Campaign Hush Please | Tales from the Empire Pt. 1

[Vesta Zambrano]

HUSHH

Krayiss II was, in many ways, the true birthplace of the Sith Empire - it was where the Dominion had been humbled, where the Ascendancy's victory had created enough confidence to transition into the Empire, and it was where the ancient Sith library had been fought over, though much of it had been destroyed during the battle fought on the barren world. The world had long held a reputation among those that studied the obscure for being the home of murderous ghosts and other supernatural beings that taunted the strong and preyed on the weak, but following the events on Dubrillion it appeared that its reputation was fast moving to have outdone itself. Even the weather on the Sith world conspired against those residing on its surface and researching its legendary archives - when the night set on the first night after Dubrillion the system's sun never rose over the horizon on the opposite end of the planet. Dark clouds stretched as far as the eye could see, blotting out the stars and the sun, and though they rumbled with electric fervor there was not a single drop of water that fell to the parched ground below - the planet was cool, dry, and miserable.

At first.

It did not take long for the rumors of ghosts and spirits to grow, for them to change from talk of specters of forgotten Sith to monsters with horrific appearances. For when Dubrillion was lost, and many of the Sith defending the world gone with it, the Emperor's Shadow Hand retreated to the Sith world to grieve in seclusion - and lost his hold on self-restraint in the process. Like his deceased spouse, Braxus Zambrano was at least partially an entity that didn't belong in this plane. Unlike his spouse, who was able to reconcile her identity with her appearance, Prazutis had a much harder time doing so. In his rage and grief at her passing, Braxus had sought the largely empty world to grapple with his demons. The veil over the world, thin enough already for spirits of the deceased to cross as specters and shades of their former selves, was now openly torn - eldritch horrors and abominations, lesser creatures that hinted at greater beings from a realm beyond, roamed the desert sands freely near the Sith library's above-ground ruins, the facility - once renovated - now holding the Shadow Hand far below the planet's surface.

It did not take long for the Sith Empire, or at least a portion of it near the Sith world, to react to calls of distress - to forcibly close the veil and ensuring any horrors that had escaped were either forced back into their reality, or destroyed. Most would seek to bring order to the chaos, to confront the extra-dimensional aberrations, while some sought out the tears in the folds of space to sew them shut. A few, a select few, would venture into the library proper, treacherous even so long after the battle for the planet years back. It was down the endless stairs that Vesta Zambrano would find themselves, intent on finding their father to both prevent a further cataclysm and to help him grieve - he was not the only one to mourn that loss.

Darth Prazutis Taeli Raaf Telis Taharin-Zambrano Allyson Locke Sylvia Virtos Elle Mors

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Location: Krayiss II
Tags: Vesta Zambrano, Taeli Raaf , Telis Taharin-Zambrano , Allyson Locke , Sylvia Virtos , Elle Mors, Darth Carnifex

R A G E ​

During the Battle of Dubrillion. . .

Tragedy.

Bonds severed. It was one who was as close as his own beating heart, one who was exposed to the truth of who he was in every way, who was let in through the mask that he displayed to everyone and everything. Their bonds ran deep in love and devotion that went beyond the physical and into the spiritual realm and together they conquered everything. The cancer that threatened to devour her original body, the vampiric spirit that sought to consume her very soul. In the many centuries of his long life there were others but they all died through one way or another, consumed by time, by the twisted fate of life, or by violence yet he never expected it would ever come for her. Why would he? After all this time he accumulated power so vast, it defied comprehension. It was power on a scale that allowed him to control the very world around him - his world. Unbound by the shackles of life itself he was the controller of his own destiny, the Death Lord that held the power of life and death in his black iron fist. The power to defy reality when it came was in his hand. No longer was he shackled to the hand of fate or the cruel reality of life that constantly sought to rip everyone away from him.​

​

Everything shattered when he felt her.​

​

Braith Achlys, Darth Alekto. The one that took his very breath away. The one rare joy in a cruel life that sought to beat him down at every turn. For a deceiver who lived a life around lying, deceiving, and manipulating everyone and everything like pawns on his great chessboard. She was the one exception, a chink in his armor of vulnerability. Braith looked unflinching past everything and she loved the man not the monster - Braxus. They were so closely bound to one another he felt her living presence at every moment and it was the one thing that told him she was okay, her presence was a warmth that wrapped around him like a cloak. It was on the battlefield beside the graug of the Dark Legion that his world was split asunder when he felt that presence torn away ripped from his soul as it started to fade away. It was in that moment that he reached out for his wife, his love as she grabbed at him and he held the hand of the fading spirit as he tried with all of his immeasurable power to defy reality once more. In that moment all he wanted was hold her close and protect her from the harsh world, to tell her how much he loved her and to promise to lay it all beneath their feet. In that moment he would've given every ounce of energy and power, paid any price and sacrificed any amount of life, he would've walked away to save her, if it meant he could on to hold her just one more time, to defy it all for her.​

​

It was all for nothing. Nothing else mattered when she was torn away. Gone.​

​

Braxus Zambrano tried to hold it all in, to keep up the deceiver's mask but in that single moment when he saw her disappear, felt the cold seep in and he was alone. But he couldn't do it. The grief surged like a flood and it came with rage. Overwhelming rage so powerful it pushed out all traces of coherent thought. A mind crippled by agony the sheer magnitude of his rage brought forth an undying, blinding hatred. He became the dark side and drowned himself in it. It was so profound it paled his very skin and set the blood in his veins on fire. All around his eyes the skin burst and ruptured creating fissures like deep, gaping wounds that vented molten energies ephemeral in the open air. The world shook and rumbled around him his roar like the eruption of a volcano. In his rage it claimed an area the size of a city before he vanished, seeking out seclusion after uttering just three words:​

​

"LIFE IS PAIN"​

​

Krayiss II.​

​

It was in the deepest portion of the grand temple of the world where the Sith Empire first began that he emerged and he no longer maintained any semblance of self restraint, every ounce of control was blown away like ashes on a gale force wind. The grief bubbled over and brought with it immeasurable rage at life itself. For a being struggling with a unique duality he turned to the great beyond, his other half rooted in eldritch horror that felt his unbearable agony, and overwhelming grief and spoke just four words to it in their shared consciousness.: "Take it all away." Into the darkness he fell, falling into its embrace as he gave himself to the entity. The pair of bright, molten orbs thst burned like twin suns died that very moment. They were consumed by a curtain as black as pitch that left only the faintest ember of the Lord of Lies. Sorrow poured forth and his maelstrom of emotion sundered the thinned veil of Krayiss II and opened yawning portals to the great beyond, rifts that belched nameless, formless horrors that defied all known description. They ranged from as small as swarms of insects but soon from these hordes large shapes would soon emerge as worse abominations were drawn. They were pulled to him like a beacon, connected to him like a hive mind and they felt his emotion and it set the mindless beings of insanity into a rage all their own. But deep inside the lowest portion of the temple he stood. The Saziliebm Battle Plate was cracked, torn and ruined its technology gone. It suffered under his wrath as his body started to change even further, pushed by the half from the great beyond. The corruption, the storm of madness leaking from him bathed the entire area in a dense, thick, black algae. It shuddered and heaved like the breathing of some sickening, wet lung that stretched out to snuff out all light. It grew and the light, life itself died around it. It came from his skin, the cracked fissures on his face that vented darkness. Claws formed on his hands and bony wings began to protrude from his very back.​

​

Before him a rift began to form.​

​

Out in the darkness hidden on Malsheem the great and terrible Lotek’k shook and roared, a rift began to form in its darkness as he started a process to call the great beast to him. Every waking moment drew horrors from the world beyond, driven to kill and destroy in the name of the woman this world stole from him.​

​

 

[AMCO]

Objective: Seal rifts, take samples, and study the torn fabric of reality.
Equipment: Shadow's Folly | G1 OmniLink | Various Sith Amulets and sorcerous implements.
Writing With: [Open]
---

Like on Asation, so on Krayiss II - the Shadow Hand really did have quite the penchant for causing interdimensional incidents.

Steel against eldritch flesh, fire burning corruption away, two very different kinds of monsters dying just the same... and throughout it all, his slender fingers continued their relentless assault upon his tablet, eyes dancing back and forth between the action and the data he was compiling.

How very exciting, the information he had gathered would already greatly aid his research - and he hadn't even started examining the rifts yet! It was, of course, unfortunate that a Sith-Imperial world (albeit a mostly unpopulated one) was taking such a beating and more unfortunate still that the Triumvir of Power - such a fascinating being she had been - had met her end on Borosk.

Still, every cloud had a silver lining and he was never one to brood while there was science to be done.

 

[Elle Mors]

Slow Motion

It wasn't easy getting here - and it had nearly been as hard getting information she needed on the whereabouts of the reason she was even on this force-forsaken planet. Sylvia Virtos , Sylv to Ellie, Rat to the disrespectful rejects at the Sith Academy, had eluded the Sith-turned-Jedi's gaze for long enough, and for a few days now it seemed like things might have stayed that way forever. "That is not going to happen." She had said after the fourteenth consecutive hour of scouring over sliced travel footage, information she had gleaned from an infochant that had been much more willing to take her credits after she'd demonstrated what would have happened to their hands on a steel bar with her own bare hands - a flared temper that, though she needed to get under control to increase her gap from the darker path she had once been set on, managed to get her something in what had seemed like a fruitless waste of her time and money.

She'd never been to Krayiss II, though she was pretty sure she had heard of it, but travel records and footage from various Imperial spaceports had indicated that this was the only place Sylv could have possibly gone to; though for what reason she hadn't the foggiest..

.. At least until she got off the small stealth shuttle she'd traveled to the planet on and was confronted with all kinds of nope.

'It's for Sylv.'

'Do it for Sylv.'

These and other such lines echoed in her head as she wandered from her ride, struggling through the sandy breeze and stumbling over towering dunes of desert as she punched the daylights out of anything with more than two arms or legs - or tentacles for a face. Gross.

Not to mention scary.

She'd always liked horror movies, but not for the horror - just for the closeness it had brought for her and Sylv, a closeness she was certainly not enjoying now, and this was definitely infinitely worse than anything she had ever seen in a holofilm.

 

[Ardana Vorco]

Benûwia Antares / Darth Xanesh / Ireria Antares
Sith sorcerer, alchemist, historian, Archon of the Primyn Group, Owner of UAAK and GBATS​

Objective: Seal rifts, take samples, and study the torn fabric of reality.
Equipment: Tactical Turtleneck | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit undersuit | Red blade lightsaber (Benûwia) | Red blade lightsaber (Ireria) | Multispectrum disguise suite | G1 OmniLink
Tag(s): AMCO

Xanesh came to the planet simply because of her scientific interest, as she heard countless curiosities that made this place very interesting. And such an opportunity would have been a sin for the Sith Lord to miss. Can gather useful information not only for the woman’s own scientific interest, but also for the Primyn Group. That's why she travelled here.

And where she had a very pleasant surprise, and that was none other than the presence of Darth Prospero, i.e. AMCO . Because of their common secret project, she had time to talk to the man slowly anyway, so then the pleasant case could be connected with the useful one. Upon arriving on the planet, she sensed the presence of the Shadow Hand, who had suffered a huge personal loss on Borosk.

Benûwia was never in love, she did not allow herself, she just chose a partner to give birth to the strongest offspring who could be a worthy Sith. Ireria, on the other hand, felt the man's pain, though she was already beyond that in the direction of anyone. She was in love twice, her first husband, her former master, was killed by herself because the man went crazy. Her second husband was a Voss, dead many thousands of years now.

With the help of the Force, she found Darth Prospero, whom she called only a “cute little boy,” and travelled to where the man was.

”Darth Prospero, we welcome you!” greeted the man. ”It is a pleasant surprise for us to find you here. Knowing our common interest, we have no doubt that we all came here for the same reason.”

​

 

[Salamander]

Objective: ???
Equipment: Paranoia, Regret, Suspicion
Writing with: wiggles eyebrows

Arrius Messala strode across the surface of the planet, his hoofprints swept over by the billowing black cloak that trailed from his shoulders. The hulking figure was clad in wild red armor modeled after the human muscular system, his weapons hanging from his waist. He didn’t expect to fight here, but it never hurt to be prepared.

The wound in poor Darth Prazutis ’ heart wrought by the death of Darth Alekto would become a power vacuum if nothing was done to stop the bleeding soon. Messala had no interest in joining the race, but he enjoyed observing the inner workings of the Sith Empire. It could be very amusing, watching intelligent people (and frankly not-so-intelligent) go head-to-head in the political arena. Even gossip could have its amusements.

Having completed his pace of the surrounding area, the Half-Bothan returned to his vessel, stood at the bottom of the loading ramp, and called out, “Vaslav!”

A child’s voice answered, “Huh?”

“Come here. I want to show you something.”

Moments later, a boy descended the ramp. He was around eleven years of age, dark-haired, freckled, and possessed the physique of a young athlete. But his dull stare and the vague smile that always curled his mouth revealed a cringing truth. The boy was a simpleton, slow of the mind and not very bright. In fact, he was an idiot savant, possessing a great affinity for the Force at the expense of his intellect. And though Messala did not have favorites when it came to his Children, Vaslav probably came closest to fulfilling the role.

Messala stretched out a gauntleted hand, resting it on Vaslav’s shoulder as he guided him forward. Once they were in full view of the spectacle, the Sith Lord took a knee and pointed straight ahead.

“What do you see?”

The boy’s eyes grew full, but his face remained empty. “I see something hanging open,” he said.

“Yes. It was torn, and now there is a hole left behind.” Messala took Vaslav’s hands in his and guided them even as he spoke, taking up a pose beside him that resembled a father teaching his son how to fish. But the line here was an astral cord, and the hook a mind he was keen to sharpen to the Force, if nothing else. “Is there anything inside the gap?”

“Many things,” the boy replied, his smile growing wider. “They look like monsters in a storybook Teacher read us one time…” His grin faded abruptly, and he fell silent.

“You aren’t afraid of these things, are you?” Messala asked. When Vaslav shook his head, he added, “Why not?”

“Because you’re here.”

“What if I was not here?”

“Then I would be scared, and I would go back inside,” Vaslav said, gesturing toward the ship.

Messala grunted thoughtfully, appreciating the boy's honesty. Letting go of his hands, he backed away, holding his empty arms out. “Vaslav, this is your test. I want you to kill as many of the monsters up there as you can. I won’t leave you here alone, but I won’t help you either. If they attack you, fight back until they are dead.”

Wrinkling his freckled nose, Vaslav raised his chin, craning his neck as he looked up at the bleak sky. Messala had called it a test, but it seemed more like a game to him. He splayed his palms, and green lightning arced out toward his fingertips, sparking and finally bolting into the swirling clouds. There was a shriek like nothing any living creature in their galaxy could produce, then a great rousing cry that boomed across the heavens.

Messala remained standing a few steps away from his young protege. In most children the Force flows freely, undefined and unaligned, but that was not the case when it came to Vaslav. The boy had somehow already been baptized in the Light, though he was being raised as a Sith. It was a beautiful paradox that had awed Messala from the moment the boy accidentally burned him with the Light during an early training session, then rushed forward, his lip trembling, apologies pouring like tears from his mouth. It was then that he knew that sometimes the creation could surprise the creator.

But he was not naive. He knew that the child would act as a beacon to the numerous Dark Side users stealing a few breaths from Krayiss’ atmosphere for the next few hours. If any of them came near with ill intent, hoping to snuff out this marvel he had unwittingly brought into being, his response was simple.

He would remove their heads from their shoulders.

 

[Akulak Mantacor]

Objective 1: Close the Breach Collect Samples

This seedling contained the collective biomass that would have made the Selphi smile. Perhaps underneath his gaudy mask, he did so, more at the work that laid ahead than the task that needed done. The festering growth of fauna was a mere distraction, he had ignored the pleas of his tools, as they served better as bait than crude instruments. The plan worked brilliantly though, the beasts came to feed, and gave him time to collect, unfortunately his tools were depleted in the process. A mere annoyance, the lifeless being within the transport would do as he commanded it, so the tools mattered little. Unlike the others, the lifeless one knew how to be an effective tool; not like the fleshy beings that called themselves 'soldiers'. No, they were pawns, perhaps even less than that. The spongy mass of a pawn was unrefined, like raw clay, lacking the hands of a master, it was little more than a child's play toy. He desired to mold it, shape it, but that was against stipulations. It was only a mere set back, truly, pawns had a way of disappearing after all.

The wounds from his quarry however dug at him, and soon the Selphi required a bit of rest. Not long, just enough for the flaws in his form to be remade. He crouched low, feeling the wounds across his back open, then just quickly heal over. Now was a time of reflection, as he bid his living eyes shut, releasing his sealed sight for the next target. The third eye searched, desperate for more specimens, though found only carnage within the blood soaked clearing that had served as his workshop. One tool yet lived, a male-human-, it's body still quivering and trembling, it's breath growing ever so slightly weaker. If only it had been refined, it's life would have been saved. "P-Please....help...." It rasped, reaching out a twisted appendage, the plea of a drowned man. But there was no aid to render, only work to be done. "What use is a broken tool?" Akulak mused, bleeding lips speaking behind the golden mask. "To be reforged, or cast aside." He rose to his full height, then strode until he towered over the quivering pawn. He lacked the resources to reform it's damaged shell, but there was still yet potential within this one. "This form is weak, but I can still find uses for it." He reached a clawed hand down to the tool, and gave it a new purpose. It just wouldn't live to see it.

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Heat Waves​

She should've seen this coming. Sylvia regretting putting even the slightest bit of trust in her so-called 'allies'. The woman had been sent out to Krayiss II in a squad of four, though the moment she found out who she was going to be working with she knew trouble wasn't far away. Three other former academy students, and she knew them a bit too well. The trio and Sylvia never got along, not in the slightest, so when she found out it was them she had to work with she immediately knew who to internally cuss out. Even after she was out of his hair, the overseer still tried to torment her. Mature.

Her suspicions had been confirmed when she found herself violently rolling down a large dune. The piece of chit she'd beaten up in a duel shortly before getting 'removed' from the academy accidentally bumped into her, causing her to fall and roll through the blisteringly hot sand. Sylvia could've sworn she heard laughter as she involuntarily made her way down.

Eventually the magenta-haired girl came to a stop at the foot of the dune. With a pain-filled groan she forced herself up to her feet and began to pat herself down to get rid of the sand that had gathered everywhere. Looking back up she noticed the trio had already disappeared from sight, leaving her on her own on a planet infested with otherworldly beings that nearly made her throw up multiple times.

A quick equipment check later- thank the Force her lightsaber and nav device still worked- Sylvia set out once more. At least the monsters she'd faced so far were slow and didn't put up much of a fight against a lightsaber, otherwise she would've been much more worried than she was now. Not having to deal with the other three anymore was also a plus. Perhaps she was finally getting better at seeing the positive in things.

'I hate everything.'

Elle Mors ​

 

[Amur]

Wrath​

A foot stomped down heavily on one of the many tentacles that was trying to grapple her. Raw unadulterated energy was exploding from Amur's body in the force as she fought it's attempts to subdue her and consume her. She leaned forward putting as much weight as she could trying to crush all the life force out of it. With it she felt the other limbs weaken and and her lone arm was finally free, she then clasped it in a fist aiming down at the tentacle her foot was on. Her arm was violently twitching barely able to contain itself as she pulled her arm back, the tendrils of the force adhering itself around the monstrosity's clamped limb as she pulled.

There was first a sign of straining in the thing before it erupted into a high pitch scream that pierced her ear drums, she was barely able to hear the sound of flesh tearing apart as various fibers struggled to hold the limb together until it finally released. A torrent of black viscous goo was now spurting out of the open hole as the tentacle was flung several meters behind as it was catapulted away from her. She saw the creature: A mass of tentacles with a large central eye and a indecipherable central mass for a body was now trying to retreat from her. Nothing today though would dare taste a retreat. There would be no salvation.

The force called and she grabbed her mace as it flicked to life and was set to combat. Applying as much torque as she could she slammed it down in a brutal overhead swing that caused it to whimper even more as it took the full brunt of the blow. The mace now had the first coat of black gooey paint on it. It. Tentacles tried to grab her arm to make the thing stop but the anger flowing through her in the force easily overpowered it as it was brought down again, and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. Her armor was now splattered in the goo and the sands around her was stained. Pieces of viscera were slowly dripping off the mace. She finally stopped and rested for a moment as the emotions from the planet washed over her.

There was a sprawling wound here that was covering the land, a raw pain bathing every single square meter of the space as she felt the shadow hand's pain just pummel her She could feel the suffering from his lost and it resonated with the Sith. She too had someone she loved leave her life, and with the Prazutis' feelings screaming out in the force and ripping reality apart the wound she had sustained on Borosk felt like it was being ripped open and left to bleed out profusely. All the pain from that moment, all the screaming voices in her head telling how pathetic, worthless and weak she was were now in full force in an unending tirade that just kept demanding more and more pieces of her to be ripped away.

Amur couldn't stand it, especially how it hammered in the truth that it was her fault, her doing, her just desserts She hated it and she hated herself. All these emotions that just kept building inside her placing more and more pressure as she felt like she was about to explode. She just wanted it to stop.

She looked up from the now decaying corpse to see a new horde of monstrosities massing in front of her. Truth was she didn't care about sealing the holes that caused these manifestations of suffering to emerge, she didn't care about bringing order, she didn't care about anyone around her. She just wanted to rage.

She stood eyeing every horror that sought to tear her asunder. There was no fear in Amur, not even the most primitive urge of self preservation. There was just the need to purge. Voices and whispers kept trying to pierce and tear her psyche, she just wanted it to stop, to drown out this monster inside and not have to hear it's abuse. She felt her rage at everything build and build as the horde drew near. Finally it found an outlet.

A telepathic scream similar to that of the starweirds Amur encountered exploded from her, high in pitch and splitting for the mind as it drowned out everything in one glorious orgy of emotion that reached the horde stopping it's advance as it studied this creature covered in the guts of one it's members.

The Sith raised her mace and charged.

Tags: Whoever dares to come near

 

[AMCO]

Objective: Seal rifts, take samples, and study the torn fabric of reality.
Equipment: Shadow's Folly | G1 OmniLink | Various Sith Amulets and sorcerous implements.
Writing With: Ardana Vorco
---

Sensing her presence even above the din of battle, the raging of interdimensional currents, and the Lord of Lies' grief, Adrian nonetheless opted to continue his studies unabated, pausing only when her greeting was uttered.

"The feeling is mutual, Darth Xanesh, and I would assume so yes." More than mere pleasantries, her (or perhaps he should say their) presence was a boon, for while he had not yet had the chance to properly acquaint himself with them, he knew them to be women of science, if in different ways.

Frowning slightly as an especially titanic beast, its form a mass of tentacles sprouting clawed appendages and its centre a massive maw filled with a darkness that was somehow more and less than the absence of light, threw aside a pair of Karza'Arana as if they were mere tin soldiers, the Sith Lord extended a hand, fingers briefly morphing into claws as pearlescent lighting arced forth, tearing the fiend asunder in a flash of light.

"Mighty yet simple, these beasts, but I feel... greater intelligence through these cracks. Watching, waiting. I dare say we ought to shut the door."

Serious look turning into a more familiar mischievous smile, he turned his attention back to the Pureblood-turned-Spirit-turned-Changeling. "Besides, who knows what we might learn from poking at the fabric of reality, hmm?"

 

[Ardana Vorco]

Benûwia Antares / Darth Xanesh / Ireria Antares
Sith sorcerer, alchemist, historian, Archon of the Primyn Group, Owner of UAAK and GBATS​

Objective: Seal rifts, take samples, and study the torn fabric of reality.
Equipment: Tactical Turtleneck | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit undersuit | Red blade lightsaber (Benûwia) | Red blade lightsaber (Ireria) | Multispectrum disguise suite | G1 OmniLink
Tag(s): AMCO

Xanesh also heard the noises and saw the result caused by the events here. Through the Force, she also felt the grief of the Shadow Hand. As she told @ Vajlin earlier, love is one of the most unnecessary emotions in the world, and everything, everyone is just consumed by that emotion. This is only for the weak, who need someone or something because they cannot face the world alone.

After Darth Prospero's words, she turned her attention to the huge titanic monster. She had to admit that she had never seen such a creature in her life, nor in her death, and nor then in her new life. But it was a very exciting and interesting discovery. She almost regretted having to close the rifts because they posed a threat to reality. It is sad that such a discovery should already be destroyed. What a waste! Yet if they could tame and turn it to their own advantage…

”Very interesting!” she hummed.

She began to examine the creature through the Force, and she also came to the same thing as the Lord of Progress. These were just animals, even if they were huge. In turn, she felt the intelligence from the rift. As she tried to reach out to the rift, she felt something inside it reciprocate this and try to grab her. Fortunately, however, Xanesh was experienced enough so it failed.

”We agree, what’s inside is learning fast. When we were trying to reach through the Force, it was trying to catch us. Definitely intelligent and probably a predator. Could we lure it out before we close the gates? It would be unfortunate to miss such a scientific opportunity.”

She stood at the young man's gaze, but Xanesh, especially Benûwia, had always looked at things and the world from a larger perspective. She did so now again, and she already had an idea. Probably a crazy plan, but she always loved to take risks.

”Hmm, how about we try to stabilize one of the rifts instead of closing? Don’t cause harm to reality, but we can still study as long as we want. And if we don't investigate anymore, we could close.”

She gave the “child” an inquisitive look at whether he would dare to take such a risk for the sake of science or stay with a completely certain solution.

​

 

[Telis Taharin-Zambrano]

Objective: Ensure the rifts are sealed; Ensure the Sith don’t stray from the task
Tags: AMCO | Elle Mors | Ardana Vorco | Salamander | Akulak Mantacor | Sylvia Virtos | Amur |

The night was darkest before the morning.

But here, in the shadows of the silent abyss, morning was a dream long forgotten.

Taking point as the leading force in the destruction and re-sealing of the weeping rifts that had sprouted along Krayiss, Telis had seen many things that could’ve reduced even the bravest souls to quivering husks. He had stared straight into hyperspace without flinching, watching aeons and stars pass, a distance incalculable, a space so vast and terrifying that it left those who looked out hollow. He had seen the true face of war and the cost, and felt it lay upon him heavily. He had seen the world wide over, and yet this was different. For all other things that he had faced, all of them had a face, a shape, they could be imagined, conjured in the mind and pointed out both in thought and physical entity. He had always understood what he fought even if he underestimated it. He had always been able to comprehend what was placed before him even if the scale it was written in was far too large to truly grasp.

Here, all such comforts departed. Here there was nothing to comprehend but the impact of his mission and the cost of failure. Here he was alone save for those that had ventured to join him in this haunt. Here, there was nothing to anchor him to reality, and the threat of falling between the seams and into the abyssal expanse between worlds was not just a senseless phobia but a true threat. Here, the whispers drew him deeper. Here, he could feel the crutch of corruption clutching at his heart. Here, he could feel the temptation, slipping into his thoughts and infecting him with that dream of so-called ‘madness.’ Here he was alone. Here he was drowning in a sea of faceless butcherers. Here, here, here-

Take a deep breath.

Telis closed his eyes for a brief moment as he settled once more into the present, breathing in through his nose, and out through his mouth, face flushed gaunt beneath the bleak sky. To drown here was far too easy to do with the alien darkness that had awakened spirits long yearning for a return to the material. Opening his eyes again and taking a look at the meager ‘camp’ being set up as a forward base of operations, Telis could see far off in the distance the writhing horizon, feel its encroaching will with ominous foresight. There was nowhere here that was safe, in the heart of Krayiss. Around him, Sith prepared their various ideas of what “assault” was, while overhead tiny ships raced off into the unknown, delivering their squadrons to points that could be contained by, he hoped, a handful of Sith.

Moving from the grounded troop carrier that acted as a ‘headquarters’ in the camp, Telis took a moment to inspect the Sith around him, all of them vastly different in attitude, clothing, height, weight, shape, and form. There were no legions of soldiers here, limited quantities of only the strongest and most sound of will to carry out the task and avoid creating an accidental legion of brainwashed soldiers, infected by the eldritch spirits spreading across Krayiss. The presence itself, from what is observable, isn’t something that couldn’t be managed, but Telis had the sinking feeling that all that was present was only truly the ‘hand’ of what could come. Without intervention, the threat that could crawl from this rupture of worlds was beyond thinkable in scale.

And so he was here, not seeking to gain glory like the past Councillors of Military Command, but to ensure that the situation was handled and that those who tried to go rogue for the ‘sake of science’ would see a swift judgement for underestimating what they believed they could control. Garbed in minimal, crimson plating overtop thin, tasseled robes and deep red padding beneath, Telis wore the symbol of the Sith Empire visibly emblazoned across his chest and on the shawl he wore over his left arm, gold and black standing starkly against the blood-red garb that Telis wore, a large different from the normal choice of black that he cloaked himself in. Eyes too a similar shade of red and Sith scrawling reaching up his neck and across his hands. At his waist sat his paired dancers, and in his palm, two halves clicked together to form the full length of the staff, was the infamous saber he still carried as a trophy.

Each step of his greaves against the ground brought more and more eyes, some curious and others resentful, as Telis approached the edge of the camp, staring out at the horizon for a very long, very quiet time. With another deep breath, bringing himself back to present, Telis turned his thoughts to the gathered soldiers, his expression cold and stoic and his posture was as straight and formal as ever, lacking any give for those trying to find a weakness or fault in the young, inexperienced Councillor. When he spoke, however, it was driven and harsh, words landing like sword blows: ”You think yourselves powerful, brutal, and cunning. You stand at the edge of something you cannot even fathom, and still have the audacity to think you can do anything without feeling the consequences lay on you like lashes. What I wouldn’t give for your naivety.”

Turning to see the faces of those gathered now, Telis would narrow his eyes towards them all, scanning them, interrogating them with his gaze alone, letting the saber he held rest as his side as his hands slowly came to clasp one another behind his back. ”This isn’t a war. This isn’t a duel. This isn’t a trial. There is no glory to be gained here, no heroism to be found, only a duty to see to it that we ensure this Empire, our Empire, survives. What we face now is faceless, horrible, alien and uncaring of whether or not you live or die or become a slave to its will. Perhaps it may tempt you. Perhaps it may lead you to believe that you can study it’s corpse. Perhaps it may even lead you to believe that you can kill it. All those desires are false. You wish to prove yourself? Prove yourself by understanding the mission you’re given, doing nothing less, and doing nothing more. Our goal is to not kill these things, or this thing, or whatever it is. Our goal is to seal it from our world, and if I learn you have forsaken the mission for your own gain, be it to study it or to try to kill it or to try to use its own power against it…”

Telis would raise his twisted, metallic hand, the Sith scrawlings written upon the grasping tendrils that dug into his flesh and ruptured the skin flashing brightly for a brief moment as he held his palm out flat and wide. ”This will be the instrument that sees your judgement and the hand that will see to your punishment. Drink deep from the hatred, fear, and resentment you have, and quench any desire, any sense of worth, until you are nothing but a weapon. Desire and sorrow caused this, fury, duty, and drive will see to it that this is ended. This is my here-say, and if you wish to disagree, step before me now and speak. If you wish to see to it that the Sith live eternal, then set to your duties, and I shall lead gladly.”

The tone of Telis’s voice did not fit much with the final word of his speech, but his metallic hand lowered back to his side, the fingers gripping the saber-staff once again and holding it clearly for all others to see. A show of power was sometimes necessary, and more than fitting for what was to come next. Not even waiting for anybody to approach, Telis continued back through the camp and towards the transport. ”Ensure that you make your way to the heart of the incursion. I will meet you there.”

Receiving a single nod in response to his order, Telis could continue back to his ship, the door of the ‘Breakpoint Evolution’ wide open, closing as he entered into the small vessel. Settling into the seat of the ship, Telis would close his eyes as he placed his metallic hand against the console, feeling the heart of the engine awaken. Connecting to the ship, through his Mechu-deru, Telis opened his eyes once more, metal and flesh one in the Force, and letting his hands drift to the controls. Lifting from the ground, Lord Aagenti would pull sharply up on the controls, sending the ship soaring upwards and into the dark sky above, taking a sharp turn, heading towards the chasm between worlds. As he left, he sent out a single message for all those who cared to listen, echoing across all comms that he could reach on Krayiss:

”The heart awaits us eagerly. Rip it beating from its nest, and silence this yawning beast’s attempts at our world.”

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Not Another One //:
//: Krayiss II //: Lost //:
//: Searching //: Sylvia Virtos //:
//: Finding //: Vesta Zambrano //: Darth Prazutis //:

​

Having a student was such a terrible idea.​

Allyson had landed planetside on Krayiss with one intention, and that was to secure her student and drag the girl back home to Yavin IV. Sylvia seemed disconnected from the small interactions the two had, and it was evident that the only way to get her to talk was to show her robots. Allyson stood in the middle of the landscape with her face in her hands. Thoughts returning to rakghouls and finding her first Padawan near death.​

Pausing for a brief moment, Allyson looked up from her hand and surveyed her surroundings. There was something not right with the area, and she could feel her own misery being amplified. Something powerful was shaking and tearing at the Force, and the woman could feel it ripping into her. The sensation was suffocating, and the Corellian had to find a stone wall to lean against as she held her head, putting pressure on it. Whatever the strong emotions were coming from, they were close by. Instinctively, her mind instantly went to Sylvia, the sudden urge to protect poured over her, but they hadn't adequately forged a bond just yet. Allyson only had strings and vapors to go off of.​

She tried to focus on these strings she had with her student; they were muffled by the pain and devastation that spiraled from the temple. "Sylvia, you numbskull." Allyson had requested that Sylvia not be included in these group activities with the others from the academy, a small request that was ignored. She'd have to talk with this overseer again, with a bit more pressure applied to their throat. The swirl of emotions coming from an outside source and her concern for her Padawan, the pit of anger that Darth Carnifex Carnifex and Vaylin had so elegantly brought to the surface, began to boil.​

Exhaling, Allyson brought calm to her emotions as she did her best to push out the external influence. Her priority was to find Syliva, but if the dark side was affecting herself this much, Allyson wondered how the magenta haired girl was doing. There was a sadness about her, loneliness that Allyson understood better than most. Having left everything behind for the one thing her heart desired, Allyson felt that pain, and she hoped she wasn't feeding the pain that resided in Sylvia's heart.​

Finding Sylvia was a top priority. Allyson found herself ambling around the temple she had come across; the sound of sand echoed from under her boots, and she stopped and peered at the entrance. It didn't take a genius to notice that this place was meant for the Sith and the Sith only, she had heard Jedi's stories coming here to learn about the dark side. In particular, one was about a Jedi who tried to trick the Dark Side into teaching her the secrets without falling. Allyson shook her head, foolish. Pulling a small water bottle from her pack, Allyson took a sip and stared up at the building. That dark side energy was coming off this place, and she wondered if Sylvia's team was going to head this way. If she could get inside, she could either cut them off or beat them to whatever was inside. Nodding, Allyson found the nearest trash can and tossed the bottle away then headed inside the temple.​

Crawling along the crevices, Allyson found small short cuts that headed into the temple's heart. Fingers pressing into stone as she lifted herself over walls and crawling through the long shafts, markings depicted different ancient Sith tributes and sorcery. "Ew, I really hope this place isn't a tomb or something. I'd hate to run into some zombie Sith Lord." Allyson stuck out her tongue in disgust as she could only imagine the Sith species as a decaying zombie body. Nope, that was an image of nightmares.​

It didn't take long with the shortcuts, but she was now hanging overhead, holding onto a stone beam. Wide viridescent eyes watched the pain and suffering course through the man as he opened a portal. Allyson clung tightly onto the stone beam as she shimmied along with it to a safe place in the ceiling's grooves. The contact lens in her eye allowed her to zoom in and begin recording. What is going on?​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Blue flames erupted from her hand to burn away a few skittering creatures unleashed from the nearby rift, a few syllables in the Sith language conjuring a ring of fire around the rift so that anything that tried to step through it now would be ensnared and reduced to ash. Her warnings to leave the experiments with the Lotek'k and its brood, its world, alone or at least slow their pace had clearly been ignored by the Shadow Hand.

"Tuma Tarja!" she snarled as another rift attempted to open, only for a red glowing Sith rune flare to life and seal the tear in reality. She could his pain bleeding into the Force, even among the darkness here. Feel his sorrow. The outpouring of raw emotion, unchecked, uncontrolled... it was augmenting the connection Darth Prazutis had formed with the Beings from Beyond.

Taeli and several members of her Order of Shadows had been conducting research in the Kryaiss Library when the rifts began tearing their way open. Acolytes, overseers, and staff alike had been unprepared for such a crisis. The guardian spirits were doing their tasks, but several of the oversees and students within the temple had been sundered, or worse, dragged back through a rift.

"Find the Lord of Lies."

The Lady of Secrets would have words with him. The message from Telis Taharin-Zambrano came through the comlink, not that Taeli needed such a reminder. There had been a reason she had restricted the experiments from other Sith in these matters. There was always a lesson to be learned, and now they would know why as Triumvir of Power she had regulated such rituals.

"My Lady, we have more rifts starting to open in the lower levels and across the planet."

Taeli frowned at the words from the headmaster of the library. They would need to work faster then.

"My Adepts will handle the tears, have the students and overseers provide them protection as they do so. The epicenter of this is feeding off the nexus of this world, accelerating the breakdown of the Veil between this world and the other." Reaching through the currents, she could follow them down into the maelstrom and... she tilted her head. Allyson Locke was near the heart of the storm being unleashed.

Into the Corellian's mind, a whisper of her voice would slide in...

What do you see, Allyson.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Location: Temple's Heart, Krayiss II
Tags: Vesta Zambrano, Darth Carnifex , Taeli Raaf , Telis Taharin-Zambrano , Allyson Locke , AMCO , Ardana Vorco , Sylvia Virtos , Elle Mors Amur, Akulak Mantacor, Salamander

A L E K T O ​

In her name.

The veil was slowly collapsing, breaking beneath his rage and a world began to flood with the nameless, formless horrors of the beyond. They would kill and destroy everything they touched in her name, of the woman ripped away from this world. The veil stood it was merely sundered, its integrity breached by his might where it was thinnest and every rift was the effect of his defiance. It let more of the hordes in and the portals grew progressively larger.

Warnings.

In the aftermath of Asation and his reunion with his outer half he was cautioned by the Lady of Secrets, shockingly enough the events of the Lotek'k were enough to disturb even the curiosity driven scientist. To be careful with the darkness that lurked out beyond the veil or to leave it alone all together. In privacy he spent so much time in quiet meditation with his united half: Uthax'ra. So much time staring out beyond the veil through its greatest manifestation in the Lotek'k. The untapped power that waited was right there for the taking. Every foray into rift experimentation saw the cultivation of new ability and the manifestation of new gifts he could tap into through the half created so long ago. The byproduct of the ancient pantheon of four that tried to force their way into the world through him, the consequences was a war that caused the deaths of countless and the end of an age that caused the birth of a new entity. It was the very power Taeli cautioned against that he willingly turned to now. For all the power in this world he managed to accumulate it still wasn't enough to save her when the cruelty that was life sought to strike a blow against him once again.

The gall.

Rage pushed thought from his mind so profound he couldn't focus his rage on any one target be it the Sith who stood beside her and let her die, or the ones who took her from this world. The fury was focused at life itself and he would unleash the full horrors of the cosmos upon it for taking away the one good thing he had found in its sea of misery. For ripping her out of his arms from the world she fought so desperately to be a part of, to belong to. It was the harshest fate one could ever give his love, worse than any battlefield blow, any wound that could be cast down. How dare it do that to her. It cut deep to see her ripped away like that and cast away into nothingness, she wasn't even allowed a place in the netherworld, she just ceased to exist and faded away. The very look of panic on her face as it happened, on the face of the woman he loved was burned into his mind and the very thought set him ablaze with fresh rage. A whispy darkness like black smoke emanated from the fissures on his face and surged like a protective cloak over every inch of his his body while the battle plate tore and split. The back plates broke between the wings as tendrils tore themselves free, a mane of tendrils formed in place of hair on his head while the ones from his back moved around to brace all around the portal he was forcing into existence, struggling through the push back of the veil that tried to force out the unnatural.

It wouldn't be enough to stop him.

The entire temple shook beneath the horrifying bellow that thrummed with power and the insanity of the great beyond the Shadow Hand's voice overtaken with the power he conjured that caused the temple to shake, that caused stone to rumble and break around him as he defiantly ripped and set the veil on fire. Every single horror on Krayiss II howled in rage along with him as they surged forth, their number and frequency growing. The portal grew from a few feet in diameter to dominating an entire portion of the wall in front of him, magnifying in size in a way that shouldn't have been possible. Inside it was the purest darkness with nothing visible beyond the open eyes. It was a few at first that grew into dozens, hundreds of eyes that glowed like small breaches in the darkness as something was staring back at the Lord of Lies. Out through the portal pushing against the edges were two thick, black tendrils. They were a slick, vein filled mass whose appearance told of a durability that wasn't of this world. They snaked along the bottom of the portal lending their great strength to the one seeking to pull it from its sanctum on Malsheem and bring it to this world, to unleash it.

 

[AMCO]

Objective: Seal rifts, take samples, and study the torn fabric of reality.
Equipment: Shadow's Folly | G1 OmniLink | Various Sith Amulets and sorcerous implements.
Writing With: Ardana Vorco
---

Processing her request, his subsequent "Hmm." was intrigued yet doubting. While it was true that he was almost never content to leave his curiosity unsated, he had been at Asation. He had seen the consequences of such experimentation, had understood the reasoning behind Taeli Raaf 's ban when she was Triumvir of Power and upheld it when he assumed that mantle, however briefly.

Before he had the chance to react, however, a surge of emotion and power intermingled echoed forth from the Library-Temple where this had all started, echoed forth from Darth Prazutis . Damn it all, had the man gone mad? One way or another, this had to end.

Eying the expanding rifts and then the twins-in-one, Adrian's look said it all, even before he spoke.

"For once, the risk is unacceptable. The veil is weak here, far too weak for my comfort - should it be breached permanently... I shudder to think of what that would mean for reality itself. For now, we have little choice but to close them - all of them."

Conveniently forgetting to mention the root cause, the Shadow Hand himself. If the man could not be reasoned with...

Well, the Armada should have assembled a sizeable force of warships in orbit, at this point.

 

[Ardana Vorco]

Benûwia Antares / Darth Xanesh / Ireria Antares
Sith sorcerer, alchemist, historian, Archon of the Primyn Group, Owner of UAAK and GBATS​

Objective: Seal rifts, take samples, and study the torn fabric of reality.
Equipment: Tactical Turtleneck | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit undersuit | Red blade lightsaber (Benûwia) | Red blade lightsaber (Ireria) | Multispectrum disguise suite | G1 OmniLink
Tag(s): AMCO

Shortly after she spoke her suggestion, she suddenly felt the feelings from Darth Prazutis that the man had caused in the Force. She looked toward where this had happened, though the man was very far away so she could not see him. Saw the expanding rifts and veils, already knowing that they would have no chance of stabilizing any of them. So no matter how not pleased she was with the developments, she was grumpy, but she had to agree with Darth Prospero.

”It’s very unfortunate, but until the man not stops doing that, we don’t see much chance of closing any of them either. If the Shadow Hand does not stop, he will tear the planet to pieces in his grief. We can only slow down the events. The veil spreads faster than we could close them.”

She tried to try, concentrating on the Force, started saying ancient Sith spells, aiming for one of the veils as she murmured the words and using the Force the rift went a little smaller and started to close. At the same time, however, not far from this place, another veil developed three times as much dilation as the one the woman had closed. She sighed.

”We find it scary and pathetic at the same time that a person with such power cannot control his emotions so much. His power is respectable, but an acolyte must have more control over his/her emotions than he is capable of. If we can give an advice to you, Darth Prospero, never be in love and not attached to anyone…”

She then turned her attention back to the veils / rifts and started another ritual to slow down on the events caused by the Shadow Hand.

​

 

[Salamander]

Objective: Mr. Tumnus has joined the server
Equipment: Paranoia, Regret, Suspicion
Writing with: Open

The air rippled, the atmosphere quivering. Messala kept his eyes trained on the rift, and moved a step closer to Vaslav. Below his hooves, the earth trembled, and he sensed Darth Prazutis ' deeply felt suffering... and deeply misguided aiming of it into the hole between dimensions.

His bride had been utterly vanquished, with not even a soul to pass on into the Nether? Curious. But not entirely surprising. Those gluttonous Sith who lived only to obtain more power made a choice and forfeited their existences long before they faded into oblivion. The Force did not tolerate such an imbalance for long.

But now the rift was widening, the monsters pouring out at a faster rate. Vaslav faltered, struggling to keep up with the sudden influx. "Don't be afraid," Messala told him. Reaching up, he took the shield talisman from his neck and laid it over the boy's head, the gleaming bauble resting against his chest. "They'll never get close enough to harm you."

He drew Suspicion in his right hand and Regret in his left, then stood over the boy, weapons at the ready.

The first wave to reach the planet's surface was no worse than what he expected. His red blade flashed, cutting down the creatures as they swooped like birds of prey. Monsters shrieked as they felt the poisoned bite of his songsteel sword.

The second wave seemed to have learned from the mistakes of the first. Messala circled his young charge, fending them off while Vaslav's green lightning seared veiny fleshy and veiled bones.

It was only when the third wave hit that Messala grew concerned. A winged abomination slipped past his defenses and tried to score a hit on Vaslav, only to be vaporized by the talisman. The Lord of Doubt gazed up at the sky, seeing only a swirling maelstrom of foreign body mass, the portal serving as the overflowing eye of the storm. Yet there was a break in the fighting - the beasts were being drawn away by something else.

Vaslav, already disturbed by his master's slip-up, sensed his sharp change in mood. Abandoning his use of lightning, the boy funneled his strength into Messala and hid behind him. "Did I pass the test yet?" he asked.

"We'll certainly have to forego the rest, given recent developments," Messala remarked. They were right in the thick of things; even if he were to board their ship now, they wouldn't be able to fly out of there. But then there was that force which was directing the monsters like cattle... was it Prazutis? It couldn't be. He was mindless in his grief.

Stretching out in the Force, he looked for other presences nearby. Visible in the distance with the naked eye was the Library-Temple which was the source of Prazutis' outburst, where Taeli Raaf was trying, perhaps in vain, to reason with the man. On the ground he sensed the pairing of Ardana Vorco and AMCO carrying on their feeble containment rituals and blithe scientific studies, respectively. But closest to him were Allyson Locke , who had seemingly fallen into the role of scout to the Lady of Secrets, and Amur, who was hard at work in much the same fashion Messala had been for the past hour or so. Offering to or asking for help usually only roused a Sith's suspicions, but given the circumstances, he saw little choice. He wasn't afraid of Amur, and he sensed no threat from Allyson Locke. He would approach them, but keep his distance if necessary.

"Let's go," he said, nudging Vaslav. The boy was still cowering in his shadow. "We'll find shelter further away from the hole." Starting to walk, he suddenly laughed. "Don't worry about me. I've seen stranger things than this. Monsters from the Id are far more frightening than anything Prazutis could conjure up. Come on, little magi."

And make it fast. The winds were picking up, blowing the stench of strange bodily fluids in their direction.

 

[Elle Mors]

Old Wounds

​

"Chit day, huh?"

Ellie's voice had crept up on her - on them both - without warning. She had seen Sylvia in the distance and given chase, only to be too far behind to help when she watched her tumble down the side of a dune. By the time she had caught up, to Sylvia that is, she had already managed well enough on her own and carried on with her trek with no more acknowledgement than a shift in mood and her angry words. Her fussy, defeatist, friend was nowhere to be seen, as if in the short time apart she had grown and Ellie.. well she'd stayed the same, fallen back even, and for a short moment she had nearly came to terms with having been moved on from - which was why she looked so surprised when she heard her own words leaving her lips.

"Hey, Sylvia." She said weakly with a soft smile, her right hand held tightly around her left forearm across her front with her brow knit in a way that read uncertainty. She'd spent so much time, so much effort, trying to find her way back to show her that she was still alive, and thought to much on reuniting, that she'd completely forgotten to consider what she'd do once they'd met again. She shifted a little where she stood, the sleeve on her left arm sliding up in her grip to expose the glint of something metallic - a bracelet, maybe, but certainly something she hadn't been wearing she she had left.

"Surprise, ha.. I'm, uh, still alive."

Sylvia Virtos

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

"Chit day, huh?"

The voice, that voice, caught Sylvia completely off-guard. She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings and now that all-familiar voice rang through her ears like a ghost of her past came to visit her. With a shocked look the woman turned around towards the source, but she didn't come face-to-face with a ghost, or an otherworldly being that had somehow tapped into her memories. It was Ellie, standing right there in front of her. Sylvia's heart skipped a beat and her mouth fell open, surprise overtaking her. If her friend thought she was over her, she was dead wrong.

"E-Ellie!?" Her open mouth formed a smile as she let out a scoff drenched in unbelief of what she was seeing. The pain she felt in her leg from the fall was all but forgotten about as she didn't know how quickly to shoot towards the blonde. While Ellie stood there, unsure of what to do, Sylvia swiftly and decisively closed the distance between the two and wrapped her arms around her. Ever since her friend had left she was convinced she'd never see her again, yet here they were.

"Surprise, ha.. I'm, uh, still alive."

"I was worried sick when I heard about the crash. Thank the Force you're okay," Sylvia said, relief washing over her as she embraced her. This wasn't some strange dream or hallucination, unless it was extremely convincing. When the magenta-haired girl let Ellie go and stepped back a sheen drew her attention to the bracelet she was wearing, something she took note of. There was something about it, though she couldn't place it.

"So where have you been? I uh... I miss you." Sylvia began scratching her neck, looking away. She said it without thinking, and kind of regretted it even if it was the truth.

Elle Mors ​