Phantom of Death
And so, his younger brother confessed exhaustion, leaving Kasir to feel a fragile barrier of restraint beginning to falter. His lips parted ever so slightly, unspoken words teetering on the edge, yet he swallowed them down, so that he might preserve silence. But beneath that restraint, there was an unfamiliar bloom unfurling. It was relief, bitter and sharp, almost like a spark of hope kindling amid the enclave. Strange it was, how such simple words threatened to crack open something he dare not name, akin to salvation buried beneath so many layers of torment.
Though the air was stale, an electric promise flowed through the currents, and Kasir tasted it, something older than blood, a bond forged not only in kinship, but now, necessity.
For survival in this galaxy.
The Sith's focus lingered on the Nagai, though not as prey, but perhaps, already a partner in darkness. Days and nights blurred across Mustafar's cruel terrain, and now he began to wonder if Nefaron's apprentice had yet to realize that today's daylight might be the last ever found enjoyable.
Such thoughts swirled in the depths of his mind, like a winged beast circling above a fresh kill.
A slow, but faint smile traced his lips, a reflection of the deadly purpose residing within his hollow shell. The boy was more far than just a companion; now, he was destined to echo the Darkseeker’s undead state.
The next time he breathed, it was with words, voice low. “Then let him come.” A nod that followed was subtle but would seal his fate. And in that moment, he too took an oath, reminding himself that he would indeed, wear that lie like armor, to protect him.
A grim invitation was extended, the gloom ahead consuming, the corridor like a waiting maw. His eyes returned, sharper this time. “Do not look back then. The world we leave behind no longer holds sway over us.”
The air thrummed with an invisible pulse, the chamber itself whispering of their arrival. Kasir strode forth, the narrowing hall swallowing each step as he moved through the green radiance flickering from the torches. His boots echoed softly against the stone before he reached out to a portion of the wall, marked by a Sith rune.
Tracing over arcane symbols, he unlocked the doorway with enchantment. This enclave, once a stronghold, had long become his sanctuary. A refuge, a tomb even, it was where long days dissolved into nights. Unless summoned by the High Priest, he spent his time here, far beyond the reach of scrutiny.
While his voice was mute, the senses were sharp, leaving him to seek out Veradun’s pulse, a drumbeat in his mind.
He knew this rhythm would not persist for much longer. He had yet to sire another, but he understood the dynamic. Even then, it left him facing a war waging within, wanting to shield the boy’s innocence, yet slowly surrendering to the predator lurking beneath pale skin.
Upon entering the chamber, a litany was murmured, a promise fortified in iron. “No light will betray you where I stand. Your pain will be mine to bear alone, your secret safe within my black heart.”
The chamber was a crypt bathed in red hues that pulsed only where shadow did not swallow light, bent and twisted by his own will. It was oppressive here, cradling secrets and sins alike. A silhouette emerged, shadow among shadows, as if born from night itself. A step was taken aside, inviting Veradun into a secret of his own.
Unseen by all, but perhaps sensed by the enclave's only other occupant, the Felacatian.
Details of the figure slowly emerged, one that became willing, and addicted to the thralls of Kasir’s power, a vessel for his desires. She was no mindless corpse, not entirely; fragments of her will remained, though deeply fractured beneath a psyche dominated by Qazoi Kyantuska. Such a skill was rarely wielded, saved only for the most challenging of prey.
But this one, a token taken from the Holy Worlds, a Sith forged under a doctrine that Kasir despised, a doctrine that had even claimed the apprentice of his own Master, possessed orbs of gold that betrayed her kind.
A Panotoran.
Her wrists were unbound, but she hummed with the residue of the dark side, a symphony of suppressed fury that only those who crossed paths with Kasir could understand. And if one looked closely, beneath the lightning, they might glimpse of bruises that curved along her neck, and the patch of dried blood where fangs had greedily sunk in.
More than sustenance, these marks fed his hatred for the false doctrine that had wrought pain over his brothers and sisters time and again.
As he lifted his mechanical hand, the cold metal fingers grazed her cheek with the delicacy of a breeze over broken glass. The touch was almost tender, as if confessing some hidden truth, brushing the ridge of her jaw and then pausing where dried blood met, velvet blue, skin hued like midnight. His stare, darker than the deepest abyss, drank in the sight of her, reveling in the closeness that only a Sangnir could truly fathom; and had he been solitary, every contour of her presence would have been named with recognition.
“I draw the last of her strength every night, only to find my hunger sated,” Kasir said, voice low, a haunting whisper. A pause hung between them, with the familiar metallic scent curling in the air, tugging at him with relentless pull. His focus became fierce, embers glowing with a hatred. “Do not weep for her, brother. Let your vengeance burn as righteous as mine.”
His weight shifted, slowly turning.
"There is no turning back; only turning into. When next you close your eyes, the world you once knew will crumble and die.” The words coiled in the air, drowning out even the faintest notion of hope. The space between them thickened with grief. “The stars will not mourn you,” he continued, ready to deliver a vow that mirrored the void. "But I..I may choose to."
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