A Dead Man's Remnants

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

There was a certain beauty to the stars, a sort of indescribable mystery that Sven still found fascinating.

He had been alive for more than a dozen years now, a number that might have seemed small to most but for him was half a life time. Perhaps it was because of that that Sven found beauty in the stars. To something like him they were practically immortal. They burned bright for billions upon billions of years, speckling the skies and granting life to countless star systems. There was a certain allure to that, the idea of lasting so long, of being a part of creation itself. He smiled ruefully at the thought of creation, shaking his head slightly as he looked out the view-port.

Longevity was a gift that had not been granted to him, and yet, that truth had never really bothered him.

He'd never offered a complaint about the time he had left, had never raised a fuss or even sought an out.

The explanation for that was simple, Sable. Sven didn't care to obsesses and focus on himself, he didn't care to be selfish. What mattered to him, what had always mattered to him was his wife. Her happiness, if you could call it that anyway, was what he wanted. If she asked for a moon, he would bring her one. A planet and it would be hers in a day. His own life seemed insignificant in comparison to hers. That made him foolish, he knew, and she would likely vehemently disagree with him, but that hardly mattered. He was happy to be at her side, happy to see her ambitions realized.

Though the latest one was proving to be a tad more difficult than they had originally thought.

His father had been a clever man, mad, but clever. Moridin had spent decades, perhaps centuries ensuring his own survival. Sable had ended his physical form, torn apart his essence and stripped it of all gravity in this galaxy, and yet his presence lingered. Thousands upon thousands of his fathers creations still littered this galaxy, each and every one holding a piece of the now dead Sith Lord. It was a complication, a difficulty in his end. If a single piece survived, so did Moridin.

Sven knew that because Sable knew it. She could sense pieces of him even now, small portions of the Dreadlord's soul that still speckled the galaxy. It frustrated her, angered her to no end. Every time they destroyed one piece, they would spend a week finding another. The difficulty was in Moridin's sense of self preservation. Within his madness Moridin had broken himself, split pieces of himself into thousands of artifacts. The simple fact was they didn't have enough time. They could chase and track for years, but eventually Sven's body would give out, and Sable would be left alone to complete the task.

The truth was he didn't know what would happen then. He didn't know if she could do it without him.

The Assassin frowned slightly, peering out the view-port and debating on what to do.

 

[Quietus]

For six years they had scoured the stars following the trail of Moridin's legacy.

The first to have been destroyed: the Harrower. A ship in pieces - two, to be exact, at opposite ends of the galaxy, its remnants filled with the souls stolen by Moridin from the planet of Byss over a hundred years ago.

The second was the Queen Mother of Hapes. Not through any means of blood relation or darkside taint, but the mere affiliation of the man Saul Talith and the weight his name still held on that wretched world. Sable had taken it upon herself to relieve the Queen Mother of the burden of her crown. None bearing the name of Talith would be welcome there again.

The third was far less consequential. As was the fourth, the fifth, the sixth... and so on and so forth. A dozen or more, perhaps two dozen by now, trinkets and negligible artifacts crafted and tossed away by the raving lunatic over his lifetime. A dagger here. A scroll of parchment there. Even a hat - and not even a very nice one at that. By now they were reduced to breadcrumbs. The detritus of his collection. Sable felt them out there due to her inherent and undeniable connection to the man himself.

She sensed them because they were him and, in essence, so was she. It was this fact that disturbed her more than the daunting task of finding this seemingly endless trail of forgettables. Drove her mad, it did, like a thorn in her mind always twisting away. Day and night. Every breath.

If only he were the true him, things would not be this way.



In a dark, cold room somewhere deep within the confines of a massive ship drifting through the vacuum of space, two pale hazel eyes suddenly opened. After what felt like months spent wading through the stars, listless and without a waypoint, a sense of direction had finally appeared. Bare feet moved beneath her figure on the floor, pushing a frame of taught cord and muscle to stand within the blackness naked to the elements.

"My Lady," gentle words whispered from a nameless Maid who approached with a robe of molten black and pressed it over pointed shoulders.

"Where is he," moving now, covering ground in jilted urgency, her mind having given up the cause of seeking out the one person she would never be able to sense, Sable twisted through a doorway and strode out into a long hall, "I must speak with him now."

"Lord Talith is on the observation de-"

"The bridge," the utterance came upon a snarl as the Dreadlady turned down another hall.


[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

The ship that they had called home was barely crewed, a few dozen people, a few hundred droids. Most of those that lived upon their vessels were of the old guard from Byss, Palace servants or engineers that had served Sven and Sable loyally. People who still called them Lady and Lord, people who still regarded them as King and Queen. The titles always made Sven smile a bit, as if he still couldn't quite grasp that he was anything more than a simple man.
The truth of it was of course that he was much more.

Even if he had not been his fathers son, even if he had not been his own man, by the virtue of his wife he was still more than ordinary. It was a funny thought really, but one that no longer plagued him as it once had. He simply accepted the titles now, nodded his head and smiled whenever he heard it.

"Lord Talith, her Majesty requests your presence on the bridge."

The stewards were always so kind, so nice, but Sven knew better. He offered the old man a smile and turned away from the view-port, patting the man on the shoulder and giving him an amused look. His wife hardly ever requested anything at all, the few times she did it usually didn't involve any other person hearing. Without a moment of hesitation Sven wandered through the doors of the observation deck, moving through the long and winding halls of the Star Destroyer.

The vessel was huge by all accounts, but the observation deck was luckily only a few floors away from the bridge itself. Perhaps a part of him had an inkling that Sable would awaken and want him soon, or maybe he'd just been lucky.

Either way the doors to the bridge slipped open. "Good morning My Love."

Sven said as he wandered onto the bridge towards his wife, no hint of sarcasm in his tone, only an odd sort of bright joy that one might not expect from the spouse of a Sith Lord.

 

[Quietus]

"Sven,"

An immediate shift in the air could be felt with the emerging presence of Sven Talith. If a Force user were to attempt to track the man by the Force, they would more than certainly be able to do it simply by following the change in the aura of the Dreadlady. It was as if a sudden gust of wind had suddenly snuffed out a furnace.

Steely eyes shifted and faded into green as the woman looked up from a starchart, pale flesh set in the relief of the blue holographic glow. The Dreadlady was not known for smiling, but the lack of scowling expression was close enough.

"I have sensed another item," she said, the intonation of her normally flat voice causing reason for interest, perhaps even excitement within the crew, "here, in this system. I have seen forests, two moons, shadows of large beastly creatures that walk like humans."

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

Sven had never been the best student of star charts. In truth he had always just gone where others had told him to go, part of being unable to fly a starship. Yet this path Sable had set them upon had changed that slightly. Both of them had spent hours and hours pouring over maps, starcharts, and ancient catalogues found within his fathers old Archives.

Ironic really.

“Alright.” Sven said as he slowly walked up behind her, a gentle hand coming to rest on the small of her back for just half a second, a cool touch that lasted for only half a second before he drew his hand away and began to study the map in front of her.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble.” From what he knew this region of space had been left isolated since the collapse of the Techno Union, no government had established itself and only planetary forces remained. “We can head there straight away.”

At times there had been a need to be cautious on their little hunt, but here they would have the freedom to move as they pleased. Perhaps it would mean that they could go a little bit quicker this time, maybe even pause to take in the scenery while there.

The idea amused him, if only because he doubted he could ever convince Sable to take a vacation.

 

[Quietus]

"The location you are describing is what I believe to be the planet Krant, My Queen," a uniformed navigation officer leaned in over the conference table, zooming in on the system to the planet around which two moons and several asteroids revolved.

"That's former Techno Union territory," he continued, "their dispersion has left a power vacuum for several years. Many economies collapsed, pirating has increased, criminal activity is at an all-time high if what the reports show are true. Bothans seem to have the strongest claim there. As the King has suggested ... we should have no trouble traveling there."

Standing erect, Sable slowly lifted her gaze from the starchart to look at the man squarely, "Set course for the Bothan Sector."

"As you command, My Queen."

~~~

"This is not just another trinket," fingers blackened from corruption smoothed over the bald scalp of her skull. She stood before a full-length looking glass in their private chambers as her handmaidens dressed her layer by layer. Armorweave and ebony silks pulled across flesh. Scars smoothed into healthy pink, the stain of the Darkside faded. As Sable lifted her hand a second time to run over her head, she felt the waves of wheaten gold growing beneath her fingertips.

The demon slowly became a Queen.

"It is powerful. Important. Much more than all the others," hazel whirled to glacial blue, turning down and to the side in thought, "he spent so much time there and returned to it again and again..."

How had she missed it before?

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

He mused for a few seconds, sitting on the bed and simply watching as the maids dressed her.

By all accounts the planet they were going to was nothing of any real note. The two main cities mainly focused on agriculture and the smaller villages did the same. There were no huge military bases that had been built here since the Techno Union and it seemed that even then no one had really cared about this little world and its two moons. That fact had of course probably been exactly why his father had chosen it.

Sven watched as the maids slowly finished with Sable, standing from his spot on the bed and waving them away as they half approached him. He came up behind his wife, standing for a moment before slowly slipping his arms around her, careful not to crinkle the dress or shift any of the cloth too far. “A forge maybe? To craft more artifacts?”

It made sense. The only other place they’d ever found a forge was Byss, but that didn’t necessarily mean that it was the only one. The thought at least deserved consideration.

He smiled a moment, then reached up to gently run his fingers through her new hair.

"It suits you.” Sven said with a smile. “You look beautiful.”

Compliments had often fallen short with his dear Wife, either she cared nothing for them or she simply held her reaction to them in, but either way Sven had never stopped trying. Her appearance had hardly mattered to him over the years, no matter how she chose to present herself Sven had always thought the same thing.

 

[Quietus]

Why she chose this appearance even Sable could not say. It both was and was not the image of Silva Talith, the Hapan noble once in line as an heir to the throne. Conjured to stand in as a relative of Saul Talith, once upon a time she stood to gain quite a bit from the death of the Queen Mother and other subsequent heirs in line before her. Despite her hatred for that place and the facade she'd been forced to wear, Sable had grown ... not a fondness, but a familiarity with it.

This face was of her own creation. Whether or not she cared for its beauty would remain unspoken. Sable glanced to the reflection of her husband, eyes boring a hole right through his compliments.

"No, not a forge," she said quietly, gaze slowly growing distant as memories that were not her own filtered through her inner eye.

Moridin's mind had become her own, along with all his powers and skills - including those inherent to his blood. While the abilities of Kiffar were not within her possession like a person of true heritage, they were in a way linked to anything and everything Moridin. His histories could be detected within those objects which had known his touch. Visions freely offered themselves to her with every artifact found, but this disjointed method of collection creation in itself a massive puzzle of sorts. Alone, the memories meant nothing.

In the grand timeline of Moridin's long life, together they meant something and Sable had managed to collect enough of them to uncover this new location, but not with enough information to divulge just what was hidden there.

"He required power, energy for his forge creations. I sense nothing of the sort on this planet... Krant. This is something different."

The Dreadlady pivoted on her heel to face Sven, searching the lines and scars on his face, "You have grown pale," she lifted a hand to his face and brushed her fingers over the stubble of his jaw, "we have been on this ship for too long, Sven."

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

His hands slipped to her hips as she turned in his arms, her finger running along his jaw-line to touch the stubble that was growing here.

A small smile touched Sven’s lips as she called him pale.

Sable had never been one for giving compliments either. It was a quality that he’d never really minded, more found amusing when she decided to point something out that she did not find at all satisfying. For a few moments he simply decided to breath her in, taking the sight of his wife and enjoying the familiar aspects of her new visage.

“I think you’re right.” He had always much preferred that his feet stay on the ground rather than on the deck of a starship. “Perhaps we should find ourselves a new home.”

Byss had been abandoned so long ago now. Their former homeworld was a memory that both of them had left behind. He sometimes still wondered how the planet had fared after their departure, he’d heard no news or seen no footage. Now that the One Sith had collapsed he was half tempted to go back, but he knew that the Citadel there had likely been torn apart. Not to mention the ghost of his father that still lingered within that place.

“Somewhere warm, so I can get nice and tan for you.” In truth, he wasn’t sure if lack of sun was the true reason for his distinctly more pale skin color. A part of him had begun to wonder if time was slowly settling in on him. There were days where he felt...sluggish, worn, somehow a bit foggier than the day before. He hadn’t told Sable, but the feeling was starting to be there. As much as he wanted to ignore it.

“I suppose we’ll find out.” Sven added about the world they were headed to. Krant doesn’t seem...significant. Perfect place to hide something.”

Whatever that something was they would just have to see.

 

[Quietus]

Bothan System

A much smaller ship brought them out of hyperspace at the edges of the Bothan System - Star Destroyers tend to attract too much attention and the Dreadlady was not yet ready to deal with the likes of the local criminal or Pirate populace, even in small numbers. They moved without fuss past the system limits and into the major traffic ways. Krant was a speck in the distance.

Sable sat in meditation, revisiting those visions that previously lead her here. As with most things relative to the Force, proximity to the source of any energy was key; the closer they drew to the planet the more readily and clearly these visions arrived.

Jungles, thick and green and swallowing the hints of civilization.
A settlement at the base of a mountain. Wookies - the great beasts she'd previously only viewed silhouettes of.
To the west the sun set a blazing red, illuminating within the mountain peaks a glimmer of reflection off an energy field.

Cloaking array.

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

Sven sat near the front of the ship, though well away from the controls. Part of him had wished that they’d simply stuck with the Star Destroyer, but he knew that would have caused too much of a fuss. The Techno Union might have been gone, but that didn’t really mean all that much when Planetary Defense forces were still more than operational. A part of him wondered if negotiations would have been easier, but that likely would have given them away.

Krant grew closer in the viewport as they drifted through space.

The planet and its two moons looked as insignificant in person as they had on the map. Unlike Coruscant or Byss which had an almost imposing stature, Krant seemed almost...innocent. The plant was almost entirely green, bright blue ocean spotting the surface every now and again. Sven watched it as they drew closer.

”Honey. He knew that Sven was meditating, focusing on the force to find where they were going, but as they drew closer they needed a location. ”Where are we going?”

Krant may not have been significant or huge in the galactic eye, but it was still a planet. They could spend literally months scouring the surface without ever finding anything. That was why Sable was so key to all of this. She was linked with his father’s artifacts, without her sense of...direction this task would taken even longer.

Sven turned to his wife. ”We’ll be in the atmosphere in two minutes.”

Not that he was trying to rush her.

 

[Quietus]

"In the north," Sable replied quietly, voice lilting a faraway tone as her mind traversed those visions, "a settlement of wookies at the base of a mountain..."

A footpath presented itself in the memory of walking it, playing in her subconscious like a holofilm feedback from first person. She envisioned herself, Dreadlord Moridin, trekking the pathway down along the slopes, pressing past low hanging branches and peeking into the sunlight. Stilted, hobbling movements of a man coming apart at the seams - it reminded her vaguely of the real him late in his decaying existence when limb and digit would readily fall at the slightest provocation.

The vision paused as the memory of the man came to a precipice, peering off towards the east where the faint glimmer and outlines of a city within the trees could be seen.

"...west of a large city."

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

That was enough. Wookiee settlements were common enough on Krant, but not near large cities. He turned in his chair and stood, taking a few steps over towards the cockpit so he could lean in and tell the pilot where they would head.

The shuttle immediately banked to the right, cutting towards the northern part of the planet. Their path was simple, heading towards the largest city in the North and then heading west. Topography maps that they had earlier downloaded would help immensely, the mountain ranges in the region spiking up even as they cut through the atmosphere. For a moment Sven stayed in the cockpit, marveling at the snow capped mountains and the forests that lined their feet. He smiled for a moment and then clapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Start scans."

Sven had no doubt that whatever his father had built here was likely hidden in some way, but whatever system he'd used was likely malfunctioning by now, not having been maintained over the decades.

He pulled himself back out of the cockpit, heading back towards the small space Sable and he had occupied as he quickly dressed himself. Throwing on a blast-proof jacket and holstering the blaster that he'd been taking along on these trips. The short blade he usually carried was slipped onto the small of his back, as soon as he finished gearing up he walked in front of Sable and crouched down before her so that he was at eye level.

"My Lord, something has appeared on the sensors, It's feint but there's something there."

Sven nodded, Wookiees generally tended to hide themselves within the forests they occupied. "Take us as close as you can."

With a smile he held out a hand to Sable, offering her help her up.

 

[Quietus]

The vision blinked, faded, returned. Beyond the settlement now and following the wending shoreline of a massive river. In her ears the sounds of the forest were deathly quiet, allowing multiple footsteps to carry all the better. She got the distinct impression he was being followed but also that either he cared little or, as might've been more apt of his personality: he'd ordered it. Despite his nature as a solo act, Moridin had been prolific in many ways; Apprentices, followers, children, minions. Though the man liked his spotlight he was also someone drunk with power and the notion of control despite his insistence on chaos.

Particularly towards the end of his days she recalled the wastage of his psyche. The vast network of fractures held in a frame of his willpower alone. He'd been curiously easy to shatter, thinking back on it.

Breaching the walls of green and browns around another bend in the river, Moridin had then turned his gaze out along the waters. Sable caught a glimpse of a spired shadow just as Sven moved to stoop before her. Though she could not perceive the man through the Force, heightened senses alerted her to his presence. His scent drove away the vision like smoke in a breeze.

Ice met amber, briefly clouded by the fading image of a stronghold surrounded by dark water. Sable reached for his hand and grasped at it tightly, allowing his presence to chase away the echoes of the souls captured by his father that always seemed to accompany his memories.

"He built a citadel on an island..." she was on her feet now, reaching for the scabbard within which the Truesword presently slumbered and pulled the leather strappings around her waist, cinching it on. Sable paused, mind recalling the images of mists in the background, a flock of birds sailing overhead, the mountain peaks rising at all sides.

"...it's on a river that runs between the mountains, just before a waterfall."

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

"Sounds pretty." Sven said as he helped Sable to her feet, no hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Moridin had always had a flare for the dramatic, and for architectural brilliance in general. His father had built many fortresses, many manors, and dozens of tombs. Each one had been built for a purpose, each one had been meticulously crafted and designed. Perhaps in another life his father should have been an architect, it would have suited him. Sven frowned for a moment and then shook his head, feeling the shuttle bounce slightly as they pressed against a gust of wind.

"There's a River just south of the mountain range your Majesty. There doesn't seem to be any indication of a structure however."

That was probably because the structure was cloaked or hidden some way. His father had been dramatic, but he also hadn't been a fool. Anything that he'd built would be hidden in some way to protect it, especially if it was as important as Sable had implied earlier.

"I can get us within a kilometer, but the forests are too thick for me to land any closer."

"That'll be fine." No doubt they would be able to carve a path through the forest just fine. The shuttle bucked one more time, sweeping over the tall canopies and quickly reaching a large patch of clearing that had at some point appeared to contain some sort of encampment. They landed with a soft shake of the shuttle, ramp slowly lowering as a push of fresh air rushed through the cargo hold. Sven took a deep breath, smiling at his wife.

"Let's take a little walk through nature." The Assassin said squeezing Sable's hand. "It'll be good for us."

He didn't wait for her to respond, if only because he knew that he'd only be getting a flat stare. Instead he began to step off the ramp, heading into the direction of the river after flashing his beloved one more warm smile.

 

[Quietus]

If the Dreadlady had any care or concern for taking a walk through nature she gave no hint of it. Sable followed him from the ship without another word, her mind drifting outwards into the landscape of water and trees. The moment she set foot on solid ground she felt it, knew it, that this place had known the touch and presence of Him. For one as attuned to the Force and to Moridin in specific, it was almost like a homecoming. The very essence of the land reeked of him - albeit stale and faded.

It had been many, many years since he'd visited. Perhaps longer than she really could even guess.

As they stepped away from the ship itself Sable paused where she stood and turned to survey the area. The familiarity was clear, "This was the settlement..." the woman murmured, gaze turning down to the ground where only scrub and weeds grew, likely from the history of foot-traffic it had seen previously. That in mind she set off towards the river with purpose, "The citadel will be this way."

The jungle had reclaimed the pathway she'd witnessed Him take in the visions and so it was up to Sven and their small retinue to clear the way. This did not prove to be an easy task - the forest was by far a much greater source of conflict than any might've anticipated of this quaint little planet. It reminded Sable of the jungles of Onderon despite her memory of them being rather few and far between, except these were far less dangerous.

They'd seen no sign of predators yet.

By the time they'd cleared the treeline of the jungles the sun had shifted across the sky. It was exceedingly hot and the air was thick with moisture. Sable felt sweat beading on her forehead and running the length of her neck - lighter fabrics had been a wise choice for wardrobe. The trees and vines gave way to a cobbled stone shoreline with the river waters gently lapping across. The sound of churning rapids ahead were a good sign but they could still see nothing of an island or fortification.

A flock of large black birds flew overhead, screeching into the winds.

"This is far more remote than usual," the Dreadlady remarked quietly to Sven as they followed the shoreline, "whatever he has here he did not want others to find."

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

Sven sliced his blade across another thicket of vines, the plants dropping to the the forest floor with a loud thud, dragging tree limbs along with them. A sigh escaped his lips, sweat beading down the back of his neck, hair already soaked from the effort he'd put into carving them a path. A hand came up to run through his hair, slicking it back for a few moments as he regarded his wife. A frown settled on his lips momentarily, but he gave her a nod.

"Usually he builds them where others can see." Moridin liked to display his power, always had. There had never really been denying that.

So the fact that this was so hidden away, tucked within the forest, between mountains and far from civilization was significant enough. The only other time Sven could remember his father doing something like that was the Manor back on Byss. The laboratory he had kept their, the chambers where he had slept, those had been spirited away. He frowned for a moment more taking in a deep breath and pulling out a bottle of water from his small pack.

"He must have valued it." A good sign really, perhaps they would finally find something more significant than simple trinkets. "Remote location, cloaking device, as far as we know it was never mentioned in his journals either."

His father had kept journals along with his holocron, several novellas that had detailed out some of the things he had done, more common artifacts, and crafting techniques. Both he and Sable had read them of course, and this place, or any hint of it had never been mentioned. "Come on, we're close I think."

Sven tucked the water bottle back into it's place and pushed ahead, slicing through the thick jungle canopy and carving a trail. The roar of the waterfall grew louder, and slowly they approached the rapids until finally they made their last push out of the forest and onto the banks of the river. For a second Sven was caught off guard. A beautiful view presented itself in front of them, a massive river ending in an almost unthinkably huge waterfall, mountains rising in front of them...but no fortress or island.

 

[Quietus]

Their group paused at the river bank, carefully picking their way across the rounded, smoothed stones lining the ground. Men in uniform and armor alike stood to survey the scene, attempting to keep their puzzlement and disappointment to themselves. Though the scenery was breathtaking all on its own, it was not what they were expecting.

"It is here," Sable's voice broke the silence, a statement of fact as much as it was to speak over their palpable uncertainty of the mission. She stepped forward across several larger rocks, wading out into the shallows where the long lengths of her black robes swayed in the current. Right hand lifting before her, fingers splayed, the Master Ring of Erebos glinting in the sunlight, the Dreadlady reached out with the Force. The sensation of his presence was jarring - far more concentrated now that they had drawn so near. It felt, to Sable, almost as if the man stood only yards away pouring waves of aphotic darkside energy into their surroundings. Her hand slowly drifted from left to right, pausing just before the precipice of the waterfall.

She looked to her left at a soldier nearby and he obediently raised his blaster to fire off several bolts in the indicated direction.

The sudden scream of plasma shooting through the air sent a flock of birds scattering into the sky over their heads. Black plumage fluttered around them as the bolts sailed out over the river and out of sight.

They watched and waited. Nothing at first ... but then ripples. The open air above the river was rippling outwards, distorting the view of the trees and clouds behind. Sable's eyes watched patiently, following the lines of energy disruption as they spread out along a massive area before fading. The birds screeched, flying out along the same path, and suddenly disappeared from view.

A faint grin pulled at Sable's lips. She took another step forward and pressed her right hand outwards, fingers curling as she directed those same energies she felt originating from this hidden location. They were His energies--latent or otherwise--which meant that they were Her's as well, and through them she enacted her will.

I'm home, the thought passed through her mind and she wasn't entirely certain it was of her own subconscious, show yourself to me.

A blinking flash of light high in the sky responded, followed by a glimmering arch in the air as the cloaking shield dissolved itself. The ground vibrated, rumbling momentarily and the waters before them began belching great pockets of air from deep below. Slowly a bridge of stone began rising from the depths of the river.

[member="Sven Talith"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Sable"]

The bridge rose, slowly at first, and then faster. Torrents of water fell from great stone columns, rapids hurtling away as the massive bridge jumped from the river before them. The men on the beach quickly jumped back, avoiding the block that jumped into the air at an almost unnatural rate. Sven only perked an eyebrow, watching as the stone quickly pulled itself up from beneath the rushing river.

The air shimmered once more.

The stone bridge passed through the cloaking field in the same way that the Blaster shots before it had, but as the walkway passed through it, the cloak began to dissipate. At first Sven wasn't sure if it had been done on purpose, if the Cloak might have failed, but as the fortress began to reveal itself Sven could only guess that once again his fathers flare for the dramatic had kicked in. As the cloak disappeared in roving waves the fortress behind it began to take shape. Tall spires, huge poking structure that seems to reach for the sky all built around a central hall. It stood on the center of the island, looming over the waterfall and the land around the river.

He smiled for a moment, shaking his head as the last of the cloak fell away.

"Typical." The Assassin whispered to himself.

The stone bridge stretched across the water, still building out towards the central island, Sable however did not wait. She began to cross the stones as soon as they had formed upon the beach, boots clicking as she wandered forward. Sven followed after her with a sigh, the men falling in line behind them. Their small group moved forward as the bridge continued it's expansion, rising from beneath the rushing water until finally it connected to the island.

As they drew closer he took in the features of the fortress. It was made of light stone, painted with growing moss and thick green vines, a broken archway lay off to the side of the island, though what it was for Sven could not have said. A huge gateway lead towards the center of the fortress itself, sitting directly before the end of the bridge. As they approached Sven could see some of the men just behind him shirk slightly, as if something were choking them. He looked back towards them quizzically, then shot Sable the same look.

A heartbeat passed, and then suddenly Sven watched as an odd pulse raced through the bridge.

Black and red lightning poured from the stone, jumping up and biting those men behind them. Power surged and raced through them, and within seconds they fell to the floor as smoking husks.

 

[Quietus]

The weight of sodden boots and robes was given little attention by the Dreadlady as she walked the length of the bridge. She moved with purpose, always just a step or two behind the formation of the pathway itself. Stones and boulders leaped upwards before her feet, sliding into place. The surge of energy came next, though she was too far ahead to hear the choking of her men she did feel their lives quickly snuffed out like a candle flame.

Sable paused as she neared the landing base of the island where the last few carved stones slid neatly together. Here she took in the view of the citadel before her in all its abandoned splendor. Despite present appearances, there was nothing about it that did not scream Moridin to her. She turned a short glance over her shoulder, back towards Sven and their fallen retinue and blinked at the sight of smoke rising from the bodies. A second surge of energy followed, red bolts lancing outwards over her figure and peeling back at her shoulders. Sable's eyes briefly rolled beneath their lids as she shrugged off the sensation, both arms reaching out this time to wrangle control over the energy before tossing it aside. It was a defense mechanism of the grounds meant to keep everyone but Moridin out. Sven's relation to the man likely was the only thing keeping him alive. The Dreadlady did not ask after her husband; seeing him standing was enough to know he was unharmed.

Just them, now. How romantic.

Sable casually adjusted her cloak and set off for the gateway that lead into the heart of the fortress, having no mind or thoughts for the loyal men that had just fallen. As she reached the doors her feet came to a halt as one hand stretched out to pressed against the stone. A flood of images filled her mind - various memories of the countless visits of Moridin to this place. Sable witnessed the fortress is numerous states of construction and all the years it had weathered following. It was far older than she thought.