Wrapt in Obsidian

[Kuzo]

M A E N A

They had met just outside of Maena space. There were many reasons, not the least of which were the difficult atmospheric challenges for an unfamiliar pilot- but Irajah thought that it would be better if she were bringing a single person with her- rather than an entire extra ship that didn't have landing clearance. She didn't hid his presence on her ship- there was no reason to. And so many, many more reasons not to.

Trust, after all, was a delicate thing. And friendship even more so. Irajah saw the people she had met on Maena and farther afield to be just that- friends. So there were no secrets here. Not, at least, in the fact that Doctor Ven was bringing someone to Maena.

"This place doesn't have a name," she explained as they stepped out of the ship. Irajah paused, hazel eyes sweeping over the desolate scene. Jagged obsidian fields, treacherous and razor sharp spread to the west. To the east, a sea so dark it's waters seemed to swallow the wan light cast by the planet's distant sun. The slice of beach between the two was smoother stone and black sand.

"The obsidian is brittle," she murmured as she bent down and scooped up a handful of sand. "It's broken down by the waves very quickly, relatively speaking of course. The mountains to the north and those fields," she gestured, the bare gleam of the glass-like stone reflecting the scant light across the beach, "keep this cove safe from some of the.... less savory.... things wandering around here. I don't recommend going walking that direction without beskar boots on, for the record."

Slipping off her shoes, Irajah walked a few steps into the surf. She gazed out over the dark waters, surprisingly serene today. Only the barest trace of white caps, kicked up by the breeze winging along the beach marred the black mirror. Wiggling her toes, the lapping waves slowly buried them in the twilight sands.

Despite the desolation, the harsh lines, the forbidding hue.... it was also beautiful. Stark and raw, it called to something inside of her that she didn't have a name for.

"I found this place one day.... I needed a break from my research." She wasn't facing Jacob. For a moment, it wasn't entirely clear if she were talking to him or herself. "I come here when I need to think, work out a problem. The sound of the ocean is good for that."

She stood there, ankle deep in the sea. The wind shifted dark hair over her face, the smell of salt filling the air. Irajah breathed in deeply, closing her eyes for a moment.

When she turned back to Jacob, she smiled.

"There's no one here you can hurt. And I intend to sit far enough away to include myself in that! So. What do you say?"


[member="Jacob Crawford"] [member="Matsu Xiangu"] [member="Aria Vale"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

If Jacob was honest, he was still rather disappointed with his old ship. He had gone into Galactic Alliance territory with the hopes of finding it, and maybe it was wishful thinking that it would turn out well.

And of course, it didn't.

Instead after a rather interesting adventure, he had discovered a rickety rust bucket of a ship that was supposedly his. It was barely flyable, even after Jacob used his knowledge of mechanics to fix it up. Anything that had been his was gone, the interior was stripped bare and even the remnants of the ship droid were scattered about the place. Overall though it had managed to get Jacob to the edge of Maena space where he met up with Irajah again, who immediately raised concerns on how he had managed to even fly it off the planet he found it on.

Jacob had just shrugged. "The Force was with me I guess."

Either way once Jacob was on her ship, he didn't even glance back at the rust bucket.

There was a brief talk about the medicine Irajah had supplied him, her alternative to the constant stim usage. It had worked like a charm, although because it had taken two weeks for their reunion, he had to still rely on the stims. The pills did slow down their deteriorating in his system, but a new stim and pill would need to be consumed to keep the Force supressed. Thankfully Irajah had provided enough of both to last the duration.

Though back when Irajah had first given him the pills, and disclosed the two week wait, there had been a bit of a back and forth between the two.

He was an addict, being left with pills and stims. It wasn't exactly the best idea.

In the end though Jacob had convinced, and promised he wasn't going to go jabbing his arm with multiple stims or consuming several pills in one go. The stim incident on Dxun had been a one-time thing, contributed to the fact he had gone a number of months without any.

Even then Irajah was still wary.

So upon their reunion above Maena, and in Jacob's infinite wisdom he said. "See, I'm still alive."

It was meant as a joke. But the look from Irajah, and what he could of sworn was a facepalm from inside his head, made it clear it didn't go well.

Besides that the two shared some idle chatter while her droid OM-3 piloted the ship down to the planet. Jacob had asked how she had been doing, never particularly prying in what specifically happened, and he regaled his tale of finding 'Rust Bucket the Ship' as he had called it.

Irajah had described what Maena was like, specifically the location she had picked. Despite how desolate it sounded, Jacob thought it sounded great. And they both agreed on one thing.

It was better than Dxun.

Now that he was planetside, Jacob took in the sights around him and he could see why Irajah had come here to unwind. It was very peaceful in comparison to the landscape surrounding it. And he felt a twinge of guilt build up in his stomach, knowing that it probably wasn't going to look nearly the same after he was finished.

"I can see why you would come here Irajah, I think I would've done the same."

Jacob looked around to identify a ideal spot for, well everything to go down. It had to be away from the water most likely, but not too far inland.

"That would be advisable, I can only imagine the initial release is going to be something big. I haven't exactly been able to let it loose even slightly for the past few weeks."

Picking out his spot, Jacob removed his boots and let his bare feet sink into the sand. He gave one last look over to Irajah.

"The last pill I took should wear off soon...oh and if I look like I'm in pain, please don't get near. This is going to be it, I either manage this, or I do god knows what damage to my body."

With that said Jacob took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Several minutes passed and Jacob could feel the drugs finally disperse in his body, and his arms began to shake uncontrollably. He focused on what he had learned, what tips Connor had given him about trying to rein control over the Force. Jacob tried to call on that fire in his chest from before, but there was nothing. He heard the voices in his head audibly curse

Jacob you can't focus it, it's built up to much!

You're going to do more damage if you-

Jacob blocked them out as his thoughts immediately turned to Irajah.

"Irajah! Get behind something!" He knew she was going to get far away, but something in his mind worried it wasn't going to be enough.

He tried to hold it back as long as possible, but not a minute later he let out a bellowing yell as the Force was unleashed from his body, in every possible direction. It was like a sonic boom, it tore through the sand blowing it everywhere, it formed a crater around Jacob and tore through the waters ahead of him like a tornado.

Jacob's yells of pain and agony followed it as he began aimlessly throwing his arms around, sending Force blasts in whatever direction they went. Some going far enough to strike the mountainside. A few struck nearby rock formations and demolished them.

As this continued more and more Force waves burst out from Jacob's body periodically. It dug him further into the crater each time. Anyone who tried to reach him right now would be facing something akin to hurricane winds.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[NightSister]

Aria loved days off. It was true that when she had too much free time on her hands, the former Jedi was quick to get restless, but the odd pair of days to herself were lovely. Especially now, living on Maena. She had the most splendid new home - yet another parallel she couldn't help but draw between her Jedi past and her very-nearly-Darksided present - and plenty of fun ways to busy herself. Her first week or two on Maena had been spent trying to establish her presence on the planet the best she could; considering the fact that she was yet to meet its leading Sith lords, Aria felt she'd done a pretty decent job. So naturally, after what had been, to her, a considerably rewarding start to her new enterprise, she was taking today simply to enjoy herself.

It would come as no surprise to anyone who knew her, but that'd ended up meaning sleeping in and ticking a box on her to-read list. It would take a great deal to make a party animal out of her still, but at least she wasn't so bad as to still train during weekends.

In fact, she'd...not really done very much in the way of training at all, especially not since Darth Vitium's death. Well, she'd messed around a little with trying to draw on her inherently darksided emotions, but at present, honing her ability with the Force wasn't as much of a priority to her as it had been. She wasn't part of an order or organisation anymore; rank held little meaning beyond being the only thing she had to show after her years with the Silvers. Oh, sure, at some point she might take up arms with the Sith or otherwise start caring again about achieving what was at least the equivalent of Master, but it was honestly the furthest thing from her mind right now. She had no real reason to improve upon her Force-skill; she had the skills she needed to not die in just about every situation she was likely to find herself in, and no personal quests which would require her betterment - well, beyond fixing her glaring dependence, but that was a different matter. In any case, at present there was no cause to care about where she stood on the ladder of force-users.

So today, no training. Maybe she'd go out to a nice restaurant for dinner or something, but for now she could watch that detective show on her holoscreen -

The sudden shake in the surrounding Force-presence gave her a split second's warning before a massive boom erupted from somewhere a way off. Aria flinched, dropping the remote to bring her hands to her ears a moment too late. What was all that about?

Half irritated and half curious, Aria got to her feet, quickly tugging her jacket from its hook on the door, and in a minute she was down the stairs. It was a really nice place. Maena was so great. Not now, Aria. Her focus turned to the force - luckily, sensing it didn't really require much practice - and she followed where instincts led.

She reached the ruined beach quickly, eyes widening at the state of the shore. Ripples of the force shot her way, so she backed up at once, watching from an awkward distance as...something...went on. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but it didn't look good. Well, do something, come on.

"Are -" Are you alright? Silly question. The word was lost in the noise, so she looked around, needing something to act upon. There were boulders scattered around the crater forming in the sand - wait, was that the doctor lady from the labs? It was. What a small planet.

"Doctor Ven?" Aria looked rather bewildered. "Any idea what's happening?"

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The Tower - Old City

She’d done this before, though only a time or two. Cultivating the power over her mind and the minds of others had been a life-long endeavor, and allowing someone behind her steadfast barrier was not something to be taken lightly. But to reach the next level of their power - to become something the galaxy hadn’t seen before - it was not only necessary but...it made her curious.

Sitting in the Tower across a table cleared of everything that might usually have been sitting on it, Yaomo and Prazutis sat in what seemed like unproductive silence.

But, eyes closed, everything was loud in Matsu’s head.

She felt squeezed, a great pressure against all sides of her skull as the connection forged between them. The difficult part was reliving everything, seeing those things she’d rather forget as her mind learned his - as they became capable of some sick symbiosis.

Krius Syonis was looking over her again, his grin a disgusting leer as she burned, convinced by his mental hold that she had to cut off her arm. She was bleeding out in the snow again. She was languishing under Jared Ovmar’s disapproval. But there were just as many beautiful things. The first time she’d realized the Dead weren’t truly gone to her. The great swell of power that came with Feeding. The birth of her son.

The image of Onley, so small and perfect, flashed across the slowly building connection unbidden. Like his parents he had been stubborn even from the first, unwilling to come in to the world without struggle. It had taken hours to deliver him and by the time he came in to the galaxy she was certain she would kill the child before it even had a chance to scream. But he hadn’t screamed. He’d looked up at her with eyes so dark and knowing she could not help but love him. It was a weakness she was sure, but she had picked him up and cradled his tiny little head to her cheek, his bloody fist leaving a smear on her jaw where he explored his mother’s face. Even now, decades later, she found herself pressing her fingers to the spot where his pudgy little hand had first reached out for her.

And just as quickly as the scene came it dissolved, giving way to something black as she floated downwards through water so deep the sun would never reach on its brightest day. Down, down, down until she hit the sand at the ocean floor, its grains floating up around her in deafening silence as she displaced their quiet order. And he, the Father of her son, floated overhead - one great red eye, watching and worshipping, distant but so very close. Funny how his name was the feeling - reverence. Reverance.

The memories stopped abruptly, a piercing sensation like being run through hollowing out her head as if she were cored. For a moment the world was as nothing. No sound. No touch. No smell. No sight. And then it came back to her all at once but Prazutis was there too. Connected. Brother.

Her eyes snapped open. Something was wrong, though not anywhere close to them. The Force drew up towards her like an incoming tide, waiting.

“Can you feel it?”

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]​

 

[Darth Prazutis]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY4zhygkYYQ[/media]​

Old City, Maena
The Tower...

​A mental synapse, a connection wasn’t something that Braxus had ever done before with another. The idea of letting someone behind his precious mental barriers to see within the confines of his mind wasn’t one he made lightly. But to reach the next level, to truly achieve a connection and to truly do what the galaxy has never seen before, he accepted.

High in the tower sitting across from Matsu Xiangu a table between them devoid of any objects they sat in silence their eyes closed.

First a pressure bore down all across his skull as his defenses opened and they combined their minds, the connection forged. But that wasn’t the painful part, reliving every painful memory in his life was. Memories he long buried and would’ve liked to forget surged to the surface.

Just like that he was back in his childhood home on Panatha. He hugged the warm and inviting figure of his raven haired mother Shira. She wore a radiant green dress and a purple gem clad gold necklace. She told him everything would be okay to the sounds of men entering the house. She pushed him into the side chamber pulling the door shut as she moved. The door creaked open after it failed to close all of the way and already Braxus sped out to the top of the balcony. A tall man with slender, ratty facial features and a crown atop his head stood. All around him four men stood clad in black uniforms with blue tabards: Zambrano. The pair fought and argued their soft words from this distance barely carrying to his ears “Son. Liability to throne. My mistake. Broken code. Liquidated.” The man who was supposed to be his father, his loving father said. Just then his mother moved to the bottom of the stairway her eyes glaring at the soldiers who moved to surround her.

“No one touches my son.”

Just then she struck the aged, powerful anzati woman lashed out with rage. A protective, scorned mother lashed out her enhanced strength punching a hole clear through one of the mens chests, while she tore the throat from the other. Screams, fear, blood. Blood on the marble floors, blood on the walls, blood on the stairway, blood on her. Shira descending on the last two who moved to run, while the cowardly man: Magnus II, his father fled too cowardly to fight himself. She crushed ones skull to the marble floor, and grabbed the other. Braxus ran down the stairs to watch her long proboscis unfurl from the hidden pouches in her face, watching as she feasted on the mans brain. Just as the mans body hit the floor and those proboscis hid once more she moved toward the shaking, terrified youth, her green dress stained red. “No one will take you from me. Always remember we are different. We are hunters. The strong survive, the weak perish.”

Just then the memories changed to later in his life as he now stood an older self than his child form. Braxus walked into a seedy palace on the toxic world of Nal Hutta. The smell of garbage, spice, and alcohol filled the air as he swept into the large crowded cantina room. Voices quieted at the sight of an infamous figure, a mercenary, and one of the cartels favored killers. Braxus dropped a brown burlap sack on the table in front of the opulent Hutt, sliding a datapad along with it. “Did he suffer as requested?” The baritone hutt asked. Braxus played the sound byte then of a group of people screaming and yelling, a fire raging around them. In time the sounds of their burning alive erupted from the device. “He listened to them before the end.” Braxus said. The hutt simply bellowed out a laugh “All will learn the price of challenging my authority.”

Authority, power.

Years passed as the memories shifted in the form of his much older self. Braxus stood a few paces behind [member="Darth Carnifex"] his nephew, his master. Kaine Zambrano with his hair pulled into a warriors ponytail while he stood clad in a set of spiked armor, the mans luminous yellow eyes blazing down to his blood relative. The latest part of his training saw Braxus starved for close to fourty eight hours, his leg was broken along with six ribs and a broken nose from the most recent bout in his training with the Butcher-King. No rest period was given, no time spent mending. “Live and survive to see the next day, die and prove my faith in you wrong and that you are a failure, it matters not. But come and witness what lies in your future if you succeed…” The doors to the balcony shifted and voices erupted across the world. A mass of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands stood for miles beyond as voices of soldiers, sith alike stood before him chanting. “ALL HAIL THE EMPEROR! ALL HAIL THE EMPEROR!”

Family.

Just then everything shifted and he stood holding his baby boy Solomon Zambrano clad in his arms. Braxus had lifted his son from the arms of his dying mother, a woman he himself couldn’t save, the price of his own actions. The boy stared up at his father with brilliant emerald eyes. Thoughts of ending the young boy filled his mind a liability, a mistake, he was certain that he would kill the young child, before its voice was heard in the world. But the boy remained dead silent, a cold look filled his face as he simply watched the new form in front of him: Destiny. He would raise the young child, he would teach him the right way, he would love him.

Just then an eerie blackness filled his mind as the ripples of the force slammed into him like a tidal wave, drowning him beneath its waves as every memory came crashing all at once, words drowning everything out as hands reached to pull him deeper beneath its waters, but Matsu was there with him. Connected. Sister.

Braxus eyes snapped open at exactly the same time as her own. Something was very wrong. “Yes. We must go.”

…..

All around the beach as a storm of force energy raged near the gathering of people something happened. The rippling roar of energy was drowned out completely by frenzied shrieks, roars, and a torrent of moans. Dead. The living dead emerged as far as the eye could see. The raw stench of hundreds, thousands of decayed bodies and raw putrefaction filled the air as their shambling forms could be seen from horizon to horizon. These creatures gnashed their teeth and bore claws but stopped, the entire horde stopped all at once. Near a pair of towering zombified rancors the sea of death parted unnaturally, a great pathway shone.

Two figures emerged from the horde side by side, one of which stood hooded with a massive blade slung across his back.

They had come.

The pair moved towards the gathering with haste in each step, the dark side rolling from them in great undulating waves.

The Harbingers of Maena.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]




​

 

[Korog Zordaal]

The Slums,
Maena

Outraged? Not exactly, not Korog. Mollifyingly vexed, seemed best fit for the foot his Master, [member="Matsu Xiangu"], had given him. A blunt be gone. A remorseless shoulder of such cruel and cold curve, that were he lacking of both sight and sound, his banishing, still yet, would be felt.

So there he had left them, a Xiangu and a Zambrana. . . Zambrano.

What ever filth she had planned for the gibbous of proportion, Little Prince, a Zordaal, wanted no part of in any manner.

Nevertheless,

vexed.

But with shut doors and private transactions, he'd thus see himself afforded the privilege of research on a scantly known World. Of course, he'd come across the Necromancer in this very system, a Sister World, Trismegis. Now, however briefly, his paltry Master - Minature Matsu, had saw to enlighten eager student on the horrors she and [member="Darth Prazutis"] had unleashed here.

Of course he feigned awe, quite expressively, actually.

She was above such meager dread and terror though. In the eyes of this Muun, she simply had to succumb to the stench of Zambrano filth. He'd help her elevate the axiom of her crepescule once more. Or by his hand would that slant of her open eyes be forever vanquished--or, at least, by his design.

But make quip no further, he stumbled on thoughts, his long head turning slowly, putting one eye to the darkened air above him. Something, menacing, gave foul whisper through black ether.

"It...'s. .. inside. . me!" A fragile voice gave quiver, "My.. body. ..damage" soft words shared in kind with another soul not here in presence.

Korog's fingers, thin and long, shifted the jigsawed glass of a impact crater between a number of beaten and leaning shanty homes, in to a secure case. He'd find use of them for something, anything, later.

But black eyes did not lurch gaze from source of whimper and sorrow. They stood transfixed in silence as the Force imbue obscure nuance to this coming Storm.

Young hands, both grimed and bloody, clutched spear of impact glass.

Coming. Inside. Hurry.

Words that bore no meaning left strong taste on tongue.

In to the bulb of a green eye did glass penetrate easily, a howl of pain, loud as thunder pulsing from lungs as the plunging barb severed a canyon of crimson across sooty face.

Explosion.

It was all the Muun could process, eyes drinking the morbid scene of intoxicated mania, as a well of red suddenly let loose as an unhinged geyser. At once it all hit him. And with haste would his reedy limbs carry him to this powerful beckoning that sang devilish riddle and murderous tune across the entirety of Maena.

Now one could only hope his meager stature-d Master had not found her self too, preoccupied, to heed this Hounds call!

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] |[member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"]​

 

[Kuzo]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFd8NwUfDPg[/media]

The tidal wave bearing down on her had nothing to do with the sea at her back. Saturated and heavy, the air itself constricted, pushing, pulsing. Hazel eyes cast about, not sure what was about to happen but fully intending to take his suggestion seriously.

But the feeling of the cresting power froze her. There wasn't time.

There were few enough instances in the past where the power inside of her surged. On Coruscant, goaded by fear, then anger. On Gap Nine, fury and pain. And now here, on Maena, because the alternative simply. didn't. suit. To have the air snatched from her lungs, buried beneath the stone and sand. To allow that waxing tide to envelope her and strip the flesh from her bones.

It wasn't a conscious decision. It never was. The large slab of smooth, volcanic rock she had been sitting on moved. She slid backward, palms flat against the stone as it tilted up. But not from the pressure of Jacob. The Force ability that was so deeply turned inward in Irajah Ven chose this moment to explode out.

Swallowed by the larger roiling maelstrom around her friend, it rocked the stone upward just before the gale of the Force slammed down on her. Stones and sand flew, razor sharp and angry, filling the air around her with the sound of angry hornets. On the side facing the epicenter, sand flowed in rivers. Where the wind whipped, it hurled the glass shards of obsidian, slicing through fabric and flesh. Thin lines of blood appeared where the dove grey tunic parted. Not many, but the chaos of the winds were too great to be utterly thwarted by a single boulder.

But behind the stone, she held firm. She didn't notice the dark red blood trailing down her face from her nose.

The sound of her name made her blink. Black sand gritted in her eyes. How long had she stood there, holding the stone up between her and the event horizon still growing around Jacob? She glanced to her right. The dark waters stood up, a huge, unbreaking wave stilled just beyond the breakers- the edge of his Force Ripple, she realized.

To her left, she scooted over, making room for Aria behind the stone. The air around them was filled with debris, stones the size of a fist, mirrored shards of obsidian. And somewhere, on the edge of the broken beach- the crawling sensation of death come walking.

"What are you doing here?" She cried out over the deafening crackle. She choked, the grit of the invading sand mixing with a thick miasma. It coated the back of her throat, like the feeling of rancid fur.

"You need to get away from here! I don't know what's going to happen when-"

The air disintegrated around them.

*****

[member="Jacob Crawford"] [member="Aria Vale"] [member="Matsu Xiangu"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

Jacob felt on odd sense of serenity as he stood in the epicentre of the storm. The Force and the very elements themselves were swirling about in a chaotic storm around him, and yet where he stood there was peace.

Aside from the occasional groan of pain as the muscles in his arms tensed.

He had little control over them, as if a puppeteer's strings were on him. They moved his arms almost randomly, sending blast after blast in whatever direction they were swung towards. He could feel presences through the Force, he knew one was Irajah, but the second was a mystery. The familiarity of Irajah had stayed his hand, but the second was like a warning flare and his right arm moved to attack.

"No!" Jacob's yell was drowned out by the storm, but he managed to shift his arm away enough that the blast skimmed past Aria, instead of smashing into the stone she was hiding behind. He tried reining his wild limbs back in, and yet they refused still.

Then all of a sudden a cold chill latched onto his fingers, then his palms and began crawling down his arms. Jacob bit back a hiss of pain as he felt the sensation of a thousand tiny pins were being jabbed into his skin in the wake of the cold's movements. As it reached his shoulders the same thing began along his legs, both sets of limbs growing increasingly numb.

What the hell is this?!

Jacob, you need to focus. It's draining you!

It's latching on to the Force within you, it's trying to pull it out, consume it. If you don't control it here and now, it's going to destroy you!

Jacob closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He called upon the Force as he dulled his natural senses, and began centralizing himself solely to it. The cold chill quickly sweeped across his chest and began gorging on the Force.

As it neared his heart however a sudden burst of fire cloaked it and began fighting back. This gave Jacob the strength he needed as he began pulling his arms back. His muscles strained against the imaginary strings holding him back. With an audible roar that echoed through the Force, Jacob tugged his limbs inwards, snapping the restraints and bringing them folded against his chest. The fire within him lurched in response, overwhelming the cold and expunging it from his body.

Outside of this, the Force Storm continued, but the violent pulses and blasts gradually dissipate as Jacob pulled his arms in. It left only the swirling vortex of sand, stones and obsidian shards that continued to be carried by the Force and the wind. A foreboding feeling swept over the area as the power behind the storm began to be drawn into the centre. Rather than it being pushed outwards, it was seemingly being pushed down now.

The layers of sand that remained began to tremble, at first rocks buried beneath shifted the sand apart as they began to levitate. Following them were slates of obsidian that made up the lowest bedding for the beach. As more and more objects began to rise up, the storm began to shrink. The ring of debris that had been picked up and thrown about was drawn inwards.

Only when Jacob's arms had been fully folded against his chest, did everything just suddenly stop. An eerie silence fell across the landscape, allowing the ravenous sounds of the zombie horde to be heard clear as day.

Jacob could feel it them through the Force, presences that weren't there before. He recognised Irajah and the unknown one beside her. But there were three new ones, two of which were so utterly and completely swarmed by darkness, that he had to quickly pull his Force Sense back in fear of suffocating on the sheer amount of it.

He opened his mouth to speak but he knew it wouldn't reach everyone. So he called upon the Force and stretched his mind out.

Do not get any closer, it's going to-

Jacob's mental message was cut short as the air itself seemed to still, and unable to hold it back anymore, Jacob swung his arms out wide and a cacophonous boom sounded out across the land. It was followed by another Force Wave similiar to the first one, only this one was much louder and far reaching. It struck the looming wave back towards the ocean. And everything that had been held in the air was sent outwards all at once. The various rocks and obsidian slates that were closest to Jacob were obliterated into smaller pieces. The ground beneath him; now devoid of any sand and was just obsidian, cracked as the Force Wave pushed him deeper into the crater he had caused.

Following that was silence again, Jacob simply stood there in the midst of where the carnage was seconds ago, his arms still outstretched.

Internally though Jacob felt one thing.

Freedom.

He could feel the Force flowing inside him, outside of him and all around. It was no longer supressed or as unwieldy as before. Jacob opened his eyes, but as he did he felt something immediately surge into him. He gasped as it entered through every part of him; his mouth, his nose, his eyes, his ears, everywhere. Unlike the cold it didn't try to combat the fire inside, instead it hugged it; like a welcoming friend, it wrapped itself around in unity.

As it did this Jacob could hear and feel things, very distant as if were an old memory. An echo.

Burning. Screaming. Death.

It felt terrible...

It felt wonderful.

Jacob tried to shake the thought from his mind, but it lingered. Only when it finished did Jacob take another breath of air, his arms finally flopping down to his sides. He looked out towards the ocean, where it met with the horizon. It was peaceful, Jacob smiled at that thought.

Then it became more sky than ocean as his vision turned upwards, as he tumbled backwards until he collapsed onto the obsidian floor.

From far away it looked as though he was motionless, not breathing. But the reality was that it was shallow, and he was just staring up at the sky.

He was finally free.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[NightSister]

Too much was going on. Even without being fully certain what was happening, Aria knew there was too much of it. The noise, the winds, the violent waves of the Force - there was just so much. Aria hated that. There had to be one thing to focus on, one person to talk to, one purpose behind whatever was going on. This? This was an overwhelming buzz of thing after thing going on around her, overloading her senses and activating her instinct to revert to hiding in herself until it all went away.

But she couldn't do that. Something important was happening; something potentially very dangerous was happening. If she let her mind, her own issues - if she let her own small, insignificant self distract her from what was going on around her, she'd have given up on a whole life and broken promises to more than one person, to become something no better than the Jedi she had been.

No, worse. Whatever the uselessness of their morals, a Jedi held to their values. She'd done the opposite. Arguably, she still had firm beliefs on right and wrong, good and evil, her ideal place on either twisted scale, but it wasn't quite the same thing. It wasn't like having a steadfast, absolute belief in a way of life, devoting herself to it with utter selflessness and putting nothing above it, not ever. Aria'd lived a long time wanting very much to be a Jedi, even living happily as one, but she'd never had that total, unconditional drive. A Jedi, at least, knew where they stood. Aria didn't. She wasn't even trying to figure it out, really. If, on top of that, she was also too cowardly to realize her surroundings, then she was worse than them.

Had Aria run into any Jedi who knew of her turn since its occurrence, the poor fool would've almost certainly been quick to insist that she had fallen, become corrupted, lost the good in her. She wasn't going to let it be true.

Into action-mode. She had to figure out who was in danger. Her goal had been to save and improve lives from day one - that hadn't changed along with her alignment. Thoughts pinged past her brain as she did a sweeping glance of the beach; then something whizzed by her, and she looked around wildly, startled like an animal. Someone was causing this. It wasn't the result of some dramatic natural disaster; somebody was at the center of the storm. So the danger....think, Aria...was towards everyone nearby. Oh dear. Rapidly concerned for herself and for Doctor Ven, Aria darted over to take up the spot made for her.

Then the noise got worse. Then an unearthly Dark aura filled the air, sick and overpowering. Then her gaze flickered to a massive army of hissing undead. Zombies? What the hell was a zombie army doing at the beach? Was this some bizarre attack? Was this just the norm in certain parts of Maena? This was really bad. This was really bad. She really didn't like this now.

But she forgot about those, too.

The rage told her who she was looking at before her brain did. Absolute untamed rage, made only stronger by the confusion, the fear, the non-stop hum of things going on, the red woven metal design that made a bracelet on her wrist. She didn't know his name - she didn't need to. She knew who he was, she knew in excruciating detail what he had done. Aria wasn't likely to forget the face of the man who had brutally and mercilessly killed Darth Vitium - killed Silara.

It wasn't the relentless noise that muted Doctor Ven's words. The noise, in fact, was forgotten itself. Everything except the burning hot hatred disappeared. Of course, she might've once thought, Silara wouldn't have died if she hadn't failed, but this was no time for thinking logically. She was yards away from Darth Vitium's killer. That was the thing to focus on.

Aria was on her feet.

Looking back on it, it was probably very fortunate that the wave hit when it did. Even a few more seconds could've been all she needed to catch his attention, spark his anger - in hindsight, that would've been a very bad thing indeed. But when the beach gave way to let the obsidian beneath it see light, when the massive boom rang in her ears as momentum knocked her to the surface, when she became painfully aware of the dull soreness, she was rather too preoccupied to give thought to how lucky the timing had been.

First, she thought about how much she liked the silence. It was so much simpler. So much better. Then she tried to figure out from where she was bleeding. She couldn't sense anything that felt potentially fatal, but she could feel a few injuries - the air had been knocked out of her lungs, too; it rather hurt. She thought again about Darth Vitium, her death, her killer. But then she remembered that Aria Vale did good. That was the goal, after all. Her goal, at least. It had been her goal ever since she'd been given life where she'd have otherwise died alone and without so much as a name, ever since she'd been raised happy, and safe, and loved, with the potential to one day grow. That was where she stood.

So she sat up, and looked in either direction. She had to see what the aftermath looked like.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Her apprentice was somewhere on the planet. He was not the only trainee under her wing but he was certainly the most promising, the most resilient to her claws. She reached for him in the Force but he must have left the New City at some point since she and Prazutis secluded themselves as she could not find him. However, she doubted very much he’d missed whatever massive ripple in the Force had emanated from the wastelands. The odds of seeing him at the epicenter eventually were good.

If he did not feel the palpable mess in the Force, it was impossible to miss the trail of Undead that followed the Twins across the volcanic desert.

She nearly forgot them in the wake of the storm they found.

Everything was chaos. Dozens of emotions from simple to complex bombarded her from all around, signatures both known and foreign populating the beach as she and Prazutis appeared on its black sands. She could hardly see for the debris ripping through the air and threatening to flatten anything that got too close. For the moment however everything seemed to be imploding in slow motion, rocks and seawood and saltwater crawling up towards whatever was at the center of the black hole ripping open on Maena.

Control was the code of the Sith, but perhaps at the end of the day what set her apart was her willingness to let the Force overload every nerve ending she still had, overwhelm her until she was a supernova of her own. Instead of trying to make sense of the words and sounds and noises and light and wind and gravity and the feelings both her own and foreign - she let it have her. Her face was filled with wonder as she stepped forward knowing Prazutis was at her side. His was the hammer, and hers was the arcane; two sides of a coin formidable in conflict. But she wasn’t thinking about a fight right at that moment as she stepped towards the storm sucking towards its own center. It was like she had her legs in the surf, low tide pulling her relentlessly out to sea. She could not help but follow, face upturned towards such a pure expression of the Force that she nearly fell to her knees.

“Force...it’s beautiful,” she whispered in reverence, dark hair pulled out of its bun to toss around her face as she stared upwards.

And then she saw him.
Deep in the center of a roiling expression of the Force that circled its core was the man from which it emanated.
She only caught a glimpse as the strands sighed around him.
It couldn’t be.
Jude?

Her eyes widened, thin strands of red curling in to the amber from the edges of her irises as the Dark Side sang in confusion, predatory rage, something like hurt.

It was momentary. At that second the entire thing came undone. The storm exploded, blowing Matsu and everything on the beach backwards. She couldn’t tell how long she was in the air but when she hit the sand every last breath of air was forced out of her lungs, her back arching in reflexive panic as she struggled to breathe. She rolled on to her side, fingers curling in to the earth as she tried to get her bearings. The storm seemed to be dissipating, perhaps expending itself all at once in favor of crushing everything in its path over extended destruction. The shift seemed to convince her lungs to reset and she sucked in a loud breath - only to feel a hideous, agonizing pain in her abdomen.

Looking down, she saw a piece of driftwood lodged in her stomach. She reached down, gingerly touching near the wound to see how badly she was bleeding and letting out a piercing hiss of pain as she pressed down. The only thing to do was leave it in and hope she didn’t bleed to death.

And pain was fuel.

Touching her fingertips to the wood, she pushed at it ever so slightly to feel the searing torture of its movement in her gut. Her scream pierced through the calming air as she writhed in the sand but in her head she was only focused on reaching the stranger. She trusted Prazutis to do what needed to be done, to leave her there bleeding for the betterment of their Children, their respective sons, Maena and their interests if that's what need be. She had been through worse. And she was angry enough to scramble the grey matter of whoever had created the storm.

Who are you? she hissed in to the stranger’s head, venom curling off her words to poison his mind in a mentalist’s crushing grip. ANSWER ME!

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]​

 

[Darth Prazutis]

​[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46u_Ggsub1A[/media]​

The pair of Darth Prazutis and Matsu Xiangu had arrived on the black sandy shores as obsidian shards of debris hurled uncontrollably through the air. Pieces small and large enough to flatten man blazed in every which direction some finding themselves embedded in one of their children's bodies, but they knew no pain.

​All around he was overwhelmed by the rapid sensations of the force and the vibrant energies of this storm, signatures familiar and strange alike flooding in with the great palpable waves emanating from the lone individual in the eye of the storm. It was like the ravenous waves an undertoe threatening to pull even his massive bulk forward, to drown him in all of its palpable glory. While the Sith did preach control it was the uncontrolled emotions where true power could be found. Raw power of the force especially in the dark side in its truest form was incredibly powerful, and for several moments Prazutis stood in awe.

​Until the explosion.

​It was too fast for the unprepared Sith Lord to prepare for and even in his massive bulk he was crumpled up to a ball in the air, its great waves he could feel breaking bones within his chest as the Destroyer was lifted off the ground and sent flying. Braxus was tossed clear into the path of a massive decaying rancor. The beasts small beady eyes glowed a light green the rough brown hide turned a dull, cracked grey. Its entire body was covered in bite and claw marks, with wounds so deep you could see bone, tissue from within the putrifying beast. The full three hundred and fifty plus pounds of thrown weight was like a cannonball to the soft tissued, multi ton monster. He crashed through the beasts chest in a spray of blood and gore, his skull breaking through its rib cage as he blasted out of the opposite end in a brilliant spray of black ichor. He bounced against the earth before landing with a thump, Daesumnor embedding into the earth several feet away.

​Pain.

​Pain shot through his body as he felt the icy pain of broken bones, and perhaps a broken collar bone fill his body with its agonizing pain. To a normal person this would've left them paralyzed on the earth. But pain to a Sith Lord like Braxus Zambrano was fuel to the fire, a great pile coals looming beneath the surface to fuel the furnace of his rage. Braxus stood slowly covered from head to toe in black blood, and rancor innards gore. The only visible portion of his face were the luminous sulfuric eyes that now blazed with anger. The great undead monster simply spun around a newfound hole in its chest, gazing curiously down at its master, its father.

​This newcomer would suffer for his transgressions.

​The Sith Lord called Daesumnor to his hand as he sheathed Daesumnor. He circled around the great beast taking careful time to crack his knuckles while doing so, a brief gesture wiped the refuse from his face on the mans path as he focused on the man responsible who lay dead ahead. Braxus eyes briefly panned to Aria Vale and instantly his memory was at work, the brunette woman named Aria Vale, the woman who he saw watching with horror in his eyes when he brutally cut down Darth Vitium, for her beliefs that she could breath in his world, to stand as his superior. Braxus gaze bore down on Aria as all of his anger and hate focused on the woman. The horde of zombies, the innumerable horde that followed them across the plains drawn to the vibrant emotions of both mother and father stopped their moans, shrieks, and unnatural sounds then.

Suddenly the vast plains were dead silent.

But then a massive, ear piercing roar erupted from the collective voices of thousands. Their voices of rage at the anger of their parents was so great, it cast ripples across the wavy waters, their movements shook the ground beneath their stomping feat. All of a sudden their black rage drowned out all other sounds, all other voices. Braxus flashed Aria Vale a toothy grin showing he full well remembered who she was, where he had seen her with [member="Darth Imperia"] the worthless mongrel apprentice of the lady hag who now suffered eternally within the vaults of daesumnor with her child. But just as quick as his gaze had come he disappeared from her sight. The very ground shook as this innumerable horde charged forward at the woman of their fathers focus, the horde charging past him as they moved to surround Aria in a wall of flesh.

But from outside the stampede did he emerge. The force fueling his muscles propelling forward, to those uninitiated in the arts of the force he appeared as a great blur gliding across the vast fields heading right towards Jacob Crawford. If the Dark Titan was allowed to reach Jacob he would lift the man up into the air before descending upon him in a rain of titanic blows, a force imbued strength fueled each punch as he attempted to toss Jacob up against the jagged stony peaks, before weaving a dire spell to ensnare him in the unbreakable mesh of the dark side.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"] ​

 

[Korog Zordaal]

Thus Maena fell further in to perversion. Here, a World that had already found itself undone from the lash of vile cruelty beset upon it's innocent soil, must now bend on discomfit knee to the bewildering drum that [member="Jacob Crawford"] let loose as vexatious cry that tore sanity from mind and limb. For never was there a storm that crawled across the land without the fear inducing bellow of it's terrible thunder.

A pestilence of absurd lunacy clutched Maena by throat, every rumble of Force-Imbued throb bringing the cry of her population to bear aloft.

Sorrow reap it's way through home and street. The very nature of life itself whispered it's commandment of self-slaughter. So many could resist not, the adjuration of this harrowing Daemon. With glass and blade would flesh of neck and wrist be carved through. Fingernail gouges did cleave red valleys of death across self and foe. Faith delivered as stride carried frame from great loft of height.

Mothers drown children to the Fathers delight. Husbands battered and bludgeoned the wives of their desire to still pulp of broken bone and sightless gaze. The horror was real, it's fee so terrible. None were safe as the unwitting man unleashed his shade of ghastly poison upon this disconsolate orb.

But through the bedlam did the Muun strive forward.

He could feel [member="Matsu Xiangu"] as meager weight drifted in to the gape of the aberration. Just as all they had been drawn to this flame, so too was this moth. But his path did not set him upon shore of beach and through mob of monster. His angle upon the scene lazily strung his length of stride over a black embankment of glass, the first onlookers he came upon had been [member="Aria Vale"] and [member="Irajah Ven"].

But what gaze he may yet let linger upon the supple framed women, did soon find itself devoured with the son in the vortex. The eye of this folkloric cyclone.

"My dear, dear, child!" Called the awe stricken alien. Glass and stone whorling dangerously around him. "How. . . beautiful. . you. . . . are!!"

Perilously Korog ventured closer, jags and slivers of hazardous projectiles grooming the Cloak that sheltered the paltry construct of his pale carcass. His pointed teeth were brought on full display as his thin lips curled upwards, stabs of pain electrifying his frail figure, as a thousand wounds began to litter his flesh.

"My. . Master. . . will. . . . want you. . " His words were spoken hard, sickeningly obsessive, his voice vile yet measured.

But alas, Korog could go no further. His cloak, tattered and frayed, swept off from his body in the violent gale. His stride cut short as suddenly his feet no longer felt themselves digging across the obsidian ground. Pain flooded his abdomen, then pain of his mentor. Head over heels he voluted, catching only momentary glimpses of the ground, the sky, [member="Jacob Crawford"]. The undead horde and even [member="Darth Prazutis"] as he soared through a rotting Rancor.

By the time he had hit the ground, more than two hundred meters had scrolled by beneath him. His impact was heavy, even though his limbs were light. With bounce and tumble did he continue onward, skidding over ground and abrading flesh from his arms, face and hands. Until, finally, he came to a silent rest. His face smothered with black soot, and mud born of his blood and the filth that clung upon him.

He wanted to lay there, his body begged for him to just remain still. But this, he knew he could not oblige. He needed to rise, he needed to find Matsu! They needed to decipher what exactly had just happened!

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] |[member="Darth Prazutis"]​

 

[Kuzo]

Even without training, it was impossible to not feel the weight of each action. The group was caught in a Nexus- not in the Force- no - but one unending moment of time. Each thread of action shattered out from this moment, each forward path frozen in an instant of crystal clarity. Every eventuality springing from this heartbeat existed for the briefest of moments, all waiting together with breath held for which would stay in this reality, and which would scatter like the laughter of a thousand deaths.

Irajah couldn't grasp them all. She could feel it, almost hovering at the very edges of her senses. But any movement toward clarity was held down by such a weight that she couldn't get more than her fingertips upon them. The crippling effects of the Gideon virus did more than simply hold her back physically- and this fraction of a glimpse into the möbius vista of possibilities hammered that home more surely than if she had taken the full brunt of Jacob's outpouring. It dragged her down, pulling her back from the glittering pieces of the future that seemed to hang right there, if only she could reach them. She couldn't know what paths lay ahead- she could only know that they existed. And even that, only for an instant.

The fact of action disintegrated a dozen stillborn futures.

She was moving without thought. The wall of putrid flesh surrounding Aria, the stranger murmuring sweet intent on the wind, the confusion and demands of Matsu all paled in comparison to one feature alone.

If she had been farther away, no force in the galaxy could have sped her steps in time to make a difference. As it was, she wasn't sure if she could change the outcome of that charge. The bare obsidian, unearthed around Jacob, sliced through the soles of her bare feet, but she didn't stop as she sprinted across the crater, leaving a trail of bloody footprints in her wake.

"BRAXUS DON'T!"

The reflection of his dark form filled those hazel eyes as she skidded painfully to a halt, mere meters away from Jacob. Her heart ceased to beat for a moment as everything froze again-

The feeling, that hint, of a dozen futures fracturing off flickered maddeningly at the edges of her mind.

FLASH

Irajah turning as he leapt, soaring beyond her, his blade carving through Jacob's head without hesitation or remorse-

FLASH

The weight as he slammed her to the ground, his sword missing her by only a hairsbreadth-

FLASH

The widening of her eyes, the two standing as close to eachother as they ever had, the length of the blade buried in her breast-

FLASH

"STOP!"

She didn't know if she was crying out to Braxus now, or to the slideshow fluttering behind her eyes. She raised her arms out to the sides, bracing herself, but for what, she didn't know.


[member="Jacob Crawford"] [member="Aria Vale"] [member="Matsu Xiangu"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

Harmony

It was something Jacob couldn’t recall ever feeling before, and even if he could remember his lost years, he doubted he had encountered this until now.

As he laid there on the cold obsidian beneath him, most of his senses numb; except sight, he’d dare say it felt rapturous.

The fire that had introduced itself to him weeks ago was now flowing through his body like blood. Back then, on Irajah’s ship, he was confused over what it was.

But now he knew.

It was the Force flowing within him. And now he could freely feel it all around him without the fear that had haunted him before. He wasn’t going to be wildly lashing out when the stims were gone, not anymore. No one was going to get harmed because of it.

He was oblivious to the reality around him, what the storm he had caused had done to the people nearby.

Jacob let out a mental sigh as he felt the darkness ebb through him, cuddling the flames as it flowed. He was more than content to just stay like this, in peace with it all.

The realisation dawned on him that this was it. It was the beginning. The damage that the Netherworld had inflicted on him for five years, was going to be finally healed.

Yes, this is your first step in that. The woman sounded reluctant to speak those words, as though she knew something he didn’t.

And he didn’t care, why would he? It was a trick, using his dead mother’s voice…

You still have a long way to go. At least you have embraced the right side.

He could feel the woman’s disapproval. A path that will surround you with faux allies, that would inevitably betray you.

Now look who’s the biased one. You can’t tell me the Jedi and the Light wouldn’t be the same? You don’t know, all they are another shade of the same colour.

Quiet you two! His voice rang out like a hiss, silencing the voices into submission.

I will not have you spoil this si-

Jacob’s words were cut off as he felt a sudden and swift intrusion enter his mind. It buckled under the pressure of it.

Who are you? ANSWER ME!

He let out a gasp as he was plunged into his mind completely. He saw glimpses of floating plateaus in a void and shrouded figures in the distance. But it was quickly obscured by a dark haze. It felt as though many things were crawling all around him. Matsu's words became tendrils that moved like snakes, slithering about constricting around his mental fortitude, a very easy task given how weak it was right now.

Jacob could do nothing as he felt their venom set in, paralyzing him and cowing him into submission. A part of him felt a sense of awe, as his attention was forced towards the woman.

Gods, what was that sound!?

Kark knows, I think it might’ve been a banshee or something.

He would’ve rolled his eyes if he could, but his complete focus on Matsu wouldn’t allow it. The urge to tape their mouths shut was enticing thought however.

They were being rude.

Oh be quiet you two, I’m fairly certain whoever this is can hear you too.

His focus still on Matsu, he tried showing whatever the mental equivalent of apology was.

My name is Jacob Crawford. Look I’m sorry, I had no idea this would ha-

Jacob you need to get up!

Something managed to pierce through Matsu’s hold of him, slipping past her venom and reaching Jacob’s senses.

Danger. Fear.

All of a sudden Jacob could feel a torrential amount of anger and darkness in the distance. Calling on the emotions that drove him on Dxun, the ones that kept him standing fight after fight against the beasts, he began to pry against Matsu’s grip, trying to loosen it.

Back in reality Jacob’s senses returned with a quick snap, the smell and sounds of the stampeding horde immediately hitting him. He slowly tried to get up, but Matsu’s mental grip on him was keeping him grounded.

All he could manage was rolling over onto his knees, turning to face the direction of where Darth Prazutis was at. As he lifted his head too look, it throbbed painfully, a sign his attempts to remove Matsu’s mental grip wasn’t going well.

He pushed all the mental might he could to persevere, and lifted his head in time to see Irajah step in front of him, in the path of the blur that was quickly closing in.

“Irajah don’t!” It was all he could yell. He wanted to use the Force, call out to it to move the doctor away, but his body was too exhausted to do anything.
He knelt there helplessly.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[NightSister]

Zombies. What a pretty sight to see upon forcing herself to sit upright. And - oh Force, so many zombies. Stiffly, Aria looked to each side, trying to figure out what she'd gotten herself into. That was him! The zombies surrounded her at his command. He, whom she hated with fervour without so much as knowing who he was, the nameless evil that she'd assigned as the devil's face, was onto her. Not even madmen set their zombies on strangers; he would have to have some inkling of who she was. Maybe he'd have some idea of her fury, not that he'd have any real idea how very, very enraged she was. But he knew enough.

It wouldn't do to be known, and not know.

She would learn his name in time.

But first, she was a bit...enclosed. Thankfully, while undead armies were foul to look at and rather intimidating in their numbers, they were easy enough to cut through. Aria extended a hand - something in her arm stuck out strangely. Broken, or sprained, or otherwise rendered fairly useless. Her saberstaff flew up accordingly, but she put it back at her belt. It would be no use in her weak hand. No matter. She was a Knight, was she not? Admittedly, her skill in the exclusively Darksided was inadequate, but the Force was the Force, and she could use the Force. She wouldn't let a few zombies get in the way.

Running a little awkwardly, Aria fought through the barrier. Predictably, it didn't take much more than a few rage-fuelled charges of telekinesis to make a gap big enough to dart through; so she did. Decaying limbs clutched at the air behind her, dangerously close to finding purchase, but she tried to ignore the crawling sense of unease it gave her. Focus: who did she need to protect? As much as she wanted to charge down the Sith Lord, vengeance wasn't what was important right now; if anybody died today without her knowing without a doubt that they had deserved it, she was as much the evil as Silara's killer was. Vengeance came later.

Quickly her attention went to the unfamiliar man at the centre of the storm, or its remnants, now. Aria observed carefully; she couldn't make much without coming nearer, but the explosion had clearly brought him to the attention of just about everybody still on the beach. Lucky for her, yes, but she had only to look at the zombie armies and their commanders to know that it would almost certainly be unlucky for him. Good, or bad? He'd exploded a beach - that was all the context Aria had. On one hand, it didn't seem like a great thing to do. On the other, nobody was dead. She had no idea how, or why, or if it had even been on purpose.

And on another hand still, she had an opening to attack the murderer. His back was turned, she'd not made enough noise to draw attention, or even suspicion. This was a Sith Lord; if he could kill Darth Vitium as he had, then in a fair duel she'd be gone before she'd landed a single blow. But she had the upper hand. What if this was her only and best chance to avenge Silara? What if the possibility that the man who'd made the storm was a good man was what stopped her from rectifying the certainty that was this evil? If he proved not to be the good person she automatically wanted to think he was, if he died anyway, if any attempts to protect him proved in vain and Darth Vitium went unavenged because of it, Aria didn't even want to think of what would happen.

Fortune was on her side. Close enough to work out what was going on at the same moment that Irajah called out, Aria deduced in a split second who Braxus was: realised in that instant that she could have both her ways. Whoever the stranger in the crater was, he was innocent until proven guilty, and he was in danger from [member="Darth Prazutis"] - proven guilty. It wasn't protecting those who needed protecting, no, but it was getting in the way of the one he needed protection from; Aria was still the good if an attempt to stop the evil coincided with personal revenge.

Wasn't she?

Aria had learned practice and structure and a simple procedure of steps for a very long time now. Just as useless as the rest of her teachings. It wasn't structure that flared rage in her like a wildfire. It wasn't order that turned the yellow in her eyes a little darker as her Force-aura peaked, powered by nothing but the determination that her attack was aimed towards someone intrinsically evil. It wasn't rules and control and all things Jedi that let her throw out an arm in what looked something like accusation, knowing without really knowing that it wouldn't be in vain, and that let a bolt of lightning slice through the air like a crackling white spear towards the man she wanted dead.

A Jedi couldn't have done that.

[member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]​

 

[Darth Prazutis]

​[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MfWWZeZd4A[/media]​

The distant figure of [member="Jacob Crawford"] grew closer and closer to the charging behemoth, his fists tightened with each quickened step a vicious scowl on his face. Through his mind a hundred different ways to make the man suffered circulated, a hundred different ways to make him pay. Images of slicing the man to pieces with Daesumnor, visions of breaking every limb in his body and forcing him to crawl to safety before the zombie horde could reach and tear him apart, so many methods circulated through his mind as he moved closer and closer.

"BRAXUS DON'T!"

​The frantic cry of [member="Irajah Ven"] reached his ears and suddenly he saw her. The petite doctor, his researcher, his long term project standing right in his path. It was like the dingy boat veering in front of the enraged kraken on the high seas. Suddenly his laser focus, his anger filled reality had changed by her introduction. Irajah stood arms akimbo in defense of this...this man who dared strike at gods. Everything about his plans for Irajah was like an complex game of chess, all of it requiring an immense amount of patience. In a flash he could see everything going up in smoke, his whole scheme burning down in flames as the image of his full bulk crashing against her smaller, disease ridden form, running her down into the ground pulverizing her into the obsidian, all aspirations gone. So he did what was necessary.

​He slowed down.

​The behemoth moved to stop himself driving one foot to the ground and ending the force that augmented his speed as his bulk slid closer to Irajah Ven, until he would stop only a few feet between the pair. It was here that his focus was momentarily disrupted by her interruption, his confusion dominating the mans normally attentive mind as he wondered: Why? A puzzled look formed on his face as he looked down at her. She never used his name in the presence of others, this is what was demanded, yet she did here. She did so here for him. Clearly there was some sort of attachment to this man, something drawing them together. In his observations the Sith Lord only just began to hear the sudden, miniscule warnings of the force. The invocation of the dark side by [member="Aria Vale"] and the great lance she tossed through the air. Braxus only just began to hear the forces warnings, the crackling, the smell of ozone in the air...

​Lightning.

​The spear impacted the center mass of his upper back burning a clear hole into his back as the blast of lightning exploded all over the leviathan. An animalistic roar escaped his lips as all around the impacted area nerve endings burned, the dark side electrifying tissue, muscle, bone, and blood. The spear struck against previously broken bones, wounds from the storm that crashed into him and sending him through one of his children. The distraction by Irajah Ven was miniscule enough that he'd feel the full brunt of the pain from every single wound then, its overwhelming strength enough to force him down to one knee in front of her, one hand placed down on the ground.

​It was here that Braxus breathed deeply in and out continuing to look at the ground for several moments, not daring to move or look anywhere else. But then he slowly lifted his head to look deep into Irajah's eyes. Irajah would see into those luminous sulfuric eyes something extraordinary happen. It was like two amber sunbursts, two radiant and unnatural explosions deep in his eyes as the mans entire demeanor shifted, a very noticeable feeling in his aura changing. There was no friendly smile, no warm gaze, just a harsh cold. The harshness of a Reaper who gave the former people of Maena nothing but took from them everything, the brutality of the tyrant Zambrano whose blade clipped the head off Darth Vitium.

​This was the Destroyer.

​Almost unnaturally without a single reflection of pain on his face Braxus stood a demonic scowl on his face that stared into her eyes as he stood to his full height. He turned to face Aria then revealing to Irajah the great wound on his back, parting his robes to reveal to the former Jedi that on his belt hung one of Darth Vitium's lightsabers. Carefully he grabbed it and aggressively activated it out to his side. "WRETCH! I WILL ERASE YOU FROM THIS WORLD!" Prazutis thrust his hand out and erupting from it was a wide crimson blast of pure, sickening dark side energy that swept across the landscape towards her. Braxus charged at full speed in the waves wake towards Aria.

​Regardless of whether it hit or not he launched to Aria beginning a full relentless barrage steeped in his mastery of djem-so, each blow severe and backed by his titanic strength fueled by rage.

​[member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Her mouth tasted like salt, tongue resting in the crook between canine and premolar as she drifted in that space between her head and his. For a while she was all on her own in the cutout where she’d landed in the sand, the feelings and actions and sounds of those around her muted in her trance. The place she found once the stranger-man responded to her mental intrusion was confusing, full. She had seen something like it before, another girl who’d made herself a voice to talk to when she’d been all alone in space. But these - the group in the head she drilled her way in to - seemed far more independent, given life of their own accord and not because the head they resided within needed them. It was speculation and curiosity that formed her opinions. She wanted answers.

The bickering aside, she felt a rather well-formed sense of apology showcasing what indicated at least a passing skill in mentalism that piqued her interest even more.

My name is Jacob Crawford. Listen, I’m sorry--

The rest happened in a matter of seconds, Prazutis’ rocketing form careening through the air, Irajah sprinting forward to stop the collision, and finally the thing that galvanized Matsu out of her trance in the sand. A streak of white near blinded her as lightning crackled through an otherwise gray landscape to envelop Prazutis. Connected as they were Matsu felt it like it had hit her too, a muted but no less painful searing of flesh that had her grinding her teeth as Prazutis roared in anger and pain. She broke her connection from Crawford in favor of her Brother’s altercation. She rose from the sand, blood seeping from her wound matching the color of her eyes as she tracked the attacker. No Jedi - nobody calling themselves such would dare use such power. She looked faintly familiar but as the Titan turned on the dark-haired woman it didn’t matter.

Turning her head to the Undead milling along the beach she pushed at the Force to command them to spectate, to wait until Prazutis was finished and then they might crawl forward and pull the attacker’s corpse apart limb from limb.

She felt Korog on the beach, the same disorientation and urgency in his thoughts. “Come,” she said quietly across their minds, “whatever it is has stopped. We must get to the center.”

Circling around the stage of the duel like part of the pack waiting for the kill, Matsu made her way to Irajah, the sand soft even under her petite footsteps. Looking to the doctor with a palm pressed underneath the wound in abdomen to stave off pain with the pressure, she drifted by and made her way towards the stranger. “We should back away,” Matsu said calmly and quietly as if a cataclysm of a long-awaited fight wasn’t about to unfold behind them. Her boots dusted along the seafoam of the tide as she glided towards Jacob and his Voices, her face void of anything at all as she looked between the Doctor and Jacob. “Tell Korog and I about your...friend.”

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]​

 

[Korog Zordaal]

To knees and hands Korog rose up from loam and sea froth, robes torn, cloak astray, cruor exuding from a hundred weeping wounds that slit and carved the Muun like canyons. His instinct still made vigorous demands of his trifling limbs, but he hadn't the capacity to fully pursue those means quite yet.

Instead, Korog crawled. One palm skating over black glass that would cling and puncture, cleft and crag his pallid blanched hide. Obsidian cracked, it chomped and it gnaw. Gashing, shredding, every glide he made forward.

Thew lofted the alien upright, he dragged knees for several paces, then finally, blush rivers sobbing from leg and knees, hand and forearms. Korog Zordaal stretched to his full height. His soaked robes, barely clinging around his trim shape.

Come,

[member="Matsu Xiangu"] beckoned her student. He would indulge her adjuration.

More of her words reverberate in the confine of his elongated skull. He could perceive her place and position upon the beach, but as he mount the crest of an onyx sand embankment, observing her tiny frame amidst the abundance of rot and decay that sway and slither mindlessly about, that was a task he all together was not ready for.

He swept a forearm across a drawn out face, meaning, of course, to sweep blood from brow and features. But every droplet, the Muun mopped, he opened a new wound in kind. Courtesy the jagged jig-saw of protruding slivers that stood as studs athwart his entire lank truss.

More words chime the suddenly still sky. These clanging even more interest than the prospect of figuring out what exactly this mysterious stranger, [member="Jacob Crawford"] had just manifested.

BRAXUS, DON'T! STOP!!

Braxus, don't. . . stop!

BRAXUS!

DON'T!!

STOP!!!

Through flat nose-slits, Korog inhaled, his long breath saturated with the wheeze of blood and mucus. His black eyes located the spark of circuitous strings that stretched from [member="Aria Vale"] towards [member="Darth Prazutis"]; not at all surprised to see the Beast of Panatha, Destroyer of Silara using any opportunity he could afford himself to unleash his brutish posturing. The girl he didn't know, but he did recognize her from that special day. That day one worthless Sith Lord lost her head--and her soul.

Korog still had her body on ice, unsure yet, what fun he'd have with that dead flesh and bone.

Unsurprised, however, he may have been. It did arouse that strong cognitive machine that was his mind. He made a mental note of this.

On ahead he kept moving, silently stamping through the shards of black glass and pitch of sand. [member="Jacob Crawford"] just began to rise on his left side, [member="Irajah Ven"] on his right. Ah, perfect, even [member="Matsu Xiangu"] had found herself limping upon them. His timing could not have been more perfect if it had been planned decades prior.

"Your friend. . . ssss. ." Korog let the plural addition to Matsu's command linger with a sickening slither of his tongue, that voice so vile and grim. For a bloody hand had already come to clutch dear Irajah upon the ball of her right shoulder, his long head drawn near to hers. Syllables lashing her cheek with almost an all-knowing inquiry.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Jacob Crawford"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"]​

 

[Kuzo]

Each shattered remnant faded, melding back into one single reflection as Braxus pulled to a stop. She breathed in deeply, barely realizing she had been holding her breath. She smiled up at him, absurdly grateful for so many reasons she couldn't even begin to articulate to him-

The low thrum and crack of Aria's strike filled the air.

"Braxus!"

Her eyes widened, the smile fading as horror moved across her face. She took a single, involuntary step back as the sheer weight and fury of his gaze pushed out everything else. Her hands went to her mouth as he turned, the burned flesh of his back a dark wound, charred and angry. Her horror wasn't for the change that came over him- after all, who would remain calm and rational in the wake of a strike like that? No. She had no recriminations possible for him.

She took a single step after him. Pain sliced through her foot, and she seemed to notice, for the first time, that the sand of the beach around Jacob was simply gone. That her feet were bleeding- though that seemed like such a distant, unimportant thing. After all, it was not the only thing, however, that caught her breath in her throat once more.

"Oh gods, Matsu...."

She reached out to the other woman, gaze flickering up and down. She did not miss the grip, the spreading blood. What had happened? How?

Irajah looked up, stricken, as Braxus descended upon Aria. She had called to him to stop. She had taken his attention away from the events around him. She had brought Jacob here, encouraging him to unleash all of this, surely how Matsu had been hurt. How or why the others had come to this spot didn't matter-

This was her fault.

"Matsu, I'm so sorry, I didn't know this was going to happen," her voice was choked. "Please-"

Whatever she was going to say after that was lost- she flinched, eyes widening as she started to turn around. But Korog's hand on her shoulder kept her still. She looked back and forth between Matsu and Korog, frozen. She didn't fully register his hissing friends... there was too much in that moment.

"Jacob is one of my patients," she whispered, eyes searching Matsu's.

"Please, this is my fault. I brought him here, but I didn't expect this- I didn't want any of this to happen. Please don't blame him- oh gods, he's going to kill her, isn't he?"

More than the destruction on the beach, her actions had cause irreparable damage to the people in her life. She looked stricken, every guilt and self-recrimination writ clearly over her face.

If Braxus killed Aria.... she would never forgive herself.

[member="Jacob Crawford"] [member="Aria Vale"] [member="Matsu Xiangu"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Korog Zordaal"]

 

[Jacob Crawford]

Even within Matsu's grip, Jacob could still feel the fluctuations of the Force outside in reality. And as such his breath hitched as he felt the colossal mass of darkness that was Prazutis as he closed in.

Then it suddenly stopped, the darkness remained, but it was no longer hurtling towards him and Irajah.

A moment later he could feel a streak of dark energy zip across the landscape towards their direction. Then he heard it impact something, and the roar that followed it.

His sight momentarily returned, and with his position; and Irajah's shorter height, he saw the expression that flashed in the Sith Lord's eyes. Jacob frowned as he felt something practically roll off from Irajah. He tried making sense of it, but Matsu's hold on his mental functions refused him any possibility of trying to understand what it was.

In the next instance the goliath was gone and was soaring towards the other woman who had been present. Whoever she was, she must've not been in his good books if the man's thunderous yell that preceded it was anything to go by.

With everything going on so quickly, Jacob was taken by surprise when Matsu broke her connection to him. He let out an audible gasp as he felt the snake-like tendrils disappear and return to their master.

I-is she gone?

It would appear so, but something is still lingering. We can try and dispel it, but we've never encountered this before.

What the hell is she anyway?

A mentalist if I were to guess, pretty damn good one too. She's certainly left her mark whether you like it or not.

It was pretty clear to Jacob that what was happening here and now, wasn't going to be the last he'd see of Matsu Xiangu.

Now that his senses had returned, Jacob was able to stand up fully. His sight immediately took in his surroundings and both his expression fell, and the colour in his face paled.

"Bloody hell..." He muttered to himself, taking in the destruction around him. H-how could I have done this? I-I didn't think I was capable of this....is this the power of the Force?

Jacob's current state of mind seemed to worsen as his eyes fell on Irajah, his head lulled to the side in disbelief as he saw the state she was in.

Because of him.

A look of guilt filled his expression as he took note of the various wounds and damage to her.

"Oh gods, Matsu...."

Her words snapped Jacob into realising two others had approached their position. Even before she spoke, Jacob knew that Matsu was the woman who had been in his head not moments before. And now he could see the wound that ailed her.

Because of him.

His gazed swept over to Korog, noting his state as well. A curious look appeared briefly, hearing the man's words. Did he know? He was also unfamiliar with whatever race Korog was. Jacob certainly hadn't encountered them before.

Jacob's attention returned to Irajah as he heard her whispering, he could feel that sensation from before. Something was coming from her and hitting him. It took a few moments, but he finally realised what it was, why it felt familiar.

It was guilt. He could literally feel it rolling off Irajah.

He shortened the distance between them, enough so that he could place a hand on her free shoulder, trying to instil a sense of calmness through his gentle grip. Jacob gave her a reassuring look, even if he didn't fully believe it either, then let go of her shoulder.

His next words were chosen carefully.

"The blame is not just on her, only a small part of it." His voice came out raspy, a result of his sore throat and dry mouth; from all the pained yells during the storm. "She brought me here, yes. But only because I had need of someone to transport me here, Irajah simply volunteered because she was already caring for me. She wasn't informed about this, how bad this would be. I however did know...just not to this extent." He waved his hand out towards the destruction around them. His words weren't entirely untrue, he was well aware that it would cause a massive release, and even the voices in his head had informed him it would be quite destructive. But he could've never foreseen how much damage it would cause.

He did give a short glance towards Irajah, a number of thoughts coming to mind. She had to have known about these people. Braxus. Matsu. She knows at least two of these lot enough to refer to them by their first names.

Jacob gulped a bit. It was his attempt to wet his throat against the burning rawness whenever he spoke a single word.

"I apologize." He began, looking directly to Matsu, then his eyes fell to Korog, then back to the woman. "I never intended for this to occur, this level of damage and destruction. Both to yourselves and your home."

Well, he was fairly certain some part of this planet was their home.

"As I said, my name is Jacob. And my situation is well...complicated. I can explain fully, but I don't think this is the right place."

He wasn't sure if Matsu would take that, she struck him as the type of person that would want answers immediately, no matter what situation was going down around them.

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Aria Vale"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Korog Zordaal"]