Introduction in Rolling Darkness

[Elline Adasca]

Elline counted in her head, it calmed her nerves. Oh by those nine hells of Corellia were those nerves flaring, it had all happened so quickly...at one point she had been merely continuing on with her dull and meaningless life. Sitting away while churning out her chemistry focused task in life, making drugs for that damnable rat Omlessi. Well. He wasn't a problem anymore. A new problem had arouse, she had purpose once again. Taken off by that mysterious man she had gone to Bastion, introduced to all that her swift and potent mind would be used for. She was where an Adasca belonged, designing, creating, her Arkanian mind wasn't being wasted.

But that wasn't all of it.

Reasonably, she knew she had force potential and a small handful of powers but never enough to warrant what had happened as well: she was going to be trained: trained to become a Sith! Her nerves felt no mercy at such a thought, this wasn't something simple or basic like at the Academies on Arkania, this was different. She had read about Sith during her comparatively short life and all of it painted a brutal picture of what she would be subjected to.

But the raw potential for power...for revenge...

It was impossible to not pass it up. It showed her to be a means to an ever potent end to take revenge against all those who had dared to wrong her. But nerves cared little for such things, it was only natural to fear the unknown like she did. Especially after she had been given an invitation to that ancient rock of Krayiss Two. She knew little of the world other than that it fell into that "Sith Worlds" classification. Not inherently somewhere someone like her wanted to go, but, much like training: how could she deny it?

In due time, she made it to the destination given. It reminded her of home somewhat, the massive canyons. Of course, they weren't made of ice and held a plethora of diamonds within them (she assumed, at least) but it was close enough of one. And that made her...displeased. Home wasn't a pleasant thought anymore, not after her pseudo exile from Arkania. But, her mind was getting muddied now. Too many thoughts jumbling all together.

Clad in nothing more than comparatively basic clothes. She approachedfl that which had summoned her, her pure white eyes scanned away at them. So much the girl had yet to learn, so so much.

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Krayiss II was an arid world. Heavy winds drew their endless edge along the smooth walls of the ancient canyons, and a silent din of the dark side of the Force pressed against the beating heat of the sun. This was a place simultaneously too hot and too cold, making the skin burn while the blood freezes. The place in which Darth Ophidia had asked the would-be Sith to meet her was at an obelisk: a black spire jutting at the sky, emanating a strange push and pull. Its weather-worn surfaces gleamed, polished yet definitely aged. The carved runes of the Sith both stark visible and blurred.

Beside the obelisk stood Darth Ophidia; Her robed form was almost like a mirror of the obelisk itself as the blacks, greys and muted blues whipped quietly in the wind. She was tall and thin, visibly so even in the shifting fabrics, and ahe had an ink-black hand stretched out, touching the stone. Yet, the skin of her chin and the visible parts of her face was a distinctly ashen grey. The hood was up, obscuring the crown of her skull, and with each snap of the shifting wind, the blue diamond pattern trailing down her back twisted and shifted like a serpent coiling in the dark.

She turned with a deliberate movement, seemingly quick and slow at the same time. Under the hood, she peered out with eyes burning like the sun above and a smile on her blue lips. It would be pleasant on another face, away from the unblinking eyes.

"You have come." Her voice husky, rasped, like the sand in the wind "Good." -Yet silken smooth at its tail; the accent distinct and foreign to unfamiliar ears.

Her hand let go of the obelisk and fell behind her back to join its twin. She stepped towards the Arkanian with a clear grace, almost as if each step was a minute dance or the advance of some terrible force.

"Do you know this place?"

As she spoke, she watched Elline with those unblinking eyes, so still they would appear dead but for the fire in them. The nostrils contracted for a moment as she seemingly sniffed something, seemingly smelled something on Elline. Perhaps indeed she smelled the chaos in the acolyte's mind.

[member="Elline Adasca"]

 

[Elline Adasca]

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

Paradoxical anomalies, the bane of a calculating mind like Elline's. But in her defense, she actually didn't openly express her inner fears and reservations about this whole thing. Many events had "graced" the Arkanian in her comparatively short life to create a fine resting ground for potential. Hated billowed from her when one looked for it, so many had wronged her during these times. So many denied truth, efficiency, the very pillars that were needed to drive the Galaxy forward. For as much as Elline could hide her emotions in her supposedly unbreakable defenses. They were nothing.

"Krayiss Two. One of the Sith worlds, in the ancient days it was one of the most important worlds of the Sith race. If you wished to try and tap into ancient technology and recover Sith relics for research you can brave it's main draw: the temple-library. Not advised unless you have heavily armed and well trained forces."

Well someone must've been popular in school, It was practically a word for word recital of Arkanian reports on the planet from her Academy. It was quickly apparent the new Sith didn't know much more than the surface level, the simple history of the world.

 

[Darth Ophidia]

[member="Elline Adasca"]

A sense of self-righteousness was a good ingredient, quite pungent, but it set a distinct flavour to the development of a Sith Acolyte. More importantly, it was a handle through which the Sith Lords could pull and control her. That was what she saw, what she smelled in the air when the arkanian spoke.

"Tsakwia iw Wtsia - The great library temple of Krayiss Two"

The obelisk next to her seemingly pulsed as she spoke, reverberating with the power of the word. She gestured for Elline to follow her as she turned and seemingly stepped off the far ledge where she would no doubt fall to her death.

However, where one would expect a fall, there was a narrow passage just a step below and out of sight. It was treacherous, yet the ashen skinned woman walked it with a distinct nonchalance and graceful lack of respect for the danger she was in. She stepped off the end of the narrow, stone walkway and stopped near a weathered carving of a squat figure with deep, dark eyes and a pointed moustache. She wiped dust off his brow as she waited for the Arkanian

"That is our destination." "Do try to keep up."

Darth Ophidia stepped to the left, then back to the right. However, as she took the step to the right, she slipped back a smidge and let a blade-thin wall of stone break the line of sight. There was a path, twisting and winding, obscured to those who had never walked it before. The Kissai who had shown her the way did exactly as she did now. They drew her forward with what appeared like games and childish play.

 

[Elline Adasca]

Tsakwia iw Wtsia...the language didn't come to her. And she took a soft mental note to dig a little deeper into what she could assume was the dialect of the ancient and extinct Sith, Elline wasn't one to let herself exist in any state of true ignorance. It was painful, disgraced her name of Adasca. Of course, ignoring the fact she had been disowned by the Adasca line, but that wasn't important.

She was quick to follow, maybe given some form of flashback to the Academy's failed trip to Azloc III. But this time she didn't have any sort of gear to keep footing, just skill and patience. And a finite skill in multi-tasking, she watched her steps as she progressed down as much as she memorized the movement that the "fellow Sith" made. Fellow Sith...the words seemed totally out of place. This woman was far from her, and Elline was just as far right back. Maybe some overarching banner connected them? But the Arkanian deemed it doubtful.

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

[member="Elline Adasca"]

Quick to follow indeed.

The Rattataki kept one step ahead, always allowing a little glimpse of where she went before she did. She wanted to perpetuate the chase, entice the desire to know, to claim, and to achieve. So many believed it was only hate and suffering that lead one to the to the dark side of the Force. No, it was also pride, ambition, desire. It was not only the negative emotions that heralded the fall, they were but the fuel of something greater.

"Keep up. You don't want to get lost here." a chuckle, seemingly from behind her "You most certainly don't."

On the mountain walls they passed, sharp as knives their corners were, there were words carved in the stone in ancient runic writing that almost spoke through the Force, even to those who could not read them. There they called out those hallowed words of truth to which the Sith so dearly clung: Peace is a lie; there is only passion. The walls tightened around them. Through passion, I gain strength. While the walls let go, there were dry, thorny bushes clawing at their skin and snagging their clothes. The assassin seemingly passed through it like a ghost, throwing a glance back at the acolyte. Through strength, I gain power. A small passage under the weight of an enormous rock, wedged into the mountain walls. On top of it, for the breifest of moments, one could see a red-skinned figure staring down on them with inquisitive eyes, before the harsh sun shone through and dispelled the illusion. Through power, I gain victory. At the opposite side was a drop, just long enough to break a leg if made carelessly. Through victory, my chains are broken.

At the opposite end stood Ophidia, now facing Elline. Behind her was sand, stretched outward the seemingly endless sky. Black clouds congregated in the distance, flashing blue and purple. Just behind her, yet in the midst of the sandpit stood another black spire like the ones they had passed. It felt like the others, and yet this area was all different from the canyon before; it looked almost as though they had stepped through some kind of portal into a whole other world. This was no vestige, but a living, breathing sanctum of the dark side.

She reached her hands up to her head -One hand grey, one black- and brushed the wide hood back. Her bare crown was revealed, with its ashen skin and black tattoos. lichtenberg scars crawled up from the collar of her robes, like thousands upon thousands of little fingers reaching up along the base of her skull and jaw; a sign of intense electrocution. Darth Ophidia's face showed signs of age, crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, frown lines accentuated by faded tattoos on her chin, but her eyes were intent and intense.

"Before you pass the precipice and face destiny, I will ask you one question: What makes you worthy?"

 

[Elline Adasca]

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

For all of Elline's Arkanian grade coldness, she couldn't help but let out a small snarl. The chase annoyed her, for it had been many years that Elline embraced the base emotions of the Dark Side. Hatred at more people than she'd ever like to admit, from thugs, her homeworld, and even an entire species felt the wrath of it. At least...some form of it. The woman was far from a fighter, that much was easily apparent just by looking her: but she had wits, and those were important.

Her eyes moved some, she took in the details of this place in quick glances to not lose sight of wherever the true goal laid. It reminded her of some sort of expedition the Arkanians of home may have taken, maybe not even too dissimilar to her mission to Alzoc III...but at the same time she knew it was nowhere near the same as a simple research mission for some students.

More details. That was what she thought when the Sith took away her hood. It was always hard to tell just what the blank whites of her eyes were doing but the studying became quickly evident before she bemused on what to say. Truthfully, she didn't know she was worthy of such rank to begin with. But this whole thing had been an exciting ride of the unexpected.

"Determination. No rocks and ancient temples will end me now."

It seemed a decent response.