Private Now is the winter of someone's discontent

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS ​

When her foe pulled on the strings, Lunafreya almost started to laugh. Her wrist barely moved, and with little strength did she freed herself from his act, enhancing the strength of her webs to inflict excruciating pain, for she knew, better than most, what it felt like having your entire body being drained by someone else. Muscles started to lose, your grip simply wasn’t the same, your neck began growing numb, and your mind started to go places you wouldn’t usually be so eager to visit again.

“I’m growing tired of this game.”, her lips muttered, and as if she was made of haze, Lunafreya tossed her body backward and disappeared in a cloud of golden smoke, vanishing for a moment. Only to reappear from the shadows only three meters behind where the Echani stood, immediately swinging her entire arm in a strong wide-open movement to snap with the blade of her whip against his back. The settings on the blade’s power were lowered to the point that it wouldn’t melt any flesh, but it would hold its ground against his lightsaber and most importantly, it would burn, it would burn a lot.

“How childish of you. When you fail to achieve victory you flinch, what is a living being if not able to keep his word? Sore losing is such a feeble thing.”, Her voice was being honest, despite its lying tone to hide her persona. Lunafreya used her other hand to blast her opponent to the floor, unleashing the sheer power of telekinesis into a hammering invisible brute force descending against his shoulders, as the whip on her hand swung again, this time, to deliver a hurtle much like a slash against his knees. The strength infused in that blade was enhanced, to spar it was the same as stopping a blazing rancor's fist, she knew this was the case for she had tested on actual rancors.

 

[PERSENUS]

Persenus felt the pain flare, but he didn't care. Pain upon pain, torture was something he's felt of enough throughout his life that it was like background noise to everything else. "You truly are a Jidaiad." He felt some of his physical strength return as the webs were lost. If there was a chance, it was through her own arrogance. He turned around immediately to face her, only to feel the wrath of her Force Blast once again. But it wasn't like last time. He wasn't thrown off of his feet, taking it once more as his feet grinded against the marble floor, embedding his foot against the pavement. Debris would fly out of the way as he slid back around another three meters. In spite of this bold front, his now dislocated and fractured shoulder would resound the pain to his mind. He didn't care.

"There will be no surrender." He felt the burning whip lacerate his leg. But it did not make him wall, nor make him flinch, nor even make him move even with the strength of a Rancor behind it, but underneath his flesh, he felt bone fracture. It burned his skin but not as much as she would expect, toughened through the Force similarly to how Gnox had made himself nearly extremely to the power of his saber several months before, though his was more rudimentary. He took a step forward, the ground crunching beneath him. "I will not be just another of your pets."

"As I said before, I will say again, if I die here, I die having made my own decisions, and I die freely." The world began to bend and reverberate. A low bass sound hummed around him as the rocks below him caused by their fight began to turn into dust, and then nothingness by his presence. Still, in spite of this strength, he struggled to muster another step forward. "And I have chosen that I will put you six feet into Chaos even if I have to drag you down there myself."

He took another step forward, the ground around him chipping, creating a circular area about him where matter began to diffuse and be consigned to oblivion. The image inside, Persenus, and through it, warped with each movement. "You can beg then, if you want."

Lunafreya Solidor

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS ​

“Pet? I said no such thing. Discipling was the position I offered you.”, she said with calm words in her false tone of voice, although deep down in her heart, Lunafreya couldn’t say she was able of seeing any difference between the two words. With little time, nor desire to think on this matter, her eyes were kept in the creature’s actions in front of her, the way he endured on this as if this a contest, constantly pushing and bothering her day with those annoying remarks of his. The lightwhip’s blade vanished in smokey red tone as she gently pressed its button, her thoughts were focused on him, on his personality, so focused on his own strength and his pride that it reminded her of an open book, plain and simple.

Once more she vanished in the very air, surrounded by a golden haze. Reappearing behind him, around six meters away from him, her arms relaxed on the side of her body.
“You wouldn’t know death, boy, if she was right in front of you.”, standing both of her arms in the air, Lunafreya yarned in a nigh-soundless tone as she called upon her inner self and through the tips of her finger, the smoke appeared once again, forming a round radiant ball of energy was tossed her fingertips in a direct line against him, as the other one danced in the air as if conducting an opera, slamming her opponent’s direction with another blast of the Force, from above, followed by another from the right, another from the left, and another.

She was starting to grow tired of this. And behind their little scrabble, Diabolico realized that, deep inside his golden head, dreading what would happen next. His mistress would either kill him or let him go and return to bed, vexing situations were not among her best qualities, and without even knowing, his scales started to sweat, as the empty eye sockets in her cloak were given life and golden gleaming appeared, soaked in the powers of darkness, a maddening strength of pure horror capable of driving even the Dark Lord himself deranged.

 

[PERSENUS]

The first blast had clashed against the field of energy surrounding him, diffusing into an aura of mist about him, but destabilizing him further. He felt his defenses weaken against it, retaining all the power, but his lacking control made it sizzle under pressure. When the last Force Blast came, he was out. The field around him burst like a bubble, blasting outwardly and inwardly. Persenus felt himself be crushed, ribs cracking and legs breaking against the energy, causing him to fall to his knees.

The world around him took more damage than he did. The floor was almost completely uprooted, the pillars lacerated in deep scratches, and a good portion of the guards that stood by were disintegrated where their dust was mix with the debris around him. While Lunafreya would be safe from such damage in her position, Diabolico may have had to adjust to not get reduced to particles. In midst of all this, Persenus collapsed.

He continued to struggle in spite of all this. His legs were broken, his arms shattered. He couldn't even muster spare energy to retort back, but he kept on. It was in this moment that he remembered his conversation with Ras, and realized something that bit down on his own words. As he tried his best to find purchase and regain his composure, he knew that he was powerless.

Strength. That was the only thing he had. It was his strength that allowed him to push forward in spite of his injuries, gift himself ability regardless of the force, and it turned all that hate and anger into something productive. But it was not power. As he continued to crawl towards Lunafreya, his body acting of its own accord, he used all the strength that he had which, in spite of each grueling wound, was still bountiful. But in that moment, he did not feel power.

He pulled himself closer and closer, grasping at the ground for purchase. He felt his words more than ever with each grasp. His mind was numb and aching, even with Force Fear running through it, it didn't seem to make much of a difference. He dealt with that fear as easily as any other fear he felt, and like every injury Lunafreya dealt upon him, it seemed to make him even more stubborn.

What was he even going to do now? Bite her leg off? Given Persenus' history in the fight pits, that might be true. As he said before, he will say again, with the remaining strength he had as he reached just below Lunafreya. "Qorit..... ottoi..."

He gave into his wounds, passing out on the floor.

Lunafreya Solidor

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS
V O I C E | Here.​

In a fluid sensual gesture, Lunafreya removed the hood of the Daifanwa. Allowing her face to breathe outside the moldy smell of the old cloak, while her expression was that of curiosity, mingled with a pinch of disappointment, not that it mattered to her what it should have actually happened this time, no, but it was quite the long foreplay only for a short show to take over their actions. Men, always all the same regardless of creed and race, talk too much, drink too much, smell bad, and had faster performances than those promised, bathed in a misplaced sense of ego. Behind where she stood, Diabolico finally decided to approach, his breathing was heavier than usual and despite not turning her head to meet up with his growling, Lunafreya knew exactly what went on inside his golden mind.

“He fainted.”, the female squeezed both of her lips into a pensive pout. “Useless Echani rat... At least he won’t put up much of a fight when I drag his ass into Melko... “, When the golden lizard started to move towards the Echani, Lunafreya could feel the cold breath of Destiny speaking at her ear, bristling the hair on the back of her head. Gently she raised her hand, a gesture of such insignificance for nearly all beings in this galaxy, perfectly understood by her Lord-Commander. The alien clenched his jaws and hissed her a single word. “Why?”, and calmer than usual, Lunafreya answered his question, her gaze still focused on the drunken-like figure of the unconscious alien.

“Why indeed, Diabolico?”, after a moment of silence, she proceeded with her speech. “That I bear little to none respect over the pitful sight of human progeny is no secret, yet... This one, this pitful creature could have died and choose to make a fool of himself in such a manner, only for the sole ideal of continuing his filthy existence.”

The alien shook his head, agreeing with her.
“Pride... It’s easily found in the echani.”
“Perhaps. Call it kismet if you will, but this one befalls the very principles of the ancient ruleset which we abide, and by calling forth the Law of Surprise, I find it only fair that I give him a prospect.”
“Prospect of what?”
“To rise. Until lambs become lions, my dearest.”, she knew the thoughts in his mind well enough. “I know what you are to say... ‘He is too wild, he has no respect for our ways, he is a dunce.’, and I agree with you, however… He will come to see things our way.”
“He will need to be moved for the bacta tanks if your ladyship would like him to ever walk again so you can tell him that.”

Slowly, her head turned to face Diabolico, golden and terrible. The tip of the fingers in her left hand was raised and went on to touch the side of his face, the corner of her mouth twisted itself in a sensual smile, as Lunafreya almost whispered to him.
“Fear not, Diabolico, for fortune favors the bold, and you cannot be here all the time to my bidding. No... You will leave. Far, far away to Targoviste and begin the next part of our plan.”
The orbs in his head shone like gemstones when she mentioned the planet’s name.
“Is it time already? The castle is not complete, we have barely taken the planet, and...”, Lunafreya gently drummed with her index finger on his face, to calm him down.
“General Drakkon will handle these matters in your absence. Time is of the essence. It abides for nothing.”

Once her hand was removed, Diabolico bowed respectfully to Lunafreya and left. As her pace was drawn back at the end of the platform, to have one last gaze at Samna Melko’s horrid existence, smiling vainly at the object and whispering in spite.
“And in that sleep of Death, what dreams may come?”, both of her arms were raised in the air as her tone changed to something more menacing, her will was imposed in that castle and drawing forth her desire, the shadows on the walls started to move, coming like tentacles towards them and reaching out to a single being, the newcomer.

For in his sleep, a dream would begin as the spell grew stronger. A landscape of endless pitch-black nothingness could be seen everywhere he looked, nothing came, nothing appeared, only darkness, empty and cold, for this was the void between all things. And that vision would proceed, for a long time, longer than he could ever expect and feel like it was to be inside eternity itself. Crushing and sad, until the whispering of Lunafreya’s voice came from the endless nightfall scenario.
“Awake.”, was the thing the voice spoke, and out of the blackness of the void, small flashing lights started to fill the scenario, shining in the dark, too many to count and too scattered to be all seen. And rising from the ground of darkness as if of liquid shape, Lunafreya arose, still dressed on the Daifanwa’s cloak, covering her entire body and face, visible to his eyes.

 

[PERSENUS]

For a moment there, he thought he was dead. He had thought that fate finally won over him and resigned him to a undignified, unsatisfying death, albeit a warrior's one all the same. There was a calm in the darkness, although he wouldn't call it homely. The familiarity of the abyss eased him, an honest interpretation of what his life had been. A constant shadow, uninterrupted, and unending, and what else to do in the abyss than to scream and see how well you can wail against the void. No hope, no promises, all that was here was him and the darkness about, and in a way he preferred that. It gave him a clear line of sight.

In the seeming eternity that took over, he had contemplated much on what his life had led up to, particularly back in the pits. It was there that fate truly began to test his will, and it was there that he had his first taste of the Force. It was the first time in his life where he had felt this abyss, and it was the first time in his life that he finally decided to scream against it. In more ways than one, he was fated to die there. But he didn't.

However, as Lunafreya entered his dreamscape, that comfort of solitude soon faded. He instinctively reached for his saber, which was still on him in the dreamscape. It was a part of him as much as any other, even in subconsciousness, though it was doubtful it could do anything here. He stood there, waiting and observing until the spectacle died out.

"I'd ask why you're here, but I ultimately don't care." He said, that tone of defiance still in his voice even in his subconscious. "Leave me."

Lunafreya Solidor

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS
T H E M E | Here.
V O I C E | Here.​

If she had any thoughts regarding the dreamer, Lunafreya said not a single word on the matter. Defiant to the end, was her primal belief on his obvious lack of manners.
"You have nowhere to run. For no matter how many nebulas you cross, there is no escape. Not for you, not for me, not on this life.”, one of her arms rose from the pale fur of the Daifanwa, cloaked and showing her gloved fingers, pointing to everything that surrounded them, the pale lights hanging in the dark. “Behold the Cosmos that coils thee. O for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.”

“A kingdom for a stage, princes to act and all life to behold the swelling scene.”, her words were bathed with music, enjoyable to the ear and calm as the animalistic shape of her cloak turned up as if trying to see something in that see of stars, for that is what this was, a live representation of the galactic map, perfected to its last detail even on those very much likely unknown to the alien male. Such as the flashing lights that began shining on the east, many at once and all in its borders, like the lights, some species hung up on trees on an oddly shaped holiday merely known as Christmas.

“Ah... “, her lips muttered, as her gaze was turned in that direction. “There it is... “, with that said, Lunafreya disappeared, as smoke vanishing in the thin air only to reappear closer to the lights “Pathetically they march towards their own doom. Humans rising against the tide, mortal kings attempting to achieve divinity... The Sith-Imperial War is such a poor display of carnage, although I believe it is Third Galactic Civil War the way they call it... As if the whole galaxy actually cares which tyrant takes over that stage... perhaps it is true what they say; history has taught them nothing. The Sith Empire will fall, crumble under this New Galactic Empire to mark the rising of this Age of Chaos.”

Behind them, one of the stars shattered into sparkling dust, unleashing a small burst of sonic explosion towards them. Followed by another, and another, bursting into sparkles, as she slowly turned her body towards the Echani to see what he would say next in the face of that little show.

 

[PERSENUS]

He had half the mind to turn around and cover his ears when she started the lecture. Ancient knowledge beyond comprehension, wisdom of the ages, the centerpiece of the world that holds the fabric of reality together; things he was, deep down entranced by, but his interest in it had been stoked by the lectures upon lectures, ramblings upon musings of mindless blabber. He could well understand that she was much like his old master, another old relic that couldn't have conversations because they listen to things only they wanted to hear and most of the time that was the sound of their own voice. It was one of the reasons why he had been so eager to kill the old Dathomiri, and one of the traits that he had inherited so.

"And they will be back." He, arms crossed around his chest. Defiantly, he seemed to huff against her words in a laughing manner, a mix between amused and annoyed. "Your kind will never understand it and I don't mean your kind as in jen'jidaiad." He began to pace, much like he had been with Ras. However, he was much more relaxed here, in spite of facing near death, and possibly still is. Ironic, given here he was under the foot of a powerful Dark Jedi, and then he was with a Jedi Master that refused to harm him gravely in any matter. "I mean it as a person. As a being with consciousness put behind their every action."

There are many ways that he's realized through the eyes of the Sith, and a victim of the suffering they could bring upon, that there was a crucial part of being a person. Bits and pieces that make up each person, each piece different, and while he didn't have the expertise to pick each apart, he was well aware when one of them was missing. When one becomes a Dark Sider, the pieces become exaggerated, but a modicum of balance between them was needed. There needs to be moderation and conditioning, or an experience in life that nails each piece down where it is. When one lacks a piece, or finds it weaker than the others, instability arises, and at some point what was once a crucial part becomes a hole in the puzzle, and the real picture is never realized.

In those like Lunafreya and his master, he found gaping holes. An abyss where that piece should've been. It was the piece that kept you awake at night, the piece that made you hesitate, the piece that gave you a verifiable threshold, the piece that acted as the pillars of all the others, lest everything falls apart. Without it, it made brittle people, no matter how strong they may be. A crack that can never be sowed, only mended with a ugly fill that would never hide the scar, nor heal the compromise to the integrity. It was the piece that kept you yourself in the dark where all others find that sight of themselves were lost.

"And so you've made a light show yet failed to show anything of any real wisdom." He remarked. "So tell me, what exactly is the point of all this? Or did your brain rot with Dark Side corruption so much that you began to grind people into a fine dust for reasons you've long forgotten? Wouldn't have been the first time I've heard something similar."

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS
T H E M E | Here.
V O I C E | Here.​

“Your arrogance blinds you.”, was the first answer that formed on her tongue, “What are we if not beings made of flesh and bone? What are we if not what our consciousnesses dictate it so? The Force is nothing more than that, the collective conjunction of all consciousnesses from all time and space, bound together so long ago by the Atar. The Sith give themselves to the dark, as the Jedi wield their will through light, I have drawn not my strength from either side, for light and darkness are merely concepts created to justify the petty needs and designs that this plane of existence has to offer, answers to an unanswerable question, far beyond anyone's control.”

Fast as lightning, her arm was raised in the air with her index finger pointing at the explosion’s direction, where light began to burst into countless sparks.

“This is the Realm of Vision, the River of Memories, a pond linked to the World Between Worlds. Where everything that there ever was and ever will be, often converge providing clarity for those willing to see. This is the now, where the Sith Empire crumbles from all sides, where the New Order rises, where the Silver Jedi’s light flounders, each one of those lights represents a system, and each one of those is doomed to perish.”

Again, she disappeared and this time it did not for appeared back, only her voice was heard as the dark spaces among the stars on all sides began to show images. Those of machinery, huge and dreadful, some wearing imperial crest, others carrying unknown banners, each different than the other and each one more terrible than its peer.

“Behold! The Future of the Cosmos, for this, is what is being constructed in the cold places among the stars. Built by humans, built by Sith, built by Jedi... all with a single purpose...”

Shortly not only a single star exploded, simulating a wound in the Force, but many. Two, three, six, nine, twelve, twenty, forty, sixty, a hundred, a thousand, a million. All exploding around them, unleashing sparks and energy, wounding the Force around them so they could feel it, so they could hear it and see it as the images showed planets beings completely destroyed, decimated to ashes in a hundred different ways.

“To destroy all existence... All things must die, all things must serve... yet, the entirety of this galaxy shall be reduced to oblivion... its wound will grow too deepened and the very fabric of space and time shall be torn apart, cracking through the Netherworld and dragging the entire universe to utmost destruction.”, her body reappeared from the darkness in a small cloud of golden smoke, not very far behind the echani’s place. “And that will be the end of everything. Of me, of you, of Carnifex, of the Jedi, the Mandalorians, and everything else.”

Her lips fell silent, as the images continued to show the destruction of fleets, civilizations, planets, hundreds of planets until they showed nothing else until the last glimpse of flashy light in that dark space finally went out, and that was the time Lunafreya decided to speak once again.

“Is that what you want?”, Lunafreya asked, “To assist despots on ending the universe? To loathe yourself so crudely to the point that you would commit suicide and take everything else with you? No. I refuse to accept that as an answer. You have risen yourself against the streams of fate itself, challenged death a hundred times over, survived, earned your monicker, and learned poorly how to obtain more power, yes, power. Isn’t this life meant to achieve your own ambitions with perfection? I wanted more and I took it, I broke the imperial’s spine, I tore the Sith apart, I bathed myself on the blood of Jedi and Mandalorians alike, I command legions, mine is arrogance, lust, and the terrors of the night, I will kill every single last of them if that keeps them from destroying everything else. Why? Because I can, because this is the most likely future to pass, and I, above all living things, shall rise against the tide and take the empty throne that hangs in firmament’s edge as my own.”

 

[PERSENUS]

He watched the display, and against his usual, often twisted judgement, was drawn to observe intently. At the very least, she was better at drilling words into his head than Festrous was, with all the flashing lights, cascading colors upon a murky black canvas, and the constant diversion of attention. It was a dizzying show to follow along, and Persenus could understand that perhaps that was on purpose. Yet in spite of that, he found himself unsurprised by her conclusion.

Perhaps he knew it from the beginning and ignored the hum of it in the background like an untrained ear to the bass of a musical composition that held the piece up underneath the more prevalent notes. Everything would eventually come to an end, where dust grinded against dust until nothing remained. It was an inevitability that everyone knew but so little acknowledged. If Persenus was being honest, there was a level of dismissiveness to that thought, but the realization that if all things came to an end due to an unstoppable climax, then there'd be nothing more to signify the hangings of one's history - the riddling of one's deeds against fate. Perhaps then he saw some sense in her words yet there was a measure that did not quite reach, a missing note in the composition she's made.

"And so you will cause destruction, even destroy each and everyone of the squabbling factions, to prevent the destruction." He scratched at his temple as his other hand still laid aside upon his chest. It was quite the riddle, trying to find out exactly how she would accomplish this instead of simply adding onto the problem. His hand slid back, bracing against his nape as he looked at her with tired eyes. "The transcension of fate isn't as simple as wanting to. It is the denial of the voices and resistance against impossibility, to hear the whispers to the screams of the Force and to chose willingly to go against it, and yet you're going down the path of indulgence, of wanton satisfaction where reason becomes everything you've strive for, no matter how twisted they may be."

Perhaps Persenus, if he wasn't as scarred as he was, would've made a better Jedi than Sith. In his meditations, he strived for discipline and peace of mind, where emotion are controlled and call upon. It was the path of making his own actions, to be above crude flesh and above weak spirits. The honing of mind and body beyond itself but only through itself, where the whim of fate cannot touch upon the fragile balance that he strives to reinforce and maintain. It was a path of constitution and principle, where from passion comes power, but it molded and shaped through the conditioning and creation.

He had little respect for Dark Jedi like her, but it wasn't only Dark Jedi. He would not blame her for saying the Sith have given themselves to the Dark like her, as much as she wanted to deny it. From his encounter with Gnox The Insatiable and all across his encounters with them overall, depravity and more and more missing pieces come out. He didn't want to admit that Lunafreya, even if she was missing some major pieces, was more whole than many Sith Lords he has faced.

Still, it didn't help that she would still not understand what exactly he was saying. She seemed to believe that what he was saying was primarily directed with the Force, that it was part of this massive cosmic plan she had. It was critique of character, and important factor that many Sith tend to overlook, eventually leading to their own downfall. So focused, so ambitious, so powerful, yet ignorant to the very concepts that make them who they are, and where they draw that power from.

And there was a crucial part that she never seemed to answer, although, he expected it didn't need answering. It was a solemn agreement in the Sith and while he didn't like to think there'd be any measure of civilized and fair culture within her ranks, he knew that she must know the behind her all the knives are out. Dark Jedi, as he knew, were even more gun-ho about it. If she wanted to make a solid foundation where she can stand, she picked the wrong material.

Lunafreya Solidor

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS ​

There they were, Lunafreya kindly unveiled to him the mysteries of the cosmos, the secrets that the future had in store for all of them and the male stood there asking why she enjoyed eating caviar. Beneath the mask of her cloak, Lunafreya had no quarrel for rucking her own face thinking on how to answer his remarks without giving him a plain answer, using mysticism and deception wasn’t as easy as others would think, but not entirely impossible and most likely better than telling him ‘I eat caviar because I was raised eating caviar and therefore I learn to enjoy eating caviar, even if the fish is endangered.’

“Long ago the Star Children came to be, their deities taught them the composition which bound everything in existence.”, her speech was well-mannered, calm, and solemn, her own voice echoed in the infinite void generated by the spell. “When the Atar was pleased with his work, his entire being fused into his work, giving it purpose, and for that he made three undeniable laws to rule over the universe, they cannot be bent nor denied, but all of them are bound to each other and yet, ruled by a primal one. The Laws of Matter that rule over all palpable things that exist in the universe, the Laws of Destiny, or as you are more used to calling it, the Force, the collective will of all living things acting as one, not to rule, nor to be ruled, for both Sith and Jedi have their own beliefs on this matter. The Jedi fill themselves with what they believe is the will of the Force, it empowers them and gives them purpose, as the Sith believe it can be broken and made a beast of burden, for it must be made to answer one's will. However, aren’t those their own interpretations? Like children looking at an amorphous being through magnifying glasses trying to make sense of it?”

“The Force has no will to be broken or commanded. The Force cannot die as long as there is a living being left in the universe, think of it as a ‘semi-sentient’ being of sorts since its surrounds and comes from the unified living things, however, it does not rule over us, but it is merely guided to where it will be, by our actions and deeds. One can live outside its grasp completely and continue to do so without having any need for this to continue existing. Some believe that the Force may not be a primal law of the universe, but the will of the Atar, merged with that of all their creations and remodeled throughout the ages of carnage and death into what we can sense it. But even the Force and Matter itself are slaves of the ultimate law that guides everything there ever was and shall be: Time itself.”, cloaked on her white mane, Lunafreya glided over the void space as she spoke. “Time rules everything. It cannot be commanded, it cannot be broken, the Force and Matter itself are nothing next to its grip, for all things must die, and all things must serve. And what you call it wanton satisfaction is nothing more than a necessary display of what I intend to achieve. Whenever I kill an entire population, I spare ten more of the same fate, and to achieve my goals of sparing the entire galaxy from being annihilated by its own demise, first I need hands, many hands to wield many swords for this is a bloody course, meant to infiltrate every major government of the known galaxy and stop them from destroying it. Displays of power, displays of greed, arrogance, and anger. A new reign of terror must begin if I want to achieve the last step of this endless stairway, hailed by the echoes of all living things as I enter the last portal to bring time’s tyrannic rule to an end by adding a single thought to his own.”

Slowly she raised her arm in the air, on her hand only her index finger stood up.
“A single thought.”, she remarked, lowering her hand shortly afterward. “My people were taught and enslaved by the Rakatans of Yore, overthrowing their masters and saved by gods, we helped ground the pillars that made the Je’daii that created the Sith and the Jedi, we learned from the Unknown Monks and saw the many aspects of Destiny. Light and darkness, black and white, are merely facets of the same pallet of colors, and aren’t those colors given the shape of black when mixed them all together? Immoral, wicked, arrogant... whatever name they give me are nothing more than brands for what I know I am and what I will achieve, therefore granting me authority. You call me Jenji’dai, I call myself Mistress of Evilest. Destiny is within my grasp, to be wielded as I please and will continue so until I had what I am owned and achieve my godhood and place the universe back in its path.”

 

[PERSENUS]

"Time is above the Force?" He seemed to find it amusing. Persenus rarely listened to his former master but if there was one thing that Festrous drilled into his head was that the Force was above everything, be it matter, fate, and time, and swathes it all around on its whim. Even by definition, the very space that spoke of as the World Between Worlds, was within time and space, and those two defined as within the Force. His master studied Shatterpoints, though such a skill was never passed down to him. It required a unique talent - a talent that he apparently lacked - but those that do bear such gifts are living proof against her words.

"Time is within the Force, controlled by it. Fate has its every whim adjusted by the passing flow, where even pouring it into certain areas could defy the logistics of the world, reverting time, adjusting even already transpired events to one's liking." He sat down. Crossed legged, as if readying to meditate, he looked tiredly at her. He seemed to have been buying her words to some extent before, but he wasn't taking this part well. "The Force has a grip around time, fate, matter, space; everything. To say that the Force has no will is against history itself, where there will always be a constant struggle for balance in the Force on a universal scale."

"The Force may not care how it is done. It may raze hundreds and thousands of lives just to attain a semblance of balance, but it certainly has a will. It has a voice, a message." He's heard it himself, in his meditations. Lothal. Belgaroth. He's heard that voice ever since he was in the fight pits, nagging at him. He knows that its alive, that it thinks, it acts. Many seem to agree with him, and they are rightful to do so. Perhaps it is a way of dealing with the world, to give suffering and living some reason to it, so that we know that in the end, no death is causeless, as how his unhappiness is proof he hasn't gone mad but that with the constant spiraling, where even the most learned of historians repeat the same mistake history has taught them time and time again not to repeat, treading the same ground again and again, coincidence is not enough.

"And you do so much to attempt to place yourself above it, when in the end, you remain in the very same conflict it has done for hundreds of thousands of years all the while giving yourself to the vices, the hubris that many before you lost themselves in and found their death in." And in that moment, he had a realization. What else was there to give themselves to? What else were they to die for? In the pursuit to be the lone wanderer atop the mountain known as the Force, one does not make many close allies as they all struggle for that same oxygen. To devote themselves to a cause greater than themselves is contradictory to the very idea that he was built upon, and is one of the reasons why he was heavily critical of joining in with Lunafreya. But to devote one to one's own wants, is also contradictory to the very principles that had become the foundations of his belief.

His lips pursed. A tinge of irritation came upon him as he saw a great fault in his criticism. In the end, his struggle, his constant suffering, it was for nothing other than survival. He killed all those people on Nar Shadda, innocents - men, women, and even children - just for himself. He's barred that off, became even more disciplined than before. He was just a few steps below whipping himself for penance. He had no reason. He knew that from the start, even back on Nar Shadda. He remembered staring out the window longingly, thinking of what he was going to do if he was ever going to find a purchase of safety and freedom from the watching threat of Sith Assassins and Bounty Hunters on his hide just before the Mandalorian and the Saber-axe wielding Trandoshan came along and spoiled his introspective mood.

Fact of the matter is; at least she had something she was fighting for, even if he disagreed with her reasons. Discipline. Training. Knowledge. Wisdom. All things he had been expanding but expanding for what? He would've racked his brain thinking of something better to do that wouldn't get him killed, and would stop his days of digging through trash just to find the smallest glimpses of wealth. What better choice did he have? He was getting stronger just to get a higher bounty on his head, at that point, as if calling more and more dangerous Bounty Hunters and more skilled Sith Assassins or even lawful Jedi to come to get his head. He knew that he couldn't go on like this forever, even with that unwavering will that he had shown to Lunafreya earlier.

Still, he didn't want to get into this Jen'Jidaiad without knowing more of the steps this lady would want to take. So far, it wasn't exactly looking good. There were three sides to her cause and Persenus only liked one of them. One of the other two was her just being the darkest one could possibly be and while he would normally roll his eyes at it, he wasn't doubting that, and the last one he passed off as another political message of justifying genocide and galactic-levels of slaughter and even as a Sith he didn't find that facet very enticing.

Lunafreya Solidor

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | PERSENUS ​

“I apologize, I seem to have forgotten who is the one with any sort of mastery in here.”, her words were bathed in spite and irony when declaring that. “Oh wait, it’s not you. So why don’t you stop the rebellious Sith’ari scene for a moment and open those ears of yours for what I just explained? Time is not within the Force but the Force can hide within time. The Force has too much sentience for that. Shatterpoints, mythical places where time seems not to exist, the Force has no control on stopping time, it can only defend itself from the passing of time which would be very much the cause it can remain sentient enough.”

“We go around playing as children thinking we can influence everything for what we wield. So please...” Her hand was offered to him as more of a jest than an actual fact. “Demonstrate that to me, grab a rock and shape it to gold with nothing but the Force if you will.” The heavens knew how far she could go on those acts of hers, now standing in silence and actually waiting for him to do what she had told him, or not. “You cannot do that. Much like you cannot go back in time, but you can go forward into the future, although I haven’t met anyone that actually succeeded in doing that.” The very thought of that made her feel the thrilling sickening feeling of goosebumps running through her spine all the way to the back of her head. “And why can’t you do that? Because Time cannot be changed, cannot be commanded, cannot be broken. However… It can be bargained. Such as sending someone to the future, the Force bargains with Time on providing that such person would meet its own expectations and keep the laws respected, for the Force, as I said before, is the collective consciousness of all living things that passed through this life. If that is the case, what sort of will do you think you feel it? The primordial one that created all of this, or the endless line of Sith bastards and despots that died through the millions of years that passed?

“The Force is ill. Tainted by the chaos, its sentience is such that it can believe it has autonomy and it most likely does, better than Time itself. However, you cannot open a portal for another galaxy with the Force, can you? Or can you snap your fingers and transform this planet into a black hole? No. Time does not allow its own laws to be broken, it never did, never in the entirety of all the stories told in the known galaxy.” This was not a lie, neither was she attempting to buy time for anything else. Time was everything, even on the pantheon of deities that ruled over her people, time was the greatest of all, it ruled over all things and decided its fate long before they were born and long after they are gone. “The Force allows itself to be bend, allows itself to be broken, commanded and wielded. And places such as mythical lands of Mortis and the Veil, are nothing more than places where all the three laws meet in its fullest, allowing the most sentient of all to demonstrate the slightest amount of control.”

“Search your feelings, boy, and you will know that I speak the truth. You feel the Force, yet, you do not look upon it. Around you, all things blend together to create the darkness, but is the darkness filled with the Force’s voice, or its grim whispers? Is the Dark Side nothing more than an involuntary semi-independent rebellion imposed by all its chaotic wielders over the eons that passed? The Force itself is so much more, like a river of emotions, colorful, endlessly running through... yet, cowering itself before the sickening voice of the collective consciousness.”, as, for the other part of his remarks, Lunafreya shrugged her shoulders beneath her cloak and simply stated in a brief answer. “These actions are not without cause. Necessary sacrifices are to be done by others to pave the path that I intend on taking, for I fear not to basket myself on what fills my heart with delight because I have seen the manner of my own death and that taught me not to fear losing this life and chasing after dreams of physical immortality if I can achieve all of that beyond this plane of existence.”

 

[PERSENUS]

“I apologize, I seem to have forgotten who is the one with any sort of mastery in here.”

By that point, Persenus stopped listening. It was one of the arguments that Festrous made. It was one of the reasons why Persenus never advanced much. Every argument ended with that, even if Persenus was making logical points. He would've argued that if he could atomize things, like he did before in their fight just before he passed out, he could change a rock into gold if he had more control with the Force, turn it into Beskar even if he ever had the chance to study it too. He would've argued that someone could make it so that wounds never healed, and therefore is a way of altering time. He would've said every piece of evidence that he knew that denied all of her claims.

But he was tired of this.

He was back in space of his mind that held all that anger. He was back in his shadow. It was there where all that anger he repressed welled up - where all the hate, sorrow, and sadness that he had put to burn were kept. It was like crawling into a furnace, the very same one that helped you function. Throughout his days on exile, he found peace in meditation, where he opened himself to whispers in the Force, to find a way to heal his wounds one way or another but it was in moments like these where he felt sickeningly good.

Her words echoed into his ear by it was just background noise to him now. It was like the rush of adrenaline back in the pits making the kick of fractured bones only apparent after a fight. The crowd roaring, the wounds screaming for alleviation, the knife still sticking out of your shoulder blade, it all was drowned out by the beat of his thumping heart. Then the beating stops, you realize you were holding a breath all this time, and as they stick a syringe of bacta in your and throw you back in your cell, you realize how fucked up you are. Your mind went blank, the memories went blurry, and all that you remember is the delayed pain.

Instead, his mind was at work. He wasn't the smartest Sith there was. His schemes often involved ways to hit something better than hitting something regularly. But this wasn't a scheme. He was thinking of what he actually planned. Why did he do this? Why did he cross that line? Then he remembered, his lightsaber. If he had a clear head, unclouded by anger and frustration, perhaps a more than a tinge of fear, would he have made the same choice? Of course he would've, he wasn't going to leave his saber behind, not for that piece of crap that they gave him. Give him a ship with all the credits he would ever need, holocrons containing ancient knowledge, and he would trade it all for that saber back. To him, his saber was the only answer he could make, the only response that ever meant something to anyone.

But that was pretending they wouldn't shoot him out of the sky the moment he got a good distance away on that ship.

But what now? What next? He figured that he likely had little choice but to join her cause, so the arguing was pointless. Torture, was it? Perhaps she'll just set him on the field and expect him to do something for her. Even if he didn't see her way, the tinges of honor that Persenus still had, even when regarding Dark Jedi, made him want to follow through. He made a decision, and he was going with it. To back out due to uncertainty was a sign of weakness and if there was anything that Persenus honored more than his saber was the principles he goes by.

Of course, there was a limit to honor. Persenus, after all, is still a Sith, Ras be damned.

When Persenus came to, back out of the shell of his mind, he would only grasp the last of her words. He found that contradiction, and it made him smile. "You don't fear death?" He wouldn't elaborate further but that taste of her unfounded hypocrisy resounded within.

Lunafreya Solidor

 

[Lunafreya Solidor]

T A G S | Old geezers and young fools.​

“I already told you.”, her words seemed as if they were dragging themselves at first, before moving to a much more serious tone of voice. “All Things Must Die. All Things Must Serve.”, the old chanting from her religion seemed to carry many sorts of meaning. As the elzeri floated towards his direction, her arms crossed behind her body as she began to plan a response for his question, pondering all the way as she moved closer to him. “Why fear the inevitable? The Sith have made themselves look like fools for thousands of years in their attempt of achieving immortality, and what did the dark side they so adore to worship did for them on that matter? Nothing.“, behind the mask she used her tongue to wet down her dry lips. “I believe that Time does not want anything to achieve such estate, for that would mean that it would be beyond its control. For what value does this life as if there is no end to it?”

“An endless experience with no actual value. Life loses its essence, its purpose, its thrill, everything becomes a fading dream. Yes, terribly burdensome. And pitiful. Your sole companion would be solitude and the empty echo of nothingness.”, once again in silence, Lunafreya decided to share a moment of her deep thoughts with him. “You are young and proud, but foolish. You know much of life, but only of your own, you know nothing of what lies beyond your gaze and you don’t even try to understand it. I offer you a chance to reshape what you are, to remake your existence, and find what you lack: meaning.”

Slowly, Lunafreya uncrossed her arms and brought them from behind her back, snapping her fingers and watching as a hole opened beneath him. Not a simple hole, but one that was meant to suck him as a black hole, endless and strong, pulling him down for quite the ride, even she went down with the flow but did so as if it was an elevator, not a muscle in her body moved as she went down, admiring the pitch-black void as she fell as a bullet, meant to seem like an eternity as it was meant to wake him up after a little test, where he would be meant to find a way out of the darkness and back to his own consciousness.