Private Blood On The Walls

[PERSENUS]

TASH-TARAL​

Three Days after "Chance Meeting" and Several Weeks before "A Winter Of Someone's Discontent"​

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The past two days had not been good to Persenus. He was in the business of leaving Sith Territory, hopefully for the last time, but upon his exit of the planet where Raz Asai'il hid, was set upon by assassins almost immediately. The ship he smuggled himself on was willing to turn him in, the veteran pilot not wanting his citizenship revoked for harboring a wanted deserter and terrorist. It eventually delved into a chase that had him be chased half the length of Sith territory, and eventually found them in Bryn'adul lands. The Sith Assassins followed him into enemy territory and, unfortunately for both parties, found themselves engaging with a band of crabby sleemos.

Luckily, Persenus managed to evade being blasted into smithereens. He hit the hyperdrive and went in whatever direction he found to be away from anymore of those damned monsters, leaving the then exploding remnants of the Sith Assassins in the dust. In the end, he found himself on Tash-Taral. He had been here before many years ago with his master, and knew that in spite of all of tis dangers and how near it was to the Empire, it was the best place to lay low for it was scarcely ever noticed in spite of the bountiful knowledge that it held inside of its depths.

He landed the hijacked ship in. The old pilot spewed curses at him as they neared the planet, calling him all manners of slurs from a number of languages and dialects. Persenus, normally, would have shut him up permanently, but he was in a merciful mood which was uncommon for him. Perhaps speaking to that Jedi softened him a tad too much. Instead, he told him that perhaps he could make back quadruple the money here on Tash-Taral. The cargo he had was useful for life here, and they traded with relics and goods that were useless here, but fetched a price beyond his wildest dreams. As long as he kept quiet of his location, Persenus would let him walk free with all of his limbs.

They managed to reach an agreement. He'll be his pilot on the way out, as well. For now, as his ship gets repairs, Persenus had business to do here. He wandered out into the deserts, his lightsaber in his hand, ready to combat all in his way. And there were plenty things that wanted to get in his way on Tash-Taral. Upon reaching a desired temple, he could feel the pulsating power of the Dark Side submerge him. It was intoxicating and scratched at his throat. It was even more violent than when he was last here, perhaps because of being more touched by the light than when he was here as a Sith Acolyte.

The sands shifted before him like waves in the ocean. A breeze of wind swirled around him, carrying particles of the ground with it and disrupting his physical senses, leaving only his own perception in the Force to defend himself against what he could perceive to be Tuk'ata. He activated his saber, and went to work. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Three young beasts fell before him, and he moved on, deeper.

It took him a day to finally reach the heart of the temple. Several more Tuk'ata, more than a few K'lor Slugs, and whatever droid designs integrated as more controllable defenses against intruders. By the end, he had to meditate with Force Recover to keep his mental and physical reserves from tiring out, and feeding on the corpses of the sith spawn to keep himself going, his wounds treated with Accelerate Healing to patch up any weaknesses. However, such recuperation found difficulty in the thick fog of the Dark Side that shrouded the temple. More scars for the memories, he guessed.

"Vytik Chaosas nun...." He mumbled to himself as he got up to start his research, starting with the hieroglyphs in High Sith on the bloody walls.

Second Son

 

[Second Son]

Interesting.

There were many ruins on this world with all manner of untapped knowledge. Either lost to time, or too well protected for those to dare. With no knowledge on what might be within and no pressing need to find out, not many bothered for too long. Second Son was one of those individuals. Whatever was locked inside was unneeded for him to try and fight his way to get to. When it became apparent that there simply were too many beasts and enemies within he planned to leave.

Only to see another decide to take matters into his own hands. Under the cover of an invisible spell he watched PERSENUS fight through the temple. By what he could learn through the Sith database, the man was a known deserter and hunted by the Sith Assassins. That wasn't the Son's problem however. He'd send a notice to them, but while this man was fighting his way through the tomb the Second wanted entry in, he would go unharmed. Well, at least the Knight wouldn't cause harm.

Finally the second stepped out from the cover of his spell. There was no reason to hide as the other man had dealt with quite a bit of the enemies within. The heavy modulated voice came out in a hum as the Second wandered to one of the ruins. "Interesting.. This Sith wasn't of particular renown, but there seems to be a couple secrets they held that could be worth exploring."

 

[PERSENUS]

This wasn't a temple dedicated to Sith Alchemy, no, not like the one he had ventured in with Ora Haskarr a few months ago. From what he was reading upon the scribblings and musings upon the walls it was a temple dedicated to a cause similar to the Sanctum of Knowledge in the current Sith Empire rather than the Sanctum of Power. There were also mentions of constrictions and enforcement of belief and worship, seemingly notice of those that once worshipped Typhojem, and literature that was against his influence and power were to be taken and stowed away here, rather than destroyed, parts the Sanctum of Truth of the Inquisitors. He groaned in frustration, held back from becoming anger by the waning self-restraint he had been working on enforcing.

"Sithspit...." He muttered. He never was one for history. The studying of complex arts and failed drills on spellcraft were enough. His master was primarily of the Sanctum of Knowledge, though he had great skill in alchemy and spellcraft as well, though only the former of talents left a mark on him. Still, there were likely some bits and pieces of lore upon the philosophy, techniques, and prowess of the Force-Users before him. Even if it means scouring through useless historical flavor text, he will scavenge whatever is useful.

He would've delved further into the ancient temple, hopeful to find some holocrons or anything that would help him in his quest to overcome fate. However, as he took a step deeper, the Force screamed out to him. His heart skipped a beat and his breathing halted as he could feel the knife's edge slither down his back. He leapt backwards just as the revelation came upon him bursting out of the wall. The stinger-tipped tail pierced all the way through the wide corridor and through the hole in the wall, Persenus saw six sets of eyes.

"Vytik Chaosas nun...." He mumbled to himself once more as he instantly tried to dominate the beast mentally with the Force but instead felt the length of the tail slam into his torso. He was, at the very least, quick enough to be able to use Force Body, lessening the damage dealt to him as he was thrown across the and through the written over walls containing several millennia worth of history. He could feel healed wounds reopen by that strike alone.

[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_hydra]Battle Hydras[/url] were susceptible to domination and he had been working on his mentalist abilities for a while now. Now, he still wasn't good by any measure aside from fear, but he knew he should've been able to strike at least fear into their heart. From that, he could tell the the hydra was already dominated, put under a spell likely from whoever built this place to stand as a guard to the heart of the temple.

As he got up from his crumpled position on the ground, he examined his surroundings. The Battle Hydra was gone from where it had struck him. He struggled to get back on his knees but he did so anyways as he looked about more. More ruins, destroyed and eradicated knowledge from when he was slammed through the wall, and an Inquisitor. An Inquisitor.

He immediately reeled back, drawing his saber and assuming a Djem So stance. "Haz j'us Tsis!" He exclaimed, ready to strike, but as the wings beat behind him, he withdrawed the violence against the Inquisitor, instead to turn upwards, looking at the shadow that bore over them of the three-headed Battle Hydra.

"Vytik chaosas nun...." He repeated a third time.

Second Son