Private The Heart of Darkness

[Rannan Kol]

Coruscant
Level 994
Valery Noble

---

The Void consumed, extinguishing light in all its forms.

The Brotherhood of the Maw had collapsed; the Darksiders, Ravagers and Mutants that had comprised the faction scattering to different edges of the galaxy. Some were snuffed out, some attempted to rebuild, aligning with other factions and some disappeared completely. Gone but not forgotten.

Hidden deep beneath the uppermost level of the ecumenopolis known as Coruscant, the Galactic Capital and home of the Senate as well as the Jedi Temple, there were places where light, the sun and the stars were only myth and legend. It was known that the Underworld of Coruscant was vast, a haven for the lawless, mercenaries and bounty hunters. A fitting place to vanish, right under the noses of the Jedi themselves.

Rumors would eventually stretch from the deep levels, the lower levels where lawless began transforming into barbarity of a Prophet. A Man was said to preach the religion of the Void to impoverished, the hopeless who had never seen a Jedi nor heard their rhetoric; the message was simple, when the Void extinguished their light there would be no more pain, no more suffering. As fanatical as it sounded it seemed a beacon of hope in these dark places, the end of suffering in the underbelly of a world where someone could be born without ever knowing the light of the sun.

In the depths no rumor would rise to the uppermost level, the affluent and powerful were oblivious to much of what happened beneath them as long as it didn't disrupt their lifestyle, their routine. The Jedi had informants though, they had Shadows. Eventually the Jedi Council would hear the rumors, reports of strange activity and rituals conducive with the darkside.

On any day, like today, the Prophet presided over a congregation of dozens. He was perched atop a pew, men and women gathered around him as spoke, watching with eyes of light orange that betrayed his connection to the force...

"The Void welcomes you."​

...heated metal placed in braziers gaze off an amber glow, a dim light that clashed with the dark tan of his skin. Buildings here were a labyrinth of corridors, a maze that stretched on forever if you had no familiarity with them. There was more, much more to be seen though.

His eyes focused on the entrance, an archway where the turbodoors had long since expired. Kol let a small smile play at the corners of his mouth, he had gone unnoticed right under their noses for so long...

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

The Underworld of Coruscant was an old friend.

Not the kind you trusted — the kind that whispered secrets in the dark, pulled at your cloak, and watched you from alleyways no light could touch. Valery had walked these depths before. As a Shadow, she'd slipped through this city's veins more times than she could count, chasing rumors that turned to threats before the upper levels ever noticed the rot.

But this... this was different.

The rumors had trickled up like smoke: hushed voices in the lower tiers, whispers of a Prophet preaching not redemption or rebellion, but oblivion. A promise of freedom in the Void. She'd seen what blind faith could do. She'd seen what the dark side made of religion.

And when the Council heard the whispers? They looked to her.

So here she was.

She moved like shadow between the rusted beams and forgotten durasteel, her figure a blur of motion in the tight corridors and crumbling walkways of the lower levels. She wore a sleek, dark jumpsuit — armorweave lined, tailored for movement. Light armor hugged her frame, matte and silent. At her side, her saber hilt swung in rhythm with her steps, cloaked in the hush of a place where sound didn't carry far without consequence.

Valery crouched behind the edge of a collapsed durasteel overpass, scanning the path ahead. Beyond the crumbled archway — the one the informant had marked — there was firelight.

And voices. Low, murmuring. Mesmerized.

There.

The congregation. The Prophet? She didn't move yet and didn't reach for her weapon. She wasn't here for a fight — not yet. She was here to see. To understand. To confirm what the Force was already whispering in her bones: that something dark had taken root down here, something old, clothed in the words of the broken and desperate.

Her hand hovered briefly over her lightsaber, not yet drawn. The Void may have welcomed them. But she was here now.

And the light was coming for it.

Rannan Kol ​

 

[Rannan Kol]

Equipment: Ring | the Dark Sacraments | Apostle's Vestments
Tags: Valery Noble

---

The Congregation proceeded a short time. He remained perched on the chosen pew, his balance seemingly perfect; he was still, unmoving save for when he turned his head to address those around him, his arms were resting across his thighs in a completion of the pose. At times it seemed as though his 'flock' were nodding or reacting to something he'd said but he hadn't spoken.

He'd reached into their minds, all of them without err and whispered the promise of the Void to them. If they shrugged off their mortal coils they could become one with the tapestry that was darkness. Their essence would become interwoven with something greater, something older; the beginning and the end. The Desperate could find meaning in anything, even if their purpose was to feed the eldritch horror of nothingness.

At a distance, or up close it would be easy to see the silhouettes of the congregation as they nodded or reacted to the voice in their minds. Kol would look, turning his head occasionally seemingly to address one or another or acknowledge something said; he spoke into their minds but they had no such power or expertise. Their voices came low, murmuring words of zealotry. Eventually he dismissed them though...

"Go now."​

...he bade them...

"Spread the word. The Void is your salvation in the dark, it will always be waiting in the places that light cannot reach."​

...and just like that the bodies began to disperse. The Congregation left through the archway, many of them still seemingly in a trace. Kol was alone.

Alone, unobstructed by obstacles or bodies blocking a clear path to him it was easy to see Kol. He still wore the Apostles Vestments, garb of woven silk imbued with the darkside and nanites that maintained it. On either hip were a pair of venerable lightsabers in the shoto style, the Dark Sacraments, their hilts etched with strange and intricate markings.

Hopping down from the pew he'd risen to his full height, turning his head to look at the amber glow of the metal that radiated from one of the braziers. It was difficult to say if he could sense her or if there was something else. On his right hand, his thumb slid beneath his fingers and rubbed the ring that he wore on one of them as though it were calling to him...

"Come out. Let me see you."​

...he said aloud, then he'd moved closer to one of the braziers, outstretching his hand so that he could watch as the amber glow of the heated metal began to dim beneath the presence of the ring as though it were snuffing it out.

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers


The brazier dimmed. Its light, once steady and defiant, withered beneath the influence of the ring on his hand — like flame smothered by a vacuum. Shadows lengthened along the cracked walls. Silence spread in the wake of his congregation's exit, thick and expectant. And then, the air shifted. A flicker. A pulse. The sensation of presence snapping into clarity. Behind him, the faintest shimmer peeled away from the gloom. Cloak gave way to shape and shadow became flesh.

Valery stepped forward.

Her figure materialized out of the Force like a blade unsheathed — slow, precise, inevitable. The jump-hardened fabric of her suit reflected none of the dying firelight, but her eyes? Her eyes burned like twin embers in the dark. She didn't rush. She didn't need to. The brazier might have dimmed, but she brought her own light with her — calm, centered, dangerous in its restraint.

Her boots echoed softly against the stone as she closed the distance, only stopping once she was a few paces from him. Amber eyes met his. "We meet again," she said, her voice even, quiet… and edged with memory.

She didn't elaborate. Didn't have to. The Force already stirred with the weight of old encounters and unspoken things. Valery's hand didn't move toward her weapon — not yet. But her posture was a warning. Every line of her body held tension beneath its stillness, a coiled storm just beneath the surface.

"You've found a new flock to poison," she continued, gaze steady. "Still feeding on innocents, I see." She tilted her head slightly, like a predator studying another.

How would this encounter go?

Rannan Kol ​

 

[Rannan Kol]

Equipment: Ring | the Dark Sacraments | Apostle's Vestments
Tags: Valery Noble

---

Instinctively as shadow became flesh Kol would turn his head, watching as the silhouette of Valery took shape and her presence became more distinct. He'd felt her while she was cloaked but now the sensation, the unique essence she possessed was more clearly defined as she revealed herself. There was a familiarity that accompanied her as well.

It had been a long time since Montitia. Years had passed since that meeting but as Valery drew closer and their eyes met recognition sparked in the gaze of the Prophet. It tugged at the edge of his mind, memories regarding the woman that stood across from him though their initial meeting had been one of violence.

He wondered if Valery remembered all the people he'd forced her to leave behind. She'd ensured his ritual was lesser however she'd been unable to prevent it. A small smile played across the corners of his mouth...

"Is that what you call it?"​

...his reply was accompanied by a hint of amusement...

"These lower levels are so full of the people your masters have forgotten though."​

...the remark inferred that Valery was a slave to the Senate, the Jedi, even the affluent of Coruscant who would much rather forget the lowest levels of the world spanning city even existed.

Unlike their initial meeting so long ago there was no ritual to perform this time, Kol had already installed himself into the minds of the desperate. Like an infection that had taken root in the blood, corrupting the tissue of a limb he had entrenched himself. If she were a physician then Valery would need to cut away the atrophied flesh, the muscle to save what was left before she risked losing the entire limb---or she could wait and see if the body could heal itself.

As they stood across from one another, paces away from each other yet out of arms reach even if only barely Valery would be able to see that recognition in Kol's gaze ensuring that she would also know he remembered her. More so Kol chuckled, their last meeting and this one were a sort of continuation...

"Our last meeting ended so abruptly."​

...he stepped to one side, maintaining the distance between them so that Valery would not perceive his movements as a threat while beginning to circle around her. Kol wanted to take a better look at her. Up to this point he only knew the Jedi that had tried to prevent him from carrying out his plans on a distant world but this meeting had afforded him a moment to appreciate the woman that she was...

"And you left me with such a magnificent gift."​

...his hand raised, the power of the ring he wore radiated outwards. Its power stemming from the darkside as well as the souls that Valery had been unable to save in their previous encounter which had summoned the darkness Kol had bound to it.

While he moved to circle around her Kol eventually inquired in a manner that seemed nonchalant, as though he was making simple conversation...

"How is Vera?"​

...Valery had told him after he'd penetrated her mind and saw glimpses of everything that he would never come close to her daughter yet here he was, hiding in plain sight on Coruscant where he imagined that meeting was closer to reality than fiction. Too, Valery must know he could touch her mind; even if she resisted him from gaining access to her inner consciousness brushing the shell of her mind and sampling those surface thoughts would often reveal all that was necessary for him. All that said and she would also likely know he had not attempted as much yet, Kol remained respectful of her in the way while they conversed.

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery didn't move as he circled. Her body remained still, poised like the coiled spring of a trap waiting for the wrong step — but her eyes followed him, sharp and unwavering. Not a flicker of fear crossed her expression, not even when he raised the ring, when she felt the dark weight of it pulse through the air like an echo of the lives he'd stolen.

She felt that wound, sure. But she didn't flinch. His comment about Vera, though? That earned the faintest arch of an eyebrow. "She's doing well," Valery said, her voice smooth, not sharp. "All of them are."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, a warning glint in their amber glow. "Thanks for asking."

It was clear she knew exactly what he was trying to do — reaching for the threads he thought might fray her, probing for weakness or doubt. But he'd find none. Her love for her children was not a vulnerability. It was fire. And fire did not bend to the dark — it burned it out.

"Of course, if you've been skulking through the lower levels for any length of time, you probably already knew that," she continued, her voice still calm but edged with quiet disdain. "They're not exactly hiding. Neither am I." She shifted her stance slightly, enough to meet his movements, always keeping her front to him. Always watching. The way a shadow studies another before deciding where to strike.

"You've wormed your way into broken minds before, Kol. I remember our last meeting." The name cut through the quiet like a blade.

"But this?" she gestured lightly to the now-empty space where the congregation had stood, her fingers relaxing at her side. "This doesn't feel like ambition anymore." Her gaze met his with pointed clarity. "This feels like someone trying to be remembered." The brazier behind her flickered, catching again in the sudden draft that swept through the corridor.

"So tell me… what is it you're really after out here?" Her tone lowered. "You've already fed on desperation. You've got your flock. Your shadows. Your theatrics."

A beat.

"What's the endgame, Prophet?"

Rannan Kol ​

 

[Rannan Kol]

Equipment: Ring | the Dark Sacraments | Apostle's Vestments
Tags: Valery Noble

---

Without knowing it Valery revealed more than she'd likely intended. He could have surmised that Vera Noble was on Coruscant with her mother but now he was detain. If Kol wanted to know more he need only reach out and brush his psyche against the mind of the Jedi Master but he showed restraint, this meeting had only just begun so there was no need for it to devolve into violent confrontation which was almost a certainty if Valery sensed him breaching her mind.

It was her body language that revealed more to Kol, he could read the subtleties of things like the arch of her eyebrow whereas his features beyond the thin smile he wore seemed largely indifferent in the sense that he was composed. Even her comments that he had been skulking or worming his way into minds did not seem to affect him overly much. It was, he surmised the fire in her that was reacting to what he had said.

She kept him in her line of sight. It was smart that she didn't trust him, after all he was a confessed practitioner of the darkside though he couldn't be considered a Sith altogether even if there were similarities...

"Not just broken minds, Valery."​

...he'd have finally replied, she might recall he had penetrated her mind as well...

"I've seen what occupies your thoughts as well. It isn't all so noble, if you'll pardon the pun."​

...but then he sighed, it was difficult to tell if she'd misread his reason for being here or if he was embarrassed that he'd had to sink down into the lower levels of the world...

"Being remembered is not an issue. In the dark I will exist forever."​

...though saying that he did side eye the locale their meeting had taken place in this time. Unlike a grand ziggurut he and his marauders had constructed during their first encountered Kol now lived in a far less grandiose place. If the Sith had taught the galaxy any lessons though it was that survival was much easier when you living right under the noses of your enemies.

The Brazier would have been behind Valery now, Kol would have circled around her and if she'd turned with him entirely it would have eventually put it her back to it. It wreathed her in the amber glow that could be mistaken for a fiery aura. As the conversation turned to the Prophet's endgame he took a step forward instead of around Valery.

As footsteps carried him towards her Kol had finally reached out, extending his mind so that she would feel its influence weighing down over her. It was not an attempt to penetrate deeply into her thoughts, only a brush against the outer shell that dominated the present and it would implant the thought 'wait' at the forefront. Injected into her thoughts as though it were anesthesia into her bloodstream it was meant to make her hesitate, to pause if she went to reach for her lightsaber while he come up on her.

He would have come within mere inches of her, raising a hand when he was within reach of her so that his fingers could brush beneath her chin and trace to one side of her jawline. The orange of their eyes would meet, contrasting one another in the same moment as Kol ensured their gazes met...

"Endgame?"​

...he repeated the word, weighing the relevance of it...

"Well I've just been here waiting for you. After all, I believe I told you we'd see one another again and now here we are."​

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Jedi Jumpsuit | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery didn't move when he stepped closer. Not when the pressure of his presence pressed against her mind like a hand at the small of her back. Not when his fingers brushed beneath her chin, tracing the angle of her jaw in a motion far too familiar for someone so far beneath her regard. She let it happen — not because she couldn't stop him, but because she chose not to.

For now.

Her body remained loose, relaxed even. And when her gaze met his — orange against amber, predator to predator — there was no fear in her eyes. Only calculation. A beat passed. Then her gaze flicked down for just a second, clinical, assessing, before her eyes rose again to meet his with a subtle tilt of her brow.

"A shame," she said softly, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You're easy on the eyes. But you talk too much."

She didn't break the stare as she pulled slightly back from his touch, not abruptly — just enough to reclaim the space between them. Enough to remind him that whatever he thought he was playing at, she was the one still in control.

"And now what?" she echoed, her voice low, even. "You said we'd meet again. Here I am. You've slithered into minds, wrapped yourself in shadows, and sent your little flock off to sing the gospel of the Void. And here I am." Her chin lifted, calm but cutting.

"So what's the next part of the sermon, Prophet?"

She didn't ignite her saber — not yet. But it was there, humming in the Force between them, waiting. Like the storm behind her eyes.

Ready.

Rannan Kol ​

 

[Rannan Kol]

Equipment: Ring | the Dark Sacraments | Apostle's Vestments
Tags: Valery Noble

---

She to let him touch her. If she had wanted to pull away it was within her power, if she had wanted to reach out and snatch his wrist before he'd made contact she could have; his influence merely impressed itself to stop her from drawing her lightsaber. It begged the question as to whether or not Kol truly was so far beneath her regard.

His mouth transformed into a small smirk, he saw her looking, appraising him unapologetically. She didn't fear him, in fact their mannerisms seemed somewhat complimentary at this moment yet the two of them were a contrast. They should have been fighting by now, lightsabers crackling. Instead they stood closer and with decidedly more familiarity than two people who should be enemies should have been.

Valery made the first move when she pulled back from his touch, opening the distance between the two of them again even if it was only slightly however their eyes hadn't met one another...

"You've talked more than I have, Valery."​

...a blatant remark, he watched how she lift her chin calmly though the storm raging behind her eyes told a somewhat different story that betrayed her...

"Your emotions betray you, tied to your desires as they are."​

...there was something different about Valery Noble, Jedi Grandmaster and Sword of the New Jedi Order. Everyone who looked at her saw her; she was a Wife, a Mother, a Mentor, a Warrior, a Friend. When someone set their eyes on her they saw everything that one might expect but there was something else that Kol saw when he looked at her. Emotions, desires that were deeply hidden beneath the surface like the ones that burned behind her eyes. Perhaps some of them were left there after he'd entered her mind long ago, hidden in plain sight without her even realizing.

They could fight, if that's what Valery wanted.

Among other things Kol wasn't only a powerful mentalist, he was fast; extremely fast. Valery would feel the force stirring between them. Blurring the lines of perception, aided by the force he moved.

A Hand reached for Valery's wrist, the one that would seize her lightsaber if she went to draw it while the other reached for her. He'd turn it inwards, attempt to hook it back around behind Valery's head as fingers sought to lace themselves through the lengths of her brunette hair so that she couldn't turn away from him unless she fought him...

"Give yourself to me."​

...he would be all but pressing against her, his eyes radiating outwards into hers. His voice would touch her mind. She had asked what the next part of his sermon was. The Prophet answered when he pressed his mouth closer to hers so that he could grant her a powerful kiss.