Rise From The Shadows

[Xevek Nekonis]

Time had become a distilled amount of seconds, each one stretching out into individual eternities in and of their own as time itself seemed to lose all meaning and grasp upon the mind of Xevek Rakama. Every grain that dropped through the hourglass fell with nearly no motion, its descent impeded and sluggish as it hung suspended in the void of the gap between beats of hearts before collapsing downwards to continue the forward march of time. Heavily lost in his mind as he was, Xevek had no idea as to how long he had been sat, waiting for the arrival of Darth Excidum nor did he care to know. His consecutive eternities were his own private stronghold, the place in which his thoughts were free, untethered and left to run wild - chaotic by nature and yet the closet thing to peace that Xevek ever felt.

His body still and nearly unmoving, it would not be surprising if a passing person might have had to take a moment to divine whether or not he still lived, the heavy folds of the robes that swathed his form and obscured his figure serving to disguise the steady and slow rise and fall of his chest to the point that it was nearly invisible. With his body shrouded and hidden by heavy fabric, none of the Iridonian's skin was visible, his face once more hidden behind the mask of carefully-carved and worn bone that took the form of a leering skull. Ever present, the mask had, indeed, become more of an identifier for people than his own face had; to the point that Xevek sometimes mused as to whether or not discarding the mask for a day would enable him to pass unrecognised.

However, such musings were not present within the Iridonian's head at present, instead, he stood among the unending sandstorm of thoughts that scared the bedrock of his mind until each individual grain of sand was catorgarised and dealt with, left to descend through the void between thoughts with the passing grain of a second as that one individual eternity finally fell in on itself. No, instead, Xevek stood and looked out at the thoughts of shattered memories, the playback of previous hunts and accomplishments and the soured emotions that caused wounds to be inflicted upon hearts and soul. Such was the natural state of his mind when he let the outside world fall away into nothingness as he delved deeper and deeper into meditation.

He made no effort to restrain the maelstrom of thoughts that whizzed through his mind, seeing beauty in the chaos. For, to Xevek, that was the natural state of Reality and the key component that drove evolution and progression forwards: chaos. Orderliness was a corruption, a prevision, of chaos and chance, nothing more than an infected idea brought about by the Light Side of the Force. Control, patience - both were needed to ensure chaos did not run forwards to cause destruction. But order? For Xevek, it was a blight upon the Universe.

Blurred thoughts clarified into crystal beneath his focus, being bisected into their key components as Xevek began to slowly control the storm, bringing it under his influence once more. His rage and boiling fury was cooled and frozen in place, ice replacing the fires within his heart as he kept their passion and strength but left them paused and immobile until such a time that he needed to unleash them upon his foes, to embrace the primal instinct that curled beneath his flesh and seared within his bones. Ashes were left behind in the wake of those fires, left to settle upon his thoughts and leave them clouded and partially obscured from any who might see fit to glimpse inside of his mind.

With every second that passed, with every eternity that ended, the mind of Xevek Rakama calmed into a snapshot of a storm, tense and ready to spring back into a roaring frenzy when patience and self-control might need to give way to the strength of unleashed chaos.

Stirring softly, Xevek's eye flickered open from behind his mask, the slightly glowing amber hue piercing through the thick shadows that clung to the inside of the mask. Inhaling sharply, knowing that the eyes and ears could be so very easily deceived, the Zabrak scented the air out of caution and weariness. Ultimately, a knot of tension within his shoulders carefully unraveled as he saw and smelt no nearby presence, leaving behind a score of other knots born from caution and paranoia. A hunter he may well be, but, that did not mean he would disregard the fact that there were those stronger than him nor the fact that, sometimes, his prey could become the hunter in his stead.

Leaning back casually against the corner of the wall behind him, ensuring that no one could approach the him from behind nor from the blindspot to his right hand side, Xevek's lone eye fixed itself upon the only door leading into the room. All the while, he extended his other senses to read the room and reached out steadily through the Force so that he would, hopefully, sense any approaching being. Why he had been called to the Magus Temple of Bastion, he did not know. All that he could presume was that it was in response to his, Darth Excidium's, Olrunn Darr's and the childish Sith Lady's actions on Rhen Var.

Whether the meeting would be bad or good for him was also unknown, and that was a fact that rattled him. The unknown was dangerous and left him vulnerable, hence him descending into the chaos of his mind to try and examine his memories of what had occurred of Rhen Var in a desperate attempt to predict what might happen when Darth Excidium entered.

Uncomfortable with the unknown, tense, cautious and pulling a sense of calmed chaos upon his mind and soul, Xevek awaited the arrival of the man that may well be deciding his fate within a cold chamber set within the bowels of the Magus Temple of Bastion. Overall? It was a situation that Xevek did not like but one that he could not avoid. And he hated that.



[member="Darth Excidium"]

 

[Matt the Radar Tech]

The Dark Magus.

They were slowly, ever so slowly, making a name for themselves.

It was a monumental task, really, forming a group within such a hostile ideology as the Sith. Even the mention of power was enough to make even the most devout rear up in caution and paranoia, immediately taking notice to ensure that whatever they held was not wrested from their grip. The Sith Empire was, for the most part, a solid collective of individuals working toward a goal; certainly the goal was different for each, but there couldn't be denied the sense of unification toward something, and Excidium wondered if that was truly the reason such small groups within the larger were able to flourish. Nonetheless, the Dark Magus had found something of a niche for their status within the Sith Empire, fulfilling an important role that hadn't really been utilized by a concentrated effort prior. This was also, undoubtedly, another reason Excidium and his Magus were able to delve into such powerful forces and not suffer fearful reactions to what they may see peering back. After all, any power they dominated would be used for the glory of the Sith Empire...

Presently there remained a task to complete. Aside from performing Dark Magus duties, it also fell on Excidium as the Arch-Magus to handle Servants. As there were limited numbers, where the usual format would have been a High Magus performing what was required today, however Vereshin had been forced to attend to matters elsewhere, and far be it for Excidium to leave a task incomplete. Walking through the temple that had been allocated to the Magus, placed amid the Sith Empire's other resources on Bastion, the Sith Lord absently recalled the recent incursion onto Rhen Var. With a perfect recall, wandering in known locales allowed Excidium the chance to think and ponder, which was far more efficient than wasting time trying to remember something as petty as directions. The whole mission on Rhen Var had been... interesting, for lack of a better term. Not only had the attack on the Jedi Monument been rushed and haphazard, potentially out of one or more member's need to reach the objective they sought, but the immediate claim of such a potentially powerful artifact by Lady Vantai - namely the lightsaber of Ulic Qel-Droma - had been surprising. As had been her reaction, such as it was, potentially destroying anything useful that may have been contained with the weapon!

Sith. Children, most of them, Excidium sneered, letting out a sigh of frustration.

Thankfully they had taken the time to search appropriately, and Excidium had found the concealed cache of items. While not a fantastic haul, in terms of finding artifacts, the mysterious holocron had revealed itself to be quite impressive, if unfinished and limited in knowledge. It had belonged to Darth Wyyrlok III, of a Sith group several centuries prior, and from Excidium's brief glimpse into what it contained, Vantai was more than welcome to a dead human's lightsaber. The information of the holocron held far more potential, and was far more useful, than something suitable for collecting dust on a shelf.

Blinking, Excidium realized he had reached the chambers of his task. With no preamble, the Sith Lord pushed open the door and entered. He cared little for the Servant's state, and could only assume Xevek was awaiting the Sith Lord's arrival in earnest. He quickly looked about the small personal space, noting several things, including the newly acquired tomes from the Jedi Monument. A good reward for a lesser Sith, filled with potential lessons and teachings. Truth be told, Excidium had little knowledge of the curious individual that waited, on the ground with back to the wall, in the room - and perhaps it was time to remedy that, but not at the present, not when something else important lingered and had to be addressed.

"Servant Xevek," Excidium said, placing his hands at the small of his back as he stopped moving. The Sith Lord knew Xevek hated the title, those brief moments of anger evident. "This meeting has two purposes. In a moment, I will set you a task that, should you fail, will result in your death... or being rendered severely injured and incapable. Certainly both outcomes are difficult to decide a preference. That said, I ask you to recall our mission on Rhen Var... tell me of your observations."

This wasn't the task, it was simply Excidium seeing if his suspicions about the mysterious masked individual were correct. The Sith Lord had a keen eye for noticing those that were intelligent, observant and capable of thinking beyond the lessons drilled into them. There also tended to be a level of respect shown to their betters, but that wasn't a requirement for what Excidium had in mind; in fact, a little bit of individuality helped a Sith develop, and allowed one to gain power and status without having to rely on others to prove their capabilities.

"And you better not mumble through that ridiculous mask."

Excidium smirked inwardly, his exterior void of expression, as he prodded the Servant again. Just to see what he did, what emotional response the Sith Lord could glean off him...

[member="Xevek Rakama"]​