Private Rainmaker

[Arcturus Dinn]

All about him the wind whistled and whipped. Three moons hung lazily in the hazy night sky, a smattering of stars their accompanying pindrops against the black veil of night. Below the valley stretched, dark woods lost to a deep mist that obscured the horizon. A crack of thunder in the distant north joined the great symphony which had risen up around him; beasts cawed and howled to the south, water rushed and bubbled in the east, and magma pulsed through cracks in the earth out west. At its heart he sat in all its majesty, cross-legged he hovered a mere inch from the ground. His lips moved soundlessly, words unspoken yet mouthed with a certain intensity. As though willing them into existence.​

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Brows furrowed together, deepening wrinkled lines of focus at the bridge of his nose. Eyes pressed closed he drew upon all that lay around, pulling from the ground and the air, from the languid creatures baying in the dark, and seethed. Each breath he took therein was heavy and hollow, suffocatingly thick the air threatened to grasp at his lungs and deprive him from the sweet ichor of life. Still, he took no pause. He sucked it in hungrily and continued as the cacophony rose, chest rising and falling laboriously under the strain.​

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Beneath the sounds of the land lay a more distinct song, a horrifying number which twisted through his veins and brought with it despair. And yet intoxicating, it too seemed duplicitously sweet. Beautiful, even, in its melancholy. He tried to draw upon it, to bind it with the music of the land, to create from it a grand orchestral crescendo... Yet it remained out of reach. The more he grasped at it, the less tangible it became. Ethereal, like a will-o-the-wisp it evaded his attempts, lingering just on the edge of his peripheral it lured him ever on in a dance of the ages. Teasing, with the promise of....​

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Something.​

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Thesh did not care what that something was. He knew only that he must have it.​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Another crack. Fleeting, yet closer now, it brought with it the rumblings of thunder and a flash of light so bright it ignited the backs of his eyelids in a brief spark that seemed to leave lingering spots that threatened to distract. Where he levitated his body quivered briefly as though moved by the warble of some unheard voice, a shudder traveling down his spine that struck in unison with a low howl. Nay, howls. It was as though the many beasts of the land came together as one, encircling the hill he sat at the precipice of.​

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Teeth gnashed throughout as predator and prey stood side by side, locked within the damp fog. Unbeknownst to the boy, he held one shuddery breath in place as his mind descended upon them, witnessing them as though they were before his very eyes and not miles below. The quiver became a tremor, the tremor a shudder, and soon enough his body was shaking under the strain of unseen forces. Like the raging magma his blood boiled beneath the skin and flesh which made up his fragile form, spilling up through his chest until it strained at his lungs and threatened to break through his ribcage.​

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A stillness settled about the air, the crazed wind ceasing in a moment all together too soon, and with it so too did the noise of the land quell. Just the baying remained, the howls and caws and cries of untamed fauna. And then another, a call of his own making burst free from within adding a guttural, pained undertone.​

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And in an instance those beasts who stood side by side descended upon one another, as though a veil between them had lifted; predator felt the bite of prey, no creature remained the underdog, each took to their unspoken cause as the base of the hill swiftly ran red. The boy did not move in the aftermath, no more tremors, no more soundless words, he simply sat cross-legged, eyes unseeing, and bathed in the strange splendor of it all.​

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Beneath layers of adrenaline lay a fatigue never before experienced by one such as he, sapped of energy and will both it was all he could do to upkeep the meditative state he'd locked himself within. To stumble now would surely be his undoing, to give in to the tempting embrace of slumber should spell the end.​

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And yet it wasn't. For he didn't.​

 

[Darth Acharon]

The Advent came to a halt above the unnamed world, the sleek hull of the Empire of Ailara warship glinting as it emerged from the shadow of one of the worlds moons. The planet was nothing all that special, from what Darth Acharon could tell. Habitable, if perhaps not all that pleasant, and with evidence and signs of a thriving ecosystem. The potential for advanced forms of life was even possible, though what form it might take was impossible to tell from orbit. These questions of biology did not interest Acharon, though.

No, what interested him was that this nameless world hung in the void beyond the Tingle Arm, at the very edge of the known galaxy. Such things were truly rare, and very few planets could hold themselves within the orbit of the galaxy this far out without eventually being flung into the endless void between galaxies. This worlds mere existence was worth investigation for any half way credible scientist, and the research that could be done here would no doubt send a mans career leaping ahead. Acharon's interests lay less in the scientific field, and more in the metaphysical.

Acharon had been searching the edge of the galaxy for months, driven by the endless need within him to find the final resting place of Darth Vorkar, and reap the rewards of all that could be found within. When Acharon's scouts reported another possible location, he had secured the first available ship from his worlds navy to personally investigate. Standing on the bridge of the Advent, Acharon felt the rush of excitement and joy, an almost alien feeling to the Sith, flooding him. He could feel the power of the Dark Side flowing from the world below, the first sign of potential Sith activity he had found during his expeditions. Today perhaps, he had finally gotten lucky.

"Ready a transport to take me down immediately, Captain. Have a search party assembled as well." Acharon did not wait for the officers reply before he turned, the black robes he wore drifting in the air briefly as the Sith marched off the bridge of the vessel. Today, perhaps things would finally change."

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The breaking of the temporary peace which gripped the creatures of this land was matched by the returning wind. Back with a vengeance, it put its former state to shame. All around the valley below trees buckled and bent beneath its might, and the next crack of lightning brought with it an unrelenting torrent of rain which soaked the ground and all upon it in seconds. ​

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The land which had known only the burning heat of the sun for weeks now soaked in each and every drop, refilling tributaries which had all but dried up and reinvigorating the land. It too brought with it the blood of those who had fallen below, so much that they ran red for a time in the aftermath.​

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All about the planet the singular storm brewed, where moments prior the skies had been nigh on clear save for just the handful of thunderclouds to the north. Even they had not yet brought rain, just the promise of, and now they were as unrelenting as the rest.​

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He found himself with renewed strength in its wake, dismissive of the way in which it soaked into his skin he remained in place and allowed it to flow over him. His grip upon the Force, his hold on the Force, wavered and broke, leaving him amidst the chaos of his own creation. Life and death in unison before him as he opened his eyes and observed it all, lungs gasping for the air he'd denied them, and muscles aching with the remaining fatigue that not even the first drops of rain could fully dismiss.​

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Thesh dropped to the ground then, sagging out of his meditative state and joining with the mud-soaked floor he'd rejected for days.​

 

[Darth Acharon]

The transport broke through the atmosphere of the unnamed world, search lights sparking to life as they began to scan the ground below. As the transport skimmed the surface of the world, the front ramp began to lower, Darth Acharon walking towards the end of it and gripping one of the pistons to stabilize himself. The rushing wind all around the transport caught the long black robes that he wore, and they billowed out around him as the transport found a suitable landing site, and began its descent.

The moment the ship had touched the ground, ten Ailaran Army Troopers rushed out of the transport, their rifles raised and scanning the perimeter of their small landing site. Acharon was out after them not long after, his eyes slowly tracing the environment around them. He could feel something here, and that was a welcome change from the past few worlds he had found in his expedition. His hands slowly closed into fists, and the wild smile across the Sith's face became hard to contain as he took a step towards the semi circle of white armored soldiers. Nodding to the sergeant, Acharon issued brief orders for them to spread out in pairs.

Activating flashlights at the end of their rifles, as well as two on either side of their helmet, the five search groups broke off and began to march in different directions, with Acharon pushing off on his own towards the location of the presence he felt. He was not entirely sure what it was yet, but he would deal with that when he finally found it. Reaching down to his hip, he unclipped his saberstaff and brought it out in front of him, activating the twin crimson blades with that all too familiar snap hiss. With this new illumination, Acharon set off into the wilderness of this lost world.

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

It was on unsteady legs that he rose, muscles tight and crying out in response to the first movements they'd experienced in far too long. A slow exhale of breath was made in place of grunts and groans, and after limping a few paces he finally stood upright once more and eased into the motions of walking.​

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At first he did not know where exactly it was he was headed. The sounds of ravenous, feral animals had begun to ease off as only the strongest among them remained, even so he was unsure if he wanted to walk through the carnage which remained in his wake. In truth he didn't put much more thought to the where than that, at least not until a ship descended from the heavens.​

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He watched it with confusion wrought upon his sunken face, tracking its path to the tumultuous planet below with bleak fascination. So another had entered the ring, then? How long had it been since his own vessel had crashed here? How long since those who had been tasked with transporting him into the Tingel Arm had perished when the ship struck earth, leaving him alone and at the behest of the wilds?​

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Though he had longed for this very sight, he would be lying if he had said he ever expected this day to come. And now that it was here? Now that opportunity had presented itself?​

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Well... He didn't quite know what to do with it.​

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His feet, however, knew all too well what they wanted. Into the verdant jungles he traversed, down from his lofty hill and into the depths of the unknown. Led only by the afterwave caused by a landed ship, and a general notion of wherein it might have landed, he walked on in search of those who had descended, yet the closer he got the more wary he became of who exactly had cause enough to be here.​

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He reached for a hilt that did not exist upon his belt, lost at some time or another within this chaotic and everlasting existence. Then he reached for the Force, insofar as he could with fatigue racing through his body. For days now he had drawn upon it, influencing the world and the beasts inhabiting it, but now it felt far from his grasp... Mocking him in its own way.​

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Into the unknown unarmed, then, was that how it was to be?​

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So be it.​

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Darth Acharon ​

 

[Darth Acharon]

Acharon sensed the individual approaching him before he saw him. A strong presence in the Force, a presence encased in the familiar weight and cold that accompanied the Dark Side. In that split second Acharon knew that he had failed once again. He had found little evidence of what he was searching for, but the few traces he had, the remnants of Darth Vorkar, had all felt different than this. Acharon frowned, increasing his pace towards whatever was approaching him. He had to know what had brought him here.

When Acharon finally caught sight of the individual, he came to a halt. His eyes narrowed, taking in the ragged appearance of Arcturus Dinn before him. The taint of the Force was still strong around the youth, small traces of the darkness at the edges of Acharon's vision. However, it was not present now. A quick inspection of the stranger told Acharon all he needed to know for now. A Sith, tired, wounded, and isolated on a world forgotten to the rest of the galaxy.

"Stay where you are, stranger. Tell me who you are, and how you came to be on this world."

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[Arcturus Dinn]

By the time that the boy came face to face with the masked stranger he looked as though any stray gust of wind might send him toppling to the ground. For a moment he felt sure he was hallucinating, that he was still atop that hill traversing the Force and soaking in the visions which pulsated through it. He swayed slightly, and once again reached for a non-existent weapon that should have been on his belt.​

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The being spoke to him, which was more than any of his previous hallucinations had been want enough to do, and the rusted cogs which made up his brain began to strain and whir in response.​

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"I fell from the heavens," came his fractured response, his voice was cracked and hoarse from lack of use. How long had it been since he did more than bay and howl back at the creatures of the night? Since he'd had a civilized conversation? "But you... You descended... by choice..." He practically laughed as he spoke that final word, shaking his head so fast that his untamed hair obscured his view.​

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"This is hell, brother... And you waltzed right on in..."​

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Darth Acharon ​