Private Removing The Veil

[Aurelian Sigismund]

T I T A N
S T A R _ F O R T R E S S
Tessyn Zifftro​

The Overlord remained above Kalidan, at the pulse of the heart which was beating with renewed vigor. The Eternal Empire was readying its return and yet was already under attack, hence why it was necessary to cultivate allies, to draw upon other's resources and preserve the power which Kalidan and Zakuul could muster. Only a fool would consider stability a permanent matter, order a given and justice guaranteed. They were earned through sweat, blood and death. He was preparing the Empire, together with the Empress, to return it to galactic significance.

To achieve that he had went through streams of data, tens of thousands of reports he had read and issued orders, decrees, promotions and summons which ranged from the highest Overseers of STRATCOM to squad leaders of the Ultranaut Corps. An attention to detail was easily an asset if one would not lose focus and the target. One of these details were the performances of a young insurgency leader. His people oblivious, his soldiers too happily accepting luck as an explanation and for the Blackwatch it was about potentially losing an asset, but to Aurelian it was very obvious. It was not the first, nor the last he would send to Force training.

But for this one he felt to make it more personal. A summons was ordered, a transport dispatched and the young fledgling soldier to brought before him.

 

[Tessyn Zifftro]

KALIDAN
BLACKWATCH BASE

​

When the Ayrou soldier was preparing himself, with his other comrades of war, to reinforce the Eternal Empire's position within Camp 9, he was suddenly called by his superior. Tessyn's war-beaten, stoic face had an empty look when he was ordered to separate from his group, and enter the shuttle that just arrived the hangar. He would be actively leaving his squadron all by itself, board a secure Star Fortress, while his peers would be battling against -rumors say-, horribly mutated monstrosities. And yet, his superior's tone was one of preoccupation. If Captain Zifftro didn't know better, he would say the way his superior's eyes avoid contact with his, the overly-burneded way they move, shows reverence, or maybe even fear. It was surely no little matter, the one Tessyn would have to tackle.

The captain said his goodbyes to all of his team, and made his way to the transport. The robes that once were so deep in its green has seen its colour faded to almost brown. War and time once more work together to clean the brightness away. Impatient, the Ayrou began to clean his rifle to an almost impecable state, his bayonet hanging on the also beaten tactic belt.

When the shuttle finally boarded its destiny, Tessyn wasn't surprised to see the brutalist, deeply discomforting architecture of the Fortress. He grew to like it, but only after much time of exposure to Imperial culture and ways. What was surprising, though, was the shining, almost angelical armor of the man he was escorted to. He heard all the talk about the Griffin of Zakuul, but thought it was a rather methaphorical title. Quite foolish to expect that, knowing the very literal costumes of the Eternal Empire. An armoured griffin, quite literally, was the man in front of him. Using the blunt and direct ways he was educated since a small child, the Ayrou said, almost high enough to sound like a discourtesy, having in mind the one he is talking to, stating a fact very hard to comprehend.

"You called me."​

 

[Aurelian Sigismund]

T I T A N
S T A R _ F O R T R E S S
Tessyn Zifftro​

"You have been fighting a war since your childhood, a war that is meaningless. Neither your comrades, nor your kin, nor your hated enemy play a role significant enough to be considered more than a nuisance. But it is not you or your predecessors faults that you wandered blindly on the path laid out for you."

His voice was as inevitable as thunder, powerful and determined, conviction and will incarnate. Aurelian Sigismund eyed the figure with his lithic eyes, the expression carved from bedrock itself it seemed, the aura emanating a presence as unyielding and unbending as the walls of a citadel. The golden armor richly decorated with fine engravings and reliefs of individuals and battles lost to time and with his arms clasped behind his back, he seemed almost like a statue were it not for his mouth moving.

"Tell me, do you seek to remain in the shadows of those that have cast away their shackles? That have removed the shroud of meaninglessness? I am offering you to ascend in purpose and knowledge, to become a weapon of enlightenment, a blade of purpose and gravitas."

"What say you?"

 

[Tessyn Zifftro]

T I T A N
S T A R _ F O R T R E S S
Aurelian Sigismund
​

The words said by the Griffin repulsed Tessyn. The arrogant, brute tone didn't help it either. The soldier's face was burning with a controlled rage he rarely was able to feel. His colleagues, their sacrifices, the war they fought so bravely. The battles his squadron is currently fighting, which Tessyn has no actual certainty of how they are in this very moment... The ayrou would state, as his words were like the shots of a blaster:

"And who are you, that we must bow so low? Who are you, with such great knowledge and with that shining armor of yours? Where are you when your men sacrifices themselves for the Empire's glory? Know that, for such insignificancy, our men never fail in battle, or on anything else, be in this galaxy or another."

By "our people", Tessyn meant all thhe members of the glorious Eternal Empire. It was a pity he would only realise that this could be misinterpreted later. His voice, even if controlled, shows deep resentment. But still, not because of respect, but by instict, he continued to listen to the Griffin's words. For such a collectivist Empire, its Griffin showed the sliminess of a greedy aristocrat.

Enlightenment by itself was crude, Tessyn knew. The only way you can ever free yourself was by freeing your peers in doing so. He could try to explain it all to the Griffin. In fact, he could even walk away in disgust. Even shooting him and his degenerate anti-imperial talk was an option, and it came to him as sign of the so many years he served as a Blackwatch. All could be said, all could be made, and yet, he remained still.

"Show me."​

 

[Aurelian Sigismund]

T I T A N
S T A R _ F O R T R E S S
Tessyn Zifftro​

Ah the self-righteousness and self-importance of youth and their accomplishments. A boon to every cause able to utilize and weaponize them. His anger was curious, it hurt him. He would be hurt a many more times, deeper, worse. But there was no offense. The young agent could not grasp the situation, his ignorance was too strong. A forgivable offence. But as a member of the Eternal Empire to oppose the one second only to the Empress herself, was ill-discipline. He would not forgive that so lightly.

In what happened less than a blink of an eye was difficult to determine, even for the latent Force user. A mist of silver, roughly the shape of the Griffin remained where he stood for a split second only as he materialised behind the Ayrou. Without touching the agent he would lift him into the air, unable to move and grasped by an invisible Force.

"My men never fail in battle and you do well to remember that you are one of them. A flick of my wrist and your life ends."

Aurelian, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, let the man fall to the ground. He looked down at the Ayrou, his expression unchanged, his tone the same. There was no doubt that his show of strength seemed restrained, controlled. Then he simply walked off, his heavy sabatons clanking as he stepped away across the armored deck.

"You have the potential to tap into the same source of power. It is called the Force. An energy field which connects and binds all living things in the Galaxy together, a semi-sentient entity that is a part of you, if you want it or not. If properly trained, those attuned to it, can use it, utilize its energies for many applications. It can make you faster, it can make you stronger, improve your senses, influence the world and beings around you. It can be used for preservation, restoration and destruction alike."

It was something he rarely reiterated out loud these days. The philosophy and science of the Force were topics which he was only interested in for the ultimate goal and that was very rarely made topic of verbal conversations. To teach someone from the beginning was something he had not done for a very long time. Was it a simple pick based on his decision or was it what he loathed to agree to, an interference of the sentience itself? There would come the time when such was answered, answered with the annihilation of one of the possibilities.

"I offer you to show you the potential, to expand your strength and to fortify your will against its currents. Your previous 'luck' was down to your connection to the Force. You can continue hoping for your luck or you can forge your own."