Private And in the darkness...bind them

[Darth Strosius]

The simple sight of her expression made him feel even more worried than the mirror had. He held her close, his gaze wandering her body to make sure nothing had touched her. For all he knew, she had went through the same thing he had. Alisteri was reluctant to let her go, intent on comforting her. He knew that she was right, they didn't have the time at the moment. He didn't know how safe it was either, so for now they had to go on. He fully intended on taking her out wherever she wanted to go for a date after this was all said and done however.

"Yes, let's." He nodded and recomposed himself, glancing at the doorway and seeing no evidence of the darkness there. If the map was right, then there was only one room left. It hadn't been right thus far though, so he didn't put much faith into it. With Alina Tremiru by his side he approached the doorway, lightsaber at the ready just in case.

The doorway led to another corridor, this one shorter than the last. Still no sign of the thick darkness. Oddly, I think that's more disturbing.

Finally, another round room spread out before them. It wasn't too large and had no door on the other side, the center of the room was comprised of steps leading down to a central pit. Almost like an arena with no walls. In the center, lay the prize. A Sith Holocron, shrouded in the darkness, lay on a small pedestal in the center of the pit.

It was the only source of light in the room, but there didn't seem to be anything else there with them.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

She could practically feel his concern. Damnit. Her moment of weakness had become his. With everything going on, Darth Strosius didn't need to worry about her. She walked beside him none the less. They were in it together, that much was true. Her hands stayed on the hilt of her lightsaber, readying herself for anything that might strike out at them again.

Nothing. Yeah. That was far more unnerving than anything else they'd faced.

And then they found it. The holocron. Alina blinked in surprise, then her lips thinned. "That's a trap."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Oh for sure." There was not a doubt in his mind that the holocron before them was some sort of trap. If a simple mirror had been a trap, and a hallway had contained an ancient droid, then he could only imagine what was protecting the device itself. The fact that the darkness only seemed to be around the pedestal also drew some suspicion from him, even though he could see the pedestal in its entirety.

What's the gimmick here?

Each room had been a puzzle or trial of some sort thus far. "The first one was of worth, both by blood and by skill. The second was of worth by intentions and actions....they've all been about worth in one way or another. So what is this one about?" He muttered under his breath, glancing Alina Tremiru as if she could help enlighten him.

It was right there, just waiting for someone to pick it up. But it wasn't that simple surely. Nothing was ever that simple.

"Blood for being blessed with the Force...skill for being strong enough to be a Sith...intentions that abide by the code...actions that are driven by emotions..."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Control." Alina blurted it out without really thinking about it. Her eyes turned from the holocron to Darth Strosius . "It'll make you cast as spell. At least, that's my guess. And if that's the case, I really can't help you, huh." Her tone actually sounded sad. He was reaching a point she could no longer truly assist him. Her inability to use the Force in a way like him made it all too obvious. But, it would make him strong. She nodded.

"Be safe."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Control..." His eyes narrowed at the holocron at the mention of the word. That very thing that the mirror...entity or whatever it was said that he lacked. Well, time to prove it wrong. "Cast a spell? I don't know any spells..." Unless it was going to teach him something before he could use it, then he had no idea what he could do. The feth am I supposed to do, shoot lightning at it?

Alisteri gave Alina Tremiru a small nod as he began approaching the pedestal. "I will, stay back just in case. I don't know what this thing will do."

He stood before the pedestal, idly feeling something staring back at him from the holocron. Perhaps something was.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"If it is about that, I'm sure it'll show you." She nodded once to Darth Strosius and took a step back. Alina wasn't entirely alright with staying behind. It showed by how she stood, ready to spring forward and help if anything went awry. Even if she couldn't actually do anything to help to begin with. Her grip tightened on her staff.

All she could do was wait now.

 

[Darth Strosius]

His gaze stayed on the holocron, narrowing slightly after a moment. Something felt...off as he stared at it. "You sensed an intrusion that time...perhaps you are worth something..." Alisteri did his best not to lash out at the mere sound of that accursed voice, instead he steadied his breathing and moved to sit down in front of the pedestal. The darkness seemed to envelop him for a moment, but not enough to where he was completely obscured from Alina Tremiru 's vision.

"Discipline...Control...these are the virtues of the Dark Arts...if you cannot control the Sith's magic, then it will destroy you...and, even those that you hold dear..." The holocron seemed to glow brighter, but it only made the darkness look more sinister.

"This place...this planet...it contains many echoes of Sith long dead, their identities and power have been weathered by time but they are still present. As they are now, they are useless...but their power can be given a new purpose...a new master." Well chit, ghosts are real? That was something to think about another time he supposed. "Feed on their emotions...you can do that can't you? You feed on your own, now draw from theirs...but beware slave, the anger and pain of the ancients can consume you even as you attempt to consume it. Learn to consume essence, or you will die..."

"Alina...you may want to take a few steps back, I'm about to try something dangerous."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

The voice neve reached Alina's ears. Just a long moment of silence as Darth Strosius stood before the holocron. When he did speak up, her eyes snapped to the red device. What was he going to do? She did take a couple more steps back, her grip constantly shifting around the hilt of her weapon. She was restless.

".. Okay."

 

[Darth Strosius]

For a moment he did nothing but sit there and breath, closing his eyes as he steeled himself and gave Alina Tremiru time to step back. This was it. Either I succeed or I fail. No matter the consequences. Perhaps it would kill him, perhaps the voice had been lying. He didn't bother to question it any further though, he had to focus on the task ahead. Just in case.

He had felt it before, the rage and pain of generations long since dead. Thousands of years and the planet was still Sith in that regard, were it not for his nerves he would find it rather impressive.

Now though, he had to take from it. Had to...feed upon it evidently. "Force help me, have mercy upon me once more." A nearly silent whisper, but it would herald so much more. Focusing and breathing deep, he began to try and leech off what he felt around him. It didn't take long for his little pickings to soon overflow with the raw emotion of the dead. Something that he wasn't prepared for. For seemingly no reason, his body hunched over in pain and one of his hands shot out to claw at the ground for stability.

It felt like he was falling and drowning all at the same time, his blood running hot with wrath that was not his own. His heart and head pounded, he was trembling and shaking with raw emotion.

"This is what you have sought...do you see now? So much power...and you fail to control it...you would call yourself a Sith?" Alisteri gritted his teeth and glared at the holocron with all the fury of the ancient Sith. It was right, and he knew that. He was too weak, he could hardly handle his own emotions running wild, let alone the emotions of others.

I can't...I...I'm not strong enough...

A part of him let out a snarl at that, more akin to a beast than anything resembling a Human. But he wasn't Human anymore, was he? "Then I'll get stronger..." The darkness encompassing the holocron began to swirl, twisting and flowing to leave an opening for the acolyte and the pedestal.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

A huge part of Alina wanted to immediately rush beside Darth Strosius once he fell. Everything in the back of her mind demanded it. She needed to protect him. But.. That wasn't how he'd get stronger. She closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself to stay still. He could do this. She just needed to believe in him. And if it did go south, she could still save him from a worse fate, right?

That she had to believe.

 

[Darth Strosius]

"You lasted longer than I thought you would...given your previous actions I assumed the first ill feeling would've sent you into hysterics..." Alisteri had half a mind to try and slice the holocron in two, but he stayed his hand and left his sabre where it rested on his hip. As loathe as he was to admit it, he needed that accursed little thing. With any luck its attitude would improve...someday. It was already proving useful to be fair.

Even as he tried to stave off the rampant emotions now flowing into him, he could feel himself growing...stronger in some way. The initial onslaught had unnerved him and almost driven him to lashing out at himself, but now all that rage had cooled and been tempered. He could feel his senses in the Force growing sharper, his mind beginning to clear amidst the flow. It was working.

Still shaking, he struggled to his feet. Panting from the effort and fixing the holocron with a glare, he cut off the flow of emotions. He had taken enough from the planet's ghosts, and if he continued then he had little doubt the strain would kill him.

"I live. You were wrong."

The holocron pulsed at his words, and in recognition of his efforts, and the darkness began to recede and dissipate. "So I was. I deem you worthy of my secrets then...Acolyte of the Sith..." A part of him scoffed at the idea that it could do anything but allow him access, but he shoved that thought aside.

Finally, he reached out to pluck the device from the pedestal. His shaking had almost stopped and his breathing had almost calmed by the time he worked up the nerve to turn around and face Alina Tremiru , a slight smirk growing under his mask. "Mission accomplished."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

There was much happening that Alina simply couldn't feel. Such was the cost of her power. She couldn't feel the Force as Darth Strosius or anyone else did. For her, she was just watching the person she cared about suffer through something she couldn't understand. It just made her want to put a stop to it all. Why was this so much harder than everything else? She felt helpless, like when she first lost her arms. It was amazing how much she had to rely on him, especially since she was the stronger one now.

Then, it was over. She blinked as he took up the holocron and spoke. He'd done it? A small smile formed after a moment, hidden by her mask. "Let's get out of here."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Let's." He was eager to get out of the vault, the holocron clutched tightly in his hand as if he were afraid to lose it. Which, to be fair, he was. To an extent anyway. He wouldn't be satisfied with merely holding the device until they had gotten off world and there was no real chance of it deciding that he wasn't worthy of it after all.

Alisteri stayed close to Alina Tremiru as they began making their way back out of the vault, thankfully with no darkness to obscure their vision and no doors to block their path this time.

Although outside he did his best to appear calm, he was still wrestling with the results of his essence consuming inwardly. Emotions that were not his own still swam in the back of his mind, and he had little doubt that he would need a good bout of meditation before he even attempted using the Force again; just in case he lost control of them.

Right now though, all he wanted was to get off of the planet and spend some time with his beloved.

"Thank you Alina for coming with me on this little venture, I...I don't know if I could've done it alone."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

".. I didn't do much. This was really all you." Alina couldn't exactly look at Darth Strosius as she spoke. In truth, she felt uncertain on what exactly she should of been doing. Her power would have only disrupted what he was trying to do, so should he have helped him? Was it really okay that she did nothing? It wasn't hard to tell he was still struggling with something.

"What.. What happened?"

 

[Darth Strosius]

"You did almost everything Alina, you just being here helped me complete the trials. Heck, you're half the reason I came to get this thing in the first place." Alisteri gave her a small nudge of his elbow, meaning to show support, as he glanced down at the holocron in his hand. She had done even more than he expected, whether intentionally or not. Of course he was the only one of them that could actually make use of the holocron for themself, but that meant little in his eyes. To him they had earned it together, so the credit went to the both of them.

When Alina Tremiru asked the million credit question though, he paused for a moment. "That depends on what you're asking. You mean back there or with the mirror or just in general?"

 

[Alina Tremiru]

It brought a small smile, not that it could be seen behind her mask. Darth Strosius always made her smile. Though the smile faded as the question and the topic behind it once more came to the front of her mind. "The mirror, back there. All of it. I couldn't feel or see what you felt. It was.. I just couldn't feel it." She hated how she felt right now. Like she did before everything. She knew that even as a Sangnir she'd never truly feel what other Force Users did.

But she had hoped she would never feel the helplessness she had as a child.

 

[Darth Strosius]

A look of surprise adorned his face as she spoke. Thankfully the mask hid it, but he was confused for a moment. He supposed it made sense, Alina Tremiru had a different connection and blessing to the Force than he did. "In truth, I'm glad that you didn't." If she had, and she had been put through what he had been...well he wasn't going to think of his reaction to such a thing. "If you want the honest answer, it was all just another trial. Not a simple one though. The holocron...or something inside of it felt like it dug into my mind and didn't care much for what it found."

Thankfully the device in question had been silent thus far, and it seemed content to stay that way. "The mirror showed me what it thought of me, too weak to be a Sith because I couldn't control my emotions. In the last chamber, it tasked me with learning to control the emotions of others...in a sense. It taught me how to consume essence, well feed on the emotions of those around me actually. I took the wrath and pain from Sith that lived thousands of years ago, as odd as it sounds."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Darth Strosius not controlling his emotions? Confusion settled into her gaze, but she said nothing, not wanting to interrupt him. Of them all, he seemed the best able to keep himself the most under control. Though, learning how to consume the essence of others was always a good thing. It was her own power, truthfully.

But doing what he did wasn't something she could.

"It's sounded like you've gotten stronger, at least."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Stronger, she's not wrong. He was stronger indeed, but even what little he had sapped from the dead had exhausted him. The strength was still there, he just had to handle what came with it. "So long as I can handle it, yes. It's...well it's an odd sensation." Alisteri hadn't even heard of the technique before, and he had little doubt that if someone had told him of it he would've just dismissed it as nonsense.

He didn't know if Alina Tremiru had heard of it before, it was a rather useful skill to those that could use it.

"I'm hoping that I'll get used to it, the feeling of someone else's emotions swirling somewhere in me. In truth, I'm both anxious and excited to see what I can do with this new strength I've gained." Perhaps he could try it out sometime tomorrow, the exit was within sight.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Tell me, if it's ever something too much. I might be able to figure out something to help you." At least, Alina hoped she could. After feeling as useless as she had been, it was a desperate kind of hope. At least the exit was in sight. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes as she took Darth Strosius 's hand to follow him out. Back in the sky, she smiled softly.

"Lets go home."