The Dawning

[Avo]

​

Night was falling fast, as dawn's enemy threatened to consume the grey light of the summits of the Andobi Mountains and the wintry rush of Ando Prime's snow-driven climate manoeuvred playfully along the ancient stone. Against the dark and the cold rivalled growing flames brought by those who stood along the surfaces of the great rock beasts of the planet, keeping their beings warm and visible against that which wished to consume them. Several circles of robed individuals surrounding humble fires could be seen from afar, though the many flickers of orange paled in comparison to the fierce reds of the blazing fire that stood central to them all, and beside it stood the unmistakable melancholic and mysterious figure of a Diathim, robed and shimmering against the loud flames.

Around her, her closest followers hummed a mantra with themselves, losing themselves to the rhythm of the hypnotic drums that accompanied the low resonance. Some were dancing, losing themselves in the experience, while others simply sat with themselves to consume all that was happening around them, and strengthening themselves internally. The Diathim, towering over them all, turned her gaze from the fierce flames that spoke to her in untold voices, and her sight fell along those closest to her. Her thoughts fell to the mountain and those who had stood here before her, the original Talid monks of the Dai Bendu, from whom she had received intense visions some months earlier. Now, she honoured them, the Force and herself with the presence of herself and those who had chosen to follow. She raised her head and her voice, low, mature and precise, bellowed across the mountain range, intensified as it hummed through the Force.

"Hear my voice. You have joined me on this night for a singular purpose; to become closer to the Force, to realise your true Self and unlock your full potential as servants of the Force and contributors of the Great Work. But what you do not realise is that you are already your true Self, and the Force is already within and around. You need only awaken to see it. When that happens, you shall be invincible." She took a moment to take a long, deep breath, savouring each moment consuming the freezing air. "Some of you may be possessed by delusions of duality within the Force. These are false. Light and Dark do not exist beyond sentient perception. Shatter these illusions and realise the Force in its truest form. It is all-encompassing and does not discern between Light and Dark. Only a fool makes these dualities. The Great Work is all that matters in this lifetime, and the next, and the next. Dedicate yourself to this Great Work and you shall be rewarded infinitely. Breathe deeply. Feel yourself as the Force, and the Force as yourself. Open yourself to cosmic infinity." She took another moment of silence before finishing. "Welcome, children of the Great Work. You have taken your first steps towards self-actualisation."

The oration was met with a unified thrum of agreeing, eery and hypnotic in its response.
"Hear me now. This ancient land is our primogenitor world. It is our forebear, our father. But it shall not be our seat. I shall relay this information to you all in due time. Hear the wind, breathe the air, smell the smoke."
Avo allowed a small smile to creep along her wide mouth as she discovered the means to a new ambition.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Avo"]

Against the backdrop of the abyss emerged a hooded woman, who did well not to fall into the darkness. Boots trampling against the white of snow, she continued her path towards ascension. A gust threatened to blow her into the nearby rocky outcropping, which served to outline the Andobi Mountain top. Alas, the woman held still, cementing her boots into the ground so as to fight against the wind. After a few seconds, the gust past, and the same freezing cold dust was left behind to continue it's assault upon her. The Force was powerful with Darth Vupua, and so she continued her climb with the aide of rage. Ando Prime's snowstorm paled in comparison to her indomitable soul.

Hand reaching onto the ledge, Vupua pulled herself higher, swinging her foots upwards in the same motion to latch onto the side, and heave herself up onto the top. Kneeling on one knee, she lifted her gaze from beneath the cowl of of her robe, as the black fabric fizzled and rattled in the icy wind. Yellow, predatory eyes averted themselves ahead to the nearby robed men, and a single woman, who had turned to the unknown assailant from their fire. Rising to her feet, Vupua brushed the excess snow that had caught itself on her garments, and stepped forward, ignoring the people who had seen her. She was not there for them, and they were unimportant in her eyes.

Moving forwards, Vupua paused and stopped, overhearing the strands of conversation. Reaching out with the Force, the Dark Lord of the Sith determined that the mystic she had learned about was among the throng of robed men and women who had gathered around another fire. Despite her inner rage fueling her desires, Vupua admitted that the fire that sat between the people was inviting. She longed to be warm again, in defiance of Ando Prime's cold. Teeth chattering, Avedia stepped forward towards the group and asked: "May I join you?"

 

[Avo]

Long moments of silence fell as many small pockets of new followers of Avo's emerging work began to return to their own temporary abodes amongst the campsite, leaving the new arrival and their teacher to commune without disturbance, while some hung back to observe the curious new meeting. Avo, meanwhile, maintained a diligent stillness towards the cloaked newcomer, her black eyes burning with intense curiosity, awe and caution towards them. There was something unusual about this one. She was no initiate, and she emanated with an energy that was both equally imbalanced and intoxicating to dwell upon. She breathed inward long and heavily, enjoying this new presence to herself a while, before allowing her thoughts to echo through the cold of the mountain towards the mysterious woman.

~You are no newcomer to the Force. In fact, you far surpass myself, and there is something unaligned about your power. Yet you are strong. For what purposes do you come here?~

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Avo"] |

Vupua turned her gaze, watching some of the cloaked men and women rise up from their perch, leaving the warmth of the fire to return to the nearby huts and mannequins that were erected across the mountain side. Her gaze averted from those leaving to the ones who had stayed behind, so their curiosity could be sated. She felt the Force in the people who had left, and those who had stayed behind. She assumed that the people who had gotten up and walked away had done so because they knew the mystic would want to speak to her alone. Or, perhaps, they felt the dark side surrounding Vupua and scarpered away out of fear. Either one felt satisfactory for the Sith. She wanted to speak to the mystic alone.

Climbing over one of the logs, Vupua lowered herself down onto the ledge and stretched her hands towards the fire. It's warmth was comforting against the backdrop of freezing cold. "I have come to learn my future," replied Vupua, her voice carried through the cold gusts towards Avo.

 

[Avo]

The witch pondered the woman a long while, analysing her sidelong, her dark slits narrowed and focused upon her person. A most intriguing claim from one so strong in the dark side of the Force. Her own visions had offered her valuable insight into her own future, and had confirmed a great deal of truths about the Great Work that she was obligated to realise and build upon. She had also seen that truth in the many who had come to follow her, and she took it as her duty to assist these people in realising such potential. But this young woman who stood before her now came with such undiluted and open-ended pursuing that it gave the Diathim mystic reason to hesitate a while as she dwelled on the purpose of this practitioner's mysterious and sudden visitation.

She quietly waved away the remaining stragglers around the campfire, and turned her gaze to the fire that burned behind her. For several long moments, she casually glided her hand through it, unflinchingly. Finally, as her hand moved slowly through flame, she spoke out loud to her guest.
"The temperature of this fire means nothing to me. Hot and cold is inconsequential to my species. Why, therefore, do I have such a magnificent fire by my abode when it serves me no practical purpose? Because I care for my fellow students? Perhaps, yes, but this is not the true purpose. So why else might I have this great flame beast?" She allowed a moment for the question to sink in before continuing at a calm pace. "Fire is a metaphor for one aspect of the Force, and the beast of ice and stone upon which stand amidst this space is metaphor for another aspect." Avo turned to look to the woman, and sat opposite her. "I do not refer to the Dark and the Light, for they are illusions. Rather, I speak of the transition points in the cycle of all existence, the countless contrasts in everything, and the spaces and realms inhabited by the many manifestations of the Force. There is life, and there is death, and both are of the Force, and both are the Force itself, just as much as the Force are them each. It is countless, and it is important to be aware of it all. Therefore, we stand between metaphors of the mystic journey through the Force and its infinite facets. The fire brings light and it brings warmth, but that warmth cannot exist without the dark and the cold that surrounds it, just as the dark and cold cannot exist without this light and warmth to bring it into existence. This journey, and understanding such, is what I call the Great Work."

A long moment of silence followed, and Avo stared at the young woman. Despite the aura of foreboding that surrounded her, she was slight and the potential of delicacy might one day had found itself about her person, but alas her deeply rooted connections with the dark side of the Force had diminished such potentiality for the moment. The witch spoke again, more quietly and intimately.
"Tell me, who are you?"

[member="Avedia Lacroix"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Avo"] |

Vupua listened. Her gaze involuntarily averted itself from the mystic Diathim towards the fire, as if guided towards it by the woman's voice. The Sith drew comparisons to the Great Work to that of the Grand Plan. The most complicated of designs, constantly evolving and changing with the time, so as to compensate the enemy and their machinations. Darth Vupua was not blind to the enlightenment of the Force. She knew of Sith who concentrated on the mere facets of hate, rage, pain and fear. These were useful emotions, tools which could mold the perfect warrior who wielded a glorious purpose. But Vupua was not just a warrior. She was a scholar. Mathematician. Businesswoman. Scientist. And so she was open to what could bring about the glory of her Great Work.

Hands still raised above the fire, Vupua's yellow eyes were enlightened in the embers of flame. "My name is Vupua. I am the Dark Lord of the Sith."

 

[Avo]

As she had suspected. Her power in the Dark Side was obvious to her, and just by sensing her aura would one become aware of how deeply steeped within the pools of darkness this woman had been, so much so that she clearly had gained a very high level of command upon the Force through such darkness. Avo's black eyes watched the Sith.
"Ah yes, the Dark Lord of the Sith, and yet there are so many Dark Lords. Please indulge me a while, Vupua. Your power is not to be ignored. You are truly strong in the Force. Yet why do you allow yourself to be limited by your strong alignment to the Dark? Would you not agree that the Force encompasses all, and all facets of understanding pertaining to it would lead to even greater strength, to even greater power?" Her voice, mature and low, crackled against the fierce fire behind her. "Ah, but then I suppose power is not everything." She smiled once more, a grin that seemed twisted in the half-light.

[member="Avedia Lacroix"] ((sorry for such a delay!))