Private Sleeping Waves

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
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Jutrand was quiet.

It surprised her that she hadn't heard explosions, chanting, and rioting when she shuttle touched down. After Mustafar…She hadn't been seen, heard from, not spotted anywhere in the verse. There were a select few that knew the reason for her seclusion, but otherwise, the majority of her peers seemed entirely unaware. If they knew…None had moved against her. Not yet, anyway.

Her clothing was more fitting than it had been in months, though, her hair was even longer still. It seemed that her condition had caused some unforeseen physical changes but she managed it well enough with braids and pins. Some of it fell free like a silk curtain down her back, curling, around her knees. She wore a color that a Sith might not intuitively be drawn toward but Srina had never adhered toward what was expected. Even as the consort to an Emperor—White, filled her closets.

It made her stick out like a sore thumb among synth décor and darklit corridors but she rarely paid it any mind. It was comfortable and respectable enough. Sycophants bowed when she approached, whispering to one another, no doubt, of her mysterious absence. There had been a time when she had come and gone from the Sith Order like a ship in the night…But since Empyrean had resurrected in the haunted, bloody halls, on Odavessa?

The Lady Talon, had always been close at hand.

There were several guarding the offices of their leader who seemed to have forgotten themselves when she neared. Silvery eyes bore holes into those who might stop her. The pikes that crisscrossed to block her way could very easily be returned to those who wielded them. "Move.", her voice was the epitome of cold and held the emotional capacity of a teaspoon. The soldier on the right visibly flinched while the hooded figure on the left began to protest in earnest.

"A thousand apologies, Empress. The Emperor does not want to be disturbed."

That was curious.

New.

Before she barely had to breathe her desires and there were a dozen zealots tripping over themselves to please her whether she wanted them to or not. Now, they barred her from her husband? There was a long pause that led to her raising both hands. The pikes moved on their own and implanted themselves deep into the ceiling. Shaking, from the force of it. "He wasn't referring to me. You can either let me pass or decide between the two of you, which one, would like to accept blame for accosting your Dark Lords' wife."

The frostbitten threat seemed to leave them tongue-tied and Srina could only roll her eyes heavenward while they continued trying to simultaneously offer excuses while trying to yank their weapons from the ceiling—And moved on. She had no tolerance for stupid, let alone, new members of the Order that couldn't spot a life-threatening event when it was breathing down their necks. The portal into the office area accepted her biometrics easily enough and she slowly tugged a cloak from her shoulders whilst traversing a long hallway. Eventually, it open-ended to a wide circular room with walls full of books and holodocs. There was a war table in the middle. She could feel Darth Empyrean but she couldn't see him yet. Perhaps, hidden by the stacks. "Empyrean…", she called, forgoing Darth, if only because there had never been a power play between them. She still referred to him by his softer monikers when others weren't around. Even if, that wasn't all he was anymore.

"I need to speak with you."

 

[Darth Empyrean]

The books were strewn about in the shape of haphazard, scholarly skyscrapers making a model city of dirt and dust. Knowledge as old as the Order itself tucked beneath tomes bound in human flesh - over the many thousands of years the Order had persisted, they never seemed to get past the macabre and dark nature of their magicks. Empyrean had long lost the disgust of it, even delving into the creation of books in the same manner after he realized the purpose - but now he sat amidst this empire of knowledge and simply stared down to the middle of it.​

​

Two Sepulcral priests hounded him on either side, chanting something as they wiped a grey metallic dust onto his cracking skin - fusing it back together to be somewhat presentable. This corpse body, this failing vessel carrying him through the stars was falling apart - those closest knew this, but the Sepulchral spent many hours a day, a week, to ensure that it would sustain him. They continued to pressure him into utilizing the gift of Dark Transfer, to utilize cloning facilities to bring him back to a normal form - but he had suspicions as to why.​

​

That momentary break from his corporeal form may be all the Worm Emperor would need to subsume his will. He could not afford even a second of his attention delayed from survival - for him family, his empire, or his destiny. His gaze rose to meet the Empress's, raising his only hand to wave off the priests. They stopped chanting, bowed to him, then to her, and left.​

​

Empyrean waited for them to depart, carefully watching them until the door sealed behind them.​

​

"I've missed you too.", he said with a quiet tone betraying his imperial authority. The strain of holding back the greatest threat to the galaxy and stemming the tide of self proclaimed reincarnations of Bane was taxing, tiring. He held them back for now, and all their machinations, but the Empire of the Sith was a product of that cycle - mass assassinations, bordering open war, all as he brought a true civil war to heel.​

​

"What did you need to speak of?"​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
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His voice was still…Mostly his.

There was something in his tone that triggered her memory. Like spiced rose brought Eshan to the forefront of her mind, or weapon oil, reminded her of schooling in her youth. His admission of missing reminded her of every other time she had returned to his side. Every time, that her arms had slid around him so that she could release the breath she'd been holding. There was nothing more comforting than letting go of that aching sigh. Now…She did not know how to do that.

She did not know if she could do that.

One of the most basic forms of expression had been swept away like his death on Odavessa. As if it had never happened. As if—He had always been this way. This half-life. This…Dark Lord.

Silver eyes flickered toward the grotesque stacks, filled, with knowledge and secrets that had been passed around through the ages. Collected, stolen, transcribed…It was a trove. A treasure. Perhaps the many figures, seen and unseen, guarding this area were present for more than Darth Empyrean. Perhaps they were also meant to safeguard these secret, mysterious, and horrifying tomes and everything therein. She could not say. For all that she had access to…She was very selective in her approach to the Force. Rather than to rely on old practices; she sought new.

Srina had grown somewhat accustomed toward the way the priests averted their eyes from her gaze. It was almost as if they were afraid to look too long, startled by the possibility, of what her cruel eyes might be able to extract from the unseen. The silent act of subservience was met with dismissal. They served. For now. Their continued existence was all they had earned. Not her trust, nor her counsel.

The white-clad woman approached with even footsteps and a graceful sway that ensured there was no wasted energy in her movements. Everything the Echani did was smooth and deliberate. "…Is that so?", she gently countered his statement, both curious, and somewhat confounded. If he had truly missed her there was nothing in the galaxy that could have stopped him from coming to her side. When he was Maliphant—He had crossed the stars to find her through Noana. When she was in danger on some back water world, in the blink of an eye, she heard the whispers of his staff that heralded his imminent arrival. In the span of a breath, there he was.

His abilities had grown considerably since then.

"Do you not know, my love?"

There was much that had been left undiscussed since the encounter on Mustafar. His words. Her intervention—His eventual departure. Her connection to Darth Carnifex . That alone would have been enough to encapsulate the entirety of an evening…But that wasn't why she had returned to Jutrand unannounced and without any explanation.

She stopped before him. Close enough to touch…But she remained where she was so that she could peer into the face that belonged to the man who had once asked for her hand. For her love. For a family. Everything he had ever wanted stood not two feet away from him. There, but not there.

"Do you not know?"

Had he not heard banshee wails in the night that dented the walls of the Malsheem? The city-ship had been warded against others utilizing teleportation or space-shifting to gain access but she wouldn't have thought it capable of completely neutralizing their bond. He would have felt her pain. The hours of struggle and agony that had left her weakened for days. He would have felt an overwhelming burst of relief, brought on, by twin cries wailing high and healthily into vaulted ceilings.

He would also know that she could not, would not, bring her fallen stars to Jutrand. Not when civil war was a quiet and cold threat. Not when…He was possessed by the greatest danger of all.

She breathed in and her eyes turned away while her arms rose to cross beneath her chest. Her heart felt…Heavy. Not, that she could let it show. Everyone required that the Empress portray the legacy of stone that Srina Talon had built. That she embrace cruelty, heartlessness, and the fact that Empyrean was no longer simply her husband but father and leader to them all.

Perhaps…He simply did not want to know.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

There were moments when he was not so... himself. Many Sith had seen the dark deity froth from his words, danger in every syllable as he commanded great and terrible proclamations with unequal cruelty - a sign that the Worm still dug in his soul, pressed his thoughts when he was weak. In those moments he was strong, stronger than they could imagine, but it cut too deeply into his identity, his goals and aspirations. For all the strength the Worm carried, it was the first time Maliphant had refused strength no matter the cost.​

​

For once, the cost was no longer what he could afford, but what others around him must pay. For a man alone in this galaxy for so long, who had sacrificed everything to never be subjected to another's will, he now hid away from a whip of his own creation. A slave driver he failed to recognize despite all the warnings.​

​

"I won't ask.", he said clearly, glancing down to the books, away from her.​

​

"I trust you - despite all my advisors plotting against you, trying to seed doubt in our love. I've executed five, by my own hand, because I will not hear it... I do not want you to tell me anything you would not trust me with. Trust him with.", he said, to the implicit ghost in the room.​

​

"The Civil War will come to an end soon - despite his efforts, Darth Carnifex has lost. It is simply a matter of time until peace is declared, and work on securing the Empire begins in totality. The last obstacle then becomes the Worm."​

​

He left it unsaid what may come of that - and the dreadful reminder that it may involve his own death at the end of it all.​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
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She drifted across the polished marble floor while the hem of her clothing pulled behind her with the weight of gossamer wings. Every time she thought she knew what to expect from Darth Empyrean she found her vision obscured. A soft sigh pulled from her that was long-suffering. This was not the life that she had imagined for them when they'd begun designs on starting a family. This was not the legacy she would have sought for either of them—But this was the life they had.

This was the only way she could keep some small part of him.

"Your son and daughter are healthy."

He already knew that she was with child, though, perhaps not two. That—He had made abundantly clear on Mustafar. It might have been in their best interests to let the Sith Lord think his offspring were dead but that was not a lie she could keep. It had been difficult enough to hide their existence for as long as she had. Maliphant knew her too well, too deeply, to ever believe that she would be able to do anything but destroy if something had gone wrong. The loss of her first child had nearly killed her.

Losing that again? Two of them? Their future?

It would have been unbearable. Srina could keep her emotions in check, buried, but that kind of loss was impossible to hide. He would have felt it in her every heartbeat. Her every breath. In the way she would have returned to the Sith Order not as his Empress but the Empress. The one his advisors wanted—Not the one they received, now. She always walked on the edge of a knife between the Darkside and all the madness that came with it. If she had lost their children…There was no shame so debilitating. No grief so crippling. There was no coming back from that and she wouldn't want to.

"Perfect, in every way.", Srina mused while she came to sit down on the arm of the high-backed chair he occupied. Even in such a place as this, it was a throne, and the Corpse King sat with imperious majesty. She was not cowed by it. Rather, she endeavored to treat him as she might have before witnessing Jedi filth cut him in two. It was her fault, really. If the light had never tried to cut down the dark to assuage their own fears…The Worm wouldn't have had the opportunity to infect Maliphant this way.

Their fear had made him, more than the ritual, more than fate. The Worm had likely counted on that.

"Your advisors are small, narrow-minded, men. I have my own mind and they find it…Most frightening."

More than anything—Because she tended to interfere where she saw fit. She did not bow to the crowned tyrant because there was no need to. The day that she ever stood and prostrated herself before anyone was a day in which all would come to remember and fear. He was her husband, first, and foremost. That was the only title that mattered to her. Husband. "Darth Carnifex has moved the goal posts. The Sith Order cries in the streets that the Kainate faction has lost. Eternalists, have won. But he will never see it that way, nearly immortal, and fully capable of waiting decades. He does not need to win. Just…Outlast those that stand against him with a limited lifespan."

Srina often knew how the elder Sith Lord seemed to think without questioning it. Their connection had been born of many things, but sealed, with a dagger that she kept hidden. A blood oath. "He is bound to protect me, our children, from all danger. Past, present, and future."

Her eyes flickered as she reached up to touch a cheek that was…Not unlike leather. She drew metallic orbs back toward her, quiet, but confident. "…Even, from you."

From the Worm.

She did not comment on the potential for his demise. The white-haired woman rejected all notion of this with vitriol and passion, so strong, that he would feel a certain animosity rise within her at the mere mention of the subject. Maliphant had promised he would never leave had alone. He had promised…So long, ago. She intended to hold him to it come hell or high water. "We will deal with your freeloading passenger when the time comes."

"Until then…The Worm is nothing. In all these tomes…There must be a way. I have not come this far to watch the man I love disappear into a void. Just…", she tilted her head, slowly, trying to find a way to separate the two while she remained near. It was perplexing to feel so drawn to him and yet so repulsed by the thing that was trapped inside. He had sworn that he would never let anyone make him a slave again. What was this? "…I am your wife, am I not?"

"Let me do what a wife should do. Let me help you."

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"Your son and daughter are healthy."​

​

Empyrean heard the words, and seemed to feel the first sense of heat fill his deadened nerves - like a soft glow in his heart that no longer pumped blood through his body. It was dead, but even in death it stirred at her words. He pictured their faces, crying - then his own, crying. He was not there with her for the birth of their children. They both knew he could not, too much emotion could drive him to dangerous actions. Worse yet he could be a threat to these children, his children.​

​

His mouth opened to respond, but he found himself as a loss for words, so it closed and the Emperor was quiet. A part of him, that which found pride in his position wanted to create an immediate holiday - an imperium wide celebration on the birth of his children, his heirs, but he knew this was not an Empire bound to him by love or loyalty. Some may celebrate his families expansion, but more would see the danger of it.​

​

Darth Omnia and Empyrean would give birth to powerful children, and they would be a powerful token to control them both were they to be grabbed. More than the Worm, the children were the now uncovered skin of his neck - open to be stabbed if any knew them. Soon they would, Darth Ophidia would not let sleeping dogs lie.​

​

She had to be killed.​

​

Slowly his mind calmed and slowed. The Dark Lord rested a hand on his wife's thigh, carefully nodding at the news of their children's healthy arrival. Now was not the time to think of the consequences or his plans to protect - he did all of this to enjoy these moments, not cloud them with fear.​

​

"You help me more than anyone else in this rancid beast of a nation. I welcome your help, in anything you propose, but I fear how close you come to knowledge and its consequences. Much of the learning I have done comes from the Sepulchral - and they have no bounds to how they can manipulate. It is barely known, even to Darth Carnifex himself, but his alter ego is a pawn of that insipid cult. I fear even you may unwitting play into their hands - just as no doubt I am."​

​

"But I will not stop you. You above all have freedom in this nation of ours."​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

There.

There it was.

The reaction that she had been waiting for, wondering, if it was just slightly out of reach finally came. The Emperor of the Sith Order did not rise from his gilded chair. He did not jump for joy or twirl her about as she had witnessed among her own people, but, there was something. A murmur in the endless night that seemed to shroud itself around him. “They will be loved.”, she whispered, assuring, that no matter the danged he presented—Their children would never suffer as he had.

Srina would do all that she could to ensure that they knew their father.

No matter how distant his condition, his station, required him to be. She could hold her own among murderous courtiers and plotting zealots. Two newborns?

Not so much.

“They both have perfectly good sets of lungs. For the first few days…It was constant ear-splitting wailing. I hadn’t slept and accidentally placed them in the same bassinet. Suddenly, silence. They already need each other.”, she intoned, briefly, pressing the image of their children swaddled and comfortable into the surface of his mind. Srina let the sensation fall where it may, careful, to exclude any fragments that might reveal their location. They looked incredibly similar. White hair. Silvery eyes, though, the color could change in the coming months. Chubby cheeks. Twenty toes, twenty fingers.

It was jarring to realize how much she missed them.

Even before they’d been born, she had always been able to sense them. Some measure of their presence and general disposition. She would save her stories of their growth for another time. It was already a shock to have confirmation of their existence. Srina was understandably wary of not rocking the boat too much. Bringing her husband, what should have been, celebratory news—Their greatest accomplishment—was buried by a harsh reality. Still.

It astonished her through and through to see what they had made. Flawless, precious, little things.

The silvery woman let her form slowly lean against his. Head falling, carefully, to rest against his clothed shoulder. When she closed her eyes it was almost possible to ignore the obvious. She was in love with a Corpse King. How very, very strange. The past few weeks had been trying. Especially, without him. The small mote of comfort that she could derive from a stolen moment…It was worth looking past the visage of crimson hair and an ailing form. “Tell me what you require.”, she offered with ghostly, distance, but with every ounce of sincerity in her being.

“And if you are uncertain…I think we should start with a way for you to control the spirits. An external lock for an internal key. I have a not-so-hidden theory that ultimately…the Sepulchral wish for you to fail. We must ensure that never happens.”

Srina was under no illusions about who the Sepulchral truly worked for. There was a reason she kept so little contact with them and spurned every advance to build a bridge. They were only seeking information. Secrets. So that they might have a way into their Lord that was currently blocked. It was highly possible that they had some sort of plan with her involvement…But that was, perhaps, the least of her concerns. There was a trap to be set. But, whom would catch whom?

“Consequences do not concern me. Doing nothing, standing still, concerns me.”

The quiet conversation…Had the oddest effect. Srina had been so wound up, hell-bent, on carrying their younglings to term that she hadn’t taken a moment to breathe. She had healed, physically. But had she really processed the fact that she was truly a mother? That in all this chaos they had managed to produce what was…Very close to a nuclear family? His concerns…Words…Made her feel something. It took her a long moment to place it. Longer, than it should have. Love. “Do not worry…Your Sepulchral have no hold on me. Not fear or otherwise. Bolder creatures have tried…And failed.”

Her reassurances were backed with the confidence of one who was unused to losing. She was a Talon. A Sith—One of which power swirled about with abandon. She had no undo want for it. She had no crazed passion for the promise of strength and domination, but, it lay before her without question. She took only what was required. When, it was required.

All things in measure.

“When you need strength…Take mine. Our children are safe, my love.”

 

[Darth Empyrean]

At least they have each other.​

​

The thought was pervasive, sickening - but it was true in his mind. Long had he dreamed with Srina of the day he could be a father, to protect them from the cruel machinations of fate and a galaxy unloving. All of that had failed, now he could only witness them from surgically grafted memories lacking natural light, only the soft glow of remembrance. They were beautiful, but to stay that way they must be distant from him.​

​

"You are the lock and the key, that is why I fear how close you come to this.", he said, glancing up to her - avoiding talking about the kids no matter how deeply he wanted to.​

​

"You keep my soul bound. If your strength faltered, if your life were snuffed for even a moment, I fear it would be a total loss. My theory - or rather, my hope - is that I can find a way to transfer my soul without the weakening of my spirit. The Jedi do something similar in death, but redemption is far beyond my means now. Nor would I take their hand."​

​

A heretical thought, were another Sith to hear it - but the Emperor was far beyond the confines of the tradition. All that limited his great power now was himself.​

​

"Perhaps a raid on the Jedi Archives is due.", he pondered out loud.​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

She kept their names.

Empyrean had been exposed to enough emotional, distracting, information for one day. Choosing names for their children had been fraught with difficulty. In the end—She decided on something that was meaningful to them both. Sun and Moon. Sol and Luna. Rather, some variant of it. With her head tucked against a decrepit shoulder long ivory tresses settled around them like spider silk. She would seem so small, seated adjacent, almost innocent, framed in so much white.

Especially, when the backdrop of the study was taken in. The throne. The Corpse King that sat upon it.

"I cannot be the only lock and key, my love.", Srina responded with a slow, luxurious chuckle, that was very close to the purring rumble of a small cat. There was nothing she could do about drawing nearer to the political sphere of the Sith Order. He was their Dark Lord. She, his wife. There was no room for standing with one foot in two worlds. She could only exist here, in his, because to ignore it was far too dangerous. "I was thinking of something a little less…"

"Organic."

A little less mortal, vulnerable, if only because she was made of flesh and bone. There had to be something that would take some of the burden from his shoulders and allow Empyrean further control. Srina remained quiet while he offered his thoughts on the plan forward. She understood the concept—But what did that mean? His body had perished in her arms on Odavessa. He wanted to transfer his soul…But where to? What would they do, with what he left behind?

At the notion of turning their sights on the Jedi Order she remained unmoved. Any faith that she had once held in efforts of co-existence had died with her lover, in perpetuity, because she had seen the truth behind the veil. The foulness that the Light brought to bear that had taken from her not once, but twice. "Burn it to ash when you're through.", her voice pulled, slowly, while a rolling sense of disdain boiled just beneath the surface of her skin. Was she petty enough to condemn the entire Order for the actions of one woman?

Yes.​

"If there's a chance that the Archive has secrets that can help us…It's more than worth the resources."

Idle fingers reached for blood-red hair and began to twine it through her fingers. The prospect of separating Maliphant from the Worm was…More than tempting. She craved it. The Echani that was so used to giving everything for everyone else, for once, held fast to her own desires. She wanted her husband back. She wanted a father for Soldane, Lunaria, and Arcturus. A partner.

And what she wanted…She would have.

"What will you do with the Worm when you escape it?"

 

[Darth Empyrean]

He shook his head slightly at that question, unsure of a true answer. The Worm was monumentally powerful, an deity made flesh - were someone so loose with the term. All that remained of that great and terrible being were its golden masks, isolated given the danger they posed. Empyrean was sure they still held some fragments of the Sith'aris soul - were any to be dawned, he would surmise they may even take control of who wielded them.​

​

"Kill it.", he said plainly, but he was unsure if he was even able.​

​

"Yet, even with allies the Sepulchral would move to revive him. I do not know the limits to which that soul can sustain itself. Were we to eventually die, would it wait for us to in the Nether? There are... many questions I do not yet know the answer to."​

​

"Once, Ashin Varanin had betrayed the Worm - and the Worm allowed it. It's memories tell me that it wasn't so simple, however, that it would eventually return to her when she died. Consume her soul in the Nether like some Apex predator. I have no doubt our crimes are more grievance, it would hunt us as well.", he said idly.​

​

"The alternative - I seperate my soul from the evil being, and split it. Seperate it, seal it away in vessels it can not escape from. People, places, myself - like a vault. It is a hard question to answer, my beloved. If I do go that route... it may cost me my ability to use the Force. Using all that I am to isolate that being would cost me everything I've built - but perhaps that is for the best."​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

"I said the same thing years ago. You should have let me, my love."

Srina leaned against her Emperor with all the weight of sunlight. Neither too intensive nor imposing—But there. Enough to recognize he existed. Things were not the way they were. She was uncertain if they would ever be able to turn back the clock, even if, they managed to destroy the entity that was responsible for all this madness. Her vehemence toward the Worm had not lessened with time. While Empyrean seemed unconfident if it could be done—Srina seemed more than assured.

Whether it was hubris, delusions of grandeur, or truth, she was completely certain that she could have found a way to either bind or obliterate the sniveling many faced puppet master. Resources had never been a problem. Uniquely, she was more than capable of gathering some of the strongest warriors in existence to her side. Light and Dark. It mattered not. The greatest trick that the Worm had ever played revolved around merging with one of the few things she could never harm or destroy.

Her greatest hate twined with the thing she loved most.

It was genius.

It pissed her off. But, it was genius nonetheless.

"Where there is will…We find a way. I do not accept that something can't be done simply because it hasn't been done before. That doesn't change what must eventually be. The Worm will perish." These words Srina intoned gently from her precarious position on the arm of the throne. The soft fabric of her formal white attire fell to the floor while a curtain of ivory locks pooled between them. It was a wonder that she didn't get stuck with her hair so very, very long. During her pregnancy it had grown at an exponential rate and she grew weary of cutting it every rotation. "Existence is a privilege—Not a right. Some beings just don't deserve it."

When she was small, a youngling, she would have never thought that she could make fire from nothing. Make the sky crack open and rain for days. Manipulate time, space, and every aspect of her surroundings simply because she deemed it so. This was another of those impossibilities, that in time, she would overcome. Silvery-golden orbs flickered at the notion of her husband losing his connection to the Force. Her head lifted from his shoulder, eyebrow raised, in what appeared to be a non-negotiable challenge. "We are not withdrawing the Worm from you only to put it back inside for safe keeping."

"I will not have you lose…Anything else."

Her eyes fell to his. Things that were…Hard to recognize. It didn't matter how much time passed. She could sense Maliphant within Empyrean and logically knew that it was him. Still. Her eyes had trouble adjusting to what presently existed versus what had been. She looked, frequently, for glimpses of the man she remembered. She caught the barest glimmers from time to time. Echoes.

Loving, longing, echoes.

"You should know, my Lord, that your wife is very selfish and headstrong. She will have what she wants regardless…So it's best to give in now."

 

[Darth Empyrean]

.

A smile set itself on his necrotic features, an unnatural thing to see a corpse smile - as light as it was. He wished to hold her as he once did, be that comfort and warmth she often needed, but it was obvious now he was nothing but a cold shadow of what he once was. Kept alive by his own anger, his own emotions, his own need to survive on.​

​

"I was warned of such by your family - though I had no reason to believe them until now.", he said with a subtle glance towards her.​

​

"I fear a sacrifice will be necessary. How that happens is... still to be decided, but we have time at least. Time enough to figure out something. Without passing this beast onto another Sith, or failing to kill it outright."​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

His smile was…More precious to her than the air she breathed. It was in that rarified expression that had been turned into a horror that she found some semblance of peace. The war and confusion that brewed in her heart and mind took the moment to lay down weapons and preserve the moment. It was just that. Only, a moment. One of many that had become…So few. "I also warned you that I was not a prize to be won…But you chased me regardless."

She was hellfire to be endured. A burden, like none other.

A dark thought echoed in the back of her mind when her beloved spoke of sacrifice. The Worm was…Too much for anyone being to bear long term. There were moments when she could feel less of her husband and more of the malevolent spirit that had infected him. She wondered if there was a way to split the many faces of rot into manageable parts. To split his evil between them.

To carry it together. To make her…More like him. Compatible.

Together.

Even if it was in death.

Srina remained where she was while her thoughts continued to spiral into what a separation and binding ritual might require. The souls it would consume. It would not be enough for either of them to make a sacrifice, but to ply the wicked beast with the lives of multiple sacrifices? Perhaps, that might hold some ground. Especially if their tribute was…Pure. Nothing seemed to please the Darkside so much as providing it was a purity to devour. "I…Cannot walk this world without you."

"Do you know that?"

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"You have walked this world long before me, and should it come to it - I believe you can walk long after I am gone.", he said, letting his still physical hand rub its cold thumb down her jaw - as he once did, when he still had hot fury in his veins.​

​

"You are a survivor - it is why I found you so enthralling. Like myself.", he said before sighing.​

​

"My only regret is that my actions have led our children into the same world. Although different than either of our upbringing, they have a new struggle of their own now. The sins of our fathers, as they say.", leaning back in his chair as his ever seeing eyes closed - not that it made a difference in how much he could see or experience on Jutrand with his thousand eyes.​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

“Fine…”, she murmured, mildly placated, by the light touch to her face. It was another rarity. Whether it was for his benefit or her own she wasn’t quite sure. Still. Part of her took something from it. The echoes that she often sought. The reassurance, that he still remembered her. Remembered what they had been not so very long ago. “Perhaps I can. I simply do not know that I want to.”

It was a stark admission.

That becoming a living corpse, as he was, was preferable to facing the abyss in his absence. She was certain that she could survive. That she would, survive. If not to avenge him it was necessary in order to raise and protect their children. Motherhood had brought her a new sense of purpose but it also made her keenly aware of what was missing. It was said that nothing was out of her reach. That the Dread Empress could have anything she desired. Save, the one thing she longed for. Him. Her husband.

That one thing...She was denied.

“Our children will have our strength, though, I fear they already have our weakness.”

Attachment. It seemed to affect Srina more often than Empyrean, though it was still evident in the way he was willing to move heaven and earth at her whim. The twins were inexplicably linked. She could feel it when she held them. When she watched them sleep. A thin thread of binding, of bidirectional flow, where the Force resonated. They did not seem to be able to find peace without the other being close by. As if…They were unsettled, with the absence. “You asked that I bear your children. That…We have a family of our own. Whether it was born of the desire to leave a legacy behind or to have everything we had been denied…I do not know.”

She breathed and adjusted just lightly when she felt his cold form relax back into the throne. Were she anyone else, she might have let rage flow, stoked, by the injustice of the path their future had taken. The mercurial Echani did all she could to keep emotion from rising on the subject…But she was no expert in sentiment. It was easier to think, rather, than feel. To assess situations with logical gain and benefit toward the most profitable outcome. To think of their love and success in a form of percentages rather than an abstract construct that could not be measured.

Srina quantified it. Because only then, could she endure.

“I would have given you anything. I have loved…Nothing, as I love you. Until…”

The first clip of dual heartbeats resonated in her mind. The first spike of mental awareness, even, in the most basic sense. She hadn’t known of her first child when it had been lost. Srina had not been quite so attuned to her own body during that time, rather, swallowed by war and the cold fury of the Mandalorian Empire orbitally bombarding her homeworld. The two stars that she had carried to term were the most precious things in existence. A perfect evolution of everything they were.

A way for her to have a piece of Maliphant no matter what happened. It gave her duty. Drive. A reason to keep breathing that was almost unbreakable.

Her jaw set tight. Had he known, when he asked?

She sat up slowly from her perch on the arm of the throne and her gaze landed on an invisible point in the room. On some festering tome, anything, to take the churning sensation away. Srina had always envisioned returning to Eshan to raise their children, together, in a place where they might be safe and spared the indignity and injustice of the galaxy.

Where they might be spared the vile ignorance of lesser beings.

Had he known that would never be?

Her shoulders tightened. Was it such a fool’s errand that she longed to make them whole? To think that they could survive and press forward without the power the Worm granted? Srina did not know what it would take to right what had gone wrong. The only solution seemed to be power. Knowledge. Would she have to become a craven witch, full of ambition, simply to have a family that was unbroken?

That seemed to be it. The only…potential solution. She would have to do what she had never done.

Attain, power. At any cost.

“I am…Not strong enough, yet, my love.”

It was a whisper. A pained, promise. She had failed him on Odavessa when the Jedi had cut him in half. She had failed him, their children, when the ritual proceeded and hollowed him out from the inside. To truly win was to conquer all and never die, never surrender, and have all the galaxy move when she pulled the correct string. “…I will be.”

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"It is I who wasn't strong enough.", he said quietly, almost painfully. A trickle of the guilt and dam of emotion he had held back since his death - a well of emotion so deep that he knew if he partook in its strength he may never return. There he let the storm settle before he spoke again, a long moment of silence.​

​

"Do you think our crimes can be forgiven?", he said, rather abruptly.​

​

"That were we to leave all this...", he said, glancing towards a nearby window to the world they had conquered.​

​

"... That we could ever be something normal? A small house, a farm to grow our crops, to raise our children. Is a life such as that beyond us now?", he said with a desperate but quiet longing.​

​

"Sometimes when I am alone, I consume the mind of a random person, on a random world, and I live their life for a day. I shop, I farm, I sell my wares or drive my speeder. Its a... fleeting thing, but it is a dark comfort I've held for some time. To not be the Dead God, not the Emperor, not Empyrean or Maliphant - but a man."​

​

"Do you think that life is beyond us?", he said, glancing back towards her.​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

"You were always enough."

For richer or poorer, God or Man, Sith or Civilian…Alive or Dead…He was still, enough. It was true that she longed for what they had and for what might have been. She cursed herself, truly, for accepting any mission that took her away from him in the years that passed. There had been so much time that they'd missed, together, because she had always assumed that he would be her finish line. That when it was time to lay down arms…There would be time. She could be the dutiful wife, and he, the husband that was gladdened to see her at the end of every day.

Her hubris was responsible for squandering time. For ensuring that more memories hadn't been made—Because she had mistakenly believed that they were untouchable. She had lost so much.

What cruel universe would take even more?

When his guilt pressed gently down on her psyche, she wished she knew how to comfort him. Srina put up a stoic, untouchable façade, but there were things she couldn't tell anyone. Being a new mother. Essentially, raising their children alone. All she wanted in her secret heart of hearts was to be in his arms with their younglings safe and sound in the next room. She just wanted to sleep in an embrace that truly let her rest. He was her fortitude, her strength, and her undoing.

"If I had arrived sooner…If I had never left—"

If Srina had never left his side, he would have never been on Odavessa alone. If only she had acted on the danger that her instincts screamed about each time the Worm was present…He wouldn't suffer now. Rather, he would be holding his son and daughter.

He would be able to hold her.

"I failed you.", she whispered, quietly, though it was possible those words were lost to the sudden question her husband posed. Srina guessed that she should have been grateful to have some semblance of him left after the Sword of the Jedi had cut him down. It was second chance, of sorts, but the seemingly young woman perched on the arm of his throne wanted more. He asked of their collective crimes and she remained silent while he admitting to living through others. Just…To be.

Yes. She had failed him.

"I do not seek forgiveness from anyone but you...", she murmured slowly, taking in the eyes that watched her, but careful not to admit any sort of wrong doing. There were outcomes she regretted…But in the moment? Srina had always done what she believed needed to be done. She would not beg forgiveness from an ungrateful galaxy for acting when they were all to content to remain complacent. "Heavy…Is the head that wears the crown. It is unavoidable."

She spoke not in regards to true royalty but in with regard to leadership. Anyone who had ever been in a significant position in any government, nation, company, or community knew all too the well the meaning of that statement. It was a misquote of some long-forgotten author but the meaning remained the same. The woe and difficulties that came with being in a position of power. The loneliness. The isolation. The paranoia. The blood of their enemies that had forever dyed their souls red—The ash of their people who had been sacrificed. Srina bore these losses, daily. It was her cross to bear and walk through with dignity and confidence.

Not transgressions to apologize for. That would require contrition.

Srina had none.

"I think that our lives are what we make of them. We may not ever be afforded anonymity, a modest life, but there are aspects within our reach. At the end of the day…You are my husband. I am your wife. We have two healthy, perfect children. It is a compromise to accept simple truths so that we may gain some aspect of what we desire. When you are alone with me…I see not a God…"

"Not an Emperor. Just you. A man doing everything he can against…An impossible threat.", Srina shifted so that her arm could wrap partially around him. Hand, laying at the back of his neck and beneath lengths of crimson hair. "It may not be…"

"What we wished. But, I am proud of you. For fighting. Even if…It's only for a fraction of our dream."

It was more than most men would ever do. Most, would beak beneath the insurmountable weight of the tasks laid before them. It was a wonder that he hadn't been driven insane by the ferocity of the many-faced demon that lingered inside him. Any woman worth their salt would be proud to claim such a partner, regardless, the difficulties. And Srina…Srina might have moments of wistful wants of what could be but that never stopped her from being proud. He loved her enough to keep an old God from erasing her existence in the bloodiest way possible. It was her privilege to love him back.

Just as much.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"I fear I've made a mess of it all regardless.", he sighed.​

​

"- but it has been a long time since I was a boy in chains. The perspective of being nothing, carrying no name, and owning only the scars others inflicted made me ambitious, made me fight for a freedom unknown to a person born in my place. That ambition I forged just... never seemed to stop."​

​

Were he able to exhale through his nose, he would - but his undead flesh did not move like a person, he would not spread stale necrotic air for the sake of emotion. She knew how he felt, the jest of karma and the consequences the Force had exacted on them both for their crimes. He was no fool, no matter how hard life got - there was something to blame for it beyond himself.​

​

"Perhaps if I had quit early, fell away to a farm - it would be a slave hunter, not a Jedi hunting me. Perhaps if I quit before the Worm, it would be the Sith come to bring the Order close once more. It pays not to think about - so long as I have you."​

​

He rested his living hand upon her, and leaned ever so slightly in her direction.​

​

"Perhaps I have made mistakes in my life, more than I can admit to - but you were not one of them. Our children were not one of them. I can only hope I make them proud."​

​

Srina Talon​

 

[Srina Talon]

| J U T R A N D |
| Palace |
x
Tag: Darth Empyrean
_________________________________________________________​

"You're not alone."

Whatever scenario that had been created on Odavessa was their burden to bear. Not simply his. Her everything was so intertwined with him that she couldn't see it any other way. Could she live without him? Yes. Could she press onward, take notes from his ambition, and force herself into the world of the Sith as an Express they expected? Cruel and terrible? The mad wife of their Lord who carved power from blood and stone and kept it as if it were some part of a metaphysical world-ending collection?

Could she start shaving off parts of who she was to keep building a shield around them?

The ground work was already there. Her name was synonymous with many things. Most notably—Inspiring loyalty from Sith who would otherwise behave like wild animals. All she had to do was tilt the game board just slightly. Stop looking down on the lure of the Darkside. Let it have what it wanted versus fighting to control it. "Your ambition was one of the things that called me to you—"

"—And you will always have me."

The small movements he made solidified the ephemeral. Her beloved, her Corpse King, would never know how much she appreciated the efforts he made to appease her heritage. Words were insufficient when it came to matters that were so deeply intertwined with the deepest part of their hearts and fears. The little things, hidden, that no one else would ever know. Srina stayed where she was. Close.

But thinking.

Srina had remained relatively inactive until their children were born. Her fear of losing them in a war the way her first child had been stolen had cultured her hand. Her alliance with Darth Carnifex, even. The former Emperor and the current would deny her very little. Even, laying down arms against one another in order to unify factions that were content to tear each other apart. When Maliphant had come to her across the starts to the Nightlands of Ryloth so long ago…She'd been lost. Confused. With part of her being torn out and missing.

She hadn't known what she wanted from life.

The weight of loss that he had learned to endure through suffering as a youngling had threatened to crush her. She had survived all that the galaxy had to throw at her—But at what cost?

Maliphant had taken the scattered pieces of who she had become in the wake of losing all that she loved and somehow, without her noticing, had managed to make her whole. He made sense of who she was without ever asking for anything in return. Just her heart. Such a small thing for such a gift…She couldn't imagine it being any other way. But, she understood his point. There were so many what "if" options in their history that any number of them could have spared him the Worm.

Srina just…Couldn't help but feel some measure of responsibility for that.

There was a reason he was the only one she sought forgiveness from.

"Their father is a King. Not born royal, but made through determination, suffering, genius, and sheer force of will. Millions bow before him and even without any of that…He's the cleverest man I've ever known. Driven. Dedicated. Ruthless when he needs to be…", Srina trailed off lightly, a ghostly smile touching the kiss of her mouth, "But with…The most beautiful mind."

"They will be proud. I will ensure that they know of Empyrean, Maliphant, and every state from the beginning to end."

From slave to ruler. It mattered not. Srina might have had a skewed perspective when it came to Empyrean but it was a bias that she embraced. Not for the first time the thought of what they had made drew some well of emotion in her. Leftover hormones, she thought, but regardless…She felt entirely overwhelmed by the notion of their twin stars. Surprised, by them. She was certain that all parents thought their children were the most precious and important things in the world…But Srina felt that to be more than true. They were…

Unimaginable. How could such purity spring from such darkness?

Her shoulders quaked for a moment when she drew in a deep, heaving breath, that disturbed lengths of silvery white hair that had slipped to hide her face. There were so many paths forward.

Srina didn't know which to take.

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"Then let them at least be proud of the man I was when I lived. I have much in store for them to inherit when I pass on - from this life, or this title, whichever may come first."​

​

"Come - we must return to the Court. Before they get antsy and brew another revolution beneath our feet.", he said as he moved to stand. It didn't do well to seclude himself for too long - eventually, someone would get the wrong idea and start plotting. It was just how sith were. A little face time kept them in line - reminded them what they faced.​

​

Srina Talon​