Singularities

[Seamus Valik]

The room was dark as the Starlight-class light freighter floated listless in the cold embrace of the infinite black. The lights had been shut down which left only the occasional emergency light on at various access points for maintenance. The sublight drives sat on but unused as the lean frame of the lone passenger sat in the cockpit. The stars danced in the distance as the man did something he had not done in far too long. He meditated. He had been bothered by things of late. The state of the galaxy’s Jedi being one of them but also the strange stirrings he had experienced when he had last passed through this sector of space on his last investigation. There was something off, something he didn’t understand, and for a man that had taken it upon himself to become an investigator, his curiosity got the better of him.

He sat cross legged in the darkness of the ship behind the pilot’s seat on the durasteel deck plates and slowly began his moving meditation the way his last Master had taught him. It took focus and a connection to the force that he had until recently sought to distance himself from. With a careful deliberateness he moved his hands from his lap and placed them palms down on the deck. The feeling of the cold plates pressed into his hands as he began to push himself off the deck. His lean muscles strained as he let the force flow into him and fill him with warmth like the first sip of a strong liquor on a winter day. He carefully began to tilt his body and extend his legs parallel to the deck as he bent his elbows and let his chest hover suspended by his arms. His mind emptied of thoughts he began to push his feet into the air higher as he moved to a handstand and reached out in the force. His body shook with effort and his focus sharpened as it delved further into the force. Slowly and carefully he moved one hand out extended and began to hold himself in place on one hand when the image of a world came to him.

He saw a temple, though not of the sort he was familiar, it was not Sith nor truly Jedi but it was similar to the ancient structures he had seen during his days training on Tython. The world around the temple was desolate with not a person to be seen and yet there was a darkness there. Something terrible had happened to this place and darkness clung to it like a death shroud on a fresh corpse. Seamus winced as he felt a fresh darkness pierce his mind and the images of creatures that should not be milled around a structure not far from the temple. They were dark things scrambling in the night that he had not encountered but the feeling of wrongness was unmistakable. He was no longer a part of any order and he owed no one his allegiance but he still believed in goodness. And whatever happened in that place, whatever was still happening was wrong. He may not be powerful or the most skilled, but he could try and right wrongs when he found them, and so he would try.

He let himself fall to the deck and lay there breathing heavily for a moment as he tried to orient his mind to what he had seen. He stood after a moment and pulled his tunic over his head. He wiped the sweat from his brow and chest before draping the thin shirt over a shoulder as he leaned down to activate the navicomputer. He made a brief search for local systems and found only one. Erida, a recently discovered world that was abandoned for unknown reason and declared uninhabited.

“Curious.” He mumbled to himself as he locked the coordinates into his computer and waited for the calculations to be made.

He slumped down into the pilot’s chair and eased back slowly against the cold seat as the computer gave his ship the proper hyperspace calculations. With a practiced hand he activated the ships primary systems and then hyperdrive. In a few moments the stars elongated and he was off into the luminescence of hyperspace. He set the autopilot and made his way to the cramped refresher for a nice steam bath. He would be there soon enough but for now he would clean himself and plan.




[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

The Deneba Enclave

Blood.

The crimson life force was all that surrounded her vision. It bubbled like magma, flowing over every surface, stark against an otherwise void-like backdrop, and threatened to consume her being. A few more moments and she would drown in it, dragged down beneath its metallic surf, and this time there would be nobody to pull her out, her hand was devoid of the commlink which had acted as a beacon, and here the Force felt fleeting, too fine for her to grasp on to.

No, this was it. This was the end.

She woke with a start.

Her breathing was heavy, and she could feel a thin layer of sweat which coated her body, made her nightgown cling to her skin. The air in her room was cold, so much so that she shivered when it met with her damp attire. She dared not move, instead she remained sat where she was in the darkened room, reeling from her subconscious thoughts.

In the corner of her eye she noticed something move, shifting from the shadows as though pulling away from the wall, seeking her attention, and spooked she turned her head in its direction. It had looked fiendish, draped in red despite the fact that no colour could be seen in so limited light as there was, and for a moment she could not help but pull back, pressing her back against the cool wall.

Only... Nothing was there.

No alchemical fiend, no beast to drag her back into the darkness... Nothing but her own rampant imagination.

Mysa had not been subjected to these nightmares since coming to Deneba. Back on Midvinter, after Thurion had rescued her, she had been plagued by them each and every night. Sometimes she had awoken with so loud a clamor that one of her brothers had been roused from their sleep, or her Father had come to sweep her up in his warm embrace.

There was none of that this time. No crackling hearth, or family to sooth her, just Mysa.

The Force washed over her then, as she took a few laboured breaths, and she hung her head. You will never be alone with the Force... Let the Light guide you...

There was more to it, she realized. Reaching to the end table which sat beside her bed she pulled off a few pieces of flimsiplast which held all manner of notes, and scanned the pages. Was she missing something? Was that why the dreams had continued?

Stepping from the bed, and shivering as the cool air touched her skin, she stepped toward the refresher with notes in hand. Thankfully they would not be ruined by the water, so that was a plus. As she bathed off the night's worries her eyes fell upon an anomaly on the page.

"I didn't write that" she muttered, or at least... She couldn't recall consciously writing it. "Erida... What is Erida?"

Something to investigate, with or without her newfound Master's leave. Then again, she couldn't imagine [member='Kei Raxis'] would find enough cause to stop her, especially not if she skipped the part about her dreams, and the fiend who lingered within them.

No... This was something she had to do, to face, if she was going to truly repent and redeem herself in the eyes of Ashla.

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

It had been a full 12 hours since his jump to hyperspace and he was still not on the planet. It seemed his computer had not updated the new navicomputer data or the data on this area was limited. He held the steering yoke of his ship as he carefully maneuvered through a large asteroid field that hung outside the planet's orbital arc. He had to use the force liberally to keep his mis and reflexes keen enough to not end up squashed by slowly rotating mounds of rock but he was more than halfway through.

He watched more than once as wreckage from unknown ships passed by between asteroids and he had to wonder how many had been lost in this asteroid belt. The thought that hr was on a fools errand occured to him a few times but in each instance his curiosity and the o erwhelming feeling of wrongness here convinced him to press forward.

He slipped his ship around a large asteroid narrowly avoiding another that collided with the first. Smaller asteroids broke off from the two and somewhere through the ship he heard metal tearing. He couldn't asses the damage now but the warning klaxon amd the accompanying red flashimg light told him it wasn't good.

He sealed the cockpit and activated tge maintenance droids that came with the ship and hoped they could get the issue under control while he made for the planet's surface.

He broke out of the asteroid field with a sigh of relief and headed straight for the planet. The pictures on his navicomputer were a lot different from the sight that lay before him now. The world infront of him was almost all brown with obvious lakes, rivers and oceans but where it should have been green and alive it looked dead or dying.

As he got closer he could make out a large temple like structure and a single large tree in line with the temple steps. The tree was massive and seemed to be the only thing left alive in this area at least. So, without further hesitation Seamus sat his ship down nearby the temple and stood.

He grabbed his lightsaber and jacket as well as his old utility belt just in case and buckled it arpund his waist. He walked back and down the voarding ramp as it slowly lowered.

Seamus gasped as he felt the heat of the world long with the pervasiveness of what ever darkness still lingered here. He decided it was best to have a look at the damage to his ship first and then he would meditate and hope answers were more forthcoming.

 

[Lief]

Erida

This ship was not her own.

She hadn't quite adjusted to it during her journey from Deneba, it was much more high-tech than she was used to, it belonged to the Order and she had signed it out for a liberal amount of time. Hopefully it would be returned in one piece, or else the likelihood of the Quartermaster giving her access to more things in the future would be slim to say the least.

A message had been left for [member='Kei Raxis'], there hadn't been time for her to wait around waiting for him to wake, nor did the notion of waking him from his sleep seem at all tempting. No, a note would have to do. Had something to tend to in the Erida System. Back as soon as possible. Commlink Frequency: ####### - simple stuff. Nothing too condemning, after all Mysa didn't fully understand the why of it herself.

So far no message had been sent to her Commlink. Was that a good sign, or was Kei annoyed with her for leaving on such short notice? It could have been either at this point, she didn't know all that much about him in truth, about how he would react to such. But she was his Padawan now, he deserved to know at least something even if she wasn't used to answering to anybody.

Before her sat a whole cacophony of asteroids.

She had paused in her ruminations to stare almost blankly at it, before grimacing. So much for getting the ship back in one piece... But she knew that the answers to her questions lay down there, they had to. Why else had she been drawn to this place? She could sense it now, the taint which had lingered in the Temple after the Alchemical Fiend had done his worst.

A shudder ran along her spine, and for a moment she felt sick to her stomach, uncomfortably so. Tears beaded at the corner of her eyes, before she let out a slow breath and brought her mind back under control.

"You're okay" she reminded herself, "He isn't here..."

But what if he was?

What if he was waiting on the surface of this world? What if this was a trap she was being lured into?

No.

She pushed forward, handing over the controls of the ship to the navi-droid in the hopes that they would do a better job of pressing through without obliterating them. Her eyes closed, and she focused on the Force which ran through all things, even here in the void, even with the pressing darkness sinking in. She pushed it away, kept her focus on the light, as the ship jutted forward.

A few hits to the shields rocked the ship, and she realized that any more would render them useless.

Seconds felt like hours, before they broke on through. The ship rocked some more, before it reached the planet's orbit and began to plummet. She wasn't feeling confident enough to retake the controls so she left that part up to the droid too. Soon enough a black obelisk could be seen against the putrid backdrop. Until a few days ago, in the shower, she hadn't even heard of this world, and to look upon it now she couldn't help but realize why.

There was little in the way of life here, it was sickly... Diseased.

A Jedi respects all life, in any form...

Even this.

As the ship pulled down toward what seemed to be a Temple of sorts, as memories of her last venture involving the Alchemical Fiend tormented her, she noticed another already docked.

She really had fallen into a trap, hadn't she?

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

He walked down the boarding ramp in his simple pants and pullover tunic. His old boots clanged on the boarding ramp as he moved outside and his lightsaber slapped his hip as it hung from his belt. He raised a hand to shade his eyes as he moved out under the Eridan sky. Despite the desolation of the place the white walls of the temple still looked bright in the sunlight and forced Seamus to squint against its brilliance.

He turned his eyes to the ship and noted that serious damage to the outter hull and a few lost scanning components were the extent of the damage. The systems must have malfunctioned from the impact and made it out to be worse than it was. He climbed one of the access ladders on the hull and crouched low to inspect the breach. It had torn deep and the impact had driven a portion of the hull though a wire harness.

"That will take a while to fix." He said as he stood and walked back to the ladder, "Looks like I'll be here for a while."

He began to climb down when he heard another ship's engines whine through the sky. He quickly dropped the last few feet to the dusty ground and moved a hand to his lightsaber.

"Peace, Seamus." he said to himself as he moved his hand away, but an uneasiness tugged at him anyway.

He walked a few feet from his ship his grey tunic moving in the steady breeze that stirred the dusty ground and formed small dust devils that danced away before dissipating. He lifted a hand to block his face as the other ship's repulsors blew more dust and hot air in every direction.

He waited calmly and drew sparingly on the force to strengthen that calm. Who ever it was, they couldn't be here for him and if they wanted trouble he was sure he could find a way to placate them. He watched the boarding ramp area, or where he thought it was and tried to remain relaxed. Whatever darkness remained here needed attention but this would have to come first it seemed.

"Peace, Seamus." He said again, "and The hope of peace."

 

[Lief]

Despite the fact that it had been a black obelisk she had witnessed on the horizon, during their descent, the navi-droid had instead brought her to another, stark white by comparison, and in truth she was grateful for that fact. This was the it, the place, she could sense it.

A sickening sensation ran through her, and for a moment there Mysa swayed on the spot, her already pale skin seeming to worsen as she choked back an unexpected sob. It was as though she was back there, amidst the blood stained halls, with the undead children clawing at her, pulling apart their Master.

Too much.

She closed her eyes, and did all she could to quieten her mind.

There was another close by, she had seen the ship and now she felt the presence, and she knew it was not He, realized that - at least this part - she had not fallen for a trap. No, but there was darkness at work here. What lay within she did not know, she honestly did not want to find out, but months of sleepless torment had led to this point.

The Force itself had guided her here.

And so she made her way to the ramp, feeling for the lightsaber on her belt and drawing strength from its presence there. She did not remove it, instead she reset her hands at her side and ventured out into the sickly setting beyond.

He was there already, the stranger who had arrived ahead of her, he had watched as she arrived, no doubt as confused by her arrival as she was by his presence. Just a few steps brought her down to where he was standing, though she remained a respectful distance from him for obvious reasons, he was neither friend nor foe at this point... And she had no intentions of forging him into the latter.

Dust was still attempting to settle, heavy on the air, causing a small cough from the young woman.

She didn't say anything at first, she sized him up but not with malicious intent and inclined her head by way of respectful greeting. There was something about him, about his presence, that spoke of control.

Hopefully that meant he wasn't the type to aimlessly attack.

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

The air rushed by hot and filled with dust as he held his hand up. The roar of the engines filled his ears and he watched from beside his ship until the other ships engines began to wind down. Dust still hung in the air as he watched the boarding ramp descend. He remained calm as the occupant made her way down the boarding ramp with no signs of anything other than wariness. It was a feeling with which he could relate. The idea that a random stranger would arrive and find him on a world that not only had he never heard of before but one that was from all outward appearances utterly deserted, was neigh on impossible. Unless, of course one factored in the force.

He watched as she stifled a cough and noted the lightsaber on her belt as she moved. The force was at work without a doubt. One lone force user on a world laden with dark foreboding was one thing but two arriving separately within minutes of each other? That was something else entirely. He raised a hand calmly and gave a small smile. Anything more than that felt hard with the creeping sensation that rolled up his spine.

"Hello." He said not really sure what else to say. And what could he say? 'This is destiny' or maybe 'I'm glad you didn't shoot first.' No as most times word escaped him at first.

"My name is Seamus Valik and my ship is damaged. Are you a Jedi?" he asked deciding to just get straight to the point. Time was of the essence and he felt the need to just be as direct as he could.

 

[Lief]

Being this close to the source of her discomfort was sickening.

She could see it out of the corner of her eyes, and though it looked harmless with its stark exterior, she knew in her heart of hearts that what lay within would be enough to turn the stomach of even the most staunch Jedi. It was Master Fer'u all over again, and as she stood there she could see flashes of his disembowelment, enough to force a shudder down her spine and her already pale skin to worsen.

Visibly taking in a breath to calm her battling mind, she gave herself but a moment to wash the Force over her aching form before looking to the man who had finally broken the spell of silence which had come to linger between them.

He was a Jedi.

She could sense as much almost immediately, though his garb did not betray him as such, in fact it almost looked as though he was trying to seem anything but. Some things could not be hidden from one such as Mysa, however, whose focus through the Force had been honed to sense above all else.

After all, it was such which had led her to this point in space, was it not? All the way from Deneba.

"Greetings, Master Jedi," she responded, once again bowing her head toward him. "My name is Mysa Snowstrider, a Padawan of the Deneba Enclave. I am sorry to hear about your ship, if you would like I can have my astromech assist with repairs."

It did not take long for her gaze to drift back to the Temple, however, and once again her stomach turned with discomfort. Surprisingly she took a few steps around him, toward the monolithic structure, and shuddered.

"I have come across the stars, with no knowledge of what awaited me on the other end. Strange that the Force led us both to this point. Do you sense it, Master Jedi? There is an evil which lurks here. It has plagued my restless nights..."

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

Seamus watched her eyes and posture as she looked to him and answered. Against his better judgement he opened himself to the force more fully. He was not a powerful Jedi, not by any means, but even so he could feel the radiating darkness sweeping from the direction of the temple. It was more than what was caused by a catastrophe. This had the feeling of deliberate malevolence. His closed his eyes and forced the dark sensation toward the back of his mind. He shook his head as he looked back at her.

“Please not Master,” He began his voice much calmer than he felt. How had his master been so serene when they had fought the Yuuzhan Vong and One Sith together? “Jedi Valik, if you insist on formality. Just Seamus would be preferable.”

He looked at her manner. The way her eyes kept drifting in the direction of the temple. The uneasiness in her shoulders and the tightness of her jaw. He had spent years as a padawan investigator for the republic and he didn’t need the force to pick up the cues.

“You know what this is…” He began, “Don’t you?”

He didn’t need a reply. He could feel it coming off her aura in waves. Something had scared her deeply. Something that was connected to this place. He took off a glove and bent down to place his hand on the dusty ground. Psychometry was best used quickly after an event to learn what had happened, but with a darkness this intense he was sure he could pick out something.

His eyes closed and he felt himself slip into the past. It wasn’t long ago, there had been a large wound here in the force, sealed by an Order of beings he didn’t recognize. But they had not survived to clear the temple…the temple where a Sith had been busy. He saw a cauldron of blood and beings that looked like animated corpses milling about the corridors. Men, women and children clung to decomposing bodies. It was alchemy and Sith sorcery he was sure of it. He looked up finally as sweat beaded on his forehead and met the young woman’s eyes. His expression grave.

He stood and unhooked the lightsaber from his hip as he turned to look at the temple feeling the gravity of the evil that walked there.

“The ship will wait.” He said with solemn determination, “It seems you’re right. The Force has work for us.”

He took a step and Seamus Valik the private investigator vanished for a moment and Seamus Valik, Jedi Knight took over.


[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

Once again Mysa was met with the presence of a Jedi who did not appreciate formalities.

It was strange to her, she had been raised to be respectful within reason, she hadn't ever had cause to refer to her parents in such a rigid manner, and yet still it seemed ingrained in her - more so now, since her attempted redemption - that she ought to show as much as she did. Master Jedi was a term typically used by civilians, in truth, but Mysa appreciated the sound of it. It flowed somewhat nicely from her tongue, even with her odd accent. An amalgamation of her life on Aurum and on Midvinter.

It took every ounce of willpower to agree to his wishes, "Seamus it is, then," though matters turned more serious in little time at all. And how could they not, given the gravity of the situation they found themselves in, with such a corrupting influence a few yards away from them.

His question gave her pause. For a moment it looked as though she might not answer him at all, before she let out the smallest of sighs.

"I have seen it before. Once. If it is anything like the last time, then what lays inside is beyond comprehension... We will need our wits about us."

Last time she had been driven to madness, with only [member='Thurion Heavenshield'] capable of drawing her from that state, after hours upon hours of desolation he had been the light in the dark, drawn her from the nightmare she had been forced to live.

But she knew what to expect this time.

She knew that what lay inside was not what it seemed, the younglings had not been who they were in life, they had been puppets... And though it had tormented her endlessly, for months afterwards, she had come to realize that the things she had slain had not been them. It was all that stopped the nightmares. All that gave her back her peace.

Mysa watched as he touched the ground, and she could feel the Force shift around him. She remained silent, giving him the focus he required to carry out whatever it was he was doing, while keeping watch. Though she doubted that whatever lay inside would come out, at least not while the sun remained so bright, she could not help but feel wary of their surroundings all the same.

What if the Fiend himself was watching again?

What if an impression of him remained, as it had back then, to taunt her?

What if all of this was a trap meant to lure her in?

When he rose back up she knew he had seen. There was a look in his eye that was unmistakable, it had been within Thurions when he found her, and within her own for days afterwards, and though he understood now the true gravity of the situation, he did not seem to waver. Instead determination washed over him, and Mysa found it infectious.

Though they did have more pressing matters, Mysa still reached for her comms and spoke into them.

"R2-S2, this is Mysa... There is a ship outside of our own which needs your attention."

After all, who knew what would happen to them inside, and whether they might need a quick getaway when all of this was done.

With trepidation she made her way toward the Temple, at the same pace as her new found companion, and already the stench of blood became apparent to her, lingering on the air. Her overactive senses were a blessing and a curse, and she wrinkled her nose in revulsion.

He had been here.

She could sense him now, the closer they got, that Fiend who had been at the center of all her nightmares. Cloaked in crimson, his maniacal grin and laughter, those empty eyes that seemed almost childlike in fascination as he had watched the younglings tear their teacher apart.

This made two.

How many others would there be?

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

He nodded to himself, when she spoke and confirmed his suspicions. He could feel it. A deep invasive evil had been unleashed here he could feel its malevolence clawing for them already. It was almost alive in its lingering corruption which seemed to desire to snuff out the candle of thier lives.

He placed a foot on the first step of the building and looked at the light haired woman who seemed so tortured by this place.

"Whatever happens, Jedi Snowstrider," he began feeling himself fall back into his Jedi self so easily, "We should stay together. A three fold cord is not easily broken. You, I and The Force will be stronger together."

He couldn't remember where he had heard that. Maybe in one of the archives [member="Kana Truden"] had let him read, but either way it seemed appropriate. He took another step, and another after that as they climbed the steps and with each step the smell of blood and decay grew stronger.

He left himself open to the force and formed a candle suspended in a void, in his mind's eye. He moved his lightsaber from his left hand to his right as he walked into the darkness of the white obelisk. His lightsaber activated with a Snap-hiss and cast light infront of him with its yellow blade.

The walls were spattered with blood and viscera. Hand and foot prints painted the floors and walls from beings who had been stained with the crimson liquid of life whether their own or other's he could only guess. He cast a glance at the woman to gauge her stability for a moment. He could feel her strength and for some reason he felt he was here as much to aid her as he was to end this...whatever it was.

"Together, strong." He said with determination. He hoped he would be strong enough.

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

This was it.

There would be no turning back now, as they walked up the steps and happened upon this Temple which had once been filled with life, and light. She kept his words in her mind, she was not alone this time, she had never truly been alone with the Force at her side yet now she had a focus, something she was lacking last time.

It did not help that last time had been unexpected. Now she knew what awaited them, the surprise had been taken away and now only a steadfast resolve lingered. They could do this. They had to do this.

The snap-hiss of a lightsaber blade drew her attention just as the blinding light lit up the room. If she thought the scent of the blood had been bad, then to look upon it proved far worse. Somehow she managed to keep from heaving, and after taking a small breath she too reached for her lightsaber, though she did not yet activate it.

Her eyes were still adjusting from the change in light, after all.

"Together," she muttered in response, as they made their way through the seemingly empty hall, with the only real signs of life being the bloody impressions on the walls and floors, streaks of red life force marring what should have been a beautiful structure.

Straining her ears, she tried her best to listen out for some sort of footstep, breathing... Anything. And when that failed, she turned instead to the Force. It had led her here, all the way across the stars... She felt certain that it could lead them on.

A very faint presence proved her theory correct, somewhere off to their left. Though it was waning fast.

"With me," she whispered, trying not to make too much noise as she veered him off toward one of the antechambers, in the same direction as one of the blood trails, using the presence as a focus to avoid the dread and darkness which threatened to oppress her.

There was somebody, somebody alive, inside the Temple... Hopefully they would have enough time to see to that, before whatever caused their declining health appeared.

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

His azure eyes scanned the white walls and floor. The blood seemed all the more sickening as it clung to the white marble that he imagined had once been so beautiful. The sweet metallic smell of the blood in the air along with the unmistakable scent of decay mingled with the pervasive sense of darkness that permeated everything here. Whoever, and whatever had been here…had caused this, was evil in the purest sense. He moved his feet lightly over the stones to avoid the inevitable echoes of his foot falls as they went. This was a job he would have given to a hundred good soldiers at one time. But, the force had given this task to them, of that he was sure.

He heard the soft whisper of the woman’s voice and gave a simple nod as he moved to her side. He didn’t know what part she had in this, what malignant tumor on her past that made the fear that he had sensed so terribly acute, but he felt suddenly sure that he was here as much for her as he was to end the malevolence of this place. He wished his old master [member="Kana Truden"] were around for some advice right now, but then She had taught him all she could a long time ago. He only wished he had been a faster study.

As they walked, he could here the faint sound of someone or something ahead. The yellow glow of his saber still not strong enough to reach the vaulted ceiling of the antechamber and whatever it was must have been beyond the circle of light that haloed them. His body tensed as another sound shuffled louder from the direction of the first. The unmistakable sound of something being slowly dragged for a moment before stopping broke the silence in intervals and Seamus feared he knew exactly what it was. A being of some kind was dragging themselves deeper into the chamber. Seamus said a silent prayer in askance of the force for guidance and strength as they moved forward. The light slowly drawing nearer the source of the sound.

The light of his saber reached the ends of tattered cloths and blackened feet for a moment before they were dragged back out of sight. He inhaled deeply and moved ahead of his new companion a step. He hoped they person could be helped and that they weren’t being dragged by something else entirely.


[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]

 

[Lief]

For two people approaching a highly vaulted chamber, they were surprisingly quiet in their approach. Of course, noise barely mattered when it came to anything or anyone in the room with them, given that a lightsaber guided their way. This method would at least help them to avoid whatever else may lay beyond the chamber, the last thing they needed right now was to be ambushed on all sides.

She did all that she could to dampen her own insecurities, the memories which arose within her toxic, it did not do for her to have an unclear mind in a moment such as this, she had to trust in the Force - they were not going in blind, if this was anything like the last, her mindset had changed, and she understood that those who had been damned were not living creatures though they may have looked it, they were being suspended by darkness and corruption.

It was not murder, it was a way of resanctifying their remains.

With all of this in mind, with her head screwed on tight, she let out a small exhale of breath, and pressed on. The sight of blackened feet and tattered clothes almost knocked her off focus, but not quite. Instead she steeled herself and followed the man a few steps forward when he overtook her.

A sound from behind, however, left her more worried than the body ahead of them. Even their attempts at being subtle had not worked in their favour, it seemed, and so out of necessity she put her back to his and drew her saber, igniting the purple blade and lighting up just a little more of the chamber.

Reaching out through the Force, she could sense that only one of the beings in the room remained in tact, with a sentient mind, though they were suffering. If they did not act fast, they may lose him... But recklessness could lead to three bodies.

"I sense three undead," she whispered, keeping her back to his in the hopes that they could cover more defense in such a way, "And one living. Stay close, we are stronger together..."

Yet, even as she said that, for whatever reason the creatures beyond their illumination had yet to approach... Were they waiting for something?

[member="Seamus Valik"]

 

[Seamus Valik]

And then they heard it. The silence broken by the unmistakable low wet growl of a mucus filled maw. It split the too quiet air and excited in Seamus a left over evolutionary response to run, hide, and live another day. It was training, faith, and trust in the force and their purpose here that let him hold fast as he scanned the looming darkness for the source of the sound.

His azure eyes squinted against the light of his saber, but he dared not extinguish the yellow blade that had seen him through so much. A heavy dragging step was felt as much as heard and then another before the form that they had followed was sucked into the darkness without a sound.

Seamus put a hand out protectively toward his companion for a moment before he drew it back to hold his lightsaber in a two handed grip. The air grew colder by degrees as another step sounded and reverberated off the vaulted ceiling. Seamus could sense that corpulent rot in the force like a festering sore in the back of his mind swell and pulse like a vile heartbeat that continued beyond its time.

"The force is with us." He said softly though who he was trying to reasure was anyone's guess.

A clawed foot slipped into the light as he slowed his breathing and then the head of a twisted grotesque creature parted the darkness. It's features were wet and twisted with dripping asymmetrical fangs and flattened upturned nose and disturbingly human eyes set into a warty thick skinned face the color of dried blood.

Seamus steeled himself and gathered the force into himself like a compressed spring as he watched the thing move forward dripping sanguine life from its clawed hands.

"Emotion yet peace." He heard himself say as the shambling of smaller bodies came from behind the thing.

[member="Mysa Snowstrider"]