Private The Pretender

[The Seer]

KORRIBAN
Undisclosed Location


“And you’re sure they said she’d be here?” A gloved hand reached up to pull the hood over his head as he stepped off the ramp while the other checked to ensure his saber was at his side. Just as Exegol had been, the ancient Sith world was crawling with the unfaithful. Ever a matter of caution. Weeks ago, the Seekers returned to Icarus with news of a Togruta female that matched the description of one of Kathal’s former Apprentices. At first, even he discounted the notion. It was absurd at best. Both priests had seen her die on Exegol nearly two years ago. There was only a slim chance that Crysis has somehow managed to survive the encounter, but that chance was rather low. He supposed they both needed to see for themselves if the rumors were true.

Glancing back to the Shaman, he nodded wordlessly and stepped off towards the coordinates they were provided with. Eyes searched their surroundings carefully as they went, scanning every few minutes for activity. He wasn’t sure he believed the story entirely. It didn’t make sense to run off and consort with those she was trained to fight against. Not unless she’d been found. Or, perhaps, she was playing her own long game on a smaller scale. Truthfully, there was no telling. Just as there was no telling what his companion must have thought or felt, if he felt anything. Sometimes it was hard to tell, the man was as comforting as stone. “Can they be certain that it’s really her? We both saw what happened that night.”

Suddenly, the Vampyre stopped in his tracks. A shift in the air gave him pause. Reaching out to Kathal telepathically as his left hand moved to hover just over his lightsaber hilt while glowing eyes scanned the scattered ruins of a once great civilization. << We aren’t alone. >>

Nothing could be heard other than breathing and the shifting sands, but there was another present somewhere near the pair. Whoever it was hadn’t bothered to mask their own signature.

Foolish.

Kathal | Crysis ​

 

[Kathal]

Korriban. In terms of holy worlds for the Sith, it was one of the few that even Kathal had a grudging admiration for. While it had long been sullied by the flawed generations of Sith, its ancient roots in the original Sith ways could not be ignored. Mixed in with the more modern tombs and temples were countless relics of a past that the Scions of the Truth sought to emulate. Each one an echo of a past long since forgotten by all but a few of the most dedicated in the galaxy.

While the Seer took a more cautious approach to his appearance on the world, Kathal wore what he always did. His mask and robes, a sign of his office as much as anything else, stood out on the red orange sands of Korriban. He barely felt the heat as he looked around the blasted wasteland that had given birth to some of the galaxies greatest warriors, his mind racing with thoughts as he tried to focus. "The Seekers were very thorough in their report, Seer. I will not doubt them until proven they have failed."

Stepping off the landing ramp, Kathal reached with a gloved hand for the lightsaber he had clipped to his side, the familiar black and silver hilt a comforting presence in his gloved hand. "If anyone can survive what happened that day, it would be one of my disciples. If she did, she has much to answer for." He stopped in his tracks at the Seer's gesture, and he turned to look back at him. Nodding his understanding, he moved to take up a concealed position.

The Seer Crysis

 

[Crysis]

She had finally crossed the last part of the dunes. Her fellow acolytes were off doing something stupid. Something she had no interest in. Making their little 'cliques'. Though, that wasn't important to her. She 'knew' this was her home, but it didn't feel like it sometimes. Sometimes she felt like she was missing something. And she wasn't talking about the missing piece of her lekku. It had been like that ever since Exegol, though she never put any thought into how she ended up in that chasm. She only knew that she had multiple broken bones, and severe burns. Indeed in the present her left lekku was slightly shorter than her right, missing just a bit of the tip, and burnt slightly.

She stared at the ground as she walked. Many people didn't know, but it took a particular type of individual to sneak up on a Togruta, most especially when they were alone, and expectantly away from civilization. By the time she had entered the range that her montrals would have picked them up, they weren't moving enough for her to notice their presence. And she approached her usual stone. A small, semi demolished monolith with what seemed to be hundreds of scratches running across its length. A keen eye could see the top of the monolith laid up to some thirty yards away (in the direction she was facing, relative to it).

She came here to train often, in solitude. Unsheathing her vibro-sword, she rushed it unleashing several anger filled strikes in quick succession. Sparks loosing from the monolith in turn. She danced shadows around the structure, striking from different angles before retreating and flourishing the weapon around her form, moving in again to strike in a series of rapid blows. Pretending that it was her peers. Stupid children. She hated them all... Maybe except Crix Madden. She almost felt bad for him.

She sensed he was at times... Out of place, but he was skilled, and determined. She gave him that. The rest could eat Bantha Chit... She continued like this for a while, intermittently gathering The Force to her and sending telekinetic gust off in different directions. Creating impressive cones of sand before gathering herself, and turning her intent back on that shattered monolith. Here was better than the Academy. That was for sure...

She just didn't understand why. If these were her peers... Her people. Then why did she feel like a stranger here? Right then and there, it culminated. And midstroke, she paused, then collapsed to a kneel, stabbing the tip of the sword into the ground and staring at the sand in confusion. Something felt so very wrong over the last three weeks here...

| | |
Kathal The Seer ​

 

[The Seer]

KORRIBAN
Undisclosed Location


Clink. Clink. Clink.

Flashes of dim light off to the left. He unsheathed his saber, holding it at the ready, and motioned for Kathal to follow. Just two dunes over he could see the stone monolith and a yellow light, more sounds of impact. Sparks flew just faintly before disappearing into the night. Someone was striking at the ruins. Hope mounted in him for Kathal’s sake. The girl seemed like just a student to the human but, somewhere in there, he cared for her. At least a bit. Though, the stubborn bastard would never admit to it out loud.

If he didn’t, they wouldn’t be here looking for her after she presumably died on Exegol.

He motioned for Kathal to follow as he crept up the side of the dune, wrapping the pair around the structure so they’d come up behind the person practicing in the dead of night. Rather far from the Academy too, almost like they were asking for trouble. Coming to stand at the top of the sandy peak, he blinked far too many times.

“Kathal,” came the faint whisper. He clipped his lightsaber slowly and silently to his hip. He blinked a few more times to be sure it wasn’t the desert playing a trick on his eyes. But, no, it was Crysis. Alive, though missing a piece of her lekku. He looked on as she sank the vibrosword in her hands into the endless sand, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

Though he stayed silent through the discovery and he looked over to Kathal out of the corner of his eye, as if he were afraid that if he looked away from the Torgruta she'd somehow disappear. If anyone deserved to have the first word here, it was the Shaman.

Kathal | Crysis ​