I Was a Kiffar Once

[Soliath Devin Talith]

It would've been wrong to say that Soliael was skulking. That would imply that the man posing as a God in the outer rim was capable of sneaking. No, it was far more realistic to say that Soliael was taking great care to not catch undue attention.

Ziost was an ancient world, one that had a history dating back to the Old Sith Empire. Most people knew that, heck most people knew that the Sith Purebloods had once ruled here. Fewer people however knew that the Purebloods had once called this their home, after Korriban was abandoned after the death of Adas. Soliael knew this due to his former skill in psychometry, and the fact that his technical uncle had stolen a great portion of the Sith Archives, which he had of course read.

That was why Soliael was here.

That was why he moved through the streets of this frozen little town, ducking into the shadows and making his way towards the outskirts, where on a massive cliff a fortress loomed. According to the villagers he had questioned the fortress was long since abandoned, not even used during the days of Moridins and Ashins Empire due to the fact that it was so remote and mostly crumbling.

The villagers had also mentioned that something protected the Fortress, some unknown creature or spell that kept those who wanted to go in, out. Of course to Soliael, that was hardly a deterrent.

He smiled slightly as he reached the path that lead up the cliffs, raising him up and ceasing his more controlled movements. It would be a long climb.

[member="Quinn Vos"]

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

A thin plume of smoke, almost invisible against the surrounding grey-skies would likely be seen from Soliael's position. Quinn huddled next to the small fire, just outside of the abandoned fortress at the top of the windswept peak. The fortress's base offered just enough protection for the fire to survive the elements. Well-used and simple looking winter gear clothed her mocha-skin. The cowl of her coat dipped low over her tattooed features and muddy-brown hair.

The muscles along her shoulder blades tensed as she felt a dark ping in the force. This one was different from the swirling spirits of the planet that threatened to overwhelm the young, Kiffar warrior. This one was alive.

A nagai dagger dropped into the palm of a thinly-gloved hand. She angled her body so her thigh obscured the weapon's view from the path. Her tracker's gaze panned the horizon and waited, with the warmth of the fire crackling at her side.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Quinn Vos"]

The flames came into his vision, or rather the smoke did, as he reached the crux of the path. His unnatural eyes spotted the trail of fire, and his lips turned down into a scowl.

He had not expected anyone so close to the fortress, he hadn't expect anyone when he left the village. The False Gods lips turned down into a hard scowl as he moved towards the outer fortress, closer towards the fire. Soliael extended his senses, probing and pushing around himself with the force. He couldn't make out exactly what was out there of course, the Force wasn't that accurate. Yet he could get a vague sense of what, or whom was present. His lips tightened into a smile when he sensed darkness.

Moving swiftly, Soliael came up behind the flames, standing above the young woman.

His eyes flickered down on her, unnatural orange gazing at her face to study her. Instantly he recognized the facial markings that ran down her cheek, and a smile formed on his lips as he saw her for what she was.

“Hello.” Soliael intoned with amusement.

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

He was fast and she met him in a standing position in one, fluid motion. She was taller than the average woman but still shorter than this stranger's frame. The fire crackled between them in the short silence.

The wind snatched the cowl of her coat off her head. Fiery-green eyes met those of molten-orange. With a subtle twist of her torso, she concealed the dagger still gripped in gloved-fingers behind her hip.

"Hello," caution strained her voice. "Why do you see like you know?"

Her spoken basic was still under development with Darth Odium.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael smiled even more, it seemed that this little one had yet to grasp the intricacies of Galactic Basic, amusing.

“Kiffar.” The False god said the word with a measure of respect, using his two index fingers to trace two lines on his face in exact copy of those that marked her. His father had been a Kiffar of course, though not many across the galaxy knew it. Moridin's legacy held strong to this day, inspiring fear and terror in many hearts.

Though he had been born centuries ago, before the plague Moridin had risen to prominence, shunning his people and becoming a Sith Lord of great power. He had been of a tribe from Kiffu itself, a tribe that now marked itself with black tattoos instead of the usual colored ones in repentance of their ancestors sin.

Of course Soliael himself bore no marks, having been raised by his decidedly un-Kiffar Mother.

Yet, he knew his fathers culture well enough.

[member="Quinn Vos"]

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

Slowly, the muscles along her shoulders un-knotted. He did not seem like he was looking for a fight. But it was yet to be determined if he would be an ally. Proud-chin tipped slightly in his direction.

"Who are you?"

Gaze panned to the stony-steps of the fortress and back to the stranger.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Quinn Vos"]

Soliael looked down at the woman, his bright orange eyes shifting to follow her gaze up at the massive fortress.

Had she already been inside? No. She would be carrying bundles of artifacts, blades, tablets, perhaps parts of the ruins themselves. No this woman had not yet made it inside and was likely waiting for something, or someone, to actually venture into the fortress itself. For a brief moment Soliael considering snapping her neck and moving on, but dismissed the callous notion as a silly one.

She might prove useful after all.

“I am Soliath Talith.” He enunciated the name perfectly using no title or Darth name that would identify him, though to some the surname would be familiar enough.

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

Ebony-fingers with signs of good-use tapped against her chest once. "Quinn Vos." The hand gripping the knife fell openly along her side. She didn't move to attack him, nor did she relinquish her weapon as she gave him a calculating-stare across the smoke of the fire.

"Many tried and all fail to enter there," crisp-basic left plain-lips. Eyes glowed like hot-lightning for a moment as she knelt down and let her ungloved fingers brush against the path at their feet. If Soliael knew her people, he would understand psychometry when he saw it...and felt it through the force.

Muddy-brows crinkled in thought as she snatched her palm away. "A beast of shadows comes at midnight. It is not...," she grasped for the right words to explain but fell short. She didn't know if she could trust this man or not but the Kiffar was confident in her ability to defend herself, so she didn't hesitate to reach forward toward his wrist, to tug him down toward the spot in the path.

"Can you see past, like me? Feel. See?"

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“Yes.” He said, Following the girl's forceful direction with a bemused grin on his face. Psychometry came fairly naturally to him of course, it always had. When she brought his hand to the correct spot on the path something instantly flashed in his mind. A pale after image of something flared in the force, and he saw a spike of something crawling into his mind.

A frown settled on his face.

He had known of the things inside the fortress, but nothing guarding it on the outside. He supposed it made sense in some way, that the inside of the fortress remained untouched because there was a guard outside as well as in. Soliael thought for a moment, then tried to recollect what the image of the beast had actually been, a terentatek? Leviathan? Or something all together new? He would be interesting in finding out.

“Have you seen it?” He was unsure if the girl had been out here for long, unable to get inside, or if she had just gotten here.

[member="Quinn Vos"]

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"No," frown deepened. "But I hear it, here," fingertip rested on her temple. "It calls itself Lord of Ziost." The young, Kiffar stood suddenly, the mountain's winds nipping at her coat. "It comes."

They weren't fighting a physical beast. They were fighting a powerful sith spirit who was about to drag them into a mental battlefield. Fingers tightened around the hilt of her knife. She edged her way toward the steps of the fortress, the tension returning to her shoulders.

She wasn't ready for this.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Quinn Vos"]
Soliael let out a loud groan.

He hated things trying to get into his mind. He could handle Dragons, Terentateks, Jedi, heck even an exogorth would have been welcome. Yet when something tried to push into his mind? Get into his very soul and violate the only place that was truly his? He very quickly became agitated. Ironic really that his best friend was one of the most powerful mentalists in the galaxy.

An instant after the girl spoke and Soliael felt the spirit coming on he began to radiate power.

It was not just something felt within the waves of the force, but instead quite literal swaths of darkness began to push and radiate out from Soliael and the girl. He pressed his will upon the surrounding area, using his immense strength in the darkside to summon an oppressive realm all his own. Soliael tried to force the spirit to relent before it ever reached them, before it could touch and harm them. He tried to push his will on it and cease its existence in one quick move.

Unfortunately, the spirit but floundered slightly.

It touched the first of the waves, and almost reflexive rebounded at them. Yet it was a creature born of the dark, and with stark determination it pushed forward, pressing its will upon the mind of the two Kiffar.

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

She heard the roar just beyond the space she shared with Soliael. She did not fear but it made the hairs beneath her snow-coat along her arms prickle. She recognized the benefit of not being the target of this man's attack.

The dark spirit, however, did not.

Its voice slithered inside her head like thick, tar, seeking to overwhelm and control.

Strike him down. Jooooin me. You will be powerful.

Her knife wielding-hand trembled at her side as the first tendrils of the spirit struggled to permeate through Soliael's creation. "I not want power," she growled. Soliael would know she was fighting something. Grasping the darkside, she began to strengthen her mental barriers as her tattooed-face scrunched-up in pain.

No? You want to free him. The one who has entangled you. For that, you need power.

She faltered. The sith spirit sent a physical force toward the Kiffar woman and man, meant to violently collide them together.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Quinn Vos"]

The thing bit into the outer reaches of his mind.

There was no voice in his head, it had not struggled that far into him yet, but it caused a searing pain within his head like nothing he had ever felt before. It was as if someone had gripped his scalp, covered it in tar, and then set it aflame. He wanted to howl in pain, but instead he only closed his eyes and attempted to concentrated. Soliael began to draw on the darkside, using it like a buffer to warp and surround his mind.

He heard the girl speaking, and his head snapped to the side out of pure reaction. As he did something pushed against him, throwing him against the girl. Soliael stretched his arms out, catching in an odd sort of embrace that would keep either of them from getting hurt too much.

The False God Crashed to the ground. “Buy me time!”

He almost screamed the words, though he had no idea what the girl could do to actually stall the spirit. The Force began to drive around him, swirling within him and appliqueing to his skin like fine silk. It stuck to him, creating an odd sort of web that grew every minute.

Just a little more time.

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

She landed in a tangle of limbs, feeling Soliael's body heat even with the cold ground biting into her back. Tattoed-face contorted in her struggle to stay in the mental-battle. The kiffar warrior nodded against the man, thankful for the thick layers of fabric between them both to prevent the connection of psychometry with the dark lord.

"Spirit. Take me," the novice lowered her mental barriers, knowing the risk.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

As the spirit retracted itself from his mind Soliael grinned.

Power flooded into him like a tidal wave. Wave after crashing wave of the darkside surged through Soliael freely. As the Spirit moved towards Quinn it's head suddenly snapped around, the power that Soliael drew upon becoming like a bright beacon in the blackest of nights. The creature screeched loudly, lashing out towards whatever was near, but it was too late.

Soliael smirked, his eyes running black with a rush of moving spots that obscured his vision for only a split second. His fingers came together, and a loud snap rang out within the clearing.

Waving asymmetric lines of the darkside encircled the spirit, its physical form being bound and wrapped in thousands of strands in the darkside. Immediately the string began to tighten, crushing and pulling at the Spirits connection to the force. It stripped away the pieces of what bound the spirit to this place, taking away the force, the only thing that kept it here. With a loud last desperate screech the spirit exploded, strings of the darkside slicing through it and ending it in an instant.

The False god smiled grimly, smoke rising from his body as the heat of the Darkside slowly dissipated.

[member="Quinn Vos"]

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

Very, VERY slowly, she un-clenched her teeth, eyes focusing on the smoking sith lord's body. Gingerly, she untangled herself from him, catching the grim smile. "Do you...enjoy doing things like this?"

Voice heaved like she was out of breath.

Planting her feet on solid ground, she offered the powerful-man a hand up. Lips twitched at the corners of her mouth. It was probably the closest thing to a smile Soliael would see from the Kiffar warrior-woman. She looked toward the fortress. "The way is clear."

Booted-feet would crunch up the icy-steps.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Quinn Vos"]

“When one has lived for centuries, entertainment is difficult to come by.” Soliael simply said as he steadied himself from the exertion of power he had just displayed.

His eyes closed for a moment, his mind focusing itself and regaining control of his body. He steadied himself, and then nodded as she called to him that the way was clear. With heavy deliberate movements Soliael moved after the Kiffar girl, taking the first few steps in a single stride and easily passing by the smaller woman until he reached the front gates.

The gates of the fortress were of course closed, not much point in having a fortress if the gates were opened.

“I don't suppose you have a key?” Soliael mused to himself as he placed a palm on the very center of the doors.

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"No key," she quickly caught up to the larger, man. "But I open." She displayed no shyness as she dropped to one knee in his shadow, taking out one of the pointed-arrows from the quiver at her back. Gloved-hand pressed against the door just below his. She worked the arrow shaft and tip with her other hand. With a few twists and turns a loud, click-CLICK-click echoed in the cold air.

The giant door squeaked open into a dimly-lit chamber.

The arrow returned to its quiver as she stood, the light from the door glinting on multiple weapons that decorated the chamber walls inside.

She looked to Soliael, her mind on something other than what was before them. "Can you teach me what you did to spirit?"

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="Quinn Vos"]
As the girl opened the door Soliael appreciated her work with the arrow. His solution would have been to blast a hole in the door using Sith Magic, something that undoubtedly would have drawn attention from everything within the tower. He reminded himself to rely less upon the force, like this girl.

When the door finally opened, Soliael peered inside with all the curiosity of a cat. The hall seemed to be mostly devoid of everything, there were a few statues, a few racks of weapons, both bladed and not. There was however a distinct lack of disturbance, as in there was absolutely no one inside and likely hadn't been for quite some time. This was contrary to what Soliael had been told, he knew for a fact that something was guarding the inside of the fortress.

Another spirit?

No, doubftul, Sith weren't dumb, they wouldn't use the same trick twice.

His thoughts were cut off when the girl spoke to him again, his eyebrow raising once again in a mix of confusion, question, and consternation. “You have no Master?”

Of course not many people knew the trick of what he just did, but it wasn't exactly his prerogative to go teaching things willy nilly.

 

[Quinn Vos]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

"I have," she replied and stalked deeper into the chamber, keeping her back to the wall, fiery-green eyes drawn to the weapons. "Darth Odium. I am bound to him." She was blunt and honest.

Mocha-fingertips fell upon the handle of a thin, alchemized sword. "If you cannot teach, it is okay." She didn't look up as she made an assumption about his question. "Most people do and cannot teach," gaze flitted-up to meet his, "even if they are powerful."

Head-cocked to the side as she heard a rumble from behind one of the heavy paired, doors. A smell of something wild drifted to the tip of her nose.