Private What Is Eternal

[Alina Tremiru]

The General certainly didn't bother pulling any punches. Even now, hours after the altercation, her jaw still hurt. Phantom pain or lingering bits of shattered bone still trying to refit into her once broken jaw, Alina wasn't sure. She rubbed it all the same, as if it'd sooth the pain within. It didn't. Really just made it worse. So shattered bones it was. A grumble escaped her as she felt half tempted just to slice open her cheek and dig out the shards herself.

Which would just be more painful.

She stretched out, leaning back against the couch she'd been resting on. Leaning her head back to stare up at the ceiling of the office she was in. Maliphant's office. Dinner was over and she had only one reason to stick around. Him. He invited her.

She wanted to know why.

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

After a few minutes, the Sith Lord Maliphant entered the room with a passing acknowledgement Alina was even there. When he sat, collected himself, he would look upon her and ask a simple question;

"Well?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"You invited me to the dinner. Why? Figured I'd probably make an enemy or two?" That's what she figured, at least. Alina kept her head towards the ceiling, but eventually crossed one leg over the other and turned her gaze back towards Maliphant. "Did it help sniff out those loyal to the Worm, at least?"

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

He was quiet for a moment as he watched her - inhuman metallic eyes unwavering in their study.

"Does your jaw hurt?", he said candidly. It was an insult.

But he scoffed and passed by it before she could answer;

"Nobody is loyal to the Worm, Alina. I've plotted to kill him since the day we met - and I still do. He knows this. It's everyone's duty to kill the Worm - that's how it works.", he said with a frown.

"I invited you there so you could see the strength they carry, maybe learn something from their discussions. Instead you insulted them, closed yourself off, and got punished for it."

His frown deepened and he shook his head.

"What do you think Eternalism is, Alina?"

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina reached for her jaw, rubbing at it with a frown. Opening her mouth to speak, but was fairly quickly cut off as Maliphant continued. Her golden eyes narrowed on his, but she spoke nothing against him. No rebuttal, no annoyance. "A cult, much like the Kanite. Worshiping idols and the ground they walk on regardless of how uncaringly they might be crushed under heel. Vulcanus was a traitor and a monster. An acolyte cut down before they even learn how to harness the Force is a waste, but Vulcanus had no qualms about siking his monsters on them. And yet, Eternalism revered him as a god."

She sighed, lowering her hand away as she turned her gaze out towards the office.

"But, I'm guessing that's incorrect. Perhaps not about Vulcanus being worshiped as a god, but perhaps about it being some blind cult."

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"Vulcanus.", Maliphant said sith barely hidden anger.

"That beast of a man was brute, who found more pleasure in burning world's than building civilization."

He was quiet for a moment, closed his eyes in contemplation. With legs crossed he sat still before he spoke;

"I fought Vulcanus on Ossus. Darth Solipsis interrupted our duel, but I would've killed him given the chance. Vulcanus held no greater nuance until the Worm fed him the ashes of Marko Ragnos, he understood nothing but fire until the Worm showed him how limited his strength was."

"And I would still kill him now."

He unwinded himself, untwisted his legs and moved to stand. With hands balled up behind his back, he turned to look out the window towards the city scape of Odavessa.

"Do you know what was venerated about Vulcanus? His strength. Even you can not deny how powerful he was, how endless his flames could be. In the world of the Sith, strength is the deciding factor in who's ideas are better - who's are stronger. He was not worshipped as a God to the Sith, he was simply an obstacle to be overcome. Same as I, same as Carnifex, same as the Worm."


"You aren't supposed to worship Sith, Alina. That's for the peasants who don't know any better. You're supposed to see a challenge, and rise to meet it. Overcome those above your and assert your belief, your ideas above there's. In this way, we create greater and greater evolutions of our strength."

He turned to face her again.

"Until the day comes that we supplant the very God's, and take from them the reigns of the Force they've held so dear. To destroy it, to become God, to shape reality as you see fit. That is Eternalism, Alina. To create an eternal order without the Force."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Ah."

It was all she could say. By the time Maliphant had turned back to look at her, Alina had laid her head back. Stared up at the ceiling again. A smile had formed on her lips, fangs on display. Humor. All she'd seen, all she'd barely decided to understand. Misinformation, misunderstandings. She'd been foolish then, as a child pretending to be a Sith. A younger her would've denied everything that was just said. Only looked at it at the surface level she had been. An excuse to let monsters play at monsters.

"Then let me ask for forgiveness in making a fool of you. I know little about what it means to feel the Force or the chains it binds around those under it's influence, but if Eternalism is about killing it, I've had the wrong idea all this time."

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"Don't ask for forgiveness - Do better. I'm giving you a chance to achieve your dream, because I too seek to confine and destroy the Force. So that it can never touch another living soul.", he said with a barely held anger - but at this nebulous topic of the Force rather than her. When he calmed, he continued.

"Next time, don't lose against Nito."

He moved to sit again.

"If you're feeling open minded, Alina, I recommend you ask questions. I'll answer them the best that I can."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I've no intention of it. I've seen the power of the Worm. I've seen yours. I was curious if any would strike out at what I said, and curious further on their strength." She raised a hand, her smile growing for a moment. Her hand tightened into a fist as she gripped at something unseen. "If I couldn't survive an altercation with one of those Lords, then I don't deserve to continue on. If I killed them with ease, then it was proof my power is as dangerous as a weapon as I thought. I survived, and I learned that while not all powerful, it is still a weapon."

She turned her gaze back to Maliphant, letting her hand lower.

"It is my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. I cannot feel the Force, but I can remove it's influence from others. I can kill it's influence in others. How do I make that into a weapon that can kill the Force itself? How do I become a Lord strong enough to be free Sith like Nito? How do I use Eternalism to my own advantage?"

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"I don't think it's as universal as you might believe.", Maliphant offered.

"You do feel the Force, but you feel it in a different way - a black hole. Where someone else might feel a bump, you feel a divet. The trouble is who can possibly teach you how that is supposed to feel without feeling it themselves?"

He tapped on his chin for a moment.

"You're a walking antithesis in this dialetic battle. Where the Force is the thesis, you're the antithesis - what you need to weaponize is the ground between those two. The synthesis. Your own Force, your own being."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"So akin to what Nito was speaking about." Well, that was an answer. But not one she was particularly pleased about. She once more leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes. "My families goal has been to create the perfect being. Someone free of the Force's influence but not unable to affect it. My mother's experiments on me during the pregnancy is why I exist as I am. .. Her notes were said to have burned in the fire. All the holocrons stolen. Though I did learn my own wayward apprentice stole them away. And lit the fire himself when the Empire fell."

Her eyes opened again, staying up on the ceiling. Mulling over her options.

"I suppose I can find an answer in that, on how to make this bridge. Though if I do become this synthesis, wouldn't that make me a threat to all?"

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"And if you are?", he said with a wry smile.

"You'll be hated, detested. Much like the Worm is now."

"But you'll still be killable, Alina - and when that day comes that you're a threat, then we will simply take the issue to the free market of sith ideas; where strength will determine who should carry the torch. That is, afterall, how the Sith operate."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"No one person should become unkillable. To rule forever is to invite stagnation. The goal is to kill the will behind the Force, right? If I succeed, let the next Sith who kills me be the one who ushers in the golden age." She shrugged nonchalantly. All her life growing up she'd been hated and despised as something useless. If people hated and feared her because of what she could do, well.

"Will you be a foe? Or an ally until the mission is complete?"

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"Both.", he offered simply.

"In the face of foreign ideas, like the Kainite, we are aligned. We can't allow Carnifex to take dominion over the Force."

"However, should you stray from my views too much - or prove yourself too weak to help push the Eternal agenda, then we will be enemies. If only briefly."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"I expect nothing less. And the same, of course, goes for you. If you stray from what I envision or become an obstacle, I will strike you down as any Sith should." She nodded once. This was a fair accord. One fitting of Sith. Only one thing remained. Alina sat up further, letting her arms come down so her hands would settle into her lap as she turned her full attention to the Sith Lord.

"Teach me everything about the Eternals."

Darth Empyrean

 

[Darth Empyrean]

"It won't take place in a single sitting - we're talking about highly advanced theories regarding a nigh unmeasureable galactic Force many still think is myth.", he said with a hand raised - as though to slow her down.

"... but I will do my best."

And so he did.

Alina Tremiru