The halfling crept, slithered, and occasionally flung herself through the lush canopy of the Korris'ian forest, fleeing the ship and those who had brought her here, not really noting them too much any more. Strangely they had become reduced in importance, unnecessary to her, unneeded. She could survive here alone if that was S'slaan's will, and not only simply knew it but felt the simple truth of it in the very depths of her bones.

But yet, she knew she would not be alone.

It was that innate knowledge, that wild song raised to triumphant crescendo in her blood, that had sent her fleeing the cold metal of machinations, and out to meet that which she knew she would. Which she knew she needed.

And strangely enough, all this certainty carried along with it the biggest -- if only -- unknown she had ever experienced in her young life.

From far behind a discordant sound suddenly came into her ears: the harsh skritch of metal meeting metal as the hatch of the ship she was fleeing opened yet again. She came to a sudden and impossible halt, flattening against the branch she had paused upon, willing her body to become part and parcel with the wondrous beauty of the wild, wild tree.

Something strange began to insinuate itself amidst the growls and hisses that had come from nowhere to fill her heart, her soul... her mind. Words:

"The one cannot find me, the one mustn't hear me; the other must remain unblemished..."

She blinked in surprise, wondering at the strangeness of it all. Not at the meaning of the words... but at the very sound of them in her mind. They seemed so suddenly...

Alien.

She growled, hunkered more flatly against the branch that it would hide her from the one whom she knew was approaching, and allowed her being to become absolutely, positively and completely...

Alive.

[ 11-14-2010 12:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

But she had not gone far, he could sense it. Something in the air called to him, filling his senses with the world around him, and made him feel alert and aware. It was a keen, real thing.

He lowered to one knee and placed his palm on the ground. The grass felt good. He could sense its life through his own skin – blades of green life that flowed with the same essence that connected him to the planet. It flowed through the grass and into the ground, into the roots of the trees, the air surrounding them… into the very insects, the birds, the animals.

This was his home now, his true home. He was Dark Lord here.

He slowed his breathing and listened. Slowly, very slowly, the sounds of his own body – his heard, his lungs, became muted from the sounds of his world. He listened carefully for that which did not belong. A humming, gentle but present – the ship. Heartbeats, two, Sith… and one other…. Elsewhere… there!

Phalomir’s head jerked to the trees, away from the clearing the ship had created. She was there, near, hiding.

“ShaRhylla!” he called, rising. “Wait!” He then began to run for where he felt her.

--------------------

"No-o-oo!" she shrieked, the word bursting from her more howl than speech, defiant anger and affrontery carried upon its quaking back. The sound carried far through the canopy, and below; off into all directions, sending distant wildlife thrashing and yowling and flapping in turn.

And something else...

She tensed, crouched, and then stood, lithe and limber at eighty feet above the forest floor, the move as easy and natural as if she was walking upon the deck of her own ship.

"NO!"

From somewhere far off, there came an icily piercing yowl. It arrowed through the air, cutting trees in its path, shooting straight into her ears, her heart.

Her soul.

Impossibly, her eyes darkened further. Her lips curled back, exposing her gleaming fangs; her fingers likewise curled, tensely arched daggers projected toward that fearsome unknown.

Yet, it was known to her, more than known, recognized; it was oh so achingly needed...

"Yes-ss-sss..."

The incongruous whisper trickled from her lips and she whirled, the oncoming Phalomir as nothing to her, nothing but a mote of life in a world so overwhelmingly rife with such. With no further thought she leapt, landed on a nearby branch, and from there leapt again, bounding from tree to tree, sometimes grasping slenderer branches to swing upon for further momentum, but keeping forward, keeping to her path...

Keeping to the forest, the shadowed canopy, and the destiny.

--------------------

She kept moving, seemingly oblivious to his presence. Phalomir followed below the trees, watching and listening. He was intent upon his quarry and moved quickly through the dense underbrush.

Then he heard it. Rather, he felt it. His planet spoke to him, indeed, but there was something else. A strange presence, or power, dwelling in the distance, calling out… and ShaRhylla was answering. He felt it though, felt its draw, and a small, very small part of him wanted to answer.

But another feeling drew him, and he knew what it was. And he had a feeling that both he and ShaRhylla were headed to the same destination.

But for very different reasons.

--------------------

And then came the yowl, although now it was not so much shriek as somehow a welcome...

With an answering yowl of her own she leapt down from the tree, the All inherent within her keeping her from harm, allowing her to land lightly upon the duff of the gloomy forest floor. There she stood, her heart pounding, the Tooth she had taken suddenly in her hand, her hair tumbling wildly about as she jerked her head this way and that, seeking, searching...

Until it came into view. No... she came into view.

Over two meters at the shoulder, nearly four from nose to tail-tip, the tuk'ata was a marvel of night and day. The deepest of dusky blues in color, she sported myriad patchy spots in hues of ivory and silver, iron and gold along her back, shoulders and hips. Stripes wound down her powerfully muscled legs; her nearly transparent, deceptively soft-looking claws seemed the size of a rancor's; her pupilless deep violet eyes stared into the halfling's own bi-colored pair.

For a moment they both paused, staring each other, eye to eye, eye for eye; then from the shadows came another roar and a bounding shape launched itself into their midst.

Another tuk'ata, one older by the size of it, and distinctively male. It roared a challenge that echoed to the sky, shattering the relative quiet of the forest and utterly masking the small sounds of running footsteps now coming up behind her.

--------------------

The Master woke, his head splitting. He raised a bloody hand to his temple and felt a sticky wet glob there. The dark one had done much damage to him, and although he had been able to heal himself somewhat, the Master still had much work to do.

His powers were in flux. He had felt the return of his connection with Sith magick, and with the All, but there was a problem. He could not call forth the powers at his will, not yet. It was there, yes, but full mastery was just out of his grasp.

“What did my son do to me?” he said out loud. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, and sleep overtook him.

---

Several hours later he woke again.

His vision was blurred and his mind drifted, and awareness was slow in returning. He looked up and saw blackness. He turned to his left and saw more of the same. He felt around with his hands and felt nothing, yet he seemed to be lying on something firm. He shifted his weight and the firm shifted with him.

He sat up slowly and looked again, and groaned.

“The Elseness,” he sighed.

---

Hours later the Master had stood on the nothingness that still provided a firm foothold. It was a strong sensation. He could take steps and move as if on ground, but like a non-dimensional painting he could change direction and angle and still fell the same ground. He walked this way for another hour, playing with the angles.

After a while he sat and looked about again. Everything around him was dark. No, not dark. That would imply an absence of light – this was not even so simple. It was worse, much worse.

But not simply beasts.

A snarling smile crossed Phalomir’s lips as he immediately recognized his own clan mate – the Lord of the Temple pride, Md'diffnnd.

A sudden understanding came to him, and Phalomir crouched and waited.

--------------------

The male tuk'ata roared another challenge.

The dusky female flattened her ears, refusing to back down, and roared defiantly in turn. This was followed by yet another bestial return, but this time with the big male taking a threatening step forward. The female refused to back down, merely hunkered lower to the ground more closely, protecting her belly as she crouched in preparedness of anything. Another roar bellowed forth from her maw.

Yet another earth-shattering bellow from the male, yet another step taken...

...and the halfling was suddenly there, suddenly between them with Tooth in hand, her knees bent and her arms out somewhat to the sides as jutting forth her chin she in turn added her own defiant brand of roar into the growing melee.

It was directed toward the big male.

[ 11-24-2010 11:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

His breath was matched with Md’diffnnd, a raspy sneer that whispered its warning to the wind. Without thinking, he matched the roar from his clan mate as it called a warning to the interfering Halfling.

Phalomir then crouched, poised, his eyes fixed upon ShaRhylla.

--------------------

The Master awoke.

His eyelids ached as he blinked his eyes against the darkness. His mind ached as well, and a deep subdued pain throbbed gently within his body. He closed his eyes once more.

He knew where he was and it brought him no joy. He had opened a portal to this place, using all but his last remaining strength and power. The last bit was used to hurl large stones at his intended prey – his own son. Or rather, the shell that was his son, now home to the entity that believed it ruled the Darker Realms.

He had meant to flatten that body and shove it into this dimension of non-existence. But instead he now found himself here, floating in a void yet lying on what seemed to be solid ground. Yet he knew that if began to walk then the space beneath his feet would be solid also. It was a confusing state of being and he preferred now to not even look.

His initial battle with the son-darkness thing had left him badly beaten and on the verge of death. He had flung great bolts of energy at the Phalomir-thing, used every ounce of his cunning, and defended himself until he succumbed to the power of that darkness. But what did he expect? He was battling the god of that realm within its realm. Once his defenses were cracked, the Master was beaten into a bloody pulp, kept alive only by sheer force of will and the powers he still possessed.

But then the All had left him. Suddenly, inexplicably, it just… vanished. He felt his life slipping away then, lying on the black desert turf in the shadows of the Dark Tower. Even his connection to the Sith, his magick, was not responding. It was only the aid of an unlikely ally that saved him. And now he wished that winged demon the best of luck as it plotted its own course for the future.

As for the Master, well, he had plenty of time to think of what to do.

Or did he? What would happen now, here in the Elseness, if he passed into oblivion? Would his soul wander here for eternity?

No, no sense in that kind of thought. He was alive, barely. Yes, he had felt his magick some back to him shortly before the return of the Phalomir-thing. There was even a small connection back with the All, although it was weak and he could not now pull any response from it. So he had healed himself the best he could using his magick, but even that was not very much before the sound of his son had interrupted him. His son, and someone else… who had he seen there? Ah, yes, the blonde woman, Shayla. She had been corrupted her as well. Ah well, at least her suffering would be short in comparison.

He forced his eyes to open. This would not be an eternal pity party. Even if his connection to the All was too weak to open a portal out of this forsaken place, he could still move enough to wander. There were holes, after all. Few and far between, yes, but they were there. It was not his first time in the Elseness, nor was it likely to be his last. Back in the day, yes, when he was Master to Thoran, and even before when he commanded legions, he used this place well.

And so he walked.

And walked.

And when he tired of walking, he floated. Time passed, how much he could not tell. Time passed differently here, it must. But did moments here equal years on the prime realm? Or was it the opposite, or equal? It did not matter, this place was without time. Yet, despite of that, his body still grew weary, his hunger still grew, and his pain intensified. Internal injuries, no doubt. And he was still too weak in spirit to even continue healing through Sith magick. No, he would either find a way out or die here.

No one knew when or how the tradition had actually begun, but through the millennia of their power it had segued from mere tradition to something embedded in their very lives, their very beings, their very souls. Perhaps it had something to do with the magick that came to them so naturally, perhaps it was that aspect of said magick that allowed those privileged few of them to discover and then touch upon the wonder of the True Power of the Universe.

Whatever it's origins, it now sang full-bore through ShaRhylla's blood, blanking her to everything and everyone but the One who had called out to her over the Void, the One who had come to her, responding to her coming, willing to join with her mind to mind and soul to soul.

The One who now bid her to Hunt...

Her eyes widened, then darkened as the first encroaching tendrils of the tuk'ata's mentality attempted to gain entry into her thoughts. She welcomed it, tried to open her mind to it, but all she received in turn was a bundle of snarls and yowls entwined with a blood thirst so deep as to bring physical pain with it.

This was the Way, the Way of Things. It was through this almost supernatural bond that their inherent magicks could blossom to full strength, a coming of age, if you will. But the Two would not become One until the Prey bonded them in Blood.

And now the Prey had come...

So she crouched further, her Tooth in one hand, her sword swiftly yanked to find a home in the other. Off to one side she sensed the female tuk'ata making herself invisible, slinking and circling and doing what came natural to tuk'atas that their chosen prey would succumb more easily to the pair of them.

Only this pair was a bit different. That the halfling yet had sense enough to realize. The big male tuk'ata was older, and by that weaker, albeit that by his age he carried the cunning of years of experience upon his back. But the female was young and lithe and strong in her own right; the male therefore was not the first prey to attack.

But the towering Sith...

A cold smile spread across ShaRhylla's face as her initial animosity toward Phalomir came flooding into every cell of her body. It boosted her physical senses; she could see the movement of his chest with every beat of his heart, hear those beats as loud as thunder in the night; the Sword and Tooth in her hands felt as hot as vengeance, cold as death.

Her smile flickered; she knew the tuk'ata was in place.

Then she straightened fully, and shrieked full challenge to the towering Dark Lord, willing him to make the first, fatal move in attacking her.

[ 12-17-2010 12:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

It was only the grunt from the tuk’ata next to him that kept Phalomir from leaping forward, aimed at the halfling’s throat. An image then burned its way into Phalomir’s mind – a familiar place, and a sudden urgency to be there. To lead the way there.

Half smiling, half sneering, Phalomir let out a savage cry and jumped quickly to the back of the massive beast. It spun on its heels and ran swiftly into the forest, leaving a trailing scent of freedom and challenge.

--------------------

Ahead of her branches of green beckoned with a beguiling sway, the air filled with the scent of the Sith and his Beast. Both filled her being with heady desire, the desire to attack, to rend and tear and kill, to let the life's blood flow back into the forest now giving her strength to follow.

Then something knocked her to the ground in a mighty, unexpected rush of power.

She rolled, thrashing to gain her feet, screaming in further outrage, and came to a halt against a heavily barked tree. Her Tooth flashed to her hand as she likewise flashed to her feet, seeking that which dared detain her on her quest. And it was only gradually that the bloodlust drew away its filming curtain, allowing her to see...

The female tuk'ata, standing some six meters from her. The great head was hanging low, the deep violet eyes blazing a warning that the mental efforts of the animal could not yet portray to her in words.

ShaRhylla understood.

"There is Prey elsewhere, my would-be companion. Let us seek it out."

And there is a later time and place for that One...

With that she ran to where the tuk'ata quietly stood, and leapt atop it's broad back. The great creature's snarling warning to the creatures of the woods was joined by ShaRhylla's as together they bounded off amidst the trees, their rising, conjoined song only continuing the magickal rite that, once blooded, would entwine their souls together forever as one.

[ 12-17-2010 04:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

Or so the Master thought he perceived. Time was a strange thing to him now, ironic since time was his tool for so long. He sat in the nothing that was and contemplated.

One thought that crossed his mind was the realization that he could no longer feel his legs. He reached a hand down to verify that they were indeed there, but the nerves were not sending impulses to his brain.

I am shutting down, he thought. For too long the powers within me have kept me whole, and now even that is failing.

And that was the last thought for quite some time from the broken being that floated in the bleak emptiness.

When at last he stirred once more, all that moved was a single eyelid. It fluttered, then closed, then open slowly. A strange cloudy wave swam in the inky darkness, and he blinked again to clear the image.

Yes, there was something. Very far away from the looks of it, but a small tiny speck of light exclaimed its existence in the nether reaches of the nothing. He smiled a bit at that, for now he no longer felt alone.

He call this dot “Metna” – a word for friend that he had picked up from some language long ago. He had no reason to use that word for a very long time. Truly, who in his life could he call “friend”? Who could possibly trust him, or even take the time to listen? Someone must, though, for he had knowledge that must be handed down. He had been so wrong, so wrong.

My dear son, forgive me.

Blackness overtook him once more.

When at last he opened an eye again he could feel nothing but his face. He winced at this, then relished in that bit of sensation. No, wait, one arm still functioned. Barely, slowly, but there. It took several tries but he eventually brought his hand to his face and let it rest there. It would not be long.

Everything ends. Everything has its time. This was his.

He scanned his eye for Metna, and could not locate it. Either he had drifted away from it or had turned in the other direction. He despaired at this and felt loneliness beset him once more.

But wait, there was something. Not Metna, no, but something. An odd sort of disturbance in the blackness before him, a sort of rippling.

Hope returned, and he forced his arm downward before him. He reached for the ripples, but he drew no closer. He growled and moved his fingers, trying to crawl though the emptiness. Slowly, very slowly, he moved forward.

And so inch by inch he made his way to the rippling space. When he reached it, however, he paused. Such holes led out of this realm, to be certain, but to where? Or more precisely, to when? There was a time in his life when he could know such things, even call them forth. But now he could not call upon this portal to take him where he desired. Instead, it seemed to call to him somehow. Trust me, it seemed to say.

He realized that his mind must be shutting down with the rest of his body. There was no more discussion, no more contemplation. It was go through or face certain death. It was time to trust.

He went through.

(((The Master goes to "Event Horizon" in the Complete SW Universe forums)))

Perhaps a result of divergent evolution, it looked like a rancor. The only difference was that, evolving to live in a thick jungle, it was somewhat smaller, about the height of a young ronto. But that didn't make it's claws any less sharp, nor it's fangs any less lethal. It crouched amidst the duff, scattering lesser animals with yet another roar, then launched itself at the two who had so fool-hardily come beneath it's tree.

As if joined mind to mind, a feat not yet quite accomplished, ShaRhylla waited with her mount. Then at the seemingly last instant she dived over it's nose, her weapons flashing into her hands, while the tuk'ata let loose a yowl of its own and leapt sideways into the jungle. Freed now of the halfling, it proceeded to quickly circle around, aiming to come up behind the beast, who well aware of this fact now began turning in place, keen ears cocked to follow the crashing sounds the tuk'ata was making.

This was all ShaRhylla needed. Ducking her head so as to land on her shoulder, she rolled and came quickly to her feet, crouching in assessment, and ready to attack.

The opportunity came sooner than she'd thought, for in turning the beast unwittingly left it's left side briefly open, neck unprotected, it's claws aiming outward toward the noisy greenery where the tuk'ata was still crashing about. The halfling smiled, exposing her fangs, and leapt again, sword leading the way, Tooth held cautiously back should it be needed for the killing blow, or to defend herself.

The creature heard her coming, turned it's head, one great paw lashing toward her...

...when that power inherent to her, that wonder of the All, seemed to give sentience to her very feet as the trajectory of her launch landed one dainty foot upon the creature's very arm...

...from which she launched herself yet again, ducking the instinctive blow it lashed out, balancing skillfully in the manner only learned at the feet of the Dark Lord of the Warriors, and ended her leap with her sword embedded to the hilt in the beast's throat.

It gargled a roar of pain and startlement, which called forth a snarling, raging tuk'ata. The dusky female now launched herself in turn, her great fangs finding purchase in the beast's other arm and biting there deeply into the bone, severing arteries and nerves and rendering the appendage generally useless.

One arm now dangling, life's blood spurting about the embedded sword, the creature whirled dizzily, it's good arm lashing out, the overwhelming stench of its decay-ridden breath filling the forest with the smell of promising death. But the pair were not yet finished; letting loose the howl of the warrior, ShaRhylla leapt upon the back of the tuk'ata once again, who then in one mighty leap leapt atop the head of the rancor-like beast.

She bent her head down, sank her fangs fully into the skull, while ShaRhylla leaned outward and downward with the Tooth, plunging it into the nearest eye, grinding it in, popping the soft tissues, sending ichor spurting until it broke through the bony socket beyond to join the tuk'ata's teeth in the flesh of the brain.

The beast stiffened, gargling, then snapping it's growl off in mid-roar it simply fell to the ground, where it lay jerking spasmodically.

The tuk'ata leapt from it's head just before impact, and came to a light halt amidst the shadows where the two of them, True Hunting Pair now, watched the death throes of the beast. When they finally stilled ShaRhylla went to it, and with her Tooth dug out it's longest fang, and cut off it's longest claw. These she placed in her belt before turning back to the tuk'ata.

The look in the deep violet eyes was suddenly sentient, and hesitant words came softly into her head.

"Now together we are, in kind running, in the blood-call going, going. Seek ye other, now so hungry; together only shall we do."

The halfling smiled, her eyes darkening as she licked the blood of the beast from her Tooth while holding the sword down to her Blood Hunt Companion that she might do the same.

"Yes," she whispered, her voice soft and diabolical. All thought of love, or Rykounagin, of any budding alliance, of anything most humans would term good had disappeared, lost to the hunt, lost to the blood. Lost too, for there was no one there to bring them back.

She patted the tuk'ata, closed her eyes and let the animal finish it's speech.

"Yours are we and mine is ours. Together as One, in blood hunting, in life keeping, in death finding, go--"

There was a pause, as if the animal was seeking something in her very brain.

"...go Sha- ShaRheelya and T'Karryn'd."

With that T'Karryn'd crouched that the halfling could mount her. Then turning away from the dead hulk she flashed off into the jungle, heading back the way they had come, and after a bit came upon the lingering trail of the old, male tuk'ata.

And followed it.

[ 12-21-2010 12:38 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

Though broken and overrun with vines, the Temple still towered from the jungle and cast a shadow upon all around it. It still possessed great wonders inside, and something from within called to him. He smiled and looked to his companion, then turned back to face the jungle and let loose with a mighty cry into the dark. His hunt companion joined in the call, then both turned again and entered the Temple.

--------------------

Though Daughter of the Dark Lord of the Sith she might be, daughter of the Dark Lady who gave unto her the utter impossibility that was The All... she couldn't help it.

She not only could not help it, she was quite helpless before it.

It crept into her ears, her nostrils flared to receive it, it flowed insidiously into her blood, her very cells, and quite easily took over whatever common sense she might command, whatever recognition she might acquiesce.

The Call. The Bonding. The Heat, The Panting, The Seeking, That-Which-Must-Be-Fulfilled...

All link to reality disappeared as she became One with her Companion, with the One who would later become her Guardian, her life's bond, her otherness...

... but who now for the moment, sans any understanding on her own part, could be nothing more than pure animal instinct.

Unable to withstand the onslaught of pure animal being, she gave in before it's pressure. Atop the easily loping tuk'ata, she threw back her head, her tresses flying before a wind of their own making, and let loose all that was trapped within her.

Let loose an animalistic, primal scream.

Beneath her slight figure, the muscles of T'Karryn'd rippled as if momentarily offended; then, almost as if in acceptance of the act, they hardened and the darkling creature leapt on.

On and on, following the scent, that of the Old One and the One who rode it's back; both were old, old... easy prey... yet prey to be dealt with in an understanding of respect, if not leniency...

ShaRhylla was almost tossed from the back of her young but powerful mount as the tuk'ata, with a silent scream of defiance, brought itself to a sliding stop amidst the duff of the forest floor. Before them...

A building. Old it was, creaked with age, lined with cracks brought upon it's facade by the vagaries of time, of creep, of...

Of.

They skidded to a halt, and stood panting in anticipation. Before them, the footprints of the Elder tuk'ata padded ahead, up to an ancient arched doorway, only to disappear.

ShaRhylla was off her mount in an instant, the Tooth she had appropriated in one hand even as the other patted T'Karyn'd with growing affection.

"Come; they have gone hither, to try to hide from us," she whispered into the ears of her personal Beast. Then she moved forward, her Blood Hunt Companion seeking to adhere physically to her side, and entered into the strange Temple she would not admit even to herself that sent her very blood to running icy cold.

[ 01-07-2011 12:22 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

--------------------

That rang true to him as an imperative. The Sith were growing weaker each day -- the Warriors and Sorcerors each provided their own strength to the Sith, but they served at opposite ends of the spectrum. It was the Armorers who brought unity and real strength to the race as a whole. It was from this Clan that the others grew.

Is that what had brought him here? Is that why Md'diffnnd had sought him and carried him to this place? And what even now guided his steps as he descended into the darker levels of the Temple?

As the pair walked – Dark Lord and his companion tuk’ata – the orbs mounted into the walls flared into life and then diminished as they passed. He quickened his pace, knowing that ShaRhylla would soon follow – the same strange pull towards the underground of the Temple told him also of this.

They walked for what seemed an eternity, until their progress was halted by a jumble of stones that had fallen from the ceiling. Phalomir narrowed his eyes and threw his hands forward. His confidence in his ability fueled the magick within him and the stones began to glow, first a deep crimson and quickly turning to a bright shimmering red. The tuk’ata turned his head from the light and the heat, then Phalomir pushed forward with his hands. The glowing stones slowly oozed together and flowed into the hallway ahead. The hot material seeped into cracks and pores and spread further into the hall. Phalomir then changed the position of his hands and blew a cool breath. The heat diminished quickly, leaving behind a smooth walkway that raised the floor by half a meter.

Phalomir smiled and continued down the hallway, the floor still warm and the air filled with the smell of his endeavors.

The hallway led further and then ended at a great stone door. It would take great effort, but he knew he would open this door, and beyond it he would learn the truth. And, he felt, he would tell it to ShaRhylla.

--------------------

ShaRhylla neverminded this. For while she felt herself the superior in the approaching battle, she was far from underestimating her adversary.

He knows we are following; I know he can hear us. All the more reason to change the approach; let the enemy think you are doing one thing, then do its opposite. Classic warfare strategy, taught to her by her beloved father, Dark Lord Roan.

But she did not adhere to this teaching so much that when she came upon the elevated walkway Phalomir had created she simply leapt atop it to continue her hunt. Rather, she came to a sudden halt in front of it; then with but the barest hesitation closed her eyes, laid back her head, and demanded.

In an instant, the walkway, the tumbled stones over which it was elevated, vanished. In their place, the flagstones of the Temple floor were restored to their ancient beauty, the ones overhead and arching down to the corridor walls repaired.

ShaRhylla slit her eyes in satisfaction of her prowess, and continued. It did not take her long to come to where Phalomir and his tuk'ata were standing, in front of a great, closed door.

"Hello," she said simply, shifting her body slightly to place her feet in warrior's stance, that she would be able to leap in any direction at the slightest provocation. For a moment she retained her grip on the Tooth; then with the tiniest of smiles curling her lips she sheathed it.

T'Karryn'd crouched at her side, her adamantine eyes glued on the form of the male tuk'ata, and with her new-found Companion simply waited.

--------------------

“You have bonded with a worthy hunt mate,” he said to the tuk’ata. “You have come to finish your hunt, but it will not end here. I am Dark Lord, and we stand within my Temple. Your challenge will come, but it will not be on this day.”

Phalomir’s words echoed down the long corridor as his eis eyes shifted to ShaRhylla. Their eyes met and held there for several seconds.

“This door holds a secret,” he said at last. “I have heard the Temple calling to me, and to you. We were brought here, ShaRhylla, both of us, so we may learn a truth. Do you join me in this discovery, or do you issue your challenge to me now?”

He then waited, poised.

[ 01-17-2011 03:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

--------------------

Here be I and I the we-ness,
To the seeking we-ness now be
Not the finding in the blooding,
Lay I lowly in the hunt.

This was her hunt! This was her chosen victim! By methodology long revered by her clan, this was the realization that had suddenly come to her, there in the ship, when the madness of the Blood Hunt first began to descend upon her, the means by which she could finally rid herself of an adversary that, unbeknownst to her, she had no real clue why she hated as she did.

She only knew that he had to die...

But not by her hand alone. Not within the walls of his own Temple, this she begrudged him. Not without the assistance, and by that assistance the approval, of her new Blood Hunt Companion. With the tuk'ata's help the act would be a Hunt, one to further bond their budding connection.

Without her, however, it would be nothing but murder. And one actually beneath the questionable honor of the halfling, for it would not be an action perpetrated that she herself could gain Ladyship of the Armorers; she cared not one whit for the title.

Murder it would be. Her days of murder for its sake alone were gone, yanked from her being that day in the Darker Realms when her mother came, tore out every speck of evil Entaris had entwined with her being, and used it to stop him, and to save her from a fate of her own making.

She stood motionless for a moment, seeing red, her hands clenching into fists of anger. Then her stance softened the slightest, her arms dropped to her sides, and the form of Lord Phalomir swam into focus along with that of his own Blood Hunt Companion, who looked ready to move out at his slightest command.

She huffed a snort of derision, derision for the apparent betrayal of T'Karryn'd, and for herself for not thinking things through. For quite obviously the path she had tried to follow was anathematic to Sith honor and beliefs; perhaps it would be something she would regret somewhere down the road of her life.

That road will be a long one! she swore silently to herself, even as her eyes lit with another idea. For what had he just said? There was a truth waiting to be revealed to the two of them. Maybe this truth would help her rid herself of him at a later date; maybe this truth was something to demean him and place her on a pedestal over him; how delicious, that such a thing would happen in his very own Temple!

She softened further, but remained alert, ready for the slightest deception. At her side, T'Karryn'd raised her head, looked over toward her, and laced a single face-tendril about her arm.

She kept her gaze pinned on Phalomir.

"What secret?" she finally asked.

"And what truth?"

[ 01-17-2011 04:00 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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“That is indeed the question of the day,” he said. “I do not know what lies beyond this door, but a voice in the wind has called med here to discover it. But the door would not open for me, confirming what I suspected. This message is for both of us, and now that you are here…”

Phalomir turned to face the door, pausing only a second. He half expected ShaRhylla to rush him, but he counted on both the honor of her hunt mate and her own curiosity. He then stepped forward and stood before the door. He reached out and grasped the large handle and pulled.

The door creaked on its massive hinges and swung towards him. Phalomir stepped backwards and finished opening the door.

The room inside was dimly lit. A lone, blue glow came from the darkness, a small ball of hazy light. Phalomir glanced at ShaRhylla and turned back to the doorway.

The glow intensified as they watched, then warped into a cloud. It twirled and whirled, then twisted as if to take shape. It formed arms, then legs, then a head. Tendrils of blue smoke reached upward from the head and into large horns. In a moment Phalomir realized the haze was forming into an all too familiar shape.

“Roan,” Phalomir whispered. “It is Roan.”

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All anger, whether genuine or not, dropped from the halfling's haughty facade like a stone as impulse lent wings to her feet and she exploded from her position beside the still quiet T'Karynn'd. She barreled into Phalomir, shoving at him with both hands to propel herself to where she could get a better look.

Which was directly in front of the ghostly blue image of her father...

Who threw back his head, and laughed.

"Father!" she burst out, reaching out with both arms but froze when quite suddenly the image grew more indistinct, muzzier, wavery as though being seen through water, water that grew deeper and deeper until the image itself was lost, leaving nothing but that weird blueish glow behind. She stood open-mouthed, her hands outstretched; from behind, her Blood Hunt Companion let forth a whine of concern and bounded to her side.

"No," she whimpered, letting her hands drop as the glow seemed to dim...

Only to brighten, with almost vicious rapidity. Brighter and brighter it became, slamming up the scale of resolution until she was staring at what seemed to be a moon, brilliant in its fullness.

Then that moon wavered, strengthened, and slowly segued into yet another image...

Again it was her father, but one a poor shade of the one just revealed to them. Now he hung shackled to a noisome wall, great streaks of ichor mixing with his still-oozing magenta blood. His mouth hung slackly, revealing empty sockets where his fangs had been. His horns likewise had been hacked off at the base.

And his eyes...

ShaRhylla's hands flew to her mouth in horror. Simultaneously, the apparition simply vanished.

She remained silent, shell-shocked, staring sightlessly at the darkness which now supplanted the glowing blue; at her side the tuk'ata shivered, and hunkered close.

"F-father..." she whispered, before rounding on Phalomir. Her hands dropped to fists, her eyes flashed and her brows thundered.

"What did you do to him?"

[ 01-24-2011 12:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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