Private The Pilgrims #6: Unwholesome Pursuits

[Kal]

Even largely unaware of him as it was, the root-mind still actively searched, forcing Kal to 'jump' over a large root.

<Your body may not be appetising, but your mind is. It is strong, bright, and fighting back. Exactly how prey behaves, the kind of prey a being such as it might prioritise, anyway.> Swirling sideways to evade a trio heading for Enyo, luminous orbs swivelled back to their surroundings for a long moment. In that moment, he seemed almost contemplative.

<Make yourself seem as unappetising as your body. Cold, metallic, and incompatible. It will still seek to deal with you, I am sure, but something tells me trespassers are not as big a priority as assimilatable trespassers.> It stood to reason that it would focus its resources on what would strengthen it, regardless of whether it behaved logically or primally.

There was a faint chance it would further antagonise it, and he relayed that, but he thought it unlikely.

Such a response would not match the muddied impressions he had experienced so far.

Enyo Typhos​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Kal

Enyo cocked her head slightly as she considered Kal's words, dodging another root that came her way. The shadowy being was, based on her assessment, not her equal in terms of combat prowess. However, strength was not a simplistic binary. Nor was there just one form of it. A typical Dark Jedi or Sith might have lashed out, considering it a blow to their pride. But Enyo had been raised and moulded by droids. Her preferred form of problem resolution involved violence, but when one method did not work, it was irrational to continue utilising it out of stubborn pride. "Your words are logical," she said.

The Root-Mind was not dumb. For all she knew, it could have already tried to feast on her corporeal body in the physical plane, and noticed that unappetising metal lay beneath the synthetic flesh. But her mind was valuable. She was not physically in the hive, elsewise she could boost the output of her machine signals to make herself look like an inert bot.

But she could manipulate her Force signature, burying her power beneath layers of cold, icy metal. So she drew upon her power, shrinking her presence rather than expanding it outward to lash out against the hive. It took focus, but even the power emanating from the crystal inside her skull would fade. While it would not make her invisible, it would hopefully make her a less appealing target. The psychic equivalent of playing dead.

 

[Erion Justeene]

There was a possibility of being grabbed and eaten by the Vines here, but if that was the case, does his body remain in its meditative state or move around like a husk relying on muscle memory? Or does it simply fade away? That's a very pressing issue that needs to be cleared up, soon, well soon-ish.

Superious had no intention of finding out so he took on a neutral presence in the force, he was a very strong, yet cold presence that had made the vines inch nearer to him, and had come inches from his leg, poised to grab and hold him upside down to do something unpleasant.

Once he became a calm presence the vine retreated slightly, enough to give him breathing space. But still, he needed to keep his distance and his presence neutral. Then his mind exploded with questions, questions that were delayed by the upheaval. The main one is why was he here? How is this even possible and, who are these people?

<"Why exactly are we here, how is this even possible, and who are you, people?"> Superious asked, with suspicion and unease, moving around so that the vines had little opportunity to latch onto his legs or body. He cannot deny the now-familiar sinking feeling on top of all this.

 

[Ravenous]

SMASH! Hidden beneath a blur something, heavy and seemingly metal crashed through a wooden opening the jungle floor sending vines and other flora exploding through the area.

SPLOOSH!! His plunge made such an impact that water erupted through the hole he had made in the ground, which guided into some strange irrigation system beneath the root labyrinth. The arch-like passage Ravenous found himself inside was much like a sewer pipe with a river of sludge running inside it though the one Ravenous now encountered was composed entirely of wood and roots. The slimy green river was not moving at a speedy, rate but it was enough to shunt the unmoving Ravenous along his armor battered and ripping his skin in certain places.

The once pristine, silver armor is caked now in emerald slime and crimson ichor that did nothing with the waning strength the Dark Jedi still possessed. A rip in time trapped within a hole in space, the Force cried an ocean of tears at such blasphemy. His eyes had lost their golden might and ached as Ravenous forced them open having, understood a facet of this place even he passed by mere moments earlier.

¨He. . .is not here! The power of null. . .is gone!¨ He had to get out of this river. He had to discern the truth! ¨People have limits that don't let them push past a certain point. . .like the limiter on your muscles or the doubt in one's heart.

Ravenous began to rise out of the sludge river his, cybernetic spine the only part in his body that gave him even an ounce of respect in his wish to move. Via his back pushing him forward, the Dark Jedi's legs caught themselves on the bottom of the river and pushed him upwards the higher his back rose.

¨Every limit you have is not there to keep you in place, oh no! Limiters are there for your protection. Punch too hard you, break your arm, run too long and, you will be out of breath.¨ His mask cracked and shattered crumbled from the man's face its, broken pieces becoming nothing more than fuel for the rest of the realm.

¨I guess what I am trying to say is. . .¨ Ravenous looked ahead at where the river seemed to bank downward in what promised to be some massive cavern-like structure where vines and other access pipes lined the walls of the colossal dome.

¨I came here to destroy my limits.¨ Ravenous with, an impulse barely formed in his mind shot the armor from his body. The shattered remnants of his suit hit the floor forever, lost in the river along with his mask.

¨No more limits. Just a goal.¨ Ravenous pointed toward the center where all the water flowed up the center of the Drengir structure their nutrients and acid gathered up in one place.

¨That goal.¨ Ravenous cannot kill the root mind. It was here long before him and will be long after. But the impossible is what Ravenous specializes in after, all! You don't get to be the owner of Intrepid Inc without taking risks.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Pain — real pain from the real world — spiked through Ashin. The roots tightened, tried to hold onto her as she grew less present. She found herself yanked from the Root-Mind to wake up on the hot sand with half a dozen pelko bugs biting her.

She scrambled to her feet, indulging in profanity and ripping pincers out of her skin. Pelko venom had meditative, training, even culinary uses, but she took no pleasure in its unexpected injection. The offending bugs popped in a burst of infuriated lightning.

As her heart slowed, Ashin relaxed and took a seat on a broken statue. The other participants, still stuck in the Root-Mind, lay on the sand all around. Judging by the height of the sun and Ashin's sunburn, they'd all been unconscious for at least three or four hours. Evening was on its way.

She prodded Avalore with her walking stick.

Enyo Typhos Kal Ravenous Erion Justeene Donne Toulemonde Gnost Zym Spek Zhio Venn Kolis Azlyn Ike

 

[Avalore]

Avalore snapped out of the root mind with a viscous gasp, and it took several more moments of disorientation before she understand the upset. She looked at the walking stick and squeezed her fingers into the burning dirt. By the time she looked up at Ashin, the panic had receded into grim understanding.

"We're hungry." After a disturbed moment, Avalore self-corrected. "...They want you."

It was painfully quiet without the cacophony of the root mind. While Ashin had resist, Avalore had sunk in. They had told her things, countless things, and she wasn't sure now if it had been under the objective of sharing or... Beyond the sunburn she looked chalky, like a part of her had been consumed.

She sat up with shaky muscles and shivered against the slimmy sensation of voices creeping over her. She tossed away the ring and shook the cramps out of her hand.

"What was the point of that?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Avalore

"The point?" Ashin blinked. "It was challenging, unusual, and fucking fascinating. What other point does there need to be?"

 

[Erion Justeene]

The ground gave way, and he was falling into the abyss. Then light rushed to great Superious and then blue sky greeted him as he awoke from the deep meditation. He was overheating as his armour absorbed the sun's heat. So, that happened and his mind was far away. He'll need to write what he saw down. Which leads him to the new item, a ring made of the roots. He didn't toss it aside as he would like to hang on to it a little while longer.

Brushing the hungry bugs off his robes, he sat up, head a little noisy from the Root-Mind. He would look a little unhinged if he answered back out loud.

 

[Avalore]

Avalore blinked a few times, Ashin's words painting her in a slightly revealing light.

The woman had lived many lives, while Avalore had barely begun one. She did not feel the need to poke nests just to see what emerged. She thought that was plain stupid, but then again, she was painfully aware of all the things out there that could still kill her.

She half pictured Ashin as bored and she wondered, coal-like eyes staring unblinkingly back at her master, if there would come a time when Ashin poked a nest that was too big for even her.

"Well then. You best start learning how those statues were made, before they reach you... and me."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Well then. You best start learning how those statues were made, before they reach you... and me."]

"Statues? Oh, the — yes, I know what you mean. It's a red herring, dear. Either an echo or a deception. As far as I understand, the ancient Sith did use large unique statues to seal the great Drengir progenitor away from the Force. That drove the rest of them, ah, not docile, but perhaps into hibernation or just uncoordinated malice. The problem is that the Drengir of today have moved past that weakness. They may have multiple progenitors, hive queens you could say, or they decentralized. There's no simple off switch anymore."

 

[Avalore]

"...Greaaaaaaaaaat..."

She looked around at the bodies of the unconscious, wondering just how many were prepared for the can of worms they had unlocked. Avalore was use to keeping up with Ashin's endeavors, but she had a seeping suspicion more than one person here would find themselves in over their head before the day was over.

"So we're not going home," she noted. And she had left her favorite book at the estate. She dusted sand off her leg-- out of her hair-- her face pinched as she dug it out of her ear. She pulled herself up onto a rock and fully situated herself, before leaning forward to ask with a sickly sweet smile.

"What happens if they get you?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Azlyn Ike]

Her mind was her own... her mind was her own.. she could feel them crawling along her skin and came back to herself.. her master crystal had done things similar to that... which helped acclimate but these things were something else when she came to and was on the ground.. sweat across her body as she shivered and felt hollow in the pit of her stomach... she was aware that there were others and she had been lost in the woods of her own mind as she rocked back and forth for a few moments. She looked at the otherrs there and her mouth was dry while she slowly collected herself and kept what she saw to herself.. not wanting to talk about it. "That was.... I wish to do violence."

 

[Kal]

It seemed to work, at least for the moment. The offensive slowed, giving them both time to think.

That time was fleeting, of course. He was still not entirely sure how intelligent the entity truly was, but it was at the very least a cunning predator. The ruse would only work for a while - and there was a good chance it would only work once.

<Excellent. We should take the opportunity to...> Kal suddenly froze, staring off at the 'horizon' as if perceiving something distant. So distracted was he that he only barely evaded a particularly inquisitive root. <Others have departed. Several of them. I have little interest in seeing what happens when the Root-Mind's hungering pursuit is less diluted.>

Eyes glowing a cold white, he dropped the subtlety in order to focus on the departing minds - and attempt to follow them back. If Enyo had any sense - and she certainly seemed quite sane - she would attempt the same, he was sure.

---

Back in camp, Kal's body, once unremarkable, likely stood out. For one it appeared to have shielded itself from the sunlight, keeping itself in tip-top shape. Equally oddly, it was standing upright in something resembling parade rest.

So much for appearing aggressively unremarkable.

Enyo Typhos​

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"What happens if they get you?"

"They'll control my mind, drive roots into my mouth and eyes, assimilate me, eat me alive. And if I'm very lucky, it'll be in that order." Ashin smiled without humour. "Don't forget. It's entirely possible to find new threats both terrifying and exhilarating."

Others were extricating themselves from the Root-Mind and waking up. Kal 's potentially augmented or cybernetic body, for example, and Azlyn Ike and Erion Justeene . Ashin crossed a shallow dune with the aid of her walking stick, and approached Azlyn.

"Rest assured, dear," she told the pale Sith Lord, "spend more time in the Root-Mind and the Drengir will give you plenty of opportunities for violence in waking life. They get your scent, get a taste for you."

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Kal

All of a sudden they were being pushed out. Enyo was less attuned to Force Senses, and so she did not feel the departures as quickly as her strange ally. She didn't, however, want to linger here when the Root-Mind was less distracted by other prey.

Forced to drop her camouflage, she reached out with the Force, trying to essentially hold on to Kal and the other departing presences so they would pull her along. In this moment, a myriad roots enclosed upon their position, reaching out to grab them.

The first had already latched on to her...

And she was surrounded by a flash of light and was once again in the real world. Her droid body had remained standing while her mind was trapped inside the Root-Mind. Its posture was just as rigid as ever. Her electronic eyes shot open, flashing crimson before returning to their normal human brown. It was a decidedly mechanical awakening. She looked around, scanning the area.

Others had woken up or were in the process of doing so. She noted that Kal's body had remained upright, standing at parade rest. But she would have sensed the presence of cybernetic augmentations or similar. Ditto if he'd been a Shard. "That was an interesting experience," she remarked. "What are you really?"

 

[Avalore]

Don't forget. It's entirely possible to find new threats both terrifying and exhilarating."

Avalore brows furrowed skeptically, a noise of discontent rumbling from her chest as she was left alone to brood. "...It's not fun if I can't kill it." She said to no one. A pelko bug scuttled out of some dirt she kicked up. It meandered aimlessly for a moment before locating a source of food and starting for her leg.

Avalore watched it with a slight scowl and resisted the urge to jerk back. See. She wasn't scared... of a bug. She tried to mimic Ashin and summon a bolt to fry it, but all she got was a slight tingling sensation and power slipping through her fingers like sand.

Feth.

A boot stomped down on it instead.

 

[Kal]

Kal's return was somewhat janky, having been fully pulled into the root-mind as only a spirit could. It was a good thing the others left a wake that could be followed back, an immobile but conscious body would have been hard to explain.

Stretching lazily as he reclaimed the body, he noted with satisfaction that it had shielded itself from a sunburn.

<Kal of Masque, Shadow extraordinaire.> As if struggling to re-adapt to a more mundane medium of communication, the statement was accompanied by images and concepts. The Netherworld. Spirits created by other spirits, not the shades of the deceased. Rows upon rows of bodies cultivated to be able to walk among mortals.

Secrets, of sorts, but nothing that could not be discovered by asking a few questions in the realm of the dead.

Speaking of secrets, steps would need to be taken to ensure that the Root-Mind did not catch his 'scent', so to speak. He had no reason to believe it able to exert influence in the Netherworld, but better safe than sorry.

Enyo Typhos​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Kal

The being named Kal introduced himself as 'Kal of Masque, Shadow extraordinaire'. Enyo looked at him impassively. She ignored the hyperbole at the end. Shadow brought to mind 'Jedi Shadow', but that was absurd for numerous reasons. She also knew of Shadow Knights, a group of Eldorai renegades who were distinguished by being somewhat less whiny and useless than the average Eldorai. But that was absurd, too.

However, his words on the matter were accompanied by a storm of images. Too fast for Enyo to process reasonably. She perceived ethereal shades, different from those she knew, and a shadowy realm, but it was too overwhelming. Telepathy was not her strong suit, and she instinctually began to close her mind. It took her a moment to realise that this was not supposed to be an assault, rather a clumsy way to make her understand an alien phenomena. "Leave my mind. Explain to me in words," she said stoically.

 

[Kal]

Explain to me in words. It was not a new sentiment, to the Shadow - no, it was an enduring annoyance.

Even among the Force Users of the galaxy, already a small minority, all too many lacked the training or will to make full use of telepathy. A shame, really, for it was faster, more reliable, and above all else less ambiguous than mere words. Little did he know, Enyo might well be feeling the same way - but about electronic communication, not mind-to-mind.

"Ah, right. Easy to forget. The gist of it is that my kind are bodiless natives of the Netherworld, formed by our own kind as opposed to shades-than-were-once-organic." He was skipping some detail, but that was a necessity.

Hell, he was skipping some detail when communicating his name - 'Kal' was simply a selection of noises he had picked at one point and stuck with out of habit. His true name was, somewhat unusually, a specifically defined thought/idea.

Of all his kin, only a few bothered to translate directly - notably 'Contentment Born of Deserved Schadenfreude'.

Enyo Typhos​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Kal

Enyo considered this information with the detached curiosity of, well, a droid. "I see. Interesting. So you are formed from the matter of the Nether. You take bodies as hosts?" It was more of a statement than a question. "How do you cross over to this reality? Not the rifts, I assume. Too inefficient. Too well-known," she tilted her head as she considered this.

The Cyborg had never set foot in the Nether realm, though she knew her template had. She had assumed it just to be the domain of the shades of the dead. Evidently this assumption was incorrect. If Kal was 'of Masque', did this mean Masque was a colony of these...Shadows? "I am, in a nutshell, a machine-organic hybrid. My mind is organic, the rest is not."

Once her shell had been a prison. Something Archangel had inflicted upon her to control and enslave her. But then it had become the vehicle she used to break her chains - and to step outside her template's shadow. No longer was she a copy. With Archangel's resources at her disposal, Enyo would have had the means to separate her soul from her mechanical shell and return to flesh again...but why?

Suffering had birthed insight. Her shell freed her from the needs of the flesh, the concerns of the body and the petty weaknesses and insecurities of the spirit that had once plagued her. It allowed her to focus solely on what mattered.