Seraphina Shel'tah (A Love Story)

[Via Dolorosa]

"M'lady," Captian Virter said, attempting to break the star gazing Sith Lady from her moment of quietness as she stared into the blackness of the galaxy. "We found her!"​

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"Who," she replied continuing to stare at the stars.​

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Captain Virter adjusted his outfit, slowly nodding to the warship's staff. Sensing what he was doing she raised her hand to stop the bridge staff from leaving. She asked, "Who?" The ship's Captain looked at the crew before turning his attention back to the monstrous Sith, "[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]," he replied. Whipping her head in the direction of Captain Virter, feeling her heart sink, she stared at him as if he had physically struck her.​

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"That name means nothing to me," she spat, locking her jaws from screaming, and her eyes from crying.​

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"But M'lady, you've given us two names to hunt and this name appeared on our databases," the Captain said.​

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"And where did you find her name?"​

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The Captain, feeling sickly, told her.​

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Dropping to her knees, placing her head in her hands, she cried; knowing that she had failed her love. Silence haunted the bridge, nobody knowing what to do, or react, as their mistress bellowed and howled in terror and pain. Gathering herself, she rose from her knelt position, turning her focus to the Captain. "Notify [member="Darth Carnifex"] we seek an audience."​

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"Yes, m'lady."​

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"And it's best you leave us," she said retrieving her hilt, igniting it with anger.​

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"M'lady?"​

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"I said leave me," as the fist tendril from her robe extended out, gripping the nearest crew member, just as she slashed down across the back of another, "Less you wish to feel the full frontal wall of my madness!"​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

For quite some time Seraphina had been finding herself at odds with sleep. As if on cue, each night at the exact same time she would awake with a startle. Each time it was the exact same; Her body would lunge forward, a heavy gasp, as if she was struggling to find oxygen, a sharp, disorienting pain in the front of her forehead, and a burning sensation all along her face and neck. Her body, slick with sweat, felt weak, almost immobile. Her memory served well enough to remember some torturous dream, but the details of said dream were never there. Whatever it was though, was recurring and bothersome to work around. Because of it, she always felt rather tired, her energy feeling sapped from the fear of sleeping.

The Twi'lek ran a pinkish hand over her forehead and behind her neck after sitting up, rubbing gently to massage away some of the aches and pains. "What is happening to me?"

It was well known that many folk with her particular affinity for telekinesis and telepathy suffered from a varying degree of ailments of the mind. As if that weren't concerning enough, many of her peers had gone insane, committed suicide, or embarked on missions where death was all but certain, all to escape from their own personal hell, trapped within their head. For a moment she wondered if she too was headed down that same path of insanity. It worried her more than death itself. At least death was an escape, a reprieve from the torture. But losing one's self was more frightening than anything imaginable.

Sera stood, hastily dressing. Clasped to her right hip were the two lightsabers Astana & Maseru, blades now without purpose. On the opposing side was the lightsaber of Aayla Secura. Outside the rain fell through the dark night sky at a steady pace. The soil drank eagerly as several weeks of arid weather had starved it dry. Outside is where she headed; Quickly down the staircase and out through the rear of the building and into the courtyard. A single bench sat directly in the heart of it. That is where she sat, quietly, allowing the ambience of the weather consume her focus for the time being. The rain bore little consequence, in fact in her eyes it was a soothing presence, an escape from whatever nightmares tormented her mind while she dreamed.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Darth Venefica"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Bleak light illuminated one of the many outer chambers that encircled the massive spire that jutted up through the cloud cover like a blade seeking to pierce the heavens, rain pattering against the transparisteel window that dominated the wall adjourning the curvature of the tower. A single figure brooded within, a man dressed in blood red silken garments emblazoned with silver trimming along the torso and sleeves. An oaken chair larger than most others was where he had reclined, a goblet fashioned from a human skull was held haphazardly in his right hand as the fingers on his left tapped against the cushioned chair arm. No other living soul shared his occupation of the chamber, but in lieu of flesh and blood company there stood a rather mundane Z2 Servant Droid carrying a bottle of Mandalorian Wine (gifted to the Dark Lord by his Verd relatives currently living within both Crusader and Clan territories on the other side of the galaxy) on a tray kept still by the droid's internal gyroscopic stabilizer.

The wine mirrored the man who drank of its dark liquid, hard and bitter; yet despite its infamous intoxicating elements the man never once felt the onset of intoxication no matter how much of the alcohol he consumed for the Dark Side scoured clean any debilitating toxins that dared besmirch his body. He couldn't even remember the last time he was actually drunk for it had been many decades ago, back before he went down the dark path of the Sith, the dark path to his destiny. He threw back the contents of his goblet with a single swig, the bitter wine curdling his taste buds on the way down to his stomach, and the droid moved to refill his glass the moment the Dark Lord's lips had left it.

At the center of the room was a holocommunicator build into a wooden table, and as the servant droid finished refilled his lord's drink the indicator light for an incoming transmission began to light up incessantly followed by a three-note trill. The Dark Lord's frown deepened, and he waved away the droid as he rose up to answer the call, and in return a mechanical voice greeted him; "Incoming transmission from [member="Darth Venefica"]." It would repeat that statement every three to four seconds or so until Carnifex decided to answer it, and a curious smile at last graced his lips as he accepted the transmission and his baleful image would be displayed upon the location of the caller just as the image of whomever had called him would appear above the table shrouded in a translucent blue light.

"There had better be a good reason for bothering me at this late hour."​

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[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The devastating voice of [member="Darth Carnifex"] echoed through her ship's com link, putting everyone on the bridge in a uncomfortable silence; and this angered the Sith Lady. Turning toward her communication's officer, she made a gesture to close the link between her and Darth Carnifex.​

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"You fear a voice, do you?" she said elevating her level of anger. "I'm the monster in the room....the one that sees you....and the one that you should fear because," she chanted with a cold voice raising her left hand above her head. With everyone still on edge, she smiled then dropped her hand down to her side, prompting the soldiers on the bridge to kill every other person on the bridge. "I'm the one that holds your life in my hands! Not a voice!"​

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There was a time she hated killing those under her, because as the front runner of eradicating the One Sith, filling the void of positions due to her uncontrolled anger was a problem, and even though she had aligned herself with the Black Empire, it was apparent that all Sith involved needed to bring their own pawns to the table. so they could play the most deadliest game of chess with the galaxy, and she couldn't afford to waste lives needlessly; despite most of her force came with the baggage of brainwashed infidels. But this was Seraphina, and if she had to murder the galaxy, and her own troops, to bring her Twi'lek home, then everyone aboard her command ship was expendable.​

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Nodding at the com officer to reopen the channels, she said, "My darkest apologies for disturbing you at the witch's hours but you have something I want." She knew, through her life as a Sith, to choose her next words wisely. As was her motive, she could easily manipulate anyone she cast her red eyes upon, however Darth Carnifex was an Epicanthix, and her powers of mental domination would be useless against him. Despite Darth Carinfex claiming the title of Dark Lord, she herself viewed herself as the Dark Lady of the Sith, but behind his back, even though she respected what he was attempting to do, speaking the words of Dark Lord left a sour taste in her mouth.​

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"Seraphina Sheltah......she is currently yours....and I wish to reclaim her. In thirty minutes, my Wraith Battle fleet will be arriving around Panatha.....and as a gesture of respect.....all my ships will arrive with shields down. This is not a challenge of your power, great one, but a session of two reasonable Sith to sit down and negotiate. And as another gesture of my respect, I will meet you unarmed."​

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[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] [member="Darth Carnifex"]​

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Thunder rolled on in the distance, flashes of light briefly illuminating the surroundings as far as the eyes could see, before casting the world back into darkness. The bolts themselves reflected through her green eyes. Alone she was outside, none present within were too interested in indulging in the downpour that the heavens had offered to Panatha. Her thumb and index finger rubbed the bridge of her nose. All around her the towering structure loomed over her. She was growing tired of this place. The smell. The incessant underlings wandering about, begging for this or that life to be spared. The voices of those she'd tortured ringing through her head. The countless others she'd killed when they refused to indulge her with the information that her Lord required.

All life was expendable. Even mine.

The door she'd entered the courtyard through pulled open slowly. In the archway looking out was one of the servants. "M--My Lady?" There was a small tremble in the woman's voice as she called to Seraphina. The Twi'lek's eyes caught hers, narrowing. "What?" she said, irritated that she'd been interrupted in her self-loathing. "I--I was told to bring you inside. You're needed downstairs."

Her lips twisted into a deep scowl. "I'm busy." She said sharply. For half a moment the servant thought better of pursuing the conversation. Either way they would suffer the wrath of someone, be it their sender, or Seraphina. "I--I must insist, my lady."

Without so much as a word the Twi'lek cast forth her lightsaber, activating the weapon with a twitch of her eye, the sparkling blue blade belonging to former Jedi Aayla Secura quickly plunging through the servant's chest, toppling them over to the ground with a resounding thud. Before the body had even hit the ground the woman recalled the weapon, deactivating and slipping the hilt back to her side before closing her eyes once more.

Her mind slipped back into meditation, her hand lazily lifting to mentally slam the door closed in front of the corpse.

Out of sight. Out of mind.

[member="Darth Venefica"] | [member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord was not amused. "There is no one by that name here. But perhaps you mean Satyijau'ira, and if so then I must ask what you could possibly want with such a meager servant."

Many moons ago a foolish Jedi by the name of Seraphina Shel'tah thought herself clever enough to infiltrate the monolithic structure known as the Black Pyramid on Sith occupied Coruscant with the noble attempt to free Jedi who had been imprisoned there by the Dark Lord when he was known as Darth Vornskr. Long story short her attempt at liberation failed miserably, and she fell into Vornskr's gnarled clutches. For many weeks she was subject to the most depraved and invasive forms of torture imaginable, every atrocity committed upon her flesh and mind done so with the express purpose of shattering her commendable will. For a long time she was unwilling to give into the nightmare, and when all of Vornskr's best torturers failed it was he himself who finally stepped up to the plate.

That was when she was finally brought to heel.

Vornskr tore into her mind with his dark magics, shredding memory upon memory until hardly anything of her past life as a Jedi remained. From that ruin Vornskr forged an entirely new life for Seraphina, falsifying memories to trick the woman into believing she had been part of the Sith movement since she was a child, and that it had been the sinister Jedi who had taken her from her comrades and subjected her to the torture that Vornskr himself was responsible for. In the end he gave her a new name, Satyijau'ira, a name that in High Sith meant servant, a title befitting one who had been bent to his malicious will. She was trained in the Sith arts by Vornskr himself after that, and since then she had served him faithfully as executioner and interrogator, completely unaware of her past life as a crusader for justice and righteousness.

Now came Venefica, wishing to reclaim her? "Whatever past you had with the girl was destroyed by my hand, Venefica. I destroyed Seraphina's past, present, and future... And gave life to Satyijau'ira, eager soldier for the Sith. What could you possibly accomplish with someone who's memory of you doesn't even exist?"

[member="Darth Venefica"] | [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]​