Private What the Future Holds

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: The Shaper's Palace, Corbos
Equipment: Hersir Imperial Uniform || Empyrean gland
Writing with / Tags: Telis Taharin-Zambrano | Arctus Silmar

[ Dawn ] ​

~ Three days after the rescue mission ~​

When Ingrid regained consciousness, she was no longer in the Netherworld, but on a ship heading for Corbos, because the Sith Emperor wanted to see it. Emperor, then Joycelyn Zambrano was still missing. It may have been kept a secret by the Sith court, but the woman has her resources. She just didn’t know what Darth Prazutis was looking for on Corbos, but she didn’t ask. She learned on the ship that it was Kuben Woods who saved her life with a very drastic method, but it worked. She sent a message to him to say thanks for his deeds.

She felt infinitely weak, sick. According to the doctor treating her, it may take months for her body to regenerate all the midichlorians. She almost died aboard the Confidence. She even remembered seeing Telis, he was there on the rescue team and he was here next to her right now. The Sith Lord offered to stay there with her and Ingrid needed him infinitely… She had not cried for months, she endured and stand all the pain, all the torture wordlessly.

Ever since she was caught, she nearly hadn't heard a single kind word, everyone was just offensive, rude to her, except Jax or Beltran; the COMPNOR tortured her every day. They did not break her, though her soul was crushed even more, and Caarlyle Rausgeber did the same with her physical body and his organism almost "eat her" live.

After months of being alone, she didn’t want to be alone, she got some of the kind words, hugs she needed from Telis. She shattered and collapsed as he hugged her, and she sobbed for hours, all her pain, everything she suppressed for months now burst out of her. Mostly the pain caused by Adrian’s absence. Telis was the first one before whom she was able to look weak. When in the evening the man would have left her alone to rest, she still cried and asked him to stay, not to leave her alone, not now.

The events quickly followed one another and in every sense together they spent the very long night and the next day. This allowed Telis to get to know Ingrid from a side that only Adrian, Tubrok, and Cal Osborn knew. Ingrid has two kinds of men in this field with whom she has fun and who mean something to her. Telis meant a lot. As long as she was in his arms or just speaking, she had given him everything, the man could get to know the woman's soul, something he had not known before. He could see and feel her essence, the woman's being, the way one living creature could only know another.

It meant to Ingrid that if she trusted someone, she would give the world to them as well, and gave it to Telis as well. She was the fourth man in the woman's life. One of her four men who could see her as she really was. That's why Tubrok and Adrian loved her and once Cal felt the same, and now she had exactly the same relationship with the man as she did with Telis. This was an even more deeper connection and relation now than when the woman fed him with her own life force before the first Ziost invasion. Ingrid loved to communicate with emotions, instead of words or thoughts. However, she only did this with the three men, and now Telis was fourth. In the woman’s eyes, this kind of communication meant that the other would know everything about her and she give them everyting, how they can see her and feel her essence. The absolute trust.

After spending the night together, she fell asleep in Telis's arms, hadn't slept since she was Shadow-born, and mostly not since Adrian's death. Even now, she woke up sobbing and screaming several times because she had experienced her husband’s death over and over again. After that, she hid back in Telis's arms every time, because at least she could feel safe there…

Eventually the ship reached Corbos, glad Telis was accompanying her as well. She was still weak, infinitely weak, having difficulty walking and or standing on her feet. Her appearance, as always, was perfect, she was able to look strong even now. This could never be taken from her, though she knew that Telis knew exactly that it was not and that he knew how weak she really was. However she was glad to finally be able to wear one of her own uniforms. The little pleasures of life.

She was fussy because she was being weak and physically tired, but immediately suppressed the feeling, like everything in general. After the landing, she was escorted to a waiting room, and she hoped that Telis, too, came with her, that the emperor would soon receive her, them. Here Ingrid felt the power of the dark side Nexus, which was inviting and seductive, she wanted to “dive” in it, absorb its power, as she did on the Byss, she felt hungry again, but no, she suppressed the feeling. While they waited, she turned to Telis. The Empress hadn’t asked why this place so far, but now she does.

"Why does Darth Prazutis want to meet us here?" Her voice was even weaker, a little, not like usual and not so cold, definite.

 

[Telis Taharin-Zambrano]

In the days since the rescue, Telis had spent most of his time staying by the side of Ingrid L'lerim , overseeing her recovery after the incident aboard the Confidence and once more emerging from the depths of obscurity that he had plumbed himself into. Of course, in his words, caring for the Empress and ensuring her full health after all that had happened was merely diplomatic procedure - a sign of alliance and good faith between the Eternal Empire and the Sith Empire, trying to keep that bond for as long as it would hold. It was simply just the way that it was - treating the wounded was just what one did, truthfully, and he kept that facade to those who looked upon him as he wanted them to.

But there was a secondary turmoil within him - a reminder that bled into his thoughts and left him feeling feverish with thought during those days. It’s not as though he was a foreigner to feeling - he thrived off of it, used it to fuel his power and his visage as being unstoppable, and yet within his heart he felt an anathema he may have once called ‘care.’ By choice, wholly willingly, he returned again and again to Ingrid’s calls, spending time he could’ve had to think and ponder with instead just being present and feeling. He provided for her, provided her a chance not to feel alone, and when she was weak he didn’t take that opportunity - rather, almost, he let himself be weak in turn. He let himself feel, and let himself see another side of Ingrid that was vulnerable and rare.

And during those days, he did what he could do to protect that side of her. And during those days, he once again felt human.

But now, standing and staring forward unto the Shaper’s Palace at Corbos, Telis still felt a measure lost and a measure scornful, only not at the seeming abandon of his own tenets of disconnection, but rather at the fact that he felt no sense of shame in breaking his unspoken oaths of hate. He did his best to push these thoughts back and the continuous questions of why he did what he did, but no matter how much he tried to focus on the situations at hand, they always returned to the surface, alongside the thoughts of Ingrid and the warmth he felt with them.

But, standing before the palace of The Shaper, Arctus Silmar , it was easy to genuinely push those thoughts down and focus on the task at hand. Garbed in the Jyani’eimityr, his mask pushed on over his reptilian face (resulting in quiet the uncomfortable fit… he would have to redesign his gear in the future to accommodate for such evolutions that he has undergone), Telis did his best to appear stoic and controlled, the same way he would during any meetings he had with the higher Council of the Sith. Even though he wielded considerable power amidst the Empire, he still felt small compared to the grandeur of the edifice before him, taking in a deep breath to return to a level of reptilian aloofness.

”It is not Prazutis that wishes to meet us here, I am afraid. It is another force entirely.” Telis’s voice trailed off into a hiss as he turned to Ingrid to address her, before back towards the grand palace before the retinue.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: The Shaper's Palace, Corbos
Equipment: Hersir Imperial Uniform || Empyrean gland
Writing with / Tags: Telis Taharin-Zambrano | Arctus Silmar

[ Dawn ] ​

Ingrid was confused and lost, but like Telis, she knew how to hide this very well. If she had known what the man was feeling, she would have apologized for putting him in such a situation, even though she knew that the Sith Lord had done what she had done voluntarily. She would have accepted it at any time if she had said no. But none of them could say that. Ingrid felt empty at the moment; the way she looked at the huge castle she felt nothing. She just didn't understand why she was here, only noticed that she looked at Telis' back more times, as the man was walking in front of her and it filled her with pleasant, warm feelings.

She means, yes, they were allies of TSE, but she never played an important role. As an agent, she had to learn to be invisible. It was much better for her to control from the background than to be an empress. Adrian was right and she should have chosen a puppet Emperor on the throne of the Eternal Empire. In the same way, the woman would have ruled, but at least she could have done better what she could not do that way.

Perhaps what bothered her most was that she felt fallible, mortal, weak and fragile. When she was still human, she didn’t like that feeling back then either. For the last time before this one, she felt this at the first siege of Bastion when Adrian saved her life after her serious abdominal injury. Twice. A lot of time has passed since then, a lot has changed. She looked at Telis's back, who was walking in front of her. She wanted to feel the man's arms around her again, to feel safe. To get promises that everything will be fine, even if it’s just a lie. Now even a damn lie would have given her peace of mind.

But others were present, too, she could not afford this luxury to hug the armoured man or ask him to. The short walk was also tiring, so it came in handy for her when Telis said it wasn’t Prazutis who wanted to see them. She still had no information about what had happened in the galaxy during her captivity, she only knew about the Bryn’adûl attack against the SJC and heard something about the Bastion Protocol. Nothing more, she didn’t even know her son never reached Kalidan and Adrian is a young man now.

"Darth Aagenti, how do you mean, not Darth Prazutis… what has happened in the recent months?"

She wanted her voice to be the usual cold and military, but now Ingrid was tired and had to gasp for air. It was as if she was doing something very exhausting or fighting for hours. Yet she did only average daily activities, showering, walking, travelling, and walking again. She was weak. If Ingrid had been able to hate something or feel angry, hatred, she would have felt these now. This was one of the most difficult sentences of her life because it testified to weakness.

"Lord Telis, I… I need a minute before we go any further." she said, for a moment she felt disgust and shame for her own weakness, her fallibility, which she immediately suppressed so that no one could feel it.

 

[Telis Taharin-Zambrano]

Telis stopped as he heard the confusion rise in Ingrid L'lerim ’s voice, his eyes set not on her but seemingly on the building before them… and yet somewhere far beyond. Towards that distant horizon that cleaved the sea and the sky, something heavy taking up his thoughts, weighing on his now gangly and misshapenly elegant frame. He could, for a brief moment, feel that shame and that weakness within Ingrid, felt the power that ignited for just a moment, a flare of passion that so incensed his senses and left him feeling more hollow with the Darkness that now corrupted and evolved him. She was still perfect and human in shape and form… he lacked that humanity he thought he so hated and ran from.

But it called to him now, as he stood on the steps of the palace, power and commerce once flowing through the halls… now left quiet and empty, wind blowing and howling through the midnight sky. He took in a deep breath, quelling his own emotions when it came to Ingrid and the world around him. When he spoke next, his words were a slow, methodical hiss, trailing off on the wind like the smoke above Bastion, above Dromund Kaas, and above the worlds that he had sworn he would keep peace on - an oath that now lay broken. ”There is a change in the air, Ingrid… a new season blooming from the ashes of these old bones. It is a glorious renewal, but…”

The draconic figure’s voice stopped, the thought only continuing in his mind: this is no age for us. The time of the world where complexity and contra danced between dawn and dusk was no more. Here was a new age dawning - one of blinding light and tyranny hidden behind golden veils. One of warlords proclaiming themselves prophets and driving this world only into circular progress. No forward or back, no dream of empire, only the cruelty of this false “democracy.” He held onto his breath for a long while, before sighing, turning back to Ingrid and offering her a hand, his robotic claw outstretched, its movements rigid and unnatural, none of the normal unnerving and lifelike fluidity in his scarred palm.

”We can simply rest here… there is nothing in there but memories of what once was. To dwell on the past naught but frail with pitfalls of nostalgia. This place holds a past no longer ours to bear, but rather ours to hide until this world is ripe again for people like us-“ With his other hand the grand Sith motioned outwards to the small entourage with them - not all warriors, nor even all loyal, but remnants of the Cadavarii, Imperial politicians, cultists, mechanics, assassins… a menagerie of those who have remained in the wake of the Sith plan to take on Omni and silence the god machine. ”Those who see not as is but as it could be. ‘Idealists,’ you could say… but in this day and age idealism seems more a sword than an idea.”

Telis turned back up towards the palace, his pale eyes lingering for a moment, flashes of color within his irises and beneath his skin, crawling across his scales and beneath the black suit overtop them, glinting within the silver, bloody metal that ornament his armor. ”This era of the Sith has passed… and so these halls remain quiet and empty, filled with traitors and warlords. But there is something else on the wind: a new start, hidden beyond the outer reaches… and for what remains of this Empire, I shall be journeying there, to see what once was lost shall be again… as is only right for who I am becoming.” Telis remained quiet for a long while, his emotions distant and forlorn with a hint of melancholy. He had sat upon a throne in heaven and had it stolen from him. He had seen his dream realized… and so quickly he had seen it torn from his clutches, and his body smoked and blackened for his failure.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: The Shaper's Palace, Corbos
Equipment: Hersir Imperial Uniform || Empyrean gland
Writing with / Tags: Telis Taharin-Zambrano | Arctus Silmar

[ Dawn ] ​

For a few moments, she couldn't decide if she was happy that Telis hadn't turned back after her words or had just caused a bad feeling. It wasn't typical of her, but still, she was still confused. One part of her being still wanted the man to take care of her, but the other half wanted him not to see anything out of her weakness. After all, this behaviour was unworthy not only of the Empress, but also of the L'lerims. That's not what she was raised for. But she was raised for once she would lead the clan to inherit her father. A clan, a nation, is only as strong as its leader.

In this regard, the Eternal Empire and House L'lerim may never have been as weak and vulnerable as they are now. She watched Telis; Ingrid already knew the man so well that she knew something was wrong. Something is happening in the background. The woman had been away for too long… a little over a year. A lot of things could have changed during this time. Ingrid... only Adrian addressed her by her name, in front of others, no one else. Everyone else, even her parents, used the Lady title or her other titles.

Adrian… when she met Telis, they both loved the same man; Ingrid's heart and soul were still bleeding for the dead Sith Lord now, even after three years, as it had been on Dantooine that day. She just learned… had to learn to live with the feeling. There is a change in the air… not only did the man mean the Sith, but also for himself, she already knew him so much. What has happened to him in the last one year since she didn’t see him? She was selfish and weak, not even asking him while they were together, just seeking solace for herself. Ingrid didn't move either, just gasped for air, she was still exhausted.

She looked up at Telis as the man finally turned back in her direction. Ingrid placed her hand on the clawed paw with a graceful, elegant gesture. That's when she understood, as she looked at the palm. She realized that she might have been the first who hurt and injured the man. She took from him the man Telis loved because he didn't want to get involved in a marriage as a lover. They didn't even talk after it, only after Adrian's death, when they had to, because they went to negotiate together. First he threw away his human nature to be Sangnir, and then he kept this appearance as well.

What he said… filled the woman with bitterness. It was as if she was at a funeral where Telis wanted to bury himself, not the Sith Empire. Telis was broken, she knew. Something happened while she tried to end the war, but the woman also failed. In fact, she felt the fights started again because they wanted to save her, because while she was in captivity, there were not many fights.

"You also know that I have never liked the Sith hierarchy, code, or what they represent, Lord Telis, but even I do not think the time of the Sith is over. It is an eternal dance between the Jedi and the Sith, as is a never-ending battle between the Light and Dark side. Neither can live without the other. It only ends… the time of the Sith and the Jedi comes to an end when there is no more Force. When there is no more power, what can control or force them to continue this curse." she said softly, and this time she was the one who did not say it out loud just thinking that, thanks to Tacitus, it was her duty to bring this era.

"Who you are becoming?" she asked back bitterly.

Luckily, it was dark enough around them so it wasn’t too stressful to bring the shadows to life. She was always discreet, so she never did anything inappropriate in front of others. The shadows formed a dome on the stairs around the woman and the man, when it became so dense that it could no longer be seen through, Ingrid stepped closer, did not step up to the stairs where the man stood, remained below, and then if Telis did not step away, then she hugged him and her head and her chin resting on the man's shoulder. That's the only way she could do it comfortably, because otherwise the Empress was taller.

"What has happened to you in the last year?" she asked bitterly again. "You don't need to change if you don't want to. Ever since I know you, you have been the strongest person I have known. Besides the Admiral... Dad, you’re the first and only one. I don’t feel like I have to protect you. You are as perfect as you are. From having emotions you will not be less, you will not be weaker. While we were together… I felt it was a pleasure for you to take care of me. Don't be as the monster as I am, please Telis! Being a Sith, you can still feel! I’m not a Sith and I don’t have the right to ask for that, but please don’t want to change. Being a Sangnir, this form… What are you looking for? What do you want to be? As a human being, you have been fuller, stronger, and more perfect than most people I can ever meet. Please… let me help you the way you have been there for me in the last few days. Let me help you find yourself again, find the golden mean. Please, Telis… I don't want to lose you too!" she said the truth, what she thought, Ingrid did not lie to him. And if the man lets her, she takes off his helmet and then strokes his face, gently and puts a kiss on his face. If she can’t take off his helmet, she’ll just stroke the helmet.

 

[Telis Taharin-Zambrano]

There would be no resistance to the actions Ingrid L'lerim took. No response to her words, nor leaning away from the attempt to remove his mask, no backlash to the kiss against his face save for a small measure of resignation. He was present, but his mind was already elsewhere, his ambition there to drive him away from this moment at the question of what had happened… and truth be told, he had no answer. There was no way to explain what had occurred, both within himself and within the greater Empire other than a simple,

”I don’t know.” For all he sought for, at this moment he lacked an answer. He had seen what would come in what had happened - that the Galaxy would become a place of warmongers and destroyers. That even the Jedi wielded death for their false-tongued pursuit of good. All this was both present and distant when with the Empress. He could simply just run into her arms, let himself be weak for a moment and let all this be carried away from his thoughts - all the degradation and destruction. All this corruption buried deep, all the power he could wish for… and more importantly to finally be at peace with somebody who he could understand. Who he knew could carry his weight.

But as soon as that kiss ended, he took his helmet once more from Ingrid, sliding the mask back over his reptilian face, and leaning once more against the stave he held. His sight never strayed from her, but part of him looked through her - towards the planet that would be forgotten, the people that looked for a voice of unity in this age of strife. Towards the things his ambition built… and the things his ambition would tell him to rebuild. ”There will come a time, Ingrid… but now I must be my greater nature. What I look for is beyond words, beyond my recognition at this moment. For as much as I’ve been a warlord it is always my nature to build, and to weave, and to be a monster as I will.”

He took a step away from the Empress, almost apologetically. ”I have spent too long trying to run from this corruption, yet so too obsessed with evolution. I no longer have the choice to make… It has been made for me.” Telis opened his arms wide, standing tall, his shadow cast dark against the ground in the dimness of the dusk. ”But I am not afraid of becoming who I am now. Let them judge me for my worth, and let their orisons come against me… but know, Ingrid, that you haven’t lost me. Nor will you ever lose me.”

There was a hollowness in his words, half-hearted convictions behind his grandeur… in truth, he had no answer for what he looked for. He let his arms drift down yet again, his posture slinking as he lowered himself, looking at Ingrid before closing his eyes. There was nothing but show in his words - the truth of what he searched for lay in the rubble of the Empire, in the memories of that power and the pain of watching it all crumble to ash. He couldn’t afford to let go, no matter how much he could wish to. He refused to let go of all that he once had, and he refused to let warlords and destroyers rule in a Galaxy of great works.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: The Shaper's Palace, Corbos
Equipment: Hersir Imperial Uniform || Empyrean gland
Writing with: Telis Taharin-Zambrano

[ Dawn ] ​

The man didn't lean away, but his body language revealed perfectly that he wasn't here in thought, but was deep in his thought. Ingrid still had no answer and it was hard to guess without information, but while they were on the ship and she was in the infirmary, she heard that the situation in the Empire was not good. After the kiss, she just watched the man in silence, as snuggled to him, just enjoyed the situation, the few moments while they were like that.

Perhaps ironically, but she didn’t consider the last three days to be one of the most intimate moments she spent with the man, it was used to be. At the first siege of Ziost, when they were reconciled after many years, and the woman gave Telis from her own life force, so she fed him. After all, she couldn't give blood, she didn't have it anymore, so she had to do this with her own life force, an almost pure Force.

But now she could have been weak here; in addition to her father, the man was really the only one whom she felt she didn’t have to protect, in fact, she thought Telis was able to take care of hr, so behind the benevolent veil of darkness and shadows she could be weak for a few moments. She trembled; but it is likely that Telis felt nothing of this because of the armour. At the moment, she felt strong for nothing; she even felt unworthy of the uniform.

The woman was thinking as well, but as an assassin she paid full attention to their environment and to the man too, not just her thoughts. She stopped hugging the man as Telis reached for the helmet, handed it back to him, but didn't move. They were still so close that almost their entire bodies touched each other. At the end of the man's words, she smiled sincerely but sadly. Of the two, the woman was the greater monster and knew countless people against whom Telis was a saint, even as a Sith.

"I think I have to crush your thoughts of yourself because you’re not a monster, at least not in my eyes. You are Sith, and you are not an average Sith … I recognize the monsters, I move quite a bit among them and I'm one of them, but you're not. A few days ago at the NIV Confidence's aboard... Rausgeber… yes, he’s insane and a monster, a power-obsessed buffoon. But you? You have plans to build, a monster only destroys, manipulates others to destroy in their name, to bring chaos and death. They only care about themselves. You, as a Sith... aspire to reach order in the Empire. How could you be a monster after this? And why do you want to be that at all costs?" she asked.

Evolution… It was Adrian's obsession to change, to be different. Sith… woman never understood why this is good. She just wanted to be human again, not what she was now, though she had already accepted that. The red-haired woman shook her head at the following as Telis stepped back, the darkness around them also collapsed. It no longer had to protect them from vulgar glances.

"You are wrong, you will always have free choice. You will never lose this, you'll never lose your free will, not until I can do something for it." she promised.

Ingrid hoped she wouldn't lose him either, now or never. However, she was afraid to let anyone get so close to her again. She also wanted to be with Adrian, she wanted to be with him together for centuries, everyone knows what ended. She needs to change Tubrok someday, to become a Sithspawn, or invent some kind of gene treatment to make his life longer. Last days of the Empire, construction... build… ambitions… the Empress saw only one opportunity.

"Don't be sad, Telis, the end is just a new beginning. Build something from the ruins and ashes, what is left behind, shape and form them according to your own will and ambitions." she smiled kindly at the man as she looked up at him from the lower rung of the stairs, after all he was the Lord of Ambition. "And you don't have to be alone, whatever you do, you can always count on me." she offered.

 

[Telis Taharin-Zambrano]

Telis met Ingrid L'lerim ‘s eyes as she addressed him with the same mixture of presence and absence as the day held both dark and light. He could hear the care in her words, and he allowed himself to be moved for a moment, to rather stay and actually feel what it was to not have a care. To dim the fire in him that spurred him to the dawn and instead, for a moment, believe he could be just somebody who existed to exist.

But in the absence of that flame, no matter how much comfort Ingrid brought him, the world still felt wrong. It was ambition that he lived for, the fire to create something that would last that had already consumed him. He would always be chasing the dawn, trying to claim the sun’s glory as his own and force the world to bask in the radiance of all that he was meant to be - he had played everything right, done everything correctly. He had survived the trials of his acolyte days, risen to the position of a Sith Lord and then even a pyramid of destruction. He fashioned armies that would conquer worlds, then spoke of unity and peace, and still his dream evaded him, like smoke in the wind.

He wished not to be dust, and eternity lasted all too short.

Telis took a step away, though as he did so he reached out to grab the Empress’s hands. He could hear in her voice the fear and pain, the sureness of destiny and the doubt that there was any course at all. Holding her hands tightly, his metal palm once more glinting in the dusk of the day, Telis’s expression didn’t seem cold, but simply neutral. It was an expression of was and was not. And in words as humble as cloth, he spoke, Ingrid’s final words echoing in his thoughts, ”That is why I must leave, Ingrid. I can never return to a life not Sith, but nor can I settle to be a king over ash and warring tribes. I must find where I can lay the seeds of all I’ll become… and that isn’t somewhere where I must hide who I am.”

He offered Ingrid’s hands a squeeze, turning his eyes to the temple once again and letting his grip drop, his one arm raising to fully plant the mask over his face, the other grabbing his staff once again. Of all the things he could say, he didn’t know what else to express. He didn’t comment on whether or not he would lose himself, but he couldn’t run from that question of why. Why he wished to give up everything to build a galaxy, why he was willing to throw everything away, all his emotions into that single, blazing torch. Breathing in deeply, he exhaled his thoughts out in a single, heavy sigh:

”I have been running to the dawn for all my life, trying to build something that will set all eyes forever onto me in glory and awe. I could claim that I wish for control, or order, or feth, even peace, but the truth is this: I wish to be praised. Not worshipped, not feared, but praised, and remembered. That is why I build, and that is why ambition burns me so.”

Even he could admit it was a little dramatic, but he was nothing if not theatrical. He turned his eyes away from the palace, back down to Ingrid and stepped down to meet her, standing on the same stair and meeting her eye-to-eye with simple calmness and ease in his features. Perhaps in another timeline he may have been a Jedi of some renown, or some earnest senator or any number of other things… but in this life he was far, far away from anything other than as he was now. But Ingrid brought him that peace that he couldn’t help but escape. She feared losing him, and in his eyes was one clear message:

This would not be the final parting glass.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: The Shaper's Palace, Corbos
Equipment: Hersir Imperial Uniform || Empyrean gland
Writing with: Telis Taharin-Zambrano

[ Dawn ] ​

The woman, after her words, watched the man in silence as she thought and pondered. She deliberately did not read from his body language, nor did she try; however she always did this, but not today. However, she did not look at anyone else. It hurt her to see the man like that because the Sith Lord was important to her. From the first moment, she felt like they had met and realized she would find a kindred soul in him. How much easier it was when she just had to play after Tacitus' orders. She felt tired, weak. At that moment, Adrian's absence was even more painful.

When Telis finally stepped back to her, Ingrid let the man take her hand. In this confused situation, the words of the Sith Lord involuntarily shattered and broke her heart even more. Now she was listening; she had no words anymore, she didn't know what to say. It was a failure for her not to be able to help someone who was important to her. And in this situation, Ingrid felt that she would need the man more than Telis would need her.

When the man let go of her hand, Ingrid's hand just fell to her side; she felt completely dead again, empty. The Empress needed all her strength not to tremble, not to hug herself around with her own arms, and not to start crying again. She looked into the man's eyes as Telis stepped down the stairs to where she was. Did the man resent her? Ingrid had everything Telis wanted; the man longed for it, the woman felt anxious and never wanted to, she wanted to remain a shadow, the man longed for radiance. They could not have been different in this.

"I wish I could give you what you want… I would be happy to give you everything what I got, all of my portion." she whispered hoarsely.

Because Telis wanted to, she understood exactly what the man was saying without words, even without reading in him. It didn't hurt any less. She sent a kind, cheerful smile to the man and her eyes glimmered with joy. A lie; she sobbed inside, but she didn’t want him to see reality as she danced on the brink of destruction and total collapse. He has to see only the support. What was true, no matter how much it hurt. She wanted Telis to be happy. She and her feelings didn't matter, never did. She had no right to ask the man to stay with her or to accidentally blackmail him with her own feelings.

"Then go and find this place! Find a place where you can carry out your dreams and ambitions, where you can be happy! I hope you will succeed. And if you ever need me, you know where to find me. I will not ask anything, I will listen and I will support you if you ever have to. Go, I can handle the new Emperor alone." she said kindly, caringly and still smiling.

Then Ingrid leaned even closer to the man and gave a kiss to the side of his helmet, then turned away from the man and headed for the palace alone. The smile disappeared from her lips, just like the gleam from her eyes as she turned away, and as soon as she entered the palace, where no one could see her anymore and she was alone, the Empress began to cry again.

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Shard, HPI Metropolis, Terarris
Equipment: Elegant attire | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Writing with: Telis Taharin-Zambrano

[ Never meant to belong ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ ​

It had been a little over a year since Ingrid was released from captivity. Over time, she regained her power and became even stronger. At the same time, she became even colder and more distant, more inaccessible to most of the people. By now she had fully realized that she was no human anymore, that she would not grow old and that everyone around her would die. True to her promise, she didn’t look for Telis, didn’t ask him, but she was always there when the Sith Lord needed her. Whether just for the sake of passion, or to talk or seek advice, or just for the company.

She always kept her promise, she was always there when needed, but she didn’t talk much about the relationship between the two of them, not even with the man, she only asked him if they were together, using the human form to avoid uncomfortable situations. Even kissing is cumbersome with his dragon appearance. If she asked something, it was more about Adrian because they taught the boy together. And now a meeting was timely again; which this time happened at Terraris because it was a neutral area.

Ingrid was waiting for the man for dinner or any other meal at her own HPI home. She was happy every time she could see Telis, but she also had a sense of lack. As for Ingrid's home, the floor below the top floor of the Shard was hers. The tower was so large that it already ended in space, so this half of the planet was visible from here. The apartment is modern, mainly in black and white colours, with elegant furniture and carpets. The place was high, with huge spacious spaces, rooms and restrained, elegant luxury. Standard HPI features.

Telis, when he arrives on the planet, is accompanied by two high-ranking Shadow Company soldiers to Ingrid's home. They took the elevator up to the right floor, but only Telis could get out of the elevator. Not far from there, Ingrid was waiting for her in the spacious living room, exceptionally not in a uniform, but in an elegant black dress, and her hair weren’t in the bun either. Through the windows, the night part of the planet was visible on one side, and the sun was just rising on the other. The living room had pleasant dim lights anyway.

"I'm happy to see you! I don't know why you came, so I decided on this dress instead of the uniform… but if you want, give me two minutes and I'll change." she offered.