The Order

[Briah Song]

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The Cathedral of Olm, Astrum, Unknown Regions
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Buried deep in the darkness of the Unknown Regions, a place thrummed with the bells of awakening. Long asleep, a planet stirred in the dead black, pushing itself from sleep and into the waking universe once more. Its remoteness was matched only by its wildness, as it constantly sought to consume itself to no avail. Amidst its torn landscape, a lone figure cloaked in black prowled in search of something. This planet was unbalanced, wild, plagued by black storms and worse, that had ripped open deep scars within its centre, only furthering its disharmony. Why was he being called to this place, of all planets? Yet... he could feel that something was quite compelling about it. It seemed to stretch into his own veins, pulling him deeper into the dreams of its dark abysses.

Auron's destination appeared on the horizon to him, sitting behind a small thicket of black trees. He dared not to venture into those lightless woods, for he knew not what he may discover, and now was not the time for surprises. He was summoned by the High Priestess, and he ought not keep such a being waiting. He traipsed through the black sludge of the surrounding marshes that defended the ruins of an ancient cathedral, and as he got closer he stood to appreciate the sheer respect and power its sheer size and age seemed to demand. It oozed antiquity, and the type of impressiveness only those of precursor societies could muster in their design. A tower twisted by time and adorned by a thousand details of the most esoteric of meanings, it spoke in a language long forgotten. This was a most ancient place, to an unfathomable degree.

The gates to the cathedral were larger up close than first appeared and surmised from a distance. They stood old and proud, rusted metal peeled layer by layer from its surface from ages passed. It was flanked by two gargoyles that depicted the most monstrous and alien beings that Auron had ever set eyes on; invertebrate-like beasts seemingly made up entirely of tendrils, with vicious-looking talons protruding from out of their dense curtain of tentacles, and two deep, black eyes that sat beady and bold, watching for oncoming visitors to their abode, and both poised in a stance of petrified attack. Unperturbed, Auron pushed the gate open and stepped inside the ruined cathedral.

The entrails of the narthex had been evidently recently moved, albeit hurriedly and without care, but had seemingly been in ruins for eons before and amounted to little more than dust and rubble. The main hall of the building was similarly distraught with architectural divorce; pews, pillars, stands and statues lay crumbled and burned in a disorderly manner across the ground, yet overhead the great windows of stained glass, miraculously, remained intact, albeit heavily cobwebbed and infused with dirt and dust. Yet one could see the imagery depicted, enough to make no sense of it at all; similar images of beings as of that from the gargoyles outside, intertwined with shrouded and vague humanoid figures in a dance of furious light and dark. There were painfully contrasting images of violence and unholy obscenities mangled elegantly with beautiful depictions of nature and divine abstraction. And at the centre of this stained glass imagery, a figure in black. But this figure was not of the windows themselves; rather, it stood before them, and before Auron.

Its slender figure flanked its dominating height, and even in the soft half-light that leaked through the broken roof of the cathedral, its fuligin attire seemed to define the very definition of lightlessness. Yet Auron had no need for visual definition, for he could feel this being through the Force well enough, and only there was only one person who would match this mysterious description. He fell to one knee and lowered his head slightly.
"High Priestess." His voice broke the silence that had lingered, and seemed to awaken every particle of dust in the air so that their eyes had suddenly fixated on him alone. "I have come to answer your summons."
The being maintained an intense stillness, and Auron could feel its black eyes locked upon his person. After an eternity of renewed silence, her voice thronged through the halls of the black cathedral.
"Lord Song. I have much to discuss with you."

 

[Avo]

The High Priestess stood as a humongous shadow defining silent intensity in the midst of the cathedral's dim, murky light. She seemed more still than the silence of the ruin within which she stood. But when she spoke, the planet spoke with her.
"You, of course, understand why I have brought you here." Her voice was deep and raw, heavily self-assured, but undoubtedly feminine. "Look upon this ruin, Lord Song," she invited, her long, slender arms protruding out to indicate her surroundings in ethereal and hypnotic movements. "This was once the foundation of the most important holy order in our universe's history, and this planet the seat of its empire. You may wonder the name of this planet. In truth, I do not know, but have resolved to call it 'Astrum'." As she spoke, he began to glide effortlessly across the cathedral's interior, head majestically analysing its careful inner details. "These windows depict rituals and ceremonies of this order. They were given a sacred duty by the Force itself to maintain Its integrity and balance through the most thorough of methods. They were academic. They were mystical. And they were everything in between. They perfected the definition of illuminism and this brought them perfect actualisation with the Force. I have spent years searching the remnants of their work and studying them closely. I am finally ready to reveal my plan to the galaxy, and I require your help." At once, she turned directly to Auron, gliding towards him, her hand motioning him to stand, to which he obliged. Her voice hurried in enthusiasm. "We shall restore this ancient order, Lord Song. We shall use this opportunity and discovery to bring true order to the galaxy. You have seen the images and felt what these people have felt. You can feel it now, I know you can."

 

[Briah Song]

As the Diathim spoke, her voice rang deep in his head, as if her words were echoed inside his very skull. It was hypnotising, painful and comfortable all at once. Her words spoke true. He had already found solace and balance in the texts of this ancient order that the High Priestess had provided him - and he studied in stony silence and hermitage within the walls of his fortress on Thape - but was not as familiar as the High Priestess herself. Their peculiar rituals and unique forms of Force magic were still most difficult to fully understand, even though he had begun to practice them himself. But the High Priestess was special. She was unlike any other and had seemingly achieved the unachievable, but now their Work was just beginning.
"I can feel it. This place ebbs with archaic power. But there is much work to be done here. High Priestess, what would you have be do?"