Thinking Clear

[Darth Pyrrhus]

​

The shuttle hovered just barely above the watered surface. Darth Pyrrhus gave a nod to his apprentice, [member="Myn Eris"], signalling it was time to disembark. Their transport never touched down. Instead the Togruta, robed as per usual in his own special brand of dark robes of the Sith, jumped.

His knees bent, but he did not sink. At most the water reached just below the middle point of his shin. The ship would begin to lift off again and head off into a different direction. There really wasn't much time, the pilot assumed they'd make the jump at the same time.

As long as the eyes could see there was water. To the right, a blood red moon of a size both impressive and intimidating bathed the water in its elusive light. Surely there would be land somewhere but for now it was nowhere to be seen.

"Here. This is as close we could get without being picked up on any sensors." the Togruta explained to his apprentice, who had better be at his side. Their transport faded off into the distance, keeping low before the exit point. Its own systems should protect it from detection.

Why were they here? When had they arrived? What had led to this moment was a little foggy. But here they were, on this strange planet. Strange, perhaps, but it radiated with the slow, steady hum of the Dark Side.

Conveniently, looking past the form of the Togruta Lord, there were two speeders waiting for them. Pyrrhus took little note of it, and climbed ontop of his. "We had better get moving."

 

[Asher]

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

Except they didn’t jump at the same time. Myn gave her master a look as he jumped out of the transport, and yet when time came that she was to jump out she felt the ground begin to lift her upwards and away. It threw her balance off entirely and what had been meant to be a graceful drop into the shallow waters below quickly turned into flop, and quite literally so. The girl flailed as she fell through the air. Her cheek stung up in pain and before long she would feel her chest and rest of body all the way down to her shins do the same. Arms lifted her up above the water’s surface with a few errant coughs and inhales to regain her breath.

She must have looked like the embarrassment she felt like.

Eyes set on the speeders as she got herself out of the water’s reach.

“Another-” She coughed. “Perfect landing, master.”

Climbing aboard her own speeder she turned towards her master. “Where to?”

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

[member="Myn Eris"]

Pyrrhus stood with his back turned to the apprentice, who was supposed to land gracefully next to him. They were supposed to look cool man. But he did not need to turn to see what became of her. He heard the splash. The sogging of clothes.

It was a true testament to his power and control over his emotions that he did not burst out laughing. That was funny.

But he played the role of a stern master, and was not amused. He did not slow down to allow her to regain her footing, nor did he offer a hand to help. He did not even make a educational reprimand. It was the consequence of her own failure and she would have to deal with it, in silence. There was little pity to be found in him.

"To the source of power." was his response to her question of their final destination. "Can you feel it?" would she intuitively know where they were headed, the only place of interest on this watery rock.

Nothing changed of their surroundings, but Pyrrhus steered to the side, moving in an arch above the water. The surface all looked the same, but there was great pit of a hole, going down into a seemingly endless abyss right in front of them. Best pay it some respect.

 

[Asher]

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

Well then. Myn was well-aware that she had karked up, and in the end perhaps that was enough for Pyrrhus. She wasn’t looking all that cool right now, but with experience came ununcoolness, otherwise known as coolness. Myn’s wet hands grabbed a hold of the cold handles of her speeder.

The two of them swept away, Pyrrhus asked if she could feel ‘it’ to which Myn could only really say one thing.

“No?” Her voice dipped in confusion.

“What are we here for, master? Why did you take me to these shallow waters?”

 

[Darth Pyrrhus]

"You don't know? You don't feel it?"

He asked, almost sounding equally confused. Surely she must know.

"We are here for you"

He said casually, matter-of-factly. And then his speeder suddenly swooped downwards, consumed by the water and vanished from sight. What was left was the same scene, endless horizons of sky meeting shallow waters. No hills, no trees, no variation of any kind. And no Darth Pyrrhus.

Then there came a steady, growing rumble from underneath. That was never a good thing.

From the seemingly shallow depths, a giant monster lept up from beneath the surface. A great big worm screeched as it announced its presence with its massive shape. The long beast flopped down in front of Myn at a few paces, collision course.

Although after that, it did not move. Its screech now sounded more like a final breath, a dying breath. If Myn was familiar with this sort of beast, she might recognise a case of discolour. A series of lesions and cysts riddled its uneven surface. It looked diseased, plagued by something terrifying that had been eating at it from the inside.

To make matters worse, and a touch more surreal, from the open mouth of the now dead worm, an army marched. Or rather, it crawled. Countless spiders, each around the size of Myn, came rushing out and tapping their slender legs across the watery surface, hunting for meat.

Above it all, from everywhere and no where was a satisfied, deep laughter. The tone would be a familiar one. It was the laughter of Sith Lord, Baron Demid Bakunin.

[member="Myn Eris"]

 

[Asher]

[member="Darth Pyrrhus"]

Here for her? It was a question asked in vain. Before anything could part the girl’s lips she’d feel the ground tremble beneath her, witness her master disappear to the ever encroaching sound of someone’s laughter. A great worm propped out of the ground yet fell dead flat before her with a boom unlike anything she had ever heard before. Water splashed across her face and drowned her robes in water as the laughter grew louder. Myn’s feet shuffled backwards to get herself into a better state of mind, to enter a state of focus where she currently had fear and surprise. Legs curved, hands reached for her lightsaber as shoulders hunched. Breathing slowed down and yet her heart began to pound against her ribcage.

Of course she was scared, it was hard not to be, but fear was easy to replace with hate.

“Bakunin.” Her teeth gritted into a growl. The spiders that spewed from the dead worm’s mouth was not yet at her feet. They were coming close but she knew damn well better than to let them come that close before picking at least some of the off. Left hand reached for the blaster on her thigh to fire off blasters at the oncoming enemy in no particular order. High, low, left, right, it did not matter. They would all feel her anger, her hate, as they went for her. A bolt might have veered towards Pyrrhus, had he been there, and if he was quite observant he might have noticed something...

Myn was not using the force.

The spiders came too close, the blaster was thrown to the ground as both hands latched on to the saber. It switched on and Myn readied herself for the spiders, her mind focused on nothing but the utter contempt she held towards the Sith Lord Bakunin the Worm. Her first opponent lunged at her and the saber struck true against its carapace, yet it did not do anything.

The spider pushed her to the ground, last effort attack went for its eyes with her fist.

Fruitless.

Feet lifted it up by its tail as she gave it another shot, this time with the force.

It flew. It flew far, but yet again it was fruitless. The spiders were too many. Myn moved to cover her face with her arms as tooth for tooth began to dig into the sides of her waist, of her arms and legs.

Was this it?