he sighed and stood. "i guess its time i talk to mother..."

with that he headed off to find his mother, taking a few deep breaths to make his hunger subside.

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Holy wookie! That burly Sith guy was back again with Lady Jharmeen! How did he move so fast? He was bowing and saying something, and Panthar thought it best to not eavesdrop. He stopped, looked away, and rubbed the back of his neck. After a few seconds he decided his stomach was winning out, so he turned back to the buffet. Now the Sith was gone and Lady Jharmeen was left standing with a thoughtful, if somehow slightly stunned, look. Panthar continued quickly to her.

“Thank you, my good Lady. You have been such a kind host to us all! I did not wish to intrude, but perhaps later you might introduce me to your companion? I trust that person was the Lord Roan you mentioned last night?”

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He tried once again to move, no result. Then again… nothing! Panic reached from the depths of Phalomir’s spirit and tried to gain hold of it. Once again he tried to move… no! The weight of the empty grayness was crushing, fear washed over Phalomir now causing him to reach deeply into his own inner strengths for something… anything! There, what was this? Something crystal in shape, but surging with power, courage, strength! Yes, it was his! He seized it, drew from it, and burst forth an enormous surge of energy emanating from his spirit and into everything around him! Yes, the power he felt was tremendous! The grayness gave way to green spirals which in turn spun quickly and rotated into vibrant clouds of activity. He was free! He quickly soared out from the internals of the Revealer and into the library’s hall.

As he rotated to view the Revealer, a hazy set of words appeared within it. Phalomir studied them.

To the Dark we were led by Mir

Through the doors of time we escaped

To the Dark again by progeny

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Her permission. Recinis, the true Dark Lord, her own spouse... and by Sith law and code he was forced into this position.

Her lips quirked at the rapidity with which events progressed: the arrival of Shayla with her husband, and then the respectful query from her new guest acting as brief counterpoint to a strangely runaway destiny that it seemed nothing could now halt.

But she could halt this, at least for awhile. She could bring up the Stance of Denial, where verification of the authenticity of each side's claims would be checked into. That could drag on for months; indeed, Roan could have done the same in regard to her own challenge to Kreesha, but for some reason had refrained from doing so.

She blinked, considering dispassionately.

It was her husband. It was her nemesis. Both standing in the way of her own desires.

Her own desires....

A sudden shiver broke through that dispassion and she brought up her hands, rubbing her arms as a strange chill sank down from nowhere to settle upon her like a cloud. At length a voice came into that muffling fog; it was Shayla, respectfully saying... something.

Followed soon thereafter by Mr. Dantares... who was asking....

She jerked, shaking her head, turning her brilliant eyes from the young woman and back to Panthar. Her lips moved voicelessly.

Then she drew in a deep breath and steadied herself.

"No," she found herself saying in a whisper. The chill deepened.

"That is not Lord Roan...."

[ 06-30-2003 11:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Panthar felt a sudden chill, rising somewhere deep within him and rushing outward to his skin. A small wave of nausea crept over him and he bent his knees slightly. Then a sudden burst of icy pain ripped through his lower abdomen as if something inside of him was exploding. He could almost see a distended ripple shoot from his midriff and outward. And in an instant it was gone, allowing him to catch himself before falling.

He looked up to make apologies to the Lady Jharmeen, but saw that she herself was not quite well. She had grown suddenly pale and still, and the strange symbol on her head had faded to a dull gray. Within a second it was restored to its original violet and the Lady’s eyes snapped to meet with Panthar’s confused pair.

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...that seemed for one horrific moment to have ceased its life, becoming dead and dull on her forehead.

She staggered then as strength flooded back into it, as if her abilities had been restrained by some great dam and then let abruptly go. The titanic release filled her with its energies, but energies strangely different from what she was accustomed to. The usual fiery blasts were not rushing through her now, but rather something so cold it literally burned. That ice flowed through her very veins... and suddenly receded, warmed, and transformed into a more familiar heat.

She blinked, jerking wide eyes into Panthar's.

"Who are you...?" she gasped, doing all she could to keep from instinctively recoiling from his nearness to her.

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Panthar reached a hand to the Lady, who instantly recoiled.

“No, please!” he said. “I don’t know what happened! There was a rush of pain or something and then it was gone. Maybe it was that Rosy Eye!”

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Eye. Again the eye. Something about an Eye, something unfamiliar to her, this was true indeed. For all the fact that she wore the Rune of the All upon her forehead, for all the fact that she had devoted the last three years of her life to the Sith, had vowed her entire future as being part and parcel with them, for all the teachings Aelvedaar had provided her with...

...she had never heard of such a thing.

Yet there was something about this that was somehow strangely familiar. Indeed, this needed further investigation.

She drew in another steadying breath, straightened, and smoothed her hair, then made a careful adjustment to her hood. She ended her small ministrations by smoothing the front of her cloak, taking care to not rip it with the Claw affixed to her right forefinger.

"You must forgive me, Mr. Dantares," she finally spoke, reaching out to lightly touch his forearm and then letting her hand drop to its customary place in front of her.

"This has been an eventful night, followed by a morning equally as surprising... and now this. Perhaps you can reveal a bit more to me about this Eye of which you speak, as well as this... Phalomir. As you have so astutely noticed, I am not Sith by blood and have yet to learn of all its history."

She fell silent with that and turned to the buffet, there to bypass entirely the groaning plates of food and take up a hefty goblet of Sith brandy instead.

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“Who was Mir?”, he thought.

The Revealer immediately brought words forth. Mir: Chief Attendant and Counsel to Dark Lord Runamis of the Warriors, later Dark Lord of the Warriors himself.

“Trace for me the progeny line of Mir,” he thought.

The Revealer instantly flashed name after name, tracing down the lineage of Mir. Phalomir counted several hundred years, giving up as the years fell into the thousands. It slowed as it passed through time, finally resting on a single word hovering in the misty swirls: Roan

A startled cry burst forth from the Keeper who had just re-entered the room.

[ 07-01-2003 12:16 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by patternghost ]

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That aught to break the tension a little bit!

"It had been long since we last ate. Perhaps we should find ourselves some sustinance. Eating may also clear our heads, and loosen some of the tension."

I no sooner finished my statement when an escort arrived to motion us into the Dining hall.

The Sith must have great hearing! I thought.

We were lead through the connecting door and into the Dining Hall, which was bit by bit beginning to bustle with activity. The day had obviously started here on K'eel Doba.

As we entered the Grand Dining hall, I could smell the food from outside the closed doors.

My stomach growled in protest again. As if to say I smell food. What the hell are you waiting for. Go eat!

The doors were opened and we were ushered in. I immediatly noticed Shayla and her significant other. I waved in thier general direction.

I asked the escort, "May we be seated with that party over there?"

[ 07-01-2003 12:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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...a flash of a dagger descending under the glow of something distinctly Red...

Shayla's eyes widened, and she directed an unreadable expression at Dantares, considering whether she should share her vision with any of these present.

But it was so vague...

...and after the way Dantares had acted the evening before, she didn't know if she should trust him...

Shaking herself into reality, also very curious as to who this Sith was that spoke of reclaiming titles and such, Shayla focused on all that was occurring, only taking a small portion from the buffet on which to eat. Beside her a quiet and watchful Erik did much the same, leading her then to join the others. Shayla wondered if all this talk about an Eye was linked to her dream...

...or if perhaps there was more yet to come. Either way, Shayla still had the distinct feeling, vague though it was, that something was just not right...

[ 07-01-2003 06:41 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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“Well,” said Panthar. “Since we’re all here, I suppose I owe an explanation to many things. I gotta tell you, this is going to sound very strange when I put it to words.”

The others looked at Panthar, Shayla curiously, Erik coldly, and Jharmeen expectantly.

“I, uh, am an archeologist. I was digging at a site on Agamar, where I had to reason to believe the ruins of an ancient temple of some sort that had been built into a mountain. We definitely found something, and once we had cleared the rocks blocking the cave I led a small group in to explore. We found several chambers, loads of figurines and artifacts, and ancient skeletons. I pressed on, and found another sealed chamber. It took a while, but we managed to move enough stones to gain passage.”

Panthar put down his fork.

“There was a single skeleton inside. That’s all. Well, not all. Inside the skeleton, in the chest cavity, was a crystal. It was enormous, beautiful… it glowed softly when I approached… I just had to touch it… so I did. I remember a bright light, the sounds of crumbling rock, and voices. But this is where the story gets strange…”

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I have to tell her this... But i dont want to interupt.... Oh.... I hate this... What if... What if something bad happens?

then suddenly he had a slight realization, and crept out along his link with her. "Mother. when you time there is something of great importance i have to tell you... Please... When your done here come talk to me... Its important!

Then he turned and as quickly as he had come he left, finding his way to a little room, where he sat in wait.

"jharu...Within the library The warning i issued did indeed come forth... That of another plane wishes to speak..."

He felt the Elressar's silent will come into his mind, and he nodded slowly.

Ok... I can talk to him now if he wants to...

As the thought finished he could feel his swords energies reaching out to the spirit that had been within the library, calling, speaking... Though he was not sure what was said...

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Thus it was that she in turn clearly read the message coming in from Elresar concerning...

A being from a higher plane? Curiouser and curiouser....

She sent a whisper along the link into Jharu's mind.

"I shall come to you soon, my child, that you might divulge to me that which has sent you to me this morning. Or perhaps... a question, was it not? I will wait until later in the day for this; there is much happening here in Phrinnchatka which unfortunately at the moment must take full command of my attention. I will contact you later, son."

With that she quieted, leaving that tendril linked silently into her son, and returned her focus to that which the somewhat nervous Panthar was about to reveal. Her calm aspect began to deteriorate somewhat as, very carefully, he began explaining his experience at the site he had uncovered. What he spoke of was disturbingly similar to something she herself couldn't quite remember.

A sealed chamber in solid rock. A skeleton... and a crystal. A white flash in response to human touch....

She couldn't help the frown which now came to her face, nor the shudder which coursed through her slender body.

A flash of light....

One hand raised to the Glyph on her forehead, which unconsciously was beginning to escalate a bit up the spectrum, now shining with brilliant blue-white energies becoming extremely difficult to look upon.

((OOC: Thread is getting too long, so please continue it in ...and Whether Nek's Have Wings in the "Sith/Jedi" forums, thank you.))

[ 07-01-2003 01:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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