First Reply The Devastation of Dajuuj

[Night Dragon]

The planet of Dajuuj was a backwater planet in the Outer Rim that was barren and full of muddy slopes. In short it was a Poodoo hole, and yet upon it there was a group of beings that Empress Ervita wanted to inspect…

The Incanto:

descended towards the surface, on the bridge Empress Ervita in her green metallica armor and white hair stood:

She cracked her fingers as she viewed the on screen.

Coming to bridge was a tall Warrior in armor that had gokden breast plate like a flame and a visor that was great ans able to receive data direcrly. He stood beside his Empress.

“Do you wonder why we come to this mud hole my dear Dracis? That we have come to the edge of nowhere?”

The Night Dragon turned his helm and replied,
“I never question your will my Empress.”

Ervite turned ans placed her naked hand on his breastplate.

“My dear Dracis, you are my most loyal and dutiful subject. I am sending you to find a people who cannot be sensed, who like us are dejected and misunderstood.”

The Night Dragon tilted his head down to her hand and then took a knee as she strokes up his chest to his head.

“By the power of the Magicks, you will prevail! Now go and find the people who await their own redemption.”

The Night Dragon bowed his head low before rising to his feet and replying,
“Yes, my Empress.”

The Night Dragon headed to the hangar and took a small one person shuttle pod that launched like a missile towards the surface. Landing in the mud, the tooth shaped shuttle opened and The Warrior stepped out. His metallic boot making a squishing sound as rain began to fall. He made his way across the plain as he saw people in huts near a ridge. Eye peaksd out of the hollow windows, his armor making a loud clanging sound. As he made his way into the village, he came to a well, and suddenly all around him was figures in brown robes.

One approached,
“Go back.. to whence you came Traveler.”

The Night Dragon made a fist, each raised up clubs and began to beat his armor. Several broke apart and splintered, others made of metal made a loud clang. When they stopped, Night Dragon shifted on his heen and punched one hooded one, sending them flying into the air, he then swept low and swiped his other yandclike a serpent to throw several off there feet. Drawing hus Nightsister Dagger he out his knee on the eldar’s chest, and held the blade tip at his throat. The skin was gray, and pulling off the hood he saw ears pointed, and a face marred with black ribbon like markings.

“Is it not enough we live in our shame? Than for you foreigners to come and take what little is left?”

Suddenly a tentacle like cord wrapped around The Night Dragon, pulling hin off, the tebtscle had a serpent mouth that hissed. He heard a voice shout,
“Be gone Warlock!”

The Night Dragon felt the python constrict and then it became like a blade edge tearing into the imbued metal. Turnibg his visor to see another like the man, only slender and more pleasing in form.

Dracis raised his hand and a green glow surrounded him and suddenly he disappeared in a poof of green ans gray smoke, the amphistaff fell to ground and was being drawn back to the befuddled Vong Lady, when The Night Dragon appeared beside her. She turned to look at him.

“I cannot sense you..” said the Gilded Warrior.

She sighed as she drew her amphi to her body and it arched up her naked gray back and to her shoulder.

“We are Vong.. your Power holds no sway over us.”

Her eyes fixed on him.
“Why are you hear? When will your people leave us be?”

The Night Dragon placed his dagger in a built in scabbard in his armor.

“My Empress wishes to meet you. We are like you.. banished.”

The Vong Lady looked at him with an irritated gaze.
“You have no idea what we are like.. come you shall meet The Shaper.”

He was led further into village where he saw totems of black with serpent heads, it was clear it was sacred, but what suprised him was the totems were not wood, but moving and alive.

“These serpents are your weapons?,” he asked.

She turned and replied in an agitated tone, “They are much more than weapons.. they are bound to us.”

They came to a hut that was black and hollowed out. The Female Vong bowed her head as something stirred in the shadows.

 

[Kylraya]

Nature ran through her veins, awakening her once Vong shell to a flicker of memory. Her form was crafted and corrupted into manifestations of darkness that were twisted beyond imagining. Drawn to the wreckage and clues of how she had come to be or what she was. Wild eyes pierced the dark hut, flickering to life. Limbs unfurled from her slumber, slithering like serpents lost without their path.

Her world was echoes etched like messages into the abyss, a void that once held infinite meaning. Now, a canvas painted with only the passing calls of nature. Her only transient connection lay under her to the place she walked upon. There were no voices, no senses, just thin threads of memories and a dull vision of what she used to be.

Serpent-like movements slithered Kylraya closer, the softness of natural hisses wanting to seek out the looming threads of her past; their presence broke into her cloudy mind. These crafters, who had first shaped her, now had held her from the ravages of a shattered mind, sparing her from tortured torment. Hissing faded to alertness, and the area around them quieted into a predatory vision, watching the Vong shapes and the other approach.

They were shattered fragments unfolding in their collective tapestry, the embodiment of the natural world around them; her presence, though to those attuned to the natural world, might feel like a tree split open, hollowed out, and decaying without sustenance.

Small animals around them might move, speak, and call in unison, with frightened connections developing like a spear cutting into the land. Initially overwhelming, the small wildlife around this hut was as agitated and confused as she was. Slowly, a clawed hand scraped against the earth to reveal a glimpse of the tortured soul behind it, but her body remained inside as if frightened of the light.

If he had come seeking a lost soul, he had found 'them', but this was no simple test of his abilities.

Night Dragon

 

[Night Dragon]

TAG: Kylraya

The Vong Lady stopped at the hit and could feel the serpentine stirring of what dwelt therein. She turned to Armored One,
“Stay here.. do not enter until I call you.”

She parted black cloth like curtain at the entrance, and inside she could feel the pulse of the Swarm Mother.

“I have brought a Foreigner, a Tresspasser.. He wishes an audience on behalf of his Witch Empress.”

Aboard the Echanto, Empresss Ervita exMined the feed coning through the helm of her Most Loyal Servant. These were the ones she had heard of, Outcasts whom The Force forsook and yet had tremendous powers. The New Jedi Order many many centuries ago had crushed them and their empire. Here the refugees of The Vong had hidden themselves from the galaxy. Ervita pitied them, that their vision like hers was stifled by others. Uplinking the comms of the ship to Dracis’, she said,

“Good work, we have found them. Continue to investigate their ways, and determine there disposition. If they are amenable, I will bring them aboard and form an alliance.”

To this The Night Dragon replied,
“Yes, Empress.”

The Vong Woman returned,
“She will see you, but take heed Sorcerer. She is not like others.. use your magic and you will find yourself splintered in mind and like the animals of this world.”

The Night Dragon nodded his helm as he bent over to enter the hallowed place. Inside shadows obscured even his internal display. Dracis could hear a rattling as if some instrument of full of grains of sand was being shook. His display picked up motion, though it was hard to make out. Deciding on a course of action he got on bended knee, a gesture of respect to signify he had not come with hostile intent.

The Night Dragon held his hands at his sides, he did not reach for the dagger, nor his saber. He the Warrior was to play the role of ambassador, which it helped that His Empress could communicate to him in his helm to make sire he asked the right questions. Still as confident as his armor made him, Dracis was unnerved by the sounds inside the hut, and he tried to tap into his training, and not let alarm influence his actions.

There The Night Dragon waited, in the dark something stirring and lurking, though he knew not yet what. Only that the Vong Gal had bid him warning, that The Magicks and their use was forbidden in this place. Was this race about cuttinf off all lines of power? It was said they were not connected to The Force, and now Magic was forbid. Was thar what his Empress wanted? A power to devour the bonds to Sorcery that could eat away the Jedi, The Sith, and any who stand in their way? Was it a plague? Were The Vong a contagion to be loosed as bio weapon on the galaxy? It was bot Dracis’ place to ask, such queries in his mind would not do, ao he surpassed them and waited to be adress Ed by The Shaper, or whatever was in the dark…

 

[Kylraya]

Tag: Night Dragon

'I have brought a Foreigner, a Trespasser. He wishes an audience on behalf of his Witch Empress.'

I. He. Splintered minds in isolation, their forms apart from the natural collective.
"We—I accept." The cold, forceless presence of the Vong shaper was soothing because there was no desire to connect; by comparison, the other presence in the force entering caused an instinctive animalistic recoil.

Yellow eyes closed to predatory slits imitating the bonded snakes. Her spine snaked to angle her head, twisting Kylraya around so she would not face him directly when he entered. Looking over her shoulder, she imitated how a snake might coil, ready to strike, but she looked weakened. The spines of Vong shaping were how Sith Sorcery initially created Terminus; their original, now corrupt forms across her exoskeleton still existed. Perhaps that is why the shapers had not killed her; if they could heal her condition, they could undo the corruption built upon their revered craft. Unless, like others, they just wanted the keys to another weapon.

"How is—why are shards seeking council? Totality? Transcendence?" Behind snake eyes, she focused her jumbled thoughts, rising upward with velocity to settle on her back limbs in a warning posture. A reverberating effect added a slight echo to her voice, waiting for a receiver lost to the void, cut off, and splintered like her mind seeking connection again. The presence of the Vong shapers made her incredibly isolated in the force, but she was also healed by keeping her nature in check.

Surprisingly, as he kneeled, so did she. She lowered herself to rest on both knees, putting her hands in her lap. Long exoskeleton limbs were folded down by her side and dug lightly into the ground. Forming a visual collective identity—a collective mirror—was something she always sought to regain.

A few small animals, mostly swamp creatures, gathered above and around the tent, as this planet lacked a richer biosphere. As they did, her posture balanced more; many animals here were prey rather than predators.

"Why do you connect with this mind? Knowledge patterns, collective natural control, talons of war, or the restoration of a natural wellspring?" What else was there to the forms that walked in disharmony and alone? Knowledge of connection, control through extension, war against themselves, healing, or cutting off from the source.

 

[Night Dragon]

The unusual movement of the Figure was matched by their speech, which to the Dragon was riddles and made his mind rather fogged. The word “Transcendence” made purchase in the Armored Soul, and a flash like an alarm reached The Empress. She looked through his hud, receving the enigmatic words of this serpentine being. Trting to steady her champion who’s cortex was firing with lights she used her Magick to try and contain.
“Dracis.. I need you to steady your breathing.. these thoughts you are having is some form of toxin. I need you to remember why you sre there, I am your Empress, my wish is your will.. Dracis?”

The Night Dragon reached for his helm, and began to release valves that pressurized it at his neck.

“Dracis! Do not take your helm off! You will be vulnerable to this venom! Dracis!”

The Night Brother took off his Dragon Helm to reveal a slightly darken face short locks of raven hair like straight streams and a crown of horns that all Zabrak have. His eyes seemed empty, having followed orders his entire life.

Empress Ervite eyes crackled with ichor fire as he disobeyed her order. Her white long hair rustled as she made her way to the hangar and boarded the second shuttle and headed for the surface.

Inside The Hut Dracos held his helm to his side, poised on top of his forearm. He had disobeyed His Empress, why? How had this Being with a mere word shaken his fealty so easily? For the first time in.. no the first time ever, he began to think and consider, the veil over his mind lifting as he began to have longings and wishes of his own, many that had been overrides by The Spell. He then felt an anger well up inside, and it took great pains to control it and not displace it and make the One he was no before alarmed.

Turning his eyes to her, he said,
“My Empress seeks talons, but.. you spoke of transcendence.. what is transcendence? The very word broke some sort of spell over my mind.”

The Champion was seeking something other than to please His Empress, this was deviant behavior and as Ervita landed, she made haste in her steps towards the mud hut village to try and stop him from following this rogue train of thought. He had to be controlled, he must not remember what happened on Dathomir…

 

[Kylraya]

Tag: Night Dragon

Warnings while self-serving should not be ignored because "we seek what we lack." The force imprint of the past within her sought manifestation in physicality. Was this a clever plan to bring a seed to fruition? She closed her yellow eyes, her voice echoing, trying to find reflection within his mind. The image of a woman, braids in her hair, reaching her hand out to a bird, then she became as dust scattered to every star in the sky, leaving a trail of enigmatic questions to follow.

"Transcendence born from dissolution. Allowance. Formless Forms." A painting might enter Night Dragon's mind. Still, at first, the image gradually became living, moving patterns; the night dragon might realize he was part of it in any form he willed. Then there was no him, just the painting moving, cycling colors, voices, and shapes in perpetual motion with themselves.

Her eyes opened to distance her from the creatures shuffling inside. Not bound by linear paths but moving in a natural, seamless continuum, a collective of small, harmless creatures encircled them. Their presence showed a living example of a possible existence, creating a sense of unity and harmony.

"Forms resisting stay formed." Her words were beginning to settle; she extended a talon from her back and drew a mark across the earth, then scattered the ground's mineral dust over it, only to redraw it again.

"Temporary forms need talons always." Then she picked up a palm full of dusty earth and sparkling rocky minerals, tossing it glittering down by a dim bazaar. Each particle fell lit by embers; the display entranced her. "While resistance remains."

Whispered animal signs changed the tone; small animals rose up on their back legs or scattered. There was a ticking noise in her throat, and a tiny lizard nearby sounded the same, growing to a hiss from a snake. With tenuous connections to the creatures around her, moods shifted wayward, becoming hard to predict at the approach of a new form.

"Approaching" was a vague message, but true.

 

[Night Dragon]

TAG: Kylraya

The Night Dragon was loosed of the chains over his mind ad he took in thus cryptic words belying some deeper trith. He tried to sift through them to glean understanding. In this primal seance he tried to stir his thoughts, to grasp at locked doors of his soul when the flap door stirred as by the wind.

Empress Ervita stepped inside and said,
“Dracis.. put your mask back on and step away from this Hag.” Her words were chilly, and in contravention of her intentions earlier. She did not sppreciate her hard work conditioning Him to be undone.

Dracis turned, and said clearly, “No.”
The words illicited a look on Ervita’s face that made her eyes burn with peridot flame. She then directed her naked fimgrr tips at him and bolts of bright green hit him and made him fall on his face, smoke rising from his back.

“Put your mask back on! That is an order!”

He felt all his nerve endings burn as he rose up and took the helmet in hand, his fingers pale and gnarled for more bolts. She seemee to relax as he took his helm up, but then he tossed it at her feet.
To this her face grew more contorted with ire, and her finger tips began to glow with balls of peridot fire, she was preparing to channel more bolts into her Great Servant…

 

[Kylraya]

Identifying truths within a shattered collective understanding proved challenging for both.

Territorial lines were crossed, and ills and disparities entered their domain. Small animals scattered, terrified. Kylraya recoiled back into the shadows of the tent. Her snake swayed lightly in warning; she soon joined its pendulum-like motion, her yellow eyes blinking in the black again. Fractured shards shouted their signals between each other, eliciting a warning hiss to the uninvited presence disrupting their collective harmony.

Bolts of green current cast a soft, eerie illumination against the shadows, revealing Kylraya's face in warning displays. Outside, two larger cats stirred with a menacing growl, reconnecting old fragments to a familiar collective. Gripped in the same terminus shell, their teeth bared wide, mirroring hers, toward the immediate threat. The fragment invaded her domain; this small tent, insignificant as it was, encompassed her pack's territory.

With a final warning before blood would spill, in a show of primal force. Kylraya pounced and landed before the intruder, rising like the hunter she was. She inspected the other closely like a lioness would a rival. Outside, her pack waited; they did no less within their territory in displays of dominance, old connections remembered within her mind.

"Cease disruption to harmony," she snarled, baring her jagged teeth and turning her head toward the other's neck. A low growl followed; lucky it wasn't a life-altering bite. Her terminus talons curled like claws behind her, a dangerous display protecting the collective whole.

Night Dragon

 

[Night Dragon]

The Chaos of what transpired was a tempest in the Dragon’s head. The searing pain of the bolts blocking much of his brain from grasping what was transpiring. He only knew the current ceased and the sound of His Empress letting
out a gasp.

Ervita was pouring her displeasure into Dracis, her anger was rising like a storm when she felt the movement and then the teeth make purcahse at her neck. The Vong had entered the throng with its serpent tongue. This made The Night Mother fall on her back with a gasp and the brilliant bolts of peridot green fade away. Her eyes turned black and then shut with skin curtains in an instant.

The Night Dragon strumbled on the floor, his body and armor smoking, he saw His Empress waylaid and this stirred two contrasictory feelings, one was satisfaction that her torture of him was at an end, the other remorse that he felt divorced from her, the one he had obeyed without question till now.

Looking upon His Mistress, seeing her so stripped of her dominance, he for once saw a woman and not a goddess confrolling his fate. He then took notice of his savior, The Serpent, who he said,
“Thank you..”
Kylraya

 

[Kylraya]

Displays of territorial behavior sometimes ended in scars; instinct trumped reason, but the bites were far from lethal. Like lionesses or tigers giving a warning, they marked with small scars rather than killing. Two formerly white Eden tigers prowled in the hut doorway, now covered in black terminus shells. The pair walked around the room in opposite directions, their heads lowered protectively. Jtara and Bnara had been with her since the beginning.

Bnara nuzzled Kylraya's hand with her black head, she turned her gaze towards the Empress, a low growl escaping her throat. Jtara moved to sit beside the Night Dragon just out of reach, watchful but understanding through the pack's force bond. The bond between them and the black terminus hawk now perched atop the structure remained unbreakable. They had been through it all together, reforming old bonds anew.

Thank you.

Kylraya paused and stood upright, reflecting on how long it had been since anyone had thanked her. She couldn't recall a single instance. "Harm shard, harm whole." She still struggled to see him as an individual man, but the sentiment remained the same. In hive-minded times, she would have felt every drone's death or pain, and at times, the convergence of that sensation had overwhelmed her.

"Talon's scar," she said to the Empress, her voice lingering on her warning. Her posture, less threatening now but still elevated, conveyed caution. She clawed the ground and stalked at a distance, never taking her eyes off her. "Shard make their bargain or leave our domain." This small structure encompassed her entire world. Balance was restored to her pack's domain, and she stood ready to listen to the Empress.

Night Dragon

 

[Night Dragon]

TAG: Kylraya

The Night Dragon watched as life began to swarm around her, even two tigers which entered. Dracis listened to the words of The Sage, she spoke of “shard” and “whole.” While she may have meant something else, he interpreted them through the veil of his own, that he was not whole, and a mere shattered piece that His Empress had greased and fixed to a spear. On his home world of Dathomir it was not uncommon for Nightbrothers to be little more than slaves to Nightsisters. Words flooded his head and into his mouth once spoken by a Brother who perished in his arms when he said that them being slaves was how it is, “Just because it is.. doesn’t mean it should be.” [*]

When she mentioned “Bargain” who took his helm up and said,
“A new bargain I would strike, would you teach me your ways? Take me as an Vong apprentice? I can offer my knowledge of Dathomirian Magicks and help The Vong repel any threat that heralds from the Force Adepts.”
His offer was genuine and quite a promise, perhaps even a tad dramatic. How she would respond was anyone’s guess, what mattered to him was she did not sear him with thunder god lightning, and had put a stop to Ervita’s wrath. He would become The Vong’s Vassal if she agreed to the Bargain. She had become his hope, a chance to fully know himself, which had been suppressed by spells and the puppet strings of His Empress. A coffin was brought by two Vong who stepped into the hut, Dracis pointing to Ervita. They hoisted her up and laid her in her armor and dress therein. She was not dead, not yet. However, burying her with a spell would be necessary to keep her contained till a judgement came. She had come to exploit The Vong, He had chosen to partner with them in friendship. Even if the Great One refused his bargain he hoped they would let him stay a while amongst them and allow him to discover what destiny truly awaited him, not one forged by a Witch who saw him as a mere blade for her devices, a destiny of his own where he would serve a greater purpose than being a blunt instrument.
———————————————
[*] Drover, Australia (2008)

 

[Kylraya]

Kylraya, sometimes a weapon, sometimes a wanderer, sometimes a hive talon, realized the shard couldn't stand; they put her in a coffin to seal her away where the body could be properly attended to, and she wound her body around to face the night dragon, approaching a new bargain.

A new bargain I would strike

"Shard wishes to shape as the sacred ones do," her voice phased in and out, revealing the word 'ones' glimmering with a hint of individualism. Kylraya understood the union between will and the great work, though these concepts had long been removed from her world, scattered fragments before Terminus integrated her into the whole.

To ensure the night dragon fully grasped the weight of his request, Kylraya's monstrous, terminus Vongcraft-inspired form emerged from the shadows, illuminated by the dim glow of the brazier. She mirrored his stance, kneeling, sitting, or standing at his level.

"Can shard trust what is seen?" A monster asked, one who did monstrous things, sometimes of her own hand, sometimes not of her own will; the pack's two Eden tigers near moaned and chuffed loudly. Their ways took time to learn.

"To shape is sacrifice," she extended her clawed hands, black and exoskeletal, turning her palms over. Full mastery of the craft often required a sacrifice, usually an arm, but in her case, it had been her entire body for an experiment. Unlike her creator, Kylraya would not lie or deceive. This was a way of life to commit to, and it wasn't easily taken out of your life afterward.

"Are you certain why you want this?" Hatred or fear of another wasn't enough, nor a sense of freedom, it had to be a free choice. The woman's voice spoke closer to the natural force user she once was. Determined, courageous, and aware, the same one who had answered a call on a distant exoplanet to become what she was now. The potential teacher awaited the night dragon's response.

Night Dragon

 

[Night Dragon]

TAG: Kylraya

The Night Dragon remained with bowed head and then raised his eyes to see her Vong form, it was breathtaking in a visceral kind of beauty. She spoke of sacrifice, a word that Ervita had used, and yet this Shaper was not one who abused him. He took off his gauntlet to expose his bare hand, the seal broken and he held it to her and said,
“I want transcendence.. the word you spoke that broke my spell. If it means I must transform or conform to the form you possess.. I count it all joy!”

He drew closer to her ans prostrated himself before The Vong. Her two Tigers no doubt would sense no hosotlity in gus gesture, he felt a pulse beat between them, it filled his mind briefly, was that a way they communicated?

He was pledging himself to her Craft if his offering was acceptable. He was giving his bidy to be shaped and molded in the ways of the Vong, though only she alone could accept and give him a rebirth. So there he held his head as if in prayer, he owed her for his awakening. If that was the extent of it he would forever be her vassap, and offer what protection he could to The Vong.

Raising his head to look upon her once more, he said,
“Even if your answer is no, I promise to use my power to defend you and this tribe. I will battle whatever foe, this I swear as an oath.”

He then held his unadorned had out to her, and waited for her decision. Dracis kept his eyes fixed on her, he had never seen another woman than Ervita, his memories of Dathomir wiped, and most of his life was a fog, robbed from him by the one he had called Empress. Who had taken from him his past and made him a weapon. There was part of him that felt such anger he wanted to ensure she was punished severely. More important was who stood before him, The Vong, who had stirred a song in his soul, that sought more than to be a “shard,” to be a whole and serve a greater purpose, “transcendence.” She could show him the way, perhaps she was the way.. and he would take whatever place he could, Shaped or Protector, he meant what he said, she deserved his service.

 

[Kylraya]

Agreeing to future bodily sacrifices that most adepts made, he had pushed through her reluctant doubts. The Swarm Mother dug her talons into the earth, her body tensing with inner conflict. She had given up more than the shard needed to, and faint memories of her past life still flickered. Lowering herself in acceptance, she whispered, "Guiding claws, for shape and craft," a strange feeling of longing and care emanating from her. She then raised herself to assert her pack position and status before her companion terminus tigers began to display dominance.

The tigers watched intently as he approached Kylraya, their body language and intent explicit. She joined her hand, an unfamiliar gesture, and looked at their limbs with distant eyes, recalling fragments of her past.

"Our answer is yes. Transcendence," she declared, the pack agreeing as one. Kylraya felt a mix of regret for his choice and relief. Being cut off from her former hive was a terrible, lonely burden. The pack's reformation brought a slight sense of unity to the silent void. The Terminus-Tigers chuffed their acceptance, and their pitches were different—Bnara's was lower than her sister's, indicating seniority. Jtara, closest to the Night Dragon, moved her exoskeletal form within reach and sat by his side.

"What will our pack learn first?" she asked, ready to lead or follow. This was how the hive functioned, with each impulse weighed and measured collectively. Integrating their paths more naturally, the interplay between hive connection and pack dynamics was intriguingly different and subtle to an outsider, showing two layers to understand.

Night Dragon

 

[Night Dragon]

TAG: Kylraya

The Night Dragon rose on his knee when she agreed, he smiled and said,
“I am honored to be your disciple.”
He watched as she moved, studying what may be his own movement in time. He paid close attention to that the animals seemed to move in tandem, as if link. So he took his place beside The Tigers, a Dragon in the fleah of man.

When she asked what to teaxh first, he raised his hand.
“I sense something.. a pulse.. between you and them. May I be permitted to hear? To join this understanding?”

He did not fully grasp what he was asking, to him all of this was riveting, a new instruction and life. He knew nothing of what the Hive Mind was like, only a clouded mind by sorcery that made him a slave. The truth is he felt rather lonely with his thoughts. For so many years commands had been programmed in the spaces of his brain, now there was a void, a quiet that unnerved him.

There was also the concern that Ervita may escape and hinder his lesson, he only now began to realize how much he feared her. That all his life he was under her power and winced as she commanded him with shocks. In time he became a shell, his mind lost to the fog of her enchantments and positive reinforcement, she rewarded him when he was “good” and did her bidding. This was different, he sensed that was not how His New Master operated. That was clear by her intervention and now she was asking for imput, not making demands or trying to manipulate him with soft words. He sensed he had a voice for the first time in his life…