Private Fighting the Nightmare Demon

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Adeline Noctua

The fight with Carnifex and Quintessa. The constant nightmares. The fact that her skills were not enough to keep other safe. It was all too much. Lily couldn't stand it anymore, she couldn't handle spinning all these plates constantly and never feeling safe to rest.

The nightmares had to stop.

Lily couldn't handle the way they prevented a full rest, she was initially took it in her stride and was working on herself, her training when she would wake from the vivid nightmarish dreams she suffered with. However, the toll it was taking her was getting more and more. Her patience thinned and her tolerance of others in her personal space was getting less. Lily was snapping at people, at those she cared about because her brain was so tired. But it wasn't just the tiredness, it was also the issue of the events lately weighed on her heavily. If she could rest for a moment, get a relief from it all to then process what happened.

Perhaps then she could stop blaming herself for everything bad that happened on the Mors Mon.

Perhaps then she could try moving forward.

So, during a night where she had awoken from a pretty gruesome nightmare, Lily had conducted some research on what she had encountered. The monstrous being that had placed a curse on her, that stole her dreams from her. She spun a pen between her fingers as she looked over the notes that she had on the encounter as well as the data she had gathered from accessing the archives on Naboo as well what the Galactic Alliance had in their archives. She was snacking on a breakfast bar as she read up on a ritual that held potential in destroying the curse. The results sounded positive and it involved purging the curse with the power of the Light Side. Lily was just unsure if she had the strength in the Force to do that. Her Force powers were always the weakest part of her Jedi training.

Drawing the lines on the ground, Lily muttered that this was likely going to fail like the couple of other attempts she made had before.

Sitting in the circle of her lines and lettering, Lily focused and meditated. Connecting with the Force, she poured her energies into the sigils that she made. Letting them glow with the blue light of the Force. "I expel you demon." Lily growled deeply as she attempted to burn the curse away with the Force.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Naboo

Tag | Lily Decoria

There was an old saying... Men do not fear men, for men may weaken and die. Men do not fear steel, for all blades rust and fade, like leaves on a tree... Men fear monsters, for a monster does not weaken or die, dull nor rust. For a monster waits within shadow, for men to weaken and rust.

The once sturdy Jedi had begun to weaken and rust, the vile poison swimming within her soul causing what Adeline would describe as a 'fruitful outcome'.

As Lily had put her heart into breaking this curse that had plagued her for months, there seemed to be a dim light.. If even for a moment.

The dulled shimmer of light echoed around the room, there was no feeling of a looming darkness in her mind.. Had she done it? Was this nightmare finally over after so long of fighting it?

As the exhaustion set back in, your eyelids couldn't help but desire to be closed..

But what if it didn't work?

As your eyes snap back open, reddened and strained. The library seemed more silent than before, there had already been only a tiny handful of people there today.. Perhaps they had left?

The sounds of people in the halls was normal at least, maybe it was best to- To sleep? A once normal function that had been tainted for so long.. Yes... Your body ached for it, your mind couldn't help but think of your bed.

Perhaps you were too distracted to notice the sigils of light you had drawn looked different, inverted in a way.. Or were they always like that?









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[Lily Decoria]

Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Adeline Noctua

There was a hitch in her breathing for a long moment as she thought that her attempt had been unsuccessful, that nothing could solve this curse that had been placed on her. That she would have to resign the rest of her life to being unable to sleep and having to explain so dream demon refused to leave her alone when partners and whoever she married noticed how little Lily slept.

Then there was a sensation, something new that felt like the light burnt away something. As if she had removed some taint on her heart.

Her eyes flickered open, she suspected the late hour, or early hour, depending on how you saw it, was the reason for the silence in the library now. She had come in the middle of the night in hopes that she could return to her bed and truly crash out. Something she had not achieved in many months now. The glow of runes etched on the floor seemed to be a positive sign that she had succeeded in her mission.

Rising up, her tiredness was overwhelming and with the embers of hope that she could sleep, drowsiness blinded her from the very real threat that Lily was facing.

The young Padawan continued to wander the halls, heading back to her room. To her bed, not thinking much on it as her body was in autopilot and wandered in a manner of knowing the real layout of the temple very well in her head.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Naboo

Tag | Lily Decoria

Walking those halls was like a dream all on its own, your sunken eyes unable to notice all of the changes around. Dark voids replaced the faces of those in the halls, husks being formed off memory alone. The lights flickered as a hooded figure stalked you, the Padawan unknowing that she was already caught within the hunt.

That bed never before had looked so divine, everything about it made your body tingle with comfort. A short lived blessing, or perhaps more akin to a cruel teasing...

The sounds of the halls grew silent, with only the sounds of footsteps and a metallic scraping growing closer.. Closer.. Closer. The sound cracked like a whip into your ears, followed soon after by a cheerful humming.

Your eyes couldn't stop looking at the door, seeing the shadowy silhouette of heels grow closer up until someone stood right outside the door.

The lullaby grew louder as this stranger was just outside, your eyes unable to look away, your body refusing to move.

The knob on the door twisted a bit before the door slowly opened, only to reveal... Nothing. No one seemed to be standing there, yet the humming drew closer to you.

The lights flickered as a surreal coldness creeped up your body, stopping at your neck as some unseen force grabbed tightly. And as the lights flickered again, the hooded woman was now visible.

Her form was unknown to you, yet it was that signature scar in the force you never forgot.. It was her.

"Oh so somnolent... Begging and aching for rest.. Why not rest within the dirt? I will be sure to shove plenty of worms in your lovely corpse my dear.."

She was never gone, the ritual didn't work. It was just a cruel trick by this.. This monster!

Her hand grips tighter, the woman licking at her fangs.

"I do so love hearing it, I can hear and feel your fear. Just makes your blood taste all the more sweet, your heart more tender~"

The woman's hand quickly moves to your shoulder, pinning you down before delivering a bite into the neck. After a moment she pulls back, lifting the poor girl before tossing Lily over next to the door.

"Mm, not sweet enough.."

Adeline cackles maniacally, blood trickling down her black lips. Your instincts were telling you to run, to get out of the room and away from this woman as swiftly as you could.












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[Lily Decoria]

Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Adeline Noctua

By the time she reached her bedroom, Lily knew something was wrong. That the ritual had not been a success. The constant feeling of being watched, followed added with the fact that there was something not quite right with everything around her. She wasn't sure where she was and prayed that this would be something that she would just wake from. Perhaps she had fallen asleep in reality and this was just another one of the many nightmares she suffered.

Something she had gotten numb to, horror could only terrify so many times before one desensitised to it. Lily did not enjoy what she was seeing but she did not wake herself screaming anymore. Something she figured was denying Adeline the pleasure of. It was not a victory but it was an act of defiance that Lily had clung to while she struggled with her sleeping.

When the demonic woman confronted her again, the visage had changed, drastically so again. Something more monstrous than she had appeared before. Perhaps unable to hide the true monster that she was anymore. The hold on Lily's throat made Lily sneer as she felt the power that came from Adeline. "You look a little different. New haircut? Maybe a new skin care routine?"

It was a dumb joke but one that was meant to demonstrate that Lily was not afraid. That she was still a force of positive energy.

She had to keep that.

"I prefer cremation over burial, personally." Lily grunted, she was still going to be her stubborn, immovable self.

Pinned, there was nothing that Lily could do as the monster bit down hard enough to make her bleed. Then threw Lily aside as if she was a toy to play with. "Seems your plans failed then." Lily grunted, she was stubborn even when facing death. The only issue was that there was nothing she could use to fight. This wasn't reality, her weapons were not really on her person. She also didn't know how to use the Force to create Force Light or even fire to burn and sever the connection between them. But also the connection Adeline had to the Force.

There was much she still needed to learn.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Naboo

Tag | Lily Decoria

A blackened claw scrapes across the edge of the blade she carried in the other hand, a headstrong one this was... Each interaction favoured the Jedi's hunter more and more, for almost nothing escaped her hungering gaze.

"Only now did I decide to make your nightmare a reality.. Time and time again you sunk into my world, and time and time again did I kill you. How long has it been since that frail body of yours got a proper rest? It had been such a delight watching you squirm, slowly picking you apart limb by limb."

She licks the remaining blood around her blackened lips, keeping her impish demeanor.

"Yet even now when gazing into the abyss, even when death has the scythe rested gently around your neck.. You attempt to defy it. Charming really, but it is a fault you and other Jedi carry so proudly."

The woman slams the tip of her hand scythe into the wall, causing a rippling crack to spread around the room until a hole in the wall had opened. Images of lost battles danced within the void that Keres had opened, a reminder that the Order drew closer.

"Why bash against the shield and hope for results? Mm, no no... We must take a closer look, the shield is there for a reason is it not?"

Adeline grins, yanking the blade out from the wall. Insects scurried out as the building around them began to rot and decay.

"You fear failing to protect others, you hide it well.. But I can smell it oozing from you, the very situation you are in and have been in frustrates you to no end. Your weakness, your failings.. Ohhoho how they claw at your mind. Your attempts at wit, your constant need to train. You fear failure, you fear what will happen if I or any other learns more about who you protect."

A copy of Keres appears behind, taking a firm grip on your shoulder as she leans in to whisper.

"The day I get a real taste of your fear is the day that I turn anyone you hold dear into an art piece right before your eyes, to watch that fragile shield you keep around yourself crumble into dust."

The copy shifts away into a swarm of bugs, the real Adeline giving Lily a delighted chuckle.

"But for now I will enjoy sampling you~"

The Padawan is force pushed out of the room before another word can be said, the door slamming shut as rusted chains tangled and coiled around it.

Back into the now rotted hall, your eyes could see dangling meat hooks that sat idly. Along with a twisted visage of a fellow Jedi, their form hardly even what you could call human.

Whatever this thing was, it began to shamble in your direction, leaking a foul smelling liquid that assaulted your nose as the monster got closer.











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[Lily Decoria]

Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Adeline Noctua

The monster was monologuing, which if this was reality, one where she had actual Lightsabers to strike down the monster. Then Lily would care so much about what was being spoken and allow Adeline to go on endlessly. It would give her time to organise a plan of attack and think things through without having to listen to what was being said to her. But she was stuck. There was no attacking this thing here. It was impossible and Lily knew it would only cause her further pain and suffering if she attempted to be too confrontational.

"Let's end this nightmare, I will not give you what you wish. Let me have my sleep once again. Find someone else to torment." Lily growled, it was her only chance to really get to end this ongoing issue in the way that she wanted. She needed to speak now before Adeline got too obsessed in this horror fantasy nightmare that she was creating. Attempting to further break the spirit inside Lily.

However, she faced death in the form of Carnifex. Twice.

While here was a beast of measurable talent and danger to Lily. This toying with her, it felt less terrifying than what she had faced when literally fighting for life. At least, Lily had to keep informing herself of that. Her heart was still pounding and she couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was still yet to come. The bugs were gross but she swallowed her disgust in hopes that she could convince Adeline to simply speak with her.

Pushed out of the room, Lily slammed against the chained door in frustration. "Damn you!" Lily cursed in anger. She never understood Adeline's angle or what she was wanting from all this. Lily would not break, she would not allow herself to become evil. Lily cared too much about looking after others to become some crazed wanton murderer.

Seeing the wretched creature deformed and stumbling towards her, Lily figured her powers would not work here but tried to push the being back into the shadows away from her. While taking steps backwards to get out of here again.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Naboo

Tag | Lily Decoria

The creature had lunged, desiring to sink its malformed teeth into the girl. Yet the Padawan's assumption that she could do nothing proved to be false, as the thing was pushed away and fell on the floor.

It squirmed on the floor as Lily backed away, twisted little arms reaching out to you as it began to slowly crawl in your direction.

But what of the rest of this place? Sure it seemed.. Rusted, decayed. But almost everything here was similar to your memory, the darkened halls being pieced together as you traveled along.

Continuing down this path you find yourself in a dilapidated training room, the lights here seemed to work better.. Albeit with the occasional flickering.

Inside the room within its center there seemed to be a strange scythe looking weapon stuck into the floor, the blade slammed down deep into the wood. Black butterflies lingered around it, some fluttering about while others rested on the handle.

"We fear death, but only by facing it may we find true courage."

An all too familiar voice says within the darkness, Adeline taking a step out into the light soon after.

"A passage I had read long ago when I was a little one, it still lingers in my mind to this very day. I do believe you are taught something similar to it right? But even then, as I shift around inside your mind.. I can't help but find instances of you feeling.. Fear."

The woman smiles a bit, rusted barbed chains coiling around the room as they formed around the door Lily had used to enter.

"My former master, he had made you feel fear. But what sort of fear could there be for those who know they face something far worse than death? For isn't death but a mercy?"

Adeline walks forward, the chains parting as she stood next to the weapon in the center of the room.

Using the force she unlodges the weapon, unhooking the blade from the long handle as the metal sent sparks flying, and the longer handle itself folded in half as it was attached to her back.

The blackened butterflies went about the room, fleeing into a crack in the ceiling above.

Hundreds of eyes formed around the walls of the room, watching the two.

"Show me what all you can do."

She says in a calm tone, sending a tendril of Sith lightning at the Padawan.














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[Lily Decoria]

Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Adeline Noctua

Lily was surprised when her attack worked. She had fully expected her connection to the Force to be unavailable in this realm that Adeline created. To be able to connect with it was a comfort in this horror show. It had her curious if her Lightsabers were potentially real here. Were objects she could use to fight back. To show her refusal to surrender over to whatever desires Adeline had for Lily. She was too stubborn, too committed to the Jedi Order and to her Master. Lily would fight to defend those she had grown to care about until the day she died. Hence why she took these nightmares from Adeline, why she refused to allow herself to go insane.

If Adeline's focus was on her, it had to lessen the dangers to others, right?

Finding herself in some training room, it was Lily defaulting to where she felt safest. The most confident she felt was always in a training room, sparring and demonstrating why she was one of the best fighters around, at least for the level she was as a Padawan. Lily dedicated herself to the craft and made sure to always fight as if her life depended on it.

Seeing the scythe and hearing the voice, Lily knew there would be another confrontation in this room.

"Fear is something instinctive and encourages survival. Having it has made sure I fight your former Master and you, still walking away alive and capable of returning stronger and more dangerous to your safety." Lily countered, "it is those who allow themselves to be blinded by fear that become corrupted."

Grabbing her Lightsaber, Lily prayed that it would work here. Activating the Lightsaber and holding it in defensive manner to prevent the lightning from striking her. Holding a firm grip on the hilt of her Lightsaber.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Naboo

Tag | Lily Decoria

The tendrils of electric current were indeed held at bay, sparking and crackling around the blade of the ignited saber. Thanks to either it being a miracle, or some level of control in- Well wherever this cursed place was.

Adeline holds the current, intent on keeping it there.

"I would have hoped that by now, after getting up time and time again.. That it would improve your ability, but after recent events I can't say I have ever doubted your order more than I do now."

She spoke of Woostri, of the battle that had taken place.

"How many more will you fail?"

Using the pinning of the lightnight, her other hand uses the force to coil and slither a barbed rusted chain, akin to a snake as she tried to coil and dig it into their leg while the defended against the lightnight.








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[Lily Decoria]

Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Adeline Noctua

The Lightsaber was real. Lily could fight. There was a swell in confidence in herself. While she hadn't won anything in this fight. Being able to fight, being able to resist. That was a power that Lily needed.

It was what she did. She was a warrior, she fought and Lily gave all she had to protect others. It was why she shared this curse with no one. She refused to allow them to get dragged or allow Adeline's gaze to turn on them. This was Lily's battle and she was going to fight it with everything she had.

"I have yet to be broken by your tricks. I have accepted the burden you push on me with everything I have." Lily stated with a calm voice. "The NJO faced defeat yes. But they have yet to be defeated. The Jedi will push back and will show how vulnerable the Sith rule is."

The defeat on Woostri was crushing, but it was more crushing for Lily since she failed to protect others from Carnifex. Azurine had been taken and Lily felt like she was too weak to stop that from happening. That she needed her sleep, needed to be rid of this curse from Adeline to ensure that she could get stronger to prevent this happening again in the future.

It was her duty to become the best warrior that Lily could be.

"I will fail more, but as long as I learn from my failures, as long as I grow stronger. Then I will reach the day where I won't be the one failing." She pushed back against the lightnight with all her might, letting the barbed chain coil around her leg and cut in. Lily did stomp on the chain to prevent Adeline from pulling on the chain to harm Lily more.

If Lily could fight, she would. And she would demonstrate why fighting her was a mistake. Her mind was focused, her doubts, fears and concerns faded. She was Echani and Lily was reading this fight like she would a book.