Private Undead Nightmare

[Silas Westgard]

Silas followed his master through thick and thin, using the path by the ledge to run as fast as he could down to the dark abyss. At first, Kahlil had disappeared into the darkness only for him to ignite his green lightsaber to show himself down below. The padawan sighed in relief as he stopped on the ledge just above him, but things were drastically about to change.

Within moments, several blood red lightsabers ignited around his master at once. Was this all a trap? if it was, they must have known of his return all along. Silas grunted at the sudden appearance and took a few steps back, before running at full speed and jumping off the ledge down to his master. The padawan landed cleanly and rolled next to him, igniting his lightsaber as he got to one knee beside his master.

"Sith? hmph, of course they'd be welcoming party upon your return!" he remarked, his light blue eyes coldly looking at each one in front of them.

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani landed almost silently behind the others, having little time to process the sudden bursts of color until she was among them. Well, as long as everyone else was doing it; She withdrew the quarterstaff from the sling over her back, from the end of which a short beam of purified white burst forth.

"This is a joke, right?" The mirialan laughed nervously as she scanned the swathe of red beacons, illuminating against the haze that surrounded them. Amani angled her spear into a defensive stance, and waited for the first strike. "Just track their blades and they won't get the jump on you."

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Not Sith. Or, at least, not anymore."

Kahlil kept his brow furrowed as he widened his stance. Thus far, the red blades hadn't made a move closer. Watching. Waiting. It was Kahlil who ended up moving first. The wind whipped up around him, scattering the miasma that they'd jumped into. Exposing the bodies ahead. Skeletal bodies. Clad in seeming ancient armor, faces that only of a skull. Small, red dots in their eye sockets signified they were at least looking.

"Someone's been maintaining this place. Don't think they're down if you cut them apart. Break their skulls."

He lifted his blade, narrowing his eyes. Then a new voice joined. Echoing from the skeletal bodies around them.

"Ah, so the Master did become a Jedi." At once the bodies moved. Unnaturally fast given their lack of.. Anything that normally made a body move. Strong, too, at that. They swung their blades at the Jedi with every intent to kill. Kahlil met several of the blades on his own, deflecting the strikes with an intense focus.

That voice shouldn't exist.

Silas Westgard | Amani Serys

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Not Sith? then who holds those crimson blades?"

Silas jumped back up to his feet and glanced as the knight koined them below. With the three of them together they had a decent chance of getting out of this mess intact. It was only the matter of who they were up against that was questionable. Only when Kahlil provided light to their figures was the question truly answered.

His eyes opened wide slightly from the sight of skeletal bodies and red eyes around them. They weren't even alive but undead, sent back as demons to kill anyone they saw fit in the land of the living.

"Got it, Master, from the looks of thing I doubt they'll be much trouble just from their bodies alone," he said confidently before a voice unexpectedly echoed around them. A cold shiver ran down his spine as the undead used that as a mark to attack the unwanted visitors. Turning back to the nearest undead in front of him, he only just managed to lean back and avoid a strike that could have taken his head off.

"Kark!" he proclaimed in surprise from their speed, taking a few steps back to avoid more strikes from the monster. Seeing a chance to finally strike, he managed to fall to his knees and avoid a strike that flew over his head, giving him the freedom to raise his hand and deliver a powerful force push into two of his comrades. The group fell to the floor with a crash, leaving the boy to get up and lock his lightsaber with another vicious undead.

"Who even is that speaking?!"

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys ​

 

[Amani Serys]

The revelation of their skeletal nature earned the high raise of Amani’s brow. Higher that she thought physically possible. Then again, walking, talking skeletons also defied her sense of what was physically possible, so today was a day of many firsts. Still, this was not the first time Amani found herself face to face with the undead.

It’s just that last time they had a little more, well, flesh.

The skeletons moved at once, pouncing in on the trio with murder set in their unblinking eyes. Amani raised her staff to block simultaneous strikes from two of them, its songsteel haft locking against the plasma as well as any lightsaber. The undead weighed down on her, pushing the mirialan into a kneel. When one released pressure to make a second strike, Amani twirled her pike with impressive speed; Its blade sliced through the skull of one, and the blunt end collided into the other with a sickening crunch. “Tell me there’s not more of these?” She asked, swinging the weapon down just in time to engage a third skeleton.

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"They're the corpses of Sith I brought here for reanimation." Kahlil gritted his teeth as he took another strike against his blade, glancing it off to the side. Then let his blade extinguish. Only for a white blade to emerge instead. Light, pure in it's form, extended as he sliced through one of the Skeletons. The bones themselves had no mark, but the glow in it's eyes faded immediately.

"There shouldn't of been any! They need an incantation to stay up. I wasn't actually able to improve the ritual the Nigh sisters did to revive their own, just make it so any corpse could be used. We need to find who's controlling them."

And figure out how they got past his traps and deciphered his notes. A Sith was a paranoid being, and he hadn't been an exception. His blade phased through another, cutting it from the ritual that kept it alive. Then turned his gaze to find the entrance.

"There!" He pointed, then looked to Silas. "We move inside. Let the small hallways funnel them in so they don't swarm. Move!"

Silas Westgard | Amani Serys

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Reanimation? like bringing them back to life like this?!" he said with a grunt before suddenly raising his leg and powerfully kicking the undead warrior away. Although, before the dead man could swing another strike Silas lunged forwards with immense speed and sent his skull rolling across the floor with a clean slice.

Turning his head to the knight, he quickly reacted to her locking up with a third foe by grasping the fallen skull with force and slinging it into the undead's head in front of her. Upon impact, their heads broke to pieces and sent the once standing skeleton to the floor. Offering her a quick nod, he turned back to his master with a look of confusion.

"So what you're saying is there's a powerful force user making these dead sith rise from the dead once more? if that's the case they must be strong in the force" he said in realisation. Whoever they were looking for was going to be no joke, a foe that could easily end their lives from one false move.

Snapping his head to where Kahlil was pointing, he had no hesitation in following his orders and began running to the hallway with urgency. With his lightsaber swinging to the right of him he ran through with the two Jedi in toe, the undead behind them seemingly scrambling against each other to get to the Jedi first within the tight space.

"Master, did you horde these bodies by any chance because even for a sith it's quite a strange profession!"

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys ​

 

[Amani Serys]

The third skeleton was quickly disposed of, its skull turning to bone meal in a blink. Amani turned around to see Silas, piecing two and two together. She grinned and nodded back, preparing for the next challenger when Kahlil proposed a new strategy.

“Gladly,” The knight followed her allies into the hallway, slowing only to cut down another skeleton that leapt into her path. Once in the hallway Amani spun back around defensively, using the reach of her saber pike to ward the undead off at a length, “I don’t suppose there’s a way to seal them off?”

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Well, yeah this was how they were found! Reanimation isn't resurrection, it doesn't fix what was broken!" Once in the hall, behind the two, Kahlil turned. Brought his hand up. The Force trembled as he brought down the loose rocks and boulders in the canyon, crushing the living dead still outside beneath it. Once the rubble came to a still and the dust that had kicked up settled, he let out a sigh of relief.

"To prove my worth to my father so I could avoid being culled or worse, I aimed at necromancy. A dark power, sure, but it would turn our enemies soldiers into our own when they died. If I could maintain a large number, then he'd surely accept me as me." Ah, those were dark days. The Jedi turned, glancing down the hall towards his lab. It was shoddy and dark. More than when he left it. If anything, it looked like no one was living here at all.

That wasn't good.

".. I also experimented in giving undead sentience. Not bringing a soul back, but like.. Droids, almost. Program them so they can move and work on their own. If they got my notes on that, they could be trying to complete it. So keep an eye out as we go deeper."

Silas Westgard | Amani Serys

 

[Silas Westgard]

"It seems like someone has taken up their own work in your absence if that's the case master," he said to him as Kahlil turned and raised his hands in the air. Silas felt the ground slightly shake around them in the hallway, up until the loose boulders above moved down to squash and block off the entrance. He sighed silently and turned off the blue saber, for now, placing back in his pocket as they continued their journey down the hallway.

Silas nonchalantly dusted himself off and walked beside Kahlil, his head looking back to see if the knight was doing well. Giving a brief smile he looked up to him and nodded slowly as he talked "In turn, you were trying to make an immortal army. Even through death would they have a use, even with the enemy..." he said in reflection, moving deeper into the lab that had long been left in darkness for years.

"Master, did you have an office of some kind? it may be wise to check there to see if any of your work has survived"

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

“That works,” She sighed in relief as the undead were crushed beneath the landslide. Relief that was sadly short-lived, as they now had to face whatever lay deeper within the facility. The dark corridor beckoned for them to enter and find out. Amani always hated horror holos.

“The sooner we get out of here, the better. This place gives me the creeps.” Dathomirian Sith Necromancy Lab was an exceptionally unfortunate combination of works, none of which made her feel good in tandem with the general dark ambience the area seemed to carry. It was like a mirror of her own work; The preservation of life. But it was a bastardized corruption of the concept, twisted to limits it was never meant to cross. All the more reason to make her uneasy.

“Any idea on who might be following up on your… discoveries?” She peered carefully around every nook, expecting some new evil to emerge from the shadows at any moment.

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"I mean. I said I was paranoid but I mean I was paranoid. No one should've known about this place." Which was all the more concerning about the corpses he collected running around still. Kahlil lifted his saber, using green of his blade as a light as he wandered through. Yeah. This place was darker than it was supposed to be. Another deterrent, unnatural darkness. It kept the local Night Brothers from entering.

Or did.

Ahead though, he felt it. Darkness. He blinked in surprise. It was close. Way too close, how did it get that clo- Oh.

The room opened to the ritualistic chamber he'd put all his experiments in. Countless runes lined the walls, pulsing a faint red as if they'd just turned on. In the center, a single being stood. Head high, eyeless sockets glowing a deep red.

"It's so good to see you again, Master."

The figure lifted his arms. The runes pulsed. Bodies stirred, rising from the tables around them. Red flashed in their eyes as they ignited deep red blades.

"Now I can finally kill you."

Silas Westgard | Amani Serys

 

[Silas Westgard]

No one should have known about this place...then who did? he certainly wouldn't have told any regular Sith other than his superiors. Something sinister was afoot, and he couldn't figure out what it was. The halls were dark enough to the point where only their lightsabers lit the way, and that seemed to concern his Master greatly.

"Then... what does?"

He said as they all traveled into a cursed ritual chamber, runes pulsing in unison as they worked away to fulfill whatever their creators had purposed. Silas raised his brows slightly to the appearance of a strange figure. He was far different compared to the rest, the body was speaking and somewhat alive within its rotten shell. Silas narrowed his eyes to the chief and raised his lightsaber in a defensive position.

"The force will not will it!" he replied valiantly to the man in charge, a glance looking to his master as to why Mr bones were calling him master too. That question would have to be put on the backburner, for now, they had undead to kill...

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

The sinister undertones only grew with each step forward, then rose to a crescendo as the room before them was revealed. Within, a nest of evil, cultivated by a lone warden; No doubt the source of their troubles. The deathless being raised more of its kind, giving no illusion about its intentions.

Amani blinked, “...Get the one in charge,” without missing a beat she launched her pike forward with the engine of the Force, hoping to impale the necromancer and end this danse macabre quickly.

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil was.. A mix of emotions.

The Jedi Master stared at the walking corpse. Not in horror or excitement. But with the studying gaze of a scientist. Everything he'd worked for as a boy, every runic sequence, dark ritual, unthinkable sacrifices, they'd been done for this exact moment. To create an undead with a mind of it's own so it might be capable of fighting alone. Even commanding lesser, mindless bodies. All to prove his worth for his Father.

By the corpses words, Kahlil had succeeded. It must of been right before he fled the Sith.

"I'm sorry."

Kahlil gave the corpse a sad smile. He'd succeeded, only to abandon his work here. Alone. No wonder it hated him. He lifted his saber, the smile fading to a thin line as he glanced to Silas. "What we practiced. Call on the Light. It should undo the othe-" Danger. He blinked, glancing to the figure in the center. Then to the javelin thrown by Amani. He reached out, pulling the Miraluka towards them with one hand and raising the other.

The pike hit, but not the undead in the center. One of Kahlil's traps lit up. A runic circle, carved into the very floor, brightened to a blinding red before erupting with lightning. The corpses that rose turned to ash in an instant. A failsafe, in case his ritual gave a corpse too much sentience or free will. The Master lowered his hands as the flash dissipated, clothing smoking.

He did what he could to protect the two other Jedi, at the cost of his own safety. Patches of burns lined over his visible skin.

"Interesting." The Lich spoke. Skeletal feet touched the ground as it finally landed. It raised a hand as a staff materialized. Kahlil grimaced. "You've changed." The staff rose. An echo of pain filled the room as a sphere of black materialized just above the staff. Souls being consumed to power whatever spell.

S̗̬u̵͇̮̱̟͇t̬̮̯ͅt҉ͅa̰͙̻͞ ̛͎̞̥̙̬ͅC̢h̳̻͍̳͞w̡͎̮͈̥̳i̕t̯̺͠u̲̥̝̗͓͓̬s̬̫͉̀ͅk̦̙a̭̣͎͖̬̮k̴̲̰̤​

It swung the staff and the sphere launched out, aiming towards the unmoving Master. Once close, the sphere erupted into an all consuming heat. A perfect circle of black, erasing even the floor in it's detonation.

Silas Westgard | Amani Serys

 

[Silas Westgard]

Silas looked between him and his master multiple times with a raised brow. So, this was one of Master Kahlil's grand experiments? a living deadman who was able to think freely? fascinating. How he was able to achieve such a feat was way beyond his understanding, but it was certainly a marvel that Kahlil had done such a thing by himself.

He stayed silent when Kahlil apologised to his creation for leaving him, something which he didn't need to do. This creation was from a dark time in his past, who knew what evil this monster was truly capable of. In the padawan's eyes, the creation was a dangerous thing to keep alive, especially with its power in raising the undead.

The boy looked over to his master when he spoke and opened his eyes wide as he suddenly jumped in front to protect him and the fellow knight, Silas blinked a few times and focused on his scorched skin, a slight frown crossing his face "Master!" he said in surprise, but at the same time warmed that his teacher would put his body on the line just to keep him safe.

Silas snapped his head to the undead leader and narrowed his eyes, quickly raising his lightsaber upwards to defend him and his companions from whatever he had prepared for them. Gasping slightly he witnessed the experiment conjure a spell and fire it straight at his master, leaving him to be the one saving Kahlil now. Without hesitation, he raises a hand towards him and grips his clothing with the force to suddenly tug him away from the attack. He was confident Kahlil would have been able to dodge it, but he just had to make sure considering his condition.

"He has changed! and for the better in fact!" he shouted at his creation in defiance before looking back to Amani to see how she was holding up "We need to deal with him before he swarms us with the undead that roams this place..."

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys ​

 

[Amani Serys]

In just a few moments, Amani was pulled aside, and a sudden eruption of power illuminated the room. She could hardly parse what had happened until a moment later, "Kahlil?" Her gaze turned to the master, suddenly panicked over his injuries.

Right. Traps.

As Silas pulled Kahlil away from the next attack, Amani leapt in the other direction, calling her pike back to her through the Force. The lich's power would be awe-inspiring, if it weren't more terror-inducing. Or at least if it weren't aimed at them. "How do we stop it?" The Knight turned her focus towards the staff; Whatever it was, it was giving the lich a boost.

Amani outstretched her palm, and from it a glowing ray of Force Light surged outward and towards the lich and its weapon.

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil was unresponsive. The moment Silas tugged him back, the giant of a man fell over, clearly out cold. The sphere detonated where he was, consuming everything in a wave of heat. Even the floor was consumed, leaving a smooth grove in the ground where a perfect sphere had just deleted matter. The Lich kept it's burning gaze on it's former master, hateful. Spiteful. Focused.

At least until it felt the Light. The staff itself wasn't susceptible to the Light. The Lich was. It hissed in annoyance, lifting the staff to create a shimmering barrier of red between it and the Jedi. Cutting off the stream of energy, but not before it impacted it's chest. Decayed flesh simply vanished, as if an eraser had been taken to a drawing.

Pain radiated from the abomination.

"Typical, annoying Jedi. Cleansing Light. Fucking annoying, is what it is." It tapped the staff down, dispelling the barrier before lifting the weapon. Then.. Nothing.

".. Ah." It's firey gaze shifted to the staff. Which no longer gave any sort of presence in the Force. "Well now, figures." Empty. It clicked it's tongue, or at least made a sound similar to it before darkness spread around it's feet. "So he changed. Fine. I won't wait any longer then." The dark cloud surged, spreading over it's form.

"Time to consume some more souls. Then I'll kill you, Master."

Amani Serys | Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

"Master?! Master!" he said down to him with a shake of his shoulders. Although it was no use, Kahlil had been knocked out cold by the power of the undead commander. He looked up to Amani and saw her draw back the pike, asking herself how to stop something with such menacing power "I don't know, if anyone knew it would be master Kahlil but he's out cold!" he said over to her. Jumping up, he stood in between Kahlil and the undead as they approached and raised his saber.

"Kahlil is his maker, he should know everything there is to know about this thing" he stated out loud, shooting fiery eyes to all the undead before him "If you've got anything to wake him up, now would be the time" He said, while repeatedly, nudging Kahlil on the leg to try and at least make an effort while protecting him.

"You will not be taking any souls today, nothing!" he said defiantly, before extending the lightsaber out further. Silas knew he needed some kind of distraction while the knight figured out a way to kill this thing. Or until Kahlil finally awoke from his sleep...

Kahlil Noble Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

The staff's aura seemed to switch off like a light, and Amani became a little more confident in their chances. The fight wasn't over yet though, as the lich began oozing a dark energy for what she could only assume were ill intentions.

Kahlil was out, and Silas was defiantly putting himself between their opposing forces. "Dammit," The healer rushed over to join them, eager to keep the padawan from getting into too much trouble. "His staff is out of power. He's running out of tricks." She told him, before adding, "That doesn't mean try something stupid. Play it safe."

They still didn't know the lich's full capabilities, but if there were a time to try and catch him off balance, it was probably now.

Meanwhile, Amani pressed a finger against Kahlil's temple, trying to wake his mind from unconsciousness through the Force. Another undead rushed forward, and she nonchalantly raised her pike to impale the creature before it got too close. "C'mon Kahlil, Are you in there?"

Kahlil Noble | Silas Westgard​