If Eternity Should Fail

[Lief]

╫ M U S T A F A R ╫​

IF ETERNITY SHOULD FAIL​

The brutal Mustafarian heat beat at his skin and threatened to tear flesh from bone with bubbling agony. All about him endless seas of magma smoldered, popping great bubbles of expelled lava onto cooled obsidian slabs and spilling rivers of fire down through the canyons below. Only the precipice at the edge of a long metal walkway lay between Valin and a sheer drop down into the magma pools, and it was perhaps this thought that had him sweating more than the unbearable temperature itself.

Up ahead the boy could see the ruins of a once great archive. Ruins was not the best word for it, in truth, for the whole structure was still standing, and was said to contain all the knowledge it had gathered over many millennia of existence. But it was no longer in use, not in any official capacity, and thus he found himself alone. Alone with just that one lurking fall for company.

He who had brought the boy this far, some pilot he had hired with [member='Darth Sibilus']' blessing, left as quickly as he came; all that remained now was one streak of cloudy grey against the black backdrop of Mustafar's sky. If something did happen to go amiss on this world, it could be weeks before anyone found out. By then he'd be little more than bones, he supposed... Unless the magma pools would take those too. Valin shuddered at the thought, and decided it was best to simply focus on what lay ahead.

The building was both majestic and intimidating to look upon, it reached up into the sulfuric clouds and disappeared beyond there, black metal making up the majority of the structure. Even the transparisteel windows appeared the same onyx colour, blotting out what lay within. Hopefully they still permitted some light to be cast through, as who knew whether or not any of the old generators were still running.

When he reached the doors they proved devilishly difficult to open. They had not been locked - or if they had, they had since been opened - but it felt as though once upon a time a mechanism must have been used to open them, where now he was forced to rely upon his own strength. As much as the boy worked on his physical wellbeing he was still only 160lbs of boy and the door? Well, that far outweighed him.

One hand extended outward at that realization, and with a small intake of breath he focused on pushing it open with the Force instead. A low rumble resounded, like stones grating against one another, and after a few moments he'd carved himself enough space in the entryway through which to squeeze his body. Much to his dismay the door slammed shut behind him once he released his hold of it, closing him in until such a time as he sought fit to exert his will over the Force once again.

Though dark, the entryway was astounding. A large chandelier hung in the center, over what once must have been a circular reception desk capable of fitting ten workspaces at least, and though he knew it was but a small taste of the knowledge housed within there were even a great many bookcases standing tall toward the metal walls. Dust coated everything, and what he assumed was also ash, but beneath the thick layer everything appeared to be in working order. The lights began to turn on at his approach, illuminating the space nicely.

He hoped that the other, countless rooms would respond in such a way. Otherwise he'd have to read by datapad-light, or drag what he wanted to study from back to the entrance foyer. That wouldn't have been so bad if the archives weren't so large.

For all he knew, other persons could already be inside with him.

 

[Asher]

[member="Valin Seek"]

Archives of lost legends of the force was hard to pass up. Though they held no particular interest to Archer, the old man refused to sit on his hands and do nothing. With his self-professed magnum opus having proven to be a partial success he had already done all that an aging man could have wished for. With the force he had created a prodigy, a weapon to supplant him once his time had come, and all it had taken was a gamble on the mind of his own two children. At least the ones had cared for enough to bring under his wing.

Anyela had undoubtedly been a catastrophic failure. She was too much like her mother, too stubborn for her own good. But Keiran, his masterpiece and heir had proven far more malleable, more accepting of the realities that soldiers had to face on the field and the choices they would have to make. With Archer’s help he had grown from little more than a weeping babe to a lethal soldier ready for any situation that was thrown at him, and it was all thanks to the methods that some of Archer’s former compatriots had shunned him for.

At this point it was all about bolstering the son’s understanding of the force and the mysteries he could unravel therein. No longer bound by an Empire, hierarchy and the mathematics of war, they were both free agents out for none other than themselves. For the last few weeks they had lived on a ship after the disaster that had seen their research lab on Eliad go up in smoke. The old man preferred to keep his secret safehouses in less conspicuous places around the galaxy, but a galaxy of this size that was seemingly abandoned was hard to turn down.

But that also meant he wasn’t alone in assuming so. Not too long after the doors had been pried open and the foyer had come back to life, the tapping sound of a cane hitting the ground in an irregular pattern echoed around the seemingly abandoned facility as Archer made his way towards the entrance. He stepped into the light of the foyer to expose a man past his prime with a cane that was used for support.

His gaze lingered on the intruder. He didn’t say a word, didn’t make any move to indicate why he had decided to approach the newcomer. Yet it was hard not to see the way those eyes remained fixed at the young one as if they were looking for something. The old man remained unmoving until out of the shadow stepped another figure. This one being in his youth, hardly any older than Valin himself. A scar ran down his eyebrow and cheek, his appearance resembling more that of a soldier than the nobleman his master seemed to fancy himself as.

Much like the old man, the bodyguard seemed to act without words. With a flurry they unhooked their lightsaber from their belt and began to approach Valin. Yet that didn’t get him very far. The old man let a firm hand reach out against the child’s stomach to keep him in place.

“Why are you here?” A dark and worn rumble echoed through the foyer as Archer spoke to the intruder. The bodyguard, Keiran, hooked the lightsaber back on his belt with an intense glare that threatened to burn a hole through Valin.

They both looked over at Valin without saying a word. There was an answer to be had.

 

[Lief]

Valin wasted no time in exploring the stacked shelves available to him in the foyer. While they were not as well organized as he knew the deeper Archives would be there remained a fine assortment of material on all manner of subjects. He deduced in just a few short minutes, after glancing over three wide rows of books, that this had perhaps been a drop-off zone for those who wandered with the tomes they were reading, or for those who had borrowed some for their own journeys away from Mustafar.

It remained then like some sort of snapshot of the time just before the Archive's close, revealing what had been on the minds of the last visitors. The boy picked up a book on The Great Hyperspace War and that alone had him raising an eyebrow when he saw the date affixed to that moment in history. 5000 BBY... Valin was certain he'd never read anything that old, not even back in Tyric's library where a great many wonders had lay. Just how old was this place?

A distant tapping began to resonate, almost as though in response to his mentally uttered question, and though he ignored it at first - chalking it down to old pipes, or the generator, or something of the sort - when it became a much louder, closer sound he furrowed his brows and turned toward one of the entryways just in time to witness the emergence of an old...er... man.

The boy stared back at him in a mutual silence which stretched on for an uncomfortable length of time. Nothing was done, nothing was said, until another stepped from the shadows. Someone more of an age with Valin himself, yet with a grizzled visage that spoke to much more experience than the boy himself had. That had always been a deciding factor in when one became an adult, instead of a child, he knew. When they stopped acting the babe, and took control of their lives.

Well, this one definitely seemed more disciplined if nothing else.

A couple of loose objects within the room began to rise at the scarred soldier's brief approach, the boys eyes fixated on a spot between he and the old man in order to keep tabs on them both. He was wary of the drawn weapon, and even when it was replaced back to the other boy's belt Valin did not immediately release his tremulous hold on the Force. The items levitated there shakily, until he took a slow breath inward and focused on the asked question.

"Why are you here?" he quipped back without much thought on the outcome. Of course when his eyes flickered over to the soldier he realized this was not the time or place for such. "This archive is documented as empty," he added, slowly lowering the objects back to the ground when he realized what he was doing yet not actually releasing his hold on them just yet. Who knew whether or not the other boy would be sic'd upon him, "I just came here to read."

A stupid answer, perhaps, given the many thousands of archives just like this one around the Galaxy. But the promise of quiet, and a lack of intrusion, had been tempting enough. It seemed as though even that was unattainable for Valin these days.

[member="Archer Ludwig"]

 

[Asher]

[member="Valin Seek"]

Humor was not one of Archer’s strong suits. He reserved such things for the jesters and fools of the galaxy. This child was undoubtedly threatened as indicated by the way the items around him levitated. Archer would hardly pretend he truly cared why the boy was truly here, in the end he had been the one who had been caught trying to establish and take something that had been foolish to try and claim as his own.

“To read.” Archer wasn’t a man of many words, or words at all for that matter. Conversation was a tool based on respect and so far this child had done little to deserve it. Keiran stepped back towards the dark as Asher proceeded to walk over to the younger one. His cane tapped against the floor, his leg clearly in pain as he avoided placing too much weight on it. A sense of unease spread across Keiran’s entire body, a worry for his father’s well-being.

Valin was free to do anything he desired. Archer’s purpose had already been served, and besides that he was fairly certain in his ability to fend off a small wolf pup in a den that had once housed hundreds of them.

“What knowledge is it you seek, boy?” Archer asked and stood his ground with both hands on his cane. From up close it was clear that despite his age, the old man took care of himself with strength in both his posture and spirit. In reality it was a matter of debate whether or not he actually needed that cane.

In truth, that was a question few survived to tell about.

 

[Lief]

It took every ounce of willpower the boy had to remain where he was, the natural fight or flight instinct urging him to do the latter; his muscles were tense, body poised and ready to bound away at a moments notice, yet despite this he kept his cool and his eyes level with the man's. Perhaps it was a culmination of all he'd experienced in the past few months, the strangers he'd encountered, the battles he'd fought, or perhaps his fear had bubbled over so much that he was now simply numb.

Valin let out a small breath as the man came to a halt before him, strong in his stance despite the cane, and subconsciously squared his shoulders to solidify his own position. He didn't look toward the other boy, now drenched in the shadows of the archive, no his attention was solely upon the man.

The question was a simple one, yet he could not help but feel as though it was loaded in some way. Who was this stranger? What was his business here? Valin knew he was not strong enough in the Force yet to accurately detect the level of power which radiated from the stranger, but he could sense ebbs of darkness emanating from his silent companion. It stood to reason then that he was no doubt the more powerful of the three, from the way in which the boy took his subtle orders.

Not somebody to mess with, then.

"All manner," he retorted, tone much more level now than it had been, "Though I am hoping to find some bestiaries specifically focused on the 'Rim, most of all."

There was more, of course, tomes on the darker machinations of the Force, pertaining to the more occult aspects; such things he knew this particular archive had, squirreled away within the deeper halls, but truth be told he did not wish to give away any more information on himself than was necessary. For all the stranger knew, Valin could have been just a regular boy with a small amount of Force potential - he'd stupidly given up that information with the levitated objects - and not someone with a pre-determined affiliation.

After all, he was not beholden to the Empire like most... and Valin did not know how such might be taken, if the man before him was.

[member="Archer Ludwig"]