He continued watching the crystal ball. "I know a small thing about the powers of the sith. I do not know what you call it, but I have personally been trapped in a voided place that holds not feeling, no hate, no love. I can personally tell you, it would near destroy him, as much as it did me."

He looked up from the device. "I do not know your laws or customs fully yet, but I would think banishment or destruction would be such punishments for these crimes."

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

The word escapes my lips in a hiss, echoes softly about our heads, impacts against the crystalline surface before us and slides down to lay at our feet. I can almost feel it there, a palpable and dying thing.

My smile grows serious as I then turn to face Rykounagin.

"What he has done is indeed unforgiveable," I state sternly.

"Life is not given lightly, it should never be taken as thus. But--"

I cast a glance to the fleeing Sa'kal'ishaalas; by his stride, I can see he is propelled by more than a mere desire to reach his destination quickly. My arm reaches out, and I point toward his image within the Great Crystal Octahedron.

"See him there; he does not flee me. He flees himself; it is fear and anger which prods him onward.

"And pain. Pain and fear of now being alone, of losing his brother, anger with himself for doing what he did; he now reacts in unthinking haste, trying to make himself larger in his own eyes when deep within his heart he knows how small his actions have proven him to truly be."

I turn back to Rykounagin, and lift my chin a bit higher.

"You speak of the Elseness, of that place which exists between one second and the next; the dimensionless non-ness where time and matter have no real meaning."

Ahh-- but my Chosen Daughter has been a busy little bee now, hasn't she? But assumptions and suppositions alone prove nothing if foolish....

"You have been there? Who placed you therein, and how was it that you were retrieved from there?"

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

"I however, escaped to this place. A small pocket I found in it, I forced my way through, to come to this place. After that, I made my misguided attempt to escape, and you know the rest of this story."

He opened his eyes. "I wish not to turn the beginnings of your teachings, but what is it I will learn from you, Master Aelvedaar?" He asked this, his face neutral as he turned to observe him questioningly.

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

I draw back, laying one of his articles of armor back along his shoulders.

"You shall first learn to call me Father, and not Master," I say, and taking his arm in my hand begin tracing upon his wrist the Tattoo of Entitlement to the Dark Lordship of the Sorcerers. The point of my claw pierces deeply into his flesh, sending blood welling up and out; he does not flinch, but stands quietly before me.

When I am finished, his tattooed body bears yet one other: one of my House, and my clan, and etched in the blackness of coagulating blood.

"When the day comes, there is one you shall have to battle for Inheritance," I state, letting his arm go free.

"For there can be but one Heir Apparent to each caste; and there is one other who bears this mark I have placed upon your flesh."

I pause and stare deeply into his eyes before turning back to the image in the Octahedron.

"And now, my new Son. What justice is it, as Heir to the Dark Lordship, that you deem we place upon your erstwhile brother?"

[ 11-11-2004 04:58 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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"Though I would love to condemn him to the hells itself, perhaps we should merely allow others to do it for us. Tell me, could you show Graysith and her comanions?" He looked down at the crystal. "In this crystal?"

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

He quickly as possible located the sith fighter he had landed outside the Temple of Sorcerer and got in, and started to scan the Diamond of the Sith in order to attempt to find the sith warship, hoping it was still in the area. He found that it had landed on the planet Koris'ian. He took off and set the cloak, and plotted a course to Koris'ian, and slipped unnoticed into hyperspace.
((OCC: Sa'kal'ishaalas races off to The Razor's Edge in the Jedi/Sith forums.))

The word echoed through his mind, seeming to reverberate through its corridors, gaining presence in the space around him, repounding off itself, and growing louder and louder, deafening in the silence, utter and absolute quiet of the place.

Certainly, he had not expected the other human to whisk the shard away from Aelvedaar and run. That had been a move he had not forseen. And most definitely, he had not expected the pain, and the sudden horror, as a part of his spirit, a part of himself, was torn free of its vessel, and imprisioned here.

Why he had been taken, and why Aelvedaar had seen fit to imprision him, he did not know, and his mind, his only companion here, offered no answers.

Still, it was an odd feeling indeed, to have most of his spirit residing in one dimension, and another bit residing here in the next. It made him feel thin, stretched out, and seemed to require effort not to keep this...piece of himself connected to the whole.

But it was an effort he would definitely have to make. The consequences were too severe otherwise.
Yes, he thought to himself. Keep talking to yourself. Ignore this prison. Ignore the silence all around you. Close it off. Keep it away!

That task proved difficult, however. Ragorian had spent nearly four thousand years alone, in silence and solitude. He still carried the mental scars from that experience, and to him, this place, a place of silence and lonliness absolute, was more than just a prison. It was hell.

Voices in his mind rose, up, babbling inanely, screaming at nothing in particular, just trying to end the silence that stretched on. This, Ragorian knew, was a side of him that had been spawned from his time of isolation, a side he had tried and tried to suppress since he had been discovered, but had found he could not. This was the side of him that had fallen. His insane side.

Ragorian wrestled with it, stifling its screams and jabbers, pinning it down and ordering it to silence. It obeyed, scurried off as a whipped dog would, back into the dark corridors of Ragorian's mind where it resided. Reapeatedly Ragorian attempted to appease it, reminded himself that he was not trapped completely. In fact, his sane side reasoned, this was an opportunity that could be taken advantage of.

For he was still pitifully ignorant regarding this other demension, this Elseness, and here he had been given a perfect opportunity to study it. Quickly the task was assigned by the greater part of his spirit, and quickly did the imprisioned bit of it begin, methodically focusing on the demension around him, perusing every detail, engrossed in study of this unfamiliar anomaly.

But still, his other side, his mad side screamed. Stop it he could not, so Ragorian took to simply ignoring it and focused on his study of the Elseness, passing the time until Aelvedaar, or someone, came back to recover him, and free him.

And so he waited.
((OOC: Follow the trapped part of Ragorian and his thoughts to the topic Elseness in this forum. Thank you.))

[ 01-03-2005 11:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Blade of Chaos ]

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"Of course, this is as nothing to the Great Crystal Octahedron," I state with quiet aplomb, taking quite for granted that which I am certain he is quite overcome with awe in confronting.

"In fact, my Son, her current whereabouts is of some concern to me as well; let us take a look and see what we can see."

With that, I wave my hand, sending an unspoken command into that wonderful device of my own design, and of Sith creation. It responds with obedient alacrity, and soon the greeny-golden swirls within its matrix coalesce into the images of those upon the distant warship.

I lean forward with interest, for a moment forgetting Rykounagin who hovers so closely by my side. The barely-felt impact of his runes, trembling at a delicate point between the palpable and non-discernable, prompted by the quickening of the Octahedron, draws my attention to his presence once again; I frown briefly at my inattendance, and point a clawed finger at the images slowly taking shape in front of our very eyes.

"Behold," I state with utter simplicity, and watch as the bridge of the Sith warship whirls into existence before our hungry gaze. That image reveals the sister of my once-Chosen, fire in her eyes as she stands before a quiet Sith, who holds in his arms the death-quiet form of... Her. In the background I see the Stargazer, whose infant son yet slumbers near me in incubated sleep, and another Sith, who is engrossed in reading a book of some type.

I lean forward, intent upon reading what it is that he reads, my interest in the human, flame-headed female momentarily lost.

"Tell me, my Son," I say then as I draw back a bit from the device.

"What do you see herein? What does this image reveal to you? And...

"Can you read the book which seems to hold these weaklings in such thrall?"

[ 11-16-2004 07:44 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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He brought his attention back to Aelvedaar after another moment, and spoke. "Within I see one I dispise above others, though for now I will wisely hold back my contempt. I can see her pet Sith, who follows her constantly and now holds her like the helpless child I now see her to be."

He examined the book closer, and almost laughed. "A history, though I cannot read it fully, I can easily see it to be a history of......" He trailed off as his eyes scanned the miniscule lines, runes near his eyes glowing faintly.

He watched as they closed the book, and spoke of a long line of Tukata, but then his attention was drawn away, and he glared at the octahedron. "My brother seems to have planned his escape more than I might have exprected...."

[ 11-23-2004 01:48 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rykounagin ]

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I just walked down the long hallways hoping to find someone.
I have to get out of here. This whole place gives me the spooks. I thought.

I continued on and rounded a corner.

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

He looked up at the arched ceiling, and cleared his thoughts. "No, it doesn't. Please, teach me father."

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

As the starship exited hyperspace, Sa'kal was thinking about the best way to get the Imperial's blockading the planets to bombard the temple. But as he was coming up with plans on how to do this, Sa'kal remembered that he had left the Chiss, Dash, in the temple, and felt that he should rescue him. It would not be easy to do so, but it was in his best intrest to not have someone killed that could possibly be his ally. Considering that no one seems to want to work with me Sa'kal thought in irony.

I smiled and looked around.

"So, whenever you're ready. Lets get out of here. Oh and one thing. Where are we going?"
I asked.

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

"He has returned. My brother! His foolishness and idiocy is only matched by arogance!" He spat, turning towards the exit, glowering. "Should we allow him to escape this time?"

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

I turn to Rykounagin.

"The first thing that I shall teach you, my son, is patience. That... and the fact that the fate of all who trespass against us is not necessarily always held within our hands alone...."

With that I place a fatherly arm about his shoulders and lead him from my Inner Sanctum, going out into the antechamber and then into the corridors beyond. Our destination...

The Grand Dining Hall where we might partake of a meal together and get to know one another better.

[ 12-08-2004 10:45 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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"I shall learn patience, that I shall...." He entered the dinning hall, and was unsure to where he should seat.

"I'm afraid, in all my training, I never did learn ediquite for dinning with sith father. Another lesson I will learn at the same time again." He smiled inwardly.

"If you would teach me, I would be most grateful. As it will obviously be a well needed skill."

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

I smile pleasantly at Rykounagin, not letting the expression on my face reveal my secret trepidations regarding this lad. While I feel in good time he will live up to the image I foresee of him, at the moment he is quite a rough purse.

"His life must have been as difficult as his manners," I think to myself as I dip my clawed hands into the wetting bowl daintily presented to me by a young female Sith server. She bows, turns to Rykounagin, and with another bow of respect presents it to him. I let a crooked grin pass over my features as I see his reaction to this.

"Although we are of the Sorcerer's Clan here, we follow some of the guidelines of the Warriors. A clean body is a strong one, no matter the type of battle that body prepares for, be it physical or magickal."

The grin on my face grows slightly more as, with a scowl, he turns to the serving wench and dunks his hands into the bowl. Water splashes out and wets the table; without batting an eye the wench immediately switches the bowl to one hand and with the other uses her luxurious hair to dry the puddles.

With another bow, she backs away and leaves us, soon to be replaced by an entourage from the kitchens who present us with platter upon platter of foodstuffs, primarily meats and fruits.

I reach out and tear a haunch off of an entire roasted animal which lays in front of us in its entirety, crimson jewels replacing its eyes, its own hide coiled and interwined skillfully about it.

I wave the haunch toward Rykounagin even as my other hand reaches for some choice t'plikk fruits.

"Eat, eat," I state simply, then lean back to observe his behavior.

[ 12-09-2004 02:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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It was not that he did not trust his new father, for he new that to not trust his one ally, was to be foolish.

He observed the food laid out, then inwardly smiled, and waved a hand out over the food, small trickles of magic washing over it to sense whether it was "clean".

He smiled, feeling a slight taint in a few of the articles of food.

He waved his hand again, and slowly lifted a small amount of fruit raised to his plate, followed by some strange bread that he had found to be pure and had caught his eye.

He puzzled over whether to use further magick to go through the simplest of motions to part his food into eatable sizes, but felt he had already used enough for the meal.

He placed a hand on the food, and tried to repair his failed attempt at the water dish, by eating slowly, and neatly as he could, and in secret, using the force to keep the crumbs from falling.

He ate slowly, and wondered at his brothers motives as he ate. No, it is as my father said, I need to avoid the thoughts of him at the present.

"So, father." He said, using a napkin to dab his lips gently. "Is it also polite not to speak while during a meal?"

What a foolish question. He chided himself. "Oh, but nevermind. I suppose there is something you would wish to know of your son?"

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

"Why do you want Graysith to trust you and what do you mean by her and her company?" I asked him.

"You know, you might as well explain the whole thing to me. It might help."

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

"I do not trust you." I said.

My hand grasped his hands and we shook.

"but I will join you for now. Perhaps overtime you will gain my trust."

I released his hand and it fell back to my side.

"Now, lets get on with it."

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

"And as for recomondations, I don't have any for you. I've been out of it for a while. I'll just keep an eye for things. See if there is anything wierd. like look for signs. You just talk to the Commander. By the way, do you know who the commander is?" I asked streching my arms.

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

My lip quirked in annoyance, and I sighed as I reached for the padd.

Not another ship departing from that blasted planet, I thought to myself as I opened it. Much time had passed since I had ordered the blockade about the pair of unknown worlds my ships prowled about, time that remained serenely unmolested save for the very few times those tiny Sith fighters had risen into the heavens and shot on their way. Each time, unbeknownst to their pilots, they had gone with our blessings, their trajectories tracked, their exhaust trails hounded by our minute and indetectable probes.

For the most part, those ships had only traveled between the twin planets this blasted red dwarf of a sun harbored: rising quietly beyond the atmosphere of one to shoot to the sister world and quietly disappear.

I wondered what in Hell's Seven Circles was going on.

It would be easy enough to find out, I thought idly as I flipped open the data padd.

We have plenty of firepower and unceasing resources....

But I was no fool. I knew the capabilities of the tiny fighters; the warship -- at least I assumed it had been something of that class, judging by its size -- presumably was far more powerful.

And until our men crack the secrets of the Sith on that ship they're working on, I'm not going to place us in jeopardy of any kind.

At least not until that course of action is our last and only course.

Jerking my thoughts away, I tilted my head to read the missive. The words reflected in the T-shaped lens of my helmet, as I in turn reflected upon them.

A Sith fighter approaching us... wishing to speak to me?

I raised my head and stared off into middle distance, then snapped the data-padd closed. A flick of my gloved finger opened a direct link to Landarian's private comm.

"This is Tarnus, general welcome is to proceed with all due caution."

He knew fully well what I meant by that. I smiled to think of the armed troops who would greet this bold stranger, who seemed to be walking straight into the lion's den.

A den he should have no awareness of, actually, considering how far away our blockade was positioned from the worlds.

We were positioned several billion klicks from their sol; the flagship still held her position high above the planet in the Z-axis.

I grunted, knowing I would soon hold at least some of the answers to my growing list of questions. Placing the data-padd carefully on my desk, I left my ready room for the formality of the reception hall, where our guests would soon be ushered.

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