ATRISIA
Physically Nearby: [member="Darth Mephirium"] [member="Alecandria"] [member="Veiere Arenais"] [member="Darth Vitium"]
The soft sensation of warmth- of hearth and home- rippled out from the Jedi Master. Each place it encountered someone who welcomed it, it rebloomed, spreading stronger. Where it met resistance in the form of hate and desired violence, it faltered- weaker, pale and cold.
Bethany could sense the places of ebb and flow, the echoes returning to her as her light moved and bolstered those already moving within it. Some, she was surprised to find, she knew. There was a familiarity, a greeting that would reach [member="Michael Sardun"], and eventually (though weaker and distant) [member="Ayden Cater"]. But there were unfamiliar sources- potential wells where maybe there was a chance to see something more. The bolstering touch of [member="Adele Adonai"] and Bethany eventually touched, overlapping and growing within the Force where they did. And the Beacon that was [member="Spencer Varanin"] was impossible to miss from any connected point on Atrisia. So bright it almost blinded. Here though, was an underlayer of darkness- consuming,
feeding. There was a war going on here within the Force, beyond just that between lightsabers and blasters. This was a war for the very soul of the planet itself. And while they moved within the lightside of the Force, Bethany's chest ached with the weight of the loss they still moved within. The sensation of the consumption of [member="Nulgath Zardai"] was impossible to miss- and for her at least, she understood far more than the immediate implications.
Certain places, these however were pockets of darkness- of power being used in ways that she had not seen in half a millennia. The storm itself lived and breathed, roaring and tearing with the energies of [member="Darth Praetorias"]. Within the storm itself though, was something else. No, it wasn't within the storm. [member="Mythos"]
was the storm. Weakening ripples in the warmth, the attempt to calm and bring peace broke like waves upon [member="Kruel Zing"] and [member="Darth Erebos"]. Though there was so much more in every case. Few settled so deeply in to the darkness that there was not some greater purpose- they fought to live- few fought solely to kill. They defended Atrisia, this complicated and dark army.
Though two places- two places where her reach touched told a very different story. Beneath the ground, the waiting, quiet darkness of [member="Soeht"] followed others. She could see the link between it and someone far more difficult to find. The light flickered, in and out, a red, pulsing sensation in the Force that she didn't have time to parse.
And the other-
There was a malice there- deep and unforgiving. Here was the first place that the diminutive master actually
recoiled. This was no creeping, insidious darkness. This was
fire. This was
hunger. This was not the evil that comes from ignorance or misunderstand.
This was a malevolence born of the primal void, the place where light could not cast back the shadows. But where the light itself was consumed. In most people, there were seeds of both good and evil, that would grow only if given the chance. Nurtured and encouraged.
In this consuming shadow fire, for the first time in over five hundred years-
Bethany could not find the kernel of light she sought by default. It wasn't simply buried deep.
It did not exist.
[member="Reverance"]