Re-channeling that Hatred

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli had heard about the actions of her newest apprentice when she had been on Prakith, the fight against Alex and her, well whatever that fox creature was to her. Valtryx had been consumed by hatred towards the Grey Historian, and that was not exactly in line with what Taeli wanted directed at Alex. After everything that had happened to her after the invasions, she most definitely did not want someone she held dear killed irrationally or at all for that matter.

Hatred was good and all, but they would need to direct Valtryx's hatred towards more . . . deserving targets. To that end, Taeli had summoned for Valtryx back to where they had their first lesson, the tower on Coruscant. It was high time that Taeli, or as she was known in the Sith as Darth Arcanix, forge the Yodaling into an effective Sith as she defined one to be.

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

 

[Minna]

Valtryx stood silently during her ascent to the top of the tower, her fingers running along the lightsaber by her waist. It was not her custom lightsaber, instead it was one from when she was with the Jedi with an orange blade. She took no pleasure in using or even carrying it, but she had to have a weapon with her until she got her other one back. Yes, she was going to get it back. Alexandra had stolen what was rightfully hers, and one day she would reclaim it.

And kill her with it.

The elevator doors opened to reveal the same room as their last training session, modern and spacious. Her gaze immediately caught upon the figure of her master, and she stepped out of the elevator while nodding her head as a respectful greeting. "You summoned me, Master." Valtryx said, approaching Arcanix with a calm walk before stopping infront of her. "What is it you require?"

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Turning so her black dress billowed around her, she turned her full attention to her apprentice as she spoke. She could feel that inner rage still, but it was being more . . . controlled now at least. That was good start, but she still had a few things to do with tempering that rage and hatred into something far more useful to Valtryx.

"Yes, I wanted to hear your report on the encounter with Alexandra Feanor and why you fought her?" she said, her purple eyes looking into her apprentice's. "And on top of that, I want to know if you allowed your emotions to control you, or the other way around?"

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

 

[Minna]

Valtryx's eyes immediately lowered and narrowed upon the mentioning of what happened on Prakith. A mixture of failure and anger within her building. "Any enemy to the Sith, she was. Fight her, I had to." She replied, downplaying it slightly for the moment. "I thought I had her in a duel but... Too powerful in the force, she is..." The Yodaling's eyes looked up slightly, as she tried to control the emotions inside her that surfaced by merely remembering the event. "When I awoke, gone, my lightsaber was. Escape, I had to." So far she had neglected to mention her emotions, but she knew she had to eventually admit. "In control of my emotions, I was. Up until she blasted me across the hangar. Then I fell to the rage. I refused to be defeated..." Now she was looking fully up at her master, awaiting her reply to it all.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"I see," Taeli said, allowing the silence to swell within the chamber. Oh Alex, you just had to go and fight against the Sith on Prakith, why oh why did you feel the need to do that so soon. Still, it would seem that Valtryx needed a new outlet for her hate and anger, a refocused attention on other, more immediate enemies.

"While I commend you for attempting to fight her, and I'm rather glad you survived the encounter," she said, pacing slightly, "I would prefer you redirect your powerful emotions towards more deserving targets. Alexandra will be dealt with eventually, there are plans being formed about that, but she will no longer be an object for your hate. Krest, the Jedi Order, and the Republic shall be more deserving of your hatred . . . as they are the true threats to the rise of the Sith."

She knew that Valtryx might attack her sister at some point, but she should be able to deal with that before it ever came up.

"Alexandra and her allies . . . you might consider them a balance point that could side with either party, depending on our actions, and I for one have every intention of not giving them a reason to attack my parts of the Sith."

 

[Minna]

Valtryx dwelled on her thoughts for a moment, taking in her master's commands. "But if she continues to fight the Sith, a 'balance point', she is not." Her hatred for Alexandra had subsided slightly already, as it was replaced by Krest and the Republic. His seven swords... "Risky, your game is." She paused for a moment, before turning to gaze out of the tower's window with a look of accepting defeat. "But have faith in you, I do, master. I will direct my hatred to Krest and the Jedi..." The Yodaling cut herself short for a moment, as if realizing something, looking back up at Arcanix. "Will I have to... work with Alexandra... for your plan?" Suppressing her hatred for the woman was one thing, but it would take much longer to work alongside her for a common cause. But, if her master willed it, then Valtryx would make it so.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

She could sense the shift in focus, that was good, and Valtryx did bring up a valid point that if Alex kept attacking the Sith, Taeli would have her hands tied on how to deal with her. She would need to talk with Alex soon about the matter, hopefully convince the woman to focus her efforts on some other endeavor for now.

"You may have to in the future, but I don't foresee it happening any time soon if that sets you at ease about the issue," Taeli replied to her apprentice's question. "It is a long term game I'm playing here, many pieces need to be in place before such a thing will occur."

"Perhaps we should have a lesson yes? What would you like to learn today, my apprentice?"

 

[Minna]

Valtryx returned her gaze out of the window, thinking through the future. It was not her place to intrude on exactly what her master's plans were, but that did not mean she couldn't have her own. Trying to avoid pausing for suspiciously too long, the Yodaling turned her head at the mention of training. "Yes, training..." Her eyes narrowed as she thought of what to learn, mainly what would benefit her plans.
"Know the ability of transferring a person's essence, do you?" She asked, a curious look on her face. Any information her master knew on such an ability would be of help, although exactly how she would teach it was a mystery to the Apprentice. "If so, then that is what I would like to learn. If mind, you do not."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"A powerful ability you're asking to learn there," Taeli replied neutrally. "I can't give you a practical on the technique, as I'm sure you don't feel like losing your body and potentially being sent into the void of the Force. Regardless, I do know the technique and I suppose giving you the theory behind it won't hurt."

Pulling up a hologram, she gestured for Valtryx to come over and take notes.

"I'd take notes because this process can be complicated. There are two methods for transferring one's soul into a new vessel, whether it be a object or a new body. The one I'm going to show you first involves a large amount of ritual runes being drawn around the subject, preferably in blood, and you place the object upon the body you wish to have possession of the soul."

She began running through and showing each rune in detail for Valtryx to copy while she explained how each rune worked. Strange to be passing this knowledge onto someone else, when she had first learned this from Alex herself.

 

[Minna]

"I understand." Valtryx replied. It was certainly true that she didn't want to lose her soul over a small lesson, and so theory would be the safest route. At the mention of notes, the Yodaling pulled out a small datapad from her robe, beginning a new log into it's memory and placing her fingers ready. Her typing began once Arcanix went through the runes, drawing them next to explanations and linking various parts of her notes together to make them understandable whenever she would come back to them. There was no doubt about it, she would come back to the notes. Valtryx had her own plans formulating, and the ability to transfer essences played a solid part in those plans.

However, for now she took notes, nodding her understanding of the explanations as her knowledge slowly grew.
What a great teacher Arcanix was...

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"Now, once you have the runes finished, comes the tricky part," Taeli said. "The runes will act as a sort of containment field for the soul, but to finish putting it into the body, you need to have an enormous amount of power behind you. Some people attempting this method will use a chain of people, sort of like a Force Meld to link their powers together to perform the ritual. Others will have multiple concentration amulets they created, and others will just be that powerful by themselves."

"Now, how do you know if you succeeded? Easiest way is to check for signs of life, but that might not always be possible. You might actually have to sense whether the soul is there or not, and if not you know you failed and the soul you were sending into the body or object has been banished to the Void forever. Another problem with this is, if a body already has a soul inside it, a struggle will occur where only one will remain, the other will be destroyed. Clones are preferred as new bodies because if kept in stasis, their souls and minds don't develop any experiences or feelings. They would simply be . . . empty."

"Now, the other method to this technique is more instantaneous, but more . . . permanent. You perform the ritual within your head, going over and forming the runes and then you release every bond that makes up your body to fuel the spell. Your body will disintegrate in the flash of energy, but it will be enough to fuel the spell. But if you fail, you're gone and no way to come back ever. Any questions?"

 

[Minna]

Valtryx continued taking notes, intrigued heavily by the subject. As her notes on the first method completed, she became even more interested by the second method. "Now, the other method to this technique is more instantaneous, but more . . . permanent." The words were like music to her ears. A sly smirk came to her face, but she lowered her face to hide it, taking more notes instead. In the end, she had but one question. "How experienced would one have to be to successfully perform the last method, say, on a blank clone?" No doubt if Arcanix cared about any plans of the Yodaling they were starting to show, but hopefully her Master didn't mind secrecy. She didn't inquire on Arcanix's full plan, surely she would show the same courtesy.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"In theory? No more experienced than you would need to be to perform the ritual normally," Taeli said, looking at the sly look at her apprentice's face. Apparently someone had a few plans going through their little green head, well it wasn't Taeli's place to interfere . . . unless those plans contradicted hers or threatened her.

"It might be harder because you would need to recall each rune in your head correctly, and in the correct order or the spell will backfire, shredding your soul to pieces. Other than that, you could theorteically pass from clone to clone easily, as long as you did the ritual correctly."

Feeling it needed to be said, she added, "I hope whatever scheme you have in mind does not . . . interfere with my plans. Otherwise . . . I'll have to . . . dissuade you of those notions."

For just a moment, her eyes flashed a dangerous yellow to get her point across.

 

[Minna]

Valtryx noted down the answer to her question, her notes now finished. "I hope whatever scheme you have in mind does not . . . interfere with my plans. Otherwise . . . I'll have to . . . dissuade you of those notions." The questioning had come sooner than she expected, but there was nothing to fear. "Well, know your plans, I do not. But I doubt mine will interfere. Unless you own a bank, hmm?" That was all she said, hopefully enough to reassure her master that she did not plan against her. No, if anything she planned for her. Well, and herself of course. "If the details you want to know... then tell you I shall. You need only ask, master." She added, a finishing touch to the reassurance of trust.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

"No, I suspect I'll learn what you're up to when you go through with whatever you have planned," Taeli said, nodding at her apprentice to show her she was curious but wasn't going to pursue for details. "Just make sure to avoid any deposit boxes or vaults that have Krayt's insignia or L&L Robotics and I won't mind at all, if a bank is a target of yours."

"Do you have any further questions about the transfer essence technique or anything else for that matter?" she asked, curious if she had sated her apprentice's hunger for knowledge today or not.

 

[Minna]

Slightly pleased that her plan was not yet to be revealed, more out of personal preference than secrecy, she looked down at her datapad. Going through her notes, she took a moment to see whether there was anything else she needed to know. "Hmm, I think that will do." She nodded, looking up at Arcanix, before giving a small, polite bow. "Grateful for your knowledge, I am." The Yodaling put her datapad away, straightening her robes out. "Is there anything you need from me, master?"

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Nothing currently, oh before I forget," she said, fishing around in her satchel for a moment before pulling out a credit chit and tossing it to her apprentice. "As I sensed when I mentioned Alex, she took your lightsaber you built yourself when you joined the Sith. There's enough on that credit chit to buy all the materials you need to build another one, maybe even a back-up just in case this sort of thing happens again."

Smiling at Valtryx, she finished by saying, "I'll contact you again for your next lesson, and perhaps you can show me a thing or two to learn during it as well. You're free to go, my apprentice."

[member="Darth Valtryx"]

 

[Minna]

Valtryx took the chit, smiling down at it. "Thank you, master." She said, pocketing it and bowing slightly again. "Farewell, until next time." The Yodaling then turned, making her way to the elevator. Once inside, she reached up and pressed the button, with the doors closing infront of her.

Her plan was going near perfectly so far. Now all she needed was the equipment.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]