Private In Principio Erat Verbum

[Arden]

UNKNOWN REGIONS
Uncharted World, Local Time: 0800

In the beginning...

Arden had it all. His was a rags-to-riches story of the highest degree. Yet, with all lofty places, there was always the risk of a fall. So it was that Arden, a once-decorated instructor for the Baobab Merchant Academy, was betrayed. Being of low birth compared to his colleagues, he was seen as undeserving of the position her occupied. His "betters" sought to humble him, and thus his vessel was assaulted by hired hands and he was tossed into slaver pits. By all accounts, Arden was dead.

But through that suffering, he lived.

For there was one above all who took pity on Arden's plight. He dark whispers filled the shattered man with strength. Her gifts allowed him to shatter his chains. Her word saw the slavers burn for their treachery. And after Arden caked his hands with their blood, he became the rock upon which her church was built. Testament was the name she chose and his standing order was simple. Just as he had been plucked from the midst of damnation by her voice, so too would he uplift the broken.

That cause is what brought the Warlock to the festering swamp. There was nothing about this locale that appealed to the sable-skinned man. The earth squelched with every step. A putrid miasma assaulted his nostrils with every step. The air was thick, humid, and carried the risk of small insects flying inside his mouth. This world was a far cry from the vibrant, tropical planet that he preferred - but this was the nature of his cause. Being a bit uncomfortable came with the job.

The Voice had beckoned him to this world for a reason. According to the information he was able to acquire, there was once a military testing facility for a bygone nation within the swamp. Over time, that facility had been repurposed into a prison of sorts, where those who had crossed the wrong criminals were sent to languish. Arden didn't know how true either of the reports were, but just in case, he arrived ready to carve his way through if necessary. It did not take long for the coordinates he had to, at least, bear fruit.

For, through the trees he saw lights. He pressed up against a tree and looked closer, confirming it to be a horrendously worn down building. Moss, vines, and all other manner of vegetation crawled up the exterior walls, as if the swamp was attempting to swallow it into the muck. In stark contrast, a duo of battle droids patrolled the perimeter. Each of their chassis was free of blemish, save for the swamp gunk clinking to their feet as they walked. "This must be the place." Arden muttered to himself.

Snap. Hiss.

The air heated as the Warlock's lightsaber burned into being. He strode boldly through the muck, quickly drawing the attention of the battle droids. Their photoreceptors tinged crimson and their weapons raised, immediately recognizing Arden as a trespasser and a threat. Yet, before they could so much as open fire, the din of metal crunching would befall them. With his offhand extended, the Warlock's power crumpled the droids and cast them aside, leaving the way into the facility clear. Of course, his thunderous arrival had drawn the attention of its occupants.

Where once there was silence day in and day out, there was now thunderous alarms. Frantic shouts would echo through the halls. Boots would thunder as they rushed towards the intruder.

Salvation was coming for the souls trapped within. All they had to do was seize it.​

Ellremi Umay​

 

[Ellremi Umay]

⠀⠀

They looked alien, but she's learned that her manner of description could mean anything - alien is, well, everything and everyone locked away in these crumbling walls. How they moved with reason told her results seduced them, but how they treated her made her wonder if the results mattered. They've sliced through her hands and pricked her fingers, then searched through the veins and tendons as if she were hiding some treasures underneath it all. In the beginning, she had fought against their curiosity, and now she allows it simply because fighting yielded punishment and no reprieve.

The earth beneath her scarred hands and feet sang her a story she'd never heard before, causing her heart to flutter in its cage. The dilapidated building tried its hardest to stand against the flow of the world with its bars, researchers, and jailers. With all its fading pride, she knew better.

The few individuals inside her shared cell rushed towards the aged bars, pressing their faces against them, straining to catch a glimpse of something. At first, she didn't understand their urgency, so lost she was in her thoughts and the song echoing in her muffled ears. It wasn't until the white coats ran by, ignoring the reaching hands daring to touch their rushing figures. The prisoners would have been punished for such insolence at any other time. Today, they were dismissed for the first time in ... what she can only assume is a very long time, and that was enough to spur them into action.

The small woman turned away from the raging prisoners, not wanting to be involved, choosing to praise the abrupt shift in the atmosphere silently.

Ellremi leaned forward on her knees and pressed her ear to the ground. Her hearing had been damaged in the days-long abuse and experimental treatment, leaving her to depend on the strange abilities that inhabit her very core. If anything, she can thank her abusers for making her aware that her abilities are some commodity wasted on some swamp rat such as herself. It made her feel powerful.

Once her ear kissed the ground, the screams of the attack filled her mind. Then, in an instant, she was suddenly seeing things from eyes that were not her own - feeling things not her own. It was a man who had some strange mist swirling around his form. As quickly as she floated through, she was pushed out by what she can only assume is the protective nature of the mist. Or it could have just been his abilities colliding with her own. Nonetheless, she knew that he was the cause of this sudden shift and why the earth was singing once again.

 

[Arden]

UNKNOWN REGIONS
Uncharted World, Local Time: 0800

The facility had been untouched for years.

Its operations had flown under the radar for so long that its personnel thought themselves invincible. For this reason, "common sense" measures went by the wayside. It would have been common sense to keep their armed personnel up-to-date. It would have been common sense to keep more than a few squads' worth of automatons to patrol the halls. It would have been common sense for them to prepare for an assault. Yet, their lack of thinking allowed the Warlock to rampage through the halls.

Immediately after shattering the first pair of droids, Arden was greeted with the sight of more. Behind them fled men wearing labcoats, all of whom were screaming on their comms about the attack. The Warlock advanced while moving his lightsaber in a calculated dance. The droids' blaster fire was batted away, whilst his offhand raised once more. The first fell to literal pieces, as if every nut and bolt that made up their form had come undone. The rest were blown away as those same pieces were launched through them at impressive speed.

With the way clear, Arden caught sight of the "researchers" piling into a turbolift. They almost evaded him, but his offhand rose once more. Descent deeper into the facility was halted and the doors were pried open by telekinetic hands. Arden strode forward, pausing only to silence the men within with a few swings of his saber. Once inside, he permitted the lift to fall to its destination.

When the doors parted once more, a scowl formed upon the man's face. The stench of the swamp was replaced by that of human waste. He recognized the smell as it reminded him of the days spent within the slaver pits. There was no washing, no consideration, no dignity those days. That is, unless a slave was pretty to look at or otherwise "valuable" to the "masters." Those "lucky" few got to keep their flesh clean of excriment - but paid for this "luxury" by being the playthings of their oppressors.

Smelling this here only steeled the Warlock's resolve, for it most likely meant similar circumstances awaited him. The operators were treating their prisoners like animals - but now, salvation had come. Arden moved quickly now, following the quiet whispers in his mind. Her voice guided him through the corridors, urging him to find those trapped behind lock and key. And soon, he saw them. Hands were extended through bars, voices were pleading for escape. Arden couldn't help but flinch at the sight. He had been where they stood after all.

When his footsteps lead him to the first of the doors, the prisoners flinched back immediately. Arden motioned for them to stand back before cutting down the bars. "You will rot here no longer." he began, before motioning with his saber towards the direction he came. "You'll find a lift that way. Take it to the first floor. There are weapons nearby - use them." The prisoners didn't have to be told twice. They ran past him, stench high in the air, as he had bid.

Arden repeated this twice more, before coming upon an odd sight. A contradiction to the prisoners who had been kept in horrendous condition. As the occupants of this cell in particular ran past, Arden could see that she was not soiled as the others. But he could also see scars. "You there." he began. "Are you able to move?"​

Ellremi Umay​

 

[Ellremi Umay]

⠀⠀

His guidance spurned them forth with a force they've never known. Many of the prisoners have inhabited the facility for so long that she wonders if they'll acclimate to the sudden freedom burdened upon them. They've survived this long in this hellspace; beyond it may be a walk in the park.

When it was their turn for freedom, Ellremi sat back in the humid shadows and waited. It's terrible to say, but they've been burned before. As a test, their captors had opened their gates and waited for the cattle to run out - they did almost immediately. Desperation is an oddity, for it creates caution or completely abandons it. At that moment, they had abandoned all hope and reacted; they were all thoroughly punished for their attempted escape. She had been a sheep and would have done it again, yet she held caution close this time.

Standing with her back sliding up the wall, the woman groped her way to the man. For so long, she's attempted to slip into the ether by making herself small and pitiful; her legs ached in their new position. She heard him speak but not with the clarity she would have liked; there must still be something she has to overcome before she's capable of healing herself. Right now, it didn't matter.

Grabbing the cell bars, she poked her head out to look around before settling her grey eyes upon the stranger. "You should go," she said, words raspy and dry. "Before they come back."

A part of her understood that the warning was ridiculous because this man was clearly more than capable of handling himself. She couldn't wholly face the reality of what was happening nor entirely trust his intentions. Sure, the air around him sang, and the earth did not flinch away from his presence. That still was not enough to convince her that he was the safest option, even though he was the only option.

"Will they come back?" Ellremi wanted to hear him answer and see how he would reassure her. The right person can easily manipulate words - how will he shape them?

At first glance, anyone would assume that the small woman would faint at the idea of danger. That's what her captors forced themselves to believe, especially when she proved the opposite. When stubborn butts head with stubborn, you end up with a colorful tug-o-war where neither end wins. For Ellremi, it was never about winning; it was all about asserting herself as a problem. The more difficult she made anything for them, the happier she felt, which was enough reason to keep living.

For this stranger, she may behave. He has done far more for her than he knows, and for that, she will repay him in kind.