A Pebble Against The Starry Ocean

[4ND-R0]

[member="Abyss"]

"Kark!" was the first word to come out of her mouth. Allara had only gotten her ship recently, but apparently there were bugs in the system. And far be it from her to have an astromech droid on her to figure out the problem. Her world now as a cockpit filled with flashing, warning signs shooting out in Auebresh. She had been travelling from a small outpost in Hutt Space for supplies, to Dathomir in hopes of finding a temple there that could serve as a conduit for her training in the Force Magics. Yet, with this glitch, the hyperdrive suddenly spat her out into normal space.

"Alright..." She said, tapping a few screens to silence the warning blares, "Where, by the Force, am I?"

She opened up the galactic map, and watched it update in real time to notify her of her new whereabouts. Just on the outer edge of the Balmorra system. Territory currently in possession by the One Sith. Allara once again cursed out her impeccable bad luck. "Great. Starship is going to Malachor. In the middle of Sith scum country. Peechy day going so far, eh, Raksha?"

Around her waist was a black, scaly serpent acting almost like a belt. Her constant companion, and her weapon. A Vong amphistaff, a gift from the old, matronly Shaper who also outfitted her with a Vongshaped right arm after her original was amputated by a red lightsaber. The black snake shuffled some across her belly. Another notification bell sounded. Life support inoperative. Reserves put into minimal. Allara's widened at the warning, quickly opening an emergency beacon.

"S.O.S. My ship has undergone a malfunction. Life support dropping to minimal. Please help. My coordinates....sent..." She began to feel a tad light headed as the oxygen lowered to just enough to keep her alive, but not enough to be conscious. Her Animus-class Courier now just floated listlessly, at the mercy of who...or what came upon it.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss watched as distress signal from an unauthorized ship that entered one sith territory appeared on the systems of the XS Stock Light Freighter he recently "obtained". It wasn't to hard to gain access to the ship after he made sure that its actual owner was to dead to report him to the authorities. Like always he had no intention of keeping the run down ship longterm, it was simpler to just leave it behind a steal a new one.

To his surprise the signal wasn't a trap by the Alliance or whoever was out for the one sith this time, but an actual defect ship floating in the vacuum of space. Normally the young acolyte wouldn't waste his time with rescuing the crew of some unknown ship, but as he got closer he could feel something in the force, a strange presence torn between light and dark. He piloted his ship close enough to dock his freighter onto the other ship. A look on the scanners showed him that the oxygen level insidd the other vessel was to low to survive for long. After a few moments Abyss found a small breathing device locked in one of the cabinets of his ship.

With the device in his mouth the sith stepped into the other ship, following the presence until he reached the cockpit. His eyes meet the unconscious woman that had commanded the ship. Abyss had meet witches before but something about her was different. His first impulse was to search trough the ship for anything useful and leave, but her looks and presence filled his mind with s strange attraction. He felt a desire to know who she was, so he picked her up to carry her back into his ship.

Back on his freighter the sith places her body on the bed in the small medical station on board. He sits down on a chair besides her, waiting for the strange woman to wake up, his tattered robe and yellow glowing eyes making him look like a demon.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

Her slow breaths became stronger as more enriched air got to her lungs. Her eyes opened with a shot, sitting up in the bed, coughing heavily as she regulated herself from the thin air she had come from. Her fit over, she glanced over to the figure that sat beside her. Her muscles tensed at the sight of the person. Dark robes, and the flaming orange-yellow eyes, the corruption of the Dark Side in him. A Sith.

"Perfect." She said, growling somewhat like an animal backed in the corner, "Should have expected as much."

Of all the people in the Galaxy to have been saddled with, it would have been a Sith. Granted, she understood that this was Sith space. But, she nonetheless despised the circumstances. Allara briefly disappeared from the Force, speaking into the Vongsense to her companion. The serpentine biot slithered from her waist and coiled itself around her right arm. Raksha briefly reared up and hissed at the Sith, before resting on its mistress' arm like a scaly, black bracer. Allara then returned into the Force.

"I suppose I should thank you, Sith." She said, somewhat curtly, "Kind of surprised, to be honest. If you so happen to know a place where my ship can be repaired, by all means tell me so I can get there."

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Even if she hadn't just disappeared from the force for a moment Abyss would haven been confused. He had no idea why had saved the woman, and he had even less of and idea why the simple fact that she was in the same room with him made him feel weaker yet more alive than he had felt in a long time. She had all right to be surprised to be saved by a sith as the sith weren't commonly known for saving random people for no apparent reason. This act of kindness ... of mercy was wrong, yet the voice in the back of his mind tired to convince him that he made the right decision. It took him a moment to get out of his thoughts to answer her question.

"There is a place not far from ..."

He could feel his focus slipping, every part of his mind was used to order the chaos inside his head. He didn't even noticed that he left his answer unfinished.

"Who ... Who are you?"

The sound of his voice felt unfamiliar, it was to soft and lacked the hint of madness that normally was hidden in his words. His eyes wandered over the witch, he felt like he had no control over his own actions. Even the fire of passion inside him felt different. The hate and anger that normally drove him were only a weak glimpse, yet it felt stronger and brighter than ever before, fueled by emotions the sith could not understand.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

The witch flicked her wrist, giving a silent order to her amphistaff. The snake moved once more, slithering into her hand. Its semi-crystalline body began to stiffen and lengthen, becoming a long, quarterstaff like form. Placing the staff's end against the floor, she used it as a hoist to move out of the bed, standing up. Her body was decorated in tattoos, most of them inspired by the Witches of Dathomir. Her right arm, though, had intricate designs that were scarred in, like a Vong's ritual tattoos. Her blue eyes briefly flickered to yellow-orange, her darkness somewhat prodded by annoyance. But, the witch sighed.

"Although you have neglected my question, Sith, I shall answer yours." Allara said to him, narrowing her eyes, "I am Allara. Former Padawan of Jedi Order. Now a student of the Force, in the form of magic."

She felt oddly comfortable around this Sith. His body language did not seem to evoke the bestial nature of the dark side that so many Sith had about them. But that did not let her guard down. He right arm tingled in memory of the last time she over estimated a Sith. "Now. Answer me."

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The moment her darkness showed was short, yet Abyss felt like he had lost himself in the yellow glow of her eyes for an eternity. Her dark part intrigued him even more, he felt like had fallen into a deep trance as he listend to her words. Allara. A former jedi. A witch. He tried to order and place these informations in his mind, but he was still unable to connect them to feelings he experienced. Opening his mouth to talk felt like he was pushing against a gaint rock, struggling to even move it a few inches.

"There is a small port on an unnamed moon not far from here. Mostly used by smugglers and criminals, and the one sith do not really care about whats happening there."

He talked slowly, thinking twice about every word he was about to say. His eyes traveled over her body, observing the traditional witch tattoos, until they reached her right arm. He had read about the vong, yet he had never seen there infamous biotechnology with his own eyes. He could only guess that here arm and weapon were formed by it. She was mysterious, a secret he desired to learn more about. He looked at her for long moment before talking to her again, in an attempt to gain her trust. She introduced herself so now he would return the favour.

"I am Abyss. Acolye of the darkness and seeker of knowledge."

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

"Foreboding." She said sarcastically with a click of her tongue, "Very well, Abyss. Since my ship is uninhabitable, I'm going to need this....thing to take it there."

She questionably tapped a couple panels of the Sith's ship, unsure of its own integrity. She sighed to herself once more, looking over her shoulder with her blue eyes at the Sith. She knew that there was little that she could to make the situation any better than it already could be. Like always, she would take the hand that she was dealt with. She turned fully to look at him, her clothing swaying as she did.

"I personally have no other options." She stated, "Too far off course from my destination to contact anyone. You're the only one to respond to my distress signal. And you're the only one with a ship capable of towing my malfunctioning piece of dysfunction to the nearest place to repair it. As much as it pains me, Sith, I'm at your mercy."

She moved to explore other parts of the freighter, but not before stopping and looking behind her once more. Her eyes yellowed once again in warning. "No tricks." She kept her guard up, expecting such a threat from her would be met with the sound of a lightsaber pop-hissing to life.

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Mercy. Abyss had read any book or text about the ancient sith he could get his hand on and the one thing all those who reached mastery of the dark side had in common was the knowledge that mercy was a weakness. The logical part of brain was telling him that he should kill her now and forget that this moment of weakness ever happened, but he couldn't force his hand to reach for his lightsaber. She thought that she was at his mercy, yet he felt like he was the one that had to obey her. He followed her through the ship, hypnotised be the glow of her eyes. When they reached the cockpit of the freighter he had regained partial control of his body and mind.

"I will take you there. Allara."

Using her name felt strange. The acolyte had a tendency to use descriptive terms or titles when talking to others instead of names, but he couldn't push himself you just call her witch like he normally would have done. He wasn't sure why yet he felt the strong wish to help her, to convince her that he was more than he seemed to be on the outside. The ship could reach the port in a matter of minutes with the use of the hyperdrive, but he knew that he might would never see this woman again after he would bring her there. He sits down in pilot chair, programming the ships systems with the right coordinates.

"The ship's systems are not able to make the jump while dragging your ship behind. I will program the ship to travel there under lightspeed. It will only take a few hours."

He hoped that she wouldn't put to much thought in his words. It felt almost painful to lie to her, yet he felt this was the only option he had to fulfill his desire to learn more about her.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

"Very well. Do as you must. Just get me there." She stared him down before taking a seat in the cockpit.

The corrupted yellow had once again receded from her eyes. Two, sapphire disks kept their watch on the Sith acolyte. She still was weary of being in the same room as him. She kept Raksha stiffened as a quarterstaff, a feeling did not intend of relaxing anytime soon. However, this particular servant of the Dark Side had her interest piqued, to say the least. He had, at this point, numerous opportunities to have killed her or otherwise leave her stranded. Yet here she was, aboard his ship and unharmed, treated almost as if she was his guest. She could only wonder why she was being treated as such, but her mistrust of his kind made it hard not to view the gesture without an ulterior motive, even if there was not one in truth. After moments of silence, she closed her eyes. Her body did not relax other than her eyes. Once more, she was thrown into her visions once more. The two figures, one on verdant pastures, the other on a hellish caldera of magma. Each pulling her towards themselves. Her eyes snapped open again, looking somewhat panicked.

"Mn." she rubbed her eyes. It had be fairly obvious that she got barely enough sleep to function because of these outbursts, "Damn it. Can't shut my eyes for one moment without you phantoms bothering me."

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The ship was navigating by itself so Abyss didn't feel the need to keep an eye on the ships sensors, instead watching Allara as she slightly relaxed in the chair besides him. He was lost in his thoughts about her, silently watching as she allowed her eyes to rest. The panic that suddenly appeared inside them as she opened them only moments later and her words aimed at someone or something he couldn't see made him feel something he hadn't felt in a long time. For reasons unknown to him he worried about the woman.

"Are you alright? Who were you talking to?"

As much as he tried he couldn't hide the worry in his voice and face, looking at the ground so she couldn't see his expression. He was a sith, he shouldn't feel like this. Something was wrong, something clouded his mind to the point were he wasn't able to think. In the darkest corner of mind a thought formed. The witches were know for manipulating the minds of others with there magic. But wasn't just a some traveler, he was a sith and he wouldn't allow anyone to play games with his mind. He rushes from his chair, his hand at the hilt of his weapon, looking at her with a mix of anger and confusion, still unable to activate his weapon in front of her.

"What... what have you done to me? What rotten magic have you used to cloud my mind, to make me weak?"

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

The witch raised her eyebrow to the Sith. "To your first questions. I'm fine. I was referring to....ghosts from the past." She said to him simply, standing up tall in retaliation to his rushing gait. She looked him over really closely, wondering if he had gone insane. "And trust me, Sith. I may be a student of the magics, but do not think me a fool. Why, by the Force, would I use my magic on you? Damn foolish to do so."

She held Raksha tightly, both hands grasping the amphistaff in a defensive position. She made it abundantly clear that she was not going to harm him or anything of the such.

"Force magic can be used to disorient, yes. But I have no reason to use it on you. Just because it disorients does not mean you are no less deadly." She added in, "So, it would be folly to mystify my only rescuer. One who has a lightsaber, and a knack for the dark side. Not exactly smart, in my opinion. Whatever bewitchment you think you are under, it comes from yourself, Sith, not I."

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss moved his hand from the hilt of his weapon, slowly releasing the tension that build up in every muscle of his body. With a deep breath the acolyte returns to his seat, his eyes still focused on her but his suspicion wasn't completely gone. The anger that controlled him only seconds ago was gone. Her answer made sense, or at least he wanted it to make sense. Yet it still couldn't explain what was going on with him. He just looked at her for a long moment bringing order into his thoughts.

"You might have not used your magic on me, yet there is something about you that clouds my judgment, something I do not understand. Maybe the force has decided that its not your time to be killed."

Once again his train of thought trailed of, he felt both confused and slightly euphoric like he was just coming down from large dose of spice. He took another moment to look at her, unable to say more.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

The Witch watched acolyte carefully before sitting back down in the chair opposite to him. She dared not to turn her back on him now, not after the stunt he just pulled on her. Her eyes were very filled with anger at this point, and like a threatened beast put in a corner. Her relaxed muscles from once before now tightened up again in fear and strife. "If this what the Force considers sparing me, I would certainly like to know what it thinks of killing me."

Allara's heart pounded in her chest, both as a warrior ready for any other outburst, and as a someone who was terrified. Once again, she was reminded of who she was sitting with in this ship with, technically alone. A Sith.

"No more outbursts. Sleep well knowing that I have no intention on using the Force, in any form, upon you unless you're the first one to strike a blow." She explained to him, "Only in that case, I will defend myself."

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss just nodded in her direction still unable to put his mind into words. The anger in her eyes fascinated him far more than she should know. He wasn't exactly sure why but he could see something in her she probably couldn't even see herself. She was strong, angry and passionate, all traits the sith in him highly valued. The rest of humanity inside him could even see the value in her calm but detriment behaviour.

"I am ... sorry. Its rare for a sith to be under friends ... or at least not under enemies."

They weren't exactly friends but until now the interaction between the two was far less hostile than Abyss was used to. Even the relationship with his master or with other sith was based around confrontation, and having a normal conversation felt like a relic of a life he had lost.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

[member="Abyss"]

"I'm hardly friends with the Sith." She said gruffly, speaking once again out of anger, "I am sure by now that you have noticed that my right arm is not exactly normal. Since we have hours until our destination, I might as well humor you with why I am so vehement against your kind."

Her eyes flashed over to him quickly before staring over her right arm. Youthful, nearly seamless from her shoulder. Covered in the ritual marks, scarred in by the way of pain so revered by the Children of Yun-Yuuzhan.

"You recall that I told you I was a former Jedi Padawan, correct?" She said rhetorically, "It is because of the Sith that I am no longer one. I do not know what faction of Sith these barbarians were from, only that they carried crimson-bladed lightsabers and that they were immensely strong in the Dark Side. My master was the first the fall, sacrificing his life to allow me a chance to run. So I did. I ran as fast as the Force could take me. But the caught up to me. I fended them off to the best to my ability. I escaped, at the cost of my lightsaber and my right arm. I flew through space until I fainted from the shock of the amputation and cauterization of what remained of my arm."

She stopped a moment to let him hear that part of the story before readying herself to continue.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss followed her story, slowly ordering the pieces of her past im his head. The sith and the jedi were enemies as long as the galaxy could remember so he wasn't surprised that she had a very negative view on his kind.

"It is your mistake to hate all of use because of few. We and the jedi are enemies as much as the mandalorians and the jedi. We are at war, and at war we can not risk to let our enemies life. To some that might seem wrong or evil but we see it as necessary. Mercy is a weakness, for every jedi we let survive one of us might has to die ... Still I am sorry for your loss."

He knew that she wouldn't like his words, but she could have easily looked behind every lie he could tell her. To not enrage her more than he had already he added the words about her master, and other than it sounded it was the truth. For Abyss the death of a master of the force was always a sad event, a great loss of knowledge that might will be lost forever. He couldn't personally connect to her experience as the relationship between sith master and acolyte was all but friendly, but the small part of humanity inside him could remember the day his father was killed. His eyes focused on her he waited for her to continue her story.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

"Mercy is a weakness, huh?" She tilted her head in the irony, "How funny."

She sat back stared at the Sith intently. He considered being merciful as a weakness, yet he showed a form of mercy when he saved her from utter doom out here in the vacuum of space. So, what did that make him? How did he view himself after committing such a deed involving her. The witch smiled some at this before returning to her story.

"Anyhow. After my arm was so unceremoniously amputated by the crimson of the Sith." She said, sounding still quite tart because of it,"My derilict vessel was picked up by another. A small bioship, in fact. The first thing I was greeted to when I came too was an old Yuuzhan Vong woman. Called herself Shaka. Descendant of the Shaper caste that the Vong were so well known for. She treated me well, and eventually used her skills in her field to shape me a new arm. And eventually gave me a new companion. Raksha."

She paused a moment to lovingly stroke the head of the black, semi-crystalline serpent. It gave a subtle, soft hiss that was more akin to a purr than a true, threatening hiss of a snake.

"Shaka taught me what she knew in ways of using an amphistaff and to use my new abilities as a Vong-Shaped to communicate with biots like Raksha." She continued, "After a few years under her tutelage, I decided to part ways, becoming fascinated with Force Magic. A form of the Force that did not tether itself to light or darkness. Something more in touch with nature than the cold, institutionalized methods of the Sith and Jedi."

[member="Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Her words asked the same question Abyss was asking himself. The irony of his words was not lost on him, but he still hadn't an answer to it. He just looked at her ashamed that he had shown mercy for her, and her smile was more hurtful than the lightsaber that once gave him a scar below his chest.

"My weakness is the only reason you are alive witch, so watch your words ... Allara"

He hadn't used her name at first as wrong as it felt to him. He was a wounded animal, always on the brink of falling into mindless rage, and his words weren't meant as an threat but as a warning, something that could be heard in his voice if someone was listening close enough. After that he once again went silent to followe her story, listening to every word that left her mouth. His knowledge about the vong was fragmentary but the few things he knew fascinated him. Under the right circumstances the lack of connection to the force could make them even more dangerous as the sith and jedi. When she came to an end he thought about her words for second. He had meet a witch before and her view on the force was really similar to what she just told him.

"I once meet a witch that possessed the knowledge of a lot of spells. It was quite fascinating I have to agree. Yet I will never understand why someone wants to walk on the path of twilight."

Talking about the force Abyss felt more clear headed. The abstract thoughts and the knowledge he acquired about the force he used to discuss were something that always came natural to him. While he could be charismatic when needed he was far more interested in books and words than in people.

[member="Allara Ven"]

 

[4ND-R0]

[member="Abyss"]

"Because the two sides of the Force pull at me, tearing my soul apart." She said in retaliation to his question, "And they both manifest in my mind when I close my eyes. Visions. Especially the specter of the dark side that haunts my mind. A man covered in dark armor that has melted onto his scarred flesh, eyes filled with rage. And the breathing. The breathing is what terrifies me."

Her skin raised in goosebumps. The mere thought of the dark side's avatar in her mind scared her. She had learned to control both some thanks to the training under the little woman named Kiara from Dagobah.

"The light side's manifestation is not as horrifying, but no less intimidating. A white robed Jedi, face covered in a mask like the old Temple Guards." She continued, "Blue lightsaber to match the dark one's red. Constantly battling. Constantly clashing. Driving my mind closer to oblivion."

There was something unnerving about her mental state. She seemed fine at the moment, but there seemed very little that could cause her to go off the edge.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss followed her description of the entities that plagued her visions, hearing a description that sounded oddly familiar to someone who consider himself a scholar of the force and its history. Darth Vader, a man that was more machine than man, known for his heavily and unnatural breathing because of his imprisonment in a mechanical suit to survive. Vader was one of the sith Abyss was less inspired by yet he had researched a lot about the enfrocer of the empire. He wasn't sure if her state of mind was a form of mental illness, or a real manifestation of the dark lord.

"Do you know the story of Darth Vader, the sith that was responsible for enforcing the will of the Empire after the fall of the Republic. The ghost of the darkness that haunts you could be a relic of whats left of him."

Vader wasn't as ancient and forgotten as the lords Abyss had the most praise for, but his story still had began to fade from the galaxys knowledge. She wasn't the first force user that was teared apart by the light and dark. Most prominently Darth revan, the fallen jedi that became a powerful sith, one of the few lords that Abyss viewed as near gods, was an extrem case of this, his mind forming two parts separate from each other.

"You are not the first to experience anything like this. Darth revan struggled with it, and in the end it was his downfall. One day you might have to choose were you belong if you want to keep your sanity."

[member="Allara Ven"]