Shadows Through The Valley [Duel, Nixia]

[Vilka Pharro]

---

​

---

​

Source: Student vs Teacher, by Andreas Rocha​

​

---

​

---

​

LAH'MU - THE OUTER RIM TERRITORIES

A fell wind swept between the black canyons of Lah'mu. A thousand treacherous paths threaded through these cliffs, like cracks along a broken mirror. Vilka heard the crunch of gravel underfoot. She felt, somehow, that they would all lead her to the right place. The force called here in the back of her mind, the ocean in a seashell; it had drawn her here, guided her with its gentle hand deep into the mountains. Into the clouds, the cliff-passes became a skyward labyrinth of shifting fog- whether her faith was misplaced or not, Vilka was left with little choice but to press on, a storm black robes beating against the wind as she braved each step. The force had never betrayed her before, and now, she felt dark things on the horizon.

It had set upon her as she had pulled through orbit, sailing between the great rings of glittering silica that girdled this rocky world; passing through each swirling tempest of stone, she could not help but feel herself being dragged, tooth and nail, to some deeper rung in fate's grand scheme. And now here she was. With narrowed eyes she surveyed the distance from a rocky perch. Descending below the clouds at last, here jagged cliff-points rose and fell from the mist until they became one with the horizon, like great sea monsters upon a silver ocean. Vilka smiled at the thought. In its own way, the wild landscape of the valley had been a battle of titans, one hundred-thousand years in the making- it seemed it was already ended, and there had been no victor- both combatants sloped away in each direction.

When at least she slipped away from the mountain paths, she found herself upon the foggy floor of the valley, treading at the feet of fallen giants. Here she felt the force ring like church-bells, thrumming all throughout the sky and stone and soil, bleeding in and out of the mist- at last things became clear. The cold wind swept past, and she felt her each of her flickering emotions consolidate all at once, swirling in the pit of her stomach, a great metamorphic storm. Her fists tightened.

She was not alone; today, there would be two shadows that walked the valley.

[member="Nixia Amabilia"]

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

Orange eyes shifted from the path infront of her to the datapad in her hand. " Am I lost?" The words spewed from her mouth with confusion and anger. A whirlwind of feelings began her. The fog of the valley floor taunted the state of her mind. Shoving the data pad in her pocket, Nixia closed her eyes and focused. Her thoughts took her back to a memory of how she would shut out her surroundings and negative thoughts to focus on the moment. " Count to three and it will be..." Slowly she counted out in her breath.

1..2..
Three was never reached. Something was off and she could feel it. She could see it. A vision of another walking the same path but the Acolyte knew this could not be her. The vision shifted violently not allowing Nixia to decipher the rest in the time she thought she had. " Interesting..." she commented. She dreamed of the day when she could accurately use these force visions to her advantage but such a task seemed impossible to her now. Instincts boomed through out her body. She was aware and alert. Her left arm ready to active her lightshield if need be.

" Come out." She said aloud. The fog made vision rather difficult.

[member="Vilka Pharro"]

 

[Vilka Pharro]

"Come out." Vilka spun to face the call, her gaunt features twisted into a grimace.

"You first." The mist twisted and turned about them, so close and yet so far; even within the force, she felt their shadows overlap, two acolytes of the dark, traces too similar to discern. "I implore you to leave now, stranger, so that you may pass as you have come- intact." Vilka snarled. No- there was more here to cloud her vision than mist, or even a like-minded foe; something in this world, it seemed to suffocate her spirit. To extend her hand, and sense the presence before her- it was like hearing the Force from a distant shore.

Other measures, perhaps, were necessary. "I feel your presence, Sith. We are not so different. Have you come to this world as I have? Have you felt how it twists, how it convolutes the Force?" She slid one hand onto her lightsaber, the newly constructed durasteel cold to the touch; her fingers lay relaxed on the surface of the ignitor switch.

Now all she could do was wait for the mist to call back.

[member="Nixia Amabilia"]

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

"I implore you to leave now, stranger, so that you may pass as you have come- intact."

A female voiced sounded from the misty void. " Implore me to leave? No need to use big words here... You wont impress me either way." She snapped back and quickly put her hair up in a pony tail. Having hair in your face was always the worst, not to mention unattractive. Quickly her mind began to formulate a plan. The feeling that someone was getting closer somehow trumped the words that Nixia wanted to let loose into the air. The mist or fog seemed to take its sweet time of clearing. It was unbearable. With the outstretch of her hand a vicious blast emitted from the Acolytes hand direct to the ground couple feet in front of her. The force making contact with ground and pushing the fog away to clear the area of its visual hindrances.

Taking a balanced stance the light-shield on her left forearm activated swiftly. Its deep hum sounded lowly and purple circular shape covering most of the females small frame. Her other lightsaber rested clipped against her belt. For now it would remain untouched.

" I dont play well with others.." He snapped again. Eyes manifesting the darkside with a vibrant shaded glow. " Only I feel here is you..." A examining stare took in the person in front of her. She was definitely Sith, But something was different about her. It was how she carried herself and the force.

[member="Vilka Pharro"]

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Fancy words? "Perhaps we'd best be short about this then, if I do not impress you." Vilka spoke distractedly through gritted teeth, nervous eyes narrowing as the mist began to roll back before her; she was still blind to the Force here.

She heard the thrum of energy, a purple light diffusing through the fog. It was still impossible to say from where, or even what; a lightsaber? Purple crystals were rare, and for that matter, rarely the domain of the Sith. But already, this was no typical Sith. That much was clear, even through the smoke and haze. "If all you feel here is me, Sith, then you are blinded to more than you know." Vilka's spoke, distracted, stepping back as at last a dark shadow seemed to become clear before her, a glowing purple silhouette shimmering in the haze.

Finally her opponent was revealed. A dark, wild-eyed thing, not unlike herself; and yet, wielding a ...light-shield? She raised a dark eyebrow. "Curious trinket you have there," Vilka's hand tightened about the hilt at her belt. "Do you have a name, Sith? Or would you forgo such pleasantries?" She snarled. Her frustration had come to a boil; she simply could not read this woman, for all her efforts. Blank as a slate, but by the looks of it... certainly dangerous. That shield was just as dangerous a weapon as any blade; Vilka could see how the fog hissed and spat on mere contact with the glowing disc. She smiled to think what it might do to flesh. Yes, here the Force was hard to read, but no less easy to manipulate, no- her veins burned now with all the same fury she had felt a thousand-times over. The Dark Side. Bony fingers clenched fast about her lightsaber, an awful hiss spilling forth.

The primitive blade crackled red through the murk. "It would, after all, be a pity to leave you in an unmarked grave."

[member="Nixia Amabilia"]

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

Well isnt this one charming? Who was she to presume such things? I could feel my nose wrinkle and it was then I knew my face was showing a slight expression of determination and anger. The time for words was over now. Stepping forward slowly I fixed my Lightshield in front of me and started off toward her in a charge. Big enough to defend me, but also just as dangerous. It was my left arm which most thought was my dominant but... They would be wrong. I'm ambidextrous. My body was positioned sideways as I leaned into my assault. It was simple enough to test my opponent. It hid the movements of my right arm behind me which had already unclipped the lightsaber on my belt. My right hand gripping the hilt tight and the side of my finger ready to slide against the activation switch. As of yet it was unactivated but depending on this siths actions, would soon taste the hovering mists that surrounded us both.

" Stop talking and bring it." I barked.

[member="Vilka Pharro"], this female sith was going to taste my fury.

 

[Vilka Pharro]

She would remain nameless, then.

With a snarl Vilka ran to meet the acoylte’s charge, face bathed in red; she held her saber with a two-hand grip, ready to meet her opponent’s blade- but it never came. Her eyes widened as the lightshield burst out from the darkness, stance adjusting at the last moment to check her charge; she’d attacked from the wrong side. With the wild hiss of crossing sabers, shield upon blade, she fell back with a stagger, shoulder singed, barely able to account for her opponent’s trick. Her heavy boots brought a cloud of dust forward as she regained her balance, locking eyes with her opponent.

"“That thing is better suited for a Jedi; too meek to attack with a true blade.” She spat, shifting into a one-hand stance. One hand felt the tatters about her shoulder, eyes narrowing. Fury seeped, drop by drop, into her heart, the smell of her own burning flesh intoxicating- she bared pointed teeth. “You are no Sith.” A cold trickle shot across her arm. " “Nothing more than a child.” Now she raised her wounded limb, ashen fingers twisted into a claw; "Perhaps you let your passions rule you...”

Vilka closed her eyes, summoning a sea of fears. Oblivion. Forgotten. Weakness. Meaningless. Fool. A hoarse gasp escaped her throat and her fists closed as she sought to project such fears upon her opponent. Such rashness did not come without doubt; perhaps Force Fear could prey upon it.

@[mention=”Nixia Amabilia”]

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

With the incoming clash I grunted apon sudden impact. From the look of things someone was not expecting a light-shield. It was one thing that made me stand out among the sith. My eyes carefully observed my opponents movements. She was staggered. Was her skills with a blade not her specialty? I could only find out and wonder. " I am Sith because I choose to be." I stated simply. There was nothing else to it. I used what suited me and pursued after things that I desired. Drawing my right arm back I smirked listening to [member="Vilka Pharro"] words about passions.

Non-sense. The force was building around the pale sith lady, as of now I ignored it. Combat was more important to me. Determined to reach her before whatever she was planning to hit me with, I drew back my right arm. My lightsaber activating with a hiss causing the ground to embrace a shade of crimson red. Extending my arm I threw the lightsaber at the woman in front of me with a arcing red spin. After release I realized something else had occurred as well.

Her had was now in a fist? A surge of negative emotions hit my mind causing me to remember the past. Some memories that were unresolved. It distracted me enough to cause me to take couple steps back. With Confusing I look around. " What is this?" I asked aloud.

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Vilka shot aside with bared teeth, head bathed in the red glow of her opponent’s saber as it whisked by; with her mind so fixated upon manipulating the Force, it was all she could do to stagger aside clumsily. With a hiss Vilka’s lightsaber’s blade retracted unknowingly, as her grip loosened under the strain of unconscious thought; her psyche had become a tunnel, a singular, churning portal into the Dark, a storm of fear pouring outwards.

This acolyte was evidently skilled with her blade, and yet- subsceptible to fear. Who, indeed, could say otherwise? ”You say my talk is worthless, and yet; perhaps my words, my mind- all this has merely exposed the fear within you. It is this terror that, perhaps you are not ready to face!” She advanced a pace. Within her mind that dark portal narrowed, at last; perhaps now fear would be more than a distraction, but a weapon.

There are some weights the soul is not ready to bear- Vilka knew this. The overturning of long forgotten stones within was a dangerous process. Indeed, the Sith might have no such darkness within her. But who could call themselves an acolyte of the Dark Side without such things? Now Vilka’s body was blind to her surroundings, unaware of her unignited blade, wholly focused upon the psychic torment of her opponent.

The mind was an organ the same as any other- and it could hurt just like one.

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

It felt as if a fray of negative thoughts and emotions began to ascend to my mind. Pounding me with regrets and doubts. For a brief moment i wanted to cry under the building pressure and stress that my situation brought. The deep recesses of my mind and spirit howled. Woe is me. What was I doing here? Why did I leave home? Over and over again it cycled till I could take no more. Flashes of the past came and looking towards [member="Vilka Pharro"] I watched as the female sith changed into the boy I once loved. In the faint distance I could hear his words even though he stood couple meters in front of me.

You are worthless. I do not love you. You... are a monster. This is what echoed in my mind as I hallucinated panicking with anxiety and worry. My knees began to shake. Legs slowly turning into loose jelly but I did not buckle. I was tired so very tired... Tired of trying. " I cared for you..." I muttered and took in a deep breath. A mental wall suddenly forming as all the emotions began to surge more and more. Fear, worry, doubt, anxiety.. All absorbed and changed into a singular thing.

Rage.

With a brooding stance I retaliated demanding the force to coil strongly around [member="Vilka Pharro"] gullet. In an attempt to crush her Solar plexus with a giant invisible hand. My face held distain as I did so. Air moving to and fro in the vents that were my teeth. I growled.

 

[Vilka Pharro]

Vilka's dark eyes widened. In an instant, she felt the dark portal into Nixia's mind began to erode, a cascade of shattering glass, boundless and black; her fears had begun to coalesce. It was scarcely, for a Sith to use even projected fear as a source for power, but here- Vilka knew she had been overconfident. Expected too little of the girl, whose memories tortured her so. She relinquished the grip of her Fear, hoping at least to not do so painlessly- an abruptly closing channel into one's mind, even a powerful acolyte Nixia, did not come without a deep pain of its own.

Alas there was no time to strike back before she felt another surge of dark energy overcome her. She gasped- and no air came. A burning in her throat, unchecked and wild convulsion of muscles as the fragile tissue cracked and strained. She felt the warm trickle of blood, the fire in her gasping lungs, one hand clutching uselessly at her neck whilst the other clawed for her lightsaber; there was little to be done against such an attack but disrupt your opponent, or build a mental shield of your own. Vilka opted for the first- offence and defence worked best as a single, unified strike against your enemy, some singular source of dark hatred. And if driving her mental attacks back with such force, choking the very air from her lungs, could not grant her strength, then she was as good as dead already, another body, lost to the mists of Pah'mu.

A dry crackle sent the mist hissing, blackened fingers shivering as a wild burst of lightning arced out through the darkness; while inaccurate, and indeed barely controlled, she prayed it would see its way to her target, the last of the air rushing from her lungs with a gasp.

It would probably hurt like death, too- all in good measure.

[member="Nixia Amabilia"]

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

" Whos the worthless one now your karking piece of shab!" I shouted furiously. " I'll kill you!" The red veil i saw through gave me tunnel vision focusing everything on my enemy [member="Vilka Pharro"]. Raging inferno burned quick and powerful, Like a drug it helped numb me. " Arrrgh" I groaned some. Something in my head was causing me a great pain. Whatever she was doing was weakening in connection but the pain was getting worse. Suddenly the connection was abruptly broken. A deep resounding pain echoed through my body. Not physical but purely mental.

" What the kark!" I shouted shaking my head as if to shake away the pain. When I looked back up at the lady I saw a bright flash of energy. My eyes grew wide and my telekinetic grip on the lady broke. My rage sharpened my reaction time enabling my to block the rather inaccurate blast of lightning with my light-shield. The Energy grappled my shield briefly before disappearing into nothing-ness. With my off hand I through forward a small but focused blast of invisible power. It followed my physical movement of a simple punch though I was out of range. The telekinetic energy knew where go... directly at [member="Vilka Pharro"] kidney. Something a young jedi had once used on me.

" I want to hear you beg... for mercy!" I spat out my rage sub-siding slowly making me weaker as well.

 

[Vilka Pharro]

The energy shield, once again; a curiosity it might have been, but an effective one all the same. But the lightning had stalled it, all the same. The attack had not been entirely worthless. "Blind rage; it is not your ally. You will not talk, spare no discourse; you are nothing but a kicking, screaming child!" Vilka roared, staggering forwards, crackling blue clouds still swarming about each fist.

Then a sonic boom broke through the air; another strike from the acolyte. Wasting no time, it seemed. The air itself wobbled and shook as her opponent's telekinetic strike leapt forth, square for the kidney. Painful. This time, however, Vilka was on-balance. One palm shot up with a grunt, the lightning about her fingertips at last forking out to meet the rush of air, one elemental blast neutralising the other with the crack of thunder. The impact of the two sent her back a step, mud scattering at her boots. She grinned, breathing heavy, an exasperated giggle rising between each gasp. A distant rumble sounded through the valley. "What did you do?" Immediately her smile fell, pacing to the side as she glanced up into the darkness of the valley.

"What did you do!?" Vilka could already tell. Landslide. First came the soft patter of pebbles, stirred from the walls of the canyon; hard crunch of stones. Then, the very earth began to groan. "Run, you fool!" She hissed, turning heel in a storm of robes.

It would do little good to attack her opponent again- why both, when she seemed to have summoned the very earth at their feet to do so on her own?

[member="Nixia Amabilia"]

 

[Nixia Amabilia]

" What?!" I shouted pondering what had just occurred. This was not from anything I did, Was it? With my mind wandering to and fro, My body growing weaker by the second and my rage subsiding I watched as the shifting earth slide out from my feet. A wave of rock and dirt over took me with ease and covered my body. Soon my small figure could no longer be seen. It was a jumble of motion. I was surprised my lightshield did not make contact with my own body. I got lucky in a way i guess. Parts of my body now throbbed in pain. Gnashes of open wounds now mixed with dirt and minerals.

Within a minute or two the valley spot where us two sith once dueled was now in ruin. Not sure where exactly I was I slowly shifted around in the rubble of dirt and stone. Due to my biology this was something my body could recover from... If I could fight the strength to get out.

I let out a short scream in the moment and then silence.

[member="Vilka Pharro"]