Defectus spem

[Natalie LaForte]

Derelict Castle building, Mygeeto​

[member="Darth Abyss"]​

​

"Nothing is making sense."

The soon to be LaForte family estate was abandoned all except Natalie, opting to send a crowd of investors to bid on her behalf to secure it she was here under the guise of doing some touring. Of course, she wasn't really doing that, she was instead in one of the watchtowers where she had set up a temporary study in preparation for moving in. Allowing the anger to get the better of her she threw one of the many books, containing numerous Sith ruins against the wall causing the pages to flutter around the room, afterwards placing her hand on her forehead and walking to the window and staring out across a frozen landscape.

Hours before, she had contracted out somebody to be used for 'medical research', promising a handsome reward of 10,000 credits which she intended to pay them if she could bring them back to life. Under the guise of a sedative they were placed into a coma before being administered additional drugs which in turn caused them to suffer from an unrecoverable heart attack, after which Natalie had gotten to work. The Castle itself was stocked up to the max with books on various force techniques, though nothing she had attempted so far was working.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Of course not, why would this wisdom aid you if you have so little respect for it?"

The scattered pages began to move, held by an invisible hand. Slowly they danced through the air, recollecting themselves into their original order before [member="Natalie LaForte"] threw them through the room. In the end the book looked like it never fell apart in the first place, and the hand around it was revealed from the darkness and the shadows that had obscured it from sight.

Attached to the hand was the broken husk that was left of Darth Abyss, the hollow Lord suddenly standing in the room with his apprentice in the full wretchedness of his existence. The book rested on his opened left, the pages rapidly turning without his other hand even touching it. After a few moments the book was completed, and neatly closed before the husk placed it on the table besides him.

"Am I right to assume that you efforts to raise the dead have not been crowned by success so far?"

The mocking tone of his voice left little doubt that Abyss required no answer to his question. Precise steps carried him at the side of his apprentice, and his empty eyes looked down on her and even his motionless features couldn't hide his disappointment.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

The sudden appearance of her master was not as shocking as it would seem to most, with her arms outstretched on the table panting due to exhaustion. Before the pages recollected themselves, she sensed him with her sarcastically replying.

"Do you intentionally stalk me?"

Her eyes peered to the corpse of a human female dressed in a bridal gown, that was lying on an oak table, restrained with leather cuffs before picking up a different book that had some vague reference to what she was attempting to do.

"Does it look like I've had much success? I've spent most of my time throwing books at the stone in an attempt to release my anger, which I assumed would help me. Obviously," walking to the corpse and hastly undoing the leather cuff, then lifting an arm and letting it fall onto the table, "I was incorrect in assuming that." Walking back to the table and looking down on the book. "Moreover everything I've seen so far suggests that it's only possible with force sensitive individuals, and its effects will be temporary. I suppose it's a start all-in-all, but lackluster as of yet."

It was at that point she had remembered the teaching on Sith runes, but was wary of attempting to etch lettering which she had a basic understanding of.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Your mistake is not born from incompetence, but from a sheer lack of comprehension."

Looking at the books, at the dead body and listening to [member="Natalie LaForte"]'s words was already enough for Abyss to gain an understanding of her failure. It wasn't that the ancient wisdom of the sith had failed her, but that she had misunderstood what it had to offer in the first place.

"The arcane can only raise the body, not the soul once the subject is dead. Her spirit has already faded from this plane of reality, and it will not be forced to return by spells and magic."

There were ways to archive what his apprentice had in mind, but not in the way she thought. Her mistake had been to kill her subject without anchoring her essence to the realm of the living beforehand. Bringing it back now would need more then just a handful of runes and some mumbled words in the old language of the sith. Only by traversing the veil and surviving the chaos of the world beyond the world she would even have a chance of doing so, and in Abyss' opinion that was a task too big for Natalie right now.

"Only by leaving this plane and transcending to another you even stand a chance to return it. My personal advise would be to bury her in the backyard and try again with someone else, this time with something to link their spirit to the physical world."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"So... a spiritual anchor or something? A rune?"

She moved to the corpse and wondered whether to bother herself with such monotony or have someone else do it. Sigh. The cuffs came off, with Natalie mentally deciding how long it would take for her to take the body outside herself or wait potentially hours for the purchase to be secured and one of her subordinates to question why there was a dead bride in the castle.

"I don't just have bodies on demand you know. Thankfully I'm sure her husband will love to hear that the wedding has been rescheduled to such a lovely location." Walking back towards the desk and opening a messaging app on her data pad, typing a few characters and sending something. Almost immediately she received a response.

"Alright, he should be here relatively soon. I offered a bonus on top of the original amount, should probably get his former lover out of the room though."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Rather a rune cluster. Trying to express a complex idea through a single rune is not a matter of skill and knowledge, but of how willing you are to kill yourself."

The words of the husk were followed by his trademark laugh, while the metal figure slowly made its way to the corpse that was still laying around on the table. With little to no effort two claws wrapped around the dead body and lifted into the air, carrying the failed experiment towards the exit. While his face lacked the features to show feelings anyway, even his stance and body language showed no sign of empathy, remorse or even interest in the faded woman in his hands.

"You got a shovel?"

There were many things that could be said about Abyss, but that he refused to get his own hands dirty was not among them. Even if he normally had others to take care of such menial tasks, it had nothing to do with an sense of remorse or displeasure in dealing with dead flesh, but merely with the notion that his time was worth to much to waste it on corpses. If the situation called for it however, he was not above digging a grave or two to bury any evidence left behind.

His left foot softly opened the door to the backyard of the derelict castle, where he placed the corpse on the ground. While he waited for [member="Natalie LaForte"] to bring him the right tool for the job, he had already begun to loosen the earth with his deformed, also claw like feet.

"I will take care of this, call me when your new subject is ready."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"For being able to maticulously put a book together I find it hard to believe you simply can't lift this dirt with the same abilities. Alas, your wish is my command." The latter phrase of the sentence sounding sarcastic.

Not too far away was an abandoned tool shed, filled the gardener's typical inventory. Shovel, chainsaw, leaf cutter, lawnmower, despite the castle having no bushes or leafs in sight that needed job. The outhouse had an eerie atmosphere to it, with the only sign of light peaking in through a single window and onto a set of tools which had been scattered on the floor. Moving towards it, some dust particles launched themselves into the air and were caught in the very same light, shortly followed by what seemed like a tsunami of them in comparison after lifting the various power tools which obstructed the shovel.

The almost comical sound of a door ringing could be heard after she picked the shovel up, her eyebrows raising. Why is he here this early? Swiftly dashing back to [member="Darth Abyss"] she dropped the shovel on the floor and proceeded to stride towards the castle entrance, simply shouting back at him.

"Meet me back in that same room!"

Old oak doors were presented to Natalie as she came to a grinding halt, her heels almost forcing her to slide head first into entrance. She sighed before making an attempt to regather her composure, straightening her outfit before proceeding to open the door on the bottom left of the larger set.

"Oh hello I didn't expect to see you this early..." sounding slightly out of breath.

The man was of a high calibre. It seemed either the woman had married the man for his wealth, or the man was marrying the woman for her beauty. Probably both to be honest. More importantly over his physical appearance, Natalie's smile grew as she detected something quite pleasing. He was definitely a force sensitive. As to whether or not he had training was yet to be uncovered, but it seemed he had some sort of awareness for the force, but as she attempted to probe his mind to understand his knowledge she detected a mental block.

"Indeed... quite. May I know where my wife is?"

"Oh certainly right this way!"

The two continued in silence on the journey to the experimentation room, but as she crossed the threshold of the doorway a thought crossed Natalie's mind. He needs to be unconscious at least. Her legs stopped moving followed by an outstretched hand using a force technique much more familiar to her, that of force stun. The man's body could only make a 45 degree turn before it came to a halt, appearing frozen in time.

Though she had forgotten one pivotol point of force stun. You had to concentrate while doing it. Natalie stood like a complete fool as she looked in despair wondering just how long it would take Abyss to bury that damned body.

 

[Darth Abyss]

His apprentice made a valid point, or at least Abyss was happy with having her believe that she did. The far less impressive truth was that for all his skills, his control over the physical world was lacking more then a little. While he could certainly to more complex and precise tasks then many with telekinesis, he couldn't summon the strength to shake the earth open at will.

While [member="Natalie LaForte"] returned indoors, Abyss begun to calmly dig a grave into the ground. If he was honest he found it to be a quite relaxing experience, and at some point even unconsciously begun to whistle. Not like a human, but a multilayered, complex song with ever changing, twisted harmonies, sometimes rising to a great crescendo before quietly continuing as mellow pianissimo. Slowly the ground began to open up before him.

Feeling no hurry at all, the husk dropped the body into the grave before taking it out again. It wasn't deep enough, at least not for his liking. Placing the now dirt riddled body besides the hole again, the Sith Lord continued to dig for a few minutes before he was finally satisfied with his work. After carelessly placing the body down there again, he began to complete his task by filling the grave with earth. Some more time passed while he finished up to even out the dirt to perfectly ailing with the earth around it.

When he was done, the shovel placed back where it came from and the dirt cleaned of his feet, he made his way inside to be meet by the frozen figure of their new subject, and his apprentice standing besides him with a focused expression. As so often his mocking grin was a perfect fit as the husk slowly circled around the man and his apprentice, clearly taunting his apprentice by wasting time. Only after he had finished to other circles around the two, he came to a stop right in front of the subject.

"Hi, thanks for helping out."

To underline his greeting the husk delivered a quick punch aimed at the man's forehead. Not enough to damage his brain, but most likely enough to knock him out for more then a few minutes. He could've done it with the mental arts, by why waste such an effort on a soon to be dead man?

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie wanted to scowl, but out of fear of letting her grip go did nothing but feel sorry for herself as the husk moved around her. Eventually though, as she saw [member="Darth Abyss"] take up the position directly infront of the guest, she sighed out of relief and let it go, the man looking confused as the body fell lifelessly to the floor.

"I thank you ever so much for your assistance." followed with a sarcastic smile.

Moving forward her arms found their way underneath the wedding suit the man was wearing, effortlessly lifting it thanks to her unnatural strength. Once or twice she flexed, looking down at her clearly toned upper arms, smiling and thinking. Damn. Being a vampire is hot. Not that she expected Abyss would care anyway. The two would make their way to the observatory, that would be the room they were in previously, with no distractions unless the mindeater was planning on playing a practical joke on Natalie.

The air was still, all was silent, to Natalie it seemed morbid putting the man in the same position as his wife was in 20 minutes prior and where she died. Technically they weren't married though, they were only engaged. Similarly to the woman, she strapped the man in to the leather cuffs and prepared the same administered poison that was sitting in a metallic trolley tucked away in the corner.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"As always I am more then happy to help."

Abyss simply answered Natalie LaForte's sarcasm with his own. While his apprentice begun to carry the unconscious body back to the observatory, the husk took a closer look. Her physical strength, especially in contrast to her appearance, was quite impressive, most likely due to her being a vampire. He noted that observation quietly, knowing that it could come in handy in the future, at least for him. For her it meant that he could impose even worse tests upon her now.

"His faint connection to the force would allow you to rip his spirit back into reality before it dissolves entirely. Yet I would suggest that you learn a method that would work without it, with the benefit of not heavily damaging his soul in the process."

With Natalie strapping the body to the table, Abyss began to search for a few pieces of paper and a pen. While it would be possible to bring the spirit back after death, it would most likely leave the man's essence in pieces, and therefore alerting his personality into some madness riddled monster with a strong desire to die again.

Once he had everything together, the husk started his work. Rapidly his hand danced over the paper, firstly drawing a hexagonal cluster of six individual runes. Then he added countless lines to show the interconnected nature of the runes, as well as gibberish mix of sith and basic in a failed attempt to explain the path his mind had taken to create them. With every passing minute more obscure ideas sprawled on the page, a testament to how easily Abyss could get carried away when immersing himself into the arcane arts.

In the end he offered the page to his apprentice. A single look would reveal that the true challenge would be to decipher the incomprehensible chaos he had written down, instead of the creation of the runes themselves, which simply had to be cut into the man's flesh.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Yeah..."

Natalie's tone of voice sounded uninterested as she held the small beaker up to her own eye level, mixing a blue solution with a stirring rod heeding the husk no attention as she was more intent on finishing the man off quickly. Some bubbles fizzed to the top of the solution as the reaction continued to occur, though eventually after 30 seconds or so the blue solution would turn more a pale-baby blue. One hand picked the man's head up and rested it upon her other arm, then proceeding to pour the rest of the contents of the flask down into the man's throat.

Within minutes he would be dead.

It almost seemed procedural with how she managed the whole operation, then proceeding to clean the entire area up. The man looked like he was having a seizure of some kind though relaxed if that was possible, simply some hand movements and jerks before completely remaining still by the end of it all, at which she moved to see whatever [member="Darth Abyss"] was working on.

Both of her eyebrows raised as she looked down at the page, half smiling and reaching one hand to the back of her head, scratching and then running to fetch a surgical knife which was sitting on the trolley along with the now empty flask.

"Ahem... You have lovely hand writing."

Moving back towards the bench she set the page down, the surgical knife beside it and her elbows now touching the desk, attempting to comprehend exactly what had been placed in front of her.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"You should see my paintings."

The husk chuckled, or rather scrapped his metal teeth against each other, in response while watching [member="Natalie LaForte"] struggle with his notes. It sounded like one of his sarcastic jokes, but if someone wandered through the galaxy's art galleries there was always a chance to stumble over on of his works marked by his false signature.
"Patience apprentice. Take your time."

Patience was a virtue of both the jedi and the sith. Yet in the case of the sith it didn't meant to stay passive, but rather to observe an issue from as many angles as possible before acting. It was a integral skill for the raising of the dead, in fact it was required for almost all kinds of magic and alchemy.

"Many mistake runes for letters or words with a precise meaning. To understand them you need to view them as what they truly are, complex, vague and quite abstract ideas given physical form."

Abyss had theorized that any rune could fill any purpose if the creator understood them well enough. It was a needless complication of the process, but as long as a mind could be convinced by a logical reason why a certain idea could be used, it was possible to make them work.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"I'm assuming your art is similar then - abstract."

She turned her head back to the page and then looked at the corpse. There's a time limit. At least if I want something resembling a living being, otherwise it's just a puppet. Though at this stage, did she really care about the exact state in which they were brought back? Probably not. One hand drifted towards the surgical scalpel which was lying dormant on the surgical table. Surprisingly clean considering what had transpired previously, and what was about to happen.

While she had no reason to actually be listening, it was quite an ajarring emotion she felt like the room was empty, or was getting slightly more empty. The hand which was gripping the surgical knife loosened, the knife dropping followed by Natalie pressing her fingers on the man's throat, checking for a pulse, still of course attempting to make sense of these notes. Nothing.

"He's dead at least." Dropping the hand soon after then going back to fidgeting the surgical knife.

"So I believe that I understand it... to the best of my ability. Though, if I must be honest, would it not be better for me to produce my own? If they're ideas - then they're you're ideas. Will they work for me?"

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"If you are confident in your knowledge, then go ahead. Even if not, feel free to try while I get the shovel ready."

The husk made his trademark chuckle, the high pitched metallic screeching still sounding as unpleasant as ever. He was all for [member="Natalie LaForte"] trying her own hand at the subject he meant to teach her, he had just assumed that after her initial failure she would be interested in a solution that was likely to work. He took position besides the corpse, his hollow eye sockets locked on it and his apprentice. It would be interesting to see how well she would do.

"Know that there is nothing wrong with taking inspiration from another's work. Even if the runes are the same, your understanding and therefore their effect will still be different. The only danger comes from copying a cluster without spending enough time and effort to unravel its meaning beforehand."

Everyone had to start somewhere. Many sith, Abyss among them, had begun their journey into the realm of runes and magic by analyzing the remains of the ancient lords. There was barley any crypt or tomb without a sort of arcane protection, and runes were among the most common forms to archive it.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Hmm. Alright."

Almost immediately afterwards she roughly began removing the suit - or simply unbuttoning his shirt - and piercing the man's lower abdomen with the scalpel, attempting her best to copy over the symbols whilst ignoring writing down [member="Darth Abyss"]' rough work. It was surreal in a way, usually she expected some sort of muffled scream or resistance when she inflicted pain, though the man was actually dead. Truth be told, this was her first time doing this particular practice, with the bride she hadn't even tried carving the runes on prior to performing the ritual, an easy beginners mistake.

It wouldn't take long before they had been inscribed into the man's skin, deeply piercing enough to cause scarring and a nasty infection should he live longer than she was expecting him to. By the time she had finished she was just starting to get into the rhythm of things, finding it rather therapeutic and calming given it was all too similar to her favorite past time - painting.

Though even this was a tad more gory than her work at home.

"Alright, I believe that's everything; now what?"

She stood back, allowing the husk to admire her handiwork should he so choose.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Put your hands on the runes and close your eyes."

The words whispered through the air like a cold, clam wind. It wasn't just their sound that had changed, but their presence as well. The husk emitted a aura of dark calm, of both relaxation and focus and all [member="Natalie LaForte"] had to do was to accept it into her mind to aid her in the task at hand.

"Reach out to the darkness, feel as it flows through you. Your frustration, your anger, your obsession, whatever it is that drives you. Feel it as it burns in your chest."

Slowly Abyss right foot began to stamp down in a rhythmic fashion, a constant, unchanging beat to go along with his words. The echo of his voice and the rhythm became one, creation a distorted, almost tribal piece of sound that was only steps away from growing into music.

"Now feel the force around you. Feel the lines of your creation, the energy that flows through them and their intimate interactions. Touch them, not with your hands, but with your very essence."

The beat that had stayed slow suddenly picked up its pace, marching on at double the speed. With every stamp his words began to dissolve, losing their individual content, but forming into a coherent, yet incomprehensible collection of knowledge and ideas flooding the mind of his apprentice.

"Wrap yourself around every stream, every connection within your reach. Fuse them with yourself, allow them to feed upon your energy. Feel their meaning, and make it your own. Speak the words they tell you, free them from the chains of your mind and allow them to give form to your thoughts."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie's fingers ran over the stone cold corpse until they finally reached the rough location of the runes. Her natural instinct was to shiver, but something... stopped her. She assumed it was coming from Abyss, lest this man secretly be a Sith Lord in disguise now coming back to haunt her. Stranger things have happened before. The runes were... odd. They were simple carvings on the body - she had performed no ritual to actually empower them, but there was an air of strength around them.

Obediently, Natalie's mouth remained shut as she closed her eyes beginning to pull on the emotions that Abyss had suggested. By now, she had learned to control them so at the very least she would not give a visible reaction, whether that be gritting her teeth or wanting to scream with frustration. Feelings began to stir in her mind as it became a hellish landscape of memories of pain and anger, fueling her hatred even more. She almost seemed to be deaf at this point, not being able to hear his musical stylings, concentrating entirely on stoking the fire that was her power.

Infact, she completely blanked out the rest of Abyss' words at this point and immediately began channeling the energy of the force. It was even shocking to herself, well it would be if was self-aware at this point. Right now, an extremely intense darkside presence began to manifest around her, not visible in this plane though the husk would certainly be able to sense it, completely different from anything she had managed to summoned previously. In the mortal plane, everything seemed extremely calm, but in her mind she could see outlines of everything in the room in neon pink while the finer details were a dull black colour.

There was absolute silence in her mind, but Abyss' words managed to filter through this manifestation, though before her had even finished his sentence her eyes snapped open and a purple weave began to encompass the man. As it moved from his legs to his thighs, his skin tone would go from a healthy looking tan to a more menacing grey, some purple scarring appearing as it continued up his body. This continued up until it finally finished, at which the body lay there appearing lifeless.

She was unable to tell what she had actually done, rotating her head with her eyes wide open to [member="Darth Abyss"].

 

[Darth Abyss]

The Darkness.

Abyss had felt it inside [member="Natalie LaForte"] the day they meet, and now after all his teachings, the training and the hardship, the day of its real awakening had finally come. Never before had he sensed it within her in such a focused, pure form, unrivaled by the small sparks that had allowed her to get so far. The chains that held her broke apart when it seeped out of her as flashes of purple, given shape by the dark flame that had been enkindled inside of her.

"Welcome back."

The lifeless black holes inside his mask starred back into the wide open eyes of his apprentice, trying to see if there was truly something else behind them now. His words weren't meant for her alone, but the gone knight of the sith that still had to linger somewhere in her mind. While she would most likely never come back, a part of her would return with the new darkness that had touched her.

Slowly the husk made his way to the corpse, metal fingers dancing over the purple scars. He almost desired to mark down a few notes on the procedure, mostly because of the color scheme. It was no secret that the force given form had appeared in a wide variety of colors, but there was little research what they actually represented besides being some sort of reflection of those who summoned it, like in his case a ghostly green.

"Reach out again, and tell me what you feel."

He wasn't sure what she had done either. When the darkness came over her, his mind had been unable to follow the exact path of her thoughts. Only time could tell what her mind had enforced onto the spell of the runes.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"You made the darkness sound so menacing... but it was calm. Tranquil even." Raising one of her hands to her chin as her head turned back and stared down at the body. "Now onto whatever I have created..."

A part of her mind itched, like it needed to be scratched. The very same part which used to be but a distant memory, that of her days with neon blue hair and violent tendencies. While it would never return in full form - and she never wanted it to, given her roots were already so badly damaged -, her eyes relaxed and a soft smile grew across her face as she become detached from the situation for a few moments, but then snapping back. She couldn't get it out of her mind. It had been... awakened. Forever looming and reminding her of what she once was, and how she has changed for better or for worst.

As he commanded, once again she closed her eyes and reached out, feeling the pain which was seeping from the man's body. This time, she seemed to be in a bit more control, aware of her master's voice should he so choose to speak though she would probably ignore him involuntarily. Each passing second, the purple scars seemed to grow in size and further show themselves. While the man could not speak, she could quite clearly tell what the energy was and how the scars were adversely affecting her otherwise perfect work. If he was present, she would speak or at least attempt to speak in whatever this ethereal plane permitted, telepathy or another form of communication.

The open scars are seeping the energy which would otherwise bring the man back to life. Either there was some interference with my first attempt or he rejected the gesture.

She could feel the man's soul fighting back, like he had not fully departed but was not going to surrender to her will. Like last time, her surroundings were dulled to simple outlines other than the scars which were glowing like a star. One after another, the scars began to mend with some sort of spiritual stitching, closing though soon after they ripped open, the energy pouring out again.

GIVE UP.

The woman focused her very being into suppressing the man's power, in the process disabling his access to the force while still somehow sustaining his essence. In the material world, the earth would shudder slightly as some of the dark energy poured through, but otherwise was relatively contained. The stitching began again, which one final one covering his mouth, the only sign of resistance she could see left in this dimension.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"There is a serenity to be found in the void, but a single look too far beyond can shred it away and replace it by pure horror."

The greatest threat that the darkness posed towards those that called upon it wasn't the fear and terror felt by those around them, but the seductive, addictive qualities that etched into a mind forever. It was a curse and a blessing, one that was near impossible to shed once it had clawed itself deep into mind and soul, and one that could grow into a terrible affliction if left unchecked for long. Control and restraint were virtues for those among the darkest paths, or else the tranquility would break apart and reveal the true, violent nature of the dark side, a lesson he had learned only when his flesh had begun to corrupt beyond salvation.

Abyss quietly watched as [member="Natalie LaForte"] went to work once again, watching the struggle between her newborn power and the frail soul of the equally newborn corpse that desired to be left alone within the realm of the dead. Energy was dripping through the violet cracks in the man's skin, and while Natalie continued to close them, the husk stepped besides her, a single finger dancing over one of the openings.

Purple mist swirled around the metal claw, and then was drawn into a small green crystal his free hand had produced from his robe, harvesting the spirit ichor within the object. He didn't meant to disrupt or interfere with her process, but rather desired to store some of the fading energy to aid her in future experiments, the next step on the path to arcane might. Satisfied with his own little task a talon adorned hand closed around the now glowing stone, and the husk stepped back, waiting for her to finish up.