Private Brentaal Relics

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Wearing: Interceptor Gear

Armed with: Ionised Stun Pistol


Nathan was not wowed by the pretty sights and smells. None of it reached him. None of it invigorated him. But the ice in his mind made him walk through its pavilions and streets, grim green eyes slowly scanning the way ahead from left to right. A speck in black against a bright and colorful world.

He was headed to an old library that contained documents he needed. An Artisan planet, he saw citizens dressed in much finer clothes than him, giving him funny looks due to his black biker leathers.

The Library itself was designed almost like a cathedral on the outside, covered in engraved bronze, surrounded by gardens of roses and open to the public. Nathan, his grim expression frozen on his face, walked right in.

The baroque interior of the Library in question stretched high over him, filled with shelves and shelves of books no one could possibly read all of in their lifetime. Not a great many people in at this hour. So the better.

He headed to the most ancient set of records, which contained maps of Brentaal IV dating back to the Gulag Plague. He pulled these out, quietly spread them out on a table. He sought ancient caves of Kyber Crystal that had once been here. If they were gone, or demolished, he would likely be stuck making synth crystals.

To be clear, he didn't want his connection to the Force back. Didn't want to have to worry about who was right or wrong. But he wasn't going to beat the Cult of The Brain Demon, whose Destruction he had vowed to carry out, without it.

His desire to slay them all could only take it so far.

Nathan poured over the maps with the single mindedness of a machine. He heard Darth Phyre's laughter in his skull as both he and his wife were butchered the very first bloody time around...

Aylin

 

[Aylin]

For those who planned to visit Brentaal IV it was above all an ideal opportunity to spend all their savings, accumulated over decades of tireless work, as quickly as possible in a couple of days or even a few hours for the sake of getting a sense of ease on the soul to then sink back into the depths of despair at leaving one of the richest trade arteries of the Galactic Alliance. But, and for those who were not its inhabitants but still wished to explore both older and lesser known eras and documents the doors of the capital of the planet Cormond were always open, and, as one of the rulers of this democratic society liked to remark "We have many problems, but we have as many solutions to them!" As you guessed right, these were the words of the current leader of the Naivian Dynasty, Aylin, or the "Blind Prophet", for his ability to predict all impending social and economic crises of the planetary economy and to implement quickly governmental decisions and reforms, sometimes putting under pressure other powerful trading dynasties and houses if the citizens' peaceful life was in any danger even by one percent. At the moment, our mighty and jolly Aylin had once again escaped from his army of servants and barely squeezed through the giant gate of one of his giant mansions and escaped with Kiki into the world of "wild life" - in simple terms, he found himself among the common folk. But as almost no one knew what he looked like, the odd man in his mid 40s jogged through a network of various parks across the man-made rivers, once built by the collective efforts of houses to give the capital of a basically desert planet some civilised peace, not just a point for business trips for a day or two and an early return to a private haven. We do not have time to say much about Aylin, except to say that he is blind and his vision and understanding of the world is radically different from ours, so not everyone can understand him. Running up the stairs to one of the central temple libraries of the capital Aylin sweetly winked at the orbs of "Tired of Silence" workers wandering around him with gray-blue colour, filled with strange sounds of family turmoil and the taste of home-baked bread and ran away into the most ancient part of the library, at its core devoid of any modern technical devices (for what such places Aylin so loved). Finding himself in a quiet place, he immediately noticed a sphere of ever-changing cold colours, with a sense of the murder that repeats itself each time and with a smell of blood and even an incomprehensible but very unpleasant voice, having understood that before him was not an ordinary citizen but most likely not a local Aylin carefully approached and before addressing the person (he can not determine who in front of him, male or female , non-binary, robot, trans or anyone else in this context of emotions coming from Nathan) first carefully passed his left hand over the card, smelling of disease and rotting corpses, he this time asked.
"You decided to look in the Gulag Plague for solutions to the question of how to avenge your loved ones? I'm Aylin, by the way, a local."

Nathan Bloodscrawl l

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan glanced up, head swiveling up mechanically at the sight of the strange but well dressed man, who looked about the same age Nathan did.

A visual empath. Great. He'll automatically detect an attempt to lie.

"My actions do not threaten Brentaal or it's people. The vermin I hunt even caused carnage on your world for a time. If anything, I'm saving your people the hassle of doing it yourselves." Nathan explained plainly, tone polite but glacial.

"May I ask what your interest in my objective is?" Nathan questioned Aylin

 

[Aylin]

The answer to his question sufficiently perked Aylin up as he sensed a rather strained , in places cold male voice that differed from the soft, civilized and soothed by the wind of progress voices of the capital's male residents, so Aylin first again studied the sphere of the already precisely male gender, pulled a few mental tricks and processes in his head and finally decided to answer as usual, very distinctively and with some peace of mind. "I am very glad that you are partially interested and familiar with the history of my home and as one of its current rulers I express my undying gratitude, but I am more interested in the discrepancy between the image you are trying to portray to me and how I see it, I see that you want to possess force and that is the final image of your question, but at this stage you either lack force or lost contact with it, in any case I can offer you help in searching for that connection on this planet. We're certainly not the heart of some ancient civilization or a renowned place for those who want to learn about force, but I personally know a couple of ways, though of course my command of force is rather specific, and not too good." After that he almost ffell down looking for a seat and finally sat down in front of the colour changing male orb and looked around a little, then he turned his eyes to the orb and said with a nice smile, "Or you can tell me how I can help you, and I will allocate more time, effort and body resources to the undertaking than simply pretending to understand everything and know in advance." After this Aylin began to scrutinise the map with his hand, one could see that he was immersing himself in that historical era, as terror, fear and pain appeared in the man's grey eyes. Then he withdrew his left hand and with a sigh directed his gaze back to the sphere expecting to hear an interesting, but not too short answer.

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Look..." Nathan began. "You know not what you're asking. The people I'm after are among the most vicious Dark Side Users in the Galaxy. They will torture you in ways too horrible to describe if they get their hands on you. The smartest thing you could do, is to walk away and forget you saw me. I already have enough people dead on account of my own failures. I don't want your death added to that tally." Nathan warned.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes, wincing, trying to get the sight of his wife being mummified by Darth Phyre as she ate Lysandra's soul out of his mind.

"But if you really want to help after hearing that...I am looking for a route into an old cave system of Kyber Crystals..." Nathan explained. "If you can find me that route...that really would be the best way to help. All the landmarks are changed. Finding the route on my own could take days."

Aylin

 

[Aylin]

"Well imagine me spending maximum effort, time, rights and privileges to find a cave with Kyber Crystals, I am sure it will take a long time anyway, so the best way is to use those old maps that I have in one of the personal archives of the Naivian dynasty, my younger sister just loved to learn absolutely everything about our planet as a kid and so we bought up the best of the old maps and there it will be for sure to find the ancient Cormond area, and from there start moving towards the approximate location of the caves, because I know about a small part of the different networks of caves that nobody uses anymore, but that go under almost all districts of the capital, a fact that not many people know about, except for those who are interested in these issues as a professional scientist. Therefore, hearing your comment about the possible persons who would subject me to torture, I only add, I have already been subjected to them, and not once, so I will be very happy to help you if you do not mind telling me your name, so that I do not forget you, although of course I will remember you more by your memories and feelings, but this is a private moment and a fact of my worldview and world understanding. " Finished his rather long speech Aylin and reached forward with his right, ordinary hand hoping thereby to establish bodily contact in order to understand more precisely what kind of character the man before him had and whether he could be helped as much as Aylin hoped for, who to be honest was already tired of constant business meetings and wished for good old fashioned travel to obscure places with risky dangers. Besides, it would be a great joy to Aylin if anyone was interested in seeing how Cormond had aged during this time and thus also invite a guest to take a little trip through the underground ruins of the old town, which would most likely lie on the way to the ancient caves.
Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"The name's Bloodscrawl. Nathan Bloodscrawl."

(Clip of Bond Theme Plays)

Nathan hesitantly took out his hand to shake the other. Aylin could talk and talk. But if he really was no stranger to pain, than that was something Nathan could use.

Besides, he really didn't have any allies. Even a possible one was better than nothing.

As he shook Aylin's hand, still not trusting the strange man but deciding to take, his Force connection flickered about within unpleasantly. Nathan didn't like making physical contact with people, and it showed in how quickly he pulled away from Aylin's touch.

"So...shall we head out to the caves?" Nathan asked uneasily, already very on guard internally...

 

[Aylin]

"What do you mean, straight into the caves? I just said we will first visit the family archives of my house, there we will find more accurate antique maps, we will use them to trace the most accurate path that suits us, this way we will reduce the amount of energy that you and I will spend on the way and at the same time we will have more energy for an emergency, and secondly in case on the way back we get lost, lose our way or just see something that we should not see and which is a big threat, and we do not have enough energy to respond properly. Plus I will ask you not to look so careful with me, I can see perfectly well all emotions, not only towards me or someone in the library, but in general how you treat inanimate objects as well, like natural decoration, paintings, even your own body and nervous system, which is responsible for your well-being and good health while functioning on a planet that is alien and unfamiliar to you, and even more so next to the person who has ultimate responsibility for all the 65 billion unique individuals inhabiting Brentaal at a given time. So relax a bit, especially since I'm completely unprotected, although that's more of a disadvantage to myself, but come on. So, shall we go to the personal archives, the man called Nathal? " Answered Aylin and rising from the table once more his hands touched everything around him, then his own clothes and having established an approximate spatial arrangement looked cautiously back, hoping to see some signal of an exit and then, with a resentful face looked at Nathan "Can you show me the exit? I can't see it....." He asked with the hope that Nathal wouldn't laugh at his childish lostness, although given Aylin's complete total blindness it was a perfectly justified and normal request.

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Right...sorry...distracted..." Nathan replied as Aylin went on a long monologue.

Nathan's cold gray sphere of emotion didn't abate.

"Circumstances of previous experiences have left me unable to experience emotion to strongly...with a few notable exceptions..."

(Cutaway of Nathan in black in white sparta-kicking a Brain Demon Cultist into a pool of acid)

(Cutaway of Nathan beating a Cultist to death with his bare hands)

"And sure...I'll lead you out. Follow me..." Nathan said, bidding him to follow.

Nathan's silent, frosty sphere would proceed to lead the man through the Library back to the exit. Back into the fresh sunlight of Brentaal. Nathan frowned. Walking past a few kiosks, he stopped, spying a package of electronic parts, purchasing it from the vendor with a few credits.

"This place was not pleasant during the Plague. They burned the dead in the streets..." he said more to himself than Aylin . He then turned to face him

"So, where are these archives? I don't know the path to your home."

 

[Aylin]

"Yes of course, I'll show you around, I've already memorised the path to the house itself, I just had to be led into the light and you can trust me to do the rest, try not to get lost as it's more mechanical memory than gradual memorisation of the path to one of my local mansions, hope it won't surprise you." Aylin replied, and to make sure he would not get lost he gently poked Nathan by the arm and with a smile began to walk at an accelerated pace, surprisingly like a bird maneuvering against the masses coming from all directions, and on the way turning back every time to check whether he was still following him or not, Aylin himself at the moment had in mind a fairly easy plan, uncomplicated neither by the nature of his new friend nor the possible danger they would most likely have to face, which was that, after spending no more than an hour or two in the family archives, they should try to go directly or after a short rest to the cave systems and there they would be able to calculate the amount of time they would most probably spend on finding what he needed and from what he would most probably have if not complete or partial spiritual satisfaction, which would most probably affect the colour of his sphere, that is the emotions, which at the moment, to be honest, were not at a too high level. About half an hour later they were already not far from the completely private property of the Naivia family, surrounded by beautiful buildings, small parks, and the centre of "one of many mansions", in which Aylin had spent the last time and used it as an excuse to rest away from work, although in fact even here he was much annoyed and prevented at least in his spare hours from enjoying the silence within the walls of his own "mini castle". "Fear nothing, smile and wave, as they say. There's no one at home except the servants, but they won't touch us. Make yourself at home!"

P.S: Without masses.

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan mirthlessly stared at the lavish grounds. He did not smile. Nor did he wave at anyone.

The Palace was impressive. Castle Bloodscrawl was merely a great tower of heavy armor, surrounded by fields of stone statues. Nor was it lavish. Angus Bloodscrawl, his father, believed in frugality despite his wealth...

Gulag Plague...

14 year old Nathan Bloodscrawl fought against his father, Angus, a stern man who rarely smiled. His hair was graying slightly, but he looked very much like Nathan would someday. He was dressed in sleeveless training robes of Dark Crimson while Nathan wore a dark blue variant of the same.

They sparred against each other using Jedi Temple Guard Lightsaber Pikes, weak white blades on a stun setting as Angus's father had been a Temple Guard once. Angus had grown up under an even sterner man, whose will was stone, even though Angus acknowledged his father HAD loved him.

"What are the three Directives a Bloodscrawl must live by, even if not a member of the Order?" Angus asked as he struck for his son's chest.

Nathan parried the strike.

"Directive One: Serve The Public Trust." Nathan said, backing off in the brick training chamber.

Angus lunged with a stab. Nathan teleported to his side and sliced downward, forcing Angus to spin backward whilst parrying.

"Directive Two: Protect The Innocent." Nathan added.

Angus teleported behind Nathan going for and upward slice to his shoulder. Nathan spun and parried, teleporting above his father for a downward stab to the shoulder. Angus ducked and rolled out of the way.

"Directive Three: Uphold The Will Of The Force." Nathan finished.

"Correct. Now why are these directives important?"

"They give a Bloodscrawl guidance on a general baseline of proper behavior..." Nathan answered, going into a guard as the pair circled each other.

"And? More detail, boy." Angus rumbled.

"With Directive Two and Three, they cannot be fulfilled without Directive One. Because you can neither protect the innocent nor uphold the will of the Force if people do not trust you."

"Why is Directive Two Important?" Angus asked.

"Because if you fail to protect the Innocent, the Dark Side is strengthened, and causes you to fail Directive Three."

"Why is Directive Three important?" Angus asked.

"Because if you refuse to uphold Directive Three, you fail Directive One and Two." Nathan answered.

"Good answer." Angus replied. "As long as you abide by the three Directives, The Force shall always be your ally. But upholding these Directives can take many forms."

"Will it be hard to uphold them?"

"Always. Murderously so, at times. But it is the best path." Angus answered. "Your form is improving by the way. Still sloppy in a lot of ways though."

"I will do better, Father."

"See that you do. Now, again!"

Nathan charged at Angus...

"Sir?"

Nathan snapped out of the recollection.

A Droid servant had walked up with a tray of bottled Ice Water. Nathan snatched one up, thanking the droid.

"Nice place, Aylin ." Nathan remarked. "Your family has certainly done well. I applaud their financial savvy."

 

[Aylin]

"Well to be honest, we're not that revolutionary in terms of running a financial business, but in terms of locality, I'm certainly proud that my family has been able to build a whole trading world over more than eight hundred years with its own rules, approaches to product evaluation, whatever its genetic-social-historical origins or if it's a whole mega-project to build entire motorway overpasses, technical and research cities and parks around monuments of cultural significance , of course most of the funds of my family and the trade dynasty as a whole are directly or indirectly spent on the development of the Brentaal economy, and the rest we already divide by key priorities and partners and add our percentage of contribution to projects on other astronomical bodies, if there is a chance that we gain from it either new experience or new knowledge or just new understanding of ways and methods of business taking into account all local and non-standard understandings of the art of flourishing economies and happiness of ordinary citizens of different planets and star systems. Thus, I am grateful for your appreciation and also grateful for the opportunity to show you the riches and bright side of this planet." Aylin replied, scrutinising all those journeys into personal memory that Nathan performed right before his eyes, in this respect Aylin probably understood many times better than the average individual the inner world of individuals, which often consisted of all sorts of thoughts that flew abruptly into the mind and immediately threw it out of the normal state of things, and of course words, or trigger sounds that sent personal consciousness into the 'memory library' and re-lived many of the key events of their lives for one reason or another. In a sense Aylin could even relive what was experienced by individuals who were in a fairly deep trusting relationship with him, but as Nathan was still a novice, Aylin still did not mention this moment, but quietly opened the doors and walked inside saying "Welcome to one of the myriad rooms of the family archive, if you need tea or anything else, ask, they will bring it to you right away. We won't be here long, a couple of books and illustrations I already remember and I'll definitely find them now!".

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan nodded as Aylin showed him the family archive, looking around at the vast collection of books and maps, the vastness of it made him do an eye take. He wondered how much he had missed since his initial death.

He went to the geography section, and began pouring through old records, unfamiliar with the gadgets and bells and whistles. He had been more familiar with quiet ruins and Military strongholds.

He eventually found old maps of the city and began immediately studying old cave routes and city plans. He shooed away any Droid that offered him something. All that mattered was ending the Cult.

He grew more agitated as he studied the maps, the death of his wife starting to loop in his mind. He remembered Phyre's laugh and didn't realize he was hyperventilating. The moment was like it happened thirty seconds ago for him.

As he studied the maps more, he corroborated them with the modern maps growing more concerned when he realized what they would have to go through, and where. But Phyre's laughter grew worse. He stopped, forcing his breathing to slow. He decided to stop a moment and went looking for Aylin.

When he found him, he asked "How goes your end of the search. I might have found a route...but one that goes through a place that I really don't want to go...but it's not looking like we have much choice. It's an old Brain Demon Chapel..."

 

[Aylin]

New look: Working clothes

The soul of any sentient being is the hidden secret of the cosmic nature, evolution and development of the simplest matter and energy. Its components are familiar to us only from ancient eschatological and esoteric editions of books, sunk in the abyss of history and covered by a light haze of mysticism and subjective interpretations, due to which even in our days few beings manage even by a millimetre, atom to get near to this amazing metaphysical ideal construction of individual and generally living source and inhabiting the most dizzying biospheres of the planets of the central and distant sectors of the galaxy, belonging to various factions, organizations alliances and other forms of socio-political and military-economic organisation of lives of multiracial and culturally and historically rich communities, which of course for a short while coloured the grey, slimy, like an unpleasant slimy snail crawling on one's hand days of the famous and civilian researchers of this phenomenon, the key to whose ontological nature Aylin possessed from birth, a brave patriot of his planet and yet a supporter of a very specific further development of the planet, legitimised in separate lists and records of adolescence, which dusted among the whole stuffy lower floors of the family archive, never saw the day of the declaration of partial autonomy as individual metropolitan capitals of the greatest trade and economic centuries-old dynasties, but also the potential special legal status of the whole of Brentaal IV to be confirmed by the central senate of the Galactic Alliance, and cultural and historical referendum to be held on the fate of the further development of his beloved homeland, for the good of which Aylin was prepared to undergo every physical and psychological tearing of his own soul, at the present moment already filled with the careful study of materials which to the accustomed eye of the new head of the family appeared very quickly on the delicate holographic table at which Aylin was seated in a more official workmanlike manner and was making some risk calculations, for lack of data on the full state of Nathan health, he had to rely only on signs of external skin secretions, muscle spasms and other various factors, the result of which was to forn a favourable and safe "walk" through the less explored underground areas and caves of the capital, through one of the not very favourable locations through which it was planned to pass in order to reach the goal of this, so far temporary, bound by the situation and the availability of Aylin's resources acquaintance. "I can trust your option, and you should trust the special healing ability of my force powers, I will try to reduce the inner emotional pain of the occasional memory surfacing from your subconscious. If that does not work, I am prepared to be your pillow for tears, literary speaking, and I will listen to you and support you with what I can and know throughout the entirety of the tour. That's all for now." Answered Aylin, already ready for a rather messy and not entirely well-explored journey into the ecological jungle below the capital of Brentaal IV.

Nathan Bloodscrawl

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Uhhh...yeah. We'll cross that bridge when we reach it..." Nathan said to Aylin . "For now, reaching that cave system must be our primary concern...

Hours later...

Nathan had made sure to stock up on what he thought would be needed for the journey.

He had emphasized on going heavily armed. If there were Cultist ruins there, then they were likely still carrying a charge, so to speak.

Grenades, a repeating pistol, and a shotgun were the order of the day for him. All stuff that would be difficult to counter in close quarters. Soon they would begin the journey to the caves, after having spent that time in prep reviewing the maps that had been found.

Speed would be of the essence. Lingering too long as n a single area, especially with a Cultist ruin nearby, was an invitation to invite deadly horrors to your location, or even your mind.

Nathan went up to Aylin.

"We're almost ready to head for the closest entrance to the cave systems in the city. Do you have any questions? Concerns? We won't have time to address them once we are down there. And stick close at all times. The ruins we must go through will likely have a very dark presence in the Force, and we will be in great danger for as long as we remain in them. The incautious are often unfortunate in these scenarios..."

 

[Aylin]

For Aylin, being at such depths was new to him, considering that he spent most of his time either on flying elite restaurant ships or in a luxury skyscraper, surrounded by people who held the reins of the planet's economy by decree, just as he did. Therefore, if he was interested in asking something logical and appropriate, this question would be about the depth of this place, and not about the threats and dangers it concealed, because Aylin had enough physical and force strength to resist them and even have a chance for some victory in some places.
But in the next moment, when Nathan was discussing the possibility of crossing some tunnels and corridors overflowing with dark energy, Aylin's expression changed dramatically, and what had been primarily a light experience was now transformed into a state of anxiety and, to put it more precisely, a fighting grip, which he had not felt for a long time and associated mainly with his social position at the very top of the hierarchy of Brentaal IV with units of equal figures. At the same moment, his in his own way blind eyes lit up with a certain fire that could only be interpreted as a certain excitement mixed with the madness of a traveler who hadn't been thrown onto a lonely island with minimal access to the basic amenities of any, even the most northern and parasitic life in a long time. Because of this, the questions themselves, or their slight intertwining with statements, spoke more like the language of a warrior and defender of ideas than of a businessman and member of an elitist trading dynasty.
"Do you have enough confidence in your abilities and strength to ensure that if any hidden threat or enemy were to emerge, we could effectively confront him or them together? Don't worry about the peculiarity of my eyes, in the state of battle I move much more gently and precise than the normal vision of even an experienced person allows. And if I may have one more wish and warning, please be careful, I rarely sit in archives and similar places, but under both the capital and in some other places may be hidden secrets, which should remain until the end of time for the benefit of both the inhabitants of the planet and the entire system as a whole. Who knows what may be there or sleeping there. One must always be on the lookout."
Aylin smiled slightly at Nathan and squeezed his mutated hand into a fist, as if to signal to him that he was ready at any moment to step into the confines of the true, underworld, with its laws, mores, and morals, wild to the aboveground peoples and life on the surface of Brentaal.
Nathan Bloodscrawl