Private There's always something worse

[Shavara]

Shavara had returned again, seeking out Onrai for knowledge. She didn't know about what exactly, how long it would take, how difficult it would be. But she was on her way anyway. That woman had power and knowledge well beyond what Shavara herself was familiar with, and while Sar Vun's memory allowed her to learn great things. He would hopefully always be available to her, or to someone. Such thing was harder to know about a still living being, especially one like Onrai.

And so she approached, reaching out with the force towards her to ask to meet with her. As she often did, Shavara had her robes, ring, some equipment. She hadn't taken a shifted form yet, but such a task was relatively easy. Whether it would prove necessary or not she supposed would depend on Onrai.


shavaras-robes
shavaras-kestralis-ring
vuns-kaliek
shavaras-shield
gkchrn

 

[Onrai]

It was rare for Onrai to sense someone to reach out to her directly. After all, she was an enigmatic Force Entity and pseudo-deity whose current trials and tribulations were within the realm of Otherspace, cut off for the most part as it was from realspace. A smile crossed her lips she raised the Sunstar-Shadowstone. A rift began to form, its ripples visible both on her end and Shavara's own - and soon enough, the ripple became a tear exposing a reality unlike the woman's own as the shadowed figure of Onrai walked through. This was no mere avatar, but the most whole manifestation of her that existed, barring other avatars fulfilling their own purposes elsewhere.

"Ah. I wondered when I'd hear from you again." A vague smile formed on the face of the wraithlike being, whose form soon shifted to the more humanoid sandy blonde she had once been many years back. "So, what is it that I can offer you, Shavara?"

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

Shavara watched as she saw a ripple and tear and the entity known as Onrai pass through. She still could barely help but feel a tinge of fear and awe at what she'd happened upon. How she'd come to where she was. Shavara managed a smile in return to the always strange form of the being before her before it shifted into something more common, "I always seek more knowledge. But I do feel you know better than I would what new things I could learn. Alchemy and telekinesis and illusions are all the sorts of things I can work on. But I still know I am missing much. I hoped maybe you knew of something? I can come up with something I am sure though."

She wasn't really sure if that seemed rude or not to ask for Onrai to be the decider on it. But she figured she'd give it a try. Afterall, she was so far behind by comparison. She was also very curious what sort of thing Onrai might choose, if she did.

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

"You're unsure what you want to learn. A fair assessment. I think the solution may be to not even delve further into the use of a Force power. Not light, not dark, not neutral." Onrai said, tantalizingly teasing Shavara with a forbidden secret that seemed solely hers to share. "There lies an energy that surrounds everything in Otherspace, that binds the dimension together. I learned of it from my consumption of the life forces of the godspawn who were slain there. It's a sort of Anti-Force, a counterpart to the Force. It functions similarly - it can heal, it can hurt, it can drain lives, and it can save them. But because it's disconnected and not directly entwined with the Force... there are certain benefits."

She smiled. "Probably the most beneficial of them being that whatever nullifies the Force does not nullify the Anti-Force - though things like ixetal cilona injectors will still destroy your concentration and render you unable to use it through lack of focus and will."

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

Shavara listened, tilting her head in interest as Onrai began. What she had to say however, what she was offering, Shavara had not been expecting. Something other than the force, she had understood the force and her Vo and homes Culture were essentially matched. But for something to be wholly seperate not just different, that was truly new. Truly knowledge she likely could never learn from anyone else, not even from the Memory of Sar Vun she imagined.

And, it was something it seemed others were not prepared to get rid of. A vulnerability the force still had. The user of it might still be at risk, but that was a threat with the force too. Not so much a downside with this power, as merely a remaining factor for anyone. She waited a moment, eager to hear more, "Please teach me, I have never known something so foreign!" she asked, the words might have been a little formal but she was wholly interested. Her eyes giving that way fully. It sounded dangerous, but she what wasn't. This was something new, something truly new. And she was eager to learn of it.

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

"Foreign is the least of the ways to describe it." Onrai said, motioning for Shavara to join her in the alternate dimension. "The Anti-Force is something I didn't discover until I consumed the life force of the godlings in this place. Only then did I realize the truth of what I discovered." When the woman had entered into the dimension, the pervading sense of wrongness crept into every facet of the five senses Shavara would experience.

"To touch the Anti-Force is to give away anything and everything of what one is as a Force-user, at least for a moment. You are dealing with chthonic energies that have remained locked away in a dimension parallel to your own. Everything looks and feels wrong, but you must accept it and acknowledge it. The power is similar in how you would use it, but you need only accept and make use of it." Such was what she explained.

"In theory, with enough effectual use of the Anti-Force, you can even tear through the boundaries of dimensions yourself."

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

Shavara shifted swiftly, taking on more durable traits and a pair of wings she folded as she passed into the dimension. She was cautious of a place that might be so distant in its fundamentals. But not nearly cautious enough that she was willing to refuse the opportunity of lifetimes. She would not sacrafice this chance for her own safety, she would learn.

She listened as Onrai continued to explain, as this new dimension came like existence itself had somehow shifted on her when she came through it. Both fear and curiosity plentiful. Though the latter was so often the more powerful of the two. She wasn't sure she liked the idea with how Onrai described it but she wasn't going to back down from it either. "So I could eventually learn to travel through them as you just did for us? Can I use it like the force, to alter and shift, or is it far more of a basic force?" she asked eventually, though she wagered she might get answers eventually anyway, she couldn't help but ask.

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

“Anything is possible, but you would need an understanding of Otherspace and the worlds within in order to effectively use such an ability. Sometimes a rift can take you to a world. Sometimes it can take you into the void. On rare occasions it may take you to somewhere you’ve never been before. There are so many dead worlds here with so much to explore.” She said. Onrai motioned for Shavara to join her as they traveled closer to the fallen godlings.

“Take Ooradryl, for example. If you entered this place from anywhere else, you would likely miss this planet his remains are in. The rest of them too. Yet there are other things to be afraid of here. The Charon.” She cocked her head.

“Have you ever heard of them?”

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

Diligent student as she always was, Shavara continued to focus on what Onrai was telling her, even while looking around her. Made sense, she'd have to understand this new source as a whole not just use it the same way she could use the force. She was a foreigner to it so a familiarity was necessary to truly exploit it's potential. The possibility of a rift taking her places was more exciting than it was worrying, her desire to explore and learn still at the top of her mind. Dead worlds, but to explore. A shame, yet knowledge still.

She continued after again, Ooradryl, that was something she'd heard before. But there was a new word, Shavara shook her head at the question, "I do not think I am familiar with them. Are they aggressive and dangerous? More than things at home can be?" she probably could have clarified on that more. The range from weakest to strongest beast on Vran'Ti was a pretty considerable one, a Vran'ti Sky Dragon individually was a massive threat to most, but they rarely traveled in groups. Meanwhile an individual Screamer wouldn't be that big of a deal to most Vo Ni, but they were inherently social to their kind which made them perfect for using as a horde attack force.

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

"Incredibly dangerous, for the most part." She said. "The Charon are led by a Prophet of the Void, who believes in a nihilistic creed where any and all life in the universe needs to be destroyed. What wasn't killed or devoured by the godlings and pernicious beings that lurk in Otherspace was killed by them. There isn't a single thriving civilization we've come across here in all our travels." A sigh crossed the entity's lips. "I loathe them. Their few encounters with my forces haven't resulted in much success on their part, but they are nihilistic to the point that their death is seen as martyrdom."

They were just at the staircase leading into a lift that would take them up to the hole in the nearest of the great cubes. "Hopefully your mind will accept the damage to reality here. There were some who weren't fortunate and who we've had to sedate."

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

Shavara nodded in acknowledgement that they were indeed dangerous, and apparently as aggressive as was possible. Or, nearly. They didn't seem to be wiping themselves out somehow. But that was really only a negative for everyone else. Their choice of extreme violence had additionally earned them Onrai 's ire as well.

She'd split her focus by now, one on testing and maintaining her own mental and emotional wellbeing and the other in standard operations like observation and continuing to follow Onrai. Such divergence was hardly anything new, especially with telepathy. Still, the concern was there that it was necessary. But given who was telling her, she was not one to doubt the danger. "Is there something specific I should do?"

 

[Onrai]

"Focus." She said. "The Force energy you now feel, relinquish it and take in the energy around you. Let it flow through your veins and be channeled as your former power was." The spectral form of Onrai crossed her legs and sat down before the young woman. "I will focus with you. Focus is key. You are dealing with powers ordinary mortals were not meant to use. These powers have been imperfectly harvested by many on multiple occasions, but only here can one truly become in tune with the irradial nature of this place."

As they sat and focused, Onrai recounted a past use of such. "The Empire Reborn." She said out of the blue. "They attempted once to create Anti-Force users through the use of the so-called 'purification' by Waru. Waru drained their Force energies, but rather than empowering them with the natural opposite of the Force, the Valley of the Jedi's energies were infused into them instead. Thus the Reborn were born, artificial Sith, or artificial Jedi depending on how one wanted to use those powers. What we will do here is different. Very different."

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

Shavara listened very carefully. She wasn't sure how much she liked the idea. The Vran didn't learn this way, there was little to no relinquishing of anything unless you were unleashing some bloodthirsty rage. And that was not a practice she used. The path of emotion was one she was afraid to tread too freely.

Still, she tried. She was afraid of even doing that much, but she did try. Legitimately. Putting every part of her focus on trying to preform this exchange. She could still hear onrai's words, but whatever she was saying, it took second place to the sudden and growing pain as the exchange began to took place. She couldn't describe it in the moment, just that it was thoroughly unpleasant, and rather scary. But she could feel that it was working, and while the act itself was terrifying, she wasn't sure she knew what would happen if she stopped either.

It was powerful, and so very different. Those words she heard, and even if not quite in the right context, she very much agreed. This was very different. Whatever was going on with her Vo, through all this strangeness and pain, she couldn't tell. But it was different too.

It was all so very different.

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

Onrai observed the pain and struggle that Shavara was experiencing. How she mourned for the young woman - mourned for the pain she would be forced to endure in order to tap the powers of the Anti-Force. As a being who directly manifested the energies of the more typical source of power, such pain was inevitable, but Onrai expected that in due time Shavara would be able to mitigate it. Perhaps she would be able to help mitigate it herself.

"It may be burdensome to you initially, my dear, but I assure you, the advantages will outweigh the risks. You will not need to worry about disruptions to your power from those with ysalamiri or with walls of light that may cut you off."

Shavara

 

[Shavara]

She found, only as the pain began to decrease, as her body and her mind and all began to adapt, that she'd been breathing heavily. Finally able to turn heaves to mere breaths, and start to relax. It still felt thoroughly incorrect. But she at least wasn't in pain anymore. Her brow furrowed and unforrowed trying to process it as she made thinking faces.

Onrai assured her it was worth it, and that was probably true. She may never have to deal with walls of light in the first place. And had yet to actually meet an ysalimiri. But at least there was no problem either way now. This...anti-force. Was it's own thing. A new thing to explore and research, and experience. A powerful, dangerous, fascinating thing.

She looked up again to Onrai, her face still contorting between the confused sense, lingering pain, and excitement of something new, "This is...a lot...very odd" she finally said. Probably one of her least well thought out statements. But, it did in some way summarize her situation.

Onrai