No bud. You've been dead for a couple of years.

That little observation jarred him into reality, and he opened his eyes as the small universe around him swam into focus. His eyes fell on the almost shocked form of Galen immediately. She was looking like she'd just seen a ghost.

Well... a little shoulder devil popped up. Terrin smacked the thing immediately into oblivion and swung his legs over the edge of the bier upon which he was laid. It was not much to his surprise that he was wearing some fairly impressive looking Sith robes.

Sith robes. Here we go again...

Shaking himself from these thoughts, he refocused his gaze on Galen, clearing his throat, not sure how the words were going to come out for the length of time in which his vocal chords had not been used.

"Galen, it's me," he replied to her, letting his eyes rest on her as he then attempted the feat of standing a body which had been laying for the past couple of years. This was no small feat, but he did manage, still somewhat shakey but standing nevertheless.

He reached out to Galen, gently resting a hand...

...his hand...

on her shoulder. "It's me," he repeated, then fell silent, not wanting to push her in her initial shock.

[ 11-30-2004 05:42 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Then he stumbled, falling against me, his grip tightening on my shoulder while my own arms flew to him in support.

That support rapidly grew into a hug of gigantic proportions as instinct took it from there. Unable to say anything, I just buried my face against his chest, reveling in the simplicity of his scent, letting the tears that had sprung into my eyes flow freely and silently to wet his skin beneath my face.

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From deep within that darkness, a smile formed.

Yes, love, it’s Terrin. And friends…

[ 11-30-2004 05:58 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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...and when you should not have had to. That stops here and now. The fates don't frequently hand out second chances, so I'm with you for whatever you need, and for the long haul. I love you, Galen," he ended with, finishing with a gentle kiss.

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Was Phalomir now in control of himself, as it appeared? Had he asked about Jharmeen? Hadn't Terrin mentioned that he thought Phalomir was being trapped by Thoran?

And speaking of, WHERE WAS THORAN?

Her frown deepening at this, Shayla stretched out towards Phalomir's mind, knowing that she should easily be able to pick out Thoran's Force signature within. But find it she could not...

...so she immediately deduced there could be only one other logical location for Thoran's essesence. Her thoughts growing more and more troubled, she stretched out to Terrin Danner's mind...

...yet came up with no Force signature. Still, a certain tremor in the Force screamed at her in warning, so she turned to Panthar, Jasyn, Phalomir, and the others, not wanting to disturb the reunion now taking place with her troubled conclusions.

"Ummm...guys," she spoke up quietly, "I can't get a lock on Thoran's Force-signature, not in your mind," she said, pointing to Phalomr, "Or even in his...at least, not at the moment," she continued with a small nod in Terrin's direction, a dark look glinting her greeny-blue eyes. "I have a really bad feeling about this..."

[ 11-30-2004 06:22 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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“My thanks, Panthar,” he said softly. He raised his head to Shayla.

“Thoran has vacated my body,” he said quietly, keeping his voice from carrying too far. “I feel… cleansed. I have no doubt as to Thoran’s whereabouts, he must believe he will have more bargaining power if he hijacks Terrin. I do not feel we need worry about that too hard at the moment, I think he is sincere in his desire to make a deal, but he does not trust us.”

Phalomir raised his eyebrow.

“As he is right to. I will kill him the first chance I receive.”

He returned his gaze to Jharmeen. “But for now, my powers are useless. Shayla, tell me, do I still carry the Eye?”

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After all, it might be more difficult to keep tabs on him now...

"We need to find this Shar'tak Thoran mentioned, the one both Panthar and Erik saw when they were here last. Perhaps then we can communicate with the Master and get some help for Jharmeen. I don't know how much longer Aelvedaar will be held at bay."

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I jerked back, shoving against Terrin and making a quite instinctive and automatic "ptooey-face."

"Yuk!" I growled, rubbing my lips with the back of my hand. Then the frown on my face grew deeper yet as I stepped back into Terrin's personal space, now to reach up and grasp him by twin handsful of High Sith robes.

I yanked him down to meet my ire.

"Is what Phal says true?" I seethed, jerking the robes again for emphasis. "Are you lurking in there, you creep?"

My grip tightened, and for a moment I thought that nothing would satisfy me better than to just haul off and kick Thoran where it would hurt him the most, and believe me my knee was in perfect proximity to do so. But the simple fact that it wouldn't be hurting him, but rather Terrin, kept me from putting that luscious thought into action.

My brows lowered even more.

"All right, lurk if you want. But at least you did follow through with your promise of putting Terrin back together, and for that... well, not that I think you can understand the sentiment one whit, but I'm truly grateful.

"Now what is it we have to do to assist you and Phal with this Master confrontation thingy-- wait a damned minute here! Kill him the first chance you receive?!"

My hands loosened a bit as I cut myself off in mid question, turning my head Phalomir's way.

[ 12-01-2004 09:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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“We will make our deal if it is to be made,” he said quietly. “Let him believe he has the power to bargain. But Thoran is much too dangerous to us all, if he does not leave as he has stated then he must not be allowed to live.”

He looked up to Panthar.

“Take us to the Shar’tack.”

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Pausing at with this pointed question, Jasyn look darkened further. "If you continue along this line of thought, you'd kriffing well better find a way of doing so without putting the Boss's life at risk."

Quieting then, Jasyn folded his arms, clearly unyeilding in how he felt about this.

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“Then obviously the first chance I receive will be when Thoran vacates Terrin’s body,” he said. “I have no intention of letting harm come to any of us, as long as I may help it. We need to be together, my friend. All of you, my friends.”

Phalomir stood, his powerful legs moving from a crossed position and lifting his frame into the air almost effortlessly. He scanned the room, his strength seeming to return to him bit by bit. The color in his face was brightening slightly, augmented by the soft glow of the Tattoo of Entitlement of the Armorer Clan which had now come to life.

Panthar paused at the doorway, ready to lead the way back to the upper chambers. He looked back to Phalomir and was caught for a moment by the sight. Phalomir smiled to him and then scanned the other faces in the room.

“Being here, it now seems so much like… home. And being here with all of you, especially, I feel a strength that has been vacant from me in some time. Despite Thoran’s ill will, we will survive this. I thank all of you for staying with us.”

He glanced down at the sleeping Jharmeen, held protectively in his arms, then looked back to Panthar.

“Lead on?” he asked. "Unless someone feels there is more to be learned in this room."

[ 12-02-2004 09:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Phalomir ]

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“I’d say that’s a no,” he said, turning and heading up the stairs. He felt anxious to be away from that place. Away from Terrin. Why, Panthar? What the heck is going on? Something's not right.

He shook off the feeling and turned back.

“Next stop, the shar’tack!” he called back. Then to himself, he said “If the beastie boy is still interested in leading us there, that is. I sure as heck don't remember.”

[ 12-06-2004 09:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Panthar Dantares ]

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Allright, Thoran buddy. I've got my mental eye on you, as everyone else has their physical eyes on you...

His eyes still dark, Terrin then jerked himself to full alertness as the group began to move out of the underlayers.

"Listen, everyone," he then spoke up, "If at any time you believe Thoran has seized control of my body and he's doing something to place you in harm's way..."

He paused, looking to Galen, "Do what you need to do to stop him."

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"Don't worry, love," I whispered softly. "I'll be the first to handle it...

"Ya hear that, Thoran ol' buddy, ol' pal?"

My scowl came back tenfold, along with my voice, and I gripped Terrin's face more tightly. Peering deeply into his blue eyes, I sought the flicker of dark I knew was lurking therein.

"Don't think you have any special immunity from any of us, just because you're hiding in my husband's body..."

Like a dianoga in a garbage heap, came the addendum, hot on the heels of that statement.

"Terrin would forgive me two hundred percent if I had to lambast him, just to get you out of our hair!"

I gave an emphatic nod, and let myself down on my heels again. Then I turned away, only to see Panthar hurrying off into the gloom.

"Just a sec, Terrin..."

I squeezed his arm fondly, then took off after Big Red until I had caught up with him. He didn't slow but kept a steady pace, not even bothering to turn and look at me as I hurried up.

"Hey, Panthar," I said, reaching out a friendly hand to touch his arm.

"Wait a minute, don't be in such an all-fired hurry to go wherever it is we're going... well, at least wait until we all have an inkling of an idea of what we're going to be getting ourselves into.

"What in Hell's Seven Circles is this shar'tak, and what exactly do you mean about 'beastie?'"

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“The beastie is the little feller up there that tried to lead us a little bit ago. He somehow belongs to this place, and when Erick and I were here before he gave us a grand tour of the place. There were two rooms in particular that were interesting. One was the place that had the ice blocks in it, he wasn’t too keen on that room but obviously it was important for us to know about it. But there was another room, an armory really. It had all sorts of weapons and things in there, and one thing in particular caught our attention. It was a red ball, sort of like the Eye. But if we stared into it and thought hard – OK, not even so hard – about a Dark Lord it would show us what he was doing at that moment. Sort of like a spy camera. That’s how we accidentally met the Master, and ended up with you. I heard Thoran call it the shar’tack, so I assume that’s the name.”

He took a breath and saw that Phalomir was now standing beside Galen, Jharmeen cradled close to him.

“Diffie, that’s sort of the beastie’s name, ran off to check out something crashing around in the hall. That’s when the Master told us he could save us, so we kinda stupidly took him up on his portal. But I trust that fuzzball up there somehow, and I think it’s important we find him again. I can go find him, if people need to do more down here.”

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"I don't think it's a good idea to split up," I stated then, craning my head around Panthar's solid frame in the attempt to see where this "Diffie" had gotten himself off to. I couldn't see much in the gloom that lay ahead, but I could clearly hear his echoing growls, accompanied by the unmistakable clatter of claws on stone as the sounds wafted into our ears from the distance.

"I hope he waits for us; what's taking the others so long?"

I turned on my heel with that, expecting to see the rest of our group directly behind.

Mysteriously enough, they were nowhere to be seen. Something about the blank place where they had just been standing seemed to smile ominously; I shivered a little and gripped Panthar's arm again.

Oh no, not again! I mourned inwardly as I squeezed his arm, shuffling a little nearer for support. Outwardly, I did my best to keep up a facade of strength, even if it was beginning to wear a bit thin around the edges.

"You said you saw weapons?" I whispered, turning back to him.

"I think we just might be needing them; I've got a bad feeling about this place. Like there's eyeballs watching us from everywhere, waiting for the next set of womprats to stumble into their booby-traps...."

[ 12-09-2004 02:37 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Galen, after having taken a step or two after Panthar, returned to Terrin and stood beside him. From there she watched as the doppleganger came back to join them.

"This way," said the false Panthar, and took off in an entirely new direction.

"We don't want to be going after that tuk'ata after all now, do we Terrin?"

The skillfully produced image, complete with a sense of life within it, brought into being by the immensely honed abilities of the Sorcerers to protect their most cherished ordinance store, stared meaningfully into Terrin's eyes before turning and leading the group away, first down the path they had just come through, then off on a byway and then another and another, sometimes going up cold stone stairs, sometimes down stairs even colder...

...until the group was thoroughly lost, somewhere deep within the bowels of a tunnel system that snaked into myriad corridors and false ends, deep beneath the surface of Koris'ian. There wasn't even so much as a footprint beneath them on the stone floor when the pair of images turned to the others and....

Vanished.

“Yes, weapons would be advantageous. And are we all agreed as to what course we are taking, and what our true purpose is in this temple? Terrin is restored, and were it not for Thoran then at least he would be safe. I am sorry you were all drawn into this, but I am truly grateful for your assistance.”

He sighed, placing a free hand on Galen’s shoulder. “We will be all right, we have to be. Please do not make mention of this to the others. I know what Thoran intends, he could hide most of his thoughts from me but not all. He intends to make a-- ”

A chill went up Phalomir’s spine, forcing him pause. He turned around to look behind into the room and saw what Galen had seen… nothing. He poked his head into room and looked into the dim lighting, and still saw no sign of the others.

“Shayla?” he called out. “Terrin?” Only the faint echoes of the ages answered.

Phalomir spun back to Galen and Panthar, his eyes blazing.

“What has that treacherous beast Thoran done now? If any harm comes to them, I swear, by the blood of my son, I will kill him,” he seethed.

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

“Terrin, wait!” he called out.

Terrin, braced for Thoran’s lies, paid him no attention.

“Terrin, this is the wrong way! Stop!” Still Terrin ignored him.

Finally Thoran sped from his hiding place and into the foreground of Terrin’s mind. He seized control and spun around to face the others. The shock on their faces at first came from the words of warning he was shouting, but changed to disbelief and concern as the images behind him vanished. Knowing it was too late, his shoulders slumped and Thoran withdrew back into the recesses of Terrin’s mind, fearing now retribution for something he did not do… for once.

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"Yess-sss...." it whispered silkily, linking arms with its fellow doppleganger.

"Blood indeed."

He looked past Galen’s shoulder and down the dark corridor.

“I thought they would have been here by now,” he said, a faint trace of worry in his voice. “Maybe we should go check on them. You’re right, splitting up is a bad idea.”

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"I- I don't want to go back and check," I whispered, a hunch about the prudence of that course of action raising red warning flags everywhere within me.

"I don't want whatever happened to them to happen to us. Besides, they have a couple jedi with them... and don't they have Phal? He's a Sith, and ought to have some means of protecting them, more than we have.

"Er... that is, more than I do," I appended with an apologetic glance at Panthar's horns and claws and red skin. Gulping in embarrassment, I hurried on.

"I think we should continue on the way you were going and arm ourselves... and maybe find this beastie boy of yours.

"He just might come in handy."

[ 12-09-2004 04:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He placed his hand on the arm around his own and squeezed lightly.

“And if something has happened, I’m sure everyone will be all right. Let’s hurry, though.”

He turned towards the steps and began climbing, Galen right behind, still clutching his arm.

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...or rather, just past him. Terrin whirled, his own eyes growing wide with concern.

"Galen?" he called out, receiving no answer. He took a few steps forward, trying again. "Galen, are you there?!" Then he paused, turning back to the others, a troubled look on his face. "And where is Panthar? Maybe they are just ahead of us. We'd better move quickly, we should stay together..."

He trailed momentarily, not liking the look in the eyes of the others. "What is going on?"

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...and she only knew a couple of people capable of such a feat. That thought didn't comfort her in the slightest, but she stretched out with her Force-senses, just to investigate Terrin's propostition that perhaps the pair had simply gone ahead of them.

"I'm not certain," she then voiced out loud, "But I don't sense either Galen or Panthar ahead of us...

...and furthermore, Phalomir is also missing."

Falling silent for a moment at that, Shayla closed her eyes, stretching out just a little bit further. Then she opened them and looked directly at Terrin...

...but it wasn't to him that she was speaking. He greeny-blue eyes penetrated his blue ones, her small stature placing no limits on her ability to see straight through the tall man. "Allright Thoran...what is going on here?"

[ 12-09-2004 10:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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