Private The Ruins of a Legacy

[Aiwaz Khath]

[Source]

[Music]​

There was a gentle threat of a sandstorm incoming. A consistent breeze broke out into the occasional twists of sand, flanking the eroding fine limestone of the stronghold's exterior walls. It once belonged to a family of Sith sorcerors - so it was said - but its inheritor had long disappeared after successfully bringing about the ruin of an esteemed Jedi family some years prior, and it had rapidly fallen into disrepair and ruin.

Aiwaz had clearly arrived just in time as the winds began to stir and howl. He pulled up the collar of his robe closer to his face and marched towards the entrance. The main entrance that stretched far above him, austere and silent, mounds of sand accumulating at its base. He reached for the rosary of terentatek bone in his backpack and knelt on one knee, reciting a brief prayer in the Sith tongue.
"Grant me strength and power, Great Fathers of Khath, to subdue and dominate all that stand in my way."

Red hands rested firmly against the old stone and, with one hefty heave, pushed an opening. The very stone seemed to shriek in response, as if every atom of stronghold itself objected to the intrusion. Aiwaz could feel the heavy powers at rest suddenly stir from his presence. The entranceway was nigh pitch black, and a notable chill clung to the air in sharp contrast to the searing desert heat outside. As he stepped further into the main entrance, a series of walled torches blazed one by one in a bright green fire to reveal a long corridor flanked by the robed statues of indeterminate Sith Lords.

Aiwaz turned his thoughts to the matter at hand. He came to seek out whatever artefacts or treasures he could. The rulers of his place were apparently long gone, they wouldn't need their treasures anymore, and the stiffness of the entrance made led him to believe nobody had yet to pillage this old place. A shiver went up his spine as he suddenly felt the fall of eyes passing a glance passed him before melting in the darkness once more. Pulling a dusty torch from the wall, he ventured on into the looming darkness ahead...




[tag: Madrona A’Mia ]

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

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Lost deep in thought, studying by naught but bio-luminescent light, the tall neti was taking samples from a section of the crypt that was home to an exceedingly rare lichen. The unusual plant was something she'd only encountered a handful of times and in truth had only found it thanks to the recent integration of the Murakami Core into her system. A'Mia worked fastidiously, unblinking, unbreathing, moving with precise gestures to take measurements, mark them rapidly in her datapad, then carefully carving samples out of the stone to take with her for further study back at her lab at Kor'ethyr Academy. Suddenly her attention was disturbed and large, eerie eyes snapped up to look in the direction of the sound.

A'Mia stowed fungal light so the entire area was cast in darkness. She did not strictly require light to see and instead extended snaking tendrils of her consciousness out toward the old, long disused front entrance to this place. With a silent command, she summoned one of her pets to creep in the darkness alongside her. Her stalking movement halted when she sensed Aiwaz Khath .

"A Sith Pureblood, a young one at that," she mused to herself.

She shrank back a bit at the sudden light, not concerned about its heat but rather wishing to remain unseen. For the time being she was content to stalk him from the shadows and gather more information about why he was there. Her pet spread out its form to creep silently up the stone wall and make its way toward the dark ceiling where it clung like a malignant mass of black vines.

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[Aiwaz Khath]

The strange green lantern dangling before him seemed to somehow burn without any oil at all. It hummed with the soft whispers of the Dark Side as the vibrant flames licked the edges of blackness that surrounded him. An icy shrill cold crept up Aiwaz's spine and to the back of his neck, and he shivered hard once in response and readjusted his collar needlessly.

The corridor forked, winding around a wide pillar, within which were carved crevices that held smaller statuettes of various Lords akin to those that flanked the entranceway. Following the left path, Aiwaz noticed they met on the other side, which lead to an open entrance to a much larger chamber that seemed to shimmer in its darkness. In the half-light, the acolyte could see the glistening of black stone like onyx adorning the walls and floor in meticulous patterns, and likewise along a large circular structure - most likely a chandelier of some kind - that hung overhead from a ceiling that remained shrouded entirely in shadow.

In the middle of the grand chamber that seemed to extended endlessly in all directions, there stood an immense monolithic shape. A huge rectangular slab of pure black that seemed to swallow the darkness itself that surrounded it. It was blacker than black, and it almost hummed uncomfortably and effortlessly, seeming as though it threatened to consume all around it in a moments notice. Aiwaz could barely make it out in the half-light, but it was most certainly there.

But something else was here. It was difficult to determine what. A presence lingered on the air, expansive and shadowy. He closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Dark Side, allowing his awareness to go beyond his physical awareness. He could sense the full scope of the sanctuary, with a seeming notable void that seemed to reflect all consciousness surrounding the monolith. Yet he enquired further, poking his awareness into the darker corners and chambers of the place. What was here? He would seek, and he would find.




TAG: Madrona A’Mia

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

It was good to see this boy had sense, at least some wits about him. Was he roughly student age? She wondered, perhaps even considering that one such as him might prove himself to be worthy of her own House of Derriphan. It was far too soon to tell of course and there was always a strong chance he'd make better food for her pet than be fit to walk the esteemed halls of Kor'ethyr.

"Kam nisosûti j'us dzi tsiu wisa wuni, ititiai sinzûtikir?"

"What brings you here all alone, stray pilgrim?"

She called from the shadows, using her telepathy to mess with the sense of direction from whence it came. His first test. Not a difficult one of course and particularly not if she was indeed correct about his lineage. But a test to know if he understood the old tongue, and also knew that it would be a great offense to answer in anything but the same language in return.

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[Aiwaz Khath]

A sudden wash of disdain struck Aiwaz as the voice echoed about him. It was not so much the intended attempts to confuse him that brought such a reaction on. Rather, the audacity of some pretender - be it an alien, or the spirit of one - using his own language against him, as was so often the case with these self-proclaimed "Sith"; thieves of his legacy. For a moment, he was lost in the feeling, but his better judgement brought him back to the present moment. He had no idea truly what he was dealing with yet. He shouted out into the darkness with the tongue of his people.
"You speak my own tongue, stranger, and that of my kin." A part of him held hope that who he spoke too was also of his blood, but he doubted it. "Be you spirit, or living?" He would not answer their question directly, nor reveal his true intentions to something he had yet to see the fact of. "Why obscure yourself in the dark, stranger?" he yelled out in Common, raising the green torch above him. "Show yourself to me, if you possess the nerve."



TAG: Madrona A’Mia

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

An echoing little laugh made its way around the chamber as A'Mia drew out her spectral ploy a little longer. The rustling of vines could be heard from behind the young man, but if he turned to look he would see nothing. Finally, the neti dropped pretense and drifted out from the shadows. The form she chose belied her true nature, sporting two legs and two arms she looked every bit the near-human she was not and adorned in simple Kor'ethyr academy robes. Though, she still had a distinctly arboreal look to her should one look closely enough.

A'Mia held her hands out to the side, palms up and empty in a nigh universal sign of peace. Her pet still lingered above in the shadows, waiting to strike.

"One should never reveal themselves entirely before taking stock of a situation," she lilted back in common, her voice almost sing song with joviality which didn't reach her large blue-green pupil-less eyes.

"Don't you agree, young one?" She tipped her head and continued before he could answer.
"What brings you here all alone?"

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[Aiwaz Khath]

Aiwaz clutched for his training sabre when the being arose from out of the shadows. A flush of frustration moved through him at how superior it seemed to be acting towards him, and he grit his teeth. "Young one"... It was mocking him. Before he lost himself entirely in his frustrations took over completely, he could hear the voice of his grandfather singing in his ears.

~A Khath is patient and did not allow himself to be swept up in rage~

A lesson from yesteryear that struck deep to him, he breathed deep, closing his eyes a moment. In his backpack, he could feel once again the gentle humming of his rosary that brought him back to the present moment. His eyes opened to look at the alien, identifying a humanoid figure and face, feminine in appearance. It - 'she' - wasn't human or any other of the common aliens he had seen bounding about his planet, and she perplexed him. In abject curiosity, he, too, tilted his head. Then he remembered she had asked him a question, again, only he was now more lucid to actually humour her.
"I can go where I like on the planet of my own people," he told her with the uncovered sternness of his father thrumming from his throat. "I come in search of secrets. What else?" He watched closely, trying to gauge her reaction, but as alien as she was, it was difficult for him to judge. He would say all the aliens looked the same to him, but this one was... different, otherworldly... "Why are you skulking around in the dark here?" He never liked sneaking around in darkness that so many of these pretenders liked to do. He was a clan warrior-prince. His place was at the front and centre, to lead... or so his father expected of him...



TAG: Madrona A’Mia

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

"Through wit and merit I've found my way here," she answered simply, "I'm studying what I've found."

"And yes..." the S of the word was punctuated by an eerie rustling of her vine like hair which suddenly animated, slithering about her head like so many malicious snakes.

"You are a living relic of sorts, but not the kind that collects dust in obscure corners. No, here you stand living and breathing with so many of your kind returned to dust- ground down by the great wheel of time. But not you."

The strange scientist meant it as a compliment, that Aiwaz Khath persisted despite the odds. But her penchant for speaking in a mix of riddles and clinical terms were not often received as intended. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity, never presented with the opportunity to examine a Sith Pureblood in the flesh given how exceedingly rare they were. She swept a bit closer to test his nerve and take a better look at him in the dim green light, not quite closing the distance between them- still perhaps two saber's lengths away.

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[Aiwaz Khath]

Her strangely serpentine voice fizzed through the air. It was disconcerting and unlike anything Aiwaz had heard before, not that he had seen much of what the galaxy had to offer at all. The way she spoke about him made him feel like he belonged in a lab.

"You want me on an operating table or something?" he bristled, his voice rising in defence against the strange creature's threat. He wasn't sure if it was truly the implication she was giving off, or the painful reminder she gave him that he was one of the last of his people that truly insulted him. He scoffed. "What are you anyway?" His eyes squinted to get a better to look at her in the dim light. "And what have you found?" His voice relaxed as his curiosity got the better of him, and he glanced at the strange black monolith towards the centre of the chamber. It hummed strangely, resonating with the Dark Side in ways he had never felt before, and for all the compelling sensations to touch it that suddenly rushed through him, he resisted.

Madrona A’Mia​

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

She noted his lack fear with a tip of her head, strange eyes scanning him as if he was already on an operating table. She saw pride in him, a strong sense of heritage, ties to his bloodline which could be sensed in the Weave as both boon and bane. He was young, spirited and had much room to grow. She also noted a tug of hunger much like her own: the hunger of curiosity. Her eyes flicked to the monolith too and she thought to deflect his questions with her own. Offering just enough information so that he might be guided to exploration of his own discoveries rather than continue to probe into her coveted secrets.

"I am neti," she unfurled her body in a display altogether horrifying but spectacular, the only aspect of her which remained humanoid was her face.

"A botanical species- rare like your kind. Scattered and nomadic since the most recent industrial age. You may call me A'Mia."

The expansive, branching mass of vining roots and tendrils might be even more disconcerting given how her chipper voice never changed. The neti continued her strange display for a moment longer before reconstructing her body into a more familiar form. She made to glide around him slightly, moving toward the monolith to further draw his attention there. Her pet still lingered in the darkness of the ceiling so she reasserted her will over it psychically to ensure that it knew Aiwaz Khath was not likely to become its next meal.

"Is this what you seek?" She gestured to the stone feature.

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[Aiwaz Khath]

"Ne-ti," Aiwaz vocalised softly to himself. A strange being indeed. But the young man had no true concept of 'strange' until the creature promptly unfurled horrifically into... he didn't even know what, as his eyes failed to properly acknowledge what was happening before him. His breath became fast and shallow and, like a beast cornered and threatened, he instinctively activated his training saber in a moment of desperate defence. 'Stay back', he would say, if not for the dry lump suddenly locked at his throat, as sweaty hands clung distressingly to the saber's hilt.

But it was all over but a few moments, by which point he had already stepped back far enough to trip over jagged stone, collapsing hard onto his back. He grunted in response as rock jabbed against his lower spine and he lay there dazed for a moment. By this point, the neti had returned to her relatively humanoid form, much to his own comfort. A'Mia, she said her name was, perplexing him that such a creature had an identity in the same way he had. "A-Aiwaz," he mumbled in response.

As he sought to bring back control over his breathing, he stood slowly, eyes watching her, and a sudden wash of embarrassment struck him. Ashamed at his sudden lack of resolve, he dipped his eyes away a moment and was relieved when she brought the conversation away from them both and instead to the strange monolith.
"I don't know if it's what I seek," he admitted, still feeling rather out of sorts. "But it is compelling." He stepped a little closer to it, still carefully watching how close he was getting to the neti, terrified she would do... well, anything, at any given moment. Reaching out with his hand, he placed the tips of his fingers against the perfect black stone slab. At once, it pushed his hand away like a magnet pushing away its identical, and a flurry of noise passed through his ears across all of a second. "What is it? The Force is strong with it."

Madrona A’Mia​