Divine Intervention

[Ax'no]

Location: Building site of the new Temple of Ax’no, Iktotch

Watching the construction of her temple had become one of Briga’s favorite past times when she was back on her home-world of Iktotch. When the Priestess wasn’t with her congregation at the ancient ruins - which due to simple means and convenience had been her place of worship as long as she could remember – she was strolling around the building site.

She hoped to show her Master, Darth Prazutis some of the progress later, because hidden deep in the rock on which the temple would stand there would be a personal space for the two of them. While Briga didn’t completely hide her affiliation with the Sith from her disciples and handlers, her role as an Inquisitor and her relationship with the Director of Intelligence necessitated having a hidden, well-protected, encrypted staging area.

But he would be arriving to the site much later. The day before they’d spent hours in the ruins, shuttered away from the congregation, exploring each other’s dark charms and howling in pleasure. Briga woke up this day feeling strangely lusty, despite her protracted lovemaking with the Anzati hybrid.

Wandering down a windy, but picturesque path with high white cliffs on either side of her, buffering the breeze, Briga wanted to see what the view of the soaring temple would be like from a series of nearby caverns. As she grew closer, she noticed a Balae warrior squatting by a small lagoon at the mouth of the closest cave, his hands dipping into the water to drink from it again and again. He was sweat-soaked, and an axe sat on the ground beside him.

“How do you do today, fine soldier?” Briga asked approaching him quite naturally. Startled, he scrambled up from his knees at the sight of the Priestess of Ikotch, the pure reincarnation of Ax’no herself. And here she was speaking to him.

“Very well, My Priestess,” he answered.

“Come with me into the caves,” she offered. “We can pray together.”

The Balae grunted in the affirmative and followed her like a dutiful canine. Briga looked over her shoulder at him with a seductive grin. He was certainly a simple-minded beast, but his body, clad only in a loincloth - and very little else - was a powerful instrument to be worshipped. Balae were the warrior class of Caprine. Their bodies were incredibly large by nature, their horns thick and curling downward resembling a ram. Another of the mystic’s favorite activities was watching elaborate sparring matches between male – and sometimes female – Balae where they would lock horns and fight, at times to the death. She enjoyed those sparring matches so much, but right now Briga had another kind of sparring in mind.

Once tucked inside the darkened cave, the Priestess wasted no time pulling the warrior close to her. She positioned herself on a flattened rock and pulled the Balae on top of her. “This will be our little secret,” she whispered in his ear, for her reputation in the community was that of a chaste goddess, not the bacchanalian nymph she was behind closed doors. Without question, the Balae complied, eyes traveling the mystic’s shapely form. He only grunted again, pulled off his loincloth and lay against the goddess to give his own special alms to Ax’no.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Building Site of the Temple of Ax'no...

Briga in many of their previous conversations mentioned about the new temple dedicated to Ax'no, her temple that she was building. The current one as good as it is, is built out of crumbling ruins where it costed more to keep the place from crumbling to dust than it was worth. She was trying to create something fit for a place of worship for Ax'no, a symbol of her power and prestige as the reincarnation of the goddess herself. Word was spreading about the legitimacy of her claims to fame, but the ruins she based herself out of were also inhibiting her progress. "Why would the reincarnation of Ax'no allow worship out of that dump?" the sentiment was often shared.

But this project of hers would crush those sentiments, and the symbol of might would prove to those non believers she was for real. There were multiple reasons why the temple's completion was a benefit to him. It was the perfect in to create a Base of Operations for Sith Intelligence on Ikotchi, the perfect cover to create a lair deep in its confines. Briga showed him the designs for the temple and he agreed to put some funding into its construction, providing many key modern devices needed, including sound dampeners, and sound proofing that he was all too familiar with. A necessity for interrogation, torture, and more primal desires should the need arise.

Prazutis would never admit it but there was something about seeing the woman's eyes light up as she talked about its construction that he liked. The Grand Temple of Ax'no was a dream, a passion for the High Priestess Briga Tiin. So he agreed and funding from the Sith and his personal coffers flooded in from various off shore accounts, it was all carefully done to look like anonymous donations, but they both knew where the money really came from. He personally reviewed and approved all of the products that were being purchased, it would be Ikotchi construction but no temple he was paying for was going to have primitive defenses, and primitive encryption.

If it was going to be a Base of Operations it would have the right defenses. Slaves were smuggled in from the Pacanth Reach, working deep in closed off portions of the caves to work day in, day out to carve more tunnels deep beneath the surface. While at the same time these tunnels were carved, and durasteel built over top of them in certain areas to create secret areas. Underground rivers were re-routed and pools dug to create the warm pooled grotto the High Priestess loved so dearly about the previous one. When the Dark Council, and Crown Prince Braxus Zambrano made a demand, it was followed with peak efficiency.

Prazutis rose earlier than usual to find Briga gone it was expected, she already told him she always loved to go see the construction in the mornings. They were supposed to go see the Grand Temple later, and she wanted to impress her master with the work. But Prazutis decided he was going earlier in the day to visit it. The early and long days reminded him of when he built the massive Vain Hollow, the Dark Citadel that dominates one of the largest peaks. Prazutis was wearing his typical elegant, long flowing dark robes along with his usual jewelry and the like. The hood was pulled up over his head as he scaled the long path to the top.

The temple was massive in scope and construction was already going on, and so far they had made startling progress. The Sith briefly toured the temple grounds with the foreman on the site, but the man was busy and he intended on meeting with his apprentice. According to the man there was a picturesque path along the side that she occasionally took near the temple, and to start there. So he arrived at the nearby pathway and began walking along it, admiring the view of the large temple in the distance. A part of him understood why she would walk a path this far from the temple, but a part of him for some reason didn't like it, and it reciprocated its subconscious feeling with rising emotions of anger, hatred.

Snake. Betrayer. Don't trust the priestess. The temptations of the empowerment in his veins whispered into his mind. Darth Apparatus warned him that while it gave him power, his gifts would also ply at his mind, seeking to drive him to the bring of insanity. While Valthris did this as well, he was able to shirk off both of their voices as he walked along, stopping at a small lagoon. But as he knelt down at the water something was off, he could see the tracks of Briga here but there was also someone else here, someone large. The tracks led inside the darkened cave complex nearby. Prazutis glided inside like a shadow with the speed and silence of a wraith stalking its prey. But he did not expect to find what he did.

Moans, gasps, howls, and other animalistic sounds of pleasure rose into the air getting louder and louder as he delved deeper. One voice was unmistakably Briga his apprentice, not too long ago during their passionate day she was letting out similar sounds, but there was another deeper guttural voice along with other noises of affection. As he rounded near a cave entrance, overlooking a small chamber below, light shining inside from from some sky-opening he saw it. Briga was stripped down to her birthday suit with a large ram horned Balae Caprine mounted on top of her. Prazutis didn't know why his anger exploded in a fiery inferno, his hatred pouring off of him in palpable waves as the voices whispered into his mind. Deceiver. Betrayer.

The words she had spoke to him were a blatant lie about commitment, she claimed to be done with her needs of constant lust with otherss, she claimed that she was committed to the Sith. But here was this warrior, this Balae Caprine with his hands on his apprentice. Doing things to her in recent months only he had done to her. The gall of this pathetic primitive to touch such a goddess, and the deceiver Briga was. No wonder why she wanted him to come later, she was going to take every warrior before then. Did she even need him? So many questions exploded but one thing was for sure, the dark side utterly exploded from him in the chamber.

Prazutis walked up to the very edge and drew his black bladed Rudis. The Sith Knight brought his booted foot up and swiftly slammed it down sending a shockwave through the cave walls, briefly shaking the very foundations. The shadows darkened and gathered around his appearance looking every bit the Grim Reaper, the Destroyer, the Dark Titan that he was. "FO̭͙̥ͅO̖͓̣͉̦̞̥L̥̟̼̱͙͡!͍̫͚͚ ̖̟̘̩̮̹̺I̫̮̦͈̟ ̗w̟̥̘̲̘i̡͇l̰̟͚̠l̶ ̻̺̤̫̣r̭̳ͅi̞ͅp ̴t͉̰̭h̻̤̤̣̭̭̠ẹ͈͟ ̱͉̗̗̖̝fl̻̬̜̤̘̙e̳̲͝s͚͖͓͙͙͝h͚̥̻̹̫͘ͅ ̘̼̺̙͍͔̦f̣̠̖̘̹̭r̪̫̘̞o͚̼͍̮ͅm̼̺̼̠̖̩̭͡ ͙̱̼̯̞y̙̤̦̘̼͉o̴͕̪͎̼̙ur̸̮ ̛bo͎͈̬̟̗̬n̷̳̩̭̪̘̳e̟͔̺̠̭s͇̯͚͚̖ͅ,̵͔͙̭̤͉ ͔f̱̜̦̱̫̗͞e͚̜̼̬a̤̱͇s͈͓̻͈̰͈͙t͕ ̧͕͙̻̱͔̗y͏̫̪ọ̦̙̦͈͕u̶ṟ̶̙ ̱̠̱̺͟r͉͎̯e̢ḿ̦̥̳a͉̰̮̮̙͍i̵̻n̥͍̣̞͕͠s̬ ̘̟͟t̥̣̺̰̮ͅó͉̗ ̴̟̟̳ͅḿ̳̙̠ͅy̢ pe̝͕͡t̻s̥.̤̙͙͙͙͓ ̴̟̻I̖̭̣̝͟ ̣̤͚͔́wi͡l̛̩͚̱͕͎l͢ ̤s̸̹ͅc̞̦͠a͇̘͕t͕̕t̛̬e̼̳̳̟̬͕̺͠r̲̭̣̦̙͇ ͉̭̖̱̼̙̠y̭͎͕̱̗̤̰͟o҉u͚r̟̣̩ ̰̕b̲̰̙̠̙oͅn̶͚͎̲̬̠es a̸̝̮̳̪̘͍c̫ro̩̫̩͜s͖̣̖͙̟̟͍ṣ̬̝̳͜ ̤̥ţ͉͚̻͔̝̤̜h̞͙͓̗̗͞ͅͅe̮̣̥̼̭ ̷͙̻͎e̡̲a̮̻̜̩̘r̠t͉̳͙̣h͖̖̗ ҉̙̥̮̙͍f̰̩o̢̺r̥̘͕̥̤̘͈ ͚̞͚̬̘͇ṱ̷̯͇͉̘̹̻h̴̥̞̹̠̲̻̼e͡ͅ ͓͕̳̝͉ͅc̝̙̕à̝̗r̡̟̼͉r̪̼͉͕̩i̩̤̱̙̘̦o͙͎̟̫n̻͈̺̭͉̬͘,̧̼̞̝ ̢͍̼a̳̩̭͞n҉d͟ ̻̤̲̞̙ͅẉ͍a͞t̠͜e̞̺̩̱͓̣r̵̦͕ ̤̠̯͟t̴̳̳͓̦h̸̲̺e͙ ̱̲͎͓̥͟g̷̬̤̖̞̝̰̻r̨͕͉̺̼̯̮o̙̘͉̘̭͔u̳̩̪n̲̜d̹̙̩̠̩̳͘ͅ ̺̹̗̪͔w̟̻̝̦̥̻̩i̱͢t͈ḫ̗̜̹͙͕͉͝ ̡̘͖̯͚y̻̹̤̥̭͚͠ou̸̙̗̫͇̗̻̭r ̵͇͇̟͎̝b̶̻̣̮͚̱l̢̟̜̬̯̳̟o̶͙̜ó̘̖͚d!͎̘̗̞̗!̶̲"̠̗̱̥̩̖̞͟


Prazutis roared down into the cave as his voice took on a strange hypnotic lull, a supernatural tinge as he dropped down to the main chamber. The shocked warrior stumbled away from the Priestess and looked upon the man standing upon the cliff with fear, terror even. It was as if this dark cloaked man shrouded by an unnaturally dark presence was some dark god of their pantheon, the Lord of the Abyss coming for his soul. "N-No!" The warrior said as he stumbled towards his axe, grabbing it and holding it in front of him in the best defensive stance a terrified soldier paralyzed with fear could offer.

The Sith walked up to the man and easily parried his strike and with a powerful roar sent him careening across the chamber using the force. Prazutis drove his blade into the earth and pointed at the caprine. "Y̮͕o̗̹̘̣̫͉̟ṵ̬̪͕̭ ̢w̸͖͈ͅi̹̬̙l͍̺͓ͅl̘͔͕̤̦̻̀ ͖͎̼̫͜s҉̟̞̗u͓͎̺̯̼̩͠f̘͍̗f̡̬eṟ̬͚̭͖͈!̨̟" Prazutis unleashed a powerful torrent of crimson lightning upon the man, unfocused at Briga.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

On some level, Briga could feel Darth Prazutis approaching, but the impression was that of an ember in a sea of flames. Her full attention was on the Balae and her own satisfaction. While the ram-horned warrior wasn’t the lover that her Master was, he would suffice. Sometimes for the Caprine Priestess that’s all that was needed – a hot-blooded (or cold-blooded depending on the species) body to fulfill her basest desires. This ignoble behavior was what the Panathan Prince had warned her of: “If you cannot control your desire, eventually it will not only control you, but consume and destroy you," he'd said. Of course the Balae currently on top of her was but a simple, primitive creature. While he could probably twist her neck with his strength, he was busy twisting her in other ways.

Suddenly the shock wave of the Darth Prazutis stamping on the floor of the cave, sent a jolt through the two of them and brought small rocks down upon them from overhead. Around them, a pure and utter darkness descended. The Balae warrior began to move away from Briga, finally speaking words and not monosyllables.

“Ax’no is displeased,” he said with a terrified whimper.

The Priestess sat up, confused and afraid, yes, but also feeling the acute interruption of their lustful activities. Here you are in clear danger, and you still want more. Aren’t you the fool, she thought?

But once she heard the guttural growl coming from inside the cave, and the familiar Force signature, her heart froze in terror and her stomach dropped. Prazutis was coming. And when the Anzat-hybrid finally swept into the caverns, the Sith demi-god was barely recognizable to her and quite terrifying to the Balae warrior. Briga knew that using his axe against the powerful Sith Knight would be like trying to stop a raging inferno with one drop of water. And the Priestess was not in the mood to be scorched.

Her dress half torn off of her body, feet bare, Briga backed up until she was in a corner of the cave on the absolute fringes of the dark radiance that pulsated from Darth Prazutis, and there she curled up, watching in horror. The Balae was tossed back by the Sith Knight’s roar and then struck by bolts of red lightning that sizzled his fur and skin.

Heart pounding, Briga made a desperate decision. If he had his way, this would be the second warrior that the bloodthirsty Anzati had executed since he’d been on Iktotch. “Do not kill him!” shouted Briga, defiantly. While she was more than willing to mow down Sith enemies – Jedi, rebels, even civilians – she had a weak spot for her own species. There was no need for either of them to cull the herd since Caprine were relatively rare in the galaxy to begin with. “I swear to Ax’no, if you slaughter him, you will know my wrath,” she hissed at her Master. He may mistake her loyalty for the Balae as petulance over her toy being taken away so suddenly, but the Caprine was merely devoted to her disciples as they were devoted to her. Another executed Balae would also arouse suspicion in the community.

As she watched the ram-solider writhe on the ground, she prayed that he would survive the Force lightning strike. At the same time, she watched Darth Prazutis in his resplendent robes, the feelings of dread were juxtaposed against her lust for him. Even still, as he squeezed the life out of, not just another living creature, but a strong Caprine warrior, she longed for the Sith Knight to take her on the rock, the way the Balae had.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

As he blasted the warrior with a gruesome barrage of lightning, burning his flesh and fur as the caprines skeleton flashed into view. Prazutis's seething rage compelled to steadily increase the power of his blasts. The gall of this foolish, naive caprine warrior, to place his hands on such a goddess. The image of Briga with the balae caprine on top of her was burned into his mind, it boiled his blood as he heard the sounds played over and over in his head. The dark sided corruption flowing through his veins screamed into his mind "She lies to you. Deceives you. You are a fool."

All of a sudden Briga jumped up from her corner half naked with her dress askew, the bone chilling fear emanating from her heart. She proudly demanded the he let the warrior go, lest he face her wrath. It was a futile attempt at protecting one of her species that she valued so much. Prazutis knew of the great pride and care she had of her own people, and it was enough to force her to her feet and even threaten her master. Inside the anger was a hidden pain, a pain awakened he was not used to feeling, and a pain he was trying to relieve.

Quite suddenly Prazutis stopped blasting the soldier, who turned to scramble and flee from the might of this Dark Titan. The Sith Knight used the force to push Briga to the wall and pin her, as if she was a victim preparing to be crucified. "YOU DARE THREATEN ME!" He said as he drew the blade from the earth and walked towards her. "I will do as I wish. I could have your temples ripped down to the foundations, I could set the surface of this world on fire, and execute your mongrel race! I will make sure every caprine in this galaxy knows of your true self. Don't you ever threaten me you mongrel!" Prazutis brought the blade high and moved as if he was going to separate the head from her shoulders, but he suddenly stopped.

He drove the blade into the earth and turned around, seething in his rage. The darkness was controlling him, he could feel the empowerment flowing through his veins manipulating his actions. The Sith Knight took one long deep breath, and turned towards her still pinned. The undying anger and hatred burned in his eyes, but behind that was a pain he wasn't used to feeling. He tried to hide his pain from her but it was difficult "I trusted you. I placed my faith in you. You say one thing, only to turn and stab me in the back." Prazutis said as he took a step towards her. "I thought you were something more. I didn't believe the stories your maidens told me, or the rumors. I was wrong for thinking otherwise, you are nothing more than an up-jumped, spice addicted tavern wench with a god complex." Prazutis told her, his face deadpan.

Prazutis glared into her eyes as he continued "I was wrong to call you worthy of being my apprentice. I thought you fit to stand at my side, when really you belong on your back." He turned away from her gaze then, and said. "Your position will be re-evaluated in the coming days for this betrayal." Prazutis sheathed his blade and released her from her position, starting out of the chamber.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga couldn’t disagree that the Caprine warrior was an oaf. She had deceived him as she deceived the members of her congregation every day. She preferred not to think of it as betrayal but a means to an end – the same end that all Iktotch wanted: to see their revered goddess back in power.

The Priestess knew that defiance of Darth Prazutis’s orders would be met with swift punishment. She braced for it, in fact. However there was something different about him during this outburst. His face was not as cold as it normally was. There was an emotion visible that she’d never seen.

Anguish.

But she had no more time to ponder or even intervene, as she was slammed against the wall but the Prazutis’s Force Push and held in his grip. She heard the metallic ring of the knife as it exited a rock and was now in the Sith Knight’s hand. He lurched over, ranting and raving, holding the blade above her as though he was going to strike. The Dark Councilor was much more powerful than she was. Briga knew she was no match for him. And she’d gotten what she wanted after all – the Caprine warrior scrambled away, hopefully to the ancient ruins to be healed.

Is this what you wanted, Briga? To die like this? In a remote cave, near your half-finished temple, by the hand of your Master? Someone almost beloved to you, your teacher and lover. All of those nights of passionate wonder would be wasted. All of the secrets of darkside of the Force tossed away with your limp body.

For once Briga wasn’t thinking of Ax’no or the goddess’s triumphant return. She was afraid of dying, not having anything to do with an ancient prophecy, but because she felt some kind of affinity towards Darth Prazutis, once Braxus Zambrano, her half-Anzati instructor. She did not want to be separated from him.

The mystic closed her eyes and flinched when he called her a mongrel. Briga was so intensely proud of her race. Yes they were rudimentary and fanciful at times, but in a way, she belonged to them. Just as she belonged to Darth Prazutis. She recalled the day that she kneeled bare at his feet and pledged herself to him – body and soul to learn the ways of the Sith. She wielded her Caprienean words as a weapon as she now muttered a string of curses at him, in a soft voice as to not arouse his fervent anger. He had the knife poised at her throat, after all.

But ultimately it was his words that cut her the deepest: I thought you fit to stand at my side, when really you belong on your back.

He thought of her as a common whore. But why shouldn't he, Briga, when that’s exactly how you are behaving? Breathing heavily through her nostrils, she inhaled the balae’s odor upon her skin and dress. As he sheathed his blade, Briga slumped down against the wall and said, “Wait. Do not go.” She slunk over to the rock that he’d first found her on with the eager ram-warrior. If she presented herself to him for the taking perhaps he would reconsider? Am I such a primitive creature that this is all I can offer him? The Priestess knew that something was terribly wrong, and that the pain on Braxus’s face had originated with her. But still, this was all she knew.

“Come lie with me,” she said, patting the rock.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

As she pleaded with him not to go Prazutis stopped in place, and turned to face her. The look on Briga's face turned his stomach. The half-naked Priestess was beckoning him over while she herself reeked of sweat, and the hefty scent of the balae warrior who had spent time on top of her. She looked every part the tavern wench waiting for her next client, and it both pained him and turned his stomach. How could he have been so foolish? Why was this bothering him so much, why was it getting to him this way? So many questions and not enough answers racing through his mind.

It made it worse that Briga saw no fault in any of the actions she took. She was confused yes, and terrified definitely yes but she wasn't regretful. However it was painfully clear that his own words of her being a common whore cut deep into the High Priestess. She always thought of herself as something greater, despite her urges to sate her desire she did so when it benefited her. Prazutis looked upon Briga with a look of utter disgust on his face, the same painful look was hidden behind his eyes, it was clear to her that something was bothering him.

He shook his head "You truly live up to the stories. Even now you betray everything you try to stand for. You are more incompetent than I thought if you think that will fix everything. You disgust me." Prazutis replied to her. The Sith Knight then turned around and moved to leave once more. He truly hoped she was more than what the stories said, he really wanted her to be more. A part of him knew that this was what she was like, her tempting ways there was no way she didn't sleep around. But another part of him he didn't quite understand why he felt like this.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

The sadness in Braxus’s eyes was foreign to Briga. She was used to his cold, iron, and at times, sin-filled gaze, but the suffering which washed over his features, and especially within his jaundiced, Force-corrupted irises, startled her to the core.

He had lost faith in her somehow. And a Priestess among the faithless was as useful as a legless devotee on a hundred mile pilgrim.

And this made her angry. To lose his hope in her…

She always knew he scoffed at the idea that she was the embodiment of Ax’no, but so far he’d supported, even paid for her endeavors like her majestic Iktotch temple. But this doubt in her as an individual being penetrated beyond what she aspired to be.

He had lost faith in Briga.

Her fists balled with rage as she slowly approached him. He would feel the darkside of the Force rise up from her like an ink-black raven about to take flight. “You enjoyed this once,” she said, running her own hands down her curvaceous form. “You took what you wanted. You wanted me, and I handed myself over like a donation to the church. So willingly.” Audible huffs through her nostrils, she had a furious fire within her. Rageful at Darth Prazutis for making her endure the suffering she had at his hands, how she’d tortured her handmaidens gleefully, how she’d trained for hours at Vain Hollow until she could no longer stand.

And so easily, he wanted to cast her aside.

No. The horned Priestess was worth his time, was worth his devotion. She was worth his love, even. Not that she really knew what it was. But how to get him to see that?

Briga marched up to him and took the blade from his sheath. With fury, she plunged the knife into her soft forearm in the divot of her elbow joint right below the brachium. “You wanted to do this to me!” she spat. She thrust her arm out at him with the dagger sticking out. “Do it. Keep going. Purge me of all of this tainted blood that I have. Purify me so I will no longer be your lascivious whore but your goddess.”

She was ashamed and anguished, worked into a frenzy by his judgement, and it might remind him of the time she’d asked him to feed upon her life essence with his Anazati proboscises. While the delusional part of Briga knew she would survive because Ax’no was immortal, the other part sought to destroy the harlot inside, so that she would be pure and clean as her worshippers demanded.

And to make the Prince of Panatha believe in her again.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

A new infectious rage rose in Briga as she stood up, running her hands down her curvaceous form as if she was trying to adjust the dress half torn off her body. There was anguish masked in a bath of anger in her eyes, a form of hysteria he had seen before in Briga. The last time he had seen this in Briga was in the throes of passion, in her hysteria she begged him to feast on her. He assumed that Briga unleashed this hysteria when powerful emotions inside her were invoked, and his cold words truly have cut deep to her very core.

Briga stepped up to him he could see the hysteria in her eyes, the terror shrinking as the anger took center stage and she tried to tell him how she was worthy. Briga during this whole encounter expected to be harshly punished, and to just move on. But she didn't expect his harsh words and the cold shoulder given when she tried to use her body as if everything would be better by throwing herself at him. It wasn't and for the first time in a long time her world began to fall apart at the seams, like a burning ship steadily sinking into the ocean. Briga was desperate to prove that he should be proud of her, that she was more than a common street whore lusting after every man she saw.

Prazutis looked at her with pride before as a Sith. Briga was the High Priestess of the Cult of Ax'no, a Sith Inquisitor, and his Apprentice. She wanted to prove that her rise in the Sith was due to his teachings and she was soaking them up well, and she wasn't weak. Prazutis knew at his heart she wasn't inherently weak but perhaps weak willed. Briga struggled in her life with controlling her own desire, a raging sea. But there was something else that burned inside when he struggled to watch her being taken by the balae. Could it...no it couldn't have been...jealousy? To see another warrior with his hands on her delicate flesh brought forth blinding rage.

Just then Briga acted in her hysteria and his mind jolted, the anger halting as she seized the dagger from his belt. The caprine brought it up and plunged it hard and deep into her arm and exiting on the other side, blood flooded forth like lava coming to the surface as it soon bathed her arm in its crimson waves. "No what are you doing!" Prazutis yelled alarmed as he grabbed her. The pain shooting through her body and the blood would no doubt be enough to bring her to her knees but he would be her support. Prazutis held her arm tightly, putting pressure by the wound while he pulled his dagger out with the other. Immediately he covered the would and began breathing deeply and heavily. Tapping into the dark side of the force Prazutis transferred a small portion of his own life force, manifesting itself as a black smog into the wound on her arm.

Shortly after a pain shot through his body far worse than what she was experiencing while the wound very slowly began to heal itself. Prazutis visibly grimaced, gritting his teeth while veins in his neck popped out as his whole body tensed up from the pain. As her arm healed up Prazutis looked into her eyes "I don't want you dead, I was never going to..." Prazutis said, now he could tell the blinding rage was clouding his judgement, influencing his decisions.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga finally got Darth Prazutis to halt his determined path out of the caverns. It was a desperate, volatile act, but one born of her own rage and shame. She’d never felt such loathing before of her strong desire and her weak will. But by the Eternal Core, he made her feel ashamed!

No. That is not true. You are ashamed on your own, Briga. Prazutis wants to help you become a powerful Sith Inquisitor. He’s fought for you. Supported you when you know they are laughing behind your back. Given you every chance. And this is how you show him your loyalty? She was disgusted in herself, and the edge of the knife scraping against her bone, served to carve off all of that loathing, bathing her in a cool, white light. Or that could have been the loss of blood that she was experiencing…

Her knees buckled as the Sith Knight had expected them too, but she still had a vital grip on him, both of her hands curling around his muscular forearm. When he slid the dagger out, Briga caterwauled akin to how she did in their bed chamber. But it was a sorrowful sound with no soft sighs or gasps in between. Through glazed eyes, she watched the black shroud cover her wound. She would have been more fascinated had she not felt faint from the loss of blood. As her stamina increased, the horned mystic would notice that Darth Prazutis was in pain – severe pain, in fact.

She placed her hand on the side of his face gently. She wanted to tell him that it was impossible for her to die. She was Ax’no, immortal harvest goddess of the Iktotch Caprines. But she’d felt her life waning just now, and it terrified her.

This is why she needed the Anzati. To teach her the darkside healing that he just performed on her like some brilliant witchcraft. And she knew now that she needed him for much deeper reasons than she’d been letting on. “What was your childhood like, Braxus?” she asked him, suddenly curious about this Master of hers who she’d shared the most intimate physical moments with but rarely any emotional ones. And by calling him Braxus, she hoped to jog some memories that he’d never shared with her. Perhaps ones that he didn't want to share at all.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Normally Prazutis was used to training others of all life until they were nothing but lifeless husks, it was rare that he used the power to heal others. While it was only to heal the stabbing wound on her arm, the agonizing pain that shot through him was bone jarring. The dark side of the force was not the place you wanted to look to if you wanted to heal other people, and if you did there was always a price. But Prazutis was strong willed, and his endurance to pain was great, through his strength he fought through it and it subsided.

He shot a quick glance at Briga when after she composed herself, blurted out a question asking about his past. What caught the most attention was that she used his name Braxus. Normally he would never let any of his acolytes call him Braxus, that was only reserved to a few people and all of them for various reasons. What it did serve to do in conjunction with her question is bring to the surface memories of his past. He thought of his long career in the galaxy as a mercenary and a contract killer, as well as a long time hitman for the Hutts. It was a long career during a time where he didn't have the dark side, nor a purpose like he does today.

Also it made him think of his past childhood growing up on Panatha all those years ago. Growing up the son of a Zambrano King wracked with so much shame that he broke the ancient rites, afraid of scandal he beat and cast away his son who he declared was no Zambrano. Growing up under his cold mother, a noble lady and an anzati in society. He was raised to hunt and kill, to use his gifts from the time he could stand and walk on two feet. "My childhood? I was raised by my mother, my father was too afraid to call me his son for the scandal it would bring, having a son out of wedlock. I was born and raised on Panatha."

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga knew that the caverns weren’t the most comfortable place in which to have their conversation. It was cold, dark, and with the kind of chill you could feel in your bones. Not to mention it had been the scene of the wanton lust that had taken place a few moments ago.

But she patted a rocky outcropping where they could sit and discuss what had happened. The details of his past jarred them both out of the present, and like a palate cleanser to the violent outbursts and histrionic behavior, the nostalgic turn settled the air between them.

“I know that you weren’t going to kill me. And if you were… well, I wouldn’t blame you. If this were the other way around, I would be livid with jealousy,” the Priestess admitted in a rare moment of self-reflection. It was the first time, she acknowledged that she knew her lasciviousness had crossed a very firm boundary. As Darth Prazutis's Acolyte and eventually a Sith Knight, she could not be cavorting around with, not just the lower caste of Caprine society, but anyone else but him. “Yes, I too would seethe with rage.” The horned redhead looked up at Darth Prazutis, adjusting her torn dress and touching him lightly on the arm. The thought of him with another female, Sith or noblewoman, caused a black surge of envy to course through her veins. She'd allowed him the occasional indulgence in her handmaidens - they were her pets after all - but the thought of him with another...


How did she not see it before?

This powerful, dark-haired, god of a man who had shown her, not just rapture in the bedroom, but with the utmost patience, had taught her ancient secrets of Sith sorcery and the basics of Soresu. She’d been taking this for granted, mixing up his tolerance of her bacchanalian excess with acceptance. He was jealous - which was a normal emotion, and for the Sith, it was at times, heightened, given that though passion, strength was gained.

“What was your mother like?” asked Briga.

The Caprine’s childhood had been fairly idyllic until she reached adolescence. Her parents were both mystics and seers, a little strict especially when it came to religion, but benevolent just the same. But once the Elders had their group vision, everything changed and Briga was taken away from her parents and raised by the male priests of the community to begin her transformation into Ax’no. His Acolyte would ask as many questions as it took to keep the Prince of Panatha sitting right beside her. Because at her side would mean he hadn’t walked away just yet.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

While the caves certainly weren't the most comfortable place to have this conversation, it was certainly the most private place to have it. Prazutis reluctantly agreed to her suggestion of sitting down nearby, and moved to sit down with Briga. As the caprine spoke Prazutis gave her the satisfaction of listening and paying attention to her words, and everything she said was honest, and true. Prazutis wasn't going to kill her even in his moment of blinding rage, and seeing her under some other man was enough to set him off, a black rage going through his body.

"I wasn't going to kill you it was never my intention, my anger seemed to take over."

He felt a black spike of emotions going through Briga as she confirmed she would too be jealous, were the circumstances reversed. It was perhaps the first time both of them recognized this jealousy, and this emotion he was feeling. Briga was different than others he had worked with and trained, he showed her patience and occasionally leniency. There were times outside of training and the things she was allowed to do that others would never be, and in fact it would spell death warrants of they tried. He was taking time in ensuring her training went along perfectly, and she was developing into the Sith she needed to be.

Prazutis thought back to his past as she asked yet another question about his mother, memories of the past. The woman that he called mother was a cold, cunning, and intelligent woman who knew exactly how to get what she wanted. But with her son she was warm and forgiving to an extent, but the woman was a killer, and she trained him to be a killer with his natural gifts. "My mother was cunning, ruthless, and intelligent. She knew exactly how to get what she wanted if she had to kill, bribe or tempt her way to getting it, a force in Panathan Politics at the time. She was...warm, kind even. I learned to kill first through her careful teachings."

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga was well versed in her Master's temper from day one, when on his ship the night after she'd met him at a Dosuun First Order ball, she'd gone through a roller coaster ride of Sith indoctrination. The next day had been eye opening as he'd turned from one night stand into cruel and punishing Sith Knight in less than twenty-four hours. But there was so much potential in what she'd seen, and the rewards were so heady and divine that she accepted her fate and went along on the journey just the same. The two of them could be - would be - deities someday. Of that, she was sure of.

She had been apprehensive, and perhaps, frightened at certain situations, but never afraid of him. Briga wasn't terrified of dying for the most part, which helped keep her in a protected bubble of denial... except for today, when by her own hand, she'd felt her life essence drain from her.

During the pause between their sentences, they would hear the lone drip of water from a stalactite and a cold Iktotch breeze swept through the cavern. Briga moved closer to Darth Prazutis, though being an Anzati, he would provide no body warmth. Quite ironic that nothing in this cave could keep her warm except her own hot-blooded body.

"I know you wouldn't kill me," she said softly. And then the Priestess listened to the Sith Knight's description of his mother. How interesting that she'd taught him how to stand, to eat, to drink, to talk... and then to kill as their species needed to do to survive. He seemed to admire his mother, which explained why he treated her with respect. Beyond the occasional bedroom roleplay, and at certain times when he really wanted to teach her a lesson, the Prince of Panatha was respectful towards her. He did not treat her as an object of lust like all of those hundreds of lovers she'd taken over the last few young years of her life.

"If your mother were alive, she'd be proud," Briga said, assuming his maternal linage was deceased. "My mother was kind and proud too... I was sheltered and loved until my twelfth birthday when I was removed from my parents and sent to live with the Caprine elders."

Her face clouded for a moment, eyebrows furrowing. He could feel her claws clutching at his arm, digging in. This was a memory that Briga didn't relish, but he knew from her own admission that she'd been whipped daily in religious rituals by the Elders.

"And your father?" she asked.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Prazutis sat there briefly thinking about his mother, a cold shrewd woman with others but warm with her son. They stood together in the rough Panathan world of politics, and she taught him how to hunt and kill. She taught him how to read people, how to lie and deceive, she taught him the basics of what he completely mastered in life. What his mother didn't know when she died years after he graduated from university and left Panatha, that her son learned things about killing and death that she never knew. Prazutis's time as a mercenary and hitman working from the ground up, he took any and all jobs. It was well known that the Reaper would take any and all jobs so long as they paid, and he was widely known for being discrete.

When the Hutt Cartels and other High Valued Clients reached out to him offering six and seven figured contracts he accepted every one of them, his unique Anzati Traits proving invaluable at taking out high valued CEOS, rival crime bosses, syndicate leaders, union bosses and countless others known for his relentless and brutal slayings. The woman that was his mother would be proud of her son, killing his way to the top of the food chain. Soon he was one of the highest paid instruments of destruction, but even then it didn't feel right. It felt like he was just a cog in the machine regardless of how much money flooded into his accounts, he never spent exorbitant amounts on lavish clothing and outfits, lavish properties and other useless objects.

Prazutis just kept depositing the untaxable amounts of money into his own string of private accounts, hiring an expert accountant to manage his assets and cleverly store them. He was already a holder of substantial cash by the time Kaine returned, and his riches spiked beyond belief. But even today Prazutis makes small deposits taken from the Zambrano Royal Treasury, swiping them under the table just in case their assets were frozen he would be prepared with his own Private Fortune. Prazutis listened to her talk about her early life, and how she was taken away to the clergy. "And your father?" Prazutis asked her.

As soon as Briga asked about his father he scoffed and spit on the ground "My father. My father was a spineless, pathetic, worthless fool of a man. If he wasn't dead already I'd kill him myself. A naive man who clung to ancient traditions." Prazutis's own anger rose about the prospect of thinking about his spineless father, a man too afraid to legitimize his son for fear of broken traditions, the man was fortunate to be dead already.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

“My father was also a mystic, but a farmer too. There was nothing he liked better than to stay out for hours in the fields tending to his crops,” she said, remembering him quite fondly for a moment, a smile almost appearing on her face. "Watching his seeds grow in thrive in the harsh climate of Ikotch filled him with such joy." She chuckled at the triviality of it, but her father had been a simple man. "He would take me with him and I’d frolic in the forests until it was dark or time for dinner.” Briga ran her fingers through her hair, feeling dried blood on the ends from when she’d stabbed herself. She put her hands back into her lap and looked, not at Darth Prazutis, but off in the distance.

“Once I lived with the Elders, I was no longer allowed to see my parents. And I haven’t seen them since. My fate required me to sever ties with everything I previously knew and to follow a strict regimen ordered by the Elder mystics.”

The Caprine sighed and glanced back up at the Sith Lord. He would be able to tell that something plagued her. “While the Caprine society is matriarchal, at this time, the Elders were mostly men.” She paused for a moment, trying to find the words. Was she treated like a goddess by the hoary old Elder Caprines? No, she was treated like a whore. All in the name of Ax’no.

“I went from frolicking in the fields and cliffs with my father to being whipped daily. To long sessions of isolation and at times, hunger. And every night I had to please one of the Elders as part of a ritual to…”

Her voice finally cracked, and while she wouldn’t cry, her Anzati Master would be able to tell that these lewd activities had been traumatic for the young Briga who was barely a teenager at the time. She shook her head sadly and stopped speaking, only moving to look at Darth Prazutis when he told his own tale of childhood woe at the hands of his father, even spitting on the ground to emphasize his hatred. She wanted to hold him suddenly, to take his massive body into her arms and squeeze him until he no longer felt the obvious loathing he did for his father. And she did put a tentative hand on his thigh, hoping he was close to forgiveness.

“What ancient traditions did you not agree with?” she asked. In this, they had something in common – the balancing of old-fashioned cultural values with the new and the novel. “And would you like to go somewhere warmer?” The cave had gotten chillier as the afternoon wore on, and she longed for a warm fire and hot mead.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Prazutis said patiently and listened to Briga elaborate on her father and what her own childhood was like. Even then talking about his father brought up a surge of black hatred, the man was lucky to be dead and that Prazutis couldn't bring him back. Unlike himself Briga actually had a father that loved and cared for her, the story momentarily taking his attention away from his foolish father. However her life seemed to take a dramatic shift when she mentioned being taken away by the elders. These Elder Priests who apparently had a vision of the caprine as the Reincarnation of Ax'no took her in, severing ties to her old life.

It reminded him of the way the Sith at times often operated where the initiates take a new name, and their new life begins under the rule of their master. Once you pledged to their teachings you were bound, there was no quitting when you got in this deep. It made sense to him to have the goddess's reincarnation sever ties with her mortal life, she needed to be sheltered, protected, educated by the Clergy to prepare her for her role in life as the High Priestess. But he looked her in the eyes as she continued, there was something off. Something was wrong with Briga as she continued talking about the clergy, something disturbing must have come back to light.

“I went from frolicking in the fields and cliffs with my father to being whipped daily. To long sessions of isolation and at times, hunger. And every night I had to please one of the Elders as part of a ritual to…”

Just like the flip of a light switch to the sound of her voice cracking, Prazutis's mind exploded in anger, a searing hatred boiling beneath the surface. The look on his face changed completely and suddenly the entire conversation shifted. There was no way around interpreting what she said differently, what they did was horrific and tragic for such a young teenager. While Prazutis did unspeakable acts of horror on his own, far worse than what any clergyman could commit, to have this happen to his apprentice, someone he was concerned for like Briga, and to have them still alive. As Briga asked a question Prazutis stared off into the darkness of the cave with one solitary thought on his mind.

They would pay. They would die, all of them.

Prazutis stood then and gestured to Briga "Come with me." Prazutis said in an authoritative voice, ordering her. He walked with purpose out of the entrance to the cave, his pace less casual and more determined as he exited the cave. "We will look at the progress for the new temple later, there is something I, we must do." Prazutis said as he guided them down the path, to a nearby alcove where his speeder was kept. Prazutis slid on the black skull combat helmet he often wore, and one she knew all too well. That along with the lavish black and gold robes made the imposing Sith look like the grim reaper, a dark shadow. Prazutis slid on the speeder and waited for her to get on with him, and then he blasted off into the distance at high speed.

"You will go into the temple and you will call the entire church including your worshippers to assemble in the Great Hall. You will have every single member of the clergy from your childhood assembled on the stage, the others on the floor." Prazutis told her. "Reach me telepathically when everything is assembled, and begin a sermon as normal. I'll take care of everything else." Prazutis told Briga as he whipped up to a covert, hidden spot along the temple so no one would see him or her. He would allow her to get off and after moving the speeder to its same covert spot, got off.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Darth Prazutis was in no mood to answer her question. Not after the information she revealed about her mistreatment by the Caprine Elders all of those years ago. He bolted up from the rock and began to stride out of the cave, barely waiting for her to catch up. “I don’t know about this,” Briga said, unsure. She knew exactly what the Sith Lord had in mind. But on one level, she wanted it too.

Revenge.

Especially if the lusty, abusive Elders were to pay the penance for her mistake with the Balae; this would be all the better. Briga was far too under their influence to strike out against them. Most of them were now near the end of their lives, and the Priestess of Ikotch was now too powerful for them to even dare touch her again. But the fear of them – their wrath, their punishment, even how they smelled and yes, tasted – all of it had lingered with the mystic, and she tried to avoid interacting with them as much as possible. It had been a flaw in her plan in any case, for it had taken her awhile to build up the church with lukewarm support from the Elders.

But when Darth Prazutis donned the skull-shaped helmet, Briga knew that there was no turning back. She climbed onto the speeder, clasping her arms around his sturdy waist. The two of them must have been a sight. The horned Caprine with her torn dress and blood stains and the Sith Lord in his finery, made it look as though a Cacodemon was taking a daytime joyride with his succubus clinging to his back. Not a normal sight for Iktotch by any stretch of the imagination.

But she was firmly in his favor again, and she would do anything right now to stay there. As they arrived at the temple, her stomach rolled with anxiety, anticipation… and yes, a little bit of gleeful excitement. She’d envisioned the grisly death of those Elders many, many times while alone in her bed as a youth. Now her teenage fantasies were about to come true. Once Briga climbed off of the bike, she looked back momentarily at Darth Prazutis and then she entered the temple. He’d hear her ring a giant bell signaling that the church was about to be opened to the masses for service. The Priestess quickly changed into a long, high-necked gown to cover all of the gore that remained on her body and did as she was instructed.

And in no time, most of the Caprine colony, the Elders included were ready to hear Briga speak. The great hall heaved with worshippers expectant for a lecture, chant or a divination.

She sent the Anzati Prince a mental missive: “Everything is ready, My Lord.”

And then she started her sermon.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Everything was in place and all he had to do was wait for Briga to get everything set up. Even still though Prazutis anger exploded, the black hatred burned brightly inside as he took in deep breaths. The Elder Priests saw a teenage girl, a goddess brought in from youth and what did they do? They sought to take advantage of a young and beautiful Briga. They themselves broke the ancient covenant, the doctrine of chastity among other rules that she was forced to abide by, and made her do unspeakable things night after night. They just lived their last day on this earth, and they would pay for such deeds.

Already the bells rang endlessly as the caprine began to funnel into the temple, the colony filling up the great hall as Briga did as she was ordered. Everyone would bear witness to what was about to happen, and his targets would be on the front risen stage area with Briga, his targets while the others were down on the sides. A good amount of time went by before caprine stopped funneling into the temple, and quiet once more enveloped the exterior steps. Then into his mind came the message of his apprentice, everything was all ready for them. Prazutis wasn't swayed by sob stories but he decided to let her off the hook for now, especially after the talk they had.

Prazutis stood in front of the doors of the temple and shut his eyes, moving his hands in articulate motions through the air. "Shujiyio timias katsoshirsi tsosûtojona waria artsa dzis kam ani shiyi dari na kraujas diâ kûts. Nuri ki tu'iyia tutsatsa, rososûti ki ri midwan iw ri naktis, satkari ki ri rizûti midwan iw ri sosûtudorjazia." Prazutis said a hypnotic lull, thumming with power formed in his voice as he uttered the incantation. A crimson energy enveloped around his body as he floated into the air. He then slammed his hands together and a loud booming thunderclap erupted into the air around him. Prazutis then pointed his hands forward towards the door and suddenly a wave of crimson energy exploded forward. The rolling blast of dark side energy made contact with the door and shattered it completely, falling in two pieces as it came crashing to the ground, revealing the interior.

The dark cloaked helmeted Prazutis landed from his levitating position once everyone saw the floating figure. He took slow powerful steps as he walked through the wreckage of the door, gripping the long, bladed Rudis and drawing the black blade to the sound of ringing steel. A paralytic fear seeped into the chamber, obviously his appearance along with Briga's sermon, and their gullible nature had them thinking it was a messenger or more aptly, the Reaper of Ax'no. "Dare to escape and feel the goddess's wrath." Prazutis boomed his voice enraptured by magical power and augmented by the helmet, the translator subtly changed that into Caprinean as he lumbered forward.

Prazutis with a small gesture caused every door besides the one he broke down to slam shut. He approached the stage and pointed to the group standing behind Briga "The goddess knows of your sins, of your insolent ways. She is angry and CALLS FOR YOUR DEATH!" Prazutis used telekinesis to pull the man closest to her off the stage and into his gripped hand, where he tossed the man down to the ground. Prazutis thrusted a hand towards him and suddenly a black smog erupted from it, completely covering the terrified clergyman whose terrified screams and begging boomed through the great hall. However it gradually got weaker and weaker until the smoke dissipated. The mans body was nothing but skin stretched over what looked like a skeleton, the life drained out of his flesh.

As one of the clergy tried to run off the stage Prazutis pointed the rudis at him, and from it blasted an absolutely destructive barrage of crimson lightning driving him to the wall. This time the mans skeleton showed clear through his flesh, and his skin blackened from the prolonged barrage until it was pitch black, charred and the smell of burning flesh rang into the air. He next floated up onto the stage, and with a fluid group of slashes bisected another man across the torso.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga barely had time to get a sentence out, when the entire temple could hear a type of rumbling, like an earthquake but as though huge tectonic plates were shifting in the air itself. The door shattered into the Great Hall shattered completely, causing the crowd to scream and gasp. But it was the sight of The Scourge of Sev’tok himself that had the entire congregation in an absolute panic. Some of the Caprine and Iktotchi tried to run. Others were just planted in place by pure fear. The Priestess stood very still, not moving. While unrehearsed and in uncharted territory, she assumed this retribution would require a little bit of acting on her part.

Briga dropped to her knees and threw her head back, let her eyes roll into her, as though she were in a trance. And it wasn’t too far of a stretch for her because on some level, she wasn’t sure this butchery of the Elders was something she had the stomach for – no matter how many times she’d struck, whipped, sliced and killed them inside of her head.

But not one of the congregation, audience, even the lesser adepts could flee once Darth Prazutis sealed all of the doors shut. The majestic, if somewhat dilapidated temple, was turned into a mausoleum of pain.

The Priestess’s heart pounded out a steady drum beat of anxiety as her Master went right for the closest Elder. Her head still lolling backwards, she closed her eyes so she didn’t have to see the first death.

You will watch the others with your eyes wide open, Briga told herself.

She finally opened her eyes back up and began to chant, a slow, rhythmic, even keeled incantation, her green irises firmly planted on her terrified congregation:

“In the Light of the Lady, in the shadow of the Goddess, walk softly and be aware for you are Blessed. Sing deeply and be Blessed, for you are chosen to live.”

Noticing the frail skeleton of the first dead Elder, she turned her attention to Darth Prazutis’s next victim who he’d skewered with red lightning from his rudis. Her stomach lurched at the smell of charred flesh, and as the Sith Lord bisected another Elder in two, she then drawled out another chant, this time in a low, unearthly growl:

“In the Dark of Night, when the Goddess is sleeping, run fast and be aware, for you are Cursed. Scream and writhe in Pain, for you have chosen to Die!”


And despite the grisly scene before her, the crowd watching in abject horror, knowing this was a pivotal day in Iktotchi history, Briga felt such an affinity for her Master. And such pride that he’d deemed it fit to provide much needed retribution to the crimes committed against the young Caprine, when she’d been innocent. When she hadn’t bedded half of Iktoch and the surrounding planets. When she hadn’t whipped her own maidens, causing one to be driven slowly insane and killed those she hadn’t even spoken a word to in the name of the Sith.

Yes, she’d been innocent once but the Elders had seen fit to corrupt that innocence until she barely had the capability to love, mixing up physical affection for something routine, ritualistic and expected of her.

[member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Blood flowed off the dais like river to the symphony of screams that boomed through the great hall. Fueled by hate and powered by anger Darth Prazutis hacked every elder standing upon the dais apart with brutal, ruthless efficiency. It wasn't enough to just kill them, no these men were absolutely brutalized. The Dark Titan carved through his victims like a hot turkey at holiday dinner. These men dared to commit such a heinous crime to a privileged youth, a cowardly act to a defenseless victim. Worse these were shards of the past, Brigas painful memories of her youth.

If her transformation from what she was truly into his Apprentice was to be complete, it all had to be swept away. These men committed unspeakable acts upon the impressionable youth that was Briga Tiin, and the High Priestess would never forget the experiences she had by their hands. But if one thing could provide relief that was vengeance. After every brutal slaying Prazutis could feel the satisfaction that his apprentice was getting, these men made her suffer and clearly she believed they should suffer as well. Briga never would've made the decision on her own, even after all these years the brutal trauma suffered by these men left her in some pseudo state of submission towards them.

Why else would she be appointed High Priestess of the Cult of Ax'no, and still keep these Elders around? They could just as easily be replaced by more controllable pawns, people who didn't craft the scars she carries around. Prazutis saw red as he glared down off the dais to a crawling elder, the mans leg had been cut off at the knee by one of his blows and he was desperately trying to crawl away from the walking scourge. Prazutis jumped off the stage and walked right up to the man, severing the head from his shoulders with a swift stroke. Prazutis then brought the blade high in the air, dropping a powerful stomp to the earth.

The stop violently shook the foundations of the chamber, also however a bright and blinding flash erupted in the chamber. Suddenly the Dark Avatar of Death was gone, carnage left in his wake.

[member="Briga Tiin"]