The Drowned Archives

[Darth Abyss]

Katarr, Defiance

It had been long since Abyss had meet with [member="Connor Harrison"], former jedi master, sith and knight of ren that now was wandering on path that belonged to him alone. There was no urgent business between the two, but the Mindeater preferred to keep his allies close. Good relationships in every corner of the galaxy were the only reason why he was able to have his hand reach beyond the borders of his worlds, and Connor had shown to be a useful, wise ally more than once even if his understanding of dark side always had been lacking in the eyes of Abyss. Not all were destined to embrace the darkness, and having those at reach that could see more than a single shade of the force had always brought him new wisdom.

He had send a simple message to his old friend, merely a navpoint and the words "meet me. -A-". Upon following the coordinates Connor would find himself in the city of Defiance, but his path would lead away from the dirty streets and half faded buildings to the shores of the black sea. There a single agent of the Inner Eye, barely distinguishable from the rest of the populace, waited in front of a small aquatic vehicle that would bring him to the new home of the Mindeater, deep below the toxic waters that grazed the edges of his city.


Katarr, The Drowned Archives

The way would lead down through the sea until the vehicle was completely shrouded in darkness, no light breaking through, neither from above or below. After an eternity of drifting through the dark waters a glimpse of light would shine through the shadows, a purple glimpse that eerily lingered in the sea. With every meter the shapes on the ground would become clearer, one a simple underwater station that created the ghostly glow, the other a derelict temple caught in an energy field to keep the water away and only illuminated by the light of station nearby.

Once the vehicle opened inside the energy field the agent would look at Connor, yet he said no word and made no effort to leave the vehicle himself. Only very few exceptionally gifted individuals were allowed the enter the Drowned Archives, and while the Inner Eye was faithful enough to know about the secret location they lacked the connection to force that granted Connor entrance.

There was no clear path that lead to Abyss, but the echo of the Mindeater resounded between the ancient stones to give an general sense of direction. The husk that had once been a man Connor had meet rested in the tainted heart of the temple, a empty room with a gigantic window that shielded it from the endless depths of the Black Sea. Yet he didn't had picked the room for its view. Here the veil between life and death was so thin that it was almost possible to traverse through it, which was why he had dubbed it "The Abyss".

In front of the window stood the eldritch entity, the hollow eyes inside the unmoving mask looking into the emptiness. His metal body was marked by time and war, littered with cracks, deformations and rust making him seem like this fallen archive below the sea had been his home since the beginning of time. His hands were clasped behind his back as he awaited the arrival of his friend.

 

[Connor Harrison]

This ‘A’ had to be the one called Abyss. The first real link between Connor Harrison and his understanding of the Dark Side.

How convenient he would surface again at the same time the former Jedi and Ren did. The coordinates were set, and Connor felt no issue in going to meet this person and understand what he was and what part he was to play in the curtain of darkness falling across the galaxy.

The world was barren, broken and bleak, which only meant it had character and history.

The guide met him, and their path followed the ruins of the city and even below blackened waters into a place light dare not shine. Connor didn’t feel intimidate or on-edge. It was a genuine sense of despair and fear he felt in the walls around him, signalling the darkness within this place.

He walked alone through the cold corridors of stone and rock, following the trail of the Force as a dank, cold chill ran through the air.

A figure emerged in a room, framed by an almost endless void of black sea before them. Connor looked up at the sea and then to the figure. Walking towards him, the being looked... not of this world.

He was intrigued.

"You must be Abyss. The one who started his journey. Connor Harrison no longer walks that path. I am in his place now."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"If [member="Connor Harrison"] is gone, then who stands before me now?"

The words echoed through the room like an icy wind, twisted and distorted as they emerged from the edges of the paper thin veil. Slowly the husk turned around, revealing the grin of eternal mockery that was fixed below the mask that had become face and symbol of the Mindeater. What the former jedi had said was quite interesting. Abyss was far from a stranger when it came to leaving an old life behind for a new one. Twice had he made that step, first when Atton faded into void and was reborn as Abyss, and second when the sith lord shattered the chains of reality and ascended into the realm of spirits and gods.

"The old Connor has more than once believed himself to be reborn. How can I be certain that this is not merely another failed attempt to mirror the path all sith have to walk?"

Abyss had followed Connor's journey for a handful reasons. His connection to Aria, his knowledge about the jedi but most importantly his desires to claim the darkness for himself while refusing to walk that path to its end. Others would've earned only mockery from Abyss for such foolishness, but the odd, almost paradoxical, dedication to shattering his chains had been intriguing. The jedi believed that the dark side was a shortcut to power, but Connor Harrison was living proof that there was more to the powers of the darkness than unleashing the wicked, tainted feelings that were sealed within any thinking being.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor stood still. Confident in his identity and his standing with the Dark Side. The being would not use theatrics and wars of words to make a point he didn't need to.

"Connor Harrison died on Maena along with his Jedi spirit and all hope of redemption. I stand before you as the very manifestation of what failed to be birthed in him. What do you need as proof."

His eyes were certainly more bloodied and corrupt than Connor's ever had been - there was no hope or heavy heart holding this being back now.

"I know his memories. His thoughts. His failures. All that will eventually lead to my strength. You helped him. Now you can help me."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"[member="Connor Harrison"] earned the right to learn what I know. Show me your worth, and I will grant you insight far beyond the comprehension of your little infant mind."

Slowly the slender left claw that had been clasped behind his back rose, pointing at the mind that now possessed the shell that Connor had left behind. Everyone could say that the past lost its meaning, but words said far less than actions. He already knew what test the man had to endure to proof that he was no longer the former jedi but a new being, that his dark rebirth was not a lie this time.

"Connor is dead, but who speaks with his voice? What name marks the broken chains of your old life?"

Names were a quite interesting matter. In many ways they were absolutely meaningless, hollow words that had no substance behind them. Yet with names that were chose and not given it was often different. They were symbols, they were born out of the necessity to show the galaxy the ascend above what had been before. He left a the man a few moments to answer his question, then the twisted tendrils of his mind reached for the man, wrapping the the all devouring void around the thoughts and memories not hidden or defended.

What his mind called wasn't some terrible horror, no simple test of strength and willpower. Instead he summoned an illusion of a woman very well known to both of them, Aria Vale. Depending on what the mind of the man would reveal he would call two more spectres, memories of people that had mattered to Connor in the dark and the light. What the man was asked to do to those rather realistic images of his former friends was obvious if he wanted to proof who he was.

 

[Connor Harrison]

The first question Connor didn't have an answer for.

His eyes looked to the side, searching for a name...a clue....

"I...."

Abyss cut him short, and he watched as the claw-like hand came up. A hand Connor had seen in his mind's eye; one he had used time and time again to reach in and pull the subject's mind to his own.

He looked into the void of his almost faceless face as the transitions started coming forward. Aria Vale. The former apprentice turned to the Dark Side who Connor had failed to sway.

The eyes looked at the image of the girl this being did not overly see as anything but a warrior woman. He then looked back to Abyss.

"The girl was Connor's biggest success but his worst mistake. What do you expect me to do. Lash out? Be angry. She walks her own path, blind or not by what she sees. It is not my concern."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"I want to watch your blade cut her in half."

He knew as well as [member="Connor Harrison"], or whoever it was that stood before him, that the Aria in the room was merely a vision pulled out of the depths of his endless mind. Yet even striking down an illusion offered a method to determine if the man had truly left the past behind or if this was just another failed attempt of a broken man to be whole again. Even if his words said otherwise, his face and his actions would prove that this was no longer the fallen jedi master but a new being that emerged from the darkness.

"No hesitation. No restraint. No remorse. Prove that you are not Connor Harrison anymore."

The dark, twisted laugh of the Mindeater echoed through the room as his left moved, and the illusion changed. Not the Aria of this age, but the young jedi girl Abyss had meet on Malachor in what felt like ages ago, the girl that Connor had trained and raised until they forged a bond that only existed between jedi master and padawan.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Looking to the vision of Aria Vale, and then back to Abyss, his face was emotionless.

To be honest, this was nothing to him. It was part of a game he didn’t have patience to play.

Looking back, the vision bled into the younger Padawan the former Jedi had taken to be Shadow. Full of trepidation, anxiety and a hope to do good. What a waste.

Connor looked to Abyss one more time, and then walked over to the girl who backed away with each step. There was no hesitation, restraint or remorse. The crimson blade fired into life in his right hand and in under a second it carved up and through the young Padawan whose ghostly scream vanished with her.

It was something Aria should have faced as a Jedi – a quick death to prevent her constant hurdle in Connor’s way.

The crimson blade hissed out and the Dark Sider looked to the hollow man.

"Are we done?"

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Yes. Follow me."

With satisfaction Abyss watched as the man that formerly had been [member="Connor Harrison"] raised his weapon and erased the illusion from its shortlived existence. He was mildly surprised that there seemingly was nothing left of Connor besides his body and faded memories, but it was a change that certainly found his approval. The old Connor always had been a little to soft and emotional for a true follower of the darkness.

Soundless steps marked the moment the husk began to walk, leading the reborn man away from his personal chamber and throne room, and into the archives. Bookshelves reached so far into the air that those on top were already shrouded in darkness, out of the reach of common men. Once more the eldritch entity turned to the man, his unnatural voice creeping through the ancient stones.

"What knowledge is it that you desire?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a nod, Connor returned his lightsaber containing the cracked crystal to his side and followed Abyss through.

Now he allowed himself the pleasure of looking around the room paved with books. A library? A sanctum? A study?

"Right now I want to know the state of the galaxy. I want to know who the threat radiates from most. Who are we trying to remove."

He turned sideways to Abyss.

"And after that I want you to tell me why he failed so greatly."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"That is all?"

Not even the utter strangeness of the Mindeater's otherworldly voice could mask the mix of disapproval and disgust in it. [member="Connor Harrison"] believed himself to be a changed man, but he still was searching for an enemy, an agenda to pledge himself to willingly. It had been foolish of Abyss to believe that this empty thing in front of him was more than a crippled shadow of an equally crippled man.

"I know why you failed. I also know why you will fail again."

The husk turned around, facing away from the guest in his drowned halls. It was in Connor's best interest to prove that his change had brought out redeeming qualities that he needed for the path in front of him, because the Prophet was less than forgiving towards those that defiled his sanctum below the black sea.

"When will your little insect brain understand that this realm of existence is meaningless? Bring down an empire and a new one will rise. Erase the jedi, and the light will find another conduit to ensure balance. True power is more than strength on the battlefield, it is the ability to see and manipulate forces beyond the perception of common man."

 

[Connor Harrison]

When the shadowy figure turned away and began to lecture Connor, his eyes narrowed slightly and he took measured steps behind Abyss, following him, keeping distance.

"You will do well to watch your tone, old man. You say he failed, but from what stands before me I see no evidence you live beyond any…realm…bar this one. Where are your tendrils controlling others? Where is your legacy? Beneath a black sea. In a world of your own."

With a shake of his head, he continued walking; not in anger or hate, but a careful walk as he spoke calmly.

"I want to know who is out there so I know who is and isn’t worth my time. I will not waste the time I have now on those no deserving of it. Forgive me, but to perform the best surgery, do you not need to remove certain bacteria’s and growths to remove the poison stopping you in your work?"

He came around Abyss and looked into the void that hid his face.

"I am not your enemy, Abyss. Nor was Connor. He may have failed, but I will not. I am simply forging my place so I can live again as you have. Don’t be foolish in your words."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"You doubt my power?"

There was a shift in the aura around the eldricth entity. The Mindeater never had been a benevolent creature to begin with, but rather an outsider entity that watched over the streams of time with indifference, uncaring what little insects would rise to power because their fall was inevitable. Now following the words of [member="Connor Harrison"]'s remnants this changed. What had been mild interest before turned into open disgust, underlined by the hunger that lingered around the husk.

"You better watch your own words insect, or I will erase you like the meaningless, but quite annoying, little fly that you are."

The entity shook his head, again Turing around from the man. This shadow of the fallen jedi didn't even understood the simplest rule of the sith: Arrogance, like insulting a force that could break him without lifting his hand, was a path on which one only awaited death.

"You are right you are not my enemy. You are a mere afterthought. Now you will learn why you truly failed on your path, if you want to or not. Maybe to guide you or maybe to amuse me. Pick what suits your fragile ego best."

It was like the room had just lost all heat from one moment to another, as the wretched laugh of the husk echoed through the air of the archives. From his back the sith lord reached for his recently forged staff, a powerful arcane channeler that allowed him to traverse the veil at any time he desired. His aura shrunk into a little glimpse, suffocated below the inherent darkness of his home.

"Fe've ir armijio mazo tolus, dotacij nun ana pro tave shiris iv tave guduma." ("Near and yet so far, grant me passage through the realm of the dead")

When the veil lifted, even if only for a split second, Abyss was swallowed by the void that awaited the gifted at the end of their time. The act in itself was so highly unnatural that it resounded in the force, a twisted breeze of hopelessness and dread. A few moments later the sith returned, outside the archives, inside the half faded tunnels and corridors of his sunken home. Once more his laugh echoed, the incomprehensible noise reaching through the structure as a whole.

Connor's lesser self would be forced to find a path through the cursed library on his own, without the Mindeater as his dark guide. On most of the corridors only death awaited those that had not truly opened themselves for the darkness, that still thought about such things as enemies and allies instead of seeing the truth that everyone is merely a pawn to be moved.