Obsidian Butterfly

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

He was moving and he could feel her more in the force along the back of his neck. Where they were looking and where they were going he was unsure but why would someone or something form a world within an ancient structure dedicated and designed to harvest and contain the cosmic force as it leaked out into the realm of the living force.... not many remembered... few thought about it but the force was in everything even the places where it was suppressed and quiet... still connected and beings like the vong had at one point been intune with it but they slowly and drasticaly were torn from it as punishment some thought for their crimes against their own worlds and galaxy.

The jedi master stood there though looking at her and held a hand out as he focused the force energies around and it sprang to life... energy forming into a construct and slowly it formed from a small seed to a sapling and then grew into a small tree. The crystal growth underneath it full of the force as it appeared in his hand. The small tree was more like a banzai but he presented it towards her as the leaves formed, small branches stretching out of it. "YOu would create soemthing like this because the power here is... blinding. THe cosmic force it infinite... stretching across the universe and beyond to connect everything and here is a place where it springs forth."

 

[Sera Inkari]

Connection. Shared Creation. Shared responsibility. Like a ritual almost. A steady getting into a routine. Only it was a human routine, one she wasn’t used to, a very small thing made very big in her mind. Like many do with a small detail they are stuck on she had realised. Hands taken from her robes, she mirrored him and reached for the energies around her. Finding again she was steadied by just mimicking him for now, reaching her hand out.


She did not have his raw ability for creation, but she wanted to light around their tree, to illuminate their room in amber. She reached out again, connected herself up to the magnificent energies ahead of her. An amber glow started around the tree. There was peace and harmony from his student. Huge. Illustrious waves in this place. One focal point for an entire planet's energies. For a second there was the danger again, almost like she was back being the seer at a Master’s side, seeing the future, seeing the threats, seeing…


Her hand tightened outstretched and she exhaled.

“Always seeking the next, the next, the next moment. This is so beautiful.” The light around the tree flickered and threatened to dim. She pushed back, her identity asserting itself, and the amber color split into several, reds and hues orange, a brighter light around the room. Danger there, but beauty and creation in their moment intertwined and imposed over the top.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

She was impressive but she had the skills just needed the focus in some cases as deeper int he monolith the plants he had been showing down. Where the jedi master went he left it for her. "YOu are at peace or something that could be there." He said it but found a place to sit down, stretching out and looking around the world itself. There was much more here but he held a hand out as it indicated the world around them. "There is more though and you might want to brace yourself." He said it as the air changed, charging with energy and storms swpet up quickly with the jedi master speaking. "Much like on tython the force shifting can be seen here... anything light or dark to an extreme can cause rain or life... but it is a way to feel and see the chaos in your mind if you lose focus."

 

[Sera Inkari]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL8xq0Z1_v4​

Sera’s mind was serene. Pure flow of the force in its natural form, unhindered by identity, bias or any consideration in its way. Life had been nothing but an inconvenience. Unstoppable raw power and potency. At least. It had been.

Peace. Yes. She was at peace. Rawness.

She wasn’t looking to the future right now, that was a start. Discomfort in her chest, the fire still there, emotion that never left. Not coming and going suddenly, just sat there, heat but peaceful. The muscles and nerve endings relaxing felt in their own way stretched differently because they’d relaxed, after years of tension or body posture from withheld emotion. He had brought her far. Was it far enough for our Dark Jedi?

Storms. She didn’t mind storms, she felt it echo inside her. Seeking to test her control. Facing your fears was sometimes the only way, and then often it took many attempts. Focus. Not letting chaos overturn her was their lesson, finding a balance. As their storm clouds swept about her, you could see how much she wanted to let go. What would happen when she did. Would it be to let go, to the peace of a Jedi, and to embrace their storm as a boon, the joy of life, or would it be to languish in fear, anger, and pain?

It was both. Warmth. So much warmth. She was on her feet, tall. The warmth from the muscles in her chest and now ribs, were aching. Lightly aching, not pain, just like they’d been stretched for the first time in many years.

Warmth.

The room was hot. She was sweating. There was danger again, there was also peace, she wasn't angry. It wasn't a danger that this might turn violent. Instead there was a danger this would all break down, it was like trying to build a house out of old wood, glue a personality together with tape and try to mend the damage. Syn had done a lot for her, he was a first class teacher, but there was a lot there in her underneath the surface.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qsq5-G1s50​

He studied her, ore with the force and with his senses... she was intriguing to a fault. Mostly because she was feeling everything but also seemed to be holding back that little bit. It was not easy he knew and he couldn't really force it to happen. He knew that could take time... hell it had taken him a few hundred years to not be so stubborn about it. He was standing there while she went into contemplation and in a place like this it was ancient with the force and vastly different.... much like beyond shadows time had less meaning here... there was even more when the storm shifted and moved. He only moved closer to stand beside and watch more of the area around them. "There is time for it all but the life you have, it radiates the force... warmth, energy it attracts ancient things." He was looking up past the light into the darkness that was around them as well.. the monoliths were unique, they connected to places that were not entirely real or solid afterall.... and with them there were far older things... things without shapoe or name that writhed and moved through the galaxy before people had voice to name them. He knew the extinction and fracturing of the codex was seen as an event to seal away in deep pockets of the force creatures that could escape as something slithered along the edges and he could feel it pressing but it didn't understand artificial life like him... it didn't understand time as a linier concept like them. Creatures he knew from the likes of Je'gan like Lotek'k.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Facing the timeless monolith, at least it had a different sense of time. He’d brought her somewhere she could look into and see a reflection of what she feared, or just look at something that was nothing to do with her life. A change. A curveball. That was welcomed, because it would take her out of her loop.

She smiled slightly and the tension released, her amber light around them radiated color, heat but the impending sense of losing it all was lessened. She whispered to herself, “I have already lost it all. There is nothing left to lose.” Except his respect. Just my pride as I falter and fall, time and again in front of you Master. She feared but said nothing. Fear, that fear was what caused her to falter. It was an impossible cycle to live in. Fear of failure, causing the tension which caused the failure. A very short and easy to see loop which many padawans experienced in their own way, when they cared. One she’d never had when she had no identity, or just took the easy route into hate and anger, because with no identity came no consequences, or responsibility.

No amount of reassurance would remove that tension, Sera was glad he didn’t try, and just accepted that was where she was in her life right now. That was more comforting than he knew, no forcing, but teaching. She would reach her hand flat to the darkness and press forward toward it, trying to sense what was beyond, something new, different and not part of her experience to date. Not touching anything, but searching. “How else do they see time,” she asked, hopeful for another way, a way to avoid what she’d seen. What she’d helped create. "Is there another way?"

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

"Some of them see centuries like a beat of the heart... a lifetime." It wasn't exactly easy to explain and for the most part a few jedi who had met the priestesses who had seen what they wanted to show them.... That was important to note. He like a few had seen.... things... beings of energy of consciousness that were ancient and saw the whole of time, space and the force itself as something there. He could fel something like that now and there were things.... things older here that were aware of them but didn't move or try and find them.. just a pressure on the back of your mind. That part of the brain that knew predators were out there. THe jedi master though was looking up and around untiol he found her as he thought about how better to explain it. "There are a number of things within the force... only a few we see as it were. THe cosmic force that all springs from much like this place has other things and we know about pocket dimensions of the force... places were older things have been locked away to keep them from preying upon the galaxy. Time though is one of the stronger walls to protect us from the monsters."

 

[Sera Inkari]

What a feeling it would be to see everything without having to push or risking losing what you were. That made her smile. Time was protecting her. She stopped and lowered her hands. Wishing for a pair of gloves to cover them. It was like she was revolving around her fear. Trying to escape her ability because of what it might cost her, but at the same time realizing how it had helped her too. Like a person who gets so far involved in their work it harms and helps them at the same time. Obsession.

“I might have seen too far.” Sera said to Syn, she looked around again, “are they responsible?” Responsible for what. Do they tap at a seer's mind wanting to get in, someone who pushes to see further than they are capable of handling? She couldn’t put the responsibility on them, she’d been the one doing the farseeing.

Collecting herself, Kintan’s seer looked into the future of this place, where they were. What their future was, the ones outside of time. Their wake was like a jagged edge in what should be a smooth curve. She only needed a glimpse, drifting off far from this place to strands and possibilities. Breathing deeply, connecting to the energies around them both. She couldn't find them, only a strange sensation of being wrong. Wrong to someone who lived their lives looking forward through time.

Then she open her eyes, she had to know. “What happens when they get in?” Taking a step around the room, looking for signs or feelings, “I was in the netherworld for years,” what felt like years, to others around the galaxy much longer had past when that event happened. "Can you show me one?" Maybe he couldn't show her, but if she could sense them, then she might be able to guard against their influence in the future.

Something else was here [member="Niaana Ren"] but it was nothing living. It was cold, dark and alone. Hollow.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

"If they got in... it could be dangerous." In more ways then one... he had fought rozzum which was the closest thing to it at times and he had fought a fragment of Lotek'k which was a creature of darkness and madness. There was something to be said for it but he remained there for a moment thinking about it. How best to indulge her if he could. "But seeing one is possible maybe." THe jedi master said it and remained there.... here in this place it could be easier but he moved closer motioning for her to remain still. "Focus your mind on me and follow where I go." He was more feeling where he was able to go in the force and the veil between here and there was the netherworld.

He reached out and she could feel it... He felt the presence he had met when he searched for Iella and that he had met with the priestesses as it seemed to form. He knew it didn't really look human... in fact he knew it was massive and powerful but for most to comprehend it the being appeared here like in the netherworld. Pale skinned, black curly hair and blue eyes. Tall and slender but she spoke with a voice that was soothing when she walked around. "It is not often jedi that someone living calls to me... less so because they know the price I demand." Her lookm was something he could feel and the jedi master spoke looking.

"I know your price can be much but I have upheld my end of the agreement. One day every century when you come I will be there to escort you." THere was a chuckle from her while she was walking around and spoke. "So what is it that you want jedi? There is not much in the universe I can tell you... the spirits and crystals are generally how I am brought forth to this dimension." She seemed more interested in Sera walking close but not making any moves. "Though you know all of this, the netherworld of the force as you call it is my domain... made in the beginning when the first things died and only when the last things dies will I have any purpose."

 

[Sera Inkari]

Sera knew of her domain, intimately, she bowed her head, “yes.” She confirmed, like closing a ritual. Deciding fate. There had been long tugs and pulls around that subject, a battle often unspoken and played out in her identity crisis, a wider war. She walked forward toward the pale one, toward the looming presence contained in a slim focal point. One that might consume her as quick as she could blink. Decades in their netherworld, sealing breaches that followed her when they found them, trying to return her. Hoping Syn would understand, hoping her failures had not doomed them all.

“I ask, that what was brought out, go back.” She was ready to make her own deal, “if it’s not too late.” She spoke of Keth’s creations, the Hive, the biodroids, the spirits that were brought of the netherworld and put into others to communicate across worlds. Too late to stop it all, but if she could cut one strand, one aspect of what haunted all of them. The crystal in her own chest, and those of her companions, maybe his hold from beyond the grave would be broken. Then there would just be now, the present to deal with, no more future games, future battles, looking forward all the time and trying to outmaneuver storms. She looked to Syn, it was time for all of it. Time her saw her.

One spirit was standing here now, hoping, waiting, wanting to be at peace. One of many. “What is the price for this?” Sera bowed her head. She wanted all the crystals gone and their connection, this out of time feeling gone. From Kei, from her, from Glade, and from Taiden. No more spirits, no more netherworld. She couldn’t stop the hive using what they'd learned, but she could cut any more otherworldly connection to his creations, here and now. Dealing it the first of many blows.

When she looked up, her eyes were the amber of the room, warmth, strong. “Tell me what the cost is for this. Please” The spirit with them, the dead Echani girl looked on with her, [member="Mantic Dorn"] the grandmaster of the republic had saved that Echani girl not in body but in spirit at the end, a spirit waiting to depart this world forever. It was not a small request, crystals, connections to other creatures. Creatures who would cause death, but also life, so they were not ideal to the netherworlds own plans to end all life, maybe a bargain could be struck.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

It seemed more curious standing there thinking about a price. "Bargains only go so far.... there is little you small creatures have that I want or that I will not get eventually because.." She was walking around and seemed bored. "This form is limiting..... and your thoughts are false. I care little for you or what you do. You have been given the same thing everyone gets from babes I take in the womb to the ancient ones who walked among the worlds. To crept and crawled before you had speech and words to name them. You are given what everyone is given child. A lifetime to do what you will, to bring your experiences to the fold and when you come how do you think you will be?"

She kept moving around though with a small smirk on her face as the jedi master stood there and listened. He had dealt with her before and bargains were something she did but mostly because she was bored... problem with beings who were ancient and not entirely of this.... they tended to not care as much. "Do you think you will be special... that you will be something more then just another gnat in a universe barely out of its diapers. I want you to think about it as this... you are small, you were born small, you exist small with trillions upon trillions at the same time. You barely have grasped the hidden parts of your own universe and even less learned about the things beyond."

"YOu are insignificant to me and bargaining, making deals amuses me little." Her voice had never changed she had a detachment that wasn't human to most things... it simply was. She didn't do much in terms of killing or even helping... she just welcomed those who came to her domain and they became one with the cosmic force again. "As to this thing.. this that you have done. breaching the netherworld..." Her shoulders came up in an awkward shrug. "It is little, it does annoy but they will heal in time... all will eventually return to how it was and the likes of you child will have perished." her hand came up though as she snapped and he could feel the force shiver with power.

"The price is that you will have a life time, worlds will rise, fall, friend wither and perish.... life will pass you by but you will be free of this burden you have. A price to be severed from that connection you have had is to live." THe jedi master was listening and raised an eyebrow. "A delicious price yes? Give you a chance to for a time experience a lifetime longer then the others you kow. You'll be allowed to see the end as it were for them plus their childrens childrens children. Your price for others but you can get what you want." She said it and was walking away or more disappearing with a small chuckle back into the shadows as the monolith felt quiet.

 

[Sera Inkari]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcBosWg1UfA​

So ready to give it all away. To sacrifice again. That was his teachings to all his acolytes, sacrifice, be the special pariah. This taught a different lesson. A different type of bargain. The seer was given the age to see. The learn. Then to die an old old woman. To see all she worried about undone and turned to ash. The crystals in everyone’s chest, at that moment at that chuckle of the presence, died, gone, as if they never were. Each felt the tug in its own way. [member="Niaana Ren"]'s shaded form became visible behind them and there was a weight lifted like that laugh just took it all away. All the breaches at once? Maybe The Echani girl laughed too happily, her face bright, free. She vanished. With a happy laugh.

Not what Sera was expecting. The amber in her eyes and her warmth around them flickered.

Her futures ahead of her changed. Shifted. Altering. She was almost thrown off balance and jarred. Before she could answer the presence had gone. So amusing for her to reverse the Seer’s intent to injure herself, to give parts of herself away. To instead outlive them all. What a lesson to learn.

Holding her chest, she almost lost her footing and held onto the wall.

“What just happened?” She knew. The seer in her knew. The part of her asking was a natural reaction, a knee jerk response. “Not what I was expecting.” This battle inside of herself, to endure another hundred years, more? She looked at Syn. Maybe the only one who knew what that time would mean. The reflection. The endurance. The ages. Lifetimes? Feeling out of time and place. She ran after the faded image. “Not what I asked for,” she whispered, putting her head to the stone, breathing there.

Dying would be too easy. Hating was too easy. She had to live. Looking up above them. “Do you feel.” She paused and breathed, “the same?” Did [member="Syn"] spend hundreds of years, like this, all that time in this? Whatever this new feeling was. She didn’t have the words. ~I will see you again~ The priestess promised the presence as it left.

[member="Syn"]
​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

He looked at her. "The same? That people are small... no they can be tiring. Everyone believes they are the good guy, that they are special and unique while doing the same things other have done time and time again. History is a wheel in many cases and will repeat in small ways." He was walking around though and looked back at her. More interest in what there might be here. "I don't know f it is everything you hoped for but as you can see beings from beyond... from places like this aren't exactl what most expect. Spirits, gods, cosmic beings that exist in places long forgotten are more.... vague and don't hold values like some. Riches mean little when you can just outlive someone or are going to always be stronger... knowledge means little when you can see far greater and larger pictures then most can comprehend. It makes all of us even me sort of look like children wanting attention and you can feel it here... most presences that you can tell are watching you... don't even seem to care."

 

[Sera Inkari]

The lesson. Sera folded her robes underneath her and sat, brushing and clearing away the floor. There was a small cup produced from her robes, then another. Out of her pocket, she poured two green drinks from a red flask, tea. Then with her hand, she heated them up. Till they were just right. It took control and care, she almost overdid hers but pulled the force back in time.

“Sit with me?”

She’d got it. It had taken days, weeks together. Maybe longer. She’d got it. Sera had heard Syn. Felt it inside.

Whether he did join her or not she sipped the tea, it was an interesting blend that she used to drink on Kintan before all this had started. When he’d sat or refused, drunk or walked off. She thanked him, with a small smile, and a nod of her head.

She didn’t say any more. The words had reached her inside, not just her ears, or she’d reached him. Maybe all of it wasn’t true inside of herself yet, there was still the need to be special perhaps, to be different, unique, the sith and the one at the center. Right now. She got it. Offering him his tea. With a smile. Any other woman, in any other place, tea would always be tea. Even the scars she had didn’t look so bad as she drank. Leaving only a small bright amber light beside where she sat so it didn’t get too dark.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

He watched and then sat down taking the offered tea as she seemed to be thinking of plenty that had happened here. He didn't exactly know what she was thinking about or what her feelings on it was but... there was always a chance she could change and learn from this. One didn't stop learning as it were and he leaned back on one arm supporting himself as he took a drink. More of a relaxed pose but he crossed his legs before speaking to her. "I know a thing or two about questions Sera, there is a lot you have been experiencing these past few weeks. Maybe they have been revelations and maybe they have been things you always knew but were unsure of." He had a look on his face though when he finished the tea for a moment but wasn't worried. THey were alone in the center fo a monolith on a world where the jedi had once been stronger then most might know... surrounded by primordial force energies.... few things could really compare to compete with this place but he wanted to teach her and guide her if she was going to be around for a long time as the spirit seemed to imply.

 

[Sera Inkari]

The tea was real. Like the ground. She didn’t know if the drops of moisture setting on her skin, or against the cave roof would offer any insight to what was like a dry, dusty book on the shelf that hadn’t been read in a while. Life. When someone did read her, the pages were awkward, statements that didn’t seem to fit with the flow of the narrative. Unable to just say the words and be done with them, or let them lay where they may.

Tea though. Tea she could do.

“How is the tea?”

She found it gingery, but subtle, in scent and taste. A long green leaf in there somewhere adding more traditional body and depth to the aftertaste.

She couldn’t answer him. There was nothing… There was a want to. To say something. Where something should be, there was just….

…

She sipped her tea.

Long away from here in the core where people were also helped. Most psychologists just shrugged, most teachers didn’t know what to do in this case. Force Masters had struggled for years with this very same issue. Looking at it from a hundred different perspectives in their own, all labeling it with a new phrase. That void, where something should be and wasn’t. It was prickly. Awkward. When you are with someone, it was impossible to be completely in your own bubble, interaction and communication meant a level of sharing. Sharing of that emptiness, which was not easy. It helped that Syn was real, that he knew himself, and so didn't run or falter when faced with silence.

She sipped her tea.

No questions, no reaching to fill that void in words, or in action. That was good, that worked, that moment with the tea was okay.

Then the tea ran out.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

THe time with the tea was not terrible and after they were done it was time to return to the surface as the jedi master rose and was leading the way. Letting Sera adjust and get herself prepared for anything that might be happening. The force gate opened to let them out and he was staying there for a moment to close it down and make sure everything else was fine. Going further and further up the caves until the crystals appeared. Then the sounds of water as it splashed and appeared in small pools when the jedi master came out fo the cave and the cooler night air was around them. Alema was docked down below at the waters and the ship responded to him.

"Master." Her voice came over the comlink. THe ship rose up from the water and was flying closer as it was large yes but having a sentient ship. The jedi master looked up at it where they were going onow. "There is a request for aid from Arya. She has been overseeing the remnants of the ancient prison." The jedi master was looking at the ship and he knew Arya she was one of the white current teachers for the silver jedi order. An elder who when their homeworld was attacked came to stay with them while others of her people went to the Levantine. So she could teach a number of the jedi who wanted to learn to at least see the current. "We'll look into it."

 

[Sera Inkari]

Tea was finished. She took both the small cups and fastened them together to switch on a small cleaning device, the flask was mostly empty but might make enough for two more half cups later. When Syn walked she followed dutifully out of the gates. More than dutifully, happy. Very little left hidden. Listening to the request, it could have been anything and she would have gone with him that day. Feeling lighter than air.

Was she ready? Who knows. They were going to find out. Walking toward his ship with him, the floor below them was cold on her bare feet. A real feeling. The Levantine were from a time before all this happened, although she didn’t hear the words. It would be strangely comforting to return to a place with history before she’d left the Jedi Order. A fresh start. “Ancient Prison?” She asked.

Following him into the ship or wherever he went. There was another very important thing to say.

“Master. You know I really want to help.”

“But.”

She looked at her feet.

“Can I get some shoes?”

With that, then a smile, the next stage of their adventure together began.

[member="Syn"]​

 

[Syn]

[member="Sera Inkari"]

SHoes... he looked at her and that was somehting surprising to hear... mostly because he hadn't thought about it. "Ahhh yes we can get you some shoes." He said it and was walking towards the ship. There was clothing on the ship that they could get and he needed to do a few things. Mostly once the ramp of the ship was down get his sabers once again and be prepared for a possible fight. Where they were going wasn't exactly the most... fun and in times past had been used as a sort of suicide group. Prisoners with bombs directed to fight for the empire or die. it made for dangerous and desperate criminals who woudl do anything and some of the things they did was gather ships and cannibalize them to become part of the amalgamation that was the prison.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Sera took the time to tidy herself up. Which was important. She’d been sweating, talking to netherworld entites, twice gone for a swim and lost her shoes. After a long shower later to get the dust off, she would return to a room on the ship and meditate. Quietly for a hour and into the night, a single flame nearby burning.

Later the next morning

This time it was her turn to cook or at least prepare breakfast. He’d done so last time. Standing in her quarters she spoke to the ship. “Alema please let me prepare breakfast before you alert him.” Knowing the ship was tracking her. Hopefully before the ship had alerted Syn she’d quietly left her room, asking the ship “What does he prefer?” Maybe the ship would tell him her intent, maybe not, it would depend how much it trusted her. He could always hang back anyway as a gesture.

Trying to get everything laid out before he woke, though she didn’t try to hide anything in the force if he was sensing. After that, Sera went back to her room, maybe passing him on the way with a smile, maybe not. Hopefully a happy surprise, how long had it been since someone made Syn breakfast? If he didn't have a favorite, he'd get pancakes with honey and a cup of tea.

When she got back to her quarters she looked in the mirror. The lack of a crystal in her chest was disconcerting. The entity removing it had both helped heal a long wound, but also left her without the pain of it. Rawness they’d explored for days. She would not show weakness, and so injected herself with a soothing anti-inflammatory from her quarters. Medicinal herbs that should help remove any soreness, or stiffness she was experiencing, both from emotional relief in her muscles uncurling but also a repaired part of her body. Her ribs still ached sorely but they would have to wait.

After maybe a good thirty minutes or an hour she walked through to see if he’d finished his food. Not hungry herself.

“Morning Master. Did you sleep well.”

He’d find her dressed in red robes. Lightsaber at her waist, hair shining and face bright. A different woman, almost a Jedi. Maybe. There was still a test to come when she faced someone trying to harm her or him. How would she react?

“Which empire did these prisoners fight for?” She had been reading up overnight on their new mission, but some of the details were vague.

[member="Syn"]​