Duel Of Minds, Magic, and Ritual

[Diarch Rellik]

The shuttle pierced the copper-tinged sky in silence, a thin lance of metal against the horizon. It banked wide of the settlement below, settling instead upon a barren ridge where the earth lay dark and fractured. Even here, far from the clustered dwellings, the scars of fire were evident, rings of scorched soil carved into the plain, ash-heaps piled like offerings, and black smoke that clung low, stubborn against the wind.

Rellik descended the ramp alone. His boots carried him down the slope at an unhurried pace, cloak trailing faintly in the dust and wrapped around him clouding him in secrecy. In the distance, the village sat in contrast against the plains, a patchwork of huts and stone halls, watched over by a half-collapsed spire. The closer he drew, the more he saw of it. Villagers lingering at the fringes, eyes darting toward the plain where his shuttle still gleamed. A mother pulling her child inside.

Even the air was thick with pointed power in the force. Ritualistic and remnant of sorcery the Diarch had partaken in himself. As he approached he saw it in detail for the first time. Figures giving life to the scorched soil he saw from above. Ritual scars. Some old Ur-Kittat, some words of power. All of it meant even a wrong step could place him in some trap with a simple word. He would need to be careful but it appeared the Networks Intelligence paid off.

There was a Sorceress of some kind here and knowing those with power. It would not take long for them to find the Diarch.

He walked on, toward the settlement.

Irvine Zalass

 

[Irvine Zalass]

As the Diarch came personally to see the state of his domain he would step into what appeared to have once been a battlefield. Most of the dead to be found were identifiable as soldiers or warriors, or at the very least combatants. Not because they had much left of their bodies, but because pieces of armor or weapons could be seen nearby their charred corpses. There were a few glyphs scattered about, though they didn’t seem to be ritualistically placed, but rather seemed more like a result of the fight itself, as all of them were scorched into the surfaces they marked and were seemingly rough. Suggesting that they were placed dynamically rather than with any sort of care.

The survivors of the outer villages were surprisingly numerous. Definitely frightened, but it would seem that, for the most part at least, the citizenry had remained mostly unharmed. Or at the very least alive. Likewise the damage was as minimal as it could be. Only one village was razed wholesale, leaving behind smoldering ruins that still radiated an uncomfortable heat and left a haze of smoke, ash and embers in the air, the rest had simply been pacified. Likely this one that had been destroyed had been obliterated as an example to help pacify the rest without the need for exerted effort, clear and present danger, the threat of very real consequences should they choose to resist.

The planetary garrison and police force had been utterly decimated however, any forces sent to find the culprit and bring them to justice had met a very grisly end. And when he reached the town he would find himself faced with evidence of this sorcerer’s brutal methods. A veritable swamp of of charred skeletons, ash and melted armor and weaponry had built up outside the town, it could be circumnavigated, after all surrounding a town with bodies of this number was rather difficult no matter the scale, but it was substantial nonetheless. The Diarch would even find a lightsaber or two among the dead. His brotherhood had tried to do their duty and were slain in their efforts.

He would feel her presence before he saw her. Her mind was easily noticeable in the force. Though it was expertly guarded against probing, she didn’t bother hiding herself. A sense of arrogance came from her even before he saw her approaching. He would see a tall and slender woman with ashy grey-white skin, her bare arms and legs displaying tattoos of foreign origin. Standing at near six and a half feet she was an imposing figure, but perhaps most noticeable besides all that were her ears, long, narrow and pointed. She very closely resembled the Sephi, a species well known to the galaxy already. She walked down the road he had chosen to travel, looking to meet him outside the town where she could be more free to utilize her magics if she needed to.

“I had wondered how long it would take for them to send someone of real substance.” She commented lazily, almost dismissive of his presence, though she had a tense readiness that could be seen with his trained eye. “I hope you have more manners than the brutes they’ve sent so far. Care to tell me your name and who you serve?”

Diarch Rellik

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Ash crunched beneath his boots as he stepped into the killing ground. Charred weapons lay twisted among bones, fragments of armor half-sunken in soot. The smell was heavy and deliberate. Rellik slowed only once, long enough to glance at the melted curve of a lightsaber hilt jutting from the blackened earth. A flicker crossed of disgust and anger crossed his face. His own had come here, and they had fallen.

He lifted his gaze as her presence pressed in. Arrogant he thought. When she emerged, tall and inked, yellow eyes sharp beneath the sweep of black hair, he already knew she was the one to blame.

Her words came laced with dismissal, but his reply was steady, carrying none of her pretense.

"I am Diarch Rellik, son of Kakus, and I serve the Diarchy... the people who live, work, and die in the shadow of this sector. You stand on my land." He let the words hang, the ruined village itself his evidence. "If you thought to claim these worlds by fire, then you've already burned more than you can afford."

He shifted his cloak aside just enough for the golden curve of Conviction's hilt to catch the dim light, though he made no move toward it.

"You say you wanted someone of substance. You have it in me. I am Diarch. Ruler. Now tell me what it is you really want from this world and if I deem it reasonable I might forgive this act of violence and you will have a chance to leave alive."

INVENTORY:

• Single bladed Lightsaber - Conviction
• The Blooded Seer Cloak
• Spear of the Star-Fallen King

Irvine Zalass

 

[Irvine Zalass]

Upon his introduction her guard immediately went up, though she didn’t show it outwardly. She was arrogant to be sure, but she didn’t seem to be stupid. She knew a threat when she saw one, and him introducing himself as the one who ruled this place had her reevaluating him immediately and far more cautiously. Though still with the appearance of calm disinterest.

There was one thing however that stood out to her about his introduction. “Diarch? You would share power with a rival? Strange…” she mused thoughtfully, the concept that power could be shared was utterly foreign to her. Her people had the philosophy of dominate or be dominated. Control or be controlled. Suffer no rivals. Sharing power seemed very strange to her. Almost blasphemous.

A question was then asked of her, and a threat issued. The smile on her face never wavering, though the look in her eyes betrayed that she was fully aware of the severity of this confrontation. “I suppose the simplest answer is to be noticed.” She told him with a shrug. “I’ve heard tell of warlords in these regions, and I happen to be between Masters. I figured that the best way to make a name for myself would be to demonstrate my power.”

Unlike the Diarch she carried no force-imbued relics of great power. The only thing of note on her person was a dagger sheathed alongside the front of her belt. Long, curved and evil looking. Besides that she carried no weapon, not even the lightsaber that had been the mark of a force user since time immemorial. And she didn’t even seem to be making any real indication that she intended to use the small weapon. Perhaps she was a sorceress through and through, her presence in the force was not quite so refined as his, though it was by no means uncontrolled, it was however hungry and very much formidable. In terms of raw destructive power she was hard to match, much like the fire she seemed so adept at using.

Even as they spoke the area seemed to be heating up, and embers began rising from the ground again, but most noticeably from her. Her eyes glowing a color similar to the yellow of the Sith, though noticeably it was different, rather than a sick yellow her irises became a warm orange, and her sclera became black as coal.

“After all… the best way to impress a warlord, is to do war.”

Diarch Rellik

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Rellik stood against the rising shimmer of heat, his cloak stirring faintly in the breeze. The air smelled of smoke and scorched soil, the aftertaste of her rites heavy on every breath. But the land was not the source of the heat. He felt it clearly, the heat came from her, radiating outward with power, embers lifting drawn by her presence.

His golden eyes fixed on her, steady, unblinking.

"If conflict is how you learn who is in charge," he said evenly, "then I am happy to oblige."

There was no arrogance in the words, only certainty. The surprising calm of a "Jedi" with the dominating manipulation of the force of a "Sith" countering the swelling in the air of the heat. He had nothing to prove to her but he would make certain she understood what it meant to stand against a Diarch. To hurt his people.

His cloak slipped back from one shoulder as he shifted his stance, revealing the curve of the golden-hilted blade at his hip and the dark spear resting across his back. He did not yet draw them. Instead, the pressure of his presence deepened, the Force settling heavy around him like the calm before a storm. Dust curled at his feet, caught in the faint spiral of energy gathering there. The Diarch was planning his own rebuke. The idea of a battle of older techniques exciting him.

Rellik inclined his head a fraction, as though inviting her to begin.

"Come then, Sorceress. Show me what you can do."

Irvine Zalass

 

[Irvine Zalass]

The Diarch in front of her prepared to engage her in combat, his intent to fight her not subtle at all. His controlled fury likewise plain to see on his face. Something she couldn’t help but comment on. “Strange. I’ve never seen a Ruler so upset at the loss of a few serfs. Did I catch you on a bad day?”

The smoke in the air thickened, and ash began to fill the air along with it in a heavy smog. Obscuring the tall, ashy woman in the haze. And just like the Diarch the Force gathered around the woman in front of him. The Force Magics she commanded preparing to do battle. There were a few tense moments when she was invited to start, and she decided to start simple, goad him into moving before doing anything truly damaging. Between her fingers gathered a sphere of swirling fire, which she then sent at him with tremendous speed with a flick of her wrist.

The ball became a needle as it flew, elongating into something sharp and focused like a blaster bolt, but far more esoteric. And it flew for the center of his chest, and if allowed to impact with him it would detonate in a brief flash, and strike him with the force of a thermal detonator.

Diarch Rellik

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Ash swirled around him, her words slithering through the haze. His gaze did not waver.

"You mistake love for weakness," he answered, voice cutting through the smog. "These are not serfs. They are mine. And no one harms what is mine without cost."

The flare of power reached him before the fire did. He felt the gathering in her hand, the sudden needle of flame ripping across the space between them. He did not flinch.

With a single motion his cloak snapped wide, the fabric rising unnaturally as the Force coiled through it. The bolt of fire struck not flesh, but his cloak.
the steady wall of power he summoned behind it. The impact thundered, ash and dust bursting outward in a ripple, yet when the haze settled he still stood, unmoved.

Only then did his hand fall to the spear's haft. With one swift motion he flung it at his new opponent. Then began darting behind it, charging straight for her. No saber, simply the force of his own body hoping to smash through the sorceress.

Irvine Zalass
INVENTORY:

• Single bladed Lightsaber - Conviction
• The Blooded Seer Cloak
• Spear of the Star-Fallen King