Perception is a Plaything

[Vereshin]

t H e M e​

​

The glow ending Vereshin's cigarette reflected discretely in the surface of the halls of Bastion's Sith Academy. Standing atop a spiral staircase facing a narrow window, the Sith sorcerer portended while awaiting a potential apprentice. Behind him lay his personal chambers strewn with books and arcane devices. Scrolls and papers displayed rarefied mathematics and geometric charts compounding various designs of otherworldly entities. Darth Sabezt adopted students as his own on rare occasions since earning his mantle and spent the present time combing the minds of fresh blood admitted into the Order.

Staircases and tunnels entwined in a labyrinth of hiding places and cupboards, all rife with secrets and seething with knowledge and dark energy any Acolyte new to sorcery would gleefully consume. Once Kraal had been acquainted with his own chambers, a servant would escort him to the location. He remained huddled beneath the standing collar of his coat, head lowered in contemplation and one hand grasped behind his back while he mused between long strides. With a wave of his hand, the walls rippled and produced four hovering, black orbs.

​The perfect spheres hovered on the air before taking shape. They assumed the appearance of four men, each identical in appearance to Vereshin and immediately began completing various mundane tasks for the sorcerer around the room. One of the gathered up the papers scribbled with numbers and geometric charts, another began to dust the shelves. The real Vereshin remained unmoved, his back facing the room while mentally controlling the doppelgangers. When the student arrived, the sorcerer stifled a chuckle while awaiting his possible response.

"Welcome Acolyte. My name is Vereshin." Vereshin said as he turned around to face Kraal. He waved a hand once and the duplicates of himself dispersed into energy and traveled towards his form, collecting within the mass of him and vanishing completely. "Altering the perception of another is a means of distorting what is and is not there." He finished and inhaled deeply on his cigarette while striding down the spiral staircase to find the ashtray. He took note of the Acolyte's alien appearance and his eyes widened with the curiosity of a child.

In the corner of the room, a large curtain which seemed to have gone unnoticed, twitched slightly and emanated a strange groan. The curtain covered an object the size of an armchair. With a flick of his wrist, Vereshin caused the twitching and noise to abruptly cease before diverting his attention back to Kraal. "With my teaching, you will learn to twist reality and bend the minds to your will." Vereshin finished while striding by the table in the center of the room and discarding his cigarette in the ashtray.

"Sorcery of the mind requires immense control over one's impulses and mental defenses." The Sith sorcerer explained while running his hand over a series of rotating metal spheres along the desk. "Before we delve into our task, I am going to test your mental fortitude and control over your primal urges. Emotion is the fuel of a Sith, but it must be contained and used effectively, lest a Sith allow his emotions to control him." As Vereshin spoke, he raised a a palm and slowly began to penetrate Kraal's thoughts, combing his emotions for any vulnerability he could manipulate. The Kaleesh would experience a slight tingling in the back of his head, unbeknownst to what was happening.

[member="Kraal Martesh"]

 

[Kraal Martesh]

As Kraal walked toward the Sith Academy he couldn't help but stare in awe at the sheer size of it. His home world Kalee had absolutely nothing cold could compare to it. Without his escort he easily would have gotten lost countless times before having even the slightest notion of where he should be heading. To him it was almost embarrassing in a way. Never before had he been in such unfamiliar territory nor had he seen anything quite of the magnitude just of this one building. He sighed quietly to calm both his mind and nerves not knowing what he should expect and wanting to keep his mind sharp and without distraction for his mind, even back on Kalee, has always been his greatest weapon and defense.
He slowly walked into the Academy and to Vereshin's chambers taking in the sight of everything in front of him. Never before had he seen such an impressive collection of knowledge. Krall started to wonder how long this all took to collect and if one could possibly ever memorize it all. After taking his gaze away from the nearest assortment of books Krall noticed five individuals who looked exactly identical. And with a wave of one of the individual's hands four of them disappeared before his eyes.

Vereshin will be a name Kraal won't soon forget. "​Vereshin, as I'm sure you know already my name is Kraal Martesh. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. " ​Little more than a year ago Kraal would have wondered how such things were possible but now he has realized there is little that is impossible with the enough time.
Kraal listened to him with upmost interest unknowing of what is to come. As Vereshin's palm raised Krall started to feel a slight tingling in the back of his head. The feeling he could only compare to how your arm or foot feels when it falls asleep. After a few moments he starts to feel a stronger sense of desire and envy. All of Kraal's life he desired to have a legacy likened to that of General Greivous who was revered as a god on his planet or to achieve one greater. He also felt a greater sense of envy as he envied all with the abilities and/or resources to do the seemingly unthinkable and of those who fought with such precision and strength that even his seemingly masterful battle tactics on Kalee couldn't stop them. Pride was also a feeling which seemed to swell as he recalls that his strategy alone helped his clan win countless wars, albeit rather small in scale, against others they would have lost against.

After a few moments Kraal begins to wonder how his emotions are being manipulated so easily and with seemingly no provocation. He then recalls what Vereshin had just said. Emotion is fuel but must not control a Sith. With that in mind Kraal begins to breathe slightly heavier. He has never been under any type of mental assault or direct manipulation before but eventually he will overcome. Kraal clenches his fist in anticipation of what, if anything, may come next hoping to be more prepared for it.

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

Vereshin received a rush of emotions as he combed Kraal's thoughts. Pride and desire, both of which turned to envy rippled through the energy between them and entered the sorcerer's senses. He coiled his fingers over the air as he stood before Kraal, pinpointing which emotion to manipulate before the next. "Kraal, I want you to block your mind as I attempt to penetrate your thoughts. Reach out to every emotion you feel and wrap the force around them, use the energy to form a barricade between your mind and my assault." Vereshin said to the Acolyte as he prepared him for the attack on his mental defenses.

As he finished speaking, Vereshin delivered a sensation of indescribable horror into the mind of the Acolyte. In the depths of his mind, Kraal would be transported back to Kalee, having failed in his training as a Sith and forced to meet the mercy of the warriors back on his homeworld with shame. The Acolyte would have his ambition crushed and his pride stripped off him as he was forced to reconcile with the fear he had failed to strip away. The vision would appear as coherent reality before Vereshin waved a hand and delivered Kraal back to the room where he stood.

"You stand here with many weaknesses yet to conquer, as all Acolytes do." Vereshin spoke as he lowered his hand, standing unmoved and allowing Kraal to gather his senses. Born form the turmoil, the older Sith sensed bloodlust, a hatred for all those who might take away his power. Such primal instincts and senses readied for battle would prove useful in an asset, Vereshin realized. "As my apprentice, I will strip you of your weakness and hone your fortitude into that of a powerful Sith." Vereshin finished speaking, having presented the offer to Kraal to stand by his side as the sorcerer's official apprentice.

"Now rise." He raised a hand and gestured to Kraal to stand upright. "Our first task begins." Vereshin said to Kraal as he turned around to the curtain slung over the armchair in the corner. With a wave of his hand, the curtain flew away and revealed the trembling figure of an Acolyte strapped down with electronic restraints. He appeared no younger or older than Kraal and breathed heavily between whimpers. Bruises and cuts littered his tear soaked face as he failed to completely raise his head.

"This Acolyte tried to kill another one of his fellows on the temple grounds, an act forbidden within the Sith academies." Vereshin stood with his hands behind his back as he faced the insolent child with a slight expression of disgust, having no tolerance for needless violence himself. "He refuses to reveal if he was acting alone or under the orders of a higher power. The warrior class had no luck with beating him senseless, so they have sent him to us." The sorcerer explained while raising a wrist and causing the young man's head to rise, his eyes widening as Vereshin did so. "I want you to break apart his mind as I have demonstrated. Tear the information from his thoughts." The master of the Arcane stood aside and allowed the apprentice to make his first move.

[member="Kraal Martesh"]

 

[Kraal Martesh]

Kraal stood before his Vereshin with great anticipation. He listened very closely to Vereshin's instructions hoping to do as he instructed well and wanting to impress him. The first feelings he feels upon seeing the vision are that of both despair and rage. As he concentrated on those emotions he proceeded to surround them with the force successfully forming a barricade around them. He repeated the same process for his previous emotions which felt rather successful. Almost immediately afterword he felt an overwhelming sense of fear and began trying unsuccessfully to envelope his fear with the force. After nearly succumbing to the vision he appeared once again before his master.

Kraal listened intently as he breathed heavily and started recovering from the mental assault. Much to his surprise Vereshin offered him an apprenticeship, a much better result than he hoped for. He enveloped the feeling of joy he was beginning to develop with the force so that it couldn't be manipulated at least as easily.

Kraal began to rise as told and began to look at the armchair that his newly appointed master had slung over. As the curtain flew away Kraal saw a humanoid being around his age covered in different bruises and cuts. He swears he can see new tears forming in their eyes upon seeing them.

"​Yes my master. He will break and he will tell all he knows.​" Kraal slowly raises his hand towards the Acolyte in an attempt to find any prevalent emotion he could manipulate. One stands out far greater than any other, fear. Upon sensing this Kraal attempts to latch onto the emotion and direct images of the Acolyte's worst fears into their mind. After a few moments the Acolyte begins to scream in sheer horror at the sight of his worst nightmares. As the Acolyte's mind is distracted Kraal begins to attempt to dig deeper into their mind searching for any information. After a minute or so Kraal finally finds some of the information he was looking for. "He didn't act alone however I can't find the names of the others. There are two others involved and both are humans.​" Upon saying this Kraal projects the image that the Acolyte will be before the two humans that he was with and having to deal with facing their rage and fear that he didn't finish the job and that he got caught in the attempt. Hopefully this will make the Acolyte give up any specific information about the other two humans.

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

There were no words expressed from Kraal as the magus adopted him as his official apprentice, only silent obedience and a willingness to succeed beneath him conveyed through void expression. Vereshin liked that. Although he appreciated manners, he appreciated the tranquility of silence all the more. There was professionalism in a lack of words over false courtesy. Beneath Kraal's silence, Vereshin could sense a lace of gratitude which the Acolyte attempted to conceal through the Force. The master made no comment and only nodded his head in approval.

"You are stoic. That is good. Emotions are threads which our enemies can pull and follow. They must be contained." He explained before turning around to remove the curtain from the armchair. The restrained Acolyte jerked beneath the Force as Vereshin coiled his fingers in the air to hold him still. He stood backwards and allowed Kraal to work, making note of the emotions he manipulated within the prisoner, whose mind he combed for any information the Acolyte may miss. As Kraal practiced his newly taught technique, Vereshin watched intently as the prisoner jerked and convulsed, whimpering under his breath and attempting to resist the psychological assault of his fellow.

The other young Sith clenched his lips tightly shut and refused to speak. Vereshin removed his thoughts from the prisoner and did not interfere as he allowed his student to practice. With an impressive first try, Kraal did not even need to force his victim to spill any words before ripping the information from his head. The older Sith nodded in approval as the Acolyte received all that he could, before allowing his master to finish the job. "Impressive, apprentice. You did not even require forcing the prisoner to speak." Vereshin placed a congratulatory hand on Kraal's shoulder lightly while brushing him away to stand before the prisoner.

Vereshin stood unmoved, both hands limp by his side while the Acolyte violently convulsed beneath the sheer force of his capacity. Saliva dripped from the side of his mouth and his rolled into the back of his head, leaving bloodshot, white windows gazing from his skull. The sorcerer raised his wrist and coiled his delicate fingers around the air, grasping the boy's every thought and tearing the coherence from his brain. All of his knowledge and feeling drained into Vereshin's form as he ripped all knowing sense until the student hung limp in the chair, a catatonic husk void of movement or soul. Vereshin snapped a finger and altered a guard outside through a tremor in the Force.

The door opened and the guard emerged, hauling the vegetative Acolyte out of the chair and exiting. He closed the door with a shudder and left Vereshin and his apprentice in peace. The emotions of the Acolyte rippled temporarily through the void of Vereshin's feelings, previously without nuance or complexity, the Sith felt a brief rush of remorse which vanished into oblivion and left him in his cold state. "We shall approach your training in mentalist techniques gradually before you are ready to consume minds as such." Vereshin revealed to Kraal before around his side and approaching the desk.

"This Acolyte revealed the two other students who aided him to be aspiring assassins. Their names are Kit and Morek, the former of whom was promised aid in defecting to the Jedi should he carry out the task. Our victim was not aware who intended to help his fellow betray the Sith or if Morek harbored similar intent. This task is one which I am entrusting to you, apprentice." Vereshin explained the sitaution and ran a hand over the air surrounding his front. The light portraying his appearance began to distort and shift in colour. "I will now teach you how to decieve sensory perception through distorting light to fool your foe." The technique would prove useful in Kraal's mission as Vereshin duly explained.

[member="Kraal Martesh"]

 

[Kraal Martesh]

Kraal stood beside Vereshin as his master finished what he could not, yet at least. "Thank you master.​" is all he could think to say unaccustomed to the compliment and clearly not expecting it. In his tribe back on Kalee he merely did what was told of him to the letter with little praise. Kraal continued watching in awe as the Acolyte became a mindless husk of what he once was. He began to wonder about the multitude of uses that sole ability could have in several situations let alone what else he may learn.

He stood there watching as the guard hauled the mindless Acolyte out of the room and turned to his master. "​If I may master, in my experience back on Kalee I've found that at times it's best merely to strike at the core of problem. In this case the core was the Acolyte's mind, as I'm sure you already knew. I thought it might have been easier to find and extract the knowledge myself rather than to force him into saying it.​"

Kraal began contemplating what he could learn by consuming other's minds. The possibilities seemed endless. He could learn seemingly anything provided he could overpower the other's mind, a feat that his master made look easy. He snapped back from his thoughts giving his master his full attention. Kit and Morek, instantly Kraal felt a great disdain towards them. He despised traitors of all kinds. Kraal felt honored in a way to deal with these traitors. It was the only time on Kalee that he actually enjoyed direct combat. He watched as the light in front of his master began to distort in color. He thought it both interesting and extremely useful in many scenarios. "Yes master.​" Kraal said eager to learn. He then concentrated on his master's movements and began to feel how the Force is being directed as to better understand how to manipulate the force in such a way.

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

Vereshin received Kraal's gratitude with grace and smiled coyly, nodding his head and revealing his blackening teeth. "You may." He said as the Acolyte prepared to express his opinion and allowed him to speak unhindered. He appreciated the candor of his apprentice and listened to every one of his words. "You are correct in some instances. However, patience and delicacy are required when enacting feats of heavy sorcery or disassembling the mind of a powerful foe, lest you allow them to destroy you or use your powers against you." The master advised following Kraal's elaboration on his upbringing and methods. The young Kaleesh would indeed prove a fine asset when undertaking combative tasks.

"Come hither, watch me." Vereshin summoned his apprentice away from the armchair. He stood by the table in the center of the room and waved his hands downward through the air over his front. "Reach through the Force and grasp the particles of light making your surroundings visible, or your appearance for that matter." As he spoke, the sorcerer demonstrated the described technique in practice by distorting the light making himself visible. His unassuming clothing transformed into a set of indigo robes adorned with crow feathers and shrouding his head in black bandages. A hood sat on his head above the glow of his green eyes which peeked through the material.

While Kraal practiced conjuring illusions himself, Vereshin swished around the desk, the frayed hem of his robes brushing over the floor. He plucked the set of rotating metal spheres and levitated them between himself and Kraal. "Alter the colour of the space only inside of the spheres." As the apprentice prepared to practice his skill, his master continued to hold the metal spheres between through his mental hold with little effort.

[member="Kraal Martesh"]

 

[Kraal Martesh]

Kraal nodded acknowledging what Vereshin had said. He quickly began to realize that he was going to need to learn to be a bit more patient as his master had said. The last thing he wants and needs is for someone more powerful than him to take advantage of him being too brash or even worse have himself killed or controlled because of it.

Kraal followed Vereshin as he commanded in silent obedience. He stood and watched as his master became much more visible with his robes changing colors and his appearance altering as such. He analyzed the movement his master had just done along with concentranting on how he manipulated the Force and attempted to mimic the same thing. The movement was rather simple to imitate however manipulating the orce in the same way was slightly more challenging. Kraal thought the green eyes were a nice touch given his masters new appearance. He thought that specific appearance could cause an aura of mystery around oneself and the eyes added a hint of intimidation with the raven feathers adding an aura of terror and horror. An aura befitting of a Sith.

As Vereshin pulled out the metal spheres Kraal began to focus on the particles of light inside the spheres and began to differentiate those from the light outside of them. "Yes master.​" Kraal said and afterword he began to focus the Force on the particles inside the sphere and changed them from their current color to a shade of orange similar to that of his skin. His first attempt failed and Kraal took a deep breath calming himself and began focusing more intently on the particles inside the sphere completely ignoring those outside of it. He once again attempted to make the inside of the spheres an orange color. His second attempt was a success and he help continued to concentrate to keep them this color until he was instructed otherwise.

[member="Vereshin"]

 

[Vereshin]

The hooded figure levitated the rotating spheres above his hands, watching intently as Kraal made his first attempt at manipulating the light inside of them. Colours swirled throughout the air and formed an iridescent sphere beneath his grasp, before waning and dying on his first try. The master gave an upwards look of encouragement as he waited for Kraal to try again. The colours began to shift once more and traveled through a scheme of hues before forming a brilliant orange the same hue as the Kaleesh's skin. Once the Acolyte succeeded, the colours beneath his hold vanished into a spiraling black vortex, the force of which shook the frame and consumed the colours from view.

Kraal's master chuckled jovially in response to his trick and endeavored to test the Acolyte's control over his impulses. The robes portrayed by Vereshin's illusion vanished and his attire returned to normal, revealing his smiling face and laughing features. "You did well, apprentice." The sorcerer said as he closed the frames and set the sphere aside on the desk. "Now, practice the same technique on yourself. Craft a form to mask your appearance and deceive your enemies." He instructed Kraal conjure the same illusion he had demonstrated previously.

While Kraal practiced altering the light portraying his appearance, Vereshin demonstrated something more. He slid around the desk and multiplied the particles portraying his appearance, splitting them into duplicates and conjuring four doppelgangers of himself. "Very good, bend the light to your will." He mused while manipulating the puppets of light, preparing to teach Kraal the next technique.

"Now, relax your hold, return your appearance to normal and pay close attention." The sorcerer said as he outstretched his hands, causing each doppelganger to walk around the room and inspect the arcane trinkets. "This time I want you to multiply the light making yourself visible and split each particle from your true form." As he spoke, Vereshin snapped his fingers and commanded one of the duplicates to bring him a cigarette. They opened his case on the desk and brought him the white cylinder accordingly. "Create copies of yourself, as I have demonstrated, to play havoc with the minds of lesser beings." Vereshin plucked the cigarette from the hand of his copy and slid it behind his ear for the time being. With a wave of his hand, the doppelgangers dispersed into energy and re-grouped into his true form.

[member="Kraal Martesh"]

 

[Kraal Martesh]

Kraal smirked hearing that his master is pleased with his success. "Yes master." Kraal then began to focus on his own person slowly envisioning a new appearance, something he never thought he'd have to do. Once he was satisfied he began to focus on the light particles around him and used to force to manipulate them. Due to the larger area this caused him to have to take his time and focus on a much larger body.

His form slowly began to appear to change. His clothing became a jet black robe with a deep wine red trim around the sleeves and hood. The hood draped slightly over his face down to the top of his eyes and a cloth material came up to cover his mouth, nose, and neck keeping only a strip of his face and his yellow-orange catlike eyes revealed. He manipulated to light around his eyes to make them seemingly glow. His hands became covered with a set of gloves matching his robes. His feet seemingly disappeared in the sheer darkness of the robes and Kraal made the area a few inches around his feet seem darker.

A few moments after Vereshin commanded Kraal relaxed and his appearance returned to normal while paying attention to every detail he can. After being instructed to Kraal began to focus on the particles this time within himself. Slowly he began to multiply the particles and rip the duplicates away from himself. He slowly started to get the hang of how to duplicate particles and the process began to go much faster however moving them to a different location to create his double was still giving him a little trouble. After a few minutes he created a near perfect double of himself. One finger was shorter than its real counterpart and his eyelids sat slightly lower than his do. Kraal slightly snarled at his imperfect attempt at a double. he realizes however that as far as first attempts go it could have been worse.