I Are All We

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

The thing hummed in amusement.

At least Carach assumed it was amusement, it could have been anything really... difficult to determine with its lack of true facial expressions - skin dead and hanging around it with piercings holding it together, slack at times... rotting - and its voice distorted. But before the Sith Lord could pull Aver back she was already gone.

Blurred in speed so fast that it seemed as if she had simply disappeared and reappeared in a different spot.

The beast tilted its head as Aver came in with a lunge. She trailed crimson and copper fire and then she... penetrated him straight through the chest, for a moment it seemed everything was going well. Then the thing's hand locked itself tight around Aver's stretched out arm, physically pulling her closer while the sizzle of the lightsaber's plasma burned a hole through its body.

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I̵҉̲͎͜ ̱͙͚̹̮͘͝s̗̯͖̝̟͜͝m͇̤͠e̸̜̜͔̙̣l̲̗͈͈̰̝͖ĺ̻ ͍̺͔̮͓ͅw̩͉͢͜͡ę̧̫͍̹͖͜a̱͖̠͉͜ͅḱ̜̪͜͝n̡̛̠͔͖͙͙̰͍̼e҉̙̗̥̤͓͞s̸̟͙s͖͉̺̺͉̬̩̤͞͡.̸̶̦̗̘̠̜̺ ̰̺̣̠̭T͕͓̰̠ẖ̵̡̫̺̳̗̯͓͓͞e҉̡̱͉̜̦̜͕̖y͕͍̜͘ ͏̟͍̯͇̦́͠ͅͅw̙͇͔͙̲í̙̮̣̫̞͇l̛͙͓͈̟͚͝ĺ̥̫͠ ̞c̢͚͖r̠̠u̶͖̺͓̭̠ͅs̝̖̻̯͔͟h̸̶̪̥ ͉̠̠͍y͏͎̻͙̦͎̩̪̦o̭̮̙͙̜͉̙̝͢͠͡ṷ̧̖͚̤͓̟̬̻̀̕.̹̠̠̤͉̲​

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There was no escape in that moment- over and over its fist drove itself into her side, harder, harder. Carach tried to help, his mind stretching out as fast as he could wrap it out, but all he could find... was the void, he did it anyway, ramming his presence in the void, where the beast should have been.

 

[Aver Brand]

[member="Carach"]

A split moment of satisfaction as her blade found its mark, sank true and deep through the twisted ribcage.

And then the fist fell against hers. Over and over, the creature dashed its frail bones against phrik plates, hitting with force a body like that shouldn’t be able to muster. Aver didn’t scream – she recoiled, finally relinquishing her grip on Chomsky.

With a pained roar, she reached forward with her palm as she twisted her body away. Her right found purchase under the sharp mandible, in the hollow of its cheek, hooking under the zygomatic. But her left… it snapped up, catching that blackened fist on its fifth (or was it sixth?) descent. She yanked it outward at the end of her pivot, extending the elbow just as her knee came up to break it.

It snapped in two – Aver pushed off with her back foot, tackling the creature into the sand. Pinned like a bug with her lightsaber still in its chest, the monster twitched under her weight.

Nothing left to do but squeeze.

The skull ruptured like a ripe Mandalorian orange, its gray juices splattering all over the sand. Black, viscous blood welled out in a lazy trickle, slowly marring the gold with a tainted halo.

“Kark you,” Aver spat. On uneasy footing, the merc rose again, nostrils flared as she took stock of the fire licking through her ribs. Blue eyes fluttered closed.

“Kark me.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Carach grunted once once the fight was over.

Careful stride took him past her and crouching next to the beast. It was almost impossible to notice how hard Aver had beaten the thing up, because prior to arriving here it had already been... wrecked. Bones split apart and bending inwards, ligament showing outward, ribs, spine, skin at the seams, the entire thing was an abomination. How it was alive or rather functioning? That was anyone's guess, but for some reason it felt even less natural than Matsu's work.

"Fething thing shouldn't exist." The Sith's hand brushed the outline, touching its neck and focused. His glance turned inwards as he experienced the last moments once again, but this time from the perspective of the being itself.

He shivered slightly and it had nothing to do with the soft breeze this up high.

"It was amused throughout the... fight." Carach said, shaking his head before the hand retreated again. "It didn't care if it died, it was just... testing us."

Then the Sith noticed her stance, as he looked up and stood. "You okay?" Felt surprising to ask that. No matter how hard they fought, if there had ever been one singular point: it was that Vrag was always okay and almost never got a scratch on her. None that were vital anyway. But the thing had done a number on her - not just physically, there was a sense around her, a feeling. One that Carach barely picked up because she had turned herself inwards so he wouldn't catch it.

Doubt?

 

[Aver Brand]

Been a while since she’d last got this beat up. Such a fethin’ long while she couldn’t even remember. Woman was built like a tank and rated to withstand just about the same punishment. Doled out that kinda damage, too.

There was nobody around but [member="Carach"]. And him, she didn’t care if he saw or not. Aver trudged over to a nearby outcropping, flopped down, and began removing the plates. The phrik was fine – even black magic monstrosities couldn’t harm that baby – but the armor underneath? Not so much.

Gingerly, the merc peeled off the section of impact gel that had taken brunt of the assault. Shet was hardened like some karker’d shot it with a .50 BMG. Reaching below, gloved fingers palmed the bodyglove – mostly intact, a few scales crushed here and there. Didn’t really matter, thing did its job.

But feth— “Bastard fractured my ribs,” she grunted, carefully feeling out the extent of the damage. Aver set her jaw, then set her bone. Pulled in a sharp breath at the spike of pain.

“Stop looking at me like that,” the woman spat without raising her gaze. With her free hand, she fished a bacta shot out of her belt and stabbed it into her side without a second thought. Stung like a schutta, but it’d help with her healing. Even with her natural talents, it’d take hours – hours they didn’t have.

“If you can’t get anything outta that, let’s go. Just,” she paused, gesturing with her head towards the cliff. “Get Puppy up there, would you?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

He diverted his look.

Part of him wondered if this would have happened ten years ago.

Were they getting old? Was it just that they were slowing down and losing their edge? The stakes seemed high, but maybe that was just because they were not at the top of their game anymore. He grunted as he pushed himself up, nodding and skipping past her towards the cliff that paved entry towards the lower regions.

Puppy seemed small so far away, but that would change soon.

Carach focused- hand already reaching out in the air, tapping the Force before it wrapped itself in thick lines around the beast's body. From there he raised his hand and with exertion of will it started to float up, and up, and up.

"She is... pppht." Carach grumbled as the weight dragged him down. "There we go."

Sweat trickled away from his temple, he was also pretty sure he had popped a few blood vessel from focusing so hard.

 

[Aver Brand]

“A handful? Heavy as shet? The best tuk’ata you’ve ever seen?” Aver spoke from her perch on the rock, observing his effort with a curled mouth and crinkled eyes.

The beast met his efforts with her own – she was a Sith after all – and landed on the plateau with feline grace. She rose up on muscular hindlegs and licked [member="Carach"] from beard to forehead with a long, blood-red tongue. Nuzzling the man for a moment, the hound then trotted over to the merc to deposit her head in Aver’s lap. Bright eyes blinked up at the woman.

She laughed, reaching down to scratch the expectant beast under the chin. Muuuuurrrrr.

“You know any of those symbols? Up there on the temple?” Aver asked as she began to put her armor back in place, layer by layer. If there were more of these karkers inside, she was gonna need it.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

"All of the above?" The Sith offered with a snort, before being... overwhelmed with Puppy's expression of affection. She received a scratch and a pet, before Carach rubbed the saliva off with his robe. Not a thing that could have been done with armor - so, who was really the fool for coming here with a robe? He stretched, silently, softly, as the two exchanged more animal acknowledgement. At least until Ygdris called him, asking for his opinion on the symbols.

He came around, eyes squinting to make them out.

Yeah, he recognized them alright.

"The Leviathan." Carach gestured towards one of them. "The Spider." Most of them were gone though, stone brushed by endless sandstorms and eroding the symbols beneath. But Carach was almost sure that there was a Dragon just next to them. Faded. The prism on top of it still almost visible, while the wings had been long since cleaned by the coarse sand. If they had needed any more acknowledgement of being in the right place after killing that beast?

Then here it was.

"They are the representation of their... Gods? They worship them as such at least." He shook his head. "One of them had called Reverance the Leviathan when we first discovered them."

The implications were disturbing.

 

[Aver Brand]

The vestiges of a smile dissipated as [member="Carach"] began to talk. She gave Puppy one last scritch behind the ears before standing to join the Sith Lord, eyes tracing the half-erased symbols.

Oh, Aver remembered well how the cultist had greeted them. Lips ran like a white scar across her face, twisted aside in displeasure as she chewed over this development. One guess who he called the Horn—

“Gods don’t exist.” She turned her head an increment towards the man at her side. “Only power and those willing to take it.”

Even the skull on her faceplate seemed to scowl.

“Kark this,” Aver spat and headed inside. No point staying outside discussing delusional bullshet when they had a temple of the fethers to kill.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

She seemed more upset than Carach would have assumed her to be.

But he let it lie, because it was none of his business.

Besides Aver fought better in controlled, secluded fury. Most of them did - controlled anger released at the right moment was far more potent than clinical reservation or consistent barrages of emotions raging through your body and causing you to lose focus. One more look was spared to the symbols, before he turned around. Then froze. It was the sweet, cold caress of a familiar lick against his spine and his very essence. It send tingles, it hurt, it pleased, it was an experience he had only experienced once before.

When looking in the eyes of sapphire.... and only seeing the monstrous tide.

Dragon. Carach looked left, where the whisper had originated. Dragon. Right. Dragon. Behind h- draaaaaaaaaaaagon. Carach closed his eyes, set his jaw and then passed the point, joining Aver as she looked over to him with a look that said "the kark was that?".

"I am fine." The Sith Lord mumbled, before descending into the shadows. "Just fine."

 

[Aver Brand]

[member="Carach"]

Her only response was a snort. Watcha gonna do? This was clearly some mystical bullshet that went right over her head. Aver had no intention of chasing it.

The gates of the temple swung inwards easily enough, and the bright light of day spilled inside. More symbols on the walls, drawn time and again over the same stone-etched lines. Under her phrik boots, sand grated against the solid orange rock.

Reassured by the weight of Chomsky clinging to her forearm, the merc headed inside proper. Puppy followed behind her, paws soft as silk despite her immense bulk – she meandered between the pillars with preternatural grace, red eyes piercing the pitch black.

But the chamber was empty. Aver’d expected an altar at least. Or, you know, some kind of convenient explanation as to what the kark was going on, in case the universe had felt particularly generous. What she got instead was a rough-hewn set of steps carved into the mountain.

She switched to thermal, wrapped her fingers around Sa Sevai, and slid into the darkness of the stairway.

Leading down, of course.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

Carach blinked once.

The amber of his eyes swirled as the Force enhanced the smallest form of light and gave him entry towards deep shadows of the staircase leading down into the depths of the temple. Even still there was difficulty see and Carach simply closed his eyes, allowing his hidden sight to take over. The Force was everywhere and it showed things that would have been hidden otherwise.

The runes for instance, they glowed now.

"The markings... they have power to them." The Sith Lord mumbled, sharing that little piece of information with her. "Don't touch them." It was a warning that suddenly emerged in his head.

Why not?

Carach wasn't sure, but for some reason it felt like the runes were watching them.

"I think they use them as... viewports, to watch us." Them... not the ones in the temple here, but them outside the Galaxy. Always watching, always paying attention. If not with intent interest, than at least with casual regard to the way things were progressing. It was a strange mix of apathy that pushed them along.

They reached the end of the staircase.

A large corridor in front of them: filled with darkness.... and breathing.

There were two dozen of them, if not more. No... definitely more. Their skin was marred with etched runes and more, not even a loincloth separated them from the cold dusty air. Breathing heavily, until they suddenly stilled as the footsteps of the two Sith Lords reached them. Then... as one they turned towards the intruders.

Howling from the top of their dead lungs.

Then they lunged... all at once.

 

[Aver Brand]

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

Most people stalking down those stairs would’ve shat their pants at the sight – at the noise. But getting scared was for people who hadn’t set worlds on fire and ordered the deaths of thousands. It was for people who didn’t hunt others in the night. Fear was a reaction of the gut, screaming at you to move aside, to let death pass and claim someone else.

But they walked with death. Perhaps, in certain ways, the didn’t deserve to be afraid.

Aver was not a protector. She fought not out of ideals, but out of greed. A set goal, a clear path set out through whatever obstacles lay between her and what she wanted. She could count the number of things that would stop her on the fingers of one hand.

None of them mattered in the moment. They were all far away, and she was here, in the middle of a shetshow.

Still, she liked [member="Carach"] enough to give him a warning. He’d earned that much.

Bubble, motherkarker.

Aver rolled a cooked thermal detonator out into the hall, quick-stepped back like a proper makashi nerf herder, and brought up a wall of the Force with bared teeth.

There was only so much metaphysical nonsense she was willing to suffer in one day.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

Carach dropped down on one knee to make himself as small a target as possible.

His palms came together and a bubble wrapped itself around them, yes, even Aver. Because he didn't have the time to look at what she was doing, before the detonator went pow and shrunk into itself. Two seconds later a field of annihilation burst forth from it, burning through and disintegrating the running... zombies?

It was a bit unclear what they were.

A breath later the field dissipated and the hallway was full with only half as many zombies, because the rest hadn't been in range of the detonator in question.

"Kark me." Carach bit down as his palm swept out and the bubble burst, sweeping through the corridor and causing the remaining zombies to barrel through the room. Bones broke, screams, but it didn't seem to stop them much. Slower, yes, but they crawled back up to broken limbs and bones, prepared to assault them once more.

"Got another one?"

 

[Aver Brand]

[member="Carach"]

Good, smooth reactions. With every strike and foe, they were falling back into step. Used to be they had a rhythm – a particular dance, of blades and blood. They’d hum, too, while carving through enemy lines.

Could’ve said I do. Instead, Aver simply grabbed another grenade off her belt and introduced the twitching mess of limbs to its destructive power. Force was all fine and well. So were creepy crawlies. Really, the gruesome Sith tricks worked well right until they didn’t – right until you shoved some good ole technology down their throats.

Grim smile screwed into place, the merc watched the rest of the mangled bodies turn into red mist.

“We’re getting to the bottom of this, and we’re killing it.”

Ribs aching and hackles raised, Aver marched deeper inside.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

It was almost like old times.

Besides the tightening of his heart as the Force was forced to do his bidding. The pain was palpable as the cage around the Heart of Graush shuddered in distaste and agony. It was the consequence of decisions made and pursuits followed. The passage way swept around a corner, then down again with another set of stairs, before devolving into a large space.

A hexagon.

Torches slowly burning in a set.

But that wasn't where Carach's attention was- rather, it was on the pair of figures currently bend over an altar. Their bodies wrapped in strange carapace of organic armored tissue, horns and jagged edges coming from their bodies.

Once they were in the room?

Both of them turned as one.

 

[Aver Brand]

“Ze Draaghonnn,” the first one hissed. “Ahnd zee Ooorned ghoddd,” his fellow added, basic breaking over fanged teeth and forged tongue. Two beasts with a thousand eyes between them, and mouths that opened like the pits of Selvaris before her gaze.

“Vhee treassure yourrr sssacrifice.”
“Ahnd yourr vhillingnesss to join usss.”
“Hhhh—”
“—ordra. Vheelcommm.”

Imagine something halfway between ‘Oh come on’ and ‘Kark this noise’. That, except with a hundred percent more profanity, was the extent of Aver’s reaction to the room they walked into.

Or, more accurately, its inhabitants.

This reaction also included a knee-jerk instinct to reach for her weapon – any weapon – and so the merc did exactly that. Flipped Chomsky into her right, made an obscene gesture with her left, and—

disappeared?

[member="Carach"] wasn’t the only one with tricks up her sleeve. ‘Course, anyone half as Force sensitive as a duracrete brick could figure out what happened. Wouldn’t change a thing though.

Hello, vongsense.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

"Zzhit lookss like Oooorned Ghodddd hass dissappeaaarrrred."

"Not foooor long." The second... thing - Carach wasn't actually sure what to call it - nodded at him with a... patient? gesture. As if the beast was saying: Oh, can you just hold on a minute? We will be right there with you. The Dragon took one step forward, already calling the Force to his side, to finally wipe out this plague, so they could go home again.

Then the second thing clapped his hands.

Once.

First there was silence, then power erupted. A strong kinetic punch coming off of them in a spherical aura, not direct force manipulation, but the air around forced in a new direction.

Carach had been standing relatively far away from them- he still got launched back into the entrance from where they had arrived.

Cursing along the way.

 

[Aver Brand]

Digging in was as pointless now as it was when you got hit in the face with a fist. Learning to roll with the punches was one of the first stepping stones to Survival on Nadir™. Aver’d walked that path some forty-odd years ago.

So she rolled. with the fething. punch.

Literally.

A standard piece of shet wouldn’t have held against a ripple that powerful, but the merc had this one built specifically for herself. As in, specifically for the absurd danger levels she faced on a daily basis.

Her shoulder ached as she righted herself against the wall, scraped from the impromptu maneuver. The live camo held. Her ribs ached; her forearms burned – Ternion, crying out in separation – but she bit down on her inner cheek and dropped into stance.

Slow, careful steps. Aver circled to the flank of the bastard who’d thrown them about like ragdolls. She ignored the horns curling from his skull. She ignored his flaming, grinning maw. His bright yellow eyes, slithering from [member="Carach"] to the room, and back again.

Searching.

Well, he found her – when she sprang her lightsaber into his spine.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Aver Brand"]

The lightsaber went in as planned.

It went in, impaled the beast and came out on the other side. So far so good, but why did the beast not seem to care about it all that much? For instance, its reaction was fast and dismissive, a swipe of the arm that would swat her away from him.

"Zheee 'orrrneeed Ghott misstakesss usss for ssssoomething elsse." The Impaled One intoned patiently with its sliss.

"We cannot dieee, becausss we are not alive." The other finished with self-satisfaction.

Both of them looked around the room now.

Listening patiently until Aver would zip by again, but that was the mistake. Disregard the threat that had forcibly left the room in favor of the one they could handle right now. Carach stepped into the room once more, nodding to himself, before smiling a smile that had been rare on this trip indeed.

Then his mind slammed into the space between the physical tether of their body and the.... else. Before they could react he ripped through their tether, breaking their hold in this place. Before he could take a closer look at the else and go crazy from what there was there.

Almost at once the bodies crumbled to the ground.

"Fethers talk too much." Carach mumbled while seeing the irony. He grimaced, pretty sure he had bust a few ribs back there.

 

[Aver Brand]

If it weren’t for the helmet, Aver would’ve spat on the corpse. The yellow beam of Chomsky disappeared again, even as the merc slithered back into the Force. The difference was minute – blood oozing back in to fill a wound.

“This is… pissing me off,” she forced out through a gritted teeth. Anyone who wasn’t blind or deaf could tell that anyway, but she could feel some of the frustration seeping away just with the words themselves. It was a bad idea, this – fighting with anger burnin’ in her gut – but her usual discipline held kark-all against this meta-space-magicko-physical bullshet.

“Then you oughta feel right at home, sugartits,” she bit at [member="Carach"], stalking off towards the altar to busy her hands. Before they cracked against a jaw. “Come on, Pup,” Aver called out, “let’s see if you don’t recognize some of this crap.”

Because who woulda guessed it – the solid slab of black stone was practically invisible beneath all the symbols crawling across its surface.

She could already tell just how fun this was gonna be.