Götterdämmerung

[Darth Abyss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3O48xCmr4k&app=desktop

Bastion - Meditation Chamber

Uncertainty.

It was an emotion Abyss had believed to be lost in the void, since the day the Mindeater emerged from his fragile flesh, shrouded in black and composed out of metal, blood and alchemy. He had sacrificed who he once was to ascend, to gain insight that his little human mind had been unable to comprehend. The streams of time began to flood his mind, revealing the endless pathways of the galaxy wide puzzle laid out before him. Future, past and presence, his all seeing eye reached everywhere, with one exception: The Dark Lord of the Sith.

Once more one had risen to stand above them all, a God-King to lead the sith to their final victory, to a day were the last chains would fall. He towered among the circle of Lords, his strength undoubted by those that carried his banner. For a glimpse of eternity Abyss had been with them. The days in which the sith truly stood as one had been during the reign of terror of the One Sith Empire, years before this day of fate. Few had refused the call. They all had felt the reemergence of the darkness that descended onto the galaxy to eclipse the light. They all had felt the offer of power, of glory, blood and victory.

The twisted entity lurked in the absolute darkness of the small chamber, a dormant husk that stood motionless like reality had suddenly take notice of his unnatural existence. His thoughts were a storm, millions of little pieces caught in a vortex of chaos. The sith had to stand strong to follow the calling of the darkness, and the Dark Lord was a leader bested by few.

He had seen him command armies and he was not faithless.

He had heard him speak words that united the sith into one and he was not faithless.

He had felt him devour the light wherever his feet brought him and he was not faithless.

Then the mantle of Dark Lord was placed upon his shoulders, and Abyss grew wary. Their new lord was undoubtedly brilliant on his throne, his army and empire mighty enough to burn everything to ash. With his claim of the title he had resurrected a ages old tradition of the sith, a challenge to them that he was the greatest of them all. A Warlord mighty because the might of his ships, weapons and men was not mighty at all. If Abyss was to serve another being but himself then he required prove beyond words and wars. It was not a desire for worldly power, but a calling of the force. The sith had to be lead by who proved to be the strongest of their kind or their fall was inevitable. One of them had to rise as the judge of worthiness, a being devoted to no empire, to nothing but the darkness itself.
------------------------------------------------------

Bastion - Throne Room

The deformed figure of the Mindeater moved through the corridors, his metal feet leaving no sound when they meet the ground below. He was shrouded in the same ragged robe he had worn the day he first touched the darkness, a reminder to himself to stay humble, to never grow prideful, to never weaken himself through arrogance. All sith knew what it meant if one called himself Dark Lord and seated himself on a throne. They all knew that there was a Kingslayer waiting for every King in the shadows, scheming and gathering allies to strike them down.

That made it even more surprising to see that Abyss was alone. Allies were just another chain, another weakness he had to carry into a fight were any extra weight could mean death. If he wanted to determine if their Dark Lord was fit to rule then there could be no shortcuts. The way of the sith was the only one he could walk to reach his goal.

His voice resounded in the air, unaffected by what departed them as the husk reached the doors that lead into the throne room. It was not human what emerged from the emptiness within Abyss, but rather a dissonant entropy of distorted noise, twisted echoes that existed both in the physical realm and in the force. There was no emotion that could be found in the inhuman chorus, only the hunger that lingered upon the eldritch entity in his entirety.

"[member="Darth Carnifex"]. Prove that you are worthy of the mantle you so carelessly placed upon your shoulders. Prove to me, and all sith besides me, that you are not just a glorified politician but the Dark Lord of the Sith."

The doors blasted open, the rusty metal of the Mindeater caught in the light of the throne room. His hollow eyes fell upon those gathered, starring out of the mask that rested above the fixed grin of eternal mockery. On his head rested a crown of his own, an anarchic symbol of power formed from metal and crystals crudely tied together.

Fate had called him.

Now Bastion would become a world where gods went to die.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The crowd parted, foreign dignitaries, Imperial officers, and Sith alike moved to grant the mangled form of [member="Darth Abyss"] some semblance of passage.

It was a meager courtesy, the only one that the Dark Lord would warrant the Mindeater as he brazenly declared his challenge. The man himself was at the head of a large gathering of men and women, each of them a warrior and each of them vital to the prosperity and growth of this new Empire they had founded in the wake of his call to unity.

An Empire that the Mindeater sought to strangle in its crib.

While it was true that no Empire could truly hinge itself on one man, one Sith, it was foolhardy to believe that you could remove the voice of unity so early and expect for the other Sith to adhere to the principles he had laid before them. The very notion of presenting one's self as a destabilizing force was ignorant and selfish, a fact that was clearly lost on Darth Abyss. But if it was ignorance that propelled him forward, then the Dark Lord of the Sith would take it upon himself to educate the upstart Sith whether or not he was receptive to his teachings. Thus he strode to stand at opposite of Abyss, a cloak of maroon armorweave draping his muscular body with an ornate cuirass of alchemized metal hugging his upper body.

He looked every bit the warrior, and his eyes did nothing to conceal the annoyance burning within. "There are no Sith besides you, Abyss. You stand alone." The Dark Lord's eyes narrowed, "Obscurity must have made you truly mad to think that you will benefit from this blasphemy."

 

[Darth Abyss]

"So the arrogant King upon his throne of insolence refuses to listen? How surprising."

The eyes of his opponent had no intention of hiding the annoyance within them. Abyss didn't truly believed the Dark Lord to be crippled by arrogance, but to him the battle had already begun the moment his challenge echoed through the throne room. His monstrous adversary had revealed a uncontrolled emotion to him, and even the smallest mistake could be exploited by those that had learned to wield words like daggers, by the masters of the sacred art of Dun Möch.

The Dark Lord was a man of greatness both in size and in power. His mind would not easily be broken by petty insults. It would be a death of a thousand cuts, both of [member="Darth Carnifex"] body and mind, with the first knifes thrown before a single crimson blade found the time to be ignited.

"My benefit is the benefit of the sith."

The inhuman talons of the husk clasped behind his back as he began to slowly wander between the servants of the Dark Lord, a stance he had adapted from his master. It had served him well, as it accomplished two things at once. It suggested a sense of calmness and control bordering on indifference. It also gave him a excuse to move his hands behind his back, where they could act out of sight. As he began to speak once more his left reached for his belt in a subtle, small motion, the tip of his claw reaching for the pin of an infiltration grenade placed there. He had not claimed the domain of deception among the men and women of the empire for nothing.

"Best me on this day of fate and every sith of the empire shall know that no one can stand above the Dark Lord, that there is no one that else that could lead us to greatness."

When the husk came to a stop, he casually moved his left and reached for a pipe formed of clay, modeled in the image of a dragon's head. He placed the little artifact between his sharp teeth, the mechanical jaw moving up and down to lock it between them. The Korriban incense inside began to burn by itself, as the runes engraved into the clay with magic and blood began to glow in a dim crimson light. Thin smoke danced out of the empty eyes of the Mindeater as his ghostly voice whispered through the room, a disembodied echo that had no direction, no point of origin.

"Die today and we all shall be reminded that there is always room for improvements."

A twisted laugh emerged from the void, layers upon layers echoing into a symphony of incomprehensible horror, until all ended in a crescendo of white noise, accompanied by smoke and darkness produced by the device on his back. The husk was swallowed in his entirety, his figure shrouded by twisted light and his aura obscured below the flow of the force.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I know your kind, you seek only to benefit yourself. The Sith have suffered great insult because of worms like you."

While Abyss went through this whole song and dance of smoking on his pipe and fiddling with his trinkets, the Dark Lord went through some preparation of his own. At his unspoken command a multitude of servants emerged carrying artifacts resting on silken pillows. The first of which were gauntlets wrought from beskar and enchanted to siphon the Force energy from around its wearer, transferring it into usable energy to be utilized by the wearer for whatever he deemed fit. Next was a staff of jagged black steel capped by a skull inscribed with runes, but the skull was covered by a blanket of Force imbued cloth that dampened its maddening effects from taking hold of those servants that presented it to the Dark Lord.

And the last artifact was a truly special one, for if the Dark Lord were to make a true example of this upstart he would need a weapon of greater substance than his lightsabers.

Brought before him was a sword of monstrous evil, a weapon whose surface seemed to writhe with the faces of a thousand screaming souls trapped beneath the blade. It was Derriphan, sister-sword to Daesumnor, and it had been many moons since its appetite had been sated with souls. Even now as the Dark Lord's armored fingers wrapped around its hilt it pulsated and seemed to vibrate with intense eagerness at the prospect of use.

The air grew thick from the smoke employed to obscure the Mindeater's form and amplify his voice to echo throughout the chamber. This may have frightened a Jedi or a lesser Sith, but the Dark Lord was not impressed. "You rely on parlor tricks, how woefully pathetic. You've forgotten what true magic looks like, but I will remind you of real power... Woyunoks hadzuska koshûjontû." As the Dark Lord muttered a swift incantation from memory smoke began to pour from his mouth like water from a spigot, taking shape and mass before him as a wraith-like entity comprised entirely out of entropic smog. It was then given one command, one command that would send it on its path to annihilating Abyss from this reality.

"Destroy the Mindeater."​

​

[member="Darth Abyss"]​

 

[Darth Abyss]

The only answer was another laugh which rang from within the smoke, a erratic staccato of distorted noise that rapidly switched its point of origin. If that was what the Dark Lord called "true magic" then the empire was lost already. Abyss had delved deeply into the arcane arts, had studied the ways of the Sith, the Nightsisters and the Sorcerers of Rhand to understand how to alter the thin fabric of reality through the force. Calling upon an ancient spell known to many was rather unimpressive to an entity that had shifted his focus on creation instead of recreation alongside to being one of the most well versed scholars the current generation of sith had to offer.

Still shrouded by the thin veil of darkness and smoke his left lifted, his claw aimed at the demon [member="Darth Carnifex"] had summoned. In a swift motion his hand went through a series of complex gestures, performing a soundless incantation to call upon the destructive potential hidden in the elegant ring that wrapped around his index finger. The enchanted piece of jewelry began to emit a light shimmer of crimson light, as every move of his talons shaped the dark side into a messenger of his insight into the bending of the galaxy through the gift of magic.

Mirroring a portal into a realm far beyond, dark side energy began to gather in front of his claw. From it a chaotic storm of pure black tendrils broke through the smoke, their touch of decay reaching for the demon formed to devour the Mindeater. The ring was one of the more obscure relics that the Prophet of Malachor had brought into his arsenal, ironically designed to cripple and occasionally break any object or being of arcane origin.

"True power? Allow me to introduce you to the outer limits of the arcane arts."

Once his words had from existence there was a moment of silence, the smoke that obscured the Mindeater standing almost perfectly still. Then a sudden burst of near silent clicking departed the smoke, as three small bullets began their path towards the heart, head and left foot of the Dark Lord, fired from the silenced Adjucator resting in Abyss left. Many sith despised firearms, but Abyss valued them as powerful, efficient tools for killing that had the chance to surprise an opponent if used hidden upon enough layers of stealth, lies and deception.

When the smoke lifted to reveal the Mindeater in his twisted glory, the eldritch husk once more was occupied with slowly closing in on his opponent. The gun was gone again, and in his right Famines' Taint, a blue knife that marked his seat among the council of assassins, waited for blood. With a hint of sarcasm that not even his indifferent, alien voice could mask the entity spoke again, whispering more words of mockery to the sith that was said to be the greatest of them all.

"Are we done with the games now? For a Dark Lord you are a surprisingly boring opponent."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The feint had worked as intended.

As the smoke demon surged towards the Mindeater, and thus occupying his immediate attention, the Dark Lord was already halfway through another blasphemous incantation that would bring about the destruction of this fetid usurper. By calling upon the trinkets the Krevas Tsis burdened himself he had allowed himself to be detectable by the Dark Lord's senses who honed in on the magic exuding from the ring firmly twisted around the other Sith's rotten finger.

More Dark Energy pooled up from within Carnifex, ancient knowledge that he had pilfered over the course of thirty and a half years allowed him to amass a wide repertoire of spells and rituals. One such spell came to mind in a rather sinister way, and as the smoke demon was waylaid by the Mindeater's tendrils of darkness the Dark Lord sought to bring about something similar. From the darkness of the smoke materialized fibers of dull green energy that writhed through the air like a horde of serpents, slithering and darting through the air on a direct path towards Abyss from multiple angles. They sought to entrap him, ensnare him, bind him in the power of the Dark Side, sap his strength and sever the connection to the Force that gave him substance and power.

By the time they had closed in, however, the fiend had already drawn his slugthrower and discharged three rounds. The first round tore through his cheek and cracked his skull down near the back of his neck, the second round impacted pitifully against his alchemized breastplate, and the third tore through his boot and imbedded itself in the ground beneath his foot. All three were devastating blows, the mere impact on his chest alone would have cracked ribs and caused internal hemorrhaging.

But the Dark Lord was clever and was in his own right a scientist of dark renown.

Many months ago he had come into possession of a young Firrerreo whose body contained a healing agent far greater than what was expected of her species, allowing wounds to heal almost instantaneously. Carnifex had extracted a sample from this girl and set his scientists loose upon it, commanding them to unlock the secrets of this girl's ability to recuperate from nearly any wound. After many weeks of trial and error they had cracked the genetic code with which the Dark Lord imbued into his supply of replacement bodies within the Seat of the Unborn. As his current body continued to decay he opted to prematurely replace it with a body containing the advanced healing agent extracted from the Firrerreo girl alongside his uncle, [member="Darth Prazutis"].

The transference, suffice to say, was a monumental success.

Even now as the Dark Lord momentarily reeled from the kinetic force of the blows, the evidence was clear. The wound inflicted upon his face began to heal itself as teeth and flesh reformed to cover up the wound, leaving behind a silver sheen of scars as a memento. Through the hole in his boot the same was occurring as muscles, bone, and tendons pulled themselves back to their original state. A dark sigh escaped the Dark Lord's mouth as the process subsided, "This will never be anything but a game, [member="Darth Abyss"]. One that you never had a chance of winning to begin with."

With that he swiped his runeblade in a horizontal arc before him which simultaneously unleashed a sphere of pure hatred in the wake of the blade's passing which was then sent straight for Abyss' form as the fibers of sapping energy continued in their attempts to bind him.

 

[Darth Abyss]

As the demon faded Abyss noticed his mistake, feeling as arcane power formed into eroding shackles of green light rose to imprison him in their destructive grip. Quickly his mind surveyed his options, trying to find a way out that would allow him to evade the attack. Like Void Stone, Force Light and other creatures and objects that interfered with the flow of the force the spell would easily erase him as his whole being was composed of the dark side.

Swiftly the staff on his back was pulled into his open left, his ethereal voice beginning the incantation the moment his metal claw wrapped around the cursed wood of the Veilcutter. As the green light reached the husk, the words lost their strength, growing weaker, thinner as the force was disrupted by the spell reaching for the void within him.

"Fe've ir armijio mazo tolus, dotacij nun ana pro tave shiris iv tave guduma." ("Near and yet so far, grant me passage through the realm of the dead")

Before the trap could fully overcome his power the arcane construct was ripped from reality, the veil between life and death departed to allow him to traverse through it. Moving through the nether Abyss had a few short moments to collect himself, allowing his knife to return into the secret compartment in his boot before returning into the physical world roughly fifteen meters from where he stood before, taking position on [member="Darth Carnifex"]'s right while evading the spear of hatred thrown by the Dark Lord.

Returning from the world of the dead the cracks on the rusty husk became apparent, an eery black mist ascending from them much like blood pouring from a finest cut. The hit had left marks, but it would need a lot more to break a being that felt no pain and no fatigue, a being that had fully transcended the chains of flesh instead of constantly replacing them with new ones.

"I do not have to beat you myself, not as long as your hubris clouds your judgement."

The words blasted through the room from the Dark Lord's left, opposite of Abyss actual position the moment he reemerged. While his left still clawed to the staff, his right had reached for a enchanted throwing knife hidden in his sleeve. The rounds he had fired had hinted which parts of his opponent's body were suited for the more precise strikes he had as his disposal. In perfection the knife began its path through the air, aimed to once again pierce into the foot of his opponent. The weapon wasn't a simple metal dagger, but a rune engraved piece of art, imbued with a mix of poisons that damaged the victims body, mind and connection to the force, while spreading to different parts of the body to make them far more complex to purge them from the bloodstream quickly.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The fibers grasped nothing as the Mindeater slipped out of existence, and at that moment Carnifex dispelled them with minute gesture.

He reached out with his senses, waiting, anticipating for the Mindeater's return. In the meantime he prepared a quick protective spell, focusing it on his battle staff before thrusting it into the ground at his right side. Then the voice of Abyss called out to him, taunting the Dark Lord for his supposed hubris and lack of judgement despite the fact that it was Abyss' own poor judgement that brought him here today in direct violation of the Sith Assassins. Carnifex turned to his left to face the voice, and wasn't at all surprised that it turned out to be a feint employed by his enemy to misdirect his attention. Abyss' enchanted dagger flew towards the Dark Lord, straight as an arrow as it honed it on its intended target.

However, it would collide with the protective barrier the Dark Lord conjured on his staff and would rebound off into the distance.

Carnifex whirled around and wrapped his armored fingers around the body of his staff, tearing it free from the ground and angled the Skull of Gaius Zhuta towards his opponent. The staff would then act as a conduit for the Dark Lord's power, lightning dancing across its surface before exploding outward like a beam from the skull's eye sockets and arc through the air towards Abyss. With every scrap of Force energy exerted by his opponent or spread out across the battlefield, the Dark Lord would absorb a portion of it and convert it back into usable energy on top of his already deep reserves. In comparison to him, Abyss was a child barely out of the crib.

He would have to remind him of that fact.

[member="Darth Abyss"]​

 

[Darth Abyss]

His dagger was blocked in its path, effectlessly fading into the background as it was caught by the barrier his opponent had forged around him. It wasn't shocking that the Dark Lord had so effortlessly evaded his attack like many before him, which was why Abyss always carried three of the tainted knifes hidden in his sleeves. One would hit when [member="Darth Carnifex"] would least expect it, and then flood his blood with the deadly liquids enclosed in the altered steel.

Even if not, both Abyss teeth and the thorn at the end of his staff had been created to mirror the poisonous touch of his most favored weapons and he was not above using them to bring down a powerful enemy.

Then he felt darkness surge through the body of his opponent, as the Dark Lord's staff was lifted and the skull aimed at the metallic abomination. Without delay the demonic, rune engraved book chained to his belt rose into the air, the pages rapidly turning as Abyss mental eyes searched through it to find the words of protection that could shield him from his opponent's might. At the same time his empty right moved to his back, reaching for another grenade. While the husk pulled the pin of the small device, words of the ancient language, darkness, blood and ink intertwined into a calling of power, bending the force to serve the Mindeater as unbroken bastion.

"Tnamli ra ir Svistuis ra." ("Unbend and Unbroken")

Before the bubble of protective force closed around the construct kept together by nothing more than hunger, alchemy and darkness, his right pushed forward to released the CryoBan grenade on its way towards the Dark Lord. The small weapon danced through the air, once more marking the mastery of thrown weaponry that Abyss had reached through years of constant training, and closed in on his opponent aimed to land directly in front of his feet. The spell that blocked his dagger could easily shield him from the cold, but Abyss believed it to be less effective at keeping out the walls of ice that formed once the air around the barrier would freeze.

Abyss had little time to watch the success of his attack, staying focused on the barrier he had summoned to keep it from breaking apart under the weight of the Dark Lord's power.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Amusing."

It was becoming quickly apparent that the Mindeater's strength did not exude from himself nor his personal connection to the Force, but rather with trinkets and misdirection. While this may have been a boon to his assassins allies and to himself, it was wholly hypocritical that Abyss came before Carnifex and openly declared that he did not possess the personal strength to lead the Empire when in turn the Mindeater possessed very little of his own. The Dark Lord did nothing to block or parry the CryoBan grenade as it bounced along the floor before stopping several meters away from him, exploding and quickly freezing the air to form a wall of ice between himself and his opponent.

"You are truly a disgrace to the Sith. You speak of power but possess very little, not with those trinkets and baubles you hide yourself behind. Do the other Assassins know of your weakness, or do they tolerate it? Do they take pity on you, Abyss? Do they coddle you like a child?"

The Dark Lord stepped forward right up to the face of the ice barrier and gently touched it with the tips of his fingers. Almost immediately the ice began to melt away, heat generated from the Dark Side of the Force pooling into his hand to break apart the molecules giving the ice substance and mass. Soon enough it would all wash away as water, spilling over the marble and down the steps before washing up against the feet of the fight's observers all of whom began to deride the upstart amongst themselves.

It didn't require a Dark Lord of the Sith to spot the gross weakness inherent in Abyss, even a child could notice such things.

[member="Darth Abyss"]​

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Really?"

For the second time in his existence Abyss felt regret that his new state of being lacked an eyebrow to raise in disrespect, so instead he simply tilted his head slightly while answering.

So far [member="Darth Carnifex"] had shown power, but nothing so out of the ordinary that he had truly felt threatened by the things the Dark Lord had thrown at him. Common magic, big words and trinkets of his own were all the "greatest of them all" had called upon, not really making a strong case for the words he spoke to Abyss. Both sith lords used mockery and insults along side with their weapons, the force and whatever else they carried into battle, but there was a clear difference between the two.

Abyss not once doubted that Carnifex was powerful, dangerous even, but he still wore the taunting mask of his eternal grin alongside his blades. The Dark Lord on the other hand spoke not out of tactical consideration, but out of true arrogance, out of a hubris he denied even to himself. He might would overcome the Mindeater, but such emotions were not traits are great leader should posses if he planned to lead the his anywhere but death.

"I did not challenge you to hear words more hollow then myself."

If the Dark Lord expected anger, fear or even a glimpse of uncertainty then he would find none. Before the fight began Abyss had questioned his plans, but every word, every move of the Dark Lord had been proof of the doubts that had provoked his challenge. For to long Carnifex had sat on his throne and spread legends about his invincibility until he fell to believe them himself.

To underline that he felt nothing but disgust with the man that so insolently called himself Dark Lord, the husk once more reached in his robe and locked the pipe between his teeth. The act of open defiance was more than simple provocation. Due to Carnifex heritage Abyss was unable to unleash the full extend of his mental mastery on the other sith, but some of trinkets in his possession were able to overcome these limitations.

Motionless the husk stood, smoke once more dancing out of his hollow eyes, awaiting the next move of his opponent.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"You fool yourself."

The Dark Lord first thrust his staff downward, again jamming it deep into the ground so that it could stand by itself. He then began to move forward, a slow methodical march towards the Mindeater. In doing so he also thrust down his runeblade into the ground, depriving himself of mortal weapons as he neared Abyss. All the Dark Lord had now was himself and his mastery over the Dark Side of the Force, but even without such innate powers he was a formidable opponent.

Could the same be said for Abyss? "You think the form you wear makes you stronger? You are wrong. There are many ways to manipulate the spirit, many ways to tamper with the soul. You have made the method in which to do so easier."

But even as the Dark Lord taunted him so, other things were being moved into place at the perimeter of their fight. Metallic spheres hefted by repulsorlift cart parted the crowds from all angles, piloted by warriors loyal to the Dark Lord and who had heeded his silent call the moment Abyss' presence had been felt entering the palace. They had gone and collected these things from the Dark Lord's personal armory, but they were not weapons of any sort that Abyss would think of. Behind the shimmering silver surface was a single creature suspended on thick branches from the Olbio tree. Scaly and yellow, they produced something that no other creature could produce so effectively.

And now as they neared each other their invisible spheres combined and expanded to form a circle around the two combatants that closed in on them gradually with each passing second. "What are you without the Force, Abyss. Let us see who is truly the strongest when deprived of our power."

[member="Darth Abyss"]​