Private The Revenant

[Ravenous]

Smoke and ash filled the air as cinder rained down from the sky to scorch the dry land below. The trees and the grass were charred and blackened as fire tore apart anything in its path leaving only dust in its wake. The shining stars above were eclipsed by the rising orange hue of the raging inferno below as it moved to decimate the city in which it was birthed.

Blaster fire echoed in the night followed by red flashes of light that complimented the blaze around them. The screams inside the flame were human yet inhuman simultaneously as they carried anguish and despair in the burning, sandy winds.

"Push forward towards the market!" Yelled a metallic, distorted voice that somehow managed to howl over the maelstrom. A squad of about 10 Defilers pushed into the town's market burning and gunning down the poor sods simply trying to rescue their homes and livelihood.

Some of the town's more "Hardened" residents attempted to fight back as they whipped out pistols and began firing on the advancing soldiers. It wasn't long before a volley of bolts cascaded the group of men tearing fist-sized holes in their bodies as they collapsed on the bloodied soil. "Hostiles down. Sweep the town again for survivors. She won't get out." Roboticlike in movement the Defilers rummaged through the town like a plague as they tore down buildings and turned over fruit stands looking for their quarry.

Outside the city's gates stood two figures one of them relaxed in stature as she meticulously tended to a bottle of ale, The other however was still and emotionless as they gazed at the burning city and charred wasteland. Their tattered onyx cloak billowed in the wind as they breathed in the smoke and ash. "I can smell the blood on the wind. It's metallic feel and ghastly aroma is too familiar." Arizelva didn't even look up at the man as she unscrewed the bottle of balmorran ale her mouth driveling at the mere sight of alcohol. "Balmorrian ale..." A red glow rose in the woman's cheeks as she affectionately caressed the bottle.

"All that Corellian brandy stuff you've been importing really makes you appreciate the good stuff!" Ravenous paid the Togruta no mind as he stoically approached the settlement his piercing golden eyes burning brighter than even the fires before him. With a singular whim, the flames in Ravenous' path bent around the Dark Jedi as though they had a phobia of the man. This casual disregard for heat continued until the man reached a small hut flanked by a plethora of Defilers. "Preeminent." The man made a slicing motion across his neck. "We've tracked the psychic Tonillia to this hut and have it surrounded. We'll go in on your signal."

Ravenous dismissed the man with a simple hand gesture. "I'll do it." Crouching to fit through the hut's small entrance Ravenous took a look around the small homestead, taking in all its small amenities and cluttered refuse. On the other side of a small coffee table was a small woman in a red quilt-like robe that covered her entire body. "You are the seer Tonillia." Ravenous crouched down before the woman his gauntleted hands slowly removing his jet black plague mask. "I am looking for an artifact. A solid gold talisman with a deep connection to the dark side of the force." The woman sat unmoving as she parted her wrinkled lips to speak. "There is no shortage of good or evil in this world. And that applies to objects as well. What you see as dark others may see clearly."

Ravenous frowned his golden gaze intensifying. "If you think there's good AND evil in me then you clearly aren't as skilled in seeing as you believe." Methodically the old seer reached under the table and retrieved a small crimson box with a golden lock running just down the middle. Slowly the old woman turned a small key the opened the box to reveal the talisman from Ravenous' vision. "So...you had the talisman just lying under your table this entire time? Thank you. This makes things simpler." The dark Jedi eagerly reached for the talisman only for Tonillia to clutch the small box against her chest. "This talisman is not the original conception. Furthermore, its so-called 'Dark Power' is not meant to be sustained for extended periods of time. It will destroy you, and that is why I'm giving it to you."

The cloaked man stayed his hand his golden gaze inquisitive. "I have seen in my visions A dark warrior who will relent at no end to achieve his goals. Even in death, he will persist. I have seen a time where he faces a challenge of his own creation."

Gently the woman waved her hand across the table a cloud of mist pouring from her palm. Blurred images began to play out in the mist as though a reflection of the psychic's mind. "There will be a great eclipse that will shroud him in darkness to where his light is entirely snuffed out. He will be destroyed by the darkness he has created only for a single candle to extinguish his depravity."

"So in other words..." Ravenous slowly reached for his Lightsaber. "You're only giving this to me...so I'll be destroyed..." "It is the only path forward. You will never diverge from your path so it must be your path that annihilates you." The man grimaced his golden gaze burning with even greater intensity than the fire behind the two. Ravenous outstretched a hand his sheer willpower enough to rip the talisman across the room and into his hand. "Well, then I'm just gonna have to follow this road to the end then." With the press of the ignition, an amethyst blade shot out from Ravenous' saber its burning blade ripping into Tonillia's chest. "Your path, however...ends here."

Ǧ̶͈͈l̵̻̇͗i̶̼͆͋t̸̗͓͂c̴̤͇̓h̴̫̿

 

[Ǧ̶͈͈l̵̻̇͗i̶̼͆͋t̸̗͓͂c̴̤͇̓h̴̫̿]

The city burned. Orange flames clawing towards a smoke choked sky. Only a few feet, away, soldiers fired upon the towns defenders and civilians alike. In the midst of all the death and chaos and burning remains of cavillation stood the desert. A thing of sand and hunger. It watched from a dozen eyes that were not there as it's meal screamed and died. It crumple to the floor, any force it once contained evaporated into the burning air. Useless. Had it had a mouth, it would have frowned. Instead it simply watched. A dozen mutlicolored eyes flicking this way and that in sockets that could not, did not, exist as the massacre took place around them.

There. A flare in the force. A brilliant bright fire of pain and rage and hate. A sith, or something similar enough to make no difference. Arms that were no arms shrunk in upon themselves and sprouted feathers of fine white grains. Nonexistent eyes blinked out and moments later a bird took flight on wings that spanned an inch too long.

Past the fires, past the bodies, past the marching soldiers they flew. Until finally they landed in a windowsill. Before them stood a man, or what appeared a man. and at the table sat the old crone. The only thing they could not touch in this village. Except now they could. Her protections were stripped away, the talismans and sigils that hung within the windows and doors consumed within the fire. They stepped forward, form once again twisting and morphing into something almost human. Tan skin, brown hair. A dozen glowing predatory eyes, each one pinned on the crone as a purple blade of fire pierced her chest.

But she wasn't dead yet. And so they took hold of her presence in the force, and ripped it from her failing fleshy form. Their eyes glowed. Their mouths parted in monstrous bliss. The crone's form collapsed, skin sunken and withered. They turned to the sith, to the box that sat upon the table, and smiled with too many mouths than the human face should have.
Ravenous

 

[Ravenous]

Ravenous rose from his seated position his amethyst blade still hungry for power, still hungry for death. The weapon shared this unbridled desire with its wielder leaving only the temperance of artifice to stand in the way of chaotic bloodshed. The Lightsaber cauterized the blow upon contact. She wouldn't bleed out rather she'd die from shock, lack of oxygen, or possibly she'll survive long enough to burn to death. By all accounts she should be alive, she should be writhing on the floor as she struggled to accept her demise.

But she wasn't.

Ravenous felt her fall to the floor. He felt her struggle as she clung to what little life she had left. He felt her die as well but not in the way he intended. Her life force didn't dwindle away like a campfire burning away its final embers, it was ripped away from her like a predator savoring its prey. Ravenous recognized these disturbances solely because he was often the one ensuing them. One could even go as far as to say he's an expert in these kinds of things. Bottom line: A life isn't hauled into the abyss it slips into the abyss, for a life to be torn from its host means its energy has to be contained...inside someone strong enough to do such a thing.

Clutching the talisman in his hand Ravenous clamped the relic to his neck it's long angular talons practically nailing itself to his throat as it pumped mass amounts of dark energy through his body and into his soul. Ravenous became a conduit for the talisman's power as an encroaching presence made itself known inside his psyche. His mind felt clouded and heavy as the number of signatures grew their power's and quirks and energy becoming more prescient to the Dark Jedi. Like the void that also inhabits his mind, Ravenous could determine the motives and emotions behind each spirit.

One was of a Dim and dishonest nature. It sought to enslave Ravenous, to bend his will to its will, to make his thoughts into its thoughts, and to break the hold Ravenous holds on himself.

If only he still had that grip...

"Behold! It is I Karness Murr who blesses you with my presence! Make use of yourself boy and pledge your undying fidelity to me!" Ravenous refused to respond, instead, he let go of the grip on his senses and allowed the void within himself to push forward and devour this curr. There was a second spirit however this one more honorable and tasteful though even she feared the darkness of the void as it tore away at the souls it's gorged thus far. "I have been enslaved before. Your beast means NOTHING to me!"

Ravenous snubbed at her comment his chuckle infuriating to the woman. "You just keep telling yourself that Celeste Morne. The void is infinite and while you reside in my body only I have the power to rip you from its torment. But I'll let you figure that out for yourself." Pulling away from the influence of the spirits Ravenous exited the small hut, a short influx of stamina informing him to the voids hunger.

"I want you all to fan out and look for survivors. Kill anyone you see on sight." The Defilers all nodded in accordance as they raised their blasters and began sprawling over the city.

Ǧ̶͈͈l̵̻̇͗i̶̼͆͋t̸̗͓͂c̴̤͇̓h̴̫̿