The Darkness We Cast (Attn: FU's, NFU's on Korriban/Open!)

[Skorn Draclau]

[member="Solan Charr"] [member="Nabrina Vao"]

Under the pale blue light of a floating orb he studied the intricate chiseled writings that spread out before him. The orb of light had come naturally to him, it had been dark and he had wanted light, so he created it. He understood it was some sort of spell, yet he did not know it's name. The light provided an avenue for new discoveries. Enlightenments tumbled through into his concussed mind by the dozen. That he was Sith was never of any doubt. His crimson cloak, many rings that whispered with dark power and the ornate lightsaber on his hip were enough to tip him off, but the important facts of his life still lay obscured beneath the fog of a dulled memory. Who was he? Where was he? How did he get here? All the vital questions remained unanswered so far. So he set about to answering the one question he could.

"Karash is nomah et tu itoran."

No man can rule alone.

An interesting thought, there were hundreds of such thoughts carved into the floors, the walls, the columns, encased within the framework of old glyphs and scripts long surrendered to time.

"Why would the Sith build a temple such as this? All this storytelling, what purpose could it possibly serve."

The Sith built their temples for awe and efficiency. Each available space was utilized for spell work or defenses, yet here a story had been wrought for any who would visit the place. There was awe, but where were the spells? Unless...

"This is no temple..."

Somewhere something clicked into place, and he felt old mechanisms buried under sand rumble ever so softly into position.

"...this is a tomb."

 

[Nabrina Vao]

[member="Solan Charr"] [member="Skorn Draclau"]

The large tomb doors, so aged and sand-blasted in their wearing and tearing, slowly swung open, parting at the middle and opening before the two a pathway that led to blatant darkness. The light from Korriban's star just seemed to cut off a few paces from the door's threshold, and the smell of gathered dust and limestone rushed out to meet the two. At this point, Nabrina wasn't thinking anymore for her own regard, let alone that of her new companion's, whom besides she already figured to be far more capable than she was, given his cynical disarming of the her own rage that boiled inside her as a Sith. Not that it bothered her of course - after all, anger in and of itself was never the end goal.

An eery chill flowed from the tomb's opening, at once beckoning and cautioning the two before entering. The fact that even the door seemed to reek of dark energies should have been a red flag right away, but the Twi'lek, in her lust for greater things, payed no mind.

She turned to Solan once, for the first time looking more like a child in awe than an acolyte. "The door still holds true to the name of the one who is interred inside", she remarked with a soft smile, contrasted by her feral gaze - she looked insane. "How many other people do you think have been in here since the days of Darth Malgus, or Darth Plagueis?", she rhetorically asked as she slowly walked towards the tomb's opening, but stopped just short of where the light ceased. She turned back to face Solan, looking at him as if timidly asking him to follow, yet at the same time just waiting to see what he'd do. Even for most Sith apprentices, entering the Dark Lord's tomb was madness without proper supervision - not to mention that his legacy was essentially systematized murder in pursuit of power. And yet, Nabrina seemed more drawn to it than wisdom dictated that, in the interest of self-preservation, to act out of caution.

It was an unsettling ripple in the Force for sure, and both parties, especially the more senior and adept Master Solan, would have felt it - something of an awakening, but not of something pleasant. Wraith-like whispers seemed to pour out from the darkness, like the silent cries of a thousand souls consigned to the void. One could not hear the screams, but one could make out a picture of the decrepit, howling faces.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Nabrina Vao"] [member="Skorn Draclau"]

The moment those doors were opened his entire body stiffened and he went cold. The color draining from him as he stood there and with his hands tightening into fists he quickly and very clearly shook from his core. Nothing about what he was showing would be comforting and inside his cloak he touched the pouch he needed. His hands dropped in front of him a number of seeds which fell down and bounced ever so slightly off the ground. He was nowhere near done with those seeds, reaching out and cracking them open with the force and watching the vines crawl out and grow from those seeds.

For Nabrina, he expected the sight would be an odd one, one that would be foreign to her. Plantsurge was a rare power not for its difficulty but for its rather few practitioners in the galaxy and he was rather proud of its uses in its versatility. Either ay he did not enjoy the feeling he got and he cast a quick glance at Nabrina with a very clear, wordless command. To stay put.

He didn't know what he would find in there and waited for the vines to crack their way through loose stone and earth before proceeding, wanting to ensure they would be able to sustain themselves while he moved forward with them ready at hand. He knew that the Twilek would probably follow him into the hall, but as long as she remained behind him and out of his way, he would accept that fact. He would start talking though, warning the woman with him.

"Something is not right here... make sure that you are careful while we explore this tomb of yours..."

 

[Nabrina Vao]

"To gain anything genuine, one must be prepared to sacrifice everything", an axiom she softly replied to [member="Solan Charr"]'s words of caution as she started walking as well, slowly tailing him about 3 paces behind. It also seemed to be rhetorical however; could have been just as much directed at herself as she tried to get her bearings around what was happening. This was a Dark Lord's tomb, and not just any Dark Lord - it was Darth Bane's tomb. "And the last time I checked, I asked you to accompany me, not to fight the whole battle." She also couldn't help but notice the undergrowth also trailing the Force User, but without a proper background on it, or if it even was a Force ability at all, had no words for it. Perhaps he also knows of Midichlorian manipulation, she thought to herself as her eyes lifted back up to the dark path before them. It was impressive nonetheless, and it felt reassuring somehow.

She understood the humanoid's intentions, and didn't bother to protest. It felt right to have another here with here - after all, it added up to two. Perhaps this was the setup anyway in which the crafters of this tomb intended. As the two kept walking, the path eventually lead to a wide open cavern inside, with the same floor of sand and obsidian-black rock formations forming its walls and creeping up to the apex at the ceiling. On the other side of the space, a stairway led upward - presumably the way down from the statue behind Darth Bane's sarcophagus up above. Either way, it was irrelevant. The point of interest was down here, in this chamber. It was wide, and one struggled to see even five paces forward from where one stood, but the space felt so wrong. A creeping, sickening feeling flowed around the stagnant air like an ethereal ocean. An ocean of hate. Nabrina stepped forward a little more, and upon looking down noticed that sections of sand had a darker brown hue to them from the sickening yellow-orange that was typical of this world.

She then turned to Solan saying, "These patches must be where they sacrificed Jedi." She then pointed to the blotches in the sand, but said no more as her wandering eyes returned to scanning the black space around them. "Where is it?", she mumbled as she kept searching, almost beginning to show signs of desperation in her typically disdainful tone.

And then, almost like the belly of a beast grumbling, everything reduced to silence, and for a moment even the Twi'lek couldn't hear her own thoughts. She instantly stopped, and looked around, almost worried.

"I don't think we're alone."

[member="Skorn Draclau"]

 

[Skorn Draclau]

[member="Nabrina Vao"] [member="Solan Charr"]

More than two can not rule at all.

"Appropriate."

He stood staring at two paths from the one he himself walked. One leading higher, the other lower. Identical in every aspect. Scraled in runes was another idiom of Sith wisdom. He was beginning to see a pattern to this whole two philosophy when his sharp ears picked up voices. Soft voices, but unmistakably sentient galactic voices.

"Oh wonderful. At least I won't have to claw my way out of the earth."

It was a simple matter following the voices to the cavernous hall within. He walked in, A ball of floating light following a thin man of pale countenance and gaunt frame cloaked in a crimson cloak that seemed to shift even when there was no wind. He stared at the present company with eyes the color of burnished gold that glowed with the soft light of life that can only be seen in places of the greater dark, such as the tomb they were all in.

"Greetings, fellow seekers. It always warms my heart to see people take an interest in history."

He bowed to the man and his twilek companion.

"I am Skorn Draclau. A fellow enthusiast in the histories of the Sith. Although this time I did not have much choice in the matter."

He smiled, showing white, sharp teeth. Golden eyes came to rest on the twilek's face.

"I see you have found the hall of sacrifice. I wonder...do you know how they were sacrificed?"

 

[Nabrina Vao]

We have company.

The sudden appearance of a second, unfamiliar voice almost startled the Twi'lek. As she lay hunched forward, knees bent in the midst of examining one of the brown patches of sand, her lightsaber instantly flew out from under her robes and into her hand - igniting and immediately lighting the red Twi'lek and the surrounding space with its red glow. It was a slightly large blade, with two crossguard-like vents also igniting about half a second after, forming a crucible shape of a clear red, seemingly superior stream of laser beam. Yet only seconds later, quite a cordial greeting followed, and with a sigh and loosening of her shoulders, she hesitantly lowered her weapon and deactivated it, once again holstering the hilt as she stood up straight and turned around to look back at both [member="Solan Charr"] and the new addition to their odd party, [member="Skorn Draclau"]. Because it was dark she could barely see him; only vaguely make out his lithe, thin frame and a deathly pale appearance. The crimson cloak was hard to miss, and while unsettling, proved he was no assassin - or at least was not your conventional one. This one seemed to be here for other reasons.

The robed figure stood in between but also slightly away from Solan and Nabrina. The three could have been vertexes of a triangle from the positions where they stood. Initially the Twi'lek had nothing to say, admittedly at a loss for words as the hissing, snarling expression from her face faded, and her usual look of disgusted disdain returned. She looked exotic, but was no sight for sore eyes, that was certain.

"This planet is under the control of the Jedi. Our kind are no more", she began as she perceived the man to be of the same alignment as she was - arguably that of Solan's as well, but the latter just didn't bleed that bloodlust that so easily defined a Sith Force signature. Her eyes squinted as she tried to peer beyond the blackness, but would not dare move a step closer to the stranger until she was certain of a few more things.

"...And... no. How long have you been here?"

 

[Skorn Draclau]

[member="Nabrina Vao"] [member="Solan Charr"]

It was natural for anyone to be cautious given the surroundings they were in. A tomb on Korriban was not the kind of place you went to make social acquaintances in. Still there was caution and then there was fear, the wise do not mistake one for the other. Where her actions revealed her heart's fears to Skorn her words provided a greater revelation. The One Sith were gone? The One Sith had been the heir apparent to the Empress. He wondered for a moment if his memory was playing tricks on him, names, faces came back to him. Valek, the Empress, the foreboding palaces of Tund, the cold hallways of the One Sith battlecruisers.

"Our kind are no more you say? Oh I think you are mistaken. Our kind have always existed and they will continue to do so until there is life, until there is the force."

He glanced towards the man who stood stoically silent.

"Just like the Jedi, who will always persist. No matter how many we bring down here to be sacrificed."

He smiled at the man then, Skorn had to wonder about him. The man stood reserved yet ready. Not overtly cautious, nor overtly aggressive. Not unlike a Jedi, yet not too familiar to one either. As strange a stranger could be to befit these strange times that had come.

"To answer your question, I do believe I have been down here long enough to see a few Jedi being sacrificed here in front of my own two eyes."

 

[Nabrina Vao]

"Both the One Sith and the Republic are gone", Nabrina continued in reply as she walked a little closer. Her lightsaber then reignited, but she kept it low and unguarded; only to illuminate the dark cavern for the three of them there. "It was only expected. The Sith were victims of their own delusions. They grew decadent, weak, complacent. What's left of us is scattered. The rest is ash lost to the ages."

She then lowered her head, almost comforted by [member="Skorn Draclau"]'s following words. If only it was true, she thought, that it really was the case that the Sith would live on - definitely not in the decrepit state that allowed it to shatter, but perhaps as something more, pure. The young Twi'lek nevertheless kept her usual expression as she looked back up at the towering, deathly figure, as if renewed in her spite. A quick retreat into the dark recesses of her mind, and she was fine.

"I don't suppose you're Darth Bane", she then retorted, her voice monotonous and unbowed. "How long have you been here? It must have been decades, centuries even, since our kind last spilled Jedi blood down here."

"And what awoke you? Why now?"

[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Nabrina Vao"] [member="Skorn Draclau"]


Solan was uncomfortable, and that was saying something for the man that ha met people like Vornskr and Dredge out on a field. He ha never felt this trapped though, and especially in a place that was wreaking havoc on his empathy. This place was makig him sick, as sick as he had been on Makeb and he could feel that his fingers were brushing on the hidden sabers in his sleeves. His mind closing around the crystal kept in the inner breast pocket of his jacket, his eyes focusing on the newly found man and glanced at the twilek.

This man is not what he had expected to find, this man waas one who was trapped here as he was definitely no Bane. The spirit of that man was long gone from tis tomb, something he had already known but there being some other person here, some other that did not fit the line of succession from the ancient sith. He wasn't an expert on Bane granted, honestly the Sith Lord was not a concern of his considering he was confined to Chaos these days, but this man was not known to him at all and that worried him.

He kept that worry hidden though, behind the two minds that made up his head and the many many mental barriers he needed to keep his empathy in check. Sensing even the slightest bit of worry would certainly be a chore, one that would take focus considering how many layers they would have to tear through but it was there if the effort was taken, not that Solan would let it happen. Kira, his Ashlan Companion, was already securing his mind and pushing out all intrusive thoughts, leaving Solan to take on the surface responses to all of this.

"Well, it seems that there is more than one lost one. Though unlike the Twilek here i have a feeling that you are not someone who would be ok with Jedi finding you. Would you?" He smiled as he turned his head to the side. "Considering how strong they are these days, and how long you have been asleep considering the sealed state of the tomb. Id be willing to say that you are a fish out of water, one i really do suggest be left alone miss..." He glanced at Nabrina, curious how she would further react to the situation.

 

[Skorn Draclau]

[member="Solan Charr"]

He shook his head as the girl voiced her questions.

"Oh no child, I'm not from Bane's era. I'm not that old yet. And it's not been that long since Jedi blood was spilled here last. But it is interesting to know the One Sith are no more. They held real promise you know. For a while you could see the currents of the force churning like a vortex over the Emperor."

He chuckled softly to himself.

"I suppose, some times a vortex of the force is just that. A vortex of the force. Nothing more."

At that moment the man finally spoke up. Silent until then the man had been the true oddity in this scene. To Skorn, he was an anomaly. The girl he understood to a certain degree, she looked young, with hunger in her eyes and strength in her gut. A long time ago he had known the feeling, He had seen it in so many of his own compatriots. However the silent man who stood apart was different. There was something not quite right about him. A strange sense of balance where none should exist. Skorn couldn't quite tell if the man was about to launch himself to attack him or not.

His words however when they finally came out, were carefully crafted. So Skorn listened to them well before responding. Not unlike a jedi would frame them.

Not unlike a Jedi at all.

Skorn cleared his throat softly.

"Please Master, do not concern yourself over my fate. I am more than capable of escaping a Jedi's notice if the need arises. I admit that I am lost and I have not yet properly gathered my bearings. So I would prefer it of course, if you would allow me to accompany you until we are...closer to civilization."

He folded his hands meditatively. His eyes snapped towards [member="Nabrina Vao"].

"However the choice is yours to make young lady. If you wish me gone. I shall find some means of my own out of this tomb.

 

[Nabrina Vao]

Caught at a crossroads but for merely seconds, Nabrina sighed and then shook her head - her lekku swinging gently from side to side as she raised her head again. First she turned to [member="Solan Charr"], whom despite his obviously different tradition from hers, she'd come to respect for his counsel. Far from the mad, mindless brutes that defined her and [member="Skorn Draclau"]'s order, with her wrath came a cunning and brutality that were equally as efficient and deceptive. If a creature served its purpose, or wisdom stood to be gained from it, then it was clearly a good thing at least for the time being, and to dispose of anything, or anyone profitable was folly.

"He's just like me", she explained to him in her flat, repulsing voice. "I only came here for one thing, and will bother neither you or him afterward. I'm grateful for your help in letting me in here, but for the good of both of us, Solan, I think it's best if we never saw each other again afterward." For a moment one could feel genuine emotion in the thought of having to talk to a newfound companion that way, but the fleeting feelings were quickly stamped out by a renewed wave of rage building up in her all the same. It was probably a lie though, and she'd find him later on for other reasons than what she came for this day. However, it wasn't as if she was going to readily admit to that just yet.

She then turned back to Skorn, still unsure what to make of him, but detected no hostility from the fellow Darksider. And yet, she knew he had his uses. He seemed wise, an a knowledgeable authority on things past, and probably things to come as well. In her young age, and given her early stage of development in the Dark Side of the force, she figured, she'd do well to absorb what she could like a sponge - whether from Jedi or Sith was irrelevant. Power was all-encompassing. "You will come with us. For the sake of both of our lives, I suggest we don't stay on this planet any more than we have to. I came here for something, but I'll be returning to the Outer Rim to disappear again after. You can find your way wherever from there."

Then turning to face the two of them while taking a step back, she continued, "Wait here." She then ascended the stairs above, disappearing into the dark as they could hear the sound of her lightsaber dampening and deactivating in the distance - leaving the two incomprehensibly powerful men in each other's company as the Twi'lek disappeared into the darkness.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Skorn Draclau"] [member="Nabrina Vao"]

Solan was unhappy with the girl running off alone, but he was more than ready to allow that than to leave this one beside him now alone, glancing at the man with a somewhat disdainful look he didn't bother to hide this time before turning to face him completely. He still had no air of hostility, but the... disgust was more than apparent as he looked at the man which he regarded as a creature in front of him.

"So, you are from the years before... who was Sith lord at that time." He was prying for knowledge without a doubt but also to ensure that this man was nothing dangerous. There were already enough mass murderers out there and if this was another...

All it would take is one call to the Jedi which now controlled the space around this planet, but at the same time he knew the girl would get caught up in that. He had hoped to be able to alter her perceptions and turn her from the path of corruption that he had fallen into and that the Sith embraced. Better to stop someone from making the same mistakes he did if he could, rather than standing by and watching it happen without a moment's change in your actions, without a thought to prevent it.

Granted he knew the end choice would have been hers, and he knew that this Sith could push that path further down a road that none should take if it can be prevented.

 

[Skorn Draclau]

[member="Solan Charr"]

"Oh....are you interested in history now, Master?"

He was enjoying his time with his new found companions. The young girl showed such promise, such poise, despite the unfamiliarity of the situation she had been put in. But more than her, he was enjoying the attention lavished on him by the man who now stood in front of him.

To a casual observer it would appear as if nothing was out of place, that this was simply a chat between two friends.

"I remember a fat pig who thought himself a master of the force, I remember a whippid who stuck to the shadows who actually was a master of the force. I have served an Empress, in her service I found a child...a child who had such power in the force that Jedi choked and crumpled to death in her very presence. I remember their faces...I remember their eyes....I don't recall their names but then I suppose I never really cared for names all that much. Does that satisfy your curiosity? Or is that not enough to buy your graces?"

This was no chat between friends. This was a standoff.

"And what of you? I sense nothing from you...no sparkly halo of light, no dark clouds of anger, no wrath, no fury...no peace either. You are no Jedi. I don't really know what you are...but you are no Sith either. All I sense is a tense taut balance, struck between two opposing forces. Like a rubber band holding together two sticks that keep drawing apart, while it stretches thinner and thinner with every passing day."

He took a step away from him, turning his back towards the man. Despite his own senses warning him not to do so.

"You are one of those....edgewalkers. Aren't you? Too angry to go back to being just a passive observer to this universe like all the rest of the Jedi and too afraid to walk on down the path you chose to walk. It won't last."

He smiled to himself.

"Such things, never do."

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Skorn Draclau"]

Solan's response was a simple smiled before shaking his head. "No such thing as an edge walker these days, not when there are so many sects that are in creation these days."

It was then that he turned and walked over to the wall, still smiling and looking over at the man again.

"So, to answer your question I am neither too angry or afraid to do as you have questioned. While I am no joiner of a defined group, I can promise you that even then I am well defined by my actions. And I would not try to peer too far into my head, because while there is a balance in there you won't get far thanks to the small little friend of mine up there. Now, what exactly am I, though... hmm." He paused to think about it while he walked around idly, keeping his body relaxed by walking about while he talked.

"I am Solan Charr, A mercenary, force user, king, servant, and so on. Titles that don't mean much so just use my name if you wish to call me something. I have no anger towards people like you, though I do distrust and generally have no faith in your people's abilities. I am a friend of the Jedi but recognize they could never be a uniting force considering their stance on a false balance that they think needs to be achieved by removing the dark side from the galaxy. I would prefer to foster life and protect it rather than control or command, yet will act when crimes of considerable significance require me to."

His smile finally fell as he looked at him. "So no, you are not correct. There is no mystery in my actions or how I will react, I was never a Jedi or a Sith and have no fear or anger to direct towards the Sith or Jedi. I simply do whatever is most interesting at the moment, that is why I even approached the woman that we were in the company of."

 

[Nabrina Vao]

"Well aren't you two getting along? Not even ten minutes into marriage and already at each other's throats."

The Twi'lek descended from the stairs, slowly but nonchalantly as she emerged from the darkness again. It was remarkable that all three of them could see each other at all, but there were stranger things in the galaxy, surely. She notably carried nothing, and both her hands were empty. There were no holocrons, lightsabers or crystals to salvage her, but Nabrina didn't seem disappointed in the slightest.

"I have what I came here for", she simply and monotonously remarked as she approached the two again, standing in between [member="Solan Charr"] and [member="Skorn Draclau"] as she shook her head. Tsk. "Boys, why argue? We're on the ancient birthplace of the Sith, currently under the control of the Jedi, but nonetheless in the tomb of a Dark Lord. Is this not a glorious day?", she seemed to speak with a renewed confidence; as if her spirit had been rejuvenated in the brief time she ascended up those stairs, and presumably to the main funeral chamber that housed Bane's sarcophagus. There was no Orbalisk on her, no datapad even, but her sudden slyness betrayed her - she learned of something, or some things - knowledge acquired; as if put off for a long time and finally received. She had a relentless aura to her.

"There's no need to linger. We have to go. There's nothing left for us here."