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Tirahnn was a more or less peaceful world. Peaceful tended to mean highly civilized and with a good police system. It did have that, but these police were nothing special. She didn't even find it worth her while to confront them prior to initiating her operation on the world. They were no different from any of the other people of the major city of Tirahnn. She did find it stupid that they'd named their capital city the same as their planet, but she supposed that was the people who came before the ones currently living there so she couldn't blame them for just accepting it. Though someone more imaginative would probably have opted to change it. Clearly they didn't care.
It was a prime location to begin the culling of minds. Situated in space near enough to the Silver Jedi and the Alliance, she figured it was bound to draw the attention of at least one or two Jedi when things started going south on the world. That was what she wanted, at least. True, her father may have been dead at that point in time, but that didn't mean that she couldn't further his goals. He was, after all, going to return someday. As long as her brother continued to exist.
The basement of an occupied tenant facility made a good enough location for her to set up shop. Rarely would the people of the building have need to venture down to the basement, and if they did, they'd probably just send a droid to deal with whatever the problem was. She laid out her things in a circle around herself where she could easily reach them if she needed to, and then she lowered herself into a cross-legged seated position, hands resting upon her knees with the palms upward facing. She wore her mask solely out of a desire to keep her focus from being interfered with by some rat or something moving across her line of sight.
When she was situated, she delved into the Force and reached out to those around her. There was a reason that she was often referred to as The Terror. It wasn't because of a hideous appearance, she rather fancied herself to be quite attractive. No, it was because of her abilities. Like her father, she was gifted in the art of illusion. Though, unlike him, she was far more powerful, and she had the ability to Force the illusion to draw out people's greatest fears. So each mind that she tapped into was suddenly drawn into the illusion whether they realized it or not, and for each the illusion had a different magnitude of appearance. The end result was always the same, however.
Terror.
The emotion flooded the city around her as she expanded the sphere of influence that the illusion created. Each new soul brought into the illusion began to feel and experience their worst nightmare come to fruition. Death by disease. Loss of loved ones. The end of the planet. It didn't matter what their fear was, how trivial or grand it might be, they all felt it. The amount of terror they felt would lead some to kill themselves. Eventually, if no one interfered, most all of them would die. Men. Women. Children. It didn't matter. The culling had begun on Tirahnn.
The city and planet were all fairly nondescript as far as Avin could assess, the average trades of ships and cargo took place at the dock and that was good enough for his needs hell the price on fuel he had got here was more than good enough he would have to remember its position. The rest of the city had been fairly generic just the same, poor districts stricken by crime and poverty whilst on the other side, you had skyscraping towers filled with the rich and pampered alas that was the way things were in this part of space and it was not for him to argue. Thanks to the reduced prices at his dock he had decided to take a day out in order to rest up for the journey back to Republic space, he was a long way from home and his issued fighter wasn't the most comfortable or roomy piece of engineering.
Avin made his way down to the main street and took in the sights and sounds of the bustling city, a variety of speeders whizzed by overhead no doubt racing to get from place to place as fast as possible as is common with planets focusing on services and trade, these cities never sleep. When he had finally reached the bottom of the winding steel staircase Avin glanced around to see a group of children kicking a ball against a wall and then to each other when it came bouncing out and flying towards the speeder lane. A look of fear seemed to grasp the nearest child's face as their source of joy rolled. Avin had planned on keeping himself fairly low profile whilst he was returning from enemy territory and yet he just could not help himself. His hand came up first and then the ball stopped before slowly raising into the air and back towards the children with a bounce. What harm would a bit of fun do anyway?
His day progressed as the Jedi Guardian patrolled the food courts and ran his eyes over the various street foods, meats grilling on the bone and others of fragrant vegetables and cheese in bread and on elaborate creations of rice grain. Eventually, he stopped and picked up a box of noodles containing shredded and chili fried nerf strips and a cup of iced caff to wash it down.The few hours passed fairly slowly and Avin watched the people as he ate, smoked and drank. Many where just average blue collar workers making their way through the winding streets to find the next paycheque and some would be clad in suits and ties others dressed more flamboyant and traveled in groups, no doubt a local crime outfit.
Avin was still deep in thought as he wandered back towards his ship to plug on the auto-pilot and get his hours of sleep he deserved when it hit him. At first, it was almost as if he felt sick, his whole stomach just twisted and stirred like something awful almost keeling him over from the pain. Then his head started to pound and he could feel a presence trying to burrow. The herbal essence of the cigarra soon wore off as his mind and body went into overtime trying to gain a grasp on the situation. All he could feel was a great sense of darkness, pain and agony erupt throughout the city almost dropping him to his knees with the sudden shift. He looked around and watched grown men drop to the ground scratching their head and eyes.
By the time Avin had centered himself and brought his own force presence into true wield almost 10 minutes had already past and his own head had started to pound, screams and calls of his name still erupted into his mind, images of death and destruction to those he sworn to protect.
Even as he clambered to his feet the Jedi who had fought through two great wars was still letting out grunts, his body while in its peak physical condition felt slow and lethargic as if being attacked on every cell by the images and psychic barrage. Then it happened. His adrenaline surged and the blood starting to billow through his heart now beating like a ceremonial drum. His mind shifted from that of the intellectual to that of the warrior, it usually happened to Avin when he was in deep focus to defeat an opponent of great skill and yet his body and mind had decided this was a threat worthy enough to require its presence. Alas for the first time Avin had clarity of mind and surveyed the true misery in his surroundings.
A curious matter but it seemed that a Jedi was already present within the city. Not entirely unexpected, but she still found it amusing. A smile touched her lips, though she was more or less oblivious to the fact since she was focused almost solely on the creation of illusions over the whole of the city. There was, however, a need for dealing with the Jedi so she withdrew a portion of her influence to free up some mental strain for dealing with that matter.
So it was that as he broke free from the terror of her illusion, not entirely unexpected as his mind was more capable than that of the average citizen, he would suddenly find himself facing off with a visage of her, mask and all.
"What's this, then? A wee Jedi come to spoil my fun?" she asked.
"Our fun, more like," another visage of her said as it stepped out from his side.
She could muster two for the moment. Anything further would cause her to decrease the sphere to a small enough radius that she seemed it wouldn't be worth the trouble. Two would do anyway. While these were certainly illusions,they were also corporeal. A skill her father had taught her. Each one carried a saber in it's right hand, though neither were active at the moment. One circled the Jedi while the other tapped saber hilt against it's thigh.
"Well then, what's your name?"
"Yesdo tell us so we can send our regards to your family when you're dead."
Neither made any move to attack, of course. That was just absurd. Besides, Jedi these days were more than keen to attack first. Why break precent. Besides,the longer they circled him,the more they got to study him. So full of adesire to do something. So willing to deny who he really was. A shame, really. He could have been so much more if he'd stopped hiding behind those ridiculous Jedi codes.
His heart pumped harder and harder as if trying to break free of his chest yet he felt the effects of increased sharpening take hold. He had barely taken in the surroundings before the voice came his way and the black-clad figure seemed to loom. He had noticed that the whole planet seemed to darken, the lights no longer bright but a depressing whine of illumination. The voice that spoke to him was dark and almost monotone through the mask yet the voice held his attention for long enough to listen.
As the darksider spoke he took his time to study the figure in closer detail, the mask adorned to their face was a grimace like a blend of dirtied steel and orange light that escaped through the various slits inbuilt for eyes and mouth. The rest of the body was garbed with blacks and other dark colours as if blending the mere silhouette to that of the dim surroundings that had taken ahold of the unremarkable cityscape. His thoughts had started to gather when the next voice broke out of the darkness behind him. As he turned he saw a replica of the figure ahead of him and yet the voice was exactly the same a monotone yet feminine tease of words that made it very clear to him that he wasn't very welcome here.
Avin let his hand drop to his side as he gained the energy to vocalize his response.
"You want to know my name? Well I'm sure you would but I don't believe you properly introduced yourself and after all, it would be rude of me to only talk about myself."
Avin let his mind calm for a moment as he pushed out into the force, searching the figures and locality of the power that had caused so much suffering. The two figures seemed to be dark concentrations and gave him chills to delve any further.
"Then again it is rude not to answer a question that has been asked of you so I shall go first. My name is Avin Starfire, Jedi Knight of the Republic, Warden of Imahalayen and spoiler of your fun."
He let his robe slacken before finishing his sentence.
"And as far as my family is concerned, then if you find them your efforts are better than mine. Oh and just as another thing, I am going to have to ask you not to use those weapons since you might get yourself rather badly hurt. Especially with those big silly masks." He pointed at the one in front of him as he spoke, confidence and a showing of charisma always went a long way to dealing with these types even if the showing was but a brave-faced bluff.
His hand steadied over the front of his robe and the weapon that lay within fixed at his belt. He dared not move for now as being outnumbered would require a bit more than an element of surprise. He shifted his weight to a central position and awaited a response whether that came as a physical or verbal he would be ready for either.
She had been in this city for a few days already, and it was boring so far. Not the hunts...those were never boring. But finding purpose troubled her.
She had subsisted doing absolute bottom bin mercenary work here. Tail this one, listen to him, observe his dealings. House chores, really. Nothing to cut her teeth on.
Speaking of teeth, hers, or rather, the retractable black metallic colored fangs in her mouth was buried in the throat of a tired dockworker who had just been a tad slow to go home. He was struggling, both physically and mentally against her as she held him against the wall in the darkness. She went for the easy stuff, as well as the freshly formed memory of her ambushing him from behind. She always tried to attack from behind because if she attacked from the front and ate the memory she would see herself through the victim's point of view.
And it would always be as a monster. Two etherial dots of glowing purple from other wise obsidian eyes hidden under a hood of green with flower prints running the length of ceremonial robes that stopped just short of touching the ground. She was taller than her victim, which gave her some leverage, but the very act of this revolted her, as it always had. Except in fugue. Then she simply did not care.
She swallowed an easy memory, one of him tossing darts at a bar. The taste of the beer he had had the day before the closest she could get to actually enjoying one. She had used to like the occasional beer before her condition. Being around an ice cold one, watching others being able to enjoy it...while she was left with only their sensations to enjoy.
A Sith could go on about physical torture all they liked. Wanting one beer? Just one? To take the edge off? And not even being able to process it? That was torture. Being around food and drink was her personal torture. Sometimes she surrounded herself with food, cakes. To punish herself if she took too much food from one target by accident. The smells of chocolate, and sugars and butter and salt...she would weep for hours looking at it. Watching it all get cold. And then the cycle would continue anyway.
She was glad this feeding had gone off without a hitch. Didn't take anything he would miss. He was unconscious. He'd wake up in a few hours. The taste of blood was delicious. A remnant of [member="Sawa Ike"]'s strain dancing in her blood. Her fist tightened at the recollection as she left the unconscious man in the alley. She went to look for a place to hide...she had eaten enough that day, having indulged in the rich memory of a wife receiving flowers from her husband, who she loved. That memory had tasted like fluffed ice cream to her mentally, and caused about the same reaction as she had savored it. Love was such a powerful sensation even the small sample she had gotten was a delicacy. She had to eat it. The simple memories...they filled her up...if you ate enough, and you did not mind the sameness of the taste.
The woman walked through the name of this planet she had already stopped caring about. Her stay here mainly consisted of suckering morons into coming after the tall and unsettlingly quiet hooded lady, or just flat out sleeper holding them from behind if possible. Either way she got her food.
She had thought to pass time in some abandoned home somewhere, watch the stars come out fully, only to double over along with everyone in the street. All of them started to scream. Including her.
She was back on that table. The one Sawa had used to try and alter her immune system with Sith Alchemy. The dark magics and unholy energies made her blood burn, made her skin hurt like needles were being plunged in. And there had been needles. Oh so many.
She writhed on the ground, trapped in the memory for a few seconds, as it all played out. The feeling of painkillers which should have ended her suffering instead ramping it up to the point her whole existance was a miasma of unending horror and pain.
But rage, and the facts of what had happened afterward, slowly but surely allowed her to get a grip, though she knew no sleep would come after seeing Sawa's face. Slowly, she forced herself to accept it, albeit belatedly.
This was not some worse case scenario like it was for many. One which could pass.
This had already come to pass. This fate of hers was worse than death in some ways. Because to stay alive meant hurting innocent people, albeit as little as possible. She looked at the unremarkable streets under her hood, her head still pounding with the horrible memories of her giving in and slaughtering many in her escape from the Necropolis with only her Katana. She knew this kind of work. Illusions.
If this did not stop soon...
The Woman had already spotted some pulling out knives and cutting their own throats, or even snapping and cutting open the throats of others. It would spread, and fast.
She felt the poison in the Force, suddenly, a hiss of dark power that carried on the wind into the heads of its victims, and another, lighter presence in the Force from far away, though it was close to the dark presence.
The Woman, despite still struggling with the horrors the illusions were trying to make her live through, she knew these people were going to die unless this stopped fast. And the only way to make it stop was to engage whoever was causing it.
Nine Lives slowly, yet noiselessly pulled her tall frame from the ground, fingers clenching and unclenching from as much rage at being attacked in such a cowardly manner as instinctive. She made a belated, struggling pace through a city slowly on the verge of tearing itself apart from the illusions. She grabbed one man about to kill himself with a pistol, fed on the memories of the horror the illusions forced into him. The memories tasted vile, but eating them spared him some madness and kept him alive, though it felt like she had consumed spoiled milk after. And the extra feeding gave her more energy to resist. She consumed the memories of the illusory horrors in twelve other people as she traveled to reach the epicenter, the act of feeding providing a little bulwark against the attempts to break her spirit, even as the power tried to twist and darken the world around her. She could handle more feedings. She wasn't even to capacity. And she was pissed. And Nine Lives when pissed was a Nine Lives about to delight in draining whoever was responsible. And eventually she did reach the sight of where she at least felt that lighter presence, struggling not to be consumed by the insanity gripping the city at large. And she spotted what looked like two Sith. He was not moving. Not yet.
Nine Lives had no such qualms. Every second that Jedi waited more died. Whoever was doing this needed to be stopped now.
Nine Lives approached from the shadows of the nearby building, the purple, psychic energy traveling up in currents in her right arm. She was topped off.
She let off a stream of purple bolts at the dark figures talking to the Jedi once she was close enough. If the psychic bolts connected, this dark sided figure risked migraines, muscle spasms, numbness. It would not kill, it might not even work, but it would take up her concentration, which Nine Lives knew was needed to pull off something like this. She didn't aim for the Jedi, hoped he didn't get curious about who was helping him, or rather, TRYING to help. Nine didn't even think she wanted to eat anything off this Sith's brain, just behead her and be done with it. Either way, something else was getting this Sith's attention.
Something for whom the worst case scenario had already happened, as purple bolts erupted off an olive skinned palm.
Let me know if I should edit. I was trying to follow everyone's positions as best I could. Hi!
"Little far from home, aren't you, Avin?" one of the masked figures asked.
"It's not that far," the other said. "Reasonable for him to be here."
"Oh hush."
The one continued to circle around him, and as such was privy to the approach of the woman, though made no obvious signs of such. She didn't want whoever it was to get spooked out of being part of her fun, and she didn't quite know what she was. There was something off about her, definitely some sort of darkness within her, but Raithe couldn't quite place it. The presence of a second individual wishing to harm her, however, meant that she had to refocus her efforts just a bit. Fortunately she was smart enough to realize that two people were more fun to play with given the skills at her disposal. No, swatting the little flies just wouldn't be as much fun as what she had in mind for them.
When the newcomer fired bolts of purple energy at the form of her that was standing still. It deftly moved to the side without even looking at her. A quick avoidance of the strikes. Whether that left Avin in the line of fire or not didn't even matter to her. Frankly she hoped not.
"Tut tut, young one. Nobody invited you," the circler said as she finally looked at the girl. "But I suppose you can play too."
Beneath the mask she grinned. The real Raithe, anyway, who was not near the two of them. This was all a game for her, and she was reaching outside of her location to utilize these two Force Clones of herself to combat people. Though, she had a much better idea than physically fighting them. Quite frankly she was certain that her idea would be horrid for the Jedi. The girl, with the darkness inside her, probably wouldn't care as much, but maybe if she played her cards right she could turn the two against one another. Wouldn't that be delicious? Then she could redouble her efforts in making the city destroy itself. Yes, that seemed much more enjoyable to her.
"I am called The Terror. Would you like to see why?"
With that, the two clones disappeared, and she wrapped both of them in visages of monsters that neither would see. The only ones that would see them were the people around them. The ones that were intent on using the anger that they felt, because of the horror in their minds, to do harm to others. These people started coming out of the buildings, weapons in hand, whatever they could find. Some carried broken pieces of table, others carried vibroblades. Some even had blasters. And all of them were pointing at the Jedi and the girl.
"Monsters!"
"They did this!"
"Kill them!"
The voices rang out from the people coming out of the buildings, descending upon the two would be heroes with intent to kill. How would they survive this?
The pain had mostly subsided as the two figures gave their reply. Visions that had nagged at this brain now softened with his own ability in the force somewhat creating a barrier to allow his focus. His focus, however, was not easy to hold, not only was he outnumbered but he had not been able to detect the force users on this planet and let alone how powerful a foe he was left to face.
Alas, those questions would have to come later Avin thought to himself as the conversation was cut short by a flurry of bolts permeating the air around the figures and two less accurate shots coming within inches of himself. The two figures seemed not threatened but instead almost amused by the incoming barrage. As the shots glanced their way off into the bleak walls of concrete behind them he noticed the figure that was now receiving the taunts of the sith. The newcomer stood just clear of the shadows that hid the many alleyways that connected to the now hellish landscape of the trade district. Avin could make out a small frame adorned with a draping of ceremonial garbs. He could see the woman in more clarity as she made her approach to the central area that Avin and the two figures had occupied.
The figures spoke again, this time at the same time as if possessed producing an echoing of voice. The Terror, his question had been answered but what happened next made names rather less prominent to the situation.
The two figures seemed to dissipate into thin air, no doubt some kind of illusion much the same as the psychic force abilities that had initially taken him by surprise and started to have a catastrophic effect on the others. Avin had never been a great student of the deeper force techniques instead spending his time sparring or working on combative yet he felt utterly out of his league from the power of this dark side and his only chance was to close any distance with the coward that hid behind such powers.
The silence seemed to last for minutes when in actuality it was less than 10 seconds, Avin had barely the time to turn to the newcomer before shouting started to erupt and a crowd had gathered in a frenzied charge towards the two of them, somewhere frothing at the mouth with wild weapons and pieces of brick or piping. Avin's hand went forward and he pulled the saber hilt from his utility belt, its longer staff construction weighed in his hands for a moment before his mind caught up. Was he going to cut down the innocent? Each one of these people was likely being influenced by whoever it was that was calling themselves 'the terror' and to take their life would hold a heavy price.
Avin turned back to the woman before raising his voice and igniting the singular blue column of light energy from his weapon.
"I will not force you to come with me but we are to be stronger together against this threat. If you are here to kill me then I suggest you hurry up and try again. Either way, I am going down that alleyway."
He turned back to the almost wave of humanoid bodies that were within 10 feet of him before placing a hand palm open towards them and sending a kinetic wave into the front ranks sending them backward off of their feet before turning backwards once more and starting to move at a pace towards the dark pathways leading back into the underbelly of the city.
Kark, Nine thought as the bolts failed to hit, not only that, but the Sith wasn't even there. Nine gave a snarl of fury as she was taunted. Screw it, she was eating some of the witch's thoughts for all this trouble. That is, if she got her hands on her before the Jedi did...not that she'd try and stop him if that happened. A dead witch was a dead witch no longer murdering a whole city. She'd just prefer to drive the knife in a little deeper and twist it...twist it hard.
Still fighting the effects of the witch, Nine grimaced as she struggled to press the horrid images from her mind.
The worst has already come to pass. The worst has already come to pass. The worst has already come to pass... she thought in a mantra. The horror she was being shown was nothing compared to the road behind her. Or the one ahead.
Nine 'glided' from the shadows to the Jedi, hands kept almost stiff to the side, fingers clenching and slackening repeatedly, almost like the movement of spider legs playing with a web. Her sword was still in her scabbard. She did not react when he ignited his blade, the purple dots of light under the hood impassive in their focus. The shrieks of citizens driven mad made her immediately turn her attention to the gathering mob. The Jedi then spoke to her. She could see the fires and murder spreading in the distance.
"The creature you chase is a roach." she said, her contralto carrying softly in the breeze. "It will be my pleasure to help you crush it. Only the most callous use the innocent in this manner."
Look who's talking. Pot, meet Kettle. she thought nastily, feeling a fresh wave of cynicism hit.
Screams and yelling from the mob that was rapidly charging at them made her turn, shoulders drawing to haunch out of instinct, watching as the Jedi unleashed a telekinetic wave, and good one at that.
She had never been good at telekinesis. No ability at all, really.
But she had learned to compensate.
Clearing her mind as the others of the mob that had not been pushed back, she recited that hex she had stolen from that one strange spellbook she had encountered long ago. She strained to call forth the chaotic elements the magic depended on. It had been a while since she had used this spell. It was among the few she was good with. The fact the whitch was still actively affecting the whole city, her included, made calling on magic even more mentally taxing then it usually was.
Her olive hands stretched out in a dancing, flicking series of movements to help her concentrate as the mob started to get closer. Her movements seemed twitchy up close, her head under the hood giving quick precise motions like that of a bird.
"Mother Nature, draw the world to where I point." She said, finally achieving the level of focus required to push back the influence long enough to evoke the spell as she pointed to the ground fifteen meters behind the charging attackers.
They yelped in surprise, struggling to move forward, though they were still doing it, though they seemed to be actively pulled back by something, along with other stragglers unthinkingly charging being pulled at to the exact center of where she pointed, along with multiple loose objects. That spell would not last long, so she quickly glided down to catch up with the Jedi, no sound coming from her as she instinctively knew how to avoid making noise during any form of movement, though if you were to ask her to explain how she did it, she would have replied that the question was like asking someone how they learned to breathe. She said nothing to him as she glided by his side, robes continuing to hide the motion of her legs even under very close scrutiny, giving off the gliding effect, though it was merely an optical illusion. Her fingers were constantly flexing, her sword remaining in its sheath. They both wanted this creature to pay for her vicious act, her former peer no doubt seeking justice for the slain. She sought that too, but to a lesser degree...a desire for revenge over the taunt had a considerable weight to it as well. But she wouldn't split hairs over who got to do what to who. If the Jedi got her first, there were plenty of other, far safer feasts out there.
As they lost the mob, her forcing back the imagined hells the Sith was trying to project by reminding herself that every day was a living, inescapable hell due to her hunger, and her failures as a Jedi, she silently stole a sideways glance to her companion, thinking he was likely fighting off something just as bad. Was he suspicious? Did he suspect what she was, and was merely being patient, deciding to split up potential threats instead of trying to take on both at once. She had to admit...it was how she'd have played it, in his shoes.
She didn't make conversation, not sure how she would feel about actually interacting with a Jedi for the first time in...forever it seemed. They had once been her brothers and sisters in the Force. And then the Force had abandoned her. Left her to this squalor.
She didn't have any doubt the moment he figured out what she was, she was next on the list. And while a part of her very much wanted to die, to have someone assist her in commiting Seppuku, she could not die without finding the answer to the riddle of her blood, and undue her horrible acts during the Fugue.
There had to be an answer. There had to be a cure. She could not regain her honor by dying as this filthy parasite she now was. She'd slip from his sight once she had helped him beat the witch, she decided. She would go very far from him and not look back. For her former brother would surely kill her if he should learn the truth, circumstances be damned. And she would deserve it. Maybe this whole thing about finding a cure was just the disease trying to stall for as much time as possible, or maybe she was just making excuses and should recognize when there was no hope left and act accordingly.
Or maybe she should stop thinking so hard about her own misery and remember a city was being murdered moment by long moment. She could hear vehicles from the air, speeders mostly, crashing into buildings as their owners went mad. The screams of the dying drove a knot into her stomach. Every second was another failure, on both their ends. Every dead innocent was one more notch on that Sith's lightsaber, and there were going to be a lot of notches by the time they reached.
"All that power. All that focus." she grumbled in her deep contralto, more to herself than to the Jedi, "And the only thing that she can do, the only creativity she can exhibit is the distance with which she can butcher."
At least Vampires give their prey the respect of up close and personal. she thought snidely to herself.
She went on a little ahead of him, not reacting outwardly but the sting of death everywhere sent a deep pang of guilt at her inability to do anything to really help the city except kill who was responsible...and maaaaayyybe drink a birthday or two out of spite beforehand.
"Whatever she's showing you..." she spoke quietly and deliberately. "Just remember: Reality always produces greater hells than any fantasy..."
"Are you certain of that? The imagination can get pretty creative," the clones of Raithe said as they appeared alongside their movement path.
They'd managedto stop the people back where they'd started for sure, but it was only a temporary setback. In fact, putting them in the move made life simpler for her. She pulled the sphere down smaller and projected it around the two as they moved. Thus, as they moved, they actually made her job easier, and spread the curse of terror to the surrounding city. And it wasn't hard for her to keep up with them. She was in a pretty safe spot.
As they moved, the people around them began to express their terror in the form of killing themselves or running outside and fleeing or various other things. Violence was the name of the game. And while they could continue to move, they were going to have a very hard time hiding from her. It was far too easy, really. The girl called her a coward, but it wasn't cowardice, it was intelligence. Only a simpleton who spent their time taking roids or pumping iron would enjoy dealing with physical combat.
Or people could take the time to think about the fact that everyone did things differently. She really was annoyed by that comment.
"Please do continue running. While you tire yourself, I remain perfectly fine. Can't say the same for the people though."
He clenched his teeth and continued to push his body harder and faster through the back alleys and it was starting to show even with his focus on physical training. It almost seemed as if the strain from the constant mental bombardment and the environment he was in just drained him faster than his body could recover. Even still he pushed on and his partner seemed to keep up without an issue, her body elevated from the floor as if gliding like a speeder leaving the trail of her dress to accentuate the motion. Then she spoke a warning of sorts, he had seen her power back at the market opening yet her words were colder and he was still to gain a full picture of her side within this mess and yet even as he went to reply he was interrupted by the Sith again, the hallucination of the two figures seemed to be running in parallel in order to mock and berate them and yet still they did not make a move to strike.
As the being finished speaking the horrors of the surrounding streets seemed to increase in their deranged ways and in frequency. Avin had to look away as he saw children turn on their mother, pulling her down to the ground as if a swarm of hyenas pulling down their pray. Was it real? He stumbled for a second as he had to hold down a surge of bile that pushed against his chest leaving an unsettling urge to wretch to contend with the continued sprint.
"Your illusions may hide you for now but know this Sith, I am coming for you and when I find you... I will kill you" Avin spat the words towards the figures at his flank with a sense of viciousness creeping into his voice.
He continued running and guided his fellow down two more sidestreets before coming to a small doorway in one of the larger city blocks.
"Through here!" He shouted to his temporary ally before swiping his hand in a sweeping motion from left to right sending the steel door receding into the ceiling with a mechanic whir and as the rear of the two passed through he let the door come crashing back down with a screeching of gearboxes grinding against their desired position before a metal on metal crack sounded through the small grey corridor and the door lay shut and motionless.
Avin panted for a few seconds before the following crowds had started to break against the door as if they were waves breaking across a beach. The sounds of angered and unholy screaming of possessed men and women clawing or hitting at the doorway. The Jedi turned to his companion and thumbed the ignition on his saberstaff sending the single blue blade back into the metallic hilt.
"That should hold for a few minutes, I broke the gearbox but they can still blast it open or cut through." He pulled a hip flask from his coat and took a mouthful before swilling it and spitting it down onto the concrete floor.
"Look, I think we both know how we have to end this... but going by foot is not going to help us or those people as the longer we take the more lives are ruined or ended you saw what was happening out there and it has to stop sooner than later."
Avin took out a holo from his pocket and projected a city map against the wall of the dim grey maintenance hallway before pointing to a large square building about 2 miles from their own position that was currently shown as a small blinking dot center of the image.
"Unless you have a better plan I say we head to that dock, I have a fighter there and no doubt we should face too much resistance if we stick to these maintenance tunnels as they can get us to within five-hundred meters without being streetside. From there one though it is going to be a hard fight to cross open ground into that terminal. Furthermore, she is going to be more than ready for us when we get there. So what do you think?"
Nine gritted her teeth as the violence of the city seemed to worsen around her. She saw the two figures, seemingly dancing through the gore and the fires, a pair of hellish jesters whose only joke was butchery and whose only form of dance was whatever stepped on the most, the quickest. Vicious, violent horrors began to hit her, the very worst of worst case. Nine stumbled, fell to her knees momentarily, powering on solely out of guilt and desire to introduce the evil cockroach doing this to the biggest boot she could find.
She struggled up, watching with a rather mixed admiration as her Jedi companion fought off the perverse wave of power trying to eat his will. Nine Lives knew she was pretty vile herself, given what she had to do to survive, but at least most of the time it wasn't about malice. With this creature destroying the city, somehow making a focal point of the pair while doing so, given the animal shouts and barking of once sane men and women pursuing them without mercy, intent on shredding them if they caught them.
The Jedi powered through, whether by survival instinct or spite towards the vile woman like it mostly was with Nine mattered little, given the oath he spat, she was guessing it was the latter.
A mixed feeling stirred in Nine. To swear revenge...she was too far gone at this point. It didn't matter if she did it. But the Jedi swearing revenge and having his whole life ahead of him...
Nine felt a great confict about that as she wondered what to do about that as she followed him silently as he shouted for her to head into a building behind him, sealing it and destroying the relevant mechanisms to buy them time, but the maddened crouds screeched for their blood still, and Nine winced as she felt a reverberation of death which nearly drove her to her knees. Some protector she had turned out to be. She forced herself back up after a few seconds panting as [member="Avin Starfire"] outlined a change in plan.
Nine looked at the display in the hall, moisture and sounds of rats playing over her, her bird-twitch head looking over the destination and nodding.
Oddly, before she went further she spoke up. It was hypocritical, given her nature, but his words, and that snarl had bothered her. Greater men then this had been pulled down by letting wrath get the better of them.
"I am probably the very last person to be talking...but whatever wrath towards her you're feeling...don't let it take hold, if you got. If you feel it building. It'll just corrupt you. Make you impulsive. Make you dead.. Its what she wants. Kill her if you must, but don't it for any other reason than whats happening outside. You'll last longer in the Light. Just sayin'." she said in her deep voice, noiselessly stepping back to give him room to lead her. She didn't know the city too well, and that starfighter was a better bet than walking. She hoped she had not crossed a line but her own Jedi teachers always advised her to try and keep the others around her strong if she thought them slipping. It was the buddy system. He would do no one any good if in killing her he started himself on the path to becoming her in spirit. Nine just wasn't sure what that sentiment was worth coming from a parasite like herself.
A chuckle emanated from the shadows of their temporary hideout. No, even there they could not escape from her. There was no escape from fear. When it came for you, it either feasted upon you or you bested it, but even in the latter case it was always there. Just as she was always there when they thought they might finally be freed of her, even if only a moment. Or, at leadt, that was what she assumed. Really all their little hideaway was doing was keeping them safe from those that followed them.
"Let him feel the anger coursing through him as the city tears itself apart," she said, stepping free of the shadows. "To deny ones emotions is to deny the self. Even the greatedt Jedi fall because of this. Pent up emotions always boil over."
His anger at her and what she was doing was clearly evident, and she rather enjoyed that fact. It was a nice day to turn someone to the darkside, though she doubted that would happen. In the end she would succeed in causing irepparable strife on the planet, and they would go their separate ways, leaving someone rlse to clean up the mess. He would ultimately question what he was doing and his very being while she would go off and find the next place to sew despair. That was the way of things.
What amused her most was the tainted girl. She couldn't quite plzce it, but someone had clearly manipulated her in some fashion. A shame, but she seemed more keen to try and fight against it while using it in angry bursts. If she only accepted whst she was and used her anger for the power it was she could have been a valuable asset. But alas,she was ultimately as weak as the Jedi, and only a flea in the eyes of Raithe.
"How long will you hide? The longer you do, the more the city crumbles. The more that happens, the more you break to. Will you be able to live with your failure?"
His head was still racing the blood and adrenaline that he had usually relied on to push himself through moments of strife. It was drilled into him in training to keep the body at its peak of fitness and the mind will follow suit. He had always abode by this teaching and yet for the first time it was failing him. His body screamed at him from the fatigue of the battle within his mind. His legs ached as if he had just run a marathon perspiration seemed to coat his face. His mind was worse off yet, he could feel her attempts to break in like she had at the start. It was like needles stabbing at his mind and trying to press through and yet when even a small amount do get through they turn into barbed and horrific hooks that then fill his head with horror and pain.
His mind was still racing when Avin thought back to his master's teachings when dealing with the dark side and its users. He remembered how the force was not a line but instead a ring, that within all light there was dark and in all dark there is light. The thoughts at the back of his mind reminding him of how to redirect the loop and yet the dangers of the technique when applied in his masters fighting style. For the first time, he truly felt the darkness that he had been warned of. He felt anger and hatred towards such a being that could cause such destruction for pleasure but then she spoke. Until now she had been quiet but for a murmuring of comment or two but she spoke much like those of his own order. Her words seemed to bring up the teachings of his master in some strange coincidence of time and place.
He nodded his head and closed his eyes for a moment longer as her wise words came to a close. He let his ever racing mind calm to a dull numb and his heart rate fall for a moment only to be interrupted by another familiar voice. As he opened his eyes once more he could see her standing there, the clad figure the voice of temptation calling out to him and yet even as he lent against a dull grey wall in agony her words no longer found any purchase with him.
Avin stood up from the wall and looked across to his partner as if ignoring his tormentor entirely.
"Oh look, the cockroach is speaking again," Nine mocked viciously, even though the strain of resisting her was considerable. "A great man put it best: You can always discover what terrifies your enemy most by observing the means they use to frighten you with. You have given away too much in your tactic, roach. You fear loss of control. That's your fears. Well I promise...we might not kill you...but you won't be in control when we find you.. That is, if you actually can stand your ground and not flee like the base vermin you are."
Nine took the lead, knowing they had to keep moving.
"I mean, it's not even an original tactic." Nine spoke out loud, hoping to needle the roach, anger it. Make it lose focus. She would not give it what it wanted. She would mock it and infuriate as much as she could.
"You are a sniveling peasant woman playing at Dark Lord. A jester! A knave!" Nine snapped as she headed quickly through the maintenance tunnels making no sound save for her voice. She felt herself growing stronger mentally, reminding herself out loud what she was facing...reminding that Sith what she was past her facade.
"You accomplish nothing with this except proving you can be a mass murderer! Nothing but a worm traveling to the core of an apple. No...no that's an insult to the worm. At least the worm eats as it goes. You're the thing that slinks behind it just to defecate in the core!" Nine exclaimed, knowing it was listening.
"The most craven Sith Warrior has ten times the character you do! Not that its hard to pull off, mind you...its just that the bar for you is so low, so close to the ground, others don't even have to jump over you...just step..." Nine through out nastily as she moved as fast as she could, strength gathering more and more in her mind. She heard the block [member="Avin Starfire"] had made finally give way and she shouted for him to run as she made her way through the route that led to the docks. She could hear the screams of the deranged growing louder behind them.
She would save the city if she could. But saving it meant reaching [member="Raithe Palle"]. And boy oh boy that witch's game had better be good, because Nine was going to practice some cutting techniques...
