"And regarding getting out of here and to Aelvedaar as soon as possible...

...we do have the Sith belt, which is a start...

...but I'd prefer it if we could make a really quick exit somehow..."

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

“My priority, as I believe is most of those here, is to Jharmeen herself. Yes, her body is dead. Why, I do not know, but we know from personal experience that the body is but a vessel for the spirit, and her spirit is in great danger if she is in the Darker Realms. I have an idea on how to contact the Master, and perhaps together we can also devise a way to contact Aelverdaar.”

Phalomir looked to each of the people in the room.

“But by leaving here to pursue this, we leave the fate of the Warriors to the new Dark Lady, who must have by now realized that what she had usurped is now a reality. I for one am prepared to leave immediately. What say you all?”

As Phalomir looked again to everyone, he had already begun to search deep within his mind for the link he believed to be there. The Master had always seemed to know how to find Phalomir, and at one time that being had been his father. There was a link somewhere, he just knew it.

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

“Holy crap!” he exclaimed. “So that’s why the little glowy things on their wrists were glowing, and why the voice had me congratulate them!”

A twinge of pain shot into Panthar’s head, making him squint, but then seemed to hesitate, then dissipate. Panthar waited, then continued talking slowly.

“But why do you think she is in the Darker Realms? And why the heck did the line go to ShaRhylla and the other guy?”

Another thought filled Panthar’s head, seemingly out of the blue. It made no sense to him, but the words managed to reach his mouth nonetheless.

“And speaking of him, why is idiot boy a Sith now?”

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

We observed her for another moment, then spoke. "Are you alright lady ShaRhylla? You seem distressed." We thought that, as the Lady Graysith's daughter, our duty to aid her carried over to some degree too her daughter.

[ 03-15-2006 10:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Onidorei ]

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As he turned the corner, he saw. "What... what has happened to her?" He asked, moving foreward quickly. What was strange though, is that while the familiar scent of death was about, there was a strange... missing part to the scent. A familiarity was gone.

"She's... dead... but she's not..." he murmured, looking over the body in its serene state of death.

[ 03-16-2006 09:13 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Nefrai Kesh ]

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"Yes, I am distessed!" she finally burst out in a seething whisper.

"I have found myself to have made a terrible, horrible mistake..."

She paused at that, turning away from the Onidorei but not before casting a quick glance at the tattoo which yet laughed at her upon her wrist. And for the first time in her life, a negative thought toward her father crept insidiously into her mind.

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

We took a careful step closer, not imposingly, but not to put a dead space betwixt us and herself.

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

But that was water under the bridge now, for the Master had inadvertently discovered a much better solution. Yes, the Vong were still entering into the Sith realm. Yes, the Sith were still without the leadership of One. Sith, Sith, Sith… There was so much more to the galaxy – to the Universe – than the Sith. He knew that now, and he understood the true meaning of sacrifice.

The power of the Dark Hall, that living thing residing at the heart of the Darker Realms, had entered into him. Meant for Phalomir, but disrupted by the intervention of Graysith and Shayla Stargazer, the power now showed the Master the secrets of life beyond life. The plotting and petty struggles of the past now a shadow in his memories, the Master looked forward.

And looking forward, he peered through the portal he had opened into the Dark Lady's chamber and faced the group from the other side of the bed where the body of Graysith lay, a mirror of the spirit now safely secured within the Tower of the Dark Hall.

“My son,” he said, his voice smoothly flowing from the hole in reality and resonating within Graysith's chamber. “I mean you no harm. I have plucked the Spirit of your beloved from the pathways of eternity, and with me she shall safely reside. It is my gift to you. I am one with the darkness, and my powers are great here, none shall harm her spirit. I wish for you to be unconcerned with trivial problems, a greater task is at hand.”

“But,” he started, “but why? What greater task? And how do I know what you say is true?”

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

“I am changed,” he said. “Of this you can be sure. The evils within me are gone, my son, replaced by the powers of the darkness. I see the bigger picture, my son, and I wish to help you the best I may. Graysith is gone, nothing can bring her back to you. But I what can do is hold her spirit safely until those who would keep it captive are defeated. I know no other way to convince you of my sincerity, but I am indeed very sincere and truthful.”

Giving Terrin's arm a little squeeze, I sidled closer to the towering Sith Lord. The poor schmuck looked like a whipped puppy, ready and willing to take whatever meager scraps that might be doled out in his general direction.

"I don't trust this guy, Phal," I muttered, rising up on my tiptoes to better reach his ear. I don't know whether or not he was listening, but I sure as Khaandon made little green worrts hoped he was.

"You think that Jharmeen would be happy--"

Here I paused fractionally, choking back the upwelling rush of tears that suddenly tried to constrict my throat. Swallowing, I managed to continue.

"You think Jharmeen would be happy knowing her spirit was stuck in that awful place? I know I wouldn't; I mean, Hell's Seven Circles, I'd like to believe that we all go somewhere nice when we die, not there!"

Again I stopped, now sending a look Terrin's way. His endearing features and memories rose in my minds eye to wage a war with each other; shuddering I couldn't help but recall that it was in fact in that horrible, demon-ridden otherness that we had come across his spirit.

Could this be true? Is that where we all go?

Oh, hell no!

I gritted my teeth and pressed on, now laying a hand on Phal's arm to capture his full attention.

"Look, I know you're probably thinking that what we did with Terrin, we could somehow do again, Ol' Googly Eyes notwithstanding. Maybe we can; I'm ready to try again. Maybe there's some kind of loophole we can skitter on through or something; I mean, damn, I can't believe we're just pawns at the expense of some-- some thing! We have to count for something, right? I mean, we have will, we think, we love...'

Taking a deep breath I stopped in mid-sentence, forcing myself away from the direction into which I had been heading. Anyway, I think everyone was on the same page that I was; no use beating that particular dewback to death again. Thus said, I thought it would be better to approach this from a little bit different track.

"But we don't know that for a fact. We do know that He/It got mad as a wet rancor at us reviving Terrin, and took away that Claw-thing from Jharmeen, and--"

But there I stopped again, sudden inspiration striking.

And didn't make us give Terrin back.

The question was, however: would we be able to repeat our earlier success? Seems like all the components were there: we knew her spirit was safe-- well, relatively speaking. We knew her body was preserved by those amazing Sith magicks. All we needed was--

"I'm missing something, aren't I?" I said with a sigh, my shoulders slumping as momentary hope began to fade once again into the background.

Yeah. We sure as hell were.

Thoran.

We needed Thoran. And to tell the truth I had completely lost track of the li'l fella. Not to mention the fact that we had to gather ourselves in that other weird place, where the system holding the Temple of Armorers was now hidden. So we needed someone with the strange powers Sissypoops had.

And I still didn't trust Phal's dear ol' daddy as far as I could throw him. Which wasn't very.

[ 03-19-2006 09:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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The pain was forced out of his mind with the sudden realization that had done it. The plan was a long shot, but it was worth the risk. Better to be lost in the void between realities than be slave to the Master for eternity. And now he had freed himself from the Master’s grip.

The Master was evil beyond measure, a calculating two-faced liar who used his powers to control the emotions of mortals. And now he was insane with the power of the Dark Hall, so insane he no longer knew he was evil. That made the Master even more dangerous, and Thoran knew he was only one who could instigate his downfall.

Thoran stood, his legs wobbly. He hated himself for what he had done, and now prepared to undo that evil. The Master held him in his power for so long, and although he had many times found ways around that slavery, when it came down to it he was just not powerful enough to break free of that. At least, not while he was just a formless spirit.

But now, he was whole. His greatest power was the ability to manipulate the very energies of living things, to blend with them and let his spirit exist within another’s. The Master had used him many times, for with this power he was the greatest silent assassin of all. But the partnership had long ago turned into servitude, and for that he swore vengeance.

He looked at his hands, and then lifted them to his face. Yes, he was whole again, once again within the Sith body he was born into.

A shadowy movement from across the room caught his eye, and he smiled in thanks at the small imp who aided him in his escape. Now he would use the demon to escape the Darker Realms, for that is where the Master had stored this body.

He breathed deeply, knowing that he had much to do. The Master had changed, and once the original plans had failed the Master had ordered Thoran to be an assassin once again. He moved from Phalomir to Graysith during their tenderest of moments, and feeling like a voyeur he hid within her mind. Then he went to work, locating the weaknesses within her battered mind, and caused her spirit to detach from the body. Signaling the Master, her spirit was plucked away, as if she had died. He hid himself alongside that spirit as the Master pulled it into the Darker Realms. At the exact right moment, he let go and tumbled blindly through the Darker Realms until the imp had found him and brought him to this body. It was a simple matter of reuniting his spirit with his flesh, and now he was ready to set a few things right, destroying the Master in the process.

He sincerely hoped that Phalomir had taken steps to preserve Graysith’s body.

The imp had made its way to Thoran. He nodded at the creature, and it ripped its claw at the open air. A thin line shimmered in the space before it, which then opened into a spreading crack in reality. Thoran nodded at the imp again, and stepped through the portal and into a long, dimly lit hallway. He breathed deeply again, taking in the air of the Sith into his own lungs for the first time in a long time, as the portal closed behind him.

Now the hard part, finding and convincing Phalomir of what had happened.

[ 03-20-2006 12:11 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Thoran ]

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“I find it difficult to believe him,” he whispered. “But if he has Jharmeen’s spirit, then it is possible he speaks the truth about keeping her safe from Roan. There is no love lost between those two.”

Phalomir sighed and looked back through the portal. He could see the dark shape of the Master standing on the other side of the strange doorway through dimensions, and wondered what he should do. Something felt terribly wrong, and too much was happening in such a short amount of time.

He turned back to Galen.

“I vaguely remember Thoran speaking to me when I was dying,” he whispered. “But that could have been a dream. I do not know where he is now. But all we have at the moment is the word of a known liar, but Jharmeen’s spirit is under his protection if he does speak the truth this time. Until we know more, is she better off for now with the enemy we know? Or do we demand he let her pass into the afterlife she rightfully deserves? I am willing to play his game for now, but she is your sister and your word surpasses mine in this matter.”

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

"I think we should demand--" I began, then stopped. I couldn't bear it; Phal looked worse than a whipped puppy. He looked like some mighty and noble steed whose spirit had been broken. And standing in quiet sorrow off to one side, my daughter didn't look much better. I flinched with the realization that although I might be her biological mother, Jharmeen had been more of a real mother to her during her stay here in the temple. That much I could read in her eyes. I could also read growing confusion, but confusion tinged with a bright little speck of hope.

And you know what they always say about hope.

"I think we should just keep on riding this ronto we've gotten ourselves onto," I finally said, shuddering as my overly active imagination went once more into overdrive.

Just think. To be rent from your body in death, and then not allowed the final peace of eternity. Who knew what horrors the Master could be inflicting upon Jharmeen's very soul?

But I couldn't just let her drift away into the cosmos. I just couldn't. Admittedly, I was too selfish. And again, even though she had spent much of the last four years trying to hurt me or maim me or kill me or otherwise bring a drop of dankness into my rosy days--

She was, after all, still my sister.

"While her spirit is there, we still have hope. I-- I know there's something of whatever it is she has inside me; maybe I could figure out how to get it working, or maybe Aelvey could give me a few pointers..."

Or maybe he'd help us himself--

"But, I agree with Terrin. Time's a-wasting here; if I know my darling little niece she's going to want to make things difficult for us, and the first thing she's probably going to do is do something with Jharmeen's body.

"We have to hide it; I think that's what I'm going to use the Sith belt for. After you find us a good hidey hole to stash her in, that is."

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

“Very well,” he said. “I – thank you, for keeping her spirit safe. We will trust you to keep her safe. But what is this greater task you speak of? How can we help you?”

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

“For now,” he said. “Know that her spirit is safe, and that her offspring now rules the Sith. It is Roan’s hand that guides that one, you must cut it off at the wrist. That is the first task, and the first step to seeing the bigger picture.”

“I am at my capacity for tolerance of the Master,” he said. “But if he indeed has her spirit, then we have to play his game for now. But you are definitely right, we must hide her body in a safe place. Obviously, with Aelvedaar would be a good choice, but how do we contact him? If we are limited to this world, then we could use the Sith belt to reach our ship and travel back to the Temple of Slaan, and somehow escape the blockade. Or, we could ask a favor from my ‘ally’ in orbit, Mr. Tarnus.”

Phalomir looked to the others, who looked helpless and lost.

“I know this is all very sudden and strange,” he said. “But we must act quickly. Jharmeen is dead, but if the Master has her spirit then there is hope.”

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

"Yes, I have a mate... of sorts," she retorted, tossing her head and letting another puff of air escape her nostrils.

"But one not of my own choosing! Indeed, had the matter been up to me--"

She broke off suddenly, torn between the sudden wonder that she was speaking so freely to this strange machine, and by the soft caress of something angel-dark that beckoned to her at her deepest, cellular level.

Teeth and claws and blood and fire, and eyes of ruby, ruby red...

The image was less than subliminal, more than a constant memory. She shuddered, tossing her head again to hide her discomfiture, and was formulating a particularly scathing reply when the hall about her suddenly rang with the echo of marching feet. She whirled, her eyes narrowing to see that hall filled with the fast approach of the temple's warrior elite.

They came up to her and fell to their collective knees, heads facing the cold stones of the floor. She stood there in haughty silence, basking in the moment, before finally deigning to speak to their Captain.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded imperiously, placing her hands on her hips and glowering dangerously.

The Captain and his men didn't see that glower, for they didn't dare raise their faces to meet hers. Speaking to the floor, the Captain at length ventured forth a succinct explanation of why he and his men were en route to the royal chambers of the Temple.

ShaRhylla snorted at this. While it was true she had no love for her mother, and was delighted to find herself Dark Lady of the Sith...

...at the moment she was even more put out with her enforced husband.

"Ridiculous!" she snorted, stamping her foot.

"You are to do no such thing, no body has disappeared; why, even now my ladies are attending to her for her funeral."

Her glower darkened, daring the warrior give a reply to her blatant lie. He remained, wisely enough, silent.

"I will have no such mucking about during this time of grief; my mother has died and there will be no untoward actions during this terrible, terrible time!

"So take your men and return to your barracks, and if your Dark Lord should tell you otherwise, please recall that I am Dark Lady by the Blood.

"His blood, after all, does not run true within his veins."

She crossed her arms then and waited for the Captain to comply with her spur-of-the-moment command. Then an insidious little smile curled about her lips.

How fun this new position was going to be. Why, she didn't need a Lord; she could run things quite nicely by herself.

And as for her father...

Fresh, garnet blood welled up upon her lip where her fang pierced into it. Her eyes darkening further, she turned and hastened off into the bowels of the Temple, seeking a particular room hidden within its very heart.

[ 03-20-2006 02:00 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by ShaRhylla ]

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"But, as for Jharmeen's body..." She trailed, her frown only deepenng further. "Maybe we should take her to Khar Delba as well, so that Aelvedaar can look after her. Or...."

Another pause. A thought. Shayla turned to Phalomir. "What about the underground location you took Erik and I to on Khar Del
ba, all that time ago? Would Jharmeen's body be safe there?"

[ 03-20-2006 02:05 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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"Hey, wait a minute!" I exclaimed, now turning to Terrin.

"Fido! He wants to help us, or at least he says he does; he can open up portals, I know--"

Oh Khaandon, believe me I know. Memories of one ripping open right before my eyes in Captain Yaoksi's ship...

I forced that terrible image away, and tried to find the cloud's silver lining. Yeah it was there. Tarnished, but there.

"I bet he can help us," I continued, looking around now as if expecting him to pop into life any moment.

"He can open a portal and get us to Khar Delba, and then we can hide Jharmeen and get to Aelvey; where has the little dickens gotten off to anyway? Terrin, have you seen him since he last--"

I snapped my mouth shut before I could blather on any further. Gods knew I didn't need everyone here privy to that most embarrassing moment in my life.

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

Pausing at that, Terrin frowned, not liking the sound of what he was saying. After all, what if Fido had decided to go vigilante on them? That couldn't be good, for any of those involved.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Terrin then turned to Phalomir, a thought crossing his mind. "Is there not any way you can open a portal for us? I know, that's something dealing with All-usage...

...but haven't you somehow been able to tap into the All before?"

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

Phalomir thought for a moment.

“Before, I was able to establish a link with Aelymaar, perhaps it is still there.”

Phalomir closed his eyes and concentrated, sending out a contact to Aelymaar. The link had once reached across space, as he hoped it would now. Ironic, he thought, that at that time Aelymaar was warning him of an assassination attempt, and now Phalomir was trying to tell him of Jharmeen’s death.

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

The young Adopted Heir nodded to himself in satisfaction, knowing that he had performed the small duty presented to him to the best of his ability. He had seen the Sith warrior Kelvendar back to his ship, and had watched as it blasted off, to return to K'eel Doba with the intent of fetching the ailing young Lady. After making certain the departure was uneventful, Aeylmaar had then returned to the Temple proper, going to partake in a small dinner before seeking his rooms to study a bit more and rest.

A day or so passed in this manner, and all seemed quiet. His father had not contacted him, apparently being busy with the task ahead of them all, and he had not even attempted to intrude upon the Dark Lord's self-imposed hermitage.

Until, that is, the unexpected happened.

It slammed into him from nowhere, doubling him over, gasping in pain and anguish.

Wave after wave of sorrow, of anger and denial, then acceptance of a grief almost too terrible to bear...

It seared directly into his soul... and it was coming from the Link established between himself and his Father. It was so overwhelming that it completely washed over a mirrored reflection, coming in from another source.

He fell to the floor, shaking his head, supporting his body with knees and one stiffened arm. The other one moved to press a clawed hand over his heart.

Father, what has happened? he thought out via his link, but received no reply. There was only that tsunami of grief, followed by a drear and frightening blankness. Not as if the Dark Lord had been removed forcibly or terribly from his mind.

But that he had simply withdrawn, if momentarily, from it.

He hurried to his Father's chambers, stopped at the ornate door, knocked upon it.

"F-father, are you all right?" he queried, speaking both verbally and mentally into the great wash of despair that emanated from within.

No answer.

He tried the door; it would not open. It was as if Lord Aelvedaar had experienced something dreadful, something terrible, and had simply withdrawn as if in the attempt to escape a pain too terrible to bear.

And wasn't letting anything in to the protective barrier he had created.

Panic began an insidious rise within the young Sith sorcerer. He knocked again, increased the tempo until he was pounding. Again, no answer; just that awful, empty, despairing silence.

Then into that black sea there came a niggle, a whisper; someone trying to contact him, someone with whom he had made a link with long ago.

"Phalomir, is that you?" he sent back a tentative reply, a deeper rush of dread now filling him.

For his Father's withdrawal combined with the serendipitous contact by the K'eel Doban Sith Lord could certainly bode no good.

[ 03-20-2006 03:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aeylmaar ]

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

Phalomir managed a smile. “I have found Aeylmaar,” he said.

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

"Y-yes, I can join you there. I must tell you, something terrible has happened here as well, for Father has removed himself from me.

"But we shall speak of this when I arrive."

With that the young sorcerer lifted a clawed hand, and tested whether he had managed to conquer this, the newest task set before him by the Dark Sorcerer Lord.

Apparently, he had. A great, shimmering splotch suddenly formed in front of the grand, stone fireplace in Jharmeen's rooms, and through it stepped forth a somewhat nervous Aeylmaar.

"Ph-Phalomir?" he queried tentatively, being unable to see Jharmeen's body for the number of people now grouped about her bed.

[ 03-20-2006 03:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aeylmaar ]

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