See What I've Become

[Darth Carnifex]

He felt the other continue on, and Anaya come in his direction, obviously looking to pick a fight with whoever was causing them such duress. Vornskr heaved the grenade launcher over his shoulder as she landed atop one of the nearby rooftops. He said nothing to her, but kept his distance as he leveled his weapon at her and launched a small volley of grenades all in her direction. All of them were explosive, except for one that had been altered to hold quite the quantity of nails and other pieces of shrapnel which would be launched in all directions when detonated. There was one grenade still left in the chamber, but Vornskr would be saving it for a very special moment, and for now he would do his best to deal with whatever Anaya threw at him.

Actual combat moves aside, it felt weird to see Anaya again after all of these times, and at first she seemed so otherworldly to Vornskr that he thought that she wasn't actually real. Like a specter of a dream... It was slightly unnerving, but he swallowed his feelings and became the ruthless, determined killer he was born to become.

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya reached out to smack each grenade down and away with the force with a casual flick of her wrist, igniting one side of her staff as she did. The shrapnel grenade caught her off guard, turning to the side at the last moment, the shrapnel and nails embedded themselves in her skin. Painful, but not what she would call crippling. Saber held at her side humming slightly she smiled.


She threw nothing at him, she simply smiled. "Been a while, hasn't it Kaine." she called to him, telekinesis worked to slide each shrapnel piece and nail out of her skin, gathering them at her feet, she kept a firm hold of them in the force as they slowly collected into a ball. "I wonder why he sent you? Prehaps to test your resolve, your loyalty. Can you kill a woman you loved?"

[member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, momentarily illuminating their chosen field of battle. Kaine's dark-green cloak fluttered in the wind, the rain peppering him endlessly, and the hair that was exposed to the elements had grown wet and stuck awkwardly to his scalp and face. Her voice was hard to take in, his hands curled into fists, and he stared back at her with a determined gaze. "Loyalty..." He brought his grenade launcher up to hold it in both hands, his thumb idly caressing the grip as his eyes bored into the Twi'lek's. "You don't know the meaning of the word, Anaya Fen." But perhaps it was a perverse task that Kaine had been sent to perform, and perhaps it was the Dark Lord's true, final test for one of his most stalwart Voices. It would be quite fitting if it was, but Kaine steeled his willpower and fortitude, and let the final chamber of the grenade launcher rotate into position.

"Whatever the reason why he chose me, I will still bleed you dry, and leave you for carrion."

Kaine's finger slammed back against the trigger, and with a loud thwosh the final grenade was lobbed directly at Anaya. This one, however; was not like the other grenades.

It was a plasma grenade.

[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Her smile widened. "Well, I suppose that's a fair assessment." she purred back at him. As soon as her trigger finger moved, her hand flashed forward sending the collected ball of shrapnel for his face before she jumped backwards, somersaulting and coming to land on the building roof behind her. One knee on the ground. She bowed her head against the heat of the ball of fire the plasma grenade created.

She came back to her feet as it dissipated. "You're going to have to give me more than grenades if you want to bleed me dry, Kaine." She tiled her head, her face alight with mockery. "Careful though. Dead or alive, I'm pretty sure he wants me in one piece."

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Rave Merrill"] [member="Darth Vornskr"]

Sometime they say the force is your guide, other times they say it's your master, but in both cases he had learned to trust it. He walked off a tramp freighter he had bought for an old imperial blaster and his old ship. The air at least was...moving unlike the ships stale air. He would have to get a mechanic to work on the blasted thing. He walked along using the quey'tek meditation he had now mastered and began asking locals for directions. He had heard a rumor, a story on the space lanes of a woman that had some how received the short end of the dark lord of the one sith's stick...not like that guys come on.

Anyway, Talon walked along barefoot in a simple black shirt and pants as he searched for the red twi'lek. He only hoped he wasn't too late, he had the same problem as she did, and you know what they say "The enemy of my enemy."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

A simple conjured wall of Force was enough to deflect the ball of shrapnel in every other direction around him, and it appeared that they were equally matched so far in their deadly dance. Using the Force, Kaine reloaded his grenade launcher faster than he would if he loaded each one individually. The drum spun around and locked into position, and with steady hands he brought it back up to bear, and aimed it directly at Anaya.

"You presume too much, my dear."

In rapid succession he would lob four grenades at or around Anaya, however; none of them were explosive, but rather as they clanked against the ground they spun around madly and began to unleash a thick stream of billowing smoke in every direction to add to the already hazy weather. With the amulet still around his neck, Kaine was able to perform one of his signature tactics, and after a quick incantation his body shimmered violently and he split into four Kaines rather than one. The power of Illusions was one of his greatest strengths, and he was going to use it now against perhaps his biggest regret. Kaine slung the grenade launcher over his shoulder, a leather strap keeping it bound tightly against his shoulder, and he unsheathed his lightsaber. His mirror images would quickly follow suit, and with a wordless command all four Kaines spread out into the gloom.

The strategy was to attack Anaya from all sides, with only one of them being the real Kaine. Thanks to the amulet around his neck, it made it all the more difficult to actually discern which Kaine was the real Kaine. Thus, with his plan into motion, all four Kaines lunged out from the darkness, ignited their lightsabers in unison, and rushed to attack Anaya from all sides.

[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

Rave kept running through preflight.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya had spent some time of her life blind, so when the smoke grenades obscured her view, force sight kicked in. She watched him shimmer into four bodies and rolled her eyes. Always people had to resort to trickery, because a straight up fight was no longer an option. If he wanted to play dirty that was fine by her. Area of effect was her greatest advantage, and she wanted to keep her distance.

She gathered the energy to her as all of him ran towards her, unleashing a torrent of lightening in all directions. It would come at all four version of him from every angle. She just had to watch for the slip up.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine stopped dead in his tracks, as did his illusions, and with another muttering incantation he summoned forth a shimmering barrier right as the lightning came into his range. His illusions followed their creator down to the letter, but as the lightning surged forth and connected with the solid barrier that surrounded the real Kaine, the lightning that struck the illusions simply went right through them. With his act foiled, Kaine quickly dismissed the illusions with a word, and then touched the tips of his fingers to the inner surface of his barrier, and used it as a reflective surface to counter-attack Anaya while he still could. Her lightning would rebounded all across the shimmering surface of the bubble, before being redirected back at her from the direction of where he was*.

*The real Kaine was coming at you from behind.

[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya spun as the other Kaine's diminished, the lightening stopping as she did. Her lightsaber flicking up to catch what Kaine redirected at her until the air stopped crackling. She lowered the saber again, sadness touching her face.

Don't you dare. DON'T YOU DARE!

"For what its worth, Kaine," She spoke softly "I'm sorry for the pain I caused you."

PATHETIC! ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC!

The softness that was there was gone in a few blinks, lifting a hand she beckoned him to attack.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Rave Merrill"]

Talon stubbed his toe and kept looking around for the twi'lek.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Well, he wasn't expected that.

The bubble dissipated as the last of the lightning burnt itself out, leaving the air heavy with the thick scent of ozone and charred permacrete. A similar softness began to creep across Kaine's face, and for a brief moment memories of their time together flashed across his mind, and he was almost touched by it.

Almost.

Soon enough that softness all but evaporated, and was replaced with a furious indignation as he re-ignited his lightsaber and took the opening stance of Form V: Djem So, and his eyes blazed with the white hot fury of the Dark Side.

"You're sorry? YOU'RE SORRY?!"

The bloodlust had begun to take over him, his eyes blazing a sulfuric yellow and his muscles bulged underneath his clothing as he empowered himself with Force Rage. His voice became distorted and twisted as the Dark Side within him grew to a mighty flame, and began to accelerate his degeneration. His mind, for the moment, had become violently unhinged as the red haze fell over his sight, and his only desire, nay; the only thing that began driving him forward at that moment was the utter eradication of what was causing him this unfathomable emotional agony.

"I͍̲͘ ͈̣̥̣Ẉ̶̰͖̖I̳L͔̖̮L̰ ͍͉͎̞̤͖͘͜͡M̷̯͈̲̺̘̖͟A̙̣͕͓͞K̢̛̘̝͚͔̱̭̹E̜̬̪̲̫̙̩̕͢͟ ͕͞Y̙̬̻͉̦̙̱͉͓O̵̸͉͉̤̞͇̳̙͞Ư͓̥̰̗͝ ̷̸̞̹͎̜̲̥͈̭B͈͕͈̲̣Ȩ̠̪̪̱̱́G͓̝̬̟ ̳̫͜F҉̸͍͓͉͓͎͕͖O̗̲̹Ŗ̘̟̮ ̵̸̜̺D̵̟̟͍̺̦̖͡ͅE̻̫̲͡͞A̴̘̤͍̩̳͎T̵͎͔̖̭͖͈͟͡H̸̜̫̟̼̮͢ͅ!̥̬̤̹͢ͅ"


[media]https://soundcloud.com/nicolasdelrio/the-devil-in-i-slipknot[/media]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Talon Vosra]

Talon continued to ask around for the Twi'lek and came to a stop in view of [member="Darth Vornskr"] and [member="Anaya Fen"]. His emerald eyes were nearly useless in the dark and being close to them he could feel the dark plague they both carried in their flesh even as he himslef did.

He thought of [member="Darth Isolda"] and suddenly had the morbid thought that of all the women in his life over the years she had been the most consistent. It was a scary thing when the one woman who you could feel constantly near you was also mynoc poodoo crazy.

He looked at the armored man and realized he didn't know him then the lithe Twi'lek in tattered clothes and wondered if maybe this was the worst idea evern or if she could actually be interested in helping him find a cure. In either case he was desperate and desperate people some times did stupid things.

He decided not the interfere for the moment but he dropped his quey'tek meditation and let his presence return in the force as he found what was left of a wall and sat on it.

"I wish I had bought popcorn."

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

See, all that did was serve to piss him off.

"I know, but it needed to be said."

Good, now you've cleared your conscience, can we kill him?

Lips curled into a mocking smile as the rage descended over him and he bellowed at her. She laughed. "Oh, Kaine, sweetie. That's very cute!" She shook her head "I really hate to bust your little rage bubble here, but I'm sorry to tell you that that's not gonna happen."

He can try.

"We have survived worse than him."

He's not worth our time.

"You're right."

She deactivated her saber, and turned to walk away. "Call me when your over this little temper tantrum. It would be nice to have a civilized conversation." She kept her focus in the force on him, fully expecting him to attack her while her back was turned.

After all, its what she would have done.

[member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Talon Vosra"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

His rage did not subside, but it became cold and precise rather than a torrent of uncontrollable anger and hatred. He glared at her as she began to walk away, and that only further incited his boiling anger. "So very like you, running away from your problems." He began to amalgamate his hatred and darkness into a singular form, letting the Dark Side course through his body as he prepared to unleash it against her. "You can't run away from me, Anaya. This ends here and now." It only took another moment or so before Kaine had finally condensed enough power, and unleashed it in a massive torrent not against her body or anything around her, but rather he unleashed his invisible might against her mind. Claws of madness would rake against the outer layer of her mind, attempting with overwhelming force to break past whatever defenses she had erected around it and get in.

"Stand and face me wretch."

[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

There it was, that was what she had been waiting for. Enticing him to show all of his cards, have him lay his skills out on the table so she knew just what she was up against. Anaya had fought Spencer Jacobs, she wasn't new to mental attacks but the rage behind this one was pure and it brought her to a knee. She clutched at her head and screamed. So did the one in her head. Images flashed past her mind, her and Kaine together, Kaine asking her to join Omni, Kaine pleading with her to stop attacking him. Her, Ashin and Spencer on Eshan, at Rakata Beta, the flirting the electricity between them and the disgust and dislike with which they both regarded her now. Mikhail smirking up at her from the couch, the hate in his face when he stabbed her in the back, the pain in his face when she dragged him out of the fight with Ovmar.

People she had cared about, people who had turned against her because she had been so consumed by her own selfish desire to what?

She was alone.

Get a grip! You are not alone!

She fought against the surge of memories that were threatening to suffocate her and pushed herself to her feet.

You have Jared.

"Jared." she repeated, softly, reaching out in a desperate plea for him, when she had spent the last weeks hiding from him. She staggered turning to face Kaine.

"I will KILL YOU!"

[member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Talon Vosra"] [member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Darth Vornskr"] | [member="Anaya Fen"] | [member="Talon Vosra"] | [member="Rave Merrill"]

A man sat in a dark, shadowy room facing a shattered mirror which scattered his visage into thousands of tiny fragments, it was an analogy for something clever and perhaps it was also a precaution for something else, irrelevant in the grand scheme of things though. It probably wouldn’t even have to be used, and yet… a man had to be certain of things.

Three taozin modules surrounded his maskedhttp://vynettedantes.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Carnival-Battle-Mask-157529272 persona, obfuscating the remainders of the ripples that permeated from his persona and tainted the air of the room, the atmosphere was thick with the dark energy building up and releasing again with every breath the man took and every time he subsequently exhaled again.

Two things were on his person, a Sith Blade resting upon his knees and radiating the Darkside and a Sith Amulet suspended from his neck. The Force streamed through the air into the Sith Blade and through the Force NExus being magnified, it flowed further into the Sith Amulet, amplified yet again before it reached the Sith Lord’s body and mind.

His eyes closed Darth Carach seemed to be at peace with his surroundings and with the Darkside imbued within him, this all changed though once a voice screamed through the force at him.

‘JARED.’

Eyes opened themselves and orbs of amber filled the far reached of his pupils. He knew what it meant and without making any other movement, Carach once again closed his eyes.

The Darkside built up around him and within him, the mirror broke itself into even more pieces and then the Sith Lord used the Force Bond existing between himself and the Anaya to travel to the place of unrest.

Him turned into me and once again I found myself being ripped apart by the currents of the Darkside, the Sword and the Amulet amplified that what I already had and yet… it was so much. So easy to just let go and drift away into the void of the Force, never to be seen again.

It would have been easier, would have been kinder to myself and the people around me. But her scream brought me back into rationality.

Ghost eyes saw what was happening, Zambrano’s Force flowing from his mind into the fragile spaces of Anaya’s psyche. She had never been a strong practitioner of the mind, had always used her skill of a certain Sith Spell to counter the effects and yet… it was too late for that now.

He was attacking my woman, this realization did something to the infamous apathy that had controlled my life for so many years. It didn’t shatter, for I was far too gone into the void for something like that to happen out of the blue, but a crack appeared… where once there was none.

My presence enveloped the mind of Anaya, surrounded it with the strong, beskar walls of my own will and might. Walls that had kept men like Je’gan out and with this strength of will I cut off her mind from the clutching touch of her former boyfriend. Talk about jealousy.

‘Your mind is closed off, I will give you my power but you will have to end Zambrano now. His hatred is festered too deep, you cannot allow him to roam free anymore.’

With that energy started to pour into Fen’s body, two Sith Lords… one enemy.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

His connection into her mind was severed quite abruptly, which completely surprised Kaine as he had never known Anaya to be able to do that. But, he had known a small number of people who were able to contend with him on such a level, but such curiosities would have to be explored at another time. His grip tightened on his lightsaber, and he assumed the Djem So opening stance once against as he prepared to square off against her. "Death comes for you on this day, Anaya, and the cycle will end." Funneling the Dark Side of the Force into his body to fuel his movements, Kaine whirled across the battlefield towards Anaya, his movements a blur as he moved. Perhaps a blur to a normal individual, but Kaine knew that Anaya was a seasoned duelist, and eventually he would have to resort to less-than traditional methods if he hoped to defeat her.

Killing her was another problem all together.

Would he be able to go through with it despite all of his threats and hatred?

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

The memories drained back to the dark recesses of her mind where they should be as Ovmar shut Kaine out. She could feel his power combine with hers, the darkness flooding every fibre of her being. Red eyes became flecked with amber as she fed on it.

He's right he needs to die. We should have killed him a long time ago.

"Shut up!"

Anaya moved as Kaine shifted, speed matching his. She sprang, igniting one side of the staff and jumped to somersault over his head, lightsaber flashing down to parry aside an upwards strike he might make. The second blade came to life as hit the floor and spun, swiping for the back of his knees before coming up to her full height, staff moving across her body in a diagonal defense. She needed to end this as quickly as possible.

[member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Darth Carach"] [member="Talon Vosra"]

 

[Talon Vosra]

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Darth Vornskr"] [member="Darth Carach"]

Talon really didn't like this. He hated to get involved with obvious darksiders, especially ones that behaved and spoke like sith, but the lethan may be his only chance to find a way to cure the plague. He needed her, needed her information, and he felt a strange fellowship with her, sharers in the same agony as it were. He closed his eyes and began to move forward opening them after a step and began heading toward the dueling warriors. It was foolish it was desperate, but then again he wasn't exactly known for his brilliant mind.

He began to move to the woman and reached for her in the force in an attempt to strengthen her with his own power.

"Beat him and lets go, we need to talk." He said loud enough to be heard. He still had not drawn a weapon.