Private Unhallowed Ground

[Kaila Irons]

​

Darth Anathemous awaited deep within an ancient tomb beneath the cold sands of Korriban which seeped down into these stone halls even, red like the blood of countless who had perished here over the centuries. Even down here the rough, course grains were everywhere, fallen from the rocky ceiling. Who could say if this place would been buried or not in another hundred years, or even tomorrow.

Yet she was as still as the dead, matching their eerie calm.

She sat in the lotus position, hovering a short distance from the ground whilst meditating on her thoughts. Thoughts of... Eira Dyn , and Ala Quin.

The former was her reason for coming here to scout out this dusty old tomb. The promise of power she offered to the acolyte required a live demonstration, less Eira encounter the same complications which Kaila had. Complications which had nearly killer her when she first attempted this ritual. Even the dead it seemed did not go quietly into the night, and so the acolyte would need every card stacked in her favor.

Ala however, was a... potential complication. One which she now welcomed with open arms, yet a complication nonetheless.

Her love for Ala had been filled the cold void of distance which Eira left. Anathemous was... in love. Intense, yet pure love. But not with Eira. It seemed at times that the acolyte was not a loving woman, and it oft soured the young darth's confused heart. Yet she could not escape the nagging feeling that Eira would make this more complicated than it needed to be, were she to learn of this.

But Kaila told the acolyte that she would help bolster her powers, and her word was not so easily broken.

The tomb had been chosen carefully, and already the whispers of restless souls filled the Force Walker's ears like the ambiance of howling wind outside. She paid no mind to the temptations of the minor dark lord buried in the sarcophagus behind, nor the bemoaning of her presence by hardly tangible apprentices entombed in the walls around her tragically early in their careers.

She had heard it all before. Upon Dathomir, in the Netherworld, it did not matter what they offered nor threatened, this sorceress was no longer the naïve girl which Parasideus had locked away all those years ago.

Soon they would feel her wrath, and it would chill them greater than any wraith.

That power would soon become Eira's, if the manipulative acolyte played her cards right. But not all of it... Anathemous still had a few tricks up her sleeve, things she would not give unto Eira without first earning her trust in ways that very few ever would.

For Kaila it seemed was quickly learning the game.



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Korriban
Attire: Casual
Equipment: Vibrosword, daggers, blaster pistol
Tag: Kaila Irons

This was a chance for Eira to explore a new power. One that Kaila had hidden from even Carnifex. It was interesting and the eagerness to give the attempt a go, it bubbled away inside Eira. She had not given much thought to anything else since she had learned of Force Walking from Kaila, it was on the forefront of her mind but she also knew deep down that she was very grateful for being gifted this opportunity. This level of trust from Kaila. It was solidifying the benefits for Eira to keep Kaila close.

She didn't want to risk losing out on potential growth in power, nor the companionship where there was a certain level of trust that few others had.

Who else could she turn to without fear of losing face?

This power, knowing this power would even the playing field between Kaila and Eira somewhat, they would both know a power that had been kept from Carnifex. Eira could reveal Kaila had kept it, and Kaila would have the opportunity to do the same. It would put them in a stand off where either would win, but that made Eira like the idea more. She wasn't sure why yet, but the ability to trust someone, it was still something that lingered in her stomach.

Stepping over to Kaila, she gave a warm, welcoming smile and a nod of her head. Not aiming to overstep with a hug or kiss, it would be too bold and she knew that would not go down well. Not yet at least. "It is good to see you once again Kaila, you are looking good in your armour. Where are we heading to then?" Eira asked.

 

[Kaila Irons]

Kaila smiled faintly. This all reminded her of those first days with Eira, a time of secret meetings beyond the purview of sith politics, mutual compliments and intimate moments shared together. A simpler era, Better times.

But Kaila was a dark lord of the sith, and she needed more than nostalgia right now. She needed the power of anger and sorrow.

"We are exactly where we need to be." she assured Eira, voice slow and soft in her meditative state.

"I have done much research since last we spoke, searching for a haunted tomb suited to our plans. The sith buried here were once powerful people, but many fell to a glaring weakness which you shall exploit."

"Arrogance."

She gestured for Eira to sit beside her on the stone floor, although Kaila remained floating even if she descended to be closer in height. If one were to look closely, a thin band of silver was wrapped around her head and through her blonde hair, which she would use throughout the imminent ritual.

"Are you familiar with battle meditation? I will use it to reinforce your mind during the ritual, once I have provided a demonstration."

Then it came, a silken whisper into Eira's psyche of which she had no doubt heard before. Yet this time it was stronger, easier to understand despite it's gentle caress.

Telepathy.

<<Force Walking comes in two steps. Pacification, and Domination. You can choose not to, of course, find a willing spirit. But for diminishing returns... But it will come at great risk, for failure will surrender your mind, or destroy it. There is no in-between. >>

<<I will demonstrate the former path shortly.>>

<<But remember... you must only ever bind one spirit, else your body will destroy itself.>>



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Korriban
Attire: Casual
Equipment: Vibrosword, daggers, blaster pistol
Tag: Kaila Irons

Eira nodded her head, many Sith even now had that such weakness. It was also the very weakness that their enemy, the Jedi held. Eira knew all too well how to exploit such weaknesses in the living, but the dead. That would be an entirely different beast for her to manage.

She watched as Kaila hovered slightly above the ground, it was unnecessary move but one that Eira could not help but be impressed by. She would do exactly the same if she felt that she had that level of control over her abilities. For now, Eira had to be content with sitting on the hard floor, which was not ideal and would likely get her butt numb.

"I have heard of it. I remember Empress Srina used the technique during the Jedi invasion of Echnos." The moon that Kaila now governed. It had been Eira's first real taste of combat. She wanted more. "It is meant to bolster the moral of your allies and demoralise the enemy. Ensure victory even in the face of impossible odds." Eira stated, she had read up on the technique after hearing it being used.

It was a power that Eira wanted to explore some time.

Eira nodded her head in understanding. She had practiced her telepathy, knowing the importance of using such skills from interacting with Kaila and Aerik. I will watch and learn, Kaila. Eira's soft voice rang in Kaila's mind in response. It was the purest form of her voice, no manipulation or subtle alterations to it to demand respect or to intimidate. Just her voice as it should be.

 

[Kaila Irons]

<<Very good.>> she hummed upon hearing Eira's voice across their psychic link.

It was different in some ways, more... genuine. Much as she hated to admit, Kaila had missed her co-conspirator's voice during Eira's frequent absence, which sometimes felt as though lasted for months at a time. Honestly she hardly knew the woman in any manner other than physical, and even then her physical presence was a rarity.

That realization caused Kaila's concentration to falter, dropping the enchantress to the floor and threatening to spill her sorrow into their telepathic line.

And so she broke the line, momentarily.

She couldn't afford to be vulnerable anymore, not even her allies, so long as they were sith. She had learned this the hard way, and frankly she should have learned it a lot sooner, perhaps when she killed her master's apprentices one by one. Heartaches she would have shared, and tried to mend the acolyte's own in kind.

Opening her eyes with a deep, subtly pained sigh, was as if waking from a deep sleep. Colors faded in, and what hazy light could slip into the tomb seemed brighter than when she'd entered. How long had she been meditating here?

Once she'd completely woken from the trance, Kaila rose to her feet, eyes wandering around the tomb in lazy search.

<<Before the ritual may begin, the spirit must be drawn out.>> she began the lesson in a psychic whisper.

"Tapti' uensutun oy'anmuxuna ir tegu mus kitcirji." she spoke reverently for the spirits to hear, although she was unsure if Eira had such a grasp on the ancient sith language to understand.

Before long a translucent figure would appear. A man it seemed, Togruta and clad in dark armour engraved with ancient symbols belonging to the reconstituted sith empire of Darth Vitiate's time.

"Kuris rixik kia zami nuyak ari upras ra?" the figure demanded.

Kaila narrowed her eyes for but a moment.

<<A bodyguard perhaps?, likely a former slave, buried before his master.>>

It seemed then that one's sense of duty could persevere even in death, a way to live on which the enchantress had not encountered among the undead sith till now.

<<Trained by a figure believed superior, he underestimates the threat before him. Thus the first step is complete.>> she explained.

Without warning, Kaila's eyes took on a baleful glow, violet overtaking every shadow vast about her features, golden hair beginning to lift from her shoulders defiant of gravity.

Tendrils of arcing energy seeped out from her eyes, crackling like lightning and wreathed in dark smoke as the coiled around the spirit. The ancient sith stared down at his hands, ignorant of the obscure ritual and the true nature of this ominous feeling in his spectral gut. Kaila however appeared to be a natural, unbothered by the cold sting of another's death which pulsed through her veins. It was as if she had done this before...

<<Now the second step. Overpowering it's will.>>

She threw a hand out, fingers beginning to hook through the air, strained by an unseen force which resisted her squeezing grasp, yet it was not enough. The spectral figure before stretched and flowed like water into her grasp, screaming, fading until suddenly - there was nothing left. Kaila had absorbed the spirit into herself, that glow of crackling energy traveling from her now closed fingers and through her arm into her chest, before suddenly being rerouted to her throat.

The glow in her eyes did the same, causing her to stumble back a step or two. She swallowed uncomfortably before turning to Eira, chest rising and falling with each labored breath.

<<...his master... that is who you will summon... allow him to believe you are a mere acolyte... then prove him wrong.>>

Kaila was recovering rapidly, despite her voice feeling more distant than before. And yet if she seemed tired now, having just absorbed the apprentice, How would Eira fare against the master?



Eira Dyn

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[Eira Dyn]

Location: Korriban
Attire: Casual
Equipment: Vibrosword, daggers, blaster pistol
Tag: Kaila Irons

Eira observed Kaila, the sudden cut in their connection and the turmoil that she could feel in the Force. It caused Eira to raise an eyebrow since she was wondering what could have caused Kaila to suddenly feel the need to close her mind. Eira decided not to pry, if Kaila wanted to share then she would allow the Sith Knight share, otherwise, she would keep quiet and let Kaila solve the issue in her own time. This moment was about learning a new power, a chance to get a step ahead and become more powerful.

Hearing the ancient language of the Sith, Eira smirk, she had learned the language within the first week of her studying at the academy. It was fortunate for her that she was gifted with alien languages and she could learn the old tongue of the Sith. She had not demonstrated her skills with the language but for Eira, holding that knowledge back was allowing her enemies to underestimate her. Which was the whole point that Kaila was stating as well. Allow these spirits to think she was weak in order the break them to her will.

The approach of the weaker spirit, Eira watched as Kaila demonstrated the power. The acolyte raised an eyebrow since Kaila had made a point of the fact that Eira could only do this the once, that there would be severe consequences for another attempt. Yet, she held doubts that this was the first and only attempt of this by Kaila. The power seemed too natural, too instinctual for it to be the first time. When the spirit travelled the body before being rerouted to the throat, Eira wondered if there was something else going on. Seeing the spirit shift to the necklace, Eira knew that there was an artefact that Kaila had that allowed her to do this more than a single time.

Eira didn't mind this, she wasn't seeking to copy Kaila in controlling multiple spirits but it gave insight into the fact that Kaila hadn't shared this information. It took remembering the contradictions for Eira to realise there had to be another explanation.

Rising to her feet, Eira stretched her body, letting out a slight grunt as she breathed in deeply and thought about how she could best approach this. Understood.

"Tapti'... uensutun... oy'anmuxuna. ir tegu.... mus kitcirji...." Eira stuttered, letting her tongue fumble over the words and ensure her accent was poor and heavily influenced by her Dantooine origins. Giving the appearance that she was no more than a simple farmer acolyte way over her head. Here we go. She telepathically communicated with Kaila, showing no signs of concern or fear.

 

[Kaila Irons]

Kaila nodded as the two sith passed one another, taking a seat on the floor where once she sat. Eira's stretching brought a feint smile to her face, reminding her of that day in the library.

...she wished they could have stayed like that.

The young sith lord shook the thought away, for Eira did not need her suffering alone, but the anger which came with it. There was strength in anger, and from strength she would derive the power necessary to bolster the acolyte's own in the face of what was to come.

"Tapti'... uensutun... oy'anmuxuna. ir tegu.... mus kitcirji...."

<<Excellent approach.>>

She'd nearly forgotten how deceptive Eira could be, but this misuse of the sith language brought the fact to the forefront of her mind. It was subtle, but there was something about it which seemed almost deliberate. Yet she had no doubt the spirit would take the bait, assuming as many ancient sith did that their inheritors had let the language die without them.

"Buti sis zo jukodas?!"​

The spirit's voice reverberated on all sides, seemingly confirming the theory.

"Can you even comprehend the words in your mouth?" it hissed.

Kaila immediately closed her eyes, eliminating all senses but hearing and the force itself as a dark power began to seep into her bones like frost. There was something... different about this one. Something she had never felt before. Already she was trying to slip into battle meditation, broadcasting feelings of anger through telepathy, trying to strengthen the connection to enter that trance and lend her strength to Eira.

But so too did it carry confusion, and subtle worry.

From behind her, sand began to drift away from the corners of the room, pulled towards the stone sarcophagus into a swirling mass.

Somehow grains of sand began to burn into cinders and blackened specks, and from the sand a figure began to take shape. Gleaming plates like ancient steel rose from the swirling sands, ancient armor not unlike Kaila's, but primitive and engraved with strange symbols. Finally a mask rose in the empty places where a face should have been visible, and where there should have been eyes, only flame dwelled there now.

The flames turned towards Kaila first, then towards Eira.

"Kvailas grotthu."

It began floating through the air towards Eira, it's ashen appendages beginning to take more tangible forms, as if a body reversing the decay of time, flesh, though burnt and aglow with embers, mending itself anew.

"Have you come to grovel like so many before you? Seeking favor with those dead who outperformed you all in life?" It laughed, the spirit's voice gravelly and dry.

It swam through the air in a slow spiral around Eira, and as a clawed gauntlet reached out to trace her cheek, it soon became apparent that this was no ordinary spirit. For it had a physical presence.

"No... that would have been the wiser choice. Instead you come to dominate, as if that is not MY domain."

Already it's mind was trying to force a connection not unlike that which she and Kaila shared. But it burnt, trying to incinerate her mental defenses and reform the metal slag into it's own. It not seek to merely invite itself in, but to conquer. To override the acolyte's with it's own nefarious presence.

Kaila grit her teeth, sending waves of defiant thoughts and the fury of one who had fought for her own freedom for years prior. Every ounce of hatred for Darth Carnifex , every moment of desire to liberate her destiny from the force, every sweet taste of freedom, no matter how fleeting, was being poured into Eira and against the spirit.



Eira Dyn

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Korriban
Attire: Casual
Equipment: Vibrosword, daggers, blaster pistol
Tag: Kaila Irons

A level of fear and intimidation of the deep voice fell upon Eira's features. A mask of her true feelings but one so realistic that one would assume that she was well over her head in attempting the task that had been set to her. Eira studied the Sith, if he had made any attempts to study her eyes, he would have seen that the timid look was a deep facade. She was a predator appearing injured before she lunged for the kill. Disarming the Sith with the ideas that the Sith of this era were weaker than those of his own.

"I... Sorry..." Her voice lost the depth, the conviction that she usually carried herself with. It was fractured and broken. Eira embodied the role of an acolyte out of her depth. It was revealing to Kaila how easy she could lie, and how deeply convincing she was when she lied.

Her body felt the touch and she shivered, unintentionally so. She had not realised how real the Sith spirits could be, how physically there that they could feel.

However, she was unfazed and determined to continue this process. Eira knew her capabilities and that she would succeed.

The attempts to insert into her mind, Eira grinned, the ghost knew her intentions and it was now time to strike. Her mind was not just a steel fortress, it was a labyrinth for anyone attempting to enter. She would send him on dead ends running through her mind. Fake trails of her past that seemed real enough. Eira was merely hinting at the power she held as a Sith, how powerful her potential was.

"I am not a slave. I speak your tongue better than you speak it yourself." Eira growled. "I will demonstrate to you true dominating power." Her voice growled with the normal power she held. Placing her hand against his chest, she began the ritual of the Force Walk. The hooks extending from her palms and locking the Sith to her.

There was a playful, dark look in her eyes as she enjoyed the fact she fooled this Sith Lord to his demise as nothing more than her trinket. It was a step to her end desires.