Seek And Ye Shall Find

[Ras'kala'han]

Zigoola​

The Calamari Sector​

​

One thing that positively astonished Antherion was how seldom the Lords of the Sith would look past the immediate impact their actions had on themselves. Zigoola was a lovely microcosm of this -- a world built around the refuse of the Dark Lords, the water of blood, sweat, and tears that had flowed into the footprints of the supposedly great Sith who had ruled over it as kings, philosophers, and sorcerers. Well, ruled might be a stretch. They had not ruled the people. They had used them.

The town was largely the ghost of a boomtown that had sprung up around the Sith of Bane had revealed themselves. Their involvement had spurred massive interest in certain Jedi scholarly circles and wealthy businessmen for relics of the once-fearsome mages of the Order that once brought that galaxy to heel, who some contended would do so again (they were right).

Hundreds of years later, it was a backwater with a stagnant economy. Not abandoned, not dead, but merely present. The world had been largely picked clean of all relics of any remote degree of use, in knowledge or power or value. That being said, Antherion had not come here for crude, physical objects.

No, he had come here for the wealth of the spirit. He had combed the ruins and dig sites of the past centuries, cross-referencing those with the highest death rates. Now, in a ratty room-and-board, surrounded by people unaware of his heritage or power, Antherion studied the rituals he would use to test these sites for spirits to bind and drain of knowledge, to torture, essentially, to secure greater power.

He knew that even errantly mumbling a spell could invite disaster, but this town was certainly out of the range of any ghost that could attack it or him if inadvertently summoned. Spirits roaming the galaxy were vanishingly rare, and almost never dwelt in hovels or villages. So he whispered the words, a brief practice, unaware of the consequences.

"Across time and space, I call to thee -- you who are scion of the old kings.​

You who died and defied the grasp of Chaos. ​

I prostrate myself before you, echo without voice, shadow without flame, ice without winter. ​

Endless one, account to me. Life, speak unto death. Spirit, speak unto body. ​

I give you blood from my vein. My name from my lungs. I give you a secret I rent from the earth.​

Answer the one who calls to you."​

​

| [member="Dredge"] |

 

[Dredge]

[media] https://youtu.be/nd_FpKwGkTs [/media]​

Ask and thou shall receive. A simple enough of a phrase. If you want something than ask for it, and boy did this kid ask. What would befall upon him however was not something that he would of expected, it was something more evil and twisted than anything that had existed on this dust ball of a planet in years. Something that had come here to get in touch with becoming God and ascending to the heavens. But in order to do that one needed followers, and this boy had just handed them to him on a silver platter.

Everything began to grow cold, unnaturally so even. Antherion would be able to visibly see his own breath as he exhaled and this sinking feeling of dread would come upon the entire town. People on the streets looked out onto the horizon as dark clouds formed above. Other civilians stuck their head out from their windows to see what the fuss was about; for the most part they weren't strangers to the dark side. Though this was different, this was something new and unfamiliar to the planet. Everyone was more than accustom to the ancient Sith evil that laid the foundation of civilization here, this however an evil that walked all over that tradition and saw it as being lesser.

On the horizon that evil approached. Slowly walking forward it stepped slowly foot by foot and with it the color of the world seemed to vanish by its side. The sun was blotted out from the sky and the entire world seemed to shift into this silhouette of pure black and white color as it grew nearer. Once it made its way towards the outer reaches of the town the raw darkness covered entire buildings and outlined their images in white as if this were an old holofilm that lacked any form of color.

The boy would feel it, the raw energy and power of a dark side nexus pumping power into the air.

"Fear me not my children. For you have been saved. You will once more have meaning in your life." Dredge said as he opened his hands to everyone as if readying to embrace their scared faces.

"Now who among you dares summon God?" He asked as everyone stood there petrified in fear.

[member="Antherion"]

 

[Ras'kala'han]

There is no such thing as 'God,' or 'gods'. Antherion knew this with utter certainty. There was only the Force, and those more attuned to it than others. The sparks orbited the candleflames, the candleflames orbited the campfires, and so on. Every self-proclaimed divinity he had seen was simply a powerful adept who sought the rush of worshipful admiration. When they were weak, it drew his contempt. When they were as powerful as he had seen, he sometimes seethed with envy.

He felt neither such thing gazing at the center of the inferno. Color and warmth were leached from the air as the spirit approached, bidden, but unexpected. Antherion's face was impassive, but his mind raced.

This spell was intended to call up beings, but only after lengthy preparation of a binding matrix with which to imprison them. Without that, it was impossible to enslave or interrogate the spirit. This being would certainly soon be able to comb through the creatures surrounding him to find him, having it catch him in the process of setting up a space in which to capture 'God' and flay His essence from His mind would not be a welcome occurrence.

So, as fast as he could muster (ponderously slow, in other words), he descended the slanted staircase, clutching the guard rail, and strode out to meet with [member="Dredge"].

"I offered you three things. Blood..." Antherion removed a dagger from the folds of his cloak and pricked his finger, letting a drop of red spill out onto the dusty earth. This symbol was the vital essence that brought the spirit into solidity, an offering of life and power to grant it being and sanity. This was unnecessary to the living nexus, but he had promised, and to break that vow would break what little protection the charm gave him.

"My name... I am Antherion. And lastly, a secret from the earth. The first great warlord of Kalee rests uneasy in his grave." The name was the first step in the sealing of a binding contract. The secret was proof of knowledge and power, displaying his credentials as a sorcerer. Normally, the spirit would have manifested within the Binding Matrix, and he would have been free to parley with it at will.

This spirit was powerful enough to be unbound from any one object, person, or location. It had happened on his summoning, and hijacked it. It was unbound, and could do what it willed, when it willed. He had to tread lightly.

"I called out for a ghost, but it seems I was answered by a God. I dared to speak, you dared to answer. I will not question Your divine providence." His bemusement, fear, and confusion were hidden behind a respectful smile and a curt bow.

 

[Dredge]

Dredge stood there and watched as the young sorcerer went about his little routine of showing his credentials and talks about whatever the hell he was on about. Dredge didn't care in the slightest, God didn't have to care about what Sith spirits and ghosts did. All he needed to do was consume those around him and spread his following to every living being in the galaxy, the rest be dammed. So what he should do is simply devour this town, corrupt and convert every single living person there. To make them his little puppets on a string and make them dance for his own amusement, but oddly enough a part of him said he should hear the boy out.

"I do not want your offerings, boy. I do not care for your name, your life, nor why it is you have called out for a ghost or myself. All that is important is that you have handed me these ripe and soon to be willing followers." His eyes traced over the crowd of people with almost a madness to them.

"So for that I will allow you to keep your free will for now, and grant you one kindness of your choosing." Dredge said as be slowly began to step towards the crowd.

Creeping inch by inch the weary townsfolk began to back away slowly at the sight of the creature. But this didn't discourage him in the slightest, all would become loving and willing subjects once they had his blessing. Soon they'd all fall in line, this village, followed by the planet, then the sector, all would become one with Dredge and he would be god over them all. The force would no longer have its chaos strewn into everything, it's meaningless existence would come to an end and all life would be born with a purpose and a specific task to fulfill, a role in the grand scheme of the universe. Which didn't sound so bad until you realized how Dredge planned on going about that.

"You will soon know meaning my children." He said as he continued to step forward.

[member="Antherion"]

 

[Ras'kala'han]

Antherion kept cool, despite a slight, internal balk at the word 'boy'. Who was this wraith to sit in judgement of him and find him inferior, when all it had taken was a whispered spell to call it forth? This was what he thought -- but his thoughts were the most guarded part of himself. No, he would be the perfect picture of demure subservience to this self-proclaimed 'god' when meeting face to face.

"I handed nothing to you, my lord. We all rest in your hands, knowing or unknowing. I only gave them the light of awareness." To try and kneel suddenly would probably result in him keeling over at this strange entity's feet, so he merely bowed his head with as much respect as he could bring himself to show without throwing up on the deity.

Then... he watched. These people were not being devoured... no, the fate that awaited them was far stranger. They were preserved by their nature, but gathered into the one. Made a collective, made an individual. This was not destruction, but rather a vile sort of integration, preserving their spark of life and using it to feed into the power and spread the darkness.

As much as he could muster without drawing attention, Antherion raised what barriers he could around himself. [member="Dredge"] would, hopefully, not notice this minimalistic act of preparation, but such shielding would be such that he could breath just a little bit easier as he waited to watch the creature do its work, and then to ask his kindness.

 

[Dredge]

The kid was right, the people of this town would live on as a collective. As one individual who controlled all and could see all. A form of existence that gave everyone a purpose, where their essence would precede their existence. That was the world Dredge would build, and that's why when the darkness flowed from him, it would reach out to convert and consume the radical freedom that was humanity and free will. But before that all went down, Dredge was still Dredge and he'd have a little fun with it. So with a snap of his ethereal fingers a group of shadowy figures would appear beside him and one would think these creatures would be hunting down the town folks. But that just wasn't the case, instead they had instruments, and with those instruments they began to play and sing a sinister yet almost lighthearted song.

Spoiler

[media] https://youtu.be/DC6UtsPa13o [/media]

Dark tendrils and black smog exited out from him and soon the people were screaming in panic as they rushed at them. The band of shadows played their music as the smog and tendril infected those around them. It was almost too cartoonish not to smile at as a bystander, that or be horrified. The shadow entity was bouncing up and down almost giddy at the sound of music and sight of men and women fleeing him.

"So what might you desire? Power? Women? What can God do for you?" Dredge said as he continued to bounce up and down to the music as if he were an old timey black and white cartoon incapable of standing still.

Screams started to fill the village as the corrupted began to shake and convulse on the ground. When Dredge had completely taken root in their system they would stand up and run towards their former loved ones and friends to attempt in converting them as well. The young man would be able to see that converting an entire town's worth of people was something he could take as a joke. This wasn't even registering as a serious affair what with the music and dancing that the band was providing. Hell, even some of the converted were forming a dance line by the band where they moved to the music in perfect sync with one another.

[member="Antherion"]

 

[Ras'kala'han]

Antherion watched the dancing, marveling at the display of callous, casual power. These people were, with all their hearts, happy. This was because they knew their place in the world, and it was at the feet of this 'god,' beneath His iron fist. It was like a work of art. They were humiliated so easily, as though breathing, their power enslaved by mere gesture. It was wonderful.

"What can God do for you?"

Make me you. Give me your power. Let me live like you, and be untethered from this hideous, material corpse, let my power overflow and overwhelm as yours does, trade lives with me and let you be the one to wake every day and see yourself rotting further and further, wondering when the last day will come for you to walk or lift your hand.

But he had to be realistic. All he had been offered was a 'kindness'. This settlement extracted as much effort from [member="Dredge"] as an insect did from the bootheel of Antherion. Back when he had functional legs, anyways. So any goodness would likely be paid for in full if it extracted too much effort. He would tread lightly.

"I feel in you, my God, a heart. Not yours, but devoured, yet still beating power into your veins. A nexus of holiness, a fire for your divinity. From you, this humble servant but asks the faintest sliver of that, that I may feel its heat of Force beat within my own chest, and know the true potence of God echoed in my own soul."

 

[Dredge]

For the first time Antherion would see the force entity smile, and that too was equally horrifying to see. Like the grin of a Cheshire Cat straight from wonderland, the creature's mouth opened to reveal a cartoonish grin of sharp pure white teeth made of light that stretched ear to ear. That smile kept on the entity's face as it almost danced its way over to the young man. As the drums and singer started to move into what was a breakdown and a verse about drinking brains with a slurpee straw, Dredge moved his ethereal body until he was right in his personal bubble.

"Done." He said one word and then began.

What seemed to be blackened tree roots shot out from Dredge's astral form and wrapped themselves around Antherion, and they burned quite a bit. A few black lines of his corruption could be seen seeping into the boy as if he was about to join the hive mind that was Dredge. But as quickly as they showed up, they soon began to fade under the surface of the skin and as fast as the light bondage session had begun, it ended.

The branches let go and Antherion would be able to feel something new. Power. Raw and unrelenting power that was infinite and eternal, a wellspring of force energy that was within his grasp whenever he needed it.

"I am now a piece of you. What you feel is only a sliver of my power, but it comes at a price. I see what you see, I hear all, I know all, and your thoughts and memories have joined the collective up here." Dredge pointed towards his head where his brain would normally be if he wasn't a scary shadow monster.

"Also take into effect that while my body may be infinite, yours is not. So do try and not let the nexus kill you. You're certainly fun little mortal after all." With that Dredge looked over to see how the town conversion was going.

From all the eyes and ears he had, it was progressing well and would be over in a few minutes.

[member="Antherion"]

 

[Ras'kala'han]

The worst part was how it smiled. As if it had known what he was going to say. Wanted him to say it. Was waiting for an excuse to do what it would then do.

"Ah." The noise was halfway between a gasp of pure agony and a lover's sigh. He was no stranger to pain or darkness, but married in this intensity was... strangeness. He felt cold shivers in his limbs, falling to the ground as if he had touched a live wire. He thrashed, he twitched, he frothed at the mouth.

But mentally, he was aware of the power. It was pure... unadulterated. And incredible.

But he was also aware of the cost. Behind it was the eyes that watched. The whispers waited. He was now as much a part of the thing as the dancing fools, the objects, and that corruption could surge forth to fight him and demand his full will to oppose at any moment. The nexus was not purified, as he thought it was. It was, to its utter core, tainted. He would need to purify it himself, and his thoughts were subject to this being's surveillance. Maybe influence.

That is, as long as he kept the power touching himself. He could separate, but its incredible strength would be lost to him.

He groaned again, consciousness fading and returning. He was aware of a sea of lights. Bacteria. The Force presences of bacteria, drifting in the air and on the ground, like a million stars.

"Fun? Yes. Mortal? For now. What is a God without an angel to accompany it, after all, and sing its glories?" He lay for a moment, arms spread out, as though he was making an angel in the ground. He stared up at the being, his power manifold, yet feeling strangely powerless.

| [member="Dredge"] |

 

[Dredge]

Dredge looked down at his first little disciple, a man who had such ambition to him. He would be sure to test his loyalty to the cause, to understand and give himself over to a higher power. Perhaps over time he might let the boy ascend and become an eternal entity like himself. Unlike most of the people or Sith Spirits in the Galaxy, most were born as mortals. Not Dredge, no this incarnation of Dredge was born a Sith spirit and had rose in power to become a full blown entity by consuming twin nexus' and merging them with his form. Even still he required more power, but that was something to be addressed later.

For now his grin ceased and the music behind him began to die down. The atmosphere started to take a more serious turn once more.

"Rise before me, my son. I ask you not to bow or to fall to your knees, but to stand as a proud sentinel of the new world. Rise and give thanks to God. Rise and face the future." Dredge certainly knew how to work a crowd.

"Now I must leave you. Do with these people as you wish. Consume their essence and add to your power, lead them, build new worlds with them, whatever you see fit." Dredge said and then turned his back to the young Sith.

Antherion would be able to feel new sensation, a sense of connectivity between himself and the drones that stood there before him. As if he held power over them, a sense that he could tell them what to do and how to do it. Speak through them, live through them, and even consume their own power and essence within their bodies to fuel himself. Dredge had allowed this connection between his disciple and the drones he commanded. He wanted to be sure he could trust the man with at least some form of power.

So with his task all but complete he'd start to walk away unless the boy had any other question to go over.

[member="Antherion"]

 

[Ras'kala'han]

| [member="Dredge"] |​

"Now I must leave you. Do with these people as you wish. Consume their essence and add to your power, lead them, build new worlds with them, whatever you see fit."

Build new worlds. For a brief moment, Antherion imagined himself as such, the architect of worlds, the singer and proclaimer of God to the heavens by hanging new worlds in the firmament. Spheres of bodies, billions of trillions, bound together, floating in space as a perfect, shimmering corpse-world, their souls bound and locked, an infinity of minds in perpetual rapture, crossing the sky in divine fire and heralding the unification like a perfect comet of madness.

He was at peace. His head was full of blossoming flowers. His ears hummed with the stars singing in time with his heart's stopped beating. He could see all the rainbow's colors in the depths of blackness.

Then he felt a rush, like cold water had been thrown over him. His ambition was his own, was it not? His thoughts were his, weren't they always? He couldnt be certain. His thoughts were no longer completely private, his memories and opinions no longer pure. Such overwhelming might was worthy of service, but nothing was worth the sacrifice that devotion and love would place on his empty heart. He could not provide, would not reach for something not there.

Rising, righting himself gingerly, he gazed at the departing God... no, the departing spirit. He mustn't forget that. His pledge pulsed in his soul, but even if he was bound, he would be bound with clear eyes, free of delusion. At the very least, he hoped it would be as such.

While he ruminated, his head bowed in reverence to Dredge's passing, the people of the village had ceased their dancing, instead forming a single line. He turned to face the first one.

"Peace has come to you." He touched the man's forehead, as the man smiled emptily, black fluid dripping at irregular intervals from his nostrils and tear ducts, and with his mind touched the kernel of power that had been planted in him. The change was immediate. The man exhaled, gargling for a moment on the thick, inky ichor that spewed from his gullet before letting out a profound sigh. He glowed, as though a fire had been lit inside him — and following suite, his skin began to flake away, blackening and scattering until he was powder swirling in the winds. The shine and glow faded, flowing into Antherion, his eyes gleaming brighter ever so slightly, his aura colder.

The reaction of the people was not horror. It was not fear. They were joyous. They cooed, and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at it, some cheered or clapped or danced, and they were clamoring for their place in line. Antherion smiled at that. These lost children would need to wait their turn to have their minds delivered to the One, and their essence subsumed into him. He was patient, but he was thorough... and the first angel of the most divine, the Angel of Death, needed all the fuel his fire could have added to it to let him shine like a star and herald the coming beauty.

He would light the way for those yet to come.