Brothers Once, Dawns of Dreamers (Serian)

[Raien Keth]

Naboo
Morning

Jet black battle robes, Rakattan fire runes contained on the surface telling a story that had been going on several decades, thick black leather boots and the edge of truth clipped to his side, his metal braced legs gripped the ground solidly allowing a heavy firm stance. Raien had been drawn to Naboo because it was the eye of an ongoing storm, walking over the scorched battlefields was like a second home to him, sphere would have called it his first home.

Since walking out on the emperors fighting for dominance, and awakening from his great entrapment, little had caught his interest, no Sith had he found of the old ways worth starting his tutelage again. Most of those he had seen played at being Sith, which he had himself once done before finding the Sith Code and undergoing it’s many trials, embodying each emotion so much he became it.

The stone faced Echani turned his head, faded white ivory hair covering an equally fading force lighting scar on his cheek, he was surveying the battlegrounds for signs of remaining conflict. Still lacking the pieces of himself that the crystal demanded, his long sleep had yet to be mended, though his assassins had taken one piece it was awaiting his reintegration with the crystal. This left him… less than what he should be, with less of his drive and purpose.

Not all was conflict here of course, on the surface anyway, Naboo's lush green undergrowth lay off and to the sides of the combat circle, where some went about their life… some unexpected but very familiar of face. Here Raien would walk through the memories of a long life lived, conflict shaping what was to come outside of it, and those he would find around it's maelstrom.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

It was his last time being on the planet he’d called home in both his past and his present. His servants had gone and he was running one last errand before he too departed. The village near where he lived was thriving, despite the fighting that had been done so near. His time on the Crusade homeworld had spared him the possibility of getting entangled in it. This fighting hadn’t been what had caused him to wish to move, Naboo wasn’t where he needed to be. The truth was he really hadn’t needed to come, but he felt the need to do so.

Something pressed on the edge of his awareness, like some niggling feeling of familiarity that he just couldn’t place. Something was here, but it didn’t give him anything more than that. Whatever it was was dangerous, but not to him, which made him oddly at ease. It also put him on edge for he couldn’t recall anything recent that could have such an effect on him. Outwardly he didn’t appear any different, just one man walking and browsing the various shops. He looked as he had those hundreds of years ago, just different clothes.

As if he had fallen out of time to be transplanted in this new one. He wore a dark suit, his ink black hair brushed from his face, his lit ruby eyes gleaming in the sunlight. His aura was carefully concealed, another thing that had not changed. All he could do was keep alert to whoever or whatever it was that gave him the feeling he felt.

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Though not as sharp as a Master, a Sith Lord in all but name, Raien was not blind to old signatures wrapped in different clothing. When you’d spent enough time with someone you never really left them, as you adapted your entire lives and sense of the force based on those meetings, so it was when you encountered mention in the force of them again.

Darth Surtr lowered his eyes, breathing deep of the force and its memory, still as the mountain, stone was his step, rock solid with little emotion to speak of and less to sense. A void of an approach without purpose or drive, a void in the force echoing across its skin. So he was without the pieces of himself, still scattered in the others that carried them.

Serian would feel the outline of the Echani Sith, not the core, his shadow and emptiness filled with whatever his focus had fallen on, at this moment the battlefield they stood within, and also… a hint of himself as Raien’s weighty attentions scanned the horizon for his… brother.

Still a distance away, moving into the undergrowth, a force dark aura extended outward from him, cloaking himself and his approach. If this were some clever trick by one his multitude of enemies after all these years, they would be met by the uncertain fear of their own reflections cool and unrelenting given back to them. This was Raien, unrelenting in its signature the method not being hidden from Serian, even if the man was a shadow, and years out of time, that sense would now be contained within Serian’s own fears or uncertainties if he still had any.

 

[Serian Loria]

The manipulations of the mind were a set of skills that he was all too familiar with and even had an affinity for. The ominous touch, the chill down his spine and the presence of Other at the border of his mind told him this fear in the air was not naturally his own, for he had never felt fear before. He had felt it in others, his own master had tried to call it into him, but it had never been a seed that grew within his heart and mind. He stopped then, Senses reaching out hunting for the source of this ‘attack’ if it could even be called such a thing. What he Felt made him recoil from sheer surprise, his head turned in the direction of the man, even if he was too far to see.

He had left behind many people in his past, he’d long thought this particular person was dust. Instead of feeling the roiling emotions that he’d had in the past, all he sensed from him now was a void. It was a curious thing to him and it brought with it a host of questions, but the biggest was whether or not he wanted to face him again. In the end he decided he must, for all he knew this could be some fabrication or even a shade borne through the Force. More than that was the simple desire to know, was he really alive? He invoked his Power, infusing his body and moved, speeding at an enhanced run. Everything fell away in a blur till he came to a halt at the edge of the green.

He wouldn’t rush in, that might end badly considering who he was dealing with. He’d been of uncertain tempers before, who could say if this still wasn’t the case? He had no doubt in his mind the man had Sensed him, why else would he release fear? He was probably having a similar reaction and chose to believe him to be something else, a logical assumption considering. He was just grateful he hadn’t launched a true attack, he wouldn’t have appreciated the mess it would have caused. They had fought together, bled together, it wasn’t a surprise that though his aura was hidden, he had still managed to pick up on it. He was the only person who’d ever had that particular lack, the Echani was still full of surprises.

He started moving again, picking his way through the barely tamed green on a course that would have them meeting in the middle someplace. He just wasn’t altogether sure of what would happen after that, he wasn’t even sure that he wasn’t being led into a trap, but who would know him well enough to use this particular person? It didn’t make sense. He proceeded with caution ducking behind a tree as he felt him close, when he was within sight he stepped out his hands visible. He didn’t have any weapons, his mind was his weapon and surrounded as he was by greenery he had ample fodder for his Power to manipulate. He said nothing, his lit ruby eyes looking into the burnished silver of the man he’d once called his brother.

Now it was just a question of whether or not this one was him or some clever ploy.


[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Though he sensed something Raien couldn’t pinpoint where and again the feeling was gone, it was stronger now than when he had last faced it, but so familiar they were it caused the Keth born to halt his stone steps in their tracks, metal bracing to a halt.

Crushed black eyes, narrowed feint silver irises to focus on the surroundings, unmoving, an absence of motion, returning to old Echani custom perhaps of stillness, but more likely a lack of drive or purpose held the void to that spot, shadows curling outward across leaves and bush. Many things grew in Naboo, today shadow and emptiness grew, like any seed planted on its surface.

A thought may cross Serian’s mind, it was almost Kiara-like, almost.

Attempting to draw them out. Reaching his hand out, something else was noticeable, a small rumble of the ground, force resonate? Yes but more it wasn’t just force resonate, it was something else… something elemental but not yet taught or realised within the knight, but it upset the balance and stance a fraction of those around, trees, animals, plants, and people. The foundations, what Raien considered so important to control, force resonate's next evolution echoed to be made real.

Shifting ground continued as he walked, expelling shadow and his cloak of fear outward to part any of those not worth looking at from the void’s stride. Closer Raien came, unknowingly heading in the Master’s last direction. Edge of truth burned, it’s crystals born of suffering within had their own warmth by the Sith’s side, a light in the dark void through the force calling. Raien pulled his Rakattan hood up, runes burning in the auras to match, the story was there at a glance, but it wasn’t told beneath the robes or the saber.

He would face Serian directly, walking out of a small enclave of trees and bushes, into a brief break from the undergrowth, open and clear for them to see each other. The Sith Lord's eyes pressed forward, not saying a word, not for a long time, they were reading and watching, tension on that knife edge. “What name do you call your own?” The gritty, scarred voice burned by force lightening, was unbelieving the eyes, or the senses, bluntly demanding satisfaction, edge of truth burned almost hot to touch demanding it's answers within the void.


[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

It was enough for him, he didn’t need to see any more to know that the man before him was indeed his old friend. He tilted his head to the side slightly “Considering the circumstances I’m not surprised you’d think the same of me as I had you. However, since you already know my name, I would have hoped for a better question. How about I give you a suggestion, how the hell did you survive eight hundred and ten years. I thought you were dead…”

Years between them made it impossible to keep up pretense, the masks he’d always wore so easily seen through by this one man. All that he’d see was anguish, he truly thought he had died. “The years have left you looking rather like a haggard old man, leaving yourself in a mess like always even after all this time…”

It was a risk given the fact he was so clearly unstable, but he walked slowly towards him, his hands still visible. He stopped only an arms length away “See for yourself if I am a specter from the grave or something more sinister.”

A rather big gambol he was taking, but he didn’t believe that his life was in all that much danger. Being as defenseless as he was would be, hopefully, enough to prove who he was.



[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Another might be shocked to see something out of the past made real, but he’d spent his life accelerating people’s pasts to catch up with who they were, right now he was seeing one fragment of what had given him reason to endure, a strong force connection renabled from his brother.

“Time is nothing to those with purpose.” Raien answered matter-of-factly. When Sith lost purpose, they died or ended, it was always and would always be the same. While purpose itself was enough to allow movement through anything, passion for a cause was a similar emotion.

Raien might deny it to himself, but some core parts of him were still Echani. The comment on his appearance, to an Echani who read nothing by appearance, was met with the usual expressionless stare. A look that to someone that could read him, it just said a ‘oh.’
As he focused on Serian, although the voice was somewhat hollow, it was tempered by some renewed purpose. “It is good to see you, Brother. It has been long.” Extending an arm for a wrist shake, it lacked some of the strength in just how it was held, as if the force itself was sustaining it due to the pieces of him that were scattered. Raien was still cryptic and vague as always, as to just how he’d survived, or endured, not new traits for Serian to see from a Keth, especially this one.

Unstable he was due to so much of him lacking, but as usual there was gravity around Raien, a technique that was becoming natural, a weight which grounded him pushing him to the floor heavily. Now that weight around them was more pronounced as they spoke of the past briefly.

“What purpose kept you alive?”

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

It was enough and he relaxed visibly. He returned the shake saying nothing, his lit ruby gaze taking him in, he still looked like hell. “There is much we have to talk about and I can offer more than I could then, did you ever rise above knight?”

It was hard to tell now, he felt diminished somehow, which struck him as rather worrisome. He hadn’t felt like this the last time, but then it had been years. The question about his purpose made him flash the man a crooked smile, it held an old malice to it for the memories that question stirred. “Casting aside that which held me back from freedom, then upon awakening, I realized...I no longer needed the mantle of the Sith any longer either, it had served its purpose. Now I abide by whatever is needed from me through what faction I have and thats all. I don’t have to watch my back anymore, though I still do, my old habits have proven quite useful. I could use another strong ally to watch my back in the Fringe. I also saw Ahani and some younger man with her, Echani, though I knew not his name.”

Though whether or not that would draw him to his side once again he knew not, but he suspected his quest was still the same. “I’ve not seen them for some time now, but thats where I last saw them. I would like to have you at my side again, but I will understand if your quest takes you elsewhere.”

He had always held onto the bond between them, taking strength from it when there were times he had nothing else. Now he was before him again, as if nothing had changed and, in a way, it hadn’t. He was still the same person he was, but more, he hoped the man before him still saw him as worthy, as he had so long ago. A silly thing one might think, but of all those who he knew now, only this man knew him best. “Will you stay with me brother? Lots of things have changed, a place to rest and take it in is something I can provide. Along with just about anything else now.”

No more eyes, no more risk, he was able to do things he hadn’t been able to do before and reveled in it.


[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Gritty voice crackling, it found an inner chuckle, “you know how much title means to me brother.” Nothing, he had been a Sith Knight or less renown forever, more time than most would know the meaning of. Perhaps that was not what Serian meant, power then? Darth Surtr had found great advantage in always being the underdog, it gave purpose and drive, growth in areas nobody else touched. Kei had inherited much of that from the void that now wrapped around Raien, but still some remained, enough.

Other Sith, the empire. In truth Raien had encountered few of anyone since his awakening, and constant preparations to rebuild the flaws in his aura and psyche. The few weak Sith he had met, reminded him of his first years as a mere acolyte, at the mercy of their emotions, rather than decades spent Mastering them, embodying them and becoming them taken to their full potential. He had lost much of this, but it was coming back.

Serian’s comment about not watching his back gave him cause to pause, had he really become that powerful? As his brother knew, much of Raien’s life was spent in state of near catatonic planning to mould the galaxy to his wishes, catatonic because he never moved from that state. At least that was then, now he had few resources, soon that would change. Yet Serian stood with no guard, or no need to guard, interesting, just how powerful was he?

His brother said much had changed, on the surface that was true, but underneath all was as it used to be to the old Echani. Jedi fuelled strong Sith to be consumed in the making, the rest was a distraction, an interference like the old cults he fought and on occasion extinguished. He must learn how corrupted the central balance had become, and find ways to counterbalance events.

Raien looked at Serian, and opened his arms outward a fraction, indicating nothing was hidden. His intent was clear in his emotion, and aura, his thoughts unguarded, “We have much to talk about”, Raien nodded slowly, eyes closed, a mark of respect for someone he had been through the ages with, turning to face and follow, a shout of Echani body language he was ready.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

It wasn’t difficult to lead them both in the direction they needed to go to get out of the jungle. For the longest time he said nothing, no words were needed and it was peaceful. “The enemies I once had, died, I’ve done my best not to breed new ones. So while I have no enemies, I am short of allies, which is just as bad.” He sighed softly “I am freer than I ever was, but its odd to find myself missing that link to who I used to be. So strange to see you here, yet I am glad for it. This new time...I thought it was irritating when it was just four factions at war, now? Every idiot with a shred of power gives voice to a faction to make war with. Sheer insanity is what stirs the galaxy now, but at least its not the same old story as it used to be.”

He was both marveling and disgusted by it all. Raien would know it was mostly bred from that old Imperialist mindset. Though the Empire was dead, he brought to this future that which had shaped him, made him strong. In truth, Serian had diminished not at all, he’d only become stronger in this new age, thriving. Oh, he might keep to the shadows as he used to, but no longer was he scorned and insulted. Before him stood a man given a rekindled vitality that, in their past, had been slowly diminishing, tarnished by the waste of others.

Something that might be curious was that, Serian had no weapons on his person. Physical combat wasn’t his skillset, but he didn’t carry his old weapon, like that ill fitting mantle, he’d cast it aside too. “If you would have me Raien, I would teach you. I always told you I saw you becoming more than you were then, perhaps you would let me show you. I do not have any students, your foundation will need to be reworked, but it wouldn’t be a bad partnership. There are some people I would like you to meet, but only because they are important to me.”

His servants were going to have a fit, if he took him home as he was now. “No offence, but we’ll have to get you rested and cleaned up. The last thing I need are my servants taking you for some specter and mistakenly trying to defend my home.” He looked over at the white haired man amused at the image “You probably still have little care for such things, but indulge my whim and let me see you cared for. I’ll see what I can do to arrange for better healing, I know someone of great talent that saved my life. She...might be able to be of help, regardless of what happens I want to see you in better form. You look more broken than I last saw you and that has me worried… I feel like I failed you somehow.”

He had thought him dead, lost to him. His lit ruby gaze watched him with concern, freer with letting his emotions show, he trusted him still as he always had. That could change of course, any hint of betray could see him closing up in an instant, prepared to end his life. The former Lord might seem different, but there were still old habits that he hadn’t let grow weak. For all his tie to him, he still expected treachery from every single thing around him and acted accordingly.


[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Part of Raien’s void was his lack of opposition, a BIG part. That was his diminishment, the less opposition he had the weaker his purpose was. The shattering of the force duality into more than just Sith vs Jedi gave him purpose in rebuilding that absolute truth, Serian had given Raien a cause, beyond just inspiring greater and greater hidden force potential.

“We both lack enemies,” Raien said confirming this with the smallest angling of his body language toward Serian. It was a weakness that would need to be corrected, and quickly. There were always the overall goals, removal of the bothans and settling old scores, but the personal touch was lacking, the driving wheel.

Insanity he spoke of, or motivations that were the same but unshackled from the streamlined duality of Sith vs Jedi? Then the betrayer’s attentions turned to the possibility of diverting multiple conflicts, rather than working towards one galactic battleground, it would be more to balance, but of equal worth, perhaps accelerating stronger force potential. This satisfied him momentarily, as much as it was possible to do.

“There is purpose here,” he stated.

Serian had decided to rework something about him, as if after all that time, such a thing were remotely possible, it amused him, and the gritty guttural laugh that followed remained hanging in the air for some time. His brother had optimism, an interesting trait. He was more powerful but had also forgotten just who he was facing, Serian had changed, but Raien was exactly the same.

Healing however repelled him, and his attention narrowed on his companion, heavily so, almost crushing someone who wasn’t used to it, fortunately his brother was. The atmosphere around them became thicker, crushing, heavy. Sith did not heal to gain strength, they gain strength by holding the past and using it to generate a new cycle. Had it finally come the time that the inevitable betrayal was here? Such times were expected, but he had not expected such an open declaration. No it was some warping of the man’s mind, and Raien would do his best to reverse it.

“True intent brother, but your methods are honed on Jedi.” To the old Serian that would have been an insult, but Raien didn't waste time with insults, he stated truths. It was merely his own pride that did not allow him to see they were only his truths projected outward. How Hana Kae like of him.

In truth, what Serian asked, Raien Keth would never be. He was brother, just as he was. To alter iron with anything but the hottest fire or the densest gravity was never going to have any effect.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Lit ruby eyes narrowed at the intense weight, but though he wanted to lash out, he didn’t instead he weathered it. The power faded, though not without insult, he snorted more amused than anything “I understand your aversion to healing, but if your body crumbles before you finish what you set out to do, what then? You’ve returned, allow me to make you whole so that you can forge yourself again. You’ll be stronger for it.”

Hopefully that struck a better cord than had been previously, the Echani was still too narrow minded, in his opinion. In a way he was a true relic of the past, without purpose or direction, hopefully he could change that. He’d have to think on how to get him to see sense, he didn’t used to be this way and a lot of that he blamed on the Sith of old. He had a feeling the man was going to be rather resistant when it came to any form of change for himself, but the change was necessary. “You used to listen to my counsel, I hope that hasn’t changed. The galaxy now is not the same beast as it used to be, don’t be so hasty to draw a field of fire to you, the lines are not so clearly defined now.”



[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

“History and Past is what makes us,” Raien reminded. Once upon a decade, these two men had been young in the force, look at them now. [member="Serian Loria"] had more than stood his ground against his heavy unforgiving aura with barely flinching, and if there were any doubt to his brother’s strength that confirmed it.

Past, history, for Raien such things were literally what he was, everything else crushed to carry him forward for Sith ideals and to embody the real Sith code, truly he was once very, very different. How did you undo what made you who you were? Embracing sacrifice, his Master’s training and more the demands of the former Sith Council, required him to never let the deepest wounds go, to make them a part of himself, and had put him on this course decades ago. The result was like facing lead or iron, nothing moved without clear purpose.

Serian’s observations about his physical shell decaying from the sheer amount of conflict or sacrifice he had seen, were not without consideration, Raien weighed and measured everything, especially his own potential weakness, loathing it. Each wound was more strength in the next conflict, even severed from their original inflictions this far out of his time, they still had that innate quality of having a strength. For a weaker Jedi mind Raien had no doubt they’d be utterly crippling, for any normal person they’d have killed them long ago, but the Betrayer used their qualities to better carry himself forward. “The only healing that would benefit, is that which left the wounds intact, while strengthening the form.” He almost spoke about himself in third person these days, a trait he shared with [member="Sera Inkari"].

An inch of ground given, his body language showed it, a miracle for Serian to have got that far. Soon his stance seemed to restablish itself, attentions again crushed to a focal point, tunnel vision. “The pieces have changed, the board and the goal are the same,” gritty finality stated. It was true he would have to recalculate the direction. Retaking his first crystal from [member="Fyor Nayus"] had allowed him to begin replanning the galaxies rebirth, each crystal would give him more power returned, few could stop the course of events that would happen, unless they acted quickly and decisively.

"Your council is appreciated," Something inside the Betrayed stated, Serian's wisdom is something he had valued, that small hint of appreciation was a start, but it was barely there for a moment. He as always expected everyone to betray him come the time, it was anticipated and the opportunity used for further momentum. "Tell me of your travels."

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

He let out a sigh. Tell him of my travels he says, all fairly boring, its his I wonder about. These things he did not say, but it was the sigh that would speak of his frustration for the man beside him. He really disliked his habit of speaking in what seemed to be riddles. “Well. I want to say that when I first woke up, it wasn’t meant to be so far ahead. Only a couple centuries. However the task I had set, had faded so much from memory, I was woken up by someone seeking...treasure, of all things. Thankfully I had prepared for such an event, liquidating my assets into small things that could fit in a bag beside me, stashing the rest to weather time. An easier task than it was to remake myself…”

That yawning void that separated him from the time he’d originally lived, to the one he woke up in, not a single part of. Knowing he had no one who knew him. No allies. Nothing. He didn’t look at Raien, had he known he was alive… Part of him was irrationally angry. He had disappeared to who knew where and seemed to have been alive the whole time. The one person he trusted without thought to stand beside him. He grit his teeth however, moving with care through, just letting it ebb away. “I got the attention of one [member="Isley Verd"] , a man that actually reminded me quite a bit like you. He is Mandalorian instead of Echani however and much else besides. He took me within his confidence and, by his side. Still does from time to time. He had been the leader of a dead faction now, the confederacy of free planets, till it died. Then I moved to the Moross Crusade. A cult that had skilled force users leading as ‘gods’ of all things. That didn’t last either… Now I reside within the Lords of the Fringe. I tend their library, just as I had in the CIS and the Crusade. Its about the only thing that really remains the same.”

He left out things, a lot of things. The apprentices he had, he still missed [member="Abel Denko"] a lot. It was funny how the man had grown on him, he wished he had gotten a chance to know him better. He left out his adopted daughter, his paramour, but now wasn’t the time for that. “How long will you be standing beside me this time Raien? I know you have your own desires and goals, you always did, but…”

He didn’t want to miss out. He’d been such a force back then. It was still hard for him to see that it had been far, far, too long ago since then. Leagues of history separated that time from now. Now he had someone who connected to him from that yawning void, the singular living person he had regretted leaving behind the most. Somehow having not been left behind at all. He just couldn’t put it into words, because he figured the Echani would shrug it off.



[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Anger from his brother, simply being so attuned to their life and time together he felt it more strongly. A strange sensation because of how controlled Serian used to be, a change, and for the better perhaps that he let that emotion flow. Raien’s riddles rarely abated for long, testing and poking for answers to difficult questions. Edge of truth by his side, one more method of doing so.

“Remake yourself?” If it were possible for the raspy, gritty voice of the Echani next to him, to hold any hint of concern, that would be it. As it were, the tone came across as curiosity mixed with everlasting suspicion.

His posture shifted a fraction to understanding of what Serian had meant now, remake himself through all these many experiences. Knowing his brother still tended the library was something of note, as was the name of [member="Isley Verd"] committed to memory, Serian's studies and time as a scholar had always been crucial to their projects together. The rest as gods, armies, and crusades were just tools for a result, at least to Raien’s mind who led a multitude of armies in his life.

How long? The Echani Sith had no idea what his future would bring, whether tomorrow would be the completion of his work, or if he’d continue for another ten life times. He’d endured at no small cost this far, becoming more powerful than the old gladiator who left Wodenstam could ever dream, would that purpose be enough to endure the ages to come? “As long as we endure.” The answer came, cryptic but not without reason, given the question.

Weighty heavy eyes, a face that showed years that were ahead of its age, turned to speak one final question. “What is your next step.”

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

He almost sounded worried with that one. “Yes, remake myself. What, did you think the glorious name and actions of one Serian Corsair Loria, would last almost eight centuries?” He scoffed “When I chose to sleep, I knew I would have to make a new life for myself. I cast it all off and decided to just...be myself. For once in my life. I’m no longer held back, no longer am I expected to follow a flawed ideology and wage war because its expected of me to participate.” He shook his head “I’m stronger than I ever was back then and all because I had left it behind. The hardest thing however was believing you were dust as well.” Anger lit his ruby eyes and he turned and stood in the Echani’s path looking him in the eyes. “One of these days you will tell me. Maybe then you’ll explain why you didn’t ask me to stand beside you.”

In his own way the white haired knight had betrayed the ruby eyed archivist. That was where the anger was coming from, he felt betrayed. The raw sadness he had, at his choice to walk away, had weighed on him. That, more than anything was what really upset him, he had mourned him and he hadn’t known he was still alive. He turned away walking again “My next step is getting us out of the wilds to my ship so we can leave here. After that…to my home. You need a place to stay and rest. Since I cannot convince you to get yourself healed, I will see if my paramour has any suggestions to make sure you don’t crumble to bits on my floor.”

He was pretty sure [member="Crystal"] would know, something. He also knew she’d be more than a match for Raien if he decided to get stubborn on her. Hopefully this time he would have more success with the man, maybe this time he could make him stronger.



[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

“We never did it for the glory.” Raien stated, let others keep the glory, the name, he went for the result and was surprised Serian felt jaded over their successes. Perhaps once, a very long time ago in the gladiator pits he had sort glory, but that was many lifetimes ago, reinvented many times since then. “You think the shadowlands don’t remember what we achieved?” They would again, for he would be visiting them very soon to start his work again .

Raien played the long game, the force nexuses they built would remain, energy remained, even after flesh perished. He’d known this for a long time since sphere’s influence on Thyrsus, and wanted to make his brother see it. There ripples lasted long after they went or fell, not that anyone had managed to kill him yet, but he knew his time would come one day.

“It was not by choice.” To stay encased in crystal, “I was close to ending the Jedi’s life, bringing it full circle to its potential.” His gritted voice paused, causing a heightened sense of malice to erupt, “to save her Jedi, and me, she froze us both.” Betrayal was expected, even if his wife had done everything possible to keep them whole, this was Raien Keth that was talking, and betrayal was seen everywhere real or imagined.

Serian might see through the force if he really looked, the wound in the chest where Manu’s lightsaber would have surely ended Raien’s life, if not for that act of crystal freezing. Perhaps if Serian had been standing with his brother, things would have been different, it was almost certain given how Serian was able to settle situations by stating hard facts and cutting through the noise.

Crumble to bits on the floor? Raien let forth a gritty laugh, which erupted into its own minor force energy across his body. “I will be whole long enough to complete our work.” A work that his calculating mind was beginning to seed once again, and only Raien Keth could possibly imagine the gravity of what was to come.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

The place on Kashyyyk was a memory as if it was only yesterday, yet he knew it was probably a ruin now. There had been much promise then, before Raien had been corrupted. “Too much to hope for that you’d let it stay a ruin, but I suspect that won’t be the case.”

The last thing he wanted was for more people to be twisted, but he also couldn’t muster the desire to care either. He knew the man next to him was stubborn and frankly he didn’t particularly desire to fight, which was what would happen. “I told you then that I didn’t like that woman much, but no, you had to go and take her as your wife. If I see her again, I will attempt to do what you could not, I’ll kill her. Do the galaxy a favor and don’t go taking any more women as a spouse if they are as cracked as the last one? Choose someone without force skills, at least then killing them won’t be a bloody epic pain in the ass.”

He rarely swore or used any kind of curses, such language was seen as below his station, even if technically he had no more ties to his sire’s bloodline. So for him to do so was a mark of how incredibly aggravated he was over the thing he was cursing at. In this case, the Echani’s poor choices in women. His last words were the final straw, he turned and grabbed him by the front of his shirt his lit ruby gaze blazing. “Listen to me Raien… I will not allow you to die. I care not about your stupid quests, nor about the loose ends you haven’t tied. Your life is important to me even if you care so little about it. I claim your life. Since you can’t seem to take care of it, its mine. Someone has to keep your head clear and gods know no one else is alive to do it. Is this clear?”

Such a display of emotion would have been unheard of from the archivist in times past. To have gone so far as to grab him and even dare as he had, even more nonexistant. It was proof enough that he cared, a lot more than one might have expected, but it would be plain to the taller Echani. He then dropped his hand turning away appalled at his behavior. “You claimed me as your family, does that means so little to you now? My paramour might know of something to help, though I do not know if there isn’t anything other out there to heal without going to someone Jedi trained. Would that suit you better? I want you as strong as you can be, even if you fail to believe it. I didn’t claim your tie to me only to throw it away like so many others. I don’t know how much more I need to prove myself to you for you to see that.”

More than anything that hurt the most, that even now he couldn’t see he wasn’t going to break his word.


[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

“At Kashyyyk you achieved much above ground brother.” Above and below, perhaps Serian had forgotten the home and city he had built, the wookies survival in the dark places. Raien had used them as resource but with the balance of his brother, and [member="Darth Proeliator"] 's security, another with an eye for it might have called the city majestic, a jewel in an otherwise desolate place.

The laugh that seemed to be created as the other spoke of wife’s past was part Raien, part the force wounds that were fed up themselves of living the same cycles, either way it was deep and long. He had lost count of how many had ended in the flames burning across his robes. Merely counting wifes, Hana, Xion and now Ahani. Crushed eyes looked up through the history across the face, a small smile forming across his features, until a mask was fitted in its place, glowing red beneath the exterior, the smile was gone.

His palms took on the color of the runes, the color of the eyes, lightening dancing around the edges as it ebbed and flowed back to steadiness. “You forget who you speak to brother.” He had kneeled to one man in his life, and that man was dead. Serian may be a Master now, but Raien had lived his entire life fighting above his force ability, hence the litany of wounds, and it had been a very long life.

The mention of being healed by a Jedi, physically forced Raien Keth back a step, what had tainted this former Sith Lord’s mind? His masked face slowly raised, the red on its surface darkening to crimson focus. “We are family, it will always be so.” The tie didn’t end, in this life or the next. The Betrayer regarded him with his usual reserved, cryptic response. He was asking an old Sith to feel connection, to feel a family bond in a different way, the old Serian would have never pushed for such a thing from a Sith. The bond simply was, and it would obviously be killed to be preserved, planets destroyed to maintain it, but healing, claiming what was at his core?

Unmoving, deepening focus which if you knew Echani as Serian did, showed the depth of his concentration, and weight of the moment. “You ask the impossible. What you look for is no longer possible.” He had walked too long in this direction, come too far to be held back by such trivialities as personal safety or a desire for physical or psychological healing, wounds were weapons not something to be feared, sacrifices certainty and purpose.

[member="Serian Loria"]​

 

[Serian Loria]

He turned to look at the man “Only because you are afraid. Consider it a challenge, if you are willing to stop letting your fear rule you.”

There was a gleam in his eyes, he was going to take great pleasure in doing what he said he would. “I want you to tell me what you could gain from having me as your master. Weigh that against your doubts.”

He knew exactly who he was speaking to, but then for the Echani to say something like that to him meant the man forgot who he was dealing with. While Raien had strength, Serian had something else that was harder to beat, flexibility and cunning. He had always been good at finding the flaws in something and shaping it. An art that had given him plenty of ways to thwart his enemies and succeed. He chose his words carefully, just so that they would be the right ones to get the man’s hackles up. It was a matter of pride that set him fighting against his words, fighting against the idea of once again being under someone else’s guidance.

Yet how was it any different than its always been? Hadn’t he always counted on his perspective and advice? Being his apprentice wouldn’t change that nor had Serian any plans to make him bow his head like he was a fledgling. Of course the Echani didn’t know that, all he’d ever seen was what he expected from those he’d already had as his. How could he know that his situation was going to be different. He didn’t speak again after that, choosing instead to just walk in silence. They cleared the trees and were in sight of the ship that would take them to where he now resided.

The knight had already said he would follow after him so he simply kept going. Their pilot walked over to the ruby eyed former Lord and bowed his head respectfully. “Everything is ready to go when you are sir.”

The archivist nodded “We have another passenger, you’ll be paid extra for it.”

The man gave Raien a quick look, then headed into the ship with Serian following after. “You should get some rest, after that we’ll have plenty to discuss once we reach my estate.”

For now he felt it best to leave the man to think on everything, he needed time alone himself. Where Rain was concerned, one could never have too many plans and he was already deciding the best way to start showing the man his desires were something not easily cast aside.



[member="Raien Keth"]