Darkness falls

[Darth Odium]

BYSS

The sweet taste of darkness lay like a fog over the world. It's ghostly landscape and empty buildings home to only those to whom it called. Odium stood alone, obsidian eyes unblinking on the very balcony where he had been as an acolyte. The sickly sweet feeling of hate festered in his black heart as he thought of what he had chosen to do.

He reached up his olive hand and brushed his finger tips against the bones that hung from his armor. His Nautolan skin cloak lay across his broad shoulders as he considered his target. [member="Matsu Xiangu"], did he know her? No not personally. Did he hate her? Yes. His black knee high boots clacked on the cold stone floor as he turned and began the walk to the home of the Sithlet. What had she done to gain his ire? Nothing.

His saber staff hung at his hip as he walked. His hunger began screaming as he neared. A stray servant scurried to hide from his pounding step in the quiet corridor and sealed her fate. He reached out and in moments he had drained her life and left her wrinkled body on the floor in his wake. He would find the Sith woman and she would know pain.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Byss was a planet swamped in death and pain, a singular environment suited only for the slightly masochistic or simply wrong. Matsu belonged to path camps, though perhaps the latter more than the former. Regardless she’d retired to her home on Byss for a week or so – less preferred than her apartments on Coruscant but this place was quiet, a calm place to do some experimenting. But despite the general malaise the clung to the planet’s atmosphere, it was impossible to miss the crushing wave of fear and pain that sang out in the Force for just a moment before it was snuffed out – especially when it was somewhere in her home.

Since she wasn’t anticipating such a pleasant visitor she had nothing more than simple clothing on – pants, a light shirt, combat boots, all too expensive for the occasion. Her saber was never far from her side and she’d grabbed it as she leapt up from her work to head off her company. Other than that she was armed with the Force and her monstrous durasteel cybernetic, a piece stronger than the original limb it replaced and tipped by deadly, sharpened steel claws.

Skidding in to the entrance corridor, a long stretch of marble and pillared architecture turned pallid seemingly by the planet’s overpowering dark-side atmosphere, she thought this intruder must certainly have a pair to brazenly enter the home of a Sith. Which meant he’d either made a pretty bad mistake and had no idea who’s home he was in…or he knew exactly where he was. She could feel his anger, a hatred centered around her that she couldn’t understand – she’d walked many minds, but not this one’s.

It didn’t matter really.

He was enormous, at least a foot taller than her from what she could tell from a cursory glance, and she would guess almost twice her weight as well though the armor could have been bulking his figure. She’d dueled against beings of his size before and won, but she had to consider his advantage. She stopped at the end of the corridor, starting to probe in to his head to test his resistance and see exactly how much force she would have to use while she still had ample space between them. “Did you miss the doorbell?”

[member="Darth Odium"]​

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

His tangled mind, a mass of twist and leaps enough to cause anyone to question how her functioned much less thrived, turned with thoughts of pain and hate. He could smell the darkside here taste it's malevolent sweetness. It was simple really the reason he had targeted her, he was hungry and she had power enough to satisfy. There was a bounty he had heard but really it would be a lie to say he cared.

He took his saberstaff from his belt as she rounded the corner. She reminded him of Quinn. Her narrow frame and height. Her determined brown eyes... He had not prepared for that. His desire to kill her mixed with breif attraction due to the similarities between the woman and his secret love.

He stopped dead and met her eyes as she reached out to his mind. He had been used when an acolyte for others to practice their mental powers. Just a mute tool to be used and pushed aside but the benefit had been he became very good at resisting mentalist powers. He could keep out such a light probe but he didn't. The brief thought of the woman and Quinn was pulled away and buried though whether he had been quick enough he couldn't know. The breif attraction and Quinn were replaced with the image and sound of a door bell. As he ignited one end of his saberstaff.

<<Better?>> he would say telepathically.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Mental resistance in itself wasn’t enough to keep Matsu out – infiltration of a being’s most sacred place was her bread and butter. Few could keep her out indefinitely. But it required some measure of concentration and she had a feeling this stranger would be keeping her too busy for her to perform anything too drastic. She was shoring her power, keeping her distance as they assessed each other. She’d seen something of a woman but the image had been too fleeting to get more of, something of surprise connected to the thought he’d had of her and nothing more. She held on to the image for later. In truth the Nautolan reminded her of Reverence both in terms of stature and ‘business-like’ nature, but she’d dueled that Sith Lord a few times regardless of how she might feel about him, so the brief flutter returned was just that – short-lived.

But then she heard a doorbell in her head, a ringing followed by the sound of his voice, personal in her skull. Speaking out loud to someone’s telepathic reach always felt strange to her – a conversation that made her feel a little crazy responding to someone that appeared to be silent. So she responded in kind. <<“Much. Tell me your name and why you’re here and I might even believe you have some manners.”>>

Oh sure Matsu, taunt the giant.

The tension was growing and if he didn’t strike, she would. But it seemed prudent to figure out why he was there, if there were more like him on their way, before cutting him down.

[member="Darth Odium"]​

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

How does the rancor explain to its prey that it's not personal when it follows its nature and kills? Odium’s obsidian eyes stared at the woman and he paused his advance. His olive skinned head tilted to one side slightly as he gazed at her. Thick head tresses snaked across his shoulders tasting the air for her scent.

<<Odium.>> he said simply. <<I've come to feed...on your power. Give yourself willingly and I'll let you live.>>

His thoughts held no duplicity. He was a hunter, the force and life were his sustenance and the bounty was a convenient cover for his activities. His grip tightened on his saberstaff as he prepared for the inevitable.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

When the end came for Matsu, the why of it wouldn’t matter much to her. She’d done more than enough to warrant this stranger’s appearance whether it was to feed from her or kill her on someone else’s orders. (She had no knowledge of the bounty that served as pretense for the Nautolan. The offer was a pittance and Matsu would have found it rather insulting if she were aware of it.) Her only wish for death was that it did not come in her sleep – that she went out with a bang, with some amazement floating through her mind before it shut off.

<<Odium,>> she repeated, a telepathic caress. She ignored his ultimatum though the use of 'feed' almost made her shiver with excitement before she began.

Her strength lay in range and though she knew it was impossible to keep him at bay for any prolonged amount of time, especially in an enclosed space, she would hold out for as long as she could. The entrance hall they stood in was long, ornate but with a cold aura homes on planets like this one were prone to. Large, thick pillars rose on either side to line the room. A lack of carpet might make for slippery footing – especially when blood was spilled – but Matsu wouldn’t worry about that for the moment.

With a pop, one of the chandeliers above the Nautolan’s head would break from its casing. First she manipulated the decorative shards of glass to crack from their chains and pelt towards her attacker, hundreds of little slivers a possibly painful distraction from the entire fixture itself snapping from the ceiling to fall with added momentum from the Sith Lady. As she did she hung just around the edges of his mind, feeling any emotion that escaped, subtle and undetected through years of practice.

[member="Darth Odium"]​

 

[Darth Odium]

[member="Matsu Xiangu"]


The sound of her mental pronouncement of his name slipped like shimmersilk across his thoughts and for the blink of an eye his thoughts wondered. His brows lowered as the slight waver served to increase his determination. He stepped forward as the dull pop sounded above him. His left hand rose in a flash to cover his eyes as thousands of shards streaked at his exposed olive flesh.

A stong itch between his shoulder blades drew his attention as shards of crystalline glass jutted from his face and arms. He dove forward and rolled briefly ending in a crouch right hand out to the side still holding his un-ignited saberstaff. His left hand rose as his eyes met the woman's. A vicious grin of the masochistic creature formed as he slowly pulled a shard from his cheek beneath his eye.

<<More>> he said as the crashed chandelier lay behind him. The force began to swell in him as the the top crimson blade sprang to life with a snap-hiss. He stretched out with the force his oily hollow presence beging to be filled as he launched a tendril of Force Diminish at her. If she would not submit he would rip wawhat he wanted away from her.

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Masochism was a concept she was familiar with, though did not have a predilection for herself. In fact she was on the opposite end of the spectrum, a sadist who hid her face well, in control of her urge until opportunity presented itself. (His thoughts wavered for only a split second and she grabbed for the woman she’d seen in his head, building an image.)

A fortuitous duel, it would seem.

She had never been on the receiving end of a Sith’s ability to drain another being, though she knew of such power. It was said the innate ability to perform such things was rare and more often than not knowledge came only through experience, through feeling the Force – life – siphon from you to feed another. As she felt the void of the Nautolan’s presence in the Force she thought perhaps that was true. (Hungry, powerfully hungry, she thinks. He feels like hunger.)

Somehow she managed to wrench her saber from her side when she heard the snap-hiss of one end of his staff, holding it facing downwards and slightly back next to her right leg, a low guard typical of Makashi. But it was a precaution only – the real trouble was how to make him stop. She could feel anger battering along her ribcage, welling up to choke at her at the thought that he was STEALING. What she wanted to do was collect her telekinetic prowess, blast outwards in a repulse that would blow a crater underneath her feet and send him flying backwards, but his feeding was a distraction that crippled such use of power.

So instead she chose the lesser of her first instinct, raising her left hand and snapping a concentrated push of the Force at him with what she could muster under his ravenous hunger. With his size and the weight of his armor combined with the affect he was having on her it was unlikely she would send him flying backwards as she might in another situation, but all she wanted was a split second to counter his siphoning.

Regardless of whether or not her push worked, she flipped herself backwards to put more distance between them, already beginning her spell mid-flip, hands raised and fingers moving in ritual incantation - she needed time and distance to perform it correctly.

S̖̲̠͖̣ͮu͈̗ͩ̉̿̂͐̃t̟̻̯̮̠̹͙tͤa̺̜̫̬̞ͪ̎́̊ ͖̹̫̯̩͗́C̲̻̣͇͚͍̍̑̑̂ͪ̚ͅh̘̠̹̙̏ͭͤ̓ẁ̘̰͖̖͉̤̎̚ͅiͪ̓ͧ͐ͨt̼ū͓͎͙ͬ̐̏͋s̫̙̺͚ḳ̠a̹̹̰̣̲̭͊̆͋̚k̈̀.͇̜̝͉̟̏̓.̹͚̼͓.͙̮​

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By the time she’d landed she’d formed a black bolt of her rage at his STEALING which she released with haste, a dangerous, howling manifestation of thousands of wretched souls from the Chaos below. Whether he’d managed to follow her closer, discourage her aim with a burst of movement remained to be seen.

[member="Darth Odium"]​