Private The Shadow over Akira | The Eye of the Monolith

[Zeno Dremati]

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The stars were not right over the village Akira, they waned like molten wax down a black canvas. Below the oozing stars stood a faceless man amid the ghosts of a shrivled harvest, his bottomless sapphire eyes studying the enigma in the sky. The man watched without a breath as the light of the stars ran like rivers of white gold down through the night above, defying all that was supposed to be as it trickled towards the horizon - outshining even the full luster of both Felucian moons. Like unnatural rivers the starlight coursed over the blue hue of the moons, eclipsing them in a pure white so vibrant it threatened the very definition of beauty. The man followed the trails of light down past the horizon, watching calmly as the light splashed against the crest of a hill overlooking the village. Spilling over the hill, the pools of liquid light came running down the slopes towards the silent huts and fallen fences - casting a ghostly light through the darkness that burned to even look at.

"Curious" the man spoke to himself in a voice like running water, closing his eyes and calling upon The Force. He breathed in and felt the current of mystic field fill his lungs and course through his veins. He felt the taint in his blood. He breathed out. The Force burst from his lungs, drained form his pores, circulated back to his heart.

He felt the corruption wither. Felt his mind right itself. Then he opened his eyes.

The hillside above the village was now bare of all but nightly shadows cast by the ghostly blue moon sinking over the horizon. The faceless man swiveled slowly in place, casting his gaze through the thick, muggy mist that had taken on the hue of the moonlight and settled over the grave-silent village. The liquid light had vanished, receded back across the valley of the mind and back into nonexistence. Silently, the faceless man untucked a hand from beneath his ragged red cloak and slowly waved it through the air around him - bringing it back only when he felt the moisture soaking through his black gloves. Using the light of the moon the man studied the droplets of mist on his fingers, crushing them beneath index and thumb as he rubbed them together. Like a thin syrup the droplets stuck to the leather of his glove, slicking and sticking in between his fingers as he played with it. He recoiled at the sickly sweet aroma it left behind. A chemical compound to be certain.

Something dark had happened here. That meant his suspicions were correct.

Wiping away the last of the hallucinogenic dew onto his cloak, the masked man took one last gaze about the village. Doors hung loose from rusted hinges. Wicked vines grew unkempt through cracks in walls and holes in windows. Fences lay buried in dirt and the bones of animals lay pecked clean of meat - their exposed vertebrae still chained to rotting posts. He wondered briefly if his hunch was wrong and if Seit-Val was the one actually responsible. She had always clung to concepts of nature and death, perhaps she had come to be displeased with these villagers for some transgression against her silly values. He perished the thought quickly. This mist was not something harvested from a plant, no matter how mutated it was. No, this compound had come from a lab and if he'd ever caught Seit in a lab then it would have been a sure sign of the next apocalypse. Likely the woman hadn't even noticed what had happened here, unapologetically ignorant as she tended to be. After all, there was a reason she was no longer counted among the Raskava.

Tucking his hand back into his cloak the man carried on through the chemical haze - paying no more mind to the decrepit village as he moved through and exited it onto the sloped hillside. Quietly he ascended the fading dirt road to the crest of the mound before disappearing against the bright blue of the Felucian moon. It would not be much further now before he reached the small cavern where Seit made her new home and when he got there he would enter as if he were expected...though he surely was not.

 

[Seit-Val]

The new arrival was heard before he was seen, and detected through the ethereal before even then. As such, Seit-Val didn't so much as turn in his direction when he entered, carrying on tending to her plants in the glow of the moonlight and the flickering of the candles that brought a flickering light to even the darkest corners of the hillside where she made her home. No, she carried on without a care, watering the plants that needed it and inspecting each carefully before moving on. The moments would no doubt drag on before she turned to face him, but he would be more than used to her odd behavior.

After all, he was the only one from the cult that raised them both who had bothered to keep in touch.

She walked up to him deliberately, looking up into his face - or rather, the mask that obscured it. Sighing at the image of a cult she'd long since forgotten, one of her four arms reached up to pull it away and press it into his hands, allowing her to look upon him in full. Another arm lifted a candle in its candelabra from a nearby table, raising it up and casting his features in an orange glow. A smile crossed her face then, and she reached up to ruffle his hair - something only she likely had the privilege of doing without losing a hand for the trouble.

Turning away, the candelabra was returned to its proper place, and she indicated nearby seating without a word, following him and lowering herself into a crudely made but comfortably cushioned wooden chair draped in vines and other plant life. She waited until he settled in, watching him with a quiet curiosity that no doubt matched his own.

"You came for the village." Without so much as a proper greeting she pushed to the heart of it, well aware that he wasn't here to exchange pleasantries with an old friend. As soon as she'd felt the loss of its population, Seit knew he would arrive to account for the dead. And, predictably, he had, the great loss of life bringing him to her doorstep. "I felt it when it happened. It's a shame, that was one of the only nearby settlements to gather nysillin." Death held little weight for her, regardless of the scale. It was merely a change of conditions. "I suppose you want my help." He'd never been one for simply dropping in.

Zeno Dremati

 

[Zeno Dremati]

He'd been silent walking into the small cavern, knowing his childhood friend would have caught wind of his presence long before stepping foot into abode. It didn't take long for his silence to break, however, as he was slapped with an earthy musk that reeked of dirt and growth. The choking smog forced a cough from his chest that even his mask couldn't muffle, his sapphire eyes growing red as the strange scent put tears in his eyes. He'd managed to right all but his glossy eyes by the time he made it to her side - watching as Seit's thin frame glided across the stone towards him. With a graceful hand she reached up and pulled away his mask, vanishing the blue eyed stranger and revealing the familiar thin nose and sharp jaw of Zeno Dremati - the purple, blue gradient of his skin apparent even in the orange glow of her candlelight.

It wasn't the first time she had been so eager to take the mask off, but when she pulled aside his hood and brushed her fingers through his hair it put a fishhook in his brow.

"You're the younger one, I should be doing that to you" Zeno teased as Seit set the candle aside and indicated to him a crude wooden chair, its arms grown over in vines and its cushion appearing to be little more than abnormally plump pedals from a Felucian flora. He sat immediately, draping himself and his cloak over the twisting vines without much thought. By now he was used to the ex-eater's...peculiar sensibilities.

"You came for the village"

"I came to continue The Work. The village just happens to be involved" he admitted "I hoped you might know something, not that I don't enjoy our more casual visits"

Seit shook her head, "I felt it when it happened. It's a shame, that was one of the only nearby settlements to gather nysillin" there was a brief pause and then, "I suppose you want my help."

"You say that as if you don't long to help me with more than silly old puzzles whenever I visit" Zeno spoke as a warm smile parted his sharp features. If Seit could remember the truth about those past visits perhaps she wouldn't be so casual in implying her assistance now, "but since you did mention it - yes. I believe what happened at Akira is connected to information I've been tracking out of The Sith Empire, a holocron I believe to be vital in completing The Work."

Zeno leaned forward, letting his mask dangle between his hands, "what I observed in that village only drives my suspicions. There were no Felucian bodies, only the corpses of animals that were still chained - likely they died of exposure or were killed by predators when their owners vanished" placing the mask on his lap, Zeno pulled off one of his black gloves and offered the still damp leather over to Seit,

"Be careful" he warned as he passed it over, "there is a chemical on this glove, a mild hallucinogen. Whoever took the villagers blanketed their homes in a mist of it and its still hanging low in the air. Thick, like a dense fog."

 

[Seit-Val]

"Hmm." Her thoughtful sigh was almost melodic, and Seit took the glove with little regard for the chemical that coated its surface. Being one so fascinated by poisons and other toxins, she'd long since developed a strange immunity to the milder varieties through self-administered micro-dosing of those she could get her hands on. One of the venomous serpents she kept slithered up the chair and across her shoulders as if to punctuate that oddity, resting there and observing her guest with unblinking, reptilian eyes.

Holding it up in the candlelight, she leaned in and breathed deep of toxin, rubbing the material between her fingers before touching them to her tongue. The taste was botanical and foul, almost sour in its aftertaste. Immediately she purged its effects from her bloodstream, passing the glove back. She nodded, leaning back in her chair and waiting as he pulled his glove back on.

"I've heard of this poison before, from the villagers. It isn't widespread, and from what they told me has only been used by one settlement that lives deeper in the jungle." A pause then, and she considered him for a moment. This marked the first time he'd ever asked more from her than a conversation partner, and something about it was almost odd. A mystery for a later time, after they solved the one before them now.

"Yes, yes, I can take you there." Two hands waved off the question before he could ask it, and she stood, crossing the moss carpeted stone floor. Her lightsaber hung on the wall, and she mulled its necessity for just a moment before sighing and hooking it near the middle of her back, out of sight unless one looked for it.

A dagger followed the saber, this one placed on her left hip. Finally, she gathered a small leather pouch before turning to face him. "We can go."

Zeno Dremati

 

[Zeno Dremati]

Zeno's brow raised as he watched Seit roll her long, earth hued tongue across toxin soaked fingers of the glove. When she seemed satisfied, Seir passed the glove back over the table to Zeno - who took it, wiped it on his pant leg and the now damper leather over his hand with a subtle grimace. As the material squeaked into place between the crevices of his fingers, Zeno found himself wishing he wasn't so used to his friend's curious abnormalities. Even when she was still a member of the order she had been an oddity, freedom had only exacerbated it. Returning her memories had evidently doubled it from there, he noted, as the long serpent slithered up her chair and climbed up to her shoulders.

"I hope that was worth it" he sighed, gemstone eyes coming to rest on the woman as she mulled over the taste of the hallucinogen

"I've heard of this poison before, from the villagers. It isn't widespread, and from what they told me has only been used by one settlement that lives deeper in the jungle"

"A Felucian settlement? Strange..." Zeno drifted into thought as he considered the possibilities. He hadn't expected the Felucian's to be in possession of the toxin...maybe he was too late to find the defector, "Do you know this village? Can you take me to it?"

"Yes, yes. I can take you there"

Zeno was silent as he stood and watched his old friend gather her gear and weapons and when she said it was time to go, he was silent to walk to the cavern door. The night was warm and the moisture was heavy in the air, yet the breeze cast a frigid breath through the jungles that stripped away the tropical allure of the planet. "Well then, I'll take your lead..." Zeno said, turning back to Seit with the full, blue moons silhouetting him.

 

[Seit-Val]

The beginning of their journey was to be undertaken in silence, punctuated only by the shrill cry of a nocturnal creature and the humming of insect life that had long since become background noise to one such as herself. The tropical chill of Felucian nights was something Seit had learned to welcome, finding it a pleasant interruption of the often stiflingly humid days. It did well to keep one awake also, something necessary when traversing a planet as beautifully deadly as this one, particularly at night. The light of the double full moons certainly helped ease the danger, but the feeling of being watched was never quite extinguished.

Only when they had entered the jungle did she break the silence, continuing the conversation as they walked and never quite looking exactly in his direction. “You’ve been quiet tonight. Something else is on your mind, other than The Work.” Amber eyes met his own for a second longer than standard, her gaze communicating all that her words failed to: she was just as adept at memory-based powers as he was, and if he wouldn’t tell her what he was hiding she would uncover it herself. Not a threat, because she would never truly threaten such a dear friend, but an implication: they no longer wore the same mask, but she didn’t need that to take his truth.

It would be left there for now, and she continued to lead him along a barrely traversable and nearly overgrown trail until gradually, the flora began to thin out. In the distance, huts and other obviously hand-crafted buildings were visible, the small settlement mostly silent and illuminated only by torchlight and the glow of fires from within scattered dwellings. Abruptly she came to a halt, catching him by the arm to stop any continued progress and pointing ahead of her.

“This is where your poison originated. I’ve never spoken to any of the people here, but I know they’re reclusive and don’t take kindly to outsiders.” She turned to face him, looking the much taller man up and down. “What’s your plan? Violence would be stupid.”

As always, the two were nothing short of honest with each other.

Zeno Dremati