sisters knew meant the ending of the day; arrival of the night. In packs or riding alone, members of the Spiderclan where a force to reckon with; killing without thought, preserving their lives on the corpses of their enemies. Even the mighty, predatory monsters that stalked the jungles of Dathomir for prey where not granted amnesty from the Clan's wicked natures. Though, by the decree of the Clan Mother, the killing of any beast was forbidden, lest it was for either survival or self-preservation. Even the great hunts, the jewel of every warrior's heart, had been abruptly ended. Times were dangerous.

Rival Clans began fighting, some verbally and others violently. Rivalries between Clans, such as the Singing Mountain Clan and the Nightsisters, turned heated and grew dangerously close to erupting into an full scale war. And where the Nightsisters went to war, so did the Spiderclan; though the two sects were once together, now splintered, held a shaky truce at best.

"We should head back, sister. It's getting late," the young girl said to Xiang. The older sister had taken a liking to the young girl, teaching her lessons of survival the best she could. Very few within the Clan garnered respect from the hybrid; most avoiding her if reasonable. "We will, little one. There's still enough light left, and the big scary monsters won't be out for another few hours," Xiang said.

Sensing the growing nervousness of the young Dathomirian, she conceded. "Ok, little one, we're going back. Race you!" Avoid using the Force, Xiang ran through the jungles, taking longer strides than the young one, aware of the device still flashing under the skin of her wrist. For four days the damned thing refused to stop it's consistent flashing; though she was thankful it didn't emit some annoying noise as well. How it got there or the purpose of it was something she had no knowledge of; only that it couldn't have been possible to be born with it. When she made inquiries to the Clan Mother, she only would say that she didn't put it there. Xiang suspected the old hag knew more than she was willing to give up, short of throttling her whatever secret she knew would remain with the old woman.

The two entered the camp, and like always the result was the same; a tie. Feeling the hunger rising in her, Xiang send the girl back to her parent's hut, and she would go and eat. She was different than the other Sisters, and not just in appearance. When she ate, she feasted like a wild beast; only the Clan Mother was aware of it. Where the tribe were fed by the hunters, she fed from live animals; draining their blood away and at times, ripping and tearing apart chunks of blood flesh. Because of this, Xiang refused to eat in front of the others; lest they judged her a monster.



[member="Seras Goto"]

 

[Seras Goto]

[member="Xiang Vang"]

Al-Khali was different now. Seras had received the information that Venefica had perished with the sith empire. Her rage had been.... something else. She didn't claim love of the sith.... they were.... they were what they were. Ladies of the Darkside and she didn't speak but her breathing came out mechanical. WIth the shroud around the facility it made everything silent.The cloaking device was activated preventing them from being seen before she came out of her chamber. Highly pressurized rooms down here let her move around without her suit on as she could almost breathe normally. Her burns and damaged face weren't as sore.

"Who did it." She raged into the force, there was no reports of her falling. From the looks she seemed to have just passed away. No battle, no assassination plot, no apprentice killing their master. It made her body practically fum with the power she had and barely used. Stopping only when she heard something. A sound coming from the shelf and the beeping brought her attention around. Ruined lips and cheeks, the flesh just barely connected in some places and you could see through it. Her black hair was there in simple curls and around her face. Fangs exposed in her mouth as they descended to line her mouth.

She moved over towards it and picked out the data pad.... it was not one she had done. The images on it were Venefica's and her eyes narrowed.... questionable dangerous if she was gone and this had activated. She was looking at it and the message about their child brought something to her golden eyes. Looking at it when she waited there for a moment. The droid might have thought it strange when she started to cackle prqctically and her lips curled back to reveal her sharpened teeth. WIth the sith lord going into the one room and there was an experiment trying to scream as she savaged herself upon him.

She listened to the message while she was eating and then again as she was getting cleaned and dressed. The mechanical suit in the airlocked chamber worked well for her before she listened to it a third time with the coordinates heading up to the main control rooms. Where they were going for now and she wanted to go there to retrieve this experiment. She had managed to surprise a few things here. THey had the new plants around the walls of the facility and the landing pads were covered with guns. THe Black Orchid was there while prepared to move out when she needed it to take her. Setting itno the navigational computer the information.

"I will be heading to Dathomir." She said it through the mechanical voice of her face mask. THe sound able to come out cause the nanites int he air didn't alter or stop her from being able to speak.. She was setting it all up while she walked and went through the scanners and airlocks. Specimen capture cells could e used before she was going out into the courtyard. Looking around at the stone. Black, oily looking with snow blowing across and above the blackness of the sky obscured by the cloak. Before she was moving now to the lift to take her to the lower hanger and docking tube into the Black Orchid. She had the course set and the organic ship was leaving the system.

Seras sat there as they jumped and went into orbit after several days of travel. She had gone the long way around and approached from deep orbit. SHe was looking at the orb that was the planet itself. Seras was sitting there and she was now curious about where the beacon was as the scanner picked it up. With a look on her face though while she was moving to the shuttles to head down there. SHe could see an old facility's remains where she could land and start and main part of this.. searching and following the beacon to find her daughter if the message was any proper indication.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Several days, now passed, and Xiang began to grow irritable with the mechanical device in her wrist. It hampered her hunting, the light seemingly brightening each day, and it at times shuddered her awake as she slept inside the makeshift hut. Few times over the passing days, the thought of severing her own hand, lopping it off just above the flashing entity, seemed reasonable; yet something deep inside her always rose up preventing her acting it out. Then, something else stirred within her, visions. Or dreams. They were vivid and filled with heavy detailed, yet when she woke up either by her own accord, or from the pesky light, those images appeared like a foggy haze; only to fade away leaving her confused. During all this, she kept it to herself. Outside the Mother and the little girl, whom both she felt no need to confine and burden them with this, she possessed no true bonds of friendship with the others. They were Sisters, in name, but she felt like an outsider.

And the feeling was growing.

Far from the prying eyes of the others, Xiang finished gorging herself on a medium sized mammal. Her thirst was sated, but not truly quenched. Her hunger was also growing, and the animals, reptiles, and large birds where no longer satisfying her. A couple of times, she discovered her fangs sliding down as her eyes remained transfixed on another Sister; and worse, the little girl. Thoughts of leaving the Spiderclan behind had been toyed with, but where would she go? Under the guidance of the Mother, she had committed atrocities against rival clans, which she thoroughly enjoyed, but no other clan would ever welcome her into their ranks. There was the Nightbrothers, but she distrusted those easily manipulated fools. And surviving on Dathomir alone was teetering on suicide.

Washing off the blood from hands and face, she double checked her outfit to ensure not a spill of blood was splattered on it. Her Sisters already viewed her with suspicion, giving them evidence against her would not be in her favour. Stopping, turning her head skyward, she saw a ship fly overhead; it's potential destination the old ruins. Offworlders were barely welcomed on Dathomir, and if the ship was going to the old ruins, then Mother needed to know about this. The ruins, ancient and crumbling, held a legend of it being haunted; haunted so bad no Sister dared trek there.


[member="Seras Goto"]

 

[Seras Goto]

[member="Xiang Vang"]

The old imperial prison, it was ruined and crumbling. Seras stepped out fot he shuttle sealing it with a look on her face. She didn't bring soldiers except they were around to protect her ship. She didn't bring much with her equipment wise relying on the suits functions and her food cubes in light of her hunting something. She could handle being without her mask for a time if it meant to eat. Her senses prickling when something came out. A woman with red scaled clothing, bones on her headdress and hair. The woman was moving over and whispering as Seras didn't speak... she moved fast on the ground and grabbed her. The sounds of a rancor charging with a makeshift club her mount she was guessing.

"INteresting, if I snap your neck will your pet feel it?" The woman seemed to be sneering at her and then her eyes met the garhoons and something shifted. Her body tensed and she couldn't speak before she was practically shaking. SHe was looking at the hunger and the darkside in the eyes of the sith doctor. SHe Felt her thumb go in with a slick wet sound and then she was moving quickly as the rancor roared charging at them. Her saber coming up when she slashed and went into its leg sending it into the crumbling wall. She reached out and pulled dropping more of it onto the bony skull until the rancor was limping and bleeding.

"Well that was disappointing." She said it and moved towards the witch who bore the different colors and wuffa hide leather. She removed her face mask. Revealing the mass of scarred and burned flesh. Ruined cheeks where you could almost see the tendons and nerves as she sucked in the air letting her fangs slide down into place. She mauled her and was tearing when something was there... on the wind as it shifted and Seras tossed her aside. "Dispose of them.... well that bring the beast. I maybe be able to get some uses out of it." The grin was there and she had some ideas of what science could do with a rancor if she let it.

The scent was faint but it was there, blood, power, the scent of teeth and claws. Seras moved stalking through the trees her hood down as it let her hair flow freely int he light breeze. her breathing mechanical sounding where she was looking.... her eyes flicking back and forth before she looked at one fot he valley's. THe rock formations giving several vantage points all around and she climbed up it seeing the eyes that looked out upon the passes, the valley's and the villages in the distance. She had followed the trail of the one she had killed to get here but she was seeing more. THis wasn't where she needed to go while she followed the beacon on the screen.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

"A ship," she began telling the Mother after the last Sister left the scared hut, "Near the old ruins." Sitting back on her crossed-legs, the Mother took a couple of pulls from her pipe; the contents forcing her eyes to roll back. Xiang wondered, always, what was in there but whatever it was, it gave the Mother a vision; usually. When she came back to the world, the Mother put aside the pipe, slapping her hands together. "Something is stirring, clouding my vision. A power. A hunger," she said looking into the eyes of the hybrid.

"Should I investigate the arrival of this mysterious ship," Xiang asked, tightening her hand around the hilt resting against her waist. With a shake of her head, the Mother said, "No." Surprised, even taken back, by the abrupt answer, she began to sense a feeling she never felt once emitting from the Mother; fear. "What is it? What has you spooked?" Extending a hand up, Xiang gripped it whilst helping the old woman to her feet. Adjusting her jungle-based clothes, she beckoned Xiang to follower her after a come-with-me finger gesture.

"My vision might be cloudy, but it's not fear for myself or the Clan that has me spooked, girl. It's for you," she said leading Xiang to the outskirts of their village. "There are only two villages between us and what is coming, and what is coming will not find answers there." Reaching down taking the wrist with the annoying flashy light, the Mother continued. "A ship comes. A mysterious power is coming. And this activated days prior. This is all linked. Linked to you, girl."

"Tough choices lie ahead for you, girl." The two stood in silence for a few passing moments. The silence was broken when the Mother continued. "You were very young. To young to remember. You were barely walking I recall when you were brought to us..." Stepping in front of the Mother, facing her Xiang said, "Brought to you? No, you said I was born here, different yes, but born here in the village. Mother, your old age is showing. It's affecting your memory, I have always been here."

"It saddens me, girl, that after all these years..........the truth will finally be revealed."



[member="Seras Goto"]

 

[Seras Goto]

[member="Xiang Vang"]

It was going to be a long walk, from the outcropping of rocks she had been able to see a fortress and knew she was being followed but they kept their distance. Obseving instead of trying to attack her. Every once and awhile Seras would catch one of them slipping up and getting into an open area to relocate her. She knew how to move swiftly and leave little trace as she was traveling day and night until she came to the first village. The witches were there, standing around as in the back she could smell the scents of males and children. While the witches were renowned they were also fearful of her. They could practically be seen shaking as Seras approached without fear.

"Who are you?" The one asked and Seras stood there looking at her for a moment, no hint of recognition or fear. She wasn't interested in them as her eyes tracked one fo the children and she spoke. Who I am is unimportant. You are in my way." Her mechanical breathing came as warriors came with the rancors and held their spears. Some with old model blaster rifles while Seras was looking at them and moved quickly. Standing in front of the older woman for a moment her wrist came up and an aerosol sprayed out causing the woman to choke and gag. She motioned them away for a moment and then fell on the ground as her body stiffened.

Seras looked at her. "You aren't going to die, your muscles are tightening, contracting to paralyze you, your nerves and skin however are becoming hypersensitive. If will allow you to feel everything in detail and painfully while being unable to move but you will be able to scream out into the force and answer my questions. Where is my child?" She said it and stood there as one of the warriors charged at her and a crackle was heardk,black fingers stretching as lightning arced from her arm towards the rancor causing it to convulse and buck throwing the rider off and she landed against a rock on the ground with an awkward angle and cried out.

Her legs weren't moving... her arms weren't moving and Seras watched her as she knelt down with a small blade. Molecular edged and thing to get under the skin before she started cutting into her and she could hear the screams. "Where is she?" She said it again and the woman didn't know who she was. "She would be like me, vicious, dangerous, territorial." Seras removed her face mask showing her ruined face and grinned as the teeth came out with her eyes changing. She wasn't going to feed yet but one of them came forward. "SHe is forsaken, with the nightsisters." The way she said it got gasps from the others on how she might know this.

"I have seen her kills, creatures savaged and mauled in the jungle, bloody clothing and rags that were used to clean discarded. It could only be her now please let my mother go." Seras considered it for a moment before she was looking down at the older woman and spoke. "Hmmm you are too old to eat." The blade moved quickly as it sliced into her throat. "But not to kill, my child was brought here and you cast her out let her go to the nightsisters. I have seen the information about them." She said it and looked at the one who stepped forward before her hand went down and into the woman's chest coming away bloody.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you, if you touch my daughter I shall make you eat the eat of your loved ones." She was garhoon the concept of love didn't really go with her but she wasn't about to go against it. Venefica and their child was important to the two of them. Offspring were important even if it merely was because this was the product of her and Venefica. The greatest minds of the black rose before it was torn apart. The one witch gripped her weapon but wasn't going to attack while seras ate the heart and then tossed it to her. The sound of meat on her chest coming before she put her mask back on and continued to follow the beacon sending through the force what had been happening and the sensation of eating it. the blood, the flesh beneath her teeth.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The revelation hit Xiang hard, elevating her anger. Rather risk enacting violence against the Clan Mother; she simply stormed off; drawing the hilt from her side. The Clan Mother was lying, yet deep inside herself she knew what the old woman said was truth. She had always been different, her appearance failing to resemble the other Sisters. This she knew, accepted. Her feeding, her retractable teeth, the hunger, the ability to do what others could not, her strong connection to the Force; all this set her apart from her Clan, but instead of receiving answers from the Clan Mother, the old woman let her suffer, drown in the questions. The old woman knew all along Xiang was never born here, and yet she fed Xiang lies and more lies.

Stopping in the center of the village, her anger rose further. Her whole life, a lie. Who was she? What was she?

Sensing the Clan Mother's approach from behind, Xiang closed her eyes. "All this time, you knew. You knew and still you continued to feed me lies." Stopping a few meters from Xiang, the Clan Mother sighed. "Child..." Turning her head left whilst opening her eyes, she looked over her shoulder saying, "I am no child!" Nodding respectively the Clan Mother continued, "I lied to you to protect you. I swore an oath...." Balling her fist, she gripped the old woman's throat through invisible hands; applying just enough pressure on the windpipe to halt her voice. The Sisters that gathered to witness this, drew their weapons. "I have learned much about my abilities, Clan Mother. No more lies, who am I?" Whilst she released her hold, Xiang stared at the weapon drawn Sisters.

"Weapons down," the Clan Mother said to the other girls. The Sisters hesitated, only to slowly abide the woman's wishes. "You're angry. You're confused. But Xiang, you are one of us, in spite of what I'm going to tell you."

Xiang listened as the Clan Mother spoke of Sith, Sith Lords, and a woman named Darth Venifica. The more she learned, the greater her confusion. Her mind felt torn, splitting from the inside out. "Darth Veneifica she was...she was my real Mother?" Placing a shaky hand on Xiang's right shoulder the Clan Mother replied, "Yes, one of two." Spinning around to face the old lady, Xiang said, "One of two? How's that even possible?"



[member="Seras Goto"]

 

[Seras Goto]

[member="Xiang Vang"]

She felt something, a cool sensation, coldness of the darkside and then the warmth of anger and soothing balm of pain. It distracted Seras as she was standing over one fot he children who had stopped screaming once their throat was raw and dry. She looked down seeing her before walking away and heading towards the beacon. her face mask on and hair moving in the small breeze. The scents in the air were of blood and pain... intermingled with the most intoxicating of all... fear. Fear for their lives and fear because the nightsisters had taken in the offspring as it were of such a monster... if they had fced it or unleashed it.

The trek through the jungle brought her some attention... still some were following her but they were black cloaked and when she caught a face. Blood vessels popped in the skin of their faces. A haggard look on such a young teenager but she had been using the darkside without control... without purpose and now she was paying for it as Seras continued to walk with them shadowing her. Past the other village that had rancor runners there from the previous. saying what had happened, the chirping of the beacon got faster and faster as she was getting closer and closer to where she wanted to go... where she needed to go and she stood there.

The hours that had past allowed the sun to go and cast shadows along the ground as Seras moved her hood to let her hair flow. One hand on her datapad to find the beacon and the other was there prepared to fight in case it was needed with crackling lightning and power. She could scent the air and feel her while she was moving without fear of the spiders.. she thought about taking one and plucking their legs off to make a point but that could come later before she spoke seeing one fo them was brave enough to try and approach her and attack. "Where is she?" The mechanical sound of her breathing and the low rasp of her voice whispered with the force.

Seras though pulled at that connection... blood and power. She was sending the image to her.. sending the feeling of looking at this nightsister and seeing not a person but a sack of meat and blood that would serve to satiate her instead of being a person. She had a sinister grin under her mask when she moved forward and the girl paused flinching for a moment. A hand coming out and she didn't spray her.. she just touched her face for a moment. Searching, feeling witht he force and then spoke. "You are not her.... bring me my daughter or I will tear out your heart and make your sisters eat it." With a look at her and the presence she exuded the nightsister wasn't fearful in the normal sense... more she didn't want something like this to be here any longer then it has to be.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Once again, the anger inside me began to rise; forcing my hand around the hilt to tighten, my jaw clenching. The Clan Mother had no defensible answer from my posed questions. She, like myself, was at a crossroads. The Mother began to speak, prompting me to put her to silence with a gestured hand. "I need time.....to be alone....to think," I said returning the hilt back to my waist belt whilst spinning on my heels; avoiding any contact with the eyes of the Clan Mother.

If by fate, or by an unseen force at work, I stumbled into the nearby village which seemed to be under attack from a masked and suited woman. This Clan, though not part of mine, was still an ally to us; and if they were threatened it was my duty to grant them assistance in any capacity. However, with my mind cluttered and under the spell of reeling, I found no desire to help. My failure to react was not lost on the ruling Clan head here, her accusing finger shaking at me, her voice accusing me of shirking my duties. Already angered, I found for a third time my anger boiling over. Dropping the hilt into my hand, I snarled loudly, revealing my sharpened teeth. I had fed recently, but the pulsating of the elder's veins tugged at the hunger inside me.

"You do not accuse me of anything, Elder," I said taking slow, calculated steps toward her. The others, undoubtedly were starting to perceive my advances as a threat and began to act accordingly; their attention divided between myself and this stranger. "You and yours are nothing but allies....nothing more, nothing less," I continued, unknowingly ignited the weapon.



[member="Seras Goto"]

 

[Seras Goto]

[member="Xiang Vang"]

There was something there.. soemthing coming and it was like a wash of heat across her exposed skin. Where she could feel it but it didn't burn her... she could sense it.. anger a rush of heat and power but there was something dangerous to them all. Seras watched as she stood there and one of the witches came at her... a hand coming out and she grabbed her. The talisman on her hand glowing and gleaming when it pulled and drained her face. The burst blood vessels stopped as her eyes glazed over so the sith doctor could watch her... then she was moving with her attention on the stranger who came and something about her.

Then she saw it, fqangs and anger.. something of Venefica was there as Seras stopped and ululated in her throat almost excited. THe smell of blood was there when her mouth became exposed. Torn, scarred, with melted parts of it. She moved watching her though and stalked around to see what could be a risk then she looked at the others and snarled herself revealing fangs that came into place. She was prepared to rend and tear but spoke with a roar almost below the edge of hearing. Garhoon communications that would at least cut through and get a reaction before her voice came out. Throaty and with an edge to it.

"Daughter." She said it as a fact, not as a guess... there was unlikely to be another such here with fangs and teeth to rend flesh.. there was unlikely to be another who smelled like Venefica and had blood of a hunter coursing through her veins.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

"Daughter," she whispered, feeling the word vibrate confusingly on her lips. With suspicious eyes, Via looked the woman up and down; taking stock that this woman and herself shared physical traits, mainly in facial features and species. Confusion washed away into excitement, as she recalled the Elder's words about her having two Mothers. Via took a nervous step toward the one that was one Mother, then stopped when she saw her Sisters begin to move toward the woman. She could see the anger, and some fear, on their faces after the display her Mother demonstrated.​

​

"Stay your hands," Via said toward the Sisters, gripping her hilt in her hand tightly. Briefly they listened, only to continue walking forward; weapons at the ready. There was no doubt in Via's mind that her time with the Clan was drawing to an end. Flashing her fangs, she let out a small growl igniting the weapon.​

​

"You better be my Mother," she said over her shoulder to the woman, "Or you and I will have a talk once this slaughter is concluded!"​

​

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[member="Seras Goto"]​

 

[Seras Goto]

[member="Via Dolorosa"]

Looking at the girl and then at the others.. she didn't move her head... just her eyes flicking them back and forth while she allowed the force to breath around herself. Throughout her muscles and she moved finally when one came close. Fangs extending and exposed to look at them, her clamped her mouth down on the throat of the one sister. She moved her head back and remained there for a moment bringing ahand out as the talisman built into the hand of her armor glowed for a moment. Grabbing another and pulling at their minds as their eyes glazed over white... then they seemed to be following her direction to attack their sisters mindlessly. THe power of the soul stealer she and venefica had found and retaken for themselves evident within her armor. "I have no reason to lie child..... and you should be able to properly feel it... just like the heat of the blood in my throat."