Vytal Noctura
N I G H T M O T H E R
Unnatural. Irreverent. Dangerous. That's what they'd call The Eye. The same would be said about what the Nightmother had partaken in to study it as well.
With every trip to where The Eye had been kept there came an increased risk of someone discovering it, and what was kept there. With so many eager to be rid of it, the Witch did not see any reason to provide them the means to do so prematurely. Therefore, she'd retrieved an old artifact from the Vault and brought it to The Eye. A construct of considerable power exposed to the world just long enough from its case for the proscribed benefit before being sealed away once more. A device as dangerous as The Eye itself in the right hands.
Fortunately, most in the galaxy were too impatient for it to be of any use to them.
For every second it was exposed not greater than thirteen, the construct afforded an eternity. Thirteen visits to a single moment suspended in time. An existence bereft of sound, vibration, or life one could occupy until it drove a person mad with how utterly alone and still existence had become.
Vytal was on her twelfth. She had settled in to the chair set before The Eye for the occasion. Her marginally younger self stood off to one side with a hand on the lid of the case where the Chronostasis device rested. Twin, emerald eyes peered across the room at the artifact that had somehow bridged or flung open multiple Nether Gates. An object that could be weaponized, and bring destruction to the entire galaxy by someone foolish enough to try controlling it. Something that demanded study, and yet stubbornly refused to share its secrets.
Even here, however, she could hear it. The Eye's... voice. Its Call. A Siren's spell for someone that wasn't hounded by the Dead endlessly already and well aware few of their offers benefited the living in the long run. It had been the only reason Voph had allowed her access to it at all. That and likely avoiding a confrontation with a Witch that upheld Universal Laws except when it became necessary to do otherwise. No rule existed that did not have an exception. Fortunately, the two of them trusted one another well enough that hadn't even crossed her mind.
Had it been another, Vytal expected it would have been a viable alternative.
The Dathomirian frowned as The Eye continued to rebuff her attempts to goad it into revealing its secrets. Whether it understood her intent or was too single-minded to notice, she couldn't say. Knowing this was the second to last attempt before she would have to risk visiting in person, however... she was reluctant to depart.
"Intriguing, isn't it?" A woman slowly glided into view from behind the pedestal upon which The Eye sat. Flowing white billowed in her wake no matter how slowly she moved.
"Magick capable of throwing open the doors between the Living and the Dead," Vytal replied without stirring in her seat, "what wouldn't be intriguing about it?"
A smile graced the woman's lips. "You should have seen those that created such a thing. Their understanding of untapped power has scarcely been seen again." She turned her head, tilted her head, and smiled briefly again. "No insult intended, of course."
The flow of currents about The Eye had not gone unnoticed. Nor the faint tendrils that reached out into the universe in every direction. Vytal was confident the artifact knew where the thinnest places in existence were to connect the two worlds. Even if it could not touch them without a living consciousness or soul behind it, it knew and it desired to throw the gates open. To imagine someone would create such a thing that could spell the doom to all living life... What other end could it have been intended for? "Perhaps you could show me."
"I could." Her gaze passed over the Chronostasis device and then turned back to The Eye once more.
The Elder Spirits were not prone to using the power of Ages for frivolous purposes. It came as no surprise nor disappointment the offer had not been extended. "Thank you." The Nightmother paused despite the lack of response from her visitor. "For helping us close the Gate on Geonosis. To stem the tide so The Eye could be contained."
As she turned her attention back to the pale Witch, the woman's features were soft and her eyes sparkled with energy. "Of course, Daughter. There is nothing to be gained allowing ravenous spirits to consume your realm. Though," the smile faltered and her eyebrows arched upward, "I do hope you will take better care in the future."
Better care? More than they were now? Perhaps there was another trial to come then. "We will prevent others from falling prey to this Eye, and find the means to unravel its hold on us." A matter Voph had take up personally. Perhaps to atone, though Vytal did not believe any such was needed. Not every artifact made its threat known in advance, nor could every one be treated as though it posed a threat to the galaxy. The vast majority held relatively small spheres of influence.
With a soft hum, the Woman of White slowly began to circle the pedestal. "You only have one more chance. I fear the consequences, what may befall you, if you cannot by then."
One more visit in this state. This was true, Vytal knew that as well as She. It would not be difficult to obtain another thirteen, nor to visit the artifact in person at any time. Why, then, the sense of urgency? "Does something seek to take The Eye from us?"
"They will take The Eye," she replied before stopping on the opposite side of the pedestal. "But not from you. Take care, Daughter. I know you feel the Storm on the horizon and in the whispers of the Damned. It comes sooner than you know."
With that the Woman in White vanished in the blink of an eye. The Nightmother frowned once more. She'd spent years seeking out those she considered gods, and through relentless determination and perhaps luck found them. Now one of them had come here. To her. And what fell from her lips was of ill portent for the future. Worse, the coming storm was not of war that might engulf a world, but an endless, ravenous destruction that could consume them all.
Upon her return to the Present, Vytal would see what the Confederacy's Intelligence Network knew of this. Though she wondered if such might be mistaken for rantings of lunatics rather than actionable information. It would, at least, be a place to start. It would seem a hunt was in order. There had been too many indications of late of a prolific threat drawing nearer... the strange relocation in the Nether to a mansion of puzzles, the Nameless One at the End of Time, the cult which CICOM had investigated, and this Eye. The Witch scowled. This Eye.
