The Gravity of Silence

[Ereza]

"You are a skilled fighter, Lord Gravis."

Some time later that day, after Jake had steeled away his troubles, Ereza called the man to a chamber he'd never been into before. It had been a place of private study for Silencia during her time spent here as Mal'ary'ush, and though she'd never bared the man from entering before she'd also never invited him. Here he was today, hundreds of years later, at the apparent whim of this new person.

"The Noghri warriors speak highly of you. I am not deeply familiar with their people, but I understand enough of their heritage to recognize a rare compliment when I hear one."

There was the gentle look of a smile to her eyes as she watched him from where she sat at a workbench. Apparent to the state of things was the untouched nature of this chamber for centuries. It had not seen the key to its lock in just as long, but some effort had been put into cleaning things up a bit. The table at which the woman sat, for instance, had been cleared and cleaned some time ago evident by the gleam of the polished wood where everything else remain covered in ages of dust and abandon. Scrolls, books, manuscripts, odd artifacts littered the table now at the behest of a woman deep into the throes of research and learning.

"Please, have a seat," she gestured to the empty chair across from her and waited for the man to do as he will. Sitting or standing, she would continue: "I've asked you here because I wanted to show you a few things that I hope will help you better understand. You said you did not know much of my people, of the Lady's people. I wish to educate you."

 

[Jake Daniels]

The Noghri had gotten the best of the Knight. Stronger, faster, and healthier. This impromptu sparring match was meant as a release of pent up anger (though there was still much). The sound of the steel against steel. The feel of his own sweat. The mind of an aged warrior racing to try and keep up with a more nimble opponent. With the end of the sparring match coming a few minutes after Ezeras arrival, Jake politely returned the blade to its rightful owner.

Slow and steady the pair walked through the temple. Jakes body was screaming at him in protest for what he had just done. Perhaps... just perhaps... he would relent and try to find some form of rest this evening. The man just wasn't... right.

When Ezera made her remark about the Noghri, Jake was quick with a response, "A warriors respect to another warrior. Etiquette. Nothing more. Nothing less."

The room he had been led to was a room Jake knew of well. The key words being knew of. The Knight knew the layout of the temple like the back of his hand. He had trained here. Lived here. Loved here. Some rooms he had been invited into. Others he had not. It was those that Jake of old would never step into. Now? He just didn't care. Why should he? To the man his Master thought so little of him that she continued on living centuries with her apparent favored while Jake slept.

He sat opposite of Ezera, listened respectfully, but just like before was quick with a response. "I knew just enough to keep her and myself alive. Her's, er' your, species is long lived. Sturdier bodies than that of a human though you need "sustenance" to keep it going. Emotionally void, even now I ponder if your people can truly feel. I knew just enough to keep herself and myself alive."

A faint smile appeared on his lips as he took in the smell of the room. Old ink and aged paper. Nice combo. "I did not intrude on her privacy. Even when it came to her people. She told me what she wanted. That's all. Take it as I know the barest of basics."

 

[Ereza]

A quiet nod offered in response.

"My people are called Shjar-an..." Ereza pulled from a stack of tomes to her left the top-most book; leatherbound and showing the age of years quite possibly as old as her, as old as the Shamalain Matriarch. It settled upon the table with a dull thud, the sort of sound only history made when presented in such compact form. A bare cover folded open to the first page, inked by hand on faded and textured paper.

The Lanu Prophecies of the Garhani​

"Some have described us as vampires for this sustenance we seek, but it is not so. We are far from the mythical undead though our needs are very similar. There are four races; the Highblood Aszai, the Lesserblood Uszen, the Blackblood Naszri, and the Sageblood Eirae - separated by certain physical attributes and metaphysical capabilities but connected by a much greater range of similarities. We are, as you say, a long-lived people, averaging in lives of 200 years. My race and that of the Lady - the Aszai - we and the Eirae are the longest lived; it is common for our people to live to 500 years. The Lady has lived well beyond seven centuries ... a much less common lifespan for any of us. I am only just past my fourth."

Ereza took a moment to let this information sink in, not knowing just how informed Jake was of his Master's age considering how little he knew of their kind. Seven hundred years was a long time to live.

"You say that we are emotionally void. That we do not feel. But these things are wrong, our people do feel deeply but when you live for so long you learn much more about yourself than you can imagine. We are not ruled or defined by our emotions ... we learn to Master them. It is a necessary function for the mind to live and remain whole when gifted with such longevity."

[member="Jake Daniels"]

 

[Jake Daniels]

He was polite. Sitting and giving Ereza his fully undivided attention as she explained the what she and his Lady Silencia were. Five centuries was the average life span. His Lady Silencia was past seven; well past her peoples typical expiration date. As she moved about a page here and there, the Knight remained unflinching in both posture and expression. Blood. He had a vague idea of what sustenance his Lady Silencia required but it was never taken from him by anyone in the family. She had told him that it was due to his importance but for Jake, it was simply a personal belief that he wasn’t good enough.

There it was; the negative self-deprecation that had always been a part of his belief system.

When Ereza spoke of emotion and how her people Mastered theirs, the Knight perked a brow. There was no one in the galaxy who was more intimate with emotions than Jake. The man was simply driven by them. “You cannot control emotions. Regardless of how hard you try. You either use them or you nullify them. I have been with my Lady Silencia for decades. If she, and by extension you, are so in control of your emotion that you do not physically display them, humans have a phrase for that. Bottling them up. Eventually that bottle will become too full and either spill over or shatter. Either way, there will be an emotional outburst.”

Jake rubbed his hands against his face and leaned forward in his chair. Both hands rubbed against each tired and sore knee. “You may think that you are in control of your emotions but one needs to ask, at what point does that control you speak off turn into a nullification of feeling. I firmly believe that is what my Master had accomplished. She has shut them off. She may think she feels. You may think she feels. Yet I have been with her for decades and can testify that her stony cold expression never faltered. She has become void of feeling. ”

He let out a sigh, “But what do I know? I’m no bookworm psychologist. I’m just a feeble human who barely has his own marbles together.” It was time for a topic change. The prospect that his Master did feel on an emotional level, but never expressed it to him, was infuriating. “You say shes longer lived than most but dying. You mentioned she has denied herself what she needed. Well hell, lets get her what she needs. The old bat isn’t leaving this plane of existence before me. Hell no. You're the brains. I'm the brawn. Let's find us a loophole here."

 

[Ereza]

"I expect a human not to understand the complexities of Garhani minds. How could you with such short lifespans? We do not think nor feel in the same manner as humans, nor do we exhibit signs of emotions that humans are capable of sensing or seeing. You look at us and you think human because we look like you, but we are not. We are very far from it - aliens to your and your kind."

She had been warned the man was hard-headed, that her efforts of educating him might very well be wasted. Ereza had called him here accepting of these factors, willing to try despite a dim hope of return on investment. He should at least know, be aware of the ones he called family. The man, was, after all, distant family to her and family meant a great deal to her people. His determination was winning but falsely placed. Ereza gently shook her head.

"What is done cannot be reversed, Lord Gravis. I realize it is difficult to accept knowing the things she was once capable of and having the history with her that you do, but please realize you are not the only one who has lost and is losing family. It is difficult for me as well."

 

[Jake Daniels]

This conversation was not getting either of them anywhere. Ezera, in her own way, was showing to be as hard headed in her silvery tongued replies as Jake was renowned for being. She viewed him as too young to truly understand complexities while Jake viewed her as someone whom lost touch with what it truly meant to feel. Debating emotions, between man and woman, Human and Garhani, would simply continue a circular path that had no end.

Jake leaned quietly back into his chair, "Difficult for you? I've buried my wife, both of my sons, and now I lose the last person I love. I now have to bury the last of the family that cared about me, well, in her own way." His gaze befell the Lady, "Let's just get to it then. Why am I hear? Really? No bullsh!t. No lies. Is it really just to say goodbye because if you know me and my history with her, I don't say goodbyes easily?"

 

[Ereza]

"You are here to understand," the reply was simple, as if she had just told the man that the sky was blue or a knife was sharp, "that what you view as abandonment and treachery was neither of those things."

The woman paused, pulling in a slow and steady breath before allowing her gaze to break from the man across the table and seek out a scroll to her left. Unbound easily by her fingers, she pulled the lengths of parchment open and spread it across the desk. What it showed as a hand-drawn family tree bearing the Shamalain crest. It was ... exceptionally expansive.

"When the Gulag Plague struck it left very little time to plan but the Lady had always tried to be prepared for every eventuality. She had foreseen a great darkness overtaking the galaxy but even she could not know the nature of this looming fate. In an effort to save her family and lineage from disaster she did what any matriarch would do: she made a plan."

"The first to die was her youngest daughter Anhedonia, soon followed by her only son Amadeus who you knew as Dissero. Her husband, Lord Halcyon, was taken as well," Ereza's fingers trailed across the family tree as she listed off each name, drawing down to the branch where Cerusia Shamalain resided. She tapped gently, "Your sons, her grandsons, fell next, and then your wife - her eldest and most beloved daughter. Six bodies. Six loved ones stolen from her. She was immune, as was her granddaughter Quietus ... and you. Do you know why she put you into stasis, Lord Gravis?"

A glance up, pointed but calm, "Because she had a plan for her family, surviving and not, which included you."

Another breath, she did not give Jake a chance to interrupt, "Samples of every offspring had been collected years prior. DNA that would hold the key to their reincarnation. The Lady kept a cloning facility and created new bodies for each of you. Even you, Jake Daniels."

"There is another element of our people that you are not aware of. That we have perfected the art of soul-sorcery and that Master Sorcerers have the power to trap souls into honed gemstones. Traditionally the art was used to create a product called Blodwyne - an alternative to bloodfeasting. The stones held the souls of the creatures culled for the drink and imbued the final product with its living essence to sate our bloodlust in a more ... humane and civlized manner. But this Sorcery has also been used to keep those who leave us too soon, close. To give them a chance to return."

"You are here to make a decision, Lord Gravis. To accept or not accept the Lady's final gift. She has kept the souls of your sons since their dying day. She wishes to give them back to you in the bodies she has made for them."

 

[Jake Daniels]

He listened on every word. He had no choice. Ereza spoke of his Lady Silencia's family, that including her dumbass husband, a Lord that made Jake's skin crawl. No man had ever been good enough for his Lady Silencia. He ensured he had always been a devastating thorn in every suitors side. His loss was no big deal. Good riddance in the Knights mind. The others though. He remembered their deaths all too clearly. Yet what Ereza spoke of next shook the Knight to his core.

Still he listened as treachery was revealed. Still he listened as betrayal filled his ears. Had his Lady Silencia openly withheld plans from Jake to ensure the survival of the family? Why? He was her

His Lady Silencia had been a busy woman. Unfortunately for her, she made one royal fuck up; she didn't include the only man that had always been there for her from her plans. Clones? Souls in Gems? What the hell was Ereza talking about? All six of her fallen, plus Jake, had clones sitting on ice someplace? Now Ereza had the audacity to propose something so ludicrous?

"All this time she could have brought them back and didn't? The Plague hasn't been active for centuries now. Still she lets souls rest in Gems?" Something else didn't escape his attention though. Ereza mentioned his Sons... but made no mention of his Lady Reticea. That would be addressed later.

"You expect me to believe any of this? Prove it." Jake said coldly. "Let me see these clone bodies."

 

[Ereza]

"It takes time," Ereza's tone remained level and unshaken, "to prepare for such things. There were complications during the 400 year darkness. Some of the clones and gems were damaged. It took more time, then, to fix them. Time yet, still, before everything would have been ready."

"You were awaken by an outside source one hundred years too early, Lord Gravis. Something the Lady had not accounted for nor was she capable of stopping. Since then this deviation from her vision has set a course of further splinters. A domino effect, if you will, of greater and worsening ripples. Now she salvages what she can with the power that she has left. You are not a victim of abandonment, merely uncontrollable circumstance."

Ereza glanced at the family tree beneath her fingertips, eyes briefly fluttering to the distance branch of Silencia's own mother and three sisters. This tree did not contain herself, but one of these other pages did. A page full of dead people's names.

"Let me see the clone bodies."

"Very well," a simple answer. The woman stood from her seat, lifting her hands to adjust the silk cowl covering her head and face before quietly stepping around the table and out of the room.

 

[Jake Daniels]

Outside source? Ah. Yeah. The madwoman whose bones now sit in the bowels of an ancient Sith temple on some backwater desert planet. So his Master had things working well into the future. Ironic. He awoke too early, a century to be exact. A question needed to be asked however, if she were dying now, what would happen in a century? Would he have still been a Popsicle? Lost to time as a forgotten relic of an ancient past?

As Ereza fixed her scarf, Jake pushed himself up with a huff. He followed on Ereza's heels, shutting the door behind them quietly. Unlike many others, Jake didn't use the force willy-nilly. If he was capable of a simple task, he'd perform it. There was more to Ereza than she was letting on. She was as selective in what she revealed about herself as Jake was.

"I'm not sure how I feel about myself being cloned. Another frozen me?" Jake asked to himself, albiet aloud. "Like one of me hasn't been burden enough on this family." He remained once pace behind Ereza, to her right. Cautious. Careful. His Lady Silencia may have trusted her, but Jake didn't. Not yet at least. "You mentioned that some of the clones and gems were damaged? How?" Jake asked. "It's not as though my Lady Silencia is careless in her endeavors."

 

[Ereza]

"I understand that perhaps time has passed very differently for you while you slept, Lord Gravis," Ereza walked the length of the long temple halls, passing by Noghri of various ranks and practices without so much as a glance to them or they to her and the man.

"You must feel as though your past was only just a short while ago, on the contrary - nearly 500 years have passed. A great deal has happened to the galaxy, to this planet, and this temple, in that time. Things that could not be contained or predicted or stopped. I do not know the exact circumstances of how the clones or the gemstones came to be damaged, this is not something the Lady has spoken of in detail or at length. What is important to take away from this is that a great deal of time, care, and effort was put into repairing them."

She spoke no more on the subject as their path lead to a central spiral staircase made of granite. Down they went, deep into the unlit depths of the heart of the temple. Deeper yet than any levels Jake would have traversed before. As their surroundings grew darker the illumination of Ereza's eyes became steadily more intense until their peculiar nature of dual-hued optics became quite clear. When the woman paused to look at Jake in the darkness she presented a right eye of pale gold and a left eye of glacial blue. Scars and freckling that bore a faint luminescence shone on what little of her face could be seen - fading only as they approached a massive black doorway.

"You are disturbed by the idea of having a cloned body, Lord Gravis?" she asked, seemingly perplexed by this reaction of his, "The body does not thrive until a soul is placed inside it. She created it for you to give you a second chance at life when your human body inevitably failed you - so that you might live as long as your wife and children."

Ereza turned from Jake towards the security panel of the door and began the complex process of unlocking them with code, amulet, and lastly a sampling of blood from a slice to her thumb. When it finally opened to a chorus of groaning gears and pinging electronics, what met them was another broader, darker hall within lined by cryostasis chambers. At least a dozen stood, faintly backlit by pale blue light, containing the fully-matured clone bodies of numerous Shamalain family members, a few strangers he'd likely not recognize, and one of himself. His sons were there, as though sleeping safely all along.

Jake might notice after some time that several of them were empty and some faces were missing. Notably: Merovign, Cerusia, and Anhedonia Shamalain.

There also did not seem to be a clone of Silencia herself.

[member="Jake Daniels"]

 

[Jake Daniels]

He listened as Ereza spoke. He followed her steps through the temple. When she spoke of time, Jake remembered a quote from one of [member="Cerusia Shamalain"] many books that he had taken a moment to read. “The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” That quote was never truer than it was now. Ereza spoke that nearly five centuries had passed. Jake’s mind simply struggled to comprehend that. To him, it felt like a year or so since his family’s deaths. The look on his Lady Silencia’s eyes, the gaze they gave one another as Jake was forced into the cryo tube still haunted him as though it had just happened yesterday. Five centuries though?

Ereza explained that she wasn’t familiar with the issues that occurred regarding the clones nor the gemstones. By her words, the galaxy, the planet and the temple had all changed over time. That was something Jake knew all too well. He still felt like a relic out of place in an environment not his own. Like a ghost drifting through a place it did not know as its own. The Noghri did what they could to make Jake feel at home. His smuggling companions even helped him rebuild a home that had long been forgotten; long since abandoned and left to rot. She then explained that a great deal of care went into repairing them. Jake could only ponder about what he just got himself into.

When Jake was guided into parts of the temple he had never stepped foot in, the Knight did what he could to keep a very close eye on Ereza. He needed to stay a step behind to ensure he did not lose sight of her. His eyes were old and tired, not like Ereza’s which seemed to light up in the dark. When they approached a massive black door, Jake used the moment to bend over and rub his aching knees. Stairs. They had become yet another bane to his existence.

“A clone isn’t me.” Jake replied sharply.

Pushing himself back into a full stand the Knight was quick to add, “You’re right. A body isn’t a body unless a soul is within it. Yet what’s to say it doesn’t have a soul? That it doesn’t have a consciousness? What is a soul? What gives consciousness? Is it some unseen entity dwelling within a physical vessel or is it nothing more than electrical impulses in the brain? What makes me, well, me?”

Jake was being a bit more philosophical than normal. Usually this sort of discussion was best saved for his Lady Silencia and his Lady Reticea. “Again though, forgive my ignorance. I am a trained assassin turned guardian. I’m not known for having that much of an intellect when compared to others in the Shamalain family.”

As Ereza turned to fiddle with some sort of locking mechanism that Jake was unfamiliar with, he pondered on her final statement though. That of his wife and children. He had to correct her on one thing that she did get wrong however. When he heard the sound of gears grinding and spotted the door opening, the Knight feel silent. He’d correct Ereza later. Even in this darkened area of the temple Jake knew what he bore witness too. Crytostasis tubes and several of them at that. They lined each side of the hallway. He didn’t wait for an invitation to enter. He simply went.

“Holy hell.” Jake mumbled as he began to look over the first of the tubes. It held someone he didn’t recognize. He knew the person to be a Shamalain but that was it. It seemed his Lady Silencia had kept some people hidden away from him.

“Heh… so much for being this family’s Guardian.” The Knight spoke as he went to the second tube which was surprisingly empty. It was the third and forth tubes that caused him to stop dead in his tracks. Opposite the first two, Jake placed a hand on the first.

“Lysander.” The body within was identical to that of his oldest. It slumbered within. Quiet and peaceful. It was far different form the sick son that Jake had buried.

“Romano.” The name slipped softly from his lips as his eyes began to swell. The sight of two bodies, those of his sons, was nearly unbearable for the man given the last images he remembered was of their sickly frames being lowered into caskets. Yet for Jake this was a paradox. Two bodies were here and two bodies were in the earth at the manor.

He stood, staring between the two for several painfully long minutes. His eyes scanning the entirety of their bodies. He scrutinized every aspect he could. Toes. Fingers, their joints, jaw lines. Everything. Yet nothing was amiss. Everything was as it should have been. Jake knew his sons. These bodied were truly identical to the ones he buried; save for the fact that they held no ill-infection.

Tube to tube Jake went. Like the first, some he did not recognize. Some were empty. The final tube once more brought the Knight to a dead stop. Inside was a fully formed vessel. Inside was a body that Jake couldn’t deny being envious of; his. Just glancing over the flesh, there were no battle scars. There were no burn markings, nor blemishes. It was as he had been in his youth; perfect and clean. The one part Jake lingered on the longest were the knees. Unlike his boney joints, these were thick and full. The tendons within were not worn down and depleted. His right hand gently rubbed his left thigh in a feeble attempt to ease the pain within the knee. Even the nose held a straight ridge. Unlike his current that seemed to divert ever slightly from a previous break, this body was pristine.

“Earlier you mentioned that this was meant to help me live as long as my family. A cloned me wouldn’t live as long as them. I am a pure human. They were not. I’ll be lucky to even see another two decades before something vital in my body gives out. Perhaps my aorta blows? Perhaps the plaque in my arteries finally clogs enough to shut me down? Maybe my heart just stops? Or worse yet, perhaps the last bit of my sanity leaves me and I suffer dementia or even alzheimers. Humans are a fragile species after all. No matter what, they’d would have long outlived me. I would be nothing but a footnote in this family’s history; if even that.” He explained.

Negative? Yes. Realistic? Absolutely. Jake had learned a valuable lesson. He had to expect the worst. He didn’t even both hoping for the best. Why would he? The galaxy had taken everything away from him. Everything. Even the family he had long served, that he had married into, had forgotten all about him.

“Look at these here.” Jake pointed to the bodies he didn’t know. “I was supposed to protect this family and yet here are people I don’t know. I bet everyone here knew of each other; except me. And what about the emp…”

Jake’s voice fell silent for a brief moment as he eye’d the empty tubes. It was here it clicked. People were missing. Between the shock of seeing himself, of seeing his sons, and of seeing the bodies of those he didn’t know, Jake realized those he did were not here.

“I can account for two.” Jake said, in obvious reference to Quietus and Dissero. He’d met Quietus and her family for a few hours. Dissero he hadn’t though he knew he was out there. Regardless if they were clones or not; they lived. Two others were missing. “Where is my Masters body? Surely you could have just transferred her essence into a clone? Well hell, you could have put her in mine.”

Then Jake came to the first empty tube that faced both of his sons. His eyes went from it, to his sons, then back again. It finally clicked. “Where is Lady Reticea?”

[member="Ereza"]​

 

[Ereza]

“You’re right. A body isn’t a body unless a soul is within it. Yet what’s to say it doesn’t have a soul? That it doesn’t have a consciousness? What is a soul? What gives consciousness? Is it some unseen entity dwelling within a physical vessel or is it nothing more than electrical impulses in the brain? What makes me, well, me?”

Jake was being a bit more philosophical than normal. Usually this sort of discussion was best saved for his Lady Silencia and his Lady Reticea. “Again though, forgive my ignorance. I am a trained assassin turned guardian. I’m not known for having that much of an intellect when compared to others in the Shamalain family.”

"Where I come from," Ereza said quietly, standing off to the side to allow Jake space and time to observe the tanks and the bodies within, "the soul is the collective entity of every experience, memory, emotion, and thought garnered over one's life, we call it Eonei. It grows with each living day, like a tree, it is what makes you - you." Her eyes passed over each frozen face in turn, baleful in the dim blue light of the expansive chamber, "but these bodies do not have souls because they have not lived. Not yet. The potential to grow one resides within each. Any of these bodies could be awoken without implanting a soul from a gem and given the chance of a new and free life of their own, to become their own person and develop their own soul."

A short breath, a faint shake of her head, "But that is not their purpose."

Watching him look upon his sons was a curious affair. Ereza studied him, felt out the waves of emotional energies the man gave off. It was bittersweet and strangely enough drove forth feelings of envy from the woman. There was no one in her family that could be brought back for her like this. No measures had been taken for such things - then again, mortality was viewed differently on Garhall. The passing of life from one body to another not quite the same as how this worked here. Reincarnation had continued to be a strong belief of the Garhani, even if the more modern-day generations did seem to be growing distant from their historical myths.

“Earlier you mentioned that this was meant to help me live as long as my family. A cloned me wouldn’t live as long as them. I am a pure human. They were not. I’ll be lucky to even see another two decades before something vital in my body gives out. Perhaps my aorta blows? Perhaps the plaque in my arteries finally clogs enough to shut me down? Maybe my heart just stops? Or worse yet, perhaps the last bit of my sanity leaves me and I suffer dementia or even alzheimers. Humans are a fragile species after all. No matter what, they’d would have long outlived me. I would be nothing but a footnote in this family’s history; if even that.” He explained.

"That is correct, even another human body of your own would not survive the lifetime of your family. That is why this body has been enhanced with the DNA of our kind," she replied, blinking up at it, "it is a genetically modified hybridization of human and Aszai Garhani DNA - maintaining all manner of our strengths, including our longevity, to a degree. Natural hybrids -- what we call halflings -- have shown to be capable of living for several hundred years when in good health. It was the Lady's hope that this body would help you feel ... closer to her family and bloodkin."

The differences were not readily visible - not from where they stood. Jake had been strong and physically capable as a young man in his prime and what he saw floating in that tank would appear nigh identical to his younger self. The differences would only truly be appreciated while inhabiting the body - felt and experienced rather than seen.

To his last questions she stepped forward, gaze panning across the various tanks, "This tank housed Lord Dissero's clone - that was awakened over 30 years ago as an infant, his soul gem was cracked and a complete transfer could not be made. The Dissero that lives today is not the same as the one you met in your past. He has no memory of his former life. That tank belonged to the Lady's last child, Anhedonia. It was one of the clones that was damaged and salvaged. She was reborn as the male raised by Lady Quietus on Onderon and is now called Arathul. The Lady Quietus refused to allow a clone be made for her but she was immune to the Gulag Plauge and lived through the 400 year darkness - there was no need."

Ereza paused as he asked after Silencia's clone, quietly moving off towards the very first tank where she looked upwards at the empty case, "The Lady's clone was here. It was awakened as an infant and, like Dissero, allowed to grow and develop its own soul. You knew her clone as the Lady Amorella who was killed during the Omega attack on Kuat."

“Where is Lady Reticea?”

At this Ereza look to the man, expression unreadable as hidden as it was behind her silks, "The Lady Cerusia has been awoken, however there were complications."

[member="Jake Daniels"]

 

[Jake Daniels]

His Lady Silencia had cloned herself. She had thought that far enough ahead yet… that cloned turned into Amorella? Jake then glanced back towards his own clone. Reassuring himself of his suspicions. There was an entity in that formed brain; just not Jakes. Now Amorella was gone. That stung a bit. Though he wasn’t close to Amorella by any means she has been kind to him. They didn’t see eye to eye on everything and she had abandoned him back on Honoghr after refusing to take Jake to Kuat. At least he now knew why. As he had protected the family, she must have wanted to protect him from whatever happened on the planet that took her life. She’d be missed though it would be just another member of the family Jake had failed to serve and protect.

Then came the gut punch.

‘Trust is a big word for me. Loyalty and trust, for me, are everything. It’s the core of what I’m about and what the people around me hopefully are about. It’s a certain thing that gives you a sense of security. It’s the biggest factor in everything I do.’

That quote rang through Jakes mind as his eyes narrowed at Ereza. The man of wild emotion allowed the dark passenger to stir within him. The darkness that he had tapped into for so long in his life crept outward from the depths of his soul, consuming his physical form to the extent that once blue iris’ had now turned a bright yellow. Jake was pissed. He was royally and unequivocally angry. His jaw clenched tight. His teeth ground loudly as he ever carefully thought on what Ereza had just revealed to him. This family had performed yet another big kark up against this Knight; this loyal servant to the Shamalain family. How much bigger were they going to dig the trench they found themselves in with Jake looking down from above?

“Excuse me?” Were the only words that slipped his mouth as his entire body turned towards Ereza.

Jake didn’t fear this woman. He feared no one. Not anymore. The opinions of what this family had thought of him, the feelings they shared about him, that had been everything to him. Yet, revelation after revelation painted a stark contrast between what Jake had thought himself to be and what he actually was. It was painful. It downright hurt and that sucked. There was just no beating around the bush.

“What exactly do you mean her clone was awoken?” His eyes narrowed ever slightly more. “So my wife was cloned, something I was never privy too prior to my own cryosleep. She is then awoken and at any time in the past year… at any moment… Amorella or my Master could have told me? You’re telling me… my wife is roaming this galaxy and you all just decided that I, like the clones, was not privy to such information?”

The digging kept going with each passing revelation.

“You tell me not to feel betrayed?” Jake asked. “People just want me to get over it? To just accept what is done, is done? Well screw that!” A lightheaded feeling befell Jake. The Knights blood pressure was rising dangerously high; yet another side effect he presumed from the little antics of his Master and her teleportation. The Knight took an incredibly deep breath and tried to attempt some control over the swirling combination of pain and rage he felt inside.

“On top of that there were complications? So to just recap. My family was cloned. I was cloned. My wife is awoken. I am awoken. I meet up with my Masters clone, who I presume was privy to Lady Reticea? Amorella, the same woman whom had seen a photo I still possess of my wife, children, my Master and myself? At no point did she tell me my wife’s clone is out there? At no point did she tell me there were complications?” Jake couldn’t hold it in anymore, “Of all of the assenine mistakes this family has made without me around, the biggest was not waking me the moment something went wrong with my wife’s clone. I could have helped in some way. I knew her actual self better than just about anyone. But nope… that piddly little Apprentice of Lady Silencia was left to lose his god damn mind on Honoghr while the Shamalains lived up spectacular lives with their own families. Thank you so god damn much!”

Daniels limped past Ereza, “I’m going home.” Jake stopped just as he was about to exit the door. His eyes watered as he looked upon the woman. The pain he feel radiated from a surprisingly stony expression, “Just when I thought nothing more could be taken from me… then this… I won’t ever forgive anyone for what has been revealed today.” With that, he continued on his way.

[member="Ereza"]​

 

[Ereza]

The door closed before he could step through, stopping the man in his tracks with a whisk of internal layers and the crooning groan of gears as the heavier blast doors shut behind them.

Ereza stood before a glowing control console, her fingers deftly tapping in the security code for internal lock down. Jake Daniels would not be going anywhere until things began to absorb through that thick, emotionally charged skull of his. A slow, deep breath maintained the woman's level calm, allowing logic to prevail where her own emotions had begun to stir with irritation.

"The Lady Amorella had no knowledge of this place or these clones," she began with an even tone, "she was brought into this realm as an infant and allowed to grow naturally, raised as the daughter of Lorelei Darke on Kuat. Amorella was her own person; she matured and lived a life that was her own. She even married some years ago. I did not know her but all tales of the Aesir Inari, Amorella Shamalain spoke that she was inherently and undeniably very much unlike her mother in all ways aside from appearance."

"You met this woman. You must know this to be true."

 

[Jake Daniels]

His palm pressed against the now closed door.

His eyes were clenched tight. Within him swirled turmoil. A battle between light and dark raged within his heart to such an extent that he trembled. Ereza wasn't going to let him leave. Not yet. How stupid was she? She was caging an animal. It was obvious that the woman had no true understanding of the Eternal Apprentice. Had she, the woman would have let the Knight cool off. Instead, she decided the best course of action was to lock him inside with her? When Jake opened his eyes, the bright yellow turning into a deep yellow-orange.

Then Ereza spoke.

"I've met her but she isn't as different from my Master as you think they are." Jake turned back to Ereza. Gently and quietly he crossed his arms in front of him, "They look very similar; yes. Even for a moment I was fooled until I felt her presence on the force. How they use the force was different, yes. How they treated me was identical."

Jake took in a deep breath as his gaze broke Ereza's and looked to those of tubes containing the clones of his sons, "She told me no, just like Lady Silencia. She cast me aside in my quest for family, ironically, in the same way my Master would cast me aside when she went to do her own thing."

Jake took several steps past Ereza and towards the tube containing Lysander. Just as he had the door, Jake placed his palm against the glass. Condensation immediately formed around his fingers as his hot mingled with the frigid tube. "I am not book smart. If you want someone that rivals yours or my Masters intellect, you need to go find my wife's clone and fix whatever it was that went wrong. I'm a fighter. Nothing more. So forgive me if I don't completely understand the god damn science behind any of this."

Jake's eyes closed and his head lowered, "You are asking me to believe in a science I just don't understand. Put yourself in my shoes, would you? More importantly, you know words aren't working, show me then. Turn me into a believer."

[member="Ereza"]
​

 

[Ereza]

"Did she?" Ereza asked, head faintly canting to one side in consideration of the man, "You have a unique talent of believing the worst of people, Lord Gravis."

The woman gave a gentle shake of her head, expelling a soft breath as she moved once more to the empty tank where Cerusia's clone once resided, "Science is not the answer to the complications your wife presently faces. Only time and a personal understanding and acceptance of her own will complete the transfer."

At his last sentence Ereza looked upon him fully, dual-hued eyes impressing a deeper comprehension of his predicament than he perhaps cared to see.

"I was in your shoes once, Lord Gravis. I once stood in a place very similar to yours. The Gulag Plague ravaged my family with the ferocity of which I had never seen before. It was not like war or the constant subterfuge between rival houses - those things were predictable and preventable if one was careful enough. Not the Plague. There was no cure, no relief for those suffering nor for those who stood immune, like myself, to help the ones who fell to its disease. In the matter of a month my family, who once stood as one of the great Noble Houses of the Suzerain, fell from power."

"Those who did not die from the Plague were hunted down by the Immunes of rival noble houses. My own father turned on us after my mother passed. He was determined to remain in power, so he hunted his daughters down one by one until I was the last one left to carry on my mother's name. Had it not been for the Lady's intervention he would have succeeded. My name only carries weight among my people now because she took me in to give it worth."

Ereza looked across at the other tanks and the bodies floating listlessly inside them, "There was no way to save my family, no way to bring them back. Not then. The Lady made me a promise that if I learned with her and helped her, I would one day possess her knowledge and power to bring my family back. Now she is dying and I only know how to save yours."

"And I will," her eyes turned back to him, weary of this exchange, "if you so wish me to. I have no other proof or evidence to offer other than my own convictions to seeing the last several hundred years of my life dedicated to our Master to see her wishes through. Isn't that enough?"

 

[Jake Daniels]

Jake’s eyes remained fixated on Lysander, “Put yourself in my shoes. You’ve been jerked around for a year, just learn all of this, and someone you don’t know is asking you to believe them based on their word? Not easy. I can empathize with what you’re going through. I honestly can but,” Jake was scrutinizing every aspect of the man’s body. Everything was as it should be; even down to the very length of each finger and toe. “You also have to understand. You’ve had centuries with my Master apparently. I’ve only had decades. I’ve spent five times a humans average life in cryosleep. The galaxy is falling a part because of a plague one minute. I wake up the next with everything moving on without me.”

Jake turned towards Romano. His palm once again touching the glass, “You’re father was a douche’ to say the least.” His eyes fell to Ereza, “Honestly you should have just off’d him.” Jake returned his gaze to his youngest, “I was brought up in the understanding that the moment you turn your back on family, you aren’t family. So if I were you, and you were me, I’d have off’d him and claimed his spot. If you spill blood of our kin, I’ll spill yours.” Jake lowered his gaze and reached out in the force. The clone within the tube held no essence. It was empty. It wasn’t his son… yet.

“I don’t turn my back on family, even when that family turned its back on me.” Jake wasn’t going to drop it. As far as he was concerned, he’d been left and forgotten. They had attempted to develop plans without his knowledge, without his insight, without his help. Anyone in his place would have felt the same; or at least anyone with a heart. “I am not a well educated individual. I’m an individual who can only believe what he has been shown. You say you can bring them back. Do it or is there something else that needs to happen first that I’ve been yet told about?”

[member="Ereza"]

 

[Ereza]

Were it not for the silk covering her face he might've seen the faint pursing of lips. Eyes of fire and ice whisked away momentary tension and closed to the surrounding chamber. Through the catacombs and labyrinth of stone built into the mountain the woman's mind flooded her consciousness until it connected with one other. Seconds stretched out as she leaned into the connection, tempting the burden of thought on a monolith ready to crumble.

"You have made your decision then. I will commence preparations. Once the Lady has arrived we can begin."

[member="Jake Daniels"]

 

[Quietus]

Time was of the essence.

While Ereza busied herself preparing the clone bodies the Noghri had assembled a congregation to take their Mal'ary'ush to what would become her final resting place. They moved with quiet subservience and honored regard. The Priestesses had dressed her frail and withered body in robes of black, gold, and red silk that gleamed under the light of candelabras she passed by, seated upon a chair of carved and painted wood. So light was she that only two warriors were needed to carry the litter. A procession followed of Noghri Monks, cowls drawn.

By the time the entrance doors to the chamber opened the clone bodies of Romano and Lysander laid upon separate stone tables surrounded by etchings of old hieroglyphs. Connected to life support systems they were nothing more than empty vessels of flesh and bone awaiting the essence that would bring them life. Mahet arrived in the heavy silence of the congregation. Not a single Noghri spoke as the two warriors carrying her chair carefully set it down and stepped back.

"Masenre," Ereza approached quietly, kneeling and offering her right hand, palm up, "I am not worthy."

Silence answered as the Master's cowl bent towards her pupil, a skeletal hand reaching out to carefully drop two stones into Ereza's palm.

Ereza uttered something in return and stood with the stones in hand, "These are the soulgems of your sons, Lord Gravis," in her left hand a stone of pale yellow baring sharp edges, in her right hand a stone of amber hue soft and rounded, "all that is left now is the ceremony. If you have something you wish to say to the Lady it is best to do it now."