Digging through the past

[Zef Halo]

Uninhabited planet, Wild Space.

Contingency Plans. Piles upon piles. That is how the Imperial Intelligence worked. That's how the Empire and the Emperor worked. Now double that amount of piles and you've got the paranoid madman Cronal. Mastermind Director of the Intelligence during the heights of the Galactic Empire but insane.

Only few knew of the locations where databases were spread. Databases that contained tons and tons of information the Empire had gathered. Despite the Emperor's plans for greatness and eternal empire, he too knew that having plan beneath your plans was a necessity to go forward. Hence, for the utmost security all information that the Imperial Intelligence had gathered was copied and stored into different locations on uninhabited worlds throughout the galaxy. Physical copies. Copies that could not be reached by the kings of slicing.

That is the quest that Dagon Zambrano had currently embarked on. To seek information, something from the past. What exactly ? He did not know. Perhaps still his loyalty to the Emperor drove him, perhaps he sought clarity or guidance. An aim. Perhaps there was a clue to what a Hand should do in such scenario that he was in. The Emperor always had a plan, always had a course of action for every single turn of events.

Did he know what to do after his death, though ?

 

[Zef Halo]

Dagon walked through the dry clearance engulfed in his thoughts. The co-ordinates that he knew by heart were the co-ordinates of a cache with Imperial Intelligence information or at least that's what he believed it to be. That was not the issue as much as it was the fact that he had no idea how he knew this coordinates. So abruptly he had ventured to this coordinates that now the dark jedi questioned his sanity. Indeed, the planet answered the description of planets where such information could be stored but how many more such planets existed.

No, this could not be coincidence.

Or it could, hah.

You..?

Leave your thoughts and you may feel it...

Feel what ?

The thirst for blood..

Suddenly, Dagon snapped with cold sweat running down his spine. What was this tremendous amount of fear that he felt freezing his body. The Zambrano felt watched and observed by a predator. What unnatural aura it projected. Yet, the dark side was fueled by fear and transforming it into energy, Dagon felt it strengthen his connection with the Force to stabilize him, to give him power.

From behind..!!

 

[Zef Halo]

The bite tore his flesh and the creature's maw flinched him up and tossed him away like garbage. The pain was unbearable and the bite had resulted in his air shattering shout of pain. As an internal combustion engine, the pain pumped immediately fuel to his connection to the dark side. The pain numbed replaced with hate and the intent to kill. He could still feel it pulsating but the pain was numb, in his veins now ran the dark side of the Force. With every beat his heart made it pumped more and more fuel into the rampaging fire within.

He stood with an activated lightsaber to face his adversary - a 3 meter black lizard, a wingless dragon. It emitted waves of the Force, of the dark side...a Force sensitive creature ?!
Dagon's thoughts were quickly waved away as the beast lunged forward in a surprisingly quick charge but truly reckless one. As if it had suddenly found much greater appetite in the Zambrano than before. As if his hate and intent to slaughter attracted it. With a brutal upward slash he sliced beast's head into two. Jet black blood scattered everywhere as the beast fell down like a puppet on the ground. A grotesque that pleased Dagon. The obnoxious picture of slaughtering the enemy that was so hellbent on killing you brought a victorious smile on the man's face.

The Hand coughed.

Blood found its way on his hand from the cough.

 

[Zef Halo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SSUQxGjZZ4​

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I'm not the one who's so far away

He staggered in his steps, his vision blurring.
When I feel the snake bite enter my veins

Coordination was failing, the voice within spoke but it was heard only as blabber.
Never did I wanna be here again

Decisions, decisions. Wrong, right. The mind played games on what was before him. Forest, desert, steep rocks, snow, storm, hurricane. Shifted, shifted.
And I don't remember why I came

Dagon fell. Strength abducted from his life. Life was leaving his body.
Hazing clouds rain on my head

Visions. Fog. True or False. Armor-clad.
Empty thoughts fill my ears

Why is he here, who is he ? What ?
Find my shade by the moon light

From day to night in a second. He sees his eyes, he sees himself. No.
Why my thoughts aren't so clear

Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Fight. Fight. Fight.
Demons dreaming

Enigmatic presence, intimidation. Fear. Strength. Fight. Fight. Fight.
Breathe in, breathe in

The air so sharp, so thick, so outlandish. Vision blurry, head spinning. Strength. Power. Fight. Fight.
I'm coming back again

"Find the strength within your pain."

"The dark side will free you."

 

[Zef Halo]

The deep, enigmatic voice rang through his head in the form of echoes. Echoes both within this dimension and another. It was not a hostile voice, nor a helpful one. It was completely neutral as if stating a fact. The words would repeat themselves consequentially in the Zambrano's mind as he barely continued walking aimlessly forward until he finally fell on his knees. His body shook before his head slammed the ground next to a mysterious object.

"The dark side will free you."

The voice was now much clearer than it was. It almost sounded as if it was coming from his head. There was no one around, neither was it the voice within him. Despite all the pain and confusion that the poisonous bite had brought upon him he could feel a source of...power. His blurry vision laid sight upon the triangular object next to his head. Focusing on that source, he began accepting the words of the mysterious voice.

Slowly but surely, the conversion of pain into power began.

The purging began.

The dark side will free you.

 

[Zef Halo]

He boiled within as water boiled under intense heat. Slowly but surely the bubbles would pop quicker and quicker as the temperature of the water increase so did the poison within was being put under pressure from Dagon's will. The Zambrano shivered and shook as if he had a cold but the more he burned within the more stable he was becoming. From a painful facial expression, his face turned into a determined grimace of anger and hate.

The.

dark.

side.

will.

free.

ME!!!

His eyes struck open, their color a mix between yellow and red. Certainly an unnatural color. A blast of energy repulsed itself from him. Once. Twice. On the third time he began standing up as a barrier of the ethereal surrounded him. The flames of the dark side burned inside and outside. They purged all that touched him. They purged all that tried to hurt him.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Look around you." The voice echoed in his head. Not the voice that often bothers him within but another. "You are a consumer. You consume what is within you and around you to gather strength."

Dagon obeyed the voice turning his head aroud to see the ground around him wither, to see the corpse of the dragon disintegrate into bones. Not even carcass for the vultures left.

"But there is more to you than that." The voice said sternly and paused. "You, subconsciously, travel the planes. You do not know it but you do. The talent to walk beyond reality and back into it. Ever shifting tides of time and space."

The Zambrano stood up slowly from his place, looking around to find the source of the voice. The only thing he could see beyond the withered circle of flora and fauna was a triangular object. It emitted an aura. An enigmatic and powerful aura.

"What you sought at first had already been claimed. Or attemped to be claimed. It's all dust now." The voice echoed once again.

"Who are you?" Dagon asked the wind while keeping his gaze at the mysterious object. Abruptly he felt a presence and his blood ran cold.

"You are about to find out."

 

[Zef Halo]

Energy. Power. The ethereal. The Force. It shifted, it swirled around him and Dagon finally assured himself that the source of the voice and the energies was the object. The triangular object flashed red light periodically as if it was breathing. Fear struck the Panathan warrior as he observed the mystery before him unravel.

"Enter the Abyss. Nomad."

The object called at him, hailed at him, beckoned him. The Zambrano felt curiosity engulf him, he sought knowledge. He sought a path to walk. The abyss screamed his name, it almost felt as a physical entity was grasping at him attempting to bring him in.

He heeded the call.

With a confident step forward, he bent down to clutch at the object and the moment Dagon's fingers grazed it his world turned black. Nothingness. Darkness. No feelings, no presence, no senses, nothing. The literal definition of nothing.

The blackness dispersed as if sucked out by something only to reveal...a steel chamber scarcely furnished. A sign of an efficient worker's place. Reading the surroundings was something very well taught to an Emperor's Hand. Many time seeing one's house could determine his personality. It was vital in missions as an Emperor's Hand.

"Welcome to nowhere." The voice, this time clearer with no echoes, rang behind him. " And everywhere at the same time. "

Dagon turned around to see finally the source of the voice - an armor clad and tall humanoid with a steel helmet. The presence dictated authority and power. The Zambrano could easily see that. As an Epicathix he relished the possible challenge and as a Zambrano he was direct in his words.

"Why am I here ?"

 

[Zef Halo]

"That question is for you to answer only." The tall humanoid spoke through the annunciator in his helmet. "It is of irrelevance to me."

"You mean I've chosen to come here."

"Did you not ?"

Dagon remained silent to that question. He had no answer. There was no point to keep asking reasonable questions and receiving the same mysterious questions by the humanoid all over again. A rather descriptive one might be answered though, nothing hurts to try.

"What is this place ?" The Zambrano asked as he strolled around the rather empty chamber, inspecting the place with his eyes.

"Nowhere and everywhere." The man's voice suddenly came from behind him and Dagon snapped his head back to see the man suddenly present a few feet behind him. He had disappeared and reappeared without the Hand noticing at all.

"That doesn't explain much." The long-haired man replied. He wouldn't dare ask questions on how the man had done what he had just done.

"The void, the abyss, the in between. It has many, many names throughout the galaxy. A place where only a few have the gift to traverse." The man replied and Dagon raised an eyebrow.

"And I assume we are one of those few."

"Correct, Nomad."

"Nomad ?"

"Nomad." The enigmatic man replied firmly. "One of the names given to us and a name I give upon you."

"It doesn't help me much if I cannot do it consciously." Dagon said as he faced the man and took a few steps to approach him much closer. The armor-clad man once again disappeared to reappear a few feet behind him.

"That is why you come here, Roamer. To learn." The man stated. "To learn the ways of planeswalking."

 

[Zef Halo]

Before him the scenery shifted from the chamber to the forest he had previously been bitten. It then shifted back to the chamber and so on it flashed before his eyes. As he took a few steps, he could feel every moment the change of the ground beneath him from soil to steel and vice versa. The smell, the air they changed every time he inhaled. The temperature as well. He traveled between two planes. Did both exist ? What was real and what was not ?

"You will find the answers to this questions on your own, Nomad. The voice within you. It has a connection to this gift." The voice echoed through his head but the man had ceased to exist. "Go now, claim this piece of the puzzle."

The Zambrano grimaced and wanted so many questions to ask but he felt the presence that spoke disappear, this time completely. If he would ask, he would only ask the air around him. The flashing finally ceased and Dagon was back at observing the mysterious object that no longer glittered red within.

Claim.

Confidence rising, he snatched the object from the ground and gazed into it.

His life was as ever a mystery to himself.