Private Shadowy Depths

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

He could feel iot and was moving... he sight was helpful in most regards as he could see through the force and generally sense traps springing or knowing that they were coming if the force was involved. He was stil sensing as the passage opened and there was more... moving forward with her near and almost shoulder to shoulder as going forward went further and further in. He could feel the weight of the mountains they were under and the rivers channeled above.. the ruins and beyond that everything that had been on the surface when he was stopping only to check things. Raising a foot and tapping it to the ground as he sensed the vibrations through the force. He wasa going forward and there was more here.. they needed to go deeper he was guessing as the ground channeled down deeper and deeper with the water that was sloshing and finding the pathway for them.

 

[Sera Inkari]

The water currents, danced, swirling gently under her feet, and Syn, a pillar of strength, stood by her side. She felt the seductive pull of time's certainty but balanced it with her training, his wisdom, and the cool water tempering her flames. A strange sensation to have certainty beside her, within her life, and face the cravings, almost like a person self-sabotaging their current success while remembering bad habits.

Syn's chalice might resonate softly as it passed through the water droplets. Flowing with life, a vessel represented by the chalice holding the water, she understood this natural way of living but found it challenging to express. Ignoring the water and the flow of life, she felt the temptation of the certainty she had found in the One Sith. These two opposing forces stood side by side, bringing her dark side attachment to the surface.

"Time," Kintan's priestess whispered softly, her voice following the water's path. The hourglasses on the wall spilled their sand in a gentle procession, and a distant clock at the ruin ticked, breathing life into this place.

"There is no doubt, you remember don't you," she repeated, her voice gentle but firm. Knowing he knew how she might feel. Here she felt no uncertainty at all, walking gracefully and elegantly like a queen towards her throne, hands glowing with warming radiance. Their reality was not a throne room but a watery sinkhole, moving naturally and contrasting the dark side's deceit.

Futures turned with their clock. An image of a golden spirit in her future flickered in her mind, not of this place, but the vision troubled her all the same—another story for another day.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

The depths felt like any nuymber of things that he was used too... this far down the interior caves and underground rivers of planets seemed to blend together and one could get lost if they were unsure or second guessed themselves. The crevice that the water was going down he managed to squeeze himself through though and pushed to make room for Sera to be able to follow. He came to the end of the descent and dropped as he landed and lowered himself. Waiting for her to do the same and extended his arms to steady and catch... and then waited before he was moving again deeper and deeper. THe path opening into another chamber as he looked around.

THe force was opening it up and the chamber was covered in moss and lichen... he could feel it growing and glowing in the dark down here. THe sound of shifting rocks came from above as the passage went back to being narrow and almost closed... he could feel the presence all around them. THe lichen igniting into flames as voices came from everywhere and the jedi master remained at the ready but didn't draw his blades... He was listening to the voice as it spoke. "Thou found me after all this time. When I was first entrapped I said the ones who released me... I would give them the power to do all that they wished.... None came."

THe jedi master remained there as flames were circling around.. the heat there and it was becoming more like a furnace. "Then ten thousand years passed by and I promised any who would come to release me... would receive a planets weight in riches.... and none came." The voice was roaring in ways as the jedi master moved using the force to protect himself and absorb the heat to enclose him and Sera for prrotection. "Then another ten thousand years passed and I said to myself that I would give to one who released me three boons to make their lives better... and none came." There was a roaring fire now... a boom to his voice.

"ANd now I will still be generous for you... the method of how you are slain will be your reward." THe jedi master looked and breathed in and then outwaards... allowing the force to guide him as he was moving. "I'll be released from this pit... distilling your essence to return my strength."

 

[Sera Inkari]

Deeper into the depths of the earth, they pressed on, intruding upon whatever held sway within this domain. Tightly, she navigated through another rocky obstacle, mindful not to snag her belt's pouches again. With a delicate leap, she descended, her hand finding rest upon his arms once more as she lowered her feet to the floor.

Almost immediately, a horrible truth confronted her. The creature was certain of its imprisonment, not its path or purpose, but its cage. Her façade cracked instantly, and she pressed her hand to her chest as if struck. A heavy sensation settled in her mind, thousands of years of torment frozen in place, the creature's time catching up to her present moment.

Syn extended his force technique, relieving the sensation from her mind, yet she seethed with her anger. Angry to be deceived like this, lured with promises of certainty only to find another lie. Again. "Your torments are not our doing," she snapped harshly, struggling to maintain her composure.

They arrived at the wound in her psyche. Promised something she craved, only to have it snatched away forever. "You will lose this if it's not done this way at this time," she recited from her memory like a broken clock. Matching the creature's display, her hands glowed, her eyes an orange hue; fleeting flames danced near her palms, each shifting and changing, defying any clock to keep their pattern.

She fully understood what that freedom meant; they were unpredictable and ever-changing, the creature and she were both drawn to use fire.

Above the creature's fire, she moved her hands in a circle, the heat threatening to blister and burn. "Stuck in your pit of suffering and solace, your loathing for the world grows, and your certainty others hate you. You feel certain you are broken and cast away, and that becomes your reality." Her palms continued to glow with cleansing fires.

"There is power in that, I understand it; I crave that simplicity you have, to know for certain your path, but also understand it brings such suffering."

The fire continued to draw toward her hand; she was slowly parting the closet flames before her or seeking control, wrestling for certainty outside herself once more. This wasn't about the outside; it was just a canvas they all used to show themselves who they were. The more she had control of what was happening, seeking certain control over events, the more the creature had a way in, a grip over her.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

He listened to what was being said and Sera seemed to be talking with it and he didn't sense a singular being.. it was around them as he moved within the flames that were going around. He breathed in and then out as the heat was there adjusting as he sensed and going towards one fo the corners while he was looking at Sera and motioned with his hand. The wall having a crack the heat was escaping through so it didn't have all of the smoke in the chamber. He remained there and listened... allowing the force to protect them from the heat and finding the crack he was waiting as it buffeted the tutaminis shielding around the pair of them. He was letting her control her fire while he could keep the area at bay. "I don't think it is certainty that people dislike... more forgot Not many things would be old enough to remember that far back."

 

[Sera Inkari]

"If certainty wraps us like a prison, Master," she whispered, "we can live in hell." Syn might remember the allure of the dark side, how every action seemed justified, how sure the Sith were in their power. He was right, too; healthy certainty could be balanced and rewarding, like what she had found in their work together. She dipped her head to show she understood.

" I miss—" she half admitted, vulnerable and open. "No doubt, no self-reflection." Her honesty was a step toward healing. She turned to him, her expression clouded with reflective thought. "The child," her voice carried softly, "told she would lose all she was if something didn't happen at a certain time, in a certain place." The fear was instilled over and over to create a seer on Kintan. Everything had to happen in sequence to predict anything accurately, and none of it was predictable without her complete focus, if at all.

The being around them, warded by her Master's force presence, she knew its anguish. She stayed within the circle despite playing with the fire. "I never told you about the Seer-Wars. Small manipulations to alter the balance," Truth be told, the topic was exhausting. When she turned their clock, she fixed a wrong that should never have been.

"Someone, somewhere, changed what should have happened. They didn't abandon you, I am sorry that you were trapped here, a poor word; you deserve a better one. You couldn't get out no matter what you did." Sera shed a tear, for the being reminded her of herself. This creature's fate could have been very different; maybe not a gentle soul, but not this caged monster before them. She had to believe that was still true, so she kneeled down, to avoid temptation to walk toward what was ahead.

"We must try to help Master." So much flowed out of her, perhaps more than she'd ever shared in their time together. She understood the help might mean nothing and that the outcome was set, but she wanted to try again. Maybe understanding that was part of her test.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

He agreed and was listening to her as the flames remained there but he could feel more of it. Looking around for a way to stop the flames. "If we can we shall but the flames are the biggest issue they will limit our ability to move and whatever is down here is reliant on us staying in one place long enough for the flames to do their job," He was saying it and looked at what they had in the force remaining there while keeping her close and within the small bubble he was creating. He looked around and focused as his head went down. "There is more below us though, cracking the floor could flood the lower levels with flame if we don't manage to put it out."

 

[Sera Inkari]

Surrounded by a field tested by fire, Sera knelt to find a small center of peace. She placed her hands in her lap and concentrated. The priestess didn't try to control her; she tried to accept. Breathing in and out gently, Sera remembered how she felt about her life now, and wanted to wrap her stream of thoughts into more explicit words.

"I accept your fire, your burns, your scars." The burn marks from her past battles lingered, reminding her of a reckless time without regard for life. "Your hatred and anger for what you experienced." She drew the energy of the fire like a surging tide, the heat enveloping her body and causing a light sweat. Her words for their entity, herself and Syn, for every single lost soul that ever drifted.

"We will never be innocent or pure," she murmured. That wasn't their nature. In the space "between the candle and the shadow," she discovered renewed faith and conviction, putting into words how she felt. That was where they found their calling. She glanced at Syn and nodded, to offer her readiness.

The flames started to dim, their heat drawn to her, but she couldn't continue for long. Syn had a brief opportunity to break through to what lay below, or move outward, and she would follow either course.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

He could feel the flames dying away and the force was buffering them. THe jedi master remained there in the corner with Sera and wrapped an arm around for a moment as she had her hands in front of herself. THe presence receded while he was looking at it and once the flames were gone the lichen and glowing moss were gone. Revealing corners and paths he was able to go towards some of them... Checking out parts of it as he moved forward. "It has retreated deeper." He could feel it and moved around the chamber as one of the alcoves continued going down further and further... the next chamber filled with a large vault as he tapped it and looked over. "SMooth stone, thicker and heavier then average but the locks are old. I can smell the metal of them." He said it and was breaking the seven locks as the slab of a door was opening and there was more inside. More doors and locks as he opened it... more and more each one smaller and enclosing but finally after seven vaults with seven locks it revealed a chamber. The sound of someone sleeping was there as the jedi master stood and didn't need light or the force he could scent the air as he went. "It is a woman." He could smell more of it but was moving back as he searched and listened.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Nodding to his touch, and gently raising her robes as she stood. Her body, warm from exertion, welcomed the cleansing water she drank from a flask at her waist, the simple liquid sustaining her.

Beside Syn, she followed the deeper retreat, drawn along newly opened paths toward a vault. She watched him open the locks one by one—seven in all—revealing smooth stone and something profound waiting inside. Sera pulled back her robe and pressed her palm to the surface, listening to the flow of time. The clock had brought life to these barren places, time flowing freely, no longer a painful cage of frozen identity.

The same hexagon pattern adorned the roof, with the letter C above, symbolizing something unknown to her. But what of the Chalice he carried? How did it fit the mystery?

A woman.

"We must not fear her caged emotion, torment, or solitude. She has been alone so long," she said, her voice swimming with emotion. Fear killed the mind, making decisions of survival rather than choice. She may hope to dream, chancing meaning or life to the woman's ill fate; time came for all of them, time gave life space to flourish, and time healed all things. Sera didn't know if this was another trapped soul or the voice that had spoken to them. She only knew she would try to give them peace if she could, as she was offered once. Isn't that what all their travels together were—finding peace in life, service, or death?

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

The jedi master was looking at the woman and not taking his eyes off of her.. Sera was there with him and spoke as he helped her out of the earthen box. "I don't know if it is fear of us she has." He said it as the woman was looking at him and he focused on the force inviting her as he could feel it and sharing knowledge... comprrehension as she spoke. "Solitude means little, this thing stole me away on my wedding night, locked me in seven boxes with seven locks.... and then seven hours below the ground in the earth." She said it and stood there a sshe grabbed only one thing. A string strung with rings... thousands of them of various metals and gemstones. Her long hair behind her and skin gleaming in the softer light. "He sleeps for now, attacking others always tires him out." She was saying it while sealing and closing the doors again. Each one until she was done.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Fear not of them but of her cage. A cage within a cage, a repeating circular cycle of time. Sera wondered why seven? What significance did the number hold? She chose not to burden the woman with mundane questions, instead offering her support, ready to help her walk if her unused legs gave out. "You poor thing, how long has it been?" she asked gently, her tone and touch soft and soothing. Why the most holy wedding night of all times, to a priestess, that was utterly unthinkable. Flaring anger shimmered in her force aura.

Taking the precious water bottle from her belt and offering it to their freed prisoner for a sip. This was no small gesture, given how much Sera needed to stay hydrated and her uncertainty about the lake water above being drinkable. Her concern for the woman's well-being outweighed her own needs. She looked across the woman's face to ensure she wasn't injured. "Are you well enough to walk this path to safety?" she asked supportively, assisting with her long string of gemstones if she let her.

"Master, are we to take her with us or hide her?" Sera's conflicted voice asked. Could they leave the other tormented soul here? She glanced at the wall, watching the hourglasses still running their sand, sensing where the presence had fled. "I can't leave them in such suffering," she whispered. The caged presence needed an end once and for all, either saved or released from their pain. She couldn't just walk away, could she? Was that her test? Would the presence follow the prisoner?

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

"I doubt leaving her here outside of her confinement would be good for her. We'll have to take her with us to keep her safe." He said it and breathed in and then out while he was sensing... there was something faint in the distance as he turned to look at the woman. "Where is it?" He asked it and she looked at him. "Asleep, in a way... you are thinking of it as a physical being and sometimes when it wants to be it can be but it is different then that and when it is enticed to interest it doesn't give up." She said it with a shrug while walking through the cave she spoke. "Don't touch anything along the paths... it will alert it." SHe said it while walking and the tunels lined with alcoves of riches, hoarded stones, silks, the smell of old spices, incense, powers, preserved food, wines and more things that would be sent down to it. The jedi master following as the clinking sound of the rings was there but the woman moved through with the low to no light along a guided pathway... her attention less on what was there and more on trying to reach the end of the tunnel. "Whatever you do, don't look back the path can be lost."

 

[Sera Inkari]

Hearing Syn's decision, she assisted the lady with them until she found her stride; the woman carried herself with a poise that Sera admired and often sought in her life. The bride robbed of her husband had been through so much, and yet she carried it with dignity. As the trio moved forward, she wanted to pull at the hourglasses and bring the being to them so she could save, heal, or end it.

'Asleep, in a way... you are thinking of it as a physical being and sometimes when it wants to be it can be but it is different then that and when it is enticed to interest it doesn't give up'

Neither did she, a Keth One Sith flaw still in her. Torn between their service to this prisoner, so long kept from her life, and her service to the one's fire she had accepted, no easy choice could be made; her dilemma pressed like a weight at her chest.

'Whatever you do, don't look back the path can be lost.'

Hearing instruction not to look back, the path underfoot shifted and morphed into an uncertain future lurching towards her, but she resisted the urge to turn, instead shifting swiftly after them. ~Don't suffer alone.~ The priestess spoke through the force, seeking the entity out with her mind. It was dangerous to connect this way, but to sever this connection with the lost soul proved difficult.

Feeling pain in her head again, she rested her hand on her cheek, jaw tense but itching under the fingernails, wanting to scratch something not yet there. Had she just doomed them? ~ Let them be. I am the one who didn't forget you, who opened the cage, who accepted your suffering, focus on me.~ Drawn to find the forgotten, free the caged, and release tormented souls to rest or healing.

Smells of stagnant earth came to her, and the shift toward a natural flow of time continued, "It stirs." Sera uttered, her voice distant, cognisant of what she had done. Guilt rose up in her heart, that she might expose the bride to her tormentor, but what else could she do? Leave? Abandon them? Accept the reality that some things cannot be changed?

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

He was moving and felt it for a moment... not looking backwards but heard a hiss.. a tremor from the one leading them through and all around. THe world and tunnel falling away from his senses... the darkness around more oppressive and he wanted to scold Sera for her lapse but the woman stepped backwards and closer to him as he was moving to keep her between the two of them. Allowing the force to wrap around as he could sense and scent the world. The air opening up.... stale air and a gasp from the woman as the jedi master was prepared. The ground groaning as eyes opened... faces forming into ground and then hills and then mountains that towered up and up into the blackened red and orange sky.

He could feel it approaching and the gasp and shock from the woman was there which saw her press closer to his back... no words being spoken as she was looking artound. Forms coming up from the face filled mountains as it towered over and the jedi master spoke. "Sera." He didn't need to quip.. he didn't need to say a lot of things about it. Waking something wasn't entirely the best move when they had no idea what could happen. The ground shifting and the scent in the distance of rot came to him... decay and plants as things towered up large and slime covered with mounds of flesh and bone protruding

The sounds of the landscape were potent.. the jedi master on the ground was only in a small section of it. Though he could sense it was much much larger and more dangerous as it had been used to house and breed sithspawn and other creatures for the sith or more and more beings. A hunting ground that attracted a few who were strong or wanted to test their strength. The latest hunt as the jedi master crouched there on the thick branch of a tree sprouting forth. A Shadowfang Beast in the distance as the scent caught on the wind. The woman was still clinging to him and her heart could be felt pounding into his back.... but it was deeper and was fighting other creatures here was something he couldn't get distracted with.

The landscape here though wasn't like the Temple of Omean where the few shadows were secured and remained. Awaiting the councilor of first knowledge and orders. "Master there is movement." The womans voice said it as he adjusted his senses... reaching out for the distance and able to see it. The scent on the wind of rotting things from the pit potent to the masters heightened senses. He could see it now in the force when he moved. The crunch of bone under heel as he landed from the high tree and took off at a run through the jungle. Screeches coming for a moment when something heavy was attempting to give chase.

There was hot breath and something else coming when he heard the crashing of two large things smashing into each other. The roars of rage and then of pain that came from flesh and bone being torn into. He lept over a mound as pelko bugs were all over bodies. The run brought him to the edge and he lept down scenting and sensing the beasts in the mud. Baby leviathan that didn't look dangerous... like large grubs but they grew large and grew
fast. His jaw clenching for a moment when he came down smashing two fists into the blister sac of the adult which got a scream... his fists digging into the flesh and going in while the putrid scent came...

But he stayed at it allowing the force to guide him along with momentum down deeper and deeper into he was on the ground. With a pool coming over his head that didn't do much to wash anything off. He stood there for a moment when the thing was falling over and more things were alerted to his presence in the mud pit. Tempest would be... maybe not freaking out at the monsters she was used to that... but the mud on her white robes maybe. "Well that is certainly one way to handle it but there are more coming and the main thing you are going after isn't here." The woman said it as the jedi master moved around in the mud and could sense all of the other things coming around.

"No worse than the usual state of things." He had a tight lipped grin on his face while overhead some of the things were flying. Battle hydras, derriphans and attracted to the darkside this far out from the core worlds... starweirds would show up from the dangerous creatures and shred some of them if you were lucky or go after observation ships when one was really unlucky. His foot digging itno the mud for a moment to tighten his stance as the planet of sithspawn was prime for training and letting loose as it were. Sera was here, the woman speaking more and her attitude... her demeanor changing as she was scared but there was something to be said for a monster who fought other monsters.

The question was fair but the robes were designed for jedi shadows older ones not the new ones calling themselves such. To contain power enough and it was by their own choice. "No need." He spoke while walking and breathed in with the scents of blood and mud around him.. the creatures were there and this was what he did as he drew in the force energies around himself. One of the creatures moving disoriented for a moment and he struck at him as it was launched back into another creature. HE was allowing the force to guide his movements and there was always more. He welcomed Sera coming up as the woman was covered in mud... above the sounds of more things and the scents.

The form of whateverr had shown itself towering up into the skies above. Thick hair made from entrails of millions of bodies... patchworked flesh stretched and the woman was remaining there as the shuffling sounds of things in the water came. Syn's gaze narrowing with his one arm being used to shield the woman and Sera.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Sera lowered her eyes, feeling guilty. "Sorry, Syn," she whispered. That brief exchange was all they needed right now. She knew she'd done wrong, and he'd made it clear with one word. Their focus shifted to survival, not childish self-sacrifice tangents she thought she'd outgrown.

Reality shifted rapidly, with the environment transforming into a nightmarish landscape of beasts and bones. A shadowfang looming in the distance was mercifully preoccupied. Sera moved with her usual gentleness and tact, avoiding obvious missteps like the one she'd made by waking the entity! Syn leaped, and Sera followed suit, her saberstaff a blur of bright orange. She dipped and swayed rapidly, sweeping aside a few smaller creatures clawing around them. Her saberstaff spun in an evolving front and back rotation while Syn handled the central danger.

No worse than the usual state of things.

He spoke truth, "one more for the balance," she said with a warm smile, glad Syn wasn't too angry about her mistake but hesitant to make eye contact. She still sensed the creature in the background, but being able to face a physical threat changed the dynamic. Seeing her Master covered in his work. "Do not fear him," she assured the bride about Syn. "He is as the rock in the tempest." Moving closer to them both, she added, "I am truly sorry; we cannot always see beyond ourselves. Forgive me." The bride might not understand or even realise she'd caused this, but Sera asked for forgiveness anyway.

The priestess traced her gaze upward, pushing back her hood to reveal the horrifying potential of the entity they faced, capable of commanding or embodying these creatures. Syn shielded them from the physical harm; his presence ever reassuring. "This too shall pass; what is your name?" she asked the bride, hoping to put her at ease. But in her mind, she wondered, could something intangible ever entirely pass?

"How can we bring closure to a creature we cannot touch?" she questioned, acknowledging the truth. They could slay countless Sithspawn but never touch this entity. Holding her saberstaff horizontally, she joined Syn in a protective stance around the bride. "Together, Master," her voice expressed hope for connection, even though she had no idea how to proceed in this ever-changing landscape. A seer without a vision, troubling indeed.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

He was still there and prepared for a fight.. the creatures were moving like extensions of the body of something larger and he could cut down a thousand of them all day and night... it wouldn't do much in the long run but it would annoy like a fly. The woman at his back spoke as Sera was asking her name and she spoke with a look at them. "Šīrāzād al-Nadīm ibn Faḍlān-Dīnāzād." She said it and was proud as the creatures continued to move and the jedi master was fighting.. his atttention on her words but on everything around them as he debated how to face down what Sera was talking about in fighting... or getting a handle on the creature.

HE could see more as things were forming with his attention on it. His breathing evening out for a moment as the woman spoke. "THere is a tangibility to him... in a way but exertionmakes him need to rest. It isn't easy being trapped down here and not many can survive what he sends out." She said it with a shrug of her shoulders while they had the case to move and the jedi master moved in a way that Sera would be able to use her staff and defend without him getting in the way. His body reacting before the brain caught up to him.. he dind't need to overthink this.. he didn't need to think at all as the force was guiding him through the mass of flesh and gore when he tore into it with his fists.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Sera moved in synch with her Master's style, adapting to their form and timing. She had trained beside him long enough to dip when he struck and turn aside when Syn punched. Her horizontal guard blocked or countered each attack, complementing Syn's technique; room for improvement, but a step closer to being harmonized.

Few could survive such an ordeal, but they belonged here among them.

Keeping Šīrāzād al-Nadīm within her vision, Kintan's priestess guarded their bride's back, sweeping her weapon in an upper whirlwind twirl above her head, then sliding it horizontally in a half-circle, cutting a creature clean through. Her saberstaff, elegant and flowing like a river, leaned towards Soresu, with balanced elements of Jar'kai's strikes.

"Then we must tire him out in spirit and his goal." Could they wear down the entity and give a reason to doubt its course?

Holding her weapon in a dim orange glow, she continued to circle behind them, watching the various creatures prowling in this place of blood and bones.

"Please stop; we woke you, we saved you from your cage, and I will find those who trapped you here. They robbed you of your rightful release." Her words reached out, both aloud and through her mind, to the entity. "If we perish, we cannot right any wrong done to you." Making such dangerous agreements was risky; another seer might have sealed their opponent here for a good or malicious reason. She only knew that their tormentors own torment should not have happened. Sharp pain pounded in her head, and she placed her hand on her forehead.

Looking at Syn for his reaction, she asked before acting, not making a further mistake. "Should I swear to a pact?" She knew he would not want her to, but perhaps a bargain could solve two problems.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Sera Inkari

"Pacts are dangerous and if it is as old as it said, there is a chance anything or anyone who put it here could be long gone." He said it and was moving. His hand coming around as he struck and swiped sending a thing back into another and it distorted the land. THe thing had gone to sleep.. and been woken up... which hopefully meant it wasn't nearly as strong or at full power. He was moving and the massive thing in the distance was looking towards them as it moved a leg and stomped its foot... the ground itself shaking and from it thousands of amorphorous globs of hair, teeth and flesh that moved around. Wriggling around as the jedi master stopped and stood there for a moment. His hands adjusting.

"The best scenario is a retreat and to tire it out.. to make the burden of maintaining this a strain on its power." He said it and standing there his hands moved to his waist and the twin hilts. Sliding them into his hands as the silver metal glowed with blue golden light. The solarite metal coarsing through him and he could feel fire on every inch of his being. The force exploding outwards as he released limiters in his robes and his presence exploded outwards with a hiss. The bride as Sera was want to think her backing a little but she was intrigued before the snap-hiss came to light with a silvery blade that pulsed white... a second with a silvery blade and a black core before he was moving.

The blades were slashing into the creatures while he moved.. allowing the force to move his body and he dodged... ducked or jumped. THe force radiating off of himself to launch himself up into the air and allowing the force to slam down with him.. he sent a shockwave that sent several up itno the air while his perception of time was moving.. the sound of blood in his ears from his focus. her could feel Sera and the bride.. he was moving his blades as they slashed through the things evicerating them into clumps of more pieces. The thing seemed to be roaring and howling as it stomped down its foot towards the jedi master and he reached up with the force slashing itno and holding it up as an impact circle formed around from holding it up.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Relying on her future had blinded her to their tormentor's prolonged entrapment, making her gesture feel futile. Its madness from being contained for so long resonated within her. She lightly touched her chest and dipped her head to show understanding, bitterly resigning that she couldn't right a painful wrong.

Tension tightened in her abdomen as she spoke, "As you say, Syn, so shall it be." Her goal became his—to tire their tormentor out, but she couldn't shake her thoughts about what would keep such an entity from following them or anyone else.

She often realized her Master placed different limits around himself, stages of his power he would lock away. When Syn let loose, there was a serene devastation to his actions, and she found herself watching him while she guarded their companion.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Master?" A warming, rosy smile spread across her cheeks, giving her leave to ease tension in her body.

She leveled a kick to push off a predator, rotating her saberstaff under her leg to stop a small creature's approach. A warning of danger behind her made her somersault over Šīrāzād al-Nadīm to their trio's other side, landing flush. Facing her, a line of dartflowers on the far wall began spitting thorns like blaster fire. Guarding herself and their companion, she deftly blocked and dodged, her elbows pushing inward to relax her arms; using her wrists more in her saber rotations.

Her technique was good, conserving energy as Soresu should, but thinking of others in her techniques still took focus and practice.

She thought she could smell something—gas—a hissing pressure from below.

Syn