Never a Quiet Drink (Elpsis)

[Raien Keth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zyhQjJ5UgY​

One drink too few.​

Dromund Kass - One bucket more bar.
[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]

Seedy little place, dark, smoggy, good atmosphere though for all that, lot of locals who got on well. They didn’t tolerate trouble from the outside at least, even if they’d fight plenty with each other. Sadly our unfortunate bar and every living soul in it was a breeding ground for what was to come, a canvas selected by a calculating mind to work with, to work on her.

So it was in this one bar, at the backside of the universe, that her first drink was made to feel like the last. A shattering of her drinking glass as liquid burst in all directions for one redhead, [member="Elpsis Kallikora"]. Nobody in the room had caused it, maybe she’d have a cut hand or drop it in time, but if she was as fast as he expected she’d get away clean.

There was just something not right about glasses shattering into shards at your feet, especially now those shards were moving, or was that the door to the bar? We’ll come back to our glass shards later.

“Hey buddy!” Outside a voice challenged something, and someone entered through the door, backwards, not intentionally, his now decapitated corpse wasn’t all that forward thinking after all. “LOCK IT” Someone else cried, and they did, the heavy blast door sealed neatly in place. Not even a thump came next, just silence, always silence, methodical shaping of what was to come next, so much damned arrogance.

The seals were removed bit by bit, with a loud creaking and groaning of metal, shame it was the only exit, made the security a bit wasted in hindsight. Several blasters were drawn of course, nobody liked corpses just appearing out of thin air, much less the management and the bartender drew the biggest gun you’d see this side of the rim.

Sadly the growing pressure in the air became thick, pressured attention, focus, the door just kept on being unfastened from the wall, big metal thing, hard to breech, good for a shield, and that’s exactly what happened next as it moved forward dislodging part of the wall. Was that something behind it, shots ricocheting left and right off the surface, were they spikes behind the metal? What was that pressure in the air, that numbing irritating sensation that was building, damned if it wasn't going to be a headache for those inside, without even getting a drink in!

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"]


This was so not her day! The only thing Elpsis had wanted to do was enjoy a good whiskey in an appropriately seedy, run-down bar and oggle one of the dancers. Perhaps invite the cute Twi'lek for a private lap dance...and possibly more. Alas, an evil Sith just had to ruin things for her. Whoever decided to rain on her parade was probably jealous because he or she did not have her infallible firemane. This was perfectly understandable because few beings in the Galaxy could ever hope to have her perfect red hair.



Boom. There was a disturbance in the Force, and the glass shattered. Elpsis did not excel at Force Senses, but she was fast on the draw and minored in precognition. Dozens of tiny glass shards flew everywhere, liquid splashed over the table and the floor.


The redhead dove for cover behind the table. "Oh, feth this chit. What is it now?" she growled angrily, feeling rather annoyed. In one fluid motion she'd pulled her bolt pistol out of her holster. Naturally it was loaded. From outside the bar she could sense a dark presence. Strong, powerful, radiating pure malice and malevolence.


For a moment or two fear gripped her, like the cold embrace of a droid's fist. Could this be her father? Or one of his minions? She tried to clamp down on the feeling. He was dead. She'd beat him to a bloody pulp in hell. Pure instinct took over and overcame her anxieties when the door suddenly became unhinged and was propelled forward like a shield, catching the bullets various patrons fired on it. She could not see the attacker, but was able to spot spikes behind the metal and a strong Force presence.


Bringing up her bolt pistol, Elpsis squeezed the trigger and fired. The gun was loaded with APEB rounds, nasty bullets that were hypersonic and made a mess of most personal armour. Perhaps they would penetrate the shield and hurt the jackarse who'd interrupted her and felt awfully Sithy. The gun was heavy, bulky and recoil was a queen, but the Force granted her more strength than her appearance would suggest and let her wield it well enough. Rage surged through her body and, as two bullets flew towards the intruder, she drew upon this feeling.


A white hot flame manifested inside the palm of her hand. The temperature in the air seemed to rise drastically, heat spread across her body like wild fire. Fire flared across her hand, then she shot a beam towards the vile darkside, with the intensity and steel-melting power of a thermic lance.

 

[Raien Keth]

Forward the thick sheet of metal came, footsteps clawing into the ground for purchase. Blast doors were designed to take most of the impacts like arrows diverted against a Spartan shield, wielding the force and his shoulder behind it for leverage, pin pricks which recoiled around the room occasionally enough hitting some unlucky bystander. The bartenders weapon knocked both the bartender off his feet and Keth back a few paces, leaving a smoking crater in the front of the metal, but Elpsis took the cake cracking a large hole in the front of it and forcing the sheet to stop in its tracks.

The metal was wedged unceremoniously into the floor, its bearer feeling the impact of the bolter and cleaving the floor open to present a solid sheet of hard cover imbedded down, leaving it somewhat unstable. Deep and inward his concentration went, always on himself and what he gained, how to turn the world into what he required of it. The burning metal too hot now hold as it started to liquefy before him, Elpsis turning up the heat a notch.

Force crush - The pressure in the surrounding air, no not air the force, grew, becoming the iron will of its overseer. One by one lights above started to shatter raining glass and darkness in an already dim smokey bar, though people could still hit the shielding metal the crystal glass and wiring raining down sparks from above made it perilous to move.

Then the fun started.

Force Cold and Fear Aura.

Through the darkness, exposed wiring and shattered crystal glass a cold wave of fear, personal fear welled up into the minds of the inhabitants of the room, used to separate the wheat from the chaff and clear unwanted garbage. Keth’s harnessing of his many trips into the abyss, Prakith and the god emperor’s temple, many uses of this technique and minds shattered before him. Men began to look at their hands in fright or duck down unable to dispel their own personal demons. One shot a friend as he saw him as the childhood uncle that used to abuse him. What did Elpsis see at the core of her psyche, when all the unconscious came to the front of her mind? What had she repressed or tried to avoid, what demons were in her closet? Was that maybe her father putting out a hand to smack her, or the barman trying to offer her a hand up to safety? Could she trust her eyes?

Screams or gurgling, frothing at the mouth became the normality of the room as one man could no longer breathe, his greatest fear of drowning becoming real. The number of able shooters were fast reducing in number... all too fast.

You had to work to face Keth. To be seen as worth dying to his saber. Almost every living thing was beneath that notice. What was he doing inside of all of this, standing there, eyes closed, waiting.

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"]


Pandaemonium reigned in the bar! The pressure in the air grew, becoming almost choking as an unnatural, vile and malevolent force seemed to clog the air. One by one the lights went out and glass rained down upon the patrons. Elpsis was lucky to be in cover when this happened, but the onslaught made it perilous to move.


She was wearing duraplast armour, but had neglected to put her helmet on earlier and her hands were exposed because wearing gauntlets while summoning pyromancy was obviously hazardous. She felt a stab of pain when one shard happened to cut across her cheek. It did not cut too deeply, but it was still an annoyance. Telekinetic power surged through her to blast away glass shards. Perhaps someone would end up shooting towards the Sith.


She took a breath, preparing her next move. However, the Sith beat her to the punch. A wave of fear emanated from him, engulfing all in the room. Elpsis breathed in deeply as she felt the terrible onslaught upon her psyche. Thing was, Elpsis was not merely feeling her own pain, but that of all the patrons in the bar as they dropped down like flies. One man could no longer breathe as he felt like he was drowning, another guest was driven to madness when she saw her two kids being butchered.


White hot pain surged through her mind, as if red-hot needles were piercing it. The girl tried to summon her own, rather instinctive mental barriers and push back to blot out the voices of agony. She managed well enough and seemed to be erecting a defence as her walls rose...then she saw him. Her gun fell out of her hand.


Her father. There was a sadistic smirk on his lips. "My dear girl. I'm disappointed in you. I offered you everything and you threw it away to whore yourself out to the dregs of society. You're just a disgusting little harlot, just like your mother. If only you had not decided to run away and deny your destiny. But don't worry, your old man will teach you discipline." Bolts of hatred leapt from his fingertips and crossed the distance towards her.


Elpsis cried out in agony as he exacted his will upon her. Pain, anger and rage coursed through her. "No witty retort? No counter? Perhaps you aren't as strong as I thought. I'm disappointed in you," he sneered. Then she lashed out. This was really not a memory she wanted to relive. His face was the last she wanted to see. Her hands and hair looked like they were on fire, her eyes glowed crimson. So she channelled all her anger, pain and fear, summoning a fire about herself until the air around her blazed and she unleashed it upon Keth. The apparition of her father vanished, blown away by her fiery rage when the flames blazed forth.


"I'm gonna rip your freaking heart out!" What came into being was a blazing inferno. What did fire like? Oxygen. What did it consume? Everything! The floor and the walls would burn. Accompanying it was a strong rush of air that would be swept forward like a battering ram, with the altered temperature causing a change in pressure.

 

[Raien Keth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxeTDpBT3Pw​

So the lesson began. Again anew.​

Crystal glass soared toward the vong durasteel mixed armor, drawing a trickle of sith spawn blood, a few shards embedding themselves, some bouncing harmlessly away, or into other unfortunate bystanders who would experience a worse fate shortly. A fate of her making. Her flames carried along the floor, the walls, burning around the liquefying shield of metal he stood behind, it had served its purpose as had the illusions, all preamble to his work for her. Fire began to engulf a few of those around him, burning them alive, indeed he felt the flames, could have stopped them but he wanted that pain, the metal burning against the redder than red skin, he wanted her power and suffering first hand.

So he let himself begin to burn with them.

~Better.~ Raien demanded. Seeking more potential from the girl. The mind's voice cutting, powerful, thrust toward her head like a dagger, carrying the pain she gave him, done in her fathers own voice, ~still not enough, find more or perish like the weak child that ran from her little memories. Harlot~ A red translucent force shield erupted around him, and he walked on into the inferno, fire cocooning him as he came. The images of those around her dying and burning replayed with such intensity inside her thoughts, it would be as if each one was pleading with her personally unless blocked or diverted, showing her what she was.

This was the appetiser, mental breakdown was a good softener, a small cut on the cheek was a start, he didn’t need her looks, just her power unleashed and her potential made his. Raien had been cooked alive once before in one fateful bar, a wound he’d revisit. The alcohol from the walls, the bottles burst, the kegs emptied, the pumps blew and outsprayed a jet to meet her fire aimed toward Elpsis. Burning toward her with her own power, showing her the pain and potential of it, letting her feel first hand the suffering of the dying around her, lighting yet more people aflame in its wake as it burst in her direction.

A jet of liquid fire and realization all her own. ~Pain, potential, purging flames, are you strong enough to endure it? Or was I really right? Daughter~ the fathers voice in her mind spat and twisted.

The Betrayer lived for this, twisting the knife to gain force potential, she was in his hell now. This was what it was to face him, like so many had tried before, and they always carried the scars. All this was beginning to draw on his reserves, and his breathing began to deepen, but she'd need to focus long enough to see it.

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"]


Cramped bar, plenty of people, fireballs summoned by a mentally unstable pyromancer trying to silence the voices in her head and roast an evil Sith who was putting her through an awful lot of pain. Along with deal with her childhood trauma. Long story cut short, there was bound to be collateral.


Keth began to burn, but so did many innocent bystanders and unlike the daemon, they did not have the Force. The smell of charred flesh filled the air. Their deaths resonated through the Force. Elpsis felt every one of them as their lives were extinguished, as they cried in pain and tried to escape the flames. Her empathy did not allow her to shield herself from what she'd wrought.


No, what the Sith had wrought! He was the one putting her through this. Her head hurt, as if someone had applied a massive club to it. His mental assault cut into her mind like a dagger, slicing into it. Her father's voice echoed inside her mind. Each word was punctuated by an iron fist. No matter how hard she tried, she could not silence it. Sweat dripped down her face and back as the Sith sunk his mental talons into her and she struggled to focus. The pain made the redhead scream. It was eating away at her resolve and will. All the smoke in the air made her cough.


You did this!
You killed us!
You're weak. Pathetic!

Shut up!
You burn anything you touch!
Stop this!
I'm sorry!

In this moment, she actually felt some remorse, but what was done could not be undone. A jet of liquid fire flooded towards her and she was surrounded by fire, too distracted to defend herself. She was rolling on the floor as the daemon twisted the knife inside the open wound. She was now locked inside a hellish realm and it felt like she was drowning in an ocean of pain, guilt and despair. Her vision blurred. There was blood and death everywhere.


The fire embraced her. Her armour alone could not have withstood it. What saved her was that she was a strong pyromancer. Thusly, fire could not hurt her that well. Flames kissed her armour and singed her flesh. Her face was scorched, but the skin did not melt away. She gasped for breath, for oxygen was becoming rather rare since the flames ate it, and managed to get to her feet. Outwardly it would look like she was burning.


Is that all you can do, Daughter? "I'm not your daughter. You're not even real. You're dead...and I'll kill you again," she snarled. She looked wobbly on her legs and staggered, but held her ground. She could not the others' pain out, so she simply stopped resisting, let the voices cry and rail against her. Her breathing was ragged, her heart thumped so loudly inside her chest that it felt like it might burst, but she stood. She threw all her pain back at the Sith. Her features were flushed from heat, her hair wild and tousled, as she focused her power on him and sought to will his blood to boil like hot lava within his veins. She wanted to see him burn from the inside out.

 

[Raien Keth]

Everything was externalised. The psychological damage, living wounds, offense, defense, even the armor that ate away at his bonded body. Actually getting through that armor was tough, what he’d spent lifetime(s) putting up, like the huge metal door he’d walked in with, using the environment, wars, battles, planets in bigger and bigger circles surrounding him to seed conflicts. The bar one more battlefield he’d created, and the survivors limping out causalities within the creation of her power, and her awareness, he really believed was doing all this for her.

“Good.” The physical voice phased, staggered, impressed she'd let go to pure, deeper emotions. Inside the bubble the force could not exist, but inside him, that was impressive! His pace and focus toward her increased in pressure.

Dropping the force shield. She’d bypassed his armor, and the bubble by using his body, subtly at first the heat built. His charge continued toward her with much greater momentum. She attacked where he was still a man, well a twisted red sithspawn now but very mortal, inside. Hotter and hotter she was boiling black alchemised blood to an uncertain fate. The Betrayer roared his own battle cry, more damage was inflicted, significant internal damage, spitting out black blood. The heavy jump he made attempted to put his spiked fist directly through her skull, gripping her legs in the force to try and pull those unsteady ankles from under her. Attempting to yank her balance one way, while his weight came down the other, aiming to land on top, going for a straight single killing blow with his left fist. His saber the clawed edge of truth was in his right hand, aiming at any melee weapon she used, to try to pin and crush them into her as a secondary death blow, or just to the floor. Worse he was adorned in vong spikes looking for a resting place, bruises, puncturing impacts to her armor, wounds, all were possible at close quarters.

Floor and walls still ablaze, the battlefield around them began to crumble, smoke rose and the oxygen thinned possibly sapping the breathing of the unwary.

The urgency in changing his plans, and the force he came down with represented her success, those wounds being taken and claimed by the living armor as their own now, they would never heal anew. The armor was inside of him as he bled outward!

~Always the Killer. Your poisons and passions cannot dull your heritage or hide what you are forever girl, a coward, a mass murderer, and a sith.~ Her fathers voice branded in her mind even now searching for the weakspots, mixing the past and present, judgements against a child, twisted truth and lies. Raien was pressuring points to inflict suffering, pain, trauma, getting her to question everything about herself, unhinging any self doubt as the weapons looked for purchase.

Interestingly a small amount of blue fire beside them flickered without air to burn in or fuel to fuel it...

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"]


Her fury was having an effect. Through her empathy, she could feel that the vile Sith was in pain. It did not seem to slow him down, but it was obviously an attack he was not used to. Internal injuries were...nasty. She'd made him bleed. That was a small victory for her.


However, that was cold comfort when you considered that the demon was coming at her like an ox or battering ram. His rage transformed him into a force of nature. She felt a tremendous, bone-smashing pressure being brought down upon her legs. Pain shot through her ankles and she tumbled, being smashed into the floor while flames raged all around her.


Ouch. As the Sith leapt at her, lightsabre in hand, she rolled quickly, managing to avoid being crushed beneath his weight. However, his lightsabre still ended up slicing down across her armoured shoulder. Duraplast was good, but could only protect against glancing blows and there was a lot of force behind his onslaught. The blade cut through a small portion of the armour and pain surged through her when hot plasma met flesh. Nasty Vong spikes left unpleasant bruises across her arm and back. All the smoke made her cough.


Her bolt pistol was gone, but she still had her Fire for Effect sonic blaster. Her hand gripped it quickly and she fired. Once. She was aiming for his sword arm. Ideally his lightsabre would be blasted out of his hand. The Sith's attack was vicious, but he was trying to do many things at the same time. Her father's evil voice continued to resonate in her mind, as if branded into her flesh. It was painful, it was malicious and awful, but it bothered her less than before.


He was a monster...she was not her father's daughter. Perhaps she also drew strength from the fact that she'd been reunited with her mother. He was wrong about her. Her other hand became fire and she was sick of hearing his voice in her head. 'You're wrong...'Daddy'. I'm not you. I'll never be you. Mum loves me. And you're not even him. You're an annoying voice,' she thought.


Her fury found an outlet as she produced a powerful telekinetic blast, accompanied by streams of flame, and sent it crashing towards him. Given the close range, she would probably take damage as well, but she didn't care. Her aim was quite simple to pick him up, hurl him backward with somewhat excessive and give him a good roasting in the process.

 

[Raien Keth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TByu3cPQdvo
This was going to hurt.​

Shot out of his hand was the edge of truth saber, the sonic concussion cutting into already armor soaked armor/tendons of his right hand, unable to hold it. Throwing it clear, there was some value on that saber, each individual piece a backstory of malice. Weapon separated, around them pieces of the roof collapsed, as their bar burned from the inside out, denying him access to much air or his weapon of choice, unfortunately all things were weapons to a true Sith, especially the opponents themselves.

Her use was at an end to him, he had what he needed in the room, the force made fire, the death surrounding them, the alchemy of his blood for his own ritual. Raien would beget living fire here today. Having maximized her potential for his own ends. The voice in her head ended, and there was no preamble as before, each attack now was a killing blow waiting to happen.

Feeling the breast bone cracked beneath his armor, and drawing down on the resonating pain wracking his body. She had yet to fight him, else would have expected what happened next. As the velocity of her attack hit both of them, and threatened to separate the two, Raien was having none of it, pulling her as tight as she would go into her own blast from behind. He used her momentum and tried to take her along for the ride. Unless blocked… Gripping both behind her neck tightly and behind her ribcage in the force like a vice to try and drag her along like a ragdoll with him, adding to it… using her momentum and his own combined.

As he impacted against the wall quite literally breaking or dislocating his right shoulder, a spike from his armor went through the wall. Coated once again in flames and mind numbing white pain, he went to launch her not against the wall, but hopefully embedded into and through the fiery surface. Using the pain she gave him, using his strength and her own speed to see how good that armor really was, and how many bones he could break today. Make no mistake he was tiring, bleeding and breaking but did she have enough left to stand? To endure?

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"]


Ouch! Boldly Elpsis flew and well. The bar had been devastated and turned into an image of hell. The roof collapsed, clouds of smoke billowed up into the air, corpses lay everywhere, flames spread.


Abruptly Elpsis found herself thrust into the air by an invisible force that wrapped around her like a snake. She struggled to breathe and gasped for air when the Sith brought down a crushing vice grip upon her throat and chest. She managed to bend and twist her body in mid-flight to avoid the brunt of her own telekinetic blast, but it still slammed into her side. Her duraplast armour was quite solid, but it could not wholly shield her from kinetic damage.


She was peppered by some pieces of debris. Something broke inside her. Ouch. Her chest protested against the abuse as ribs splintered like dry wood. One of her arms had been broken. The pressure that dreadful telekinetic grip was unleashing on her was almost unbereable. Then she was launched into the wall. Through an act of will she managed to clamp down upon the telekinetic grip, tearing through the invisible bonds with claws of her own.


Finally, she could breathe freely again, if only for a moment. Then white hot pain flooded her as she collided with the wall. She was lucky enough to be able to kick herself off it rather than flying through a hole in the wall, but as it was she crashed upon the floor with a loud thud. Elpsis wasn't wearing a helmet, so there was nothing to shield her head from a concussion. Blood seeped out of an open wound in her forehead, her vision was blurry as she struggled to maintain consciousness. Her entire body seemed to ache. Her lip was split, she wheezed and spat blood when she tried to breathe. Her lung was feeling very unhappy with her. She did not even try to get to her feet.


Flames surrounded her and swept over her body. Her body temperature was absurdly elevated. Her eyes and the portion of her shoulder where his lightsabre had sizzled through seemed to glow, as she did her best to absorb the heat suffusing her while it spread like wild fires across her body. Elpsis was in a hell of a lot of pain, she was bleeding and tiring. How long could she last? Not much longer, but she still had a few arrows left to shoot. Not many though. She needed to end this soon!


Fire, this was her element. All the intense heat in the bar strengthened her. But there were limits to how much the human body could absorb. As it was, it felt like she was about to spontaneously combust. She felt like chit, yet the power she tasted was epic. So she directed her rage outward, focusing it all upon the Sith's head. A thermic lance-like blast of scalding heat, enough to melt steel, was channelled through her one good arm and unleashed upon the Sith like a bright beam. To stare upon it was like looking into a white-hot reactor. An ordinary man would be shorn of skin and be vaporised. Of course, she was not facing an ordinary opponent!

 

[Raien Keth]

Keth turned his head slowly to her, black alchemised blood trickling down his sides and lip to soak the fires below. He moved his shoulder but the spike had him pinned. Throwing his weight again part of the wall loosened, in time to see her find her strength, like the phoenix she was within her elements. Placing his armored left hand up to block the helmet, the lance cut into the durasteel sorching the vong material hybrid, and beginning to put a hole into the hand itself. You might have expected a roar of pain, but instead there was just this grinding, gnawing horrid feeling in the air, so familiar to keth the lost limbs, rebuilt again and again over the years, like some bad patchwork, now an alchemized fully to keep the body whole again inside the devouring armored shell.

The wall began to crack with the outpouring of malice that rolled up its sides, force combustion of the internal buildings structure sped up to impossible speeds, even as the hand was melted away, his broken shoulder freed itself all right, along with the already badly damaged roof, wires, glass, bodies and everything else, as not only Keth fell toward her but so did most of the structure with him, exploding around them to shatter to shards or falling mass.

Then silence.

Blissful, in the hospitalized sense, silence. Heavy metal beams, composite metals, stone structure, everything was just a mess, the light showing its way inside did nothing to sap the fires strength, as the oxygen and thankfully their breathing was renewed but so was the flames ability to burn everything and everyone. Sirens could be heard outside, but most people were smart enough to stay the hell out of here. "MY BAR" Someone shouted from the background.

In that pile of flaming rubble that now was thankfully silent, she might find a moments respite. But do our onlookers or did her gut really think that respite would last?

From underneath the massed pile, perhaps containing them both. Flickers of red painstricken lightening danced around the metal, along its beams, across its stone, shooting along exposed wires gripping and wrapping up anything in its path. About the strength of regular force lightening only considerably more painful at this juncture, because it carried with it the pain of the beholder who had just seen his left hand melt into a pile of black blood. Force knows what that would become in time now with this suit of armor.

If she had felt pain before, well this was suffering taken to intolerable extremes, the deaths of so many thousands over the centuries cursing from his fingertips, someone who should have a very long time ago been buried with them, but some how he was still here, so she and others might feel the suffering all over again, cycles repeated forever inside of him to be be externalized.

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"], [member="Tempest"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


In a way, this was a learning experience for Elpsis. She had plenty of potential and raw power, but she was woefully lacking in finesse and experience. The latter was especially apparent when it came to fighting other Force-users, which was something she'd rarely done. As a rule, she did her best to stay out of the seemingly unending Jedi-Sith drama.


In the light of their fact that the holy war between the two sects of Force magi showed no signs of coming to an end despite having been fought for over 5000 years, that was probably not a bad policy. However, facing a powerful Sith Knight in combat was probably an eye-opening experience.


Alas, bruises, broken bones and internal damage were part and parcel of the experience. The Sith's hand combusted and the bar seemed to reflect the continuing entropy of his body by falling apart. To put it plainly, the building blew up. Walls came down, the ceiling caved in, shards of glass flew everywhere. Elpsis did her best to shield herself from the carnage.


For a moment there was silence in the pile of flaming, smoke-clogged rubble. One could call it the calm before the storm. Then the malevolent demon, who might one day end up being a golem, unleashed a storm of crimson lightning. It danced across the ruins and seemed particularly intent on making polite contact with Elpsis and showing her the pain of the demon. Ouch!


Her shaky hand managed to grip her lightsabre and activate it. The crimson beam sprang to life with a snap-hiss. However, Elpsis' hand was tired and her hurt. She managed to deflect the first initial bolts as the lightning coiled around her blade like a snake, but then her glowstick was simply blown away. Abruptly she was hit by the suffering of tens of thousands.


Her body shook badly as if hit by a seizure, the flesh on her hand and face was cooked as she tried to hold back the storm by summoning her power. Her muscles ached and she was hit by seizures. Indeed, it felt like her flesh was melting here and there. Her legs refused to move as she tried to get up. Desperately trying to summon her power, she sought to absorb the electrical storm. She felt like she was being cooked and roasted.


Her mind reeled with the pain of the untold thousands, of those who'd been slaughtered in the bar. The last energy she had was spent with tossing the Sith's own power back at him, throwing in all the pain her empathy had picked up. Her viciously burnt, charred hand glowed as she channelled her power. Crimson lightning blew everywhere, anyone in the immediate vicinity would've probably felt a terrible headache as the empathic overload hit them. One of the victims was the unfortunate fellow who'd been complaining about the destruction of his bar, for, alas, a stray bolt of lightning burnt away his hair. Then she was flung through the air by the backlash and crashed into a pile of rubble with a loud thud. Blood dripped down her chin, everything went dark for her and she passed out.

 

[Raien Keth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0PvZGVPiJU
Playtime was over.​

Good wounds, there was a part of him that had missed having wounds, trophies and battle scars to remind him. Old Keth, Old ways. Sadly he would not have the wounds for long, as the armor even denied him the Keth mantras of old. Her returned lightening hit the pile of debris from which it came, with the intensity he had sent it with, frying the metal, stone and wiring among the growing fires, and discharging nerve wracking force energy across the armored torso to jolt him for a time. Underneath that rubble, he was laughing, he was home in their shared torture.

Killian had given him his first taste of force lightening as he stole his daughter for Hana, the memory came back to him, the armor couldn’t have the memory, even if it took the wounds. Raising out of this smoke, debris ridden hell, he put one arm under himself, pushing his weight up very slowly, the fact he only had one hand meant standing vertical took a moment. Many of the spikes surrounding the vong metal hybrid were cracked or damaged, an open scar lay down his right face, just missing his yellow eye. More bones broken to add to the pile too, he could feel black blood setting in their place, armor very slowly moving into his wounds, it would take weeks to repair this damage, and that damage would no longer be him. His helmet held red artificial eyes to the world, showing little of the red sith spawn underneath, but that crack gave the onlookers a glimpse at his red tattooed black skin for the first time.

Using the blood from his arm, which slowed him immensely, soaking force fire with alchemised ritual blood, he eventually pushed the wound against flames, to seal it, saving him death. With more blood loss there was sluggishness to his movements, but as time passed, he drew into the darkside, force enhancing himself, allowing darker energies to replace that which was lost. As if there was any life in him left for them to consume, not much, it made a minor difference if at all to how fast he moved, just allowing him to remain standing.

One foot slowly in front of the other, he pulled Elpsis’s unconscious body to the center of this alchemised fire ring, preparing ceremonial workings, he didn’t need her, she just made this fit his arrogant ego all the more. As his blood mingled with the force fire, he poured his pain and suffering out into their red lightening around him, corruption of the ground, the fire his goal, to beat life from unlife, the lightening ceased but waves of darkside energy coming off his motionless broken form did not.

Battles and lives taken beyond counting, betrayal, betrayal after betrayal had brought him to this moment, pain unending to fall far enough to conjure waves of dark energy in this hell hole.

It started, the moment was close, living fire for the first time, licks of blue flames from earlier now building as more and more darkside piled atop what was already present, unleashed on the room and on Elpsis at its center. He'd needed her spark, her emotion, added to his own vision, now she could bear witness as she died, to his most magnificent creation yet, she should be honored to be the mother of...

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


Fortunately, Elpsis was unconscious while the Sith performed his ghastly blood magic ritual. The sky had been blotted out, darkness descended upon the flaming ruins of the bar. Bolts of lightning slashed out of the clouds and a sense of dread and despair was in the air. It would probably make most people feel rather naueseous.


The ruins were littered with burnt corpses, filling the air with the smell of death and charred flesh. Elpsis was at the epicentre of the nexus, surrounded by licks of blue flame, for she lay in the centre of the alchemised fire ring. It all looked a bit like a ritual sacrifice. Anyone who came close, even someone who was blind and deaf to the Force, would be able to feel the darknes that permeated the area, for it was so strong that it was palpable.


Though the redhead was unconscious, her empathy had not gone into a slumber. Her being oozed pain and rage, as if she were a speeder leaking petrol. Come close enough and you might feel a brain-splitting headache and blood might flow from your ears. Her armour was battered, scorched and covered in dust, her body was bruised and she was losing a lot of blood.


Fire was all around her, yet none of it burnt her. Elpsis had been pulled into the realm of Morpheus, away from the dark ritual magic. She saw light so bright that it was almost blinding. She heard a loud, concerned howl, then suddenly something was licking her face. Her blue eyes fluttered open and she found that a big white dire wolf was standing above her. The cold wolf snout nuzzled against her cheek as it used its muzzle to turn her face. The wolf's eyes glowed a bright blue. For some reason Elpsis felt a feeling of peace and comfort descend upon her, easing the pain. Its white fur seemed to give her warmth.


The big wolf was soon joined by another figure. This one was human and feminine. Tall, statuesque, covered in tribal tattoos and flame-haired. Vast wings of flame sprouted from her back. They were bright, terrible and glorious and made the girl feel safe. Warmth suffused her entire being as they enveloped her. Words resonated inside her mind. It's not your time yet. Rest. So Elpsis slept whilst dark magic ran its course in the real world. The howl of sirens and the roar of gunship engines was getting closer.

 

[Raien Keth]

So Elpsis helped choose the mannerism of living alchemic fire, as part of this Sith had hoped, though it would retain little of its motherly love or wolf-like protection. Her unconscious mental imprint was enough to give it vague form. Above her their fires converged sucking all heat and flame out of the room. Darth Surtr had done, he would claim victory, another creation for great work, but in truth it was Elpsis that had made this possible, her potential released.

Perhaps somewhere in her dream a third figure might join her, burning, broken, might it contain fragments of Raien’s history and psyche, potential undoing? Perhaps but it would be ugly to look upon if it was there, featureless and with no meaning, at first. The longer you looked the less you wanted to, as wound upon wound unravelled with the screams of those that made it, but all threads to pull at. While the fire that now stood above might contain elpsis’s features now and then, if you looked hard enough amidst the ever shifting flames, perhaps, or perhaps her father, tales and stories for later.

Either way, all but exhausted, Keth took a moment to be sure he would recognize her force signature again when it was needed, fuelled by this moment no less. Atop the black, twisted bar, now merely smoking, he still took time to place a holopicture of her two closest friends in this world, the two most dear to her, letting it face the woman. He was nothing if not thorough in his mechanisms.

It was Keth’s special way of letting her know, that he’d be coming back.

"Hey, hey, come out slowly." A break in our silence, for that's all he heard from the non force, silence, or lack thereof.

Flames finished, our unfortunate girl who had only wanted a drink, left to her own devices. Now what about that drink and those glass shards! Without moving, the remaining ones scattered about this hellhole were picked up, turned in the force and slung as scything projectiles into and through those outside, hitting them at unexpected and quite tragic angles. A messy business but he needed room to move and was in no condition to tolerate delay or further interruption.

He looked at the living fire and nodded forward, as it simply moved through the wounded crowd to clear a path, turning the outside of the bar into the inside again, as was his way, screams starting all over again….

Fin

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Raien Keth"]


On the bright side, Elpsis had melted a Sith's hand and acquired cortosis due to suffering a critcal defeat. Well, that probably was not much of a comfort for her, but it still counted. Maybe Auntie Kerrigan would like her more now!


Regardless, the Sith made his getaway, but his malevolence reaped a bitter harvest as first responders and militiamen were scythed by a hailstorm of glass shards or roasted by the alchemical living fire. Their screams were music to the ears of the death goddesses who were undoubtedly well-pleased by the spectacle, for the little joust had provided them with ample souls to feed on.


For her part, Elpsis was still trapped in the dreamlands. It was probably better that way. Images blurred in her mind. For a moment, a shapeless figure manifested in her dreams. Perhaps a fragment of Raien, for to stare into it was like looking into an abyss. For a moment she saw the diabolical visage of her father, but he no longer held power over her. Maybe facing the Sith in batte had been good for something.


She saw [member="Tempest"], then [member="Abaigeal E'ron"], Laina Silvias and finally her mother, [member="Coryth Elaris"]. Perhaps she drew strength from the memory of a peaceful boat trip with her mother. In the real world, fires raged all around her, but it seemed her guardian angels were looking out for her while the inferno ran its natural course until eventually dying down. By the time the local militia arrived on the scene and she was extracted by medics, the Sith would have been long gone. Elpsis could look forward to spending a lot of time in the Firemane hospital.