Private Darkness Calls to Darkness

[Adilya Solveig]

City Outskirts


Darragh Cearmada
​

Few knew, few understood — what to be truly alone meant. Adilya knew, she understood. Standing facing outwards from her cave, her senses picked up on the ebb and flow that was the force of all the people that inhabited the city she once was a favored daughter in… but now, she was nothing more than a flea on the dogs back — but she hoped one day, she could be the muzzle that forced the animal into submission.

Years had passed, and Adilya despite her parents banishment had managed to survive. The nighttime was her friend and the darkness her closest companion and teacher as she continued to grow in favor with the Father of all darkness, Bogan. Whispers in the night spoke to her and fueled the smoldering rage and hate that languished in her very soul. Frequently at night she cried out often begging Bogan to remove the heavy laden cup that was the longing of acceptance she desired from her parents — but she was never given a direct answer, only another name, Typhojem and his will which was to bring judgement to those unworthy of this dark and immeasurable power; and so, hunger set in, hunger for the blood of the unworthy… but she had no way to carry this out… for she lacked the strength, but where she lacked strength she made up for in sheer iron resolve.

Moonlight streamed in the cave through small openings that had been formed by years of erosion, there in the darkness Adi kneeled in prayer, her tattered clothing soiled from years of neglect and use, the light softly kissing her scarred eyes as her head faced where the sky should be. "In Darkness, I find the Path — On the Path, You give Revelation." Whispers followed the woman, nestling around her, strengthening her resolve as she continued in prayer. "With Revelation, I Find Purpose - and - In Purpose, I Find Truth. The Truth shall guide my Destiny -- for in my wanderings i was undone, but you found me and made me whole. Therefore, I will all the more praise your name O great and mighty Dark Father, help me to find the one you wish me to serve, help me to find to satiate this great hunger and to bring your judgment on those that reject your teachings… I am but a humble vessel waiting to be used..." The force circled around the young lady as the sickening feeling of the force emanated from the cave — no one ever came to this side of the ridge anymore, for due to constant meditation, Adi had unknowingly imbued the cave with the dark side that only heightened her sensitivity in the force, she was an aberration to her people, but as she so faithfully did she continued in meditation, prayer and training knowing he would one day send the one that was to help liberate her from her shackles and unleash his darkness onto the light. Adi was truly strong in the force — not just as a warrior but a seer and force welder, but due to lack of guidance and training, most of it was just sheer luck or innate talent.

 

[Darragh Cearmada]

"I am but a humble vessel waiting to be used..."

They were the only words Darragh could hear among the scattered images. Visions of a girl, cloaked in darkness, caressed Darragh's mind like the gentle touch of a needy lover. Her hands clasped in prayer, where upon her lips hung the ancient names of the Dark Side of the Force. They haunted his dreams, and stalked him during the day, seeking to draw him in. Seducing him with the promise of some secret, only his to know. And Darragh heeded their call, and welcome the restless nights. The Force spoke to those who were willing to listen.

From the far-off distance, the Force continued to call. A beacon of darkness on a moonlit night. The Dark Side of the Force lay over the area like a thick, blanket. Or perhaps a pillow, smothering everything beneath them. The animals had all left long ago. The plants had yielded to the dark, wilted and died. But deep within, Darragh could sense a single, solitary being. Utterly alone, cast out to solitude. From this distance, Darragh should not have been able to hear her voice, and yet he could still hear her prayers, whispers on the wind.

"O great and mighty Dark Father-"

Darragh stepped into that shroud of darkness, and the air became suffocating.

"Help me to find the one you wish me to serve-"

But the Force would bend to his will, and his will was strong. Darragh would not be kept from that which was his.

"Help me to satiate this great hunger and to bring your judgment on those that reject your teachings…"

Step after step, the Sith followed the call of the Other. Her words spurred him, guiding him.

"I am but a humble vessel waiting to be used..."

"And what use do you have?"

Darragh stood at the mouth of the cave, his arms tucked into the sleeves of his robes as amber eyes wandered over the girl in tattered rags at his feet. Stick-thin, starved. Her near-white hair uncombed, unkempt. But what drew his gaze most often were her eyes. Surely they once were bright and full of life, but now they were dull and unseeing, half-shut with poorly healed scars that ruined her appearance far more than her impoverished state.

"What use do you have?" Darrah repeated the question as he bent down to one knee before the girl. Darragh lifted his hand and brushed aside the stray stands of hair from the girl's face. "For one who knows loneliness like you?"

Adilya Solveig

 

[Adilya Solveig]

City Outskirts


Darragh Cearmada
​

"What use do you have?" Darrah repeated the question as he bent down to one knee before the girl. Darragh lifted his hand and brushed aside the stray stands of hair from the girl's face. "For one who knows loneliness like you?"

Adilya froze upon first hearing the reply that seemed to physically manifest from the darkness, that was until the man became flesh and showed himself to her — his voice resonating within Adi unlike nothing ever had before. His hand carefully moved the stray hairs that lingered near her eyes as now her face tilted downwards and faced his very own — there was no fear, but a almost holy and reverent demeanor… and now, as she face him, the question presented demanding an answer, and so addressing him, her soft voice rolled off her lips like honey. “Does the created tell the creator - ‘Why did you make me this way?’ — no, nor does the slave tell its Master where or what to do.” Adi replied, answering his question with another question. She was young, but the maturity that exuded from her was beyond her years, only furthering the enigma that was Adi.

“I have heard you, felt you in my darkness—“ Her own hand brushing the spot that his hand had briefly touched earlier, her body shuddering and awakening to just the mere touch by this mysterious man. “ I am a favored daughter to the one whom others call darkness, and I am a boon to the one whom I will call Lord. I am a smoldering ember who waits for the fan to coax into a raging inferno that consumes all.” Whispers weaved in and around the room as a sinister energy poured from the young woman like a fountain, the air becoming frigid as their breath would now be seen. “It is truth that I have been alone, but, through that isolation, revelation was imparted onto me — that I had to be set apart for one, one whom I had to be unspoiled and pliable to serve… my eyes may have lost their light but I have been shown much — for the one whom he appointed me to serve was you… Darragh Cearmada. ” His name when she spoke seemed to pierce the very air and bring an eerie silence to the chamber they stood in, her tempting dulcet tone once again caressing the man at treasure he had found, for he alone had held the map that led him straight to her.

Many people often measured treasure or wealth in the form of quantities it outwardly appearances, not necessarily quality —this was the case with Adilya. She was indeed feeble, years of malnourishment had caused that, but somehow — there was this vast, and unmeasurable depth to her vessel that would be obvious to the man kneeling in front of her, Adilya still on both knees in complete submission to him, the dark side pouring from her, her power begging to be tamed — for where physical strength and nourishment had failed her, she had somehow thrived off of her abnormal connection to the darkness… It was truly a spectacle to behold.

 

[Darragh Cearmada]

No sooner had he spoken had the world stood still. The faint rustle of the wind through dead reeds and grass quieted, and Darragh could have sworn her breathing stilled and his heart too halted. A single unnatural and all-consuming stillness that would drive lesser men mad. And it all emanated from her. This feeble, weak girl who'd cast sightless eyes up to a moon and stars she'd never be so blessed as to see again. Darragh dared to dream that she could tear them out of the sky and touch them if she could not see them.

The small decline of her chin set the world back into motion, and Darragh did not detect anything but awe in her expression. Awe, where other's would have looked at him in fear, disgust or contempt. If she could see, she saw in a manner unlike most beings of the galaxy, Cearmada thought just as the air filled with an almost too sweet voice. As the girl touched her hand to her brow, the hairs on the back of Darragh's neck stood on end, the threat of a trap alarming at the contrast between their cold atmosphere and warm sweet voice. But there was no one near, not for miles.

The waves of rolling dark energy leaked from the girl, oozing from her pores like a thick sludge, puddling around Darragh's feet. Her words sent ripples through the puddles of darkness, and Darragh could almost hear the whispers in the dark. Through them he might've known this girl's very being. Who she was, what. More than what she appeared to be, of that Cearmada was certain.

“It is truth that I have been alone, but, through that isolation, revelation was imparted onto me — that I had to be set apart for one, one whom I had to be unspoiled and pliable to serve… my eyes may have lost their light but I have been shown much — for the one whom he appointed me to serve was you… Darragh Cearmada. ”

She spoke his name, and there was nothing Darragh could do to suppress that short, sharp, instinctual inhale of surprise. Even the air itself had seemed to have chilled to absolute stillness as Darragh took but a moment to ensure he was calm, and slowly exhaled.

"I see you know my name," Darragh stated. His hand lifted again to cup the young girl's cheek, her chin, to turn her to the left, the right as he examined her. Anyone else and they might've discarded her. Another Sith might've killed her, or tried to use her for their own devices. Little more than a slave to a foolish master who'd only squander the girl's gifts.

Steeped in the darkness. In the Force. Darragh doubted he'd ever met another with this much raw affinity for the Dark Side. "A daughter of darkness. Ember. Vessel. What you are now does not interest me," Darragh releasing the girl's chin. Amber eyes stared into hers as her gaze naturally found his, even through her blindness. "It is what you will become that interests me. Whether that be a faithful servant, or an all-consuming inferno as you claim, my interests lie in your future. You have yet to be created." Darragh stood from his knees. "Nor will you be a slave." He pulled the glove from his hand and extended it towards the girl, close enough she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. "But if you take my hand, you will call me Master. And I will take what you are, and create something extraordinary from it."

Adilya Solveig

 

[Adilya Solveig]

City Outskirts


Darragh Cearmada
​

"It is what you will become that interests me. Whether that be a faithful servant, or an all-consuming inferno as you claim, my interests lie in your future. You have yet to be created." Darragh stood from his knees. "Nor will you be a slave." He pulled the glove from his hand and extended it towards the girl, close enough she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. "But if you take my hand, you will call me Master. And I will take what you are, and create something extraordinary from it."

Adilya listened intently as the man spoke, hanging on every word that was spoken — giving every ounce of attention to him. When he finished and stood, only to unexpectedly hold his hand out — Adilya felt a heavy yoke falling from her shoulders, for she had seen this moment thousands of times before. In her dreams she had moaned, calling out this name — but now standing before her was her Liberator — “He sets the captive free — and my bonds shall be broken, so I shall give thee my whole being...” Adi whispered silently, her voice piercing the tense air, the young woman now starting to stand as her slender hand came up and gently rested in his hands.

When their hands touched and joined, it was as if Bogan himself blessed the unholy union as the air compressed and imploded outwards around them, a massive surge of dark energy pouring from the two— Adilya’s head jerking backwards as images flooded into her mind, being unable to process them due to her lack of training, her grip tightening on Darragh, thousands of pieces of a constant shifting future penetrating her mind as her strength faded and her legs became weak. Stumbling into Darragh she looked upwards, her small frame pressed against his unyielding form, as she spoke, her uneven breath mixing and mingling with his. “I shall hence forth call you my Master, and give you all that I am… and I shall serve you and you only with absolute fealty, my Lord.” The words rolling out from her lips as if addressing a lover, but with a jealous and possessive fervor not yet heard from the girl. She was a woman of extremes, and absolutes. “There were those that spoke my name, but only your lips shall be worthy to speak it — teach me the way that I may go in it and strike those that oppose you… I open my mind, my soul, my being to you, nothing shall be hidden.”

 

[Darragh Cearmada]

The quiet whispers of ghosts in the dark were accompanied by that of the girl, her lips moving and voice so low, Darragh couldn't make out the words. But she placed her hand in his, and that was all the answer that Cearmada required.

The Force itself keened as their hands touched, and Cearmada's mind was assaulted with flashes of light, sound and color. Visions from the past, the future, the present. The dirt of the streets, blood on his fists, stale bread in his hands, the hands of his master, a head of white hair, a violet eye, himself clutching his saber over the headless corpse of his master, the girl when she had eyes, then her older, garb befitting a Sith. Darragh's fingers curled around the girl's as he was flooded with the visions, until they abruptly ended.

When sensation returned to Darragh's body, he found himself panting, chest rising and falling, cold beads of sweat running down his forehead. Warmth pressed against him, and the girl's blind eyes stared up at him, shaken, but not disturbed. It seemed the visions that Darragh had been having would not cease. No, it seemed they might grow in her presence instead.

The girl's voice came out ragged, almost fanatically fervent in her supplications to her new master. Darragh would have smiled had he a care for titles. Instead, an arm descended towards the girl, a firm hand pressed to her back to guide her out from the cave that had been her cage for who knew how many cycles around the star? "Your name: Adilya," Darragh said the name coming to his lips of its own accord. Another gift of the Force, another affirmation that this was the girl he was meant to train. Who'd help him bring his dream to fruition. "Until the day you take the title of Darth, you shall keep the name with which you were born," Darragh said, his voice commanding. "And when you slaughter the unworthy who desecrated your name, you will become not only my apprentice, but my student as well." His voice fell, becoming soft, almost a whisper. "But until that day I will prepare you to travel the path you desire."

The dark of night shrouded them as they walked into the dead-made lands. The pale light of the moon cast the girl in a ghostly light, her frail form only aiding in granting her the appearance she might blow away to dust if Darragh did not keep a firm grasp on her as they walked back towards his ship. "Come now, Adilya. And I will show you your new home."

Adilya Solveig

 

[Adilya Solveig]

Outside the Cave


Darragh Cearmada
​

Hearing his lips speak her name gave her pure ecstasy, more than any worldly pleasure ever could — but what caused her to shudder even further was the warmth that his body gave off as he wrapped his arm around her and guided her to the mouth of the cave — long had been the years since she last felt the touch of another. Hesitation — She paused as she came to the opening, how many times had she left the cave only to return alone, hungry, and seething in silence. It was not fear that stopped Adi momentarily, no — fear had been an emotion that had long since been removed, for she had murdered and buried it. What caused Adi to give pause was one of the most baser of human emotions — possessiveness. This cave had become hers, it was her dark sanctum — and deep within its shadows she’d found power and within it had imprinted pieces of her very soul within its stone walls… but, mourning had no place in this moment, for the dead must bury their own. Momentum from being guided by Darragh, she spoke softly as she came out from the cave, cryptic words once again rolling off her lips. “Forth from the chrysalis shall she emerge… and her wings shall beat as drums, her cadence a dark and all consuming flame.”

Now coming up upon Darraghs ship, Adi stood facing the ramp, her head now turning to face him as he spoke of her new home — to some it often implied some idyllic feeling, or place with people, or even a place with things you called your own; to Adi, this word only had two meanings. First, home was now directly tethered to wherever Darragh went —like magnets, she would mirror her movements, if he moved so would she, and she would have it no other way. Secondly, her head now turning in the direction of the City she’d once lived in, her jaw clenching slightly— home would be a place she would return to one day raze to the ground, and then make those that banished her bow on bloody knees. Turning her head back to Darragh, a simple yet relied smile would form in her lips, her mouth parting as if to say more, only to be stopped as her body would all but give out, years of neglect finally being allowed to take its toll on the young woman as darkness would overtake her vision, her form falling into her new Master.