First Reply I LIIIIIIIVE! (open to one (1) dead character)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

The ritual location of choice was a black stone altar in a field of ash, a quintessential Malachor landscape. A circle of black-robed hooded persons surrounded the altar. The ritual chant, a guttural atonal thing in ur-Kittat, reached its peak. Ashin, as lead of the ritual circle, did her best to be the strongest chanter just as a matter of principle. Everyone was suppressing a cough; the ash got into everything.

At the opportune moment, certain crystals flared orange light in certain patterns. The body on the altar - a mind-wiped Sith captive, an empty vessel - took its first breath under new management.

But who - WHO - had they resurrected? The soul they'd intended to summon? Or some utter rando?

 

[Darth Nephthys]

May Vahl's Blessings keep you well...brother.

A Vahla's life was about sacrifice, and Nephthys had lived a life devoted to the Goddess, to destiny.

One Darth Nephthys had given her life for willingly.

In the aftermath of the explosion, darkness engulfed Nephthys. It was a void, a realm between the realms, where the remnants of her existence lingered. She felt weightless, suspended in the cosmic tapestry, as if the Force itself cradled her essence.

How it had struck her like wildfire.

A sharp, painful gasp echoed through the emptiness, air filling lungs, expanding the chest, heart beating anew. There, upon the black stone altar in a field of ash, void black eyes snapped open, only to swirl crimson in the surge of a soul entering the mind-wiped Sith Captive by Ashin Cardé Varanin . It was an awakening, a resurrection from the fiery demise. Nephthys sensed her consciousness returning and, with it, the surge of the Darkside emotions that had fueled her final act. The Vessel was not gone; Sokara had transcended into another form, summoned to life into an empty vessel.

The Force howled around her, a familiar current of raw power that her mind grasped once again.

Flashes stirred in her mind. Memories. How the emptiness erupted into chaos in that corridor with @Darth Carach, the echoes of the explosion she had initiated reverberating through the cosmic space. Smoke, debris, and remnants of her former self had scattered like stardust.

But no longer.

With a twisted curl of chapped lips, the Sith captive vessel's mouth twisted wide, and she gave a tremendous scream.

A reverberation would be felt throughout the fabric of the Force to those who had called this one sister - One of their own had returned.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

A very long time ago, Ashin had made the choice between power and sensitivity - a choice every serious Force practitioner faced whether they knew it or not - and chosen power. The nuances of the Force call escaped her, as did any hint of who this might be, because it certainly wasn't the being they'd aimed to incarnate. She had an associate for that kind of sensory work; the associate met her eyes through her mask and, subtly, shrugged. The prophets mumbled uneasily.

She moved into the heart of the circle, ash puffing around her boots, and stood over the screaming woman's right side.

"You," she said with the slow, neutral deliberation of an Imperial officer scrutinizing the latest doomed prisoner off a wagon. "Who are you?"

Darth Nephthys

 

[Darth Nephthys]

Lost little Vahla...

The abrupt appearance of Ashin Cardé Varanin drew Nephthys from her wail, her mouth closing shut at the query. Confusion swirled in her crimson gaze.

Remember your charge.

Blinking rapidly, the Vahla swallowed hard, her throat feeling dry and cracked despite letting out such a loud scream. For as long as she could remember, she had been considered a mute. Her only method of communication is seemingly through the telepathic use of the Force or through her actions—absolute, filial loyalty. Renunciation of self and to the Goddess will.

Her entire life had been one of service, and in that, her seeming inability to speak was a symbol of her filial nature and fidelity.

The blessing of Vahl said in her own voice to the Voice of the Dark Lord had been her way of showing a final wish of affection to the one who had become a brother to her. Onii-san.

"A Vessel of Vahl. Half of a whole. A Shield to the One. " A foreign voice, a different accent. Unfamiliar. Wrong. Hands came up to her face. Flesh. Whole. Not her own. Different. So different.

"Sokara Vu Noi." using the tongue felt unfamiliar. As did the name. No, she had another. "Darth Nephthys."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin was both watching Darth Nephthys and taking stock of her associates' reactions. Her attention snapped back to Nephthys exclusively.

"That name is known to me," she said slowly, chewing on the substance of this development. "Now tell me, Nephthys, and I recommend veracity. When the One Sith captured and tortured my wife...were you, in any degree, involved?"

 

[Darth Nephthys]

The Shield gave a slow blink of crimson eyes, then the cant of a head, peering up at Ashin Cardé Varanin .

"My place is not to torture. But to protect. To be a shield. To be a sacrifice." each body part had its place, purpose, and duty for the Dark Lord. For Nephthys, her place was one to ensure the protection of the one in her charge.

"Who is your wife?"

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

The Shield gave a slow blink of crimson eyes, then the cant of a head, peering up at Ashin Cardé Varanin .

"My place is not to torture. But to protect. To be a shield. To be a sacrifice." each body part had its place, purpose, and duty for the Dark Lord. For Nephthys, her place was one to ensure the protection of the one in her charge.

"Who is your wife?"

" Spencer Varanin ."

 

[Darth Nephthys]

The name was not immediately familiar to Nephthys. Not intimately, at least, as the Vahla went through the various names of those she interacted with. There had been one Jedi. Aaralyn Rekali -- Darth Ira. She had been captured and repurposed for the Goddess as her Sword.

"The name is familiar; this one knows of Spencer Varanin." for history, and the cogs that spun it were there as tales to hear, which meant that the one before her would be -- Ashin Cardé Varanin .

"No, this one was not involved in the capture or torture of Spencer Varanin." at the time of that capture, Darth Nephthys had another mission, one that resulted in her ultimate sacrifice.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

While Ashin didn't have the nuanced sensitivity to detect truth or lies, she did have a circle, including people with that specific skill, people whose judgment she generally trusted. She took in their reactions, their nonverbal signals, for a long moment, then stepped back.

"In that case, you have nothing to fear from us at the moment."

The circle relaxed fractionally.

Ashin went on: "Your reanimation was accidental but potentially useful. I'll see to it you're provided with a shuttle; your new life is your own to do with as you see fit."

Darth Nephthys

 

[Darth Nephthys]

In the hushed space, Darth Nephthys pondered quietly. Once again, she found herself studying her hands, curling and uncurling her fingers with deliberate slowness. In her mind's eye, an echo of a voice reverberated.

My Will shall be done, child. Through you.

Maybe this was the will of the great Vahl, a path for her to live once more in service of the Goddess.

A moment later, she cautiously attempted to move from the altar to the ground. Though she swayed, determination fueled her. Adapting to the new body took time, yet the subservient nature of Sokara was deeply ingrained in her psyche. Her bare feet touched the dusty ground, and she descended to kneel at the feet of Ashin Cardé Varanin . Bending forward in a deep kowtow, hands flat, forehead touching the ground.

"I thank you, deeply, Ashin Cardé Varanin . As the Goddess wills it, so be it."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"I appreciate the thought, but I no longer consider myself a divinity. Safe travels, Darth Nephthys ."

Oh. Maybe she meant some other goddess.

The thought was fleeting.