Private Dark Visions

[Khar Malraux]

Solara | Selene
Illyria's Moon, Avius
Evening
​

Khar Malraux had been stationed on Illyria's moon for the better part of a year. His Legion had been dispatched to annihilate a colony of arachnids that had plagued a number of Illyrian Settlements on the moon. They'd expected to have the creatures cleared out within six months, however they were advancing on the other side of a year and had made little to no progress. Success on a Campaign such as this would mean a great deal of reward for the Lord-Captain, however they were far from success. No, it was easier to say his legion was beginning to decline and their effectiveness was swiftly following. While success would mean a great reward...what would the penalty for failure be? These creatures were unlike any enemy the Illyrians had ever faced. Their skin was so thick it took several bolts of a blaster to penetrate. Melee combat was more effective in theory, however with their massive size you could never hope to match one strength for strength, which left only the option to maneuver around them. A valid option, however in the thick brush of the mountains and the narrow passes? Far easier said than done.

Khar had left his legion behind. A single land speeder flew over the pale white terrain, causing flurries of rested snow to fly behind it as it crossed the land. Two armored men rode in the front seat, one of them guiding the speeder through the frigid terrain. In the rear seat sat the Lord-Captain with his arms crossed over his armored chest. He held his usual harsh, discontent expression as they zoomed through the mountainous terrain.

His mind was elsewhere. One of the local settlements they evacuated spoke of these mountains. Whisperwind Mountains, a place where even the finest of insulated armor could not stave off the biting chill of winter wind. An elder man, only a few decades older than Khar spoke of the "time before time." It was an expression heard often enough, to describe the days before Illyria became civilized. A time of space wizards, witches, and monsters. A time of meaningless drivel as far as Khar was concerned. Folk lore and tall tales dominated that era to the point where none could separate fantasy from reality. Still, in these tales the arachnids of Avius did exist. However, the Illyrians of a time long since past were not so threatened by their presence. In a time where the bow and arrow was prized as "advanced technology" their ancestors had managed to keep these creatures at bay? Yet with the most advanced arsenal in the sector and thousands of trained warriors, Khar had been unable to so much as dent their lines.

One word echoed through his mind with furiosity.

How?

His fist clenched tighter at the thought. His anger maintained as the speeder slowed to a crawl, causing Khar's golden eyes to rise so they may meet the mouth of a massive cave. One of his men whistled out, looking to the cave's entrance with nothing short of wonder. "This must be the cave the locals were talking about?" He suggested, before the other soldier turned to him, a sarcastic voice rising from under his helmet. "You think? They outta put you in the Scout Division. Eyes of an eagle, you have." The two said nothing more as Khar's gaze fell down to them, commanding silence. The Lord-Captain dismounted the speeder, his boots slamming into the crunching snow as he leaped out the side of the speeder. "The locals all say the reason our ancestors never suffered the wrath of these creatures is because of an ancient weapon they would unleash. A tool that would lay entire armies to waste in a matter of moments. Ultimate power." The tone of contempt that Khar held spoke volumes to how much he hated the thought of sullying his memory with commonfolk's tall tales.

What could be more embarrassing than that?

The fact that he believed them.

The Lord-Captain stepped past the two men, his golden cape flowing behind him as he pulled the hood up, keeping the chill from soaking his face. The two men took a step forward, however he half-turned to them. "Sergeant, with me. Corporal, stay with the speeder." The two shared a brief glance before the higher ranking soldier stepped forward to follow his Captain. "Yes, m'lord." They approached the mouth of the cave and almost immediately the chill that flowed over the land seemed to grow just a bit colder. It earned no visual response from Khar however the Sergeant shivered, glancing at the display screen on his armor's wrist. "What the hell, I thought this thing is insulated...the regulator can't keep up, it's got to be like negative thirty up here." Khar said nothing and instead continued down the mouth of the cave. As the light was engulfed by darkness, the Illyrian's armor sensed the shift and activated their illuminators. The Sergeant's helmet let off two bright streams of light, while the clasps that kept Khar's cape fastened to his chestpiece opened to reveal two similar lights.

The pair moved deeper within the tunnel and Khar seemed to hesitate for a shallow moment.

He stopped. The Sergeant continued to advance, however a large hand slapped him in the chest, halting his advance. He nearly fell back from Khar's halt. He turned his eyes to the man who stood before him. "Sir?" He asked, however Khar did not answer. Instead his eyes glanced from one side of the cave to another. "Quiet." Khar said in a low, strict tone.

The man continued to stare over the area his lights illuminated. He could see nothing to give pause, in fact the only thing he had noticed was the hall of rock and stone was no different the deeper they traveled. The walls were not wet from condensation and the ground felt dry and brittle. For a cave in a snowy mountain this was extremely off-setting. However, that was not the only thing to cause Khar's pause. As he glanced around he finally spoke his thoughts. "This cave is man made. There is no sign of erosion anywhere within and the ceiling is almost perfectly carved to flow into the contour of the walls."

The Lord-Captain stared out before continuing down the path. The cave did eventually narrow, after almost fifteen minutes moving through the straight passageway. The cave led to a massive chamber in the mountain. The path they were on continued, however on each side of the bridge was a straight drop into a shadowy dark depth. Khar did not even seem to notice the drop as he continued forward, his gait unchanging and his resolve unflinching. The Sergeant, however, was wary of the narrow path. He moved far slower than his commander, taking measured steps and testing the rock under his feet with gentle presses of his boot. When Khar reached the end of the bridge, he heard a crumbling sound behind him. He turned to see the Sergeant had not been a sure footed as he'd hoped. Instead of following the bridge to completion he'd tried to step off the side of the bridge to the platform a few inches away. However that rock was weakened and gave from his weight.

The man let out a loud yell, flailing his arms as he tried to push his weight back to the bridge rather than the platform beside Khar. However he had already committed his weight. There was only one direction left to go from there.

Down.

The Sergeant fell, yelling out in a panic as he descended to the darkness below.

The sound of metal clamping against metal echoed out as Khar's hand snatched the man's own armored gauntlet. Khar's arm shivered from the man's weight and his face was clenched in a strain.

"S-sir?" The Sergeant let out in a surprised, but grateful tone.

"Climb....Up....Now." Khar forced out, turning his head as he pulled with all the strength his arm could muster. With Khar's help the Sergeant was able to rise up onto the platform, breathing heavily as he planted his knees into the rock.

"Oh gods...I thought...I thought I was gonna die." Khar pushed himself to his feet, turning from the man and making his way back down the path before them. The Sergeant rushed to his feet, following closely behind the Captain. "Sir! Thank you, sir!" Khar said nothing in response, short of a grunt acknowledging the man's words. He didn't save the man to enjoy sweet talk, he saved him because he was a soldier, which meant his life's expendability had certain parameters. That death did not fit. Soon they found themselves at an impasse. A door formed from a familiar metal, Phrik. Along the door were a number of symbols, runes from an ancient time that had long since passed. Khar glanced around the door, turning his eyes from one side of the wall to another.

No handle. No lever.

So how did you gain entry?

He brought his armored hand up, pressing it against the cool metal.

Khar.

He drew his hand back. A voice. He'd heard it. No, not one, but two. Two voices that called out to him through some unseen connection. His eyes gazed over the door and he felt a need to get within it. He had to pierce this barrier and soon. He pressed his hand to the barrier once again. It felt warm to the touch, almost alive. If he held his breath and fell silent...it felt as if the barrier had a pulse.

Death for life. Again the voice whispered to him, which caused him to step back from the door, his golden eyes gazing out at it, repeating the words softly. "Death for life." He looked to the door and suddenly the many runes and symbols seemed to float about, melding together until they formed words. They were not words that he could ever recognize but...he understood them.

Death for life. Blood for entry. There is always a cost for power. Khar stared over the words carefully before whispering out. "There is always a cost."

"What, sir?" The Sergeant asked out as the man turned back towards him, repeating the words as he approached the soldier. "There is always a cost." He repeated louder, understanding the meaning behind the words.

The Sergeant opened his lips to speak, however in the next moment Khar's dagger flew from it's sheathe. In one fluid motion he pierced the sealing material of the man's helmet, flowing directly into his throat. From under the helmet Khar could hear the gurgling as the man choked on the blood and gore that now filled his wind pipe. Khar gazed at him, staring down at him while clasping a hand on the bottom of the man's chestpiece to keep him on his feet. The man's body shook and struggled, shaking violently while Khar leaned down, as if to whisper in the man's ear. "Your Death for my power." He repeated once again before turning to drag the man's shivering body to the wall. He brought the man to the wall, pulling the helmet from his head and tossing it to the side.

The Sergeant was a handsome man. With bright blue eyes and sandy brown hair. Young and likely having much of his life ahead of him. Yet his death would serve a far greater purpose than any life he'd had.

This death fit.

Khar drug his knife from one side of the man's pierced neck to the other, opening a clean cut of black-red blood to flow freely. The crimson fountain poured out, staining Khar's own pearl armor.

The Captain let out a breath, a small mist forming from the exhale as the door began to rumble softly. The runes, which had been nothing more than carvings into the Phrik barrier began to shine brightly with a white glow. Khar's eyes narrowed, half-turning his gaze from the door as the light only grew brighter and brighter. Slowly the door began to rise from the cold, hard ground. Khar watched with an expectant gaze.

He'd paid the price. Now he demanded to know just what he had bought.

 

[Selene]

A W A K E N
Tag: Khar Malraux , Solara​

Death and sleep are not so different from one another.

Which were we? Dead or asleep? Sometimes those who sleep never wake, and sometimes those who perish return. Did we breathe, murmur, or shift in this state? We couldn't know. It didn't matter, regardless. We were here. We would sleep, and we would forget. Forget the gulag plague, forget the terror and despair, the visions of death all around us in space and time. We were together, where we now slept and forgot it all.

And now, we would wake, and we would walk.

Blood is just as important to the Mother as it is to flesh. When it is spilled, not only do you smell the tangy, sharp iron scent in the air, maybe you taste the warm, salty flavour. But you also feel it, the soft hiss as life force escapes into the very air.

It was this sensation, this powerful screech of blood, that first called us from our slumber.

Eyes began to flutter open, as ancient flesh stirred and still hearts beat again. My eyes, or hers? I couldn't tell yet, maybe both. As slowly the Mother called us back to waking, my arms wrapped more tightly around my sister, seeking her warmth instead of the cold of our tomb. However, as the moments dragged on, and our consciousness continued to fall from a dispersed miasma back into us, sensations returned, and I found it was my eyes that had opened.

Death or sleep, it was ending. A new time was upon us now.​

 

[Solara]

A W A K E N
Tag: Selene - Khar Malraux​

Time was once a tangible concept.

Seconds turned to minutes. Hours turned to days. Days turned to months, years, decades…

When we gave ourselves to sleep, this concept dissolved. It melted into the darkness like ice melting in water. Until we had lost all notion of what time had once meant. We had once revered it, marked it, even celebrated it. Now it was nothing. No more real than our dreams had once been. We thought we would be sad, but once the sleep took hold, we realised.

We no longer needed it.

The river of shadow that swallowed our entire being made us forget, but time had not forgotten us.

Our memory of our lives before sleep may have faded, but the memory of us had lived on in legend. In fairytale, folklore, and myth. What was lost could be found again, and we were found by the most unlikely power. The very thing we had slept to escape.

Death.

A chill broke through the barrier of warmth that sleep had encased us in. I viewed the new world through my sister’s eyes, but it was no different from the darkness. No different to the tomb we had slept in. Arms clung to me. Arms I had known all my life, but that did not belong to me. I clung back. As we were torn from our sanctuary of shadow and dreams, the world came flooding back piece by piece. Sound, smell, sight.

Was it excitement that we felt? Or fear? Anticipation?

It had been an age since we had felt emotion. It had been an eternity since we had registered touch. I clung tighter to my sister. She had changed. I did not need to see to know that I had changed too. Time had robbed us of flesh and bone, but what had it done to the world around us? There was only one thing we knew for certain. A name. Though we had no reason to think it so.

Khar.​

​

 

[Khar Malraux]

Solara | Selene
​

What had been revealed to him?

When the door opened Khar found himself gazing at something he could hardly believe. With a hand drenched in blood he stepped into the chamber. Although no expression usually betrayed his emotion for long, he held a look of surprise mixed with awe for a few moments. The chamber before him was simple and rather small. Two tables of stone were in the room, each one had a being laying upon it in a dream-like slumber.

He could not describe the feeling that came over him. The pins and needles in his hands, the cool chill that ran over the back of his neck, making every hair stand erect. Worst of all was the faint whistling of wind in the cave, eerily similar to a whisper coursing through his mind. For whatever reason he could not fathom what this whisper was. He could not feel the wind on his hands but it existed, he could feel it. Every instinct in his body put him on edge, but he ignored them, instead stepping forward. His eyes scanned the chamber, a hand resting upon the hilt of his blade.

"Where is the weapon I was promised?" He spoke out clearly. Stepping in between the two stone slabs. His eyes drifted to the woman with star white hair before his gaze drifted to the one whose hair was void black.

Again he heard it.

Khar.

His body moved from pure instinct. One hand wrapped around the hilt of his blade, pulling it from his sheathe. The other hand fled to the blaster pistol on the other side of his duty belt. A blaster pistol was aimed at Selene head while the blade of his sword hovered over Solara neck. His eyes snapped from one to the next as his tone was low and menacing.

"The moment either of you moves. You both die." He declared. The man was massive, standing over the two lithe women with a gaze that could rival the harshness of the sun.

"Where is my weapon?" He demanded.

"I paid the price. Now deliver it to me or the both of you will die." He had made up his mind on the way this meeting would transpire. He would receive what was due to him or these women, helpless or not, would die here. A tomb where they would rest for an eternity with the numerous mistakes the soldier had made in coming here.

 

[Selene]

A W A K E N
Tag: Khar Malraux Solara​

Open.

There was a hiss, as air hundreds of years younger than us flooded into our tomb. With it came him; Khar. As our slumber was disturbed and our bodies called back to us, we swirled around him, feeling his aura, his energy, investigating the one that would dare to step up to us. Once, we were creatures of legend, men spoke about us in hushed whispers, afraid to draw our ire.

But Khar was different.

There was fear; a healthy trepidation as he felt our presence. But he ignored it, entirely. Instead of cowering, he approached us, threatening both my sister's body, and mine. Were I able to scowl in this ethereal plane, my gaze would have been withering.

Then my eyes fluttered open; my physical ones.

Feeling came back to me; stone and cold and fear and excitement, all the uncomfortable, exhilarating, sensations our long sleep had robbed from us. But as ancient eyes were used once more, they focused not on Khar, at first, but on Solara, as I dared tilt my head just enough to see her laying there, our intruder's weapon aimed directly at her delicate form.

"Warlord Khar," I murmured, coaxing life and warmth back into my dusty, cold, hoarse throat, "Commander of the armies of... Illyria... half-breed king."

We could feel him bristling with distrust. My chin tilted back slightly, trying to draw my neck down, away from the vicious point of his blade. My eyes moved to his, gazing up at him as I felt my fingertips - aching with reluctance to move again - gently shift, tilting up to slowly brush the underside of his forearm.

We were at the mercy of this man, now. He woke us; he decided our fate. Whatever my sister and I had to say, our lives were in Mother's hands now.​

 

[Solara]

A W A K E N

Tag: Khar Malraux - Selene​

From the darkness, light is born.

A thin sliver of silver-white starlight crept through a crack in the veil of darkness. Or was it a door? There was no way of telling.

My arms clung tighter, but the corporeal form of my sister was longer in their grasp. They fell sickeningly through the air. She was as she had been in our sleep, as I had been. Trying to catch her now was like trying to catch smoke with my bare hands. I did not want to leave, but a voice called to us both. A voice that could not, and would not, be ignored.

My eyes opened.

For the first time in hundreds of years, I saw.

For the first time in hundreds of years, I felt.

The cool kiss of steel against my neck. The cold, hard stone pressed against my back. The icy air as I drew in lungful after lungful greedily, but that was just instinct. The intrinsic desire to survive. The first thought my waking mind summoned was that of my sister.

I could feel her eyes on me. I could see how she saw me.

I was thin. Frail. As fragile as the ego of the man who begged for our attention with deep, guttural words. I finally cast my raven orbs at him.

What spell had befallen this creature that he dared disturb our timeless sleep in mother’s embrace. What madness had sunken into his mind that he would tear our souls apart and return them to separate forms?

My sister spoke first. I heard the words echoing in my mind long before they left her lips. They were true. We had seen it. A Warlord and his armies riding against beasts with a thousand eyes. I tilted my head to place my new-born gaze upon the half-breed king. The movement was a blessing and a curse. The cold steel against my neck drew a thin line in my flesh. Fresh crimson began to bead and trickle along the edge of the sword. It soaked my neck and leeched into my hair, but my thoughts were far from vain.

She could feel it too.

Pain.

“He is no warlord.” I replied, midnight gaze set up on the faded face that stood before me. “Not yet.” I swallow, trying to soak the dry patch in my throat, and a fresh wave of a pain where the sword sinks in wracks through our bodies. We like the way it tugs on nerves that have not felt for centuries. It reminds us that we are alive. “You look far too hard for what you seek, and ask questions you already know the answer too, Khar the Pretender.”​

 

[Khar Malraux]

Selene | Solara ​

From the moment the dark haired one spoke, Khar felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise once again. These two. What were they doing here and why had he been led here? When Selene opened her mouth to speak his hand tensed against the blaster pistol. His eyes cut to the woman, making sure that any notable movement was watched as a hawk watched a serpent. "Silence woman. I am not a King, I am Count of Leau du Roi and Lord-Captain of the seventh Legion. Do not speak of me with such familiarity." His words were low and menacing, yet the moment he felt pressure against the cold steel of his blade, his attention whipped from one woman to the next.

Her words were many. Many and unwanted. Khar tucked his blaster pistol into it's place on his duty belt. His hand flew. A hard gauntlet crossed the woman's face with a hard slap. The same hand came down, gripping the woman's face as he leaned over her, his sword coming to rest in a balance on the curve of his shoulder.

"If you believe your life to be some precious thing then you will keep your lips shut." His warning was ironclad and did not have the telltale signs of a bluff. As far as Khar could reason, he had lost much this venture and the death of these two would be no more loss to him than a blade of grass flowing through the wind. The slowly released Solara though he felt something faint in the moment he had taken hold of her. Something he could not describe and did not have the proper depths to explore. Still, there were too many things which did not add up. Khar had some fame to be sure, yet these two had been behind a barrier that seemed sealed for hundreds of years.

How do they know his name?

He considered the question for a moment before breathing it into reality. "How do you know my name?" He demanded of them, before his eyes narrowed a bit more. "And my heritage. This is something no one knows of me, yet the two of you do?" His sword shifted down from his shoulder, the tip of the blade planting into the hard rock below as he exhaled to clear his mind. "Explain yourselves."

 

[Selene]

A W A K E N
Tag: Khar Malraux Solara​

I felt the thin, sharp sting along my neck as my sister bled.

My nostrils flared. How dare someone lay a finger on her; to harm a hair on her head, while I lay right here. Still weak, still waking, I couldn't lash out as once I might have. Rather, I lay there, letting my strength flow back into old and frail bones. As we lay our intruder spoke, threatening as he slapped my sister's face. He may not have noticed, but my head mimicked hers as the force flicked it to one side. He may have heard or not, how I gasped just as she did.

I kept my lips closed, as the slighted party, it was Solara's place to speak for us. Instead, I let my eyes drift closed once more and turned my sight from the physical world to Mother's world.

Reaching out through Mother, I wrapped us around Khar, the intruder, the conqueror. Spoken communication was so... linear, so inadequate for all that we had to say. As my sister spoke, I sought to push our presence into the warlord, to give him the memories, the feelings, the knowledge that what she spoke was true.

... And just for striking her, I sought to ensure he felt an echo of the hundreds of years of icy slumber from which we'd just awoken.​

 

[Solara]

G U I D E

Tag: Khar Malraux - Selene​

A thin smile formed on my lips, and on my sisters too. As vehemently as he tried to explain, there was no use. We both knew. Words alone were not enough to make a warrior. It took time and dedication. Patience and forbearing. Any leader who needed to say he was as much was no true leader at all.

I open my mouth to speak again, but a hand as hard as iron stuck my cheek with force behind it that I could not fathom.

Was it possible to miss something you had not had for centuries? The question floated through my mind, and hers, as I struggled to draw in fresh air. The shock would fade soon and the ability to breath again would return, but there was little time to register that fact.

I wrapped my hand around the wrist that grasped me. The muscles beneath were as hard as the stone I had just been laying on. I could taste copper on my tongue and the side of my cheek burned with a fury of thousand fires. His threats were frightening, but I was not afraid. The mother would not wake us from our slumber only to die at the hands of this pretender. When he released me, I propped my body up on shaking bones that could only barely hold my weight.

In the silence that he had commanded, my gaze turned to my sister. It was strange beyond words to feel the connection we had shared in the darkness but to see her looking back at me with eyes as real as my own. We had shared a womb once before, and we had been as one. Now we were reborn from darkness and the mother of all had blessed us with that connection once more.

I begged her silent forgiveness for the pain we shared as I swept my hand across the blood leaking from my mouth, smearing it across my bruised cheek. To hurt her hurt me more than the hand that had struck us moments ago. It hurt more than the real pain that burned overwhelmingly as I scrubbed at the scarlet streak.

“We know many things.” I sounded exhausted, though I was far from it. “Your nature of distrust will quickly become your undoing, if you do not learn to open your mind.” I turned my gaze upon him again. Instead of a hazy outline, I stared defiantly into golden eyes. Eyes that had the power to truly see, if only their master would allow it. “You know who we are.” I replied curtly. “You have needed us for a year, yet your search for us only began a short while ago. If only you had trusted in legend sooner..." My eyes narrow at him as my sister encircles him with our power.

We see it all.

“You have asked, and learned, and sought, and sacrificed. Are you really so blind that you cannot see?” My next words were meant to coax him to an understanding. To point him to the path the mother had told us he would walk. For this was our purpose. As we had seen who he was, we too could see who he would be. “The stories you have heard are true. You seek a weapon within these caves, but your definition of weapon is as narrow as your view of the galaxy.”​

 

[Khar Malraux]

Solara | Selene
​

He should kill them both now.

Witches from a forgotten age. As the white haired sister spoke, the one with dark hair seemed to fall silent. Khar's eyes lingered over the both of him as he felt a wave of something flow over him. His body felt heavy, as if suddenly his veins were filled with concrete. The caves had already been cold, but now they were more than that. When riding in the speeder on their way to the mountain it had not been half as cold as Khar now felt.

Despite all of this, he stood silently. His eyes reflected an exhaustion that had not been their a moment ago, yet they were still harsh orbs, gazing from one sister to another. He shifted for a moment, taking a second to consider the words of the woman. He retreated to his mind for a moment, no longer caring to ask these women questions. The cryptic answers were enough to lead a man off of a cliff. Especially for one such as Khar who preferred to work with the most direct and balanced information he could receive. His eyes fell over the white-haired woman as he gauged her form. Her strength must have been returning.

Solara. He blinked. Why had that name formed in his mind? He shook the thought from his head before turning to the dark haired woman and almost as soon as his eyes met hers...

Selene.

No. It was more than just his mind. It was if his instincts had bred with his thoughts to create...information? He could not describe it...but as he gave himself to this feeling the veil slowly began to draw from his eyes.

"You were trapped here to escape the plague." He said, his tone revealing no sense of revelation. "You were waiting for me to release you. So that your unity could be born once again."

Gemini.

"Selene." He looked to her. "Solara." His eyes shifted to the sister as The Force, though he knew not what it was or how it had woven itself within him, guided him.

That was when his lip were drawn into a thin line. "My Gemini."

They were the missing piece. For an entire life Khar had felt a hollowness within him as if something was missing, abandoned. Yet now in this moment as he looked from one sister to the other he realized it was not one hole, it was two. Two great trenches burned into the very pit of his being and now after a half a lifetime....they were being filled in. His hands came from the hilt of his sword, allowing the weapon to remain planted in the rocky floor as he stepped forward, between the two women. He extended a hand out to each of them, his expression calm and almost serene.

"I understand now."

 

[Selene]

A W A K E N
Tag: Khar Malraux Solara​

My sister is the burning fire of the sun, and I am the cool reprieve of the moon.

Where she ignited the passionate flame in the belly of the warlord, I soothed his rage, so that together we could coax out a powerful and finely-honed energy the likes of which even Khar himself did not know.

Wait... that... that wasn't yet. That would come later.

For now, the warlord found our voice in his mind, learned our names, our hearts. We were his weapon, the means by which he would seize his destiny. Just a moment after he heard our names in his head, they were repeated on his lips; the first time in countless years the two words had been uttered out loud. The very air around us seemed to tremble, knocking loose dust and rubble from the ceiling of the cave.

I drew in a deep breath, shifting slightly as I tried to raise myself up on arms that hadn't been used in so long. Now that we were awake, I yearned for the embrace of my sister; the real embrace. As life returned to our limbs, I longed to feel hers once more.

"I'm... cold..."

A brief moment of weakness passed through my lips, as sensation began to return, overwhelmingly so. We were cold, hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and every moment of that agony was doubled as we each felt it from each other as much as ourselves.​

 

[Solara]

A W A K E N
Tag: Khar Malraux - Selene​

In the silence that followed, we worked together.

Though we were weak and feeble from our sleep, the mother had blessed us with magik that needed no mortal energy to control. We drowned him in the same shadow that we had once called home. What he drew from the power we offered him lay in his hands alone, but we watched with bated breath and an intense gaze.

Realisation dawned on his face, and the relief was overwhelming. I closed my eyes at my name. It sounded as ancient as I felt. Untold strength lay in a name, and in the simple act of speaking it. When you held one on your tongue you commanded the person it belonged too. They were dangerous things to give freely. Yet, when Khar spoke ours together in chorus, we knew that they were safe. As the mountain trembled beneath our feet, we knew that the mother agreed.

As my sister moved, my eyes focused not upon the warrior, but on her time-worn frame.

We felt it in tandem. The same icy chill that had played a part in waking us from our slumber. In the throes of the adrenaline that had moments ago coursed through our veins, we had almost forgotten it. I shivered. So too did she.

The hand that Khar offered out was tempting to take, but I could not force myself to do it. Instead, I reached across the space between the stone slabs we lay on. My willow fingers stretching through the air to touch her. We had known each other in our sleep, but our corporeal forms had not touched for centuries. The world felt unbalanced without the memory of her lingering on my skin. I knew it would crumble entirely if Khar was the first to grace it.

My heart skipped a beat when she reached back, and the world stopped entirely when our fingers finally intertwined. We had felt out of sync, out of kilter with life, until the warmth of our hands began to seep through our skin. The next moment of silence we took to ourselves. To enjoy what we had forgotten to miss in the depths of our slumber. When we had sated ourselves as much as time would allow, our eyes returned to the would-be warlord.

“Do not mistake what you now know for understanding.” I spoke as we reached out in tandem to take the hands he had offered. I relished in the calloused skin beneath my fingers. It was far different from what I had expected, as was the power that radiated from him as we connected. As one. “You have much to learn.”​

 

[Khar Malraux]

Solara | Selene​

He watched as the two became one. There was something about their union that rested the man's mind, relaxed his muscles. A sense of correctness washed over him and he released a sigh he did not realize he was holding in. With his hands outstretched to them he looked to Solara as she spoke.

Do not mistake what you now know for understanding. You have much to learn.

The man was silent for some time as the two rose from the stone slabs, breathing life into their bodies and reclaiming the corporal world. "You will show me." He said as the words fell from his lips in a more content tone. He had a hard gaze that softened for none, even in this moment as he looked to the Gemini it was with a same stone wall expression, yet behind his golden eyes was something far more important than a resting emotion. It was a worthy feeling of understanding that brought his mind to peace. He was meant to be here. This was his destiny to find the two of them and release them from their slumber.

Why? The question echoed through his mind, yet the hands of the twins pushed it out. He said nothing to them as they tested legs that had not been used in lifetimes. When they found their footing he knew they could not journey back to the transport as they were. They would need much to bring them back to a point of true being and this required civilization.

His hand pulled the comm device from his belt. "Get a Specter Gunship to my location immediately. Food, water, and rations available along with a medic." He sent the order along his Command channel and only a moment later he heard the chirp of acknowledgement. Khar was massive and as he pulled the cloak from his shoulders, draping it over the two he urged them to remain where they stood until help would come.

~~~
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In time the specter gunship came to retrieve the trio. As it flew over the lands, passing through mountains and valleys a medical officer ran a scanner over the two women's bodies. Two medical stretchers had been prepared for the women and Khar stood over the man as he checked their vitals. "They need plenty of fluids and nutrients sir. However, they are in surprisingly good health." He said, his voice held the shake of uncertainty, showing that he was far out of his comfort zone. Khar said nothing, instead he turned his eyes out of the gunship towards the destination that laid in the distance. "Ensure my room is prepared for them. Have food, a bath, and fresh linens prepped as well." He said, before turning out of the hold and into the cockpit.

As the ship came to land on the Camp's landing pad, Khar turned back out of the cockpit and stood in-between the two women. His mind was elsewhere, yet his hands instinctively came to hold the side of their bed's, standing over them as a Lion would his pride.

 

[Selene]

A W A K E N
Tag: Khar Malraux Solara​

I held my sister, and she did me, for the first time in so many years.

Like a wave, the strange, unsettled sensation melted away. We were whole again, we were us again. Thoughts were more coherent now, the cold was more bearable, the hunger and thirst and aching and fuzz all.... so insignificant. Our bodies were still weak, and we supported one another in the cold of the tomb.

The next wave of relief came when Khar, our mortal charge and warden, draped his cloak around us. Already warmed by his own body heat, it banished most of the cold, amplifying the sense of warmth and comfort.

~~~

There were ships that travelled the stars before the gulag plague. The architecture of Khar's was different, however. A gunship; a machine of death and destruction, found a new purpose as we lay in its med bay, the beeping of machines accompanying the fussing of a medic. My hand never left Solara's, subtly forcing the workers to move around us as a single entity, rather than step between us.

It was only once I felt Khar's shadow fall over us did I tear my eyes from the screens, gazing up at him.

"We are grateful." My voice stayed low, words accompanied by a soft smile before my gaze fell to my twin.

Were it not for Khar and his lust for power, we might never have woken.​

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[Solara]

R E S T
Tag: Selene - Khar Malraux​

I nodded my head, but my attention was far from focused on the would-be warlord now. We would teach him all he needed to know, in time. What we needed now, ironically, was rest. To replenish the energy the long sleep took from us. To refresh the minds that we had not used for centuries. It was hard enough holding up bodies that time had robbed of flesh and bone, and our brief use of power had drained us far more than we realised.

Khar’s hand was like a pillar of stone, and I used it freely to support me. My sister and I had been so accustomed to supporting each other in the darkness that I was almost tempted to use her. Yet when we both set our feet against the rocky floor, I dashed the idea completely.

Though I did not lean on her in the way I leant on Khar, I refused to release her hand. The situation we faced now was so far different to the one we had dreamt of in the darkness. We had already been forced to give up much of what we were before we slept. The one thing that had remained constant was her. I would not give her up and I would fight with every last breath to keep us together. A heavy weight rested suddenly against my shoulders, and I glanced up in time to watch the edges of the cloak fluttering through the air.

One half sat on Selene’s shoulders, and the other half sat on mine. Under its protection, I felt a warmth that we had not known for a long time. I released my sister's hand but did not go far. Instead, like a magnet, I was drawn back to her. My arm slipped around her waist so that we could wrap the cloak around us both in its entirety. What I could recall from the time before we slept was little, but I remembered the cold. The icy bite of the wind as it nipped at our bare flesh. As Khar began to guide us from the caves, that same chill had remained in the air. It made me all the more grateful for the cape.

~ ~ ~

What lay waiting for us beyond the safety of the cave was more than our minds could presently bare. Despite only seeing it from the top of a mountain, through thick clouds and layers of snow, we were aware that the world was different now. It was so far from what we had left behind that it stunned us into silence.

There were too many people on this ship. Too many minds to read and morals to judge. Strange things prodded and poked at each of us. I could feel them on her just as much as I could feel them on me. I wanted to shout at the man in white who kept trying to place his fingers on my neck. He was pressing uncomfortably hard, as he had done on my sister. We are one and the same, I wanted to say. What she feels, I feel. What you find in her, you will find in me. Was there really any need to put us both through such uncomfortable torment?

My ebony eyes followed the doctor as he worked with an unrelenting stare that I tried to bore into his soul with. It was not until my vision was dulled by darkness that I tore myself away. Selene spoke, and my voice followed not soon after. “Very.” I did not like to speak in the presence of strangers, but, as she did, I turned my head to meet my sister’s gaze. It had been the word bath that sparked a flicker of joy in my eye. There were many years of grime and dust from the crumbling caves to rinse from our skin. Once we were refreshed, we would be ready to teach, but for the meanwhile…

“Would you take us to this room?” I asked of Khar, my raven gaze turning up to find his face.​