Private Shadows Of The Mind

[Azurine Varek]

Dancing With A Devil

Outfit: Clothing/Armor | Glove | Right Arm | Talisman
Weapons: Lightsaber 1 | Lightsaber 2 | Hook Swords

The sun hung low over Iridonia's jagged canyons, casting long shadows across the ochre-hued landscape. The shapes were almost colidoscope like in nature, clearly something apart from reality, but when in the throws of a dream, one usually couldn't recognize those subtalties at first. Azurine ran, her boots kicking up clouds of red dust with every desperate stride. Her one remaining heart hammered against her ribs as if they sought escape more than she did. Behind her, something moved—too fast, too relentless, too impossible. She didn't dare look back.

Faster. Just keep moving.

The air burned in her lungs, dry and thin, as if the planet itself was conspiring against her. Her inner fire, usually a symbol of strength and heritage, now felt like an anchor dragging her down. The wail of the wind through the canyons sounded eerily like laughter, mocking her efforts.

Ahead, the canyon split into two paths. Azzie hesitated for a fraction of a second, skidding on loose gravel. Left or right? Which would give her a chance? Which wouldn't be a trap?

"You can't keep running forever, Azurine Varek." The voice echoed from behind her—familiar, taunting, and cold enough to send a shiver down her spine despite the heat.

Her jaw clenched. Don't let them get in your head. That's what they want.

Without answering, she veered left, the narrow path forcing her to duck and weave around jagged outcroppings. Her muscles screamed in protest, but she didn't stop. Stopping wasn't an option.

"You know you can't escape what's inside you, what you are."

Azzie glanced over her shoulder, just for a heartbeat, and immediately regretted it. A shadowy figure loomed in the distance, its form shifting and nebulous. It moved like smoke, slipping through the canyon's obstacles as if they weren't even there.

Fear clawed at her chest, but it wasn't just fear of whatever was chasing her. It was fear of the truth in its words.

What I am? I'm a fighter. I'm not going down like this.

Darth Carnifex​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Shadow was relentless, always moving at a speed that was just slower than Azurine Varek could run. She could never escape it not matter how hard or far she ran, it was always right at her back; icy cold fingers reaching out to brush the nape of her neck every time she slowed. There was nothing innately familiar about the Shadow, only a deep, ear-pounding terror accompanied by the reek of rot and fresh earthy decay. The Shadow smelled like a predator, wrought from the deepest, darkest jungle, a monstrous gnawer of bone and gnasher of flesh.

But when she looked back, all there was was the Shadow's form; voluminous and without definition. Peering through the gloom were two bright yellow eyes, glowing like shoreline beacons in the dead of foggy night. They followed her every movement, without fail. Staring into them was dangerous, they were horrifically hypnotic, and she was liable to lose herself in their succulent glow.

All she could do was run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

But, there. A break in the valley wall, demarcated by a ring of stone bricks carved with runic symbols. There was no other way, beyond it was the end of the valley and certain doom. She had to make for the gateway, to pass through it and hope that salvation lay beyond. The Shadow was right on her heels, it was reaching out; spindly fingers curling around her neck. But the gate was just there, just a few more feet and she'd be through.

A leap of faith.

The sensation of the Shadow was gone the moment she passed through. If she looked back, she would find that the Shadow was gone. But so too was the gate she leapt through, only an expanse of dark jungle stretching out where the valley of her homeworld was just a moment ago. It seemed to shift and move like paint in water, not truly of substance. Ahead of her was a small clearing, in which a fire had been kindled and was lightly burning. Sitting next to the fire was a figure in a roughspun brown cloak, their face obscured despite the firelight dancing across them.

"That was quite a fright you had," said a voice that was not unkind. "Come and rest for a spell, child." The figure stoked the flames with a long, metal rod that had been twisted and warped like a corkscrew. "You're a long way away from where you need to be."

Azurine Varek ​

 

[Azurine Varek]

Dancing With A Devil

Outfit: Clothing/Armor | Glove | Right Arm | Talisman
Weapons: Lightsaber 1 | Lightsaber 2 | Hook Swords

Azurine’s legs burned as she pushed forward, the gate looming larger with every pounding step. The runes etched into the stone shimmered faintly, as if alive, their meaning tantalizingly out of reach. Her mind screamed at her to stop, to think, but there was no time—there was no other choice. Behind her, the shadow’s icy fingers brushed against her neck, sending a jolt of terror through her body. She surged forward with a strangled cry, her muscles coiling as she launched herself through the archway.

It was gone, but its cold lingered like the ghost of a blade against her skin. She gasped for breath, her lungs clawing for air, but it was as though the jungle itself was breathing with her—inhale, exhale—the world seemed alive, and not in a way that comforted her.

Blinking rapidly, Azzie tried to will the dissonance from her mind. The shift had been so abrupt, and this looked nothing like the canyons she'd been in before. She couldn't tell if the fauna was familiar either. Every time she tried to focus on something to get a better understanding of her surroundings, her mind would instantly blur, like attempting to read text while underwater.

Her instincts screamed at her to keep moving. This could easily be a trap. But the figure by the flames didn’t move, save for the slow, deliberate stroke of the rod against the embers. Their presence was unnervingly calm, and she couldn't make out any aura around them—at least that was readable. Her eyes never left the cloaked figure, whose face remained maddeningly hidden. The flames danced brighter as she drew closer, the shadows around them twisting like they had a life of their own.

Azzie stopped just short of the fire’s edge, maintaining a healthy distance. Her amethyst eyes narrowed a bit as they spoke; the tone wasn’t condescending, but something about it needled her. Maybe it was everything that had proceeded this that set her more on edge than she needed to be.

“Where the hell even am I…?” She managed roughly. She wanted to demand answers, to fight—but exhaustion and confusion mixed with her curiosity to hold her still. Though her voice was tinged with an sharper edge, it didn't hold malice but rather a hint of intrigue instead as she continued, "I hate to be one to crash such a lovely cryptic statement, but what would a stranger know about where I need to be?"

Darth Carnifex​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I know many things, young one. I've seen far beyond what living eyes may perceive." The robed figure poked again at the fire, sending a scattering of sparks twirling through the night air. "Darkness hounds your every step, and the road ahead is darker still. You have come before only as a brief respite, before the Shadow which haunts you again comes. You run because you dare not stand and face the Shadow, in horror of what lies within it."

The figure's head turned to look at Azurine. "The total summation of all your dark truths." Another prod of the fire, and more sparks arose. They took on shape and form, images and faces both known and unknown to Azurine dancing in the cool air. They died as quickly as they came, snuffed out as the embers crumbled to ash.

"What do you know of fear, young one? The one that gnaws at your heart?"

Azurine Varek ​

 

[Azurine Varek]

Dancing With A Devil

Outfit: Clothing/Armor | Glove | Right Arm | Talisman
Weapons: Lightsaber 1 | Lightsaber 2 | Hook Swords

Azzie watched the sparks spiral upward, her fierce gaze reflecting their fleeting dance. Her eyes narrowed, following their movements, but none of them held her attention longer than a heartbeat. Each one vanished like smoke before she could fully make sense of it. The figure’s words settled heavily in the pit of her stomach, an uninvited weight pressing down like a storm cloud. For a fleeting moment, she tried to focus on their shape, trying to find any identifier as to who—or what—she was actually speaking to.

She clenched her fists, feeling her nails bite into her palms, a pain that grounded her when her mind threatened to spin out of control. Fear? She scoffed inwardly, though the sound rang hollow. Exhaling sharply, she squared her shoulders. “Fear isn’t what defines me,” she said, as much to herself as to the figure. “What matters is what I do in spite of it.” But even as she stared into the dwindling embers, she couldn’t help but wonder: would that resolve be enough to face what was coming? Or would it even matter in the end?

Azzie's gaze flicked to the embers, their shapes twisting into faces that clawed at the edges of her memory. Some she recognized—comrades lost in battle, mentors who’d fallen, family gone. Others were strangers, their visages etched with pain, accusation, or worse—disappointment. Her heart beat faster as the images blurred together into a kaleidoscope of guilt and failure.

You couldn't save them. Even now, you can't save them.

She quickly turned away, taking an almost hopping step backward. She could hear the whispers again, the voices of those she had failed. Anger mixed with the guilt as she tried to push it down. Don’t listen to it. They’re just shadows. They don’t define you. But even as she thought it, the words felt hollow.

Azzie swallowed hard, forcing her voice to remain steady despite the way her throat tightened. "What exactly do you want from me?" she asked, her tone sharp but laced with uncertainty. She wasn’t sure if she was speaking to the robed figure or to herself.

Darth Carnifex​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I want you to embrace the truth of who you are."

The figure turned to face her fully now, and for the first time she realized that little resided within the confines of the brown cloak. There seemed to be no legs at all, hardly anything resembling a body. Only one arm, skeletal and gaunt, stretched out from the sleeve which prodded at the flame. The other was limp at the figure's side. Within the hood, she could only catch a glimpse of shimmering eyes; one red, one violet, both brimming with equal parts hatred and power.

In a way, the figure resembled the shadow which had been pursuing her; dark and malevolent, hungry.

"I see within you a great destiny, Azurine Varek. One that is squandered on the path you tread. Your masters have deceived you into believing that you could become a Jedi, they're keeping things from you. I could show you all that you desire, if you would take a seat by my fire."

Azurine Varek ​

 

[Azurine Varek]

Dancing With A Devil

Outfit: Clothing/Armor | Glove | Right Arm | Talisman
Weapons: Lightsaber 1 | Lightsaber 2 | Hook Swords

The sight of the figure—or what remained of it—sent a primal shudder through Azzie's bones. The skeletal arm stretched toward the flames, its spindly fingers hovering just above the embers, teasing at their glow as if feeding off their heat. But it was the absence of legs that truly set her pulse hammering. The thing floated, suspended in defiance of nature—of sanity. The black silhouette against the ground looking exactly like the darkness from before.

This was something else. Something wrong. The firelight flickered against its hood, catching those eyes—one crimson, one violet. There was a depth to them, an abyss of knowing. And hatred. Azzie swallowed down the instinct to recoil from the fear washing over her, but the weight in her gut only grew heavier. Her name, spoken in that voice, sent an icy tendril through her chest. It knows me. Not just her name, but her doubts, her fears, her weaknesses.

Immediately, she took a step back in preparation to take off running.

Her breath came sharp through her nose, her fists still clenched at her sides. The weight of the figure's words pressed against her, winding through the cracks in her resolve like a creeping vine. A great destiny? She'd heard that before—from masters, from commanders, from those who wanted something from her. Every time, it felt more like a shackle.

They dripped with a familiar poison, the same kind she'd faced before. Doubt. Distrust. The accusation coiled around her, tightening like a vice, because hadn't she already wondered that in the past? No, she'd made a promise with Master Valery Noble —they wouldn't directly lie to each other. Valery would never lie to her... right? Azzie's jaw tightened, a war brewing inside her. The whispers began again, rising louder this time.

They're scared of what you could be.

"No," She rasped, the word leaving her lips with far more difficulty than she liked. "You're wrong." Another small step backward, "If you think I'm the type to be led around with stupid accusations, you're wrong." There was an edge of wariness beneath the wavering determination. "You want me to believe it? Prove it!"

Even as the challenge left her lips, her pulse hammered against her ribs. What are you doing?! But she couldn't stop herself. The fire had already been lit inside her long before this moment. She wouldn't bow her head, but she couldn't turn away either. Even so, her mind slowly began to plot ways to escape.

Darth Carnifex​