He addressed Galen directly, his blue eyes meeting hers in concern. "Whatever the hell is lurking in Prinn'chatka has entered the Temple. I think there's somewhere that you and Darra will be safer from this possible threat til we know precisely what is going on, but we need to move fast," he said, unhooking the grappling hook from his belt and reaching out a hand. "This might be a long shot, but I think it just might work, and I don't want you to have to face something like this alone regardless."

His extended hand reached out to lightly lay on Galen's shoulder. "Let's get the baby and get going."

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It was him. It was him, it was HIM!

Then very suddenly yet so blessedly and assuredly, all the fear and despair that had been triggered inside of her was answered with a surge of pure and righteous anger and simply...

...melted that planted fear and despair.

For anger, when justified, can be the balm that heals and purifies the soul from within.

Shayla snapped to action at that, realizing just what was occuring, utterly horrified.

More anger. More despair. More righteous anger to answer. That which WAS Shayla was suddenly answering that which was not her just as it had within the Valley of the Dark Lords; for what had been intended to trigger the despair inside of her was instead defeating it, for the emotion was truly good.

And it spurred her into action. All the while, Shayla's mind began to whirl as she considered just what she could do to save her Sister...

...and her Sister's child...

Not again. Not after Graysith had already lost one child. No, no, NO! She would not have her sister hurt in such a way again! She would give her very own life, HER VERY OWN LIFE, to stop this...

...if only she had the abilities to manipulate space-time with the All to save her Sister; that would be the only true answer...

But then, a sudden blast of something extended to suddenly knock Rhylla from her mother's body, and Graysith seemed to be healed of her wounds.

And Shayla had a pretty good idea what...or rather who, this something was.

She couldn't help herself. Before she knew what she was doing she ran and knelt at Graysith's side, reaching out in mind body, and spirit to her, seeking to somehow protect even as Graysith recovered from her wounds, her eyes and ears on complete alert.

No one, NO ONE would harm her if Shayla could help it...

[ 10-11-2002 11:21 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Her eyes slit into twin promises of death... then widened imperceptibly.

She jerked her head to one side, seeing something only she could see, then jerked it back to send her look arrowing directly into the back of her Dark Heart, who even now was facing what under normal circumstances, were he a normal man, would have been the blade of his executioner.

ShaRhylla knew better.

Her eyes slit further, and she sent a dark tendril of herself coiling into his blackened heart, not that he needed any strength in this manner, but simply to let him know what she was about to do.

Which she promptly did.

With a sneer on her face and a dark gleam in her eye, she waved a hand...

...and effortlessly opened a doorway through the All... one which led her directly into the quarters now occupied by the one she and her Redeemer had come to take.

The short-haired woman whirled from the man she was speaking with, startled. In her arms she held a tiny infant.

ShaRhylla let her eyes pin Galen's, warning her not to move... then she turned from them to stare, fascinated, at her young cousin.

Her cousin. And blood does recognize blood.

"Hello, little one," she hissed through her fangs, one arm sending the man slamming against the nearest wall where the impact of his head produced a resounding crack. The other reached out, and before Galen could scarcely gather her wits yanked JhinDarra from her arms.

"Let's go play, cousin," she whispered, tilting her head down to plant a kiss on Darra's head, her eyes staring into Galen's all the while.

Then she stepped back through the portal, and into the Dining Hall.

"STOP!" she cried, holding the infant aloft.

"Stop... or this child dies, horribly."

[ 10-11-2002 11:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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Slowly he turned, and walked to his Dark Rose, placing a had to carress her back lightly. "You have learned well my dear ShaRhylla... You have indeed learned well."

He reached down slowly to lay a gentle hand upon the childs head, smiling "today young one, you are the savior of darkness..." he laughed sligthly, then returned his attention to his Dark rose. "your thorns are indeed sharp ShaRhylla... And your petals just as beautiful..." as if to prompt how entirly sure he was that he were now involnrable, for truly he had never been worried, death had never beens something he feared...

He leaned into her, and stole from her a tantalizing kiss, turning his gaze back to those within who stood before them.

"You do not wish us here? then we will go, ah, but we are trapped. Perhaps the shield shall be dropped, so we might leave... peacefully?" his lips curld into a demonic snear, he was clearly taking pleasure in the possibility that a young child might indeed die in but a moment... innconts would be purged from this universe, he was sure of it.

[ 10-12-2002 12:12 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Entaris ]

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Fear, anger, despair...

...pain?

Shawn couldn't be entirely certain, but he had a suspicion what he was feeling was not all coming from Shayla. Although she seemed to have a rather nasty package of despair planted in her mind, this seemed to be coming from more than one person. But even the best Jedi couldn't localize despair like that.

"I will make sure that we are safe," Shawn told her, looking to the still-sleeping Sorben Tarnus.

Something was going on in the Temple. But did he dare leave Sorben Tarnus to possibly wake alone?

Not a good idea. But he'd keep a steady check on the emotions stirring in the temple, and on the life-forces he could clearly sense therein.

If things didn't start looking better sometime soon, he was leaving whether it was a good idea or not...

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He quickly exited the room,"or die trying..."

Through his link with Shayla, he quickly fixed in on where ShaRhylla had taken Darra...

He came to the entrance of the dinning hall, thinking of exactly how to approach this...

[ 10-12-2002 12:21 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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But just to be certain....

"Unless, of course, you would prefer this child comes with us to dwell here."

With that she gave yet another effortless wave of one hand, this time opening a portal into that other dimensionality into which Entaris had departed with a child, and had returned from with...

Something else.

ShaRhylla's eyes gleamed with anticipatory delight, and her moist pink tongue crept out to lick her lips. Unable to stand the rising blackness within, she jerked her head to snatch Entaris's lips between her sharp teeth, drawing his blood, savoring his dark blood as it stained her own lips and trickled down her chin.

Then she turned back to face Recinis and Graysith, although to be honest most of her attention was on the Sith Lord.

"It is yours to choose; either way, the child comes with us, no matter."

With that, she flung an arm offhandedly to the side, letting forth a blast from the All which impacted with precision aim on a spot directly next to where Shayla knelt besides Graysith. The Adept was flung away from the woman by the force of that blast's fringe energies; she crashed against a couch, shaking her head to clear it.

"No more of that!" the young Dark Rose hissed before turning back to face Recinis again.

"The shield. Drop it.

"Now."

[ 10-12-2002 12:30 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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If only I could destroy that damned sith city... that would solve it all...

Tyberius sighed, then sat back in his chair...

"Cloak... we shall try another time..."

time...

time is all we have... we SHALL try, time and time again...

"until we are successful, we shall be in hiding... our form is at your discretion, and I think I'll conduct the lightsaber classes for today... Tyberius out..."

He pressed the comm, and sat further back in his seat...

we shall be successful...

[ 10-12-2002 12:39 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by MasterTyberius ]

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quietly he quested outward, hopefully to find lord aelvedaar, and let the memories pass from himself to the great sorcerer through a link they shared as brothers.

He glanced again to graysith, who was sittin in utter shock, then allowed his gaze to find Shayla, she was fine, simply a little stunned herself...

His eyes snapped back to ShaRhylla "release the child... She is but a baby, she does not deserve this!"

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A rage, more powerful than he had ever felt, crept over him...

His saber quickly in his hand, he rushed in toward Entaris and ShaRhylla... as quickly as possible between the two points...

His lightsaber ignited... a red blade came forth...
His dream... that is what Tyberius had given him...

He didn't have time to finish that thought, for the saber controlled him now...

But this time, with his rage at its height already, he grew nearly as strong as 10 men... and almost 3 times his original size of muscle mass...

He was a blur, he was so huge, it would seem impossible for him to move so quickly...

The baby was swooped out of ShaRhylla's arms, and not a moment later into those of Recinis...

Lo-Ban then came to a stop, in front of Entaris and ShaRhylla...

"Come with me ShaRhylla... he is weak, and using someone who has power... He will die, watch it you will... I do it for you..."

He then waited, for ShaRhylla to reply...

[ 10-12-2002 01:04 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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No matter. He was but a simple Sith warrior.

She was once the child of Roan... and now her Redeemer's Dark Rose. If this one wanted to play games with her, so be it.

Her eyes slitted at Loban.

"Wrong move, fool!" she hissed at him, fairly lowering her ears and hissing like an angry cat. Then with a simultaneous flinging out of both arms, she attacked Loban with all her strength, sending him caroming across the room to crash against the stones of the fireplace. His head struck rock; he slumped to the floor, silent and still.

An almost offhanded wave of the other hand yanked the child back into her grasp. She then cast a predator's look into Entaris's face, then turned back to Recinis.

"So be it, father. This is what you choose."

With that, and without waiting to see if anyone bothered to even try to stop her, knowing her Dark Heart could quite simply take care of himself..

...she stepped into the strange portal with JhinDarra in her arms.

It closed in on itself with a nearly inaudible pop, hiding from all the fact that it had ever been there to begin with... save for the eerie and echoing cries of what seemed to be the very beasts from hell....

[ 10-12-2002 01:06 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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In the other place he quickly found his dark rose, and smiled upon her.

"Shall we return to your father now? or shall we remain within this place?" he questioned lightly, truly not caring either way.

He then sat himself upon a cushen of shadows, letting himself relax...

His eyes then locked on to the form of ShaRhylla, his lips curling into a hungry smile "i believe we will stay her... Have you any problems with this?" though it had been a question, there had been no room in his voice for dissagreement. he stood quickly, taking the child from her hands, and placing the child upon a small alter, before locking his gaze on those of his Dark roses. "Did you have fun my dear ShaRhylla?" he smiled, and flodded her with the strange shock that had been put upon graysith, smiled at her enjoyment of it, drawing her into him he bit open her lips, and shared with her a lusty and passion filled kiss, warm blood flowing between them, one of his hands teasing her backside...

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No!!!!!! she yelled, suddenly rising to her feet, her fists clenched in anger as she literally trembled.

But in that same act of anger...

...despair again began to build and build.

She fell to her knees, suddenly shaking with sobs, literally forced to the ground.

They were going to fail...all of them were going to die...

and perhaps he was already dead...

Crawling on all fours, nearly all the way on the ground and slithering, Shayla went to Loban.

He had helped her...

She reached out, still shaking, but something within beginning to rise that she was not yet aware of herself. She reached out a healing hand, to help him in return...

[ 10-12-2002 01:33 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Mara1Jade ]

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..was she...?

He frowned, not quite certain of the feelings now radiating from his fiancee...

...his fiancee...!

Something seemed to warn him this was simply not the time, but a small part of him couldn't help it.

What had he done? When had this happened? Didn't she love him anymore?

Erik shoved all this to the side, simply waiting for someone to do something, suddenly keenly aware that he was finding himself possibly losing the greatest thing he'd ever found.

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He could get used to this unconcious form of dreaming... anything to get more rest... and dreams he could remember...

But, again he was pulled from these things... and again by Shayla...

The only one thing he cared to see, other than a sweet dream, was the one he wished he had dreamt about...

His eyes weren't open yet, but he could feel Shayla's presense...

He tried to talk, but he couldn't put words together...

He managed to get one thought across the link they shared: What???

[ 10-12-2002 01:34 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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It had never, never, responding this quickly before...

...unless...

She looked down at Loban, sensing his question. She actually smiled for a brief moment, then returned to complete seriousness.

Get some rest, she replied, then sent a healing tendril out to him to help him sleep.

At that she looked to the others, her tears now dry on her face. "What are we going to do now?" Shayla asked pointedly. "We have to get the baby back..."

She shuddered at that, a despair totally her own rising within her at the thoughts of the child, with them...

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Behind his back she raised a hand, stared at the bloodstained claws upon it, remembering the heady sensation of them ripping and gouging into her mother. Upon her lips, the taste of blood still lingered, blood not belonging to either herself or her Dark Heart.

They had gone into battle together, and together had emerged victorious! But then, had there ever been any doubt in her black heart at all?

Her breath came faster and faster, and something which was a cross between a growl and a whine rose from somewhere deep in her chest.

The child was forgotten. Her aunt was but a wisp of memory in her mind.

All she knew was the feel of bloodlust within her, the hot feel of his hands upon her, and the hot taste of blood in her mouth.

The growl erupted fully within her, and with a quick movement she pushed herself forward, seeming to take Entaris by surprise, and bearing him down to the black clouds which provided them with both cushion and protection from reality.

He landed on his back, she sunk her nails into his shoulders, pinning him there, her eyes huge and black and wild.

Then she fully revealed her fangs, and leaning down, sank them into his chest in passionate victory of what they had just accomplished together.

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He was again, out cold...

How could Shayla do such a thing, after what he had just done... and what was to happen next... love is the only explanation...

He didn't have enough time to think of these things, for he was again in deep slumber... dreaming...

He could get used to this...

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