I opened my eyes, and blinked, not quite in the mind of where I was. I tried to speak, but no sound came from my lips. I looked around, and blinked as I saw that the ship was in relative ruin around me.

I took a deeper breath, and felt pain rocket through my abdomen, as though something had pierced through me. I gave a cry of pain, and slowly rolled onto one side, feeling a wetness upon my back. I weakly tore one of my gloves off and felt my back.

A hole had been torn in the mesh, and I could now see that a small pointed rod had cut through the floor, almost half an inch more and it would have likely impaled me through my liver. However, it seemed to have only bruised my back and sliced the flesh enough to cause me to bleed.

Understanding the precaution, the Master blinked, willing a force around the air about his body so that he became shielded from the lack of atmosphere. He stepped through the portal and turned to watch it close. He stood for a moment, taking in the ambience of absolute silence, broken only by his own slow breathing and heartbeat.

Smiling, he recalled the interior of the fighter and opened his own portal into it.

He stepped through, entering into the cockpit. Rykounagin sat slumped on the floor.

“Greetings, Rykounagin,” said the Master. “Can you hear me? Are you seriously injured?”

The Master moved closer to Rykounagin and sat in the mostly intact pilot’s seat.

“I must admit, I admire your fortitude. I know very few who would have survived a crash such as this, let alone be left with the willpower to carry on such a blood-felt hatred for someone. I myself hate no-one, but that is neither here nor there.”

The Master settled back, the chair groaning but not giving way.

“No, I do not believe that people become more charitable after death. The ones I knew were just as vile and nasty as they were in life. Some even worse. It all depends on where they end up, really.”

The Master brushed back his hair from his forehead and let it fall forward again.

“I also am not very nice. But let it be said also that I hold no contempt for you, Rykounagin. While others may look upon you with scorn and amuse themselves by playing you the fool, I on the other hand see you as an individual with a past that has led you down the wrong road too many times. You want respect, yes. You want power, yes. With one comes the other, no? Not always, lad. Not always. You are far too volatile to garnish respect in the ways you have sought it.”

But it definately meant I was well on my way to being so. I finally finished righting myself, and settled myself to sit on the console, feeling something hot and wet in the back of my throat. "And what is that then? What do I know?"

I asked, turning my head to spit something rather dark that tasted nothing like common saliva. Ah yes, that definately confirmed it. I was dying.

The Master shifted forward in his seat.

“But my role was different. I was to be the one embracing the darkness. I was to ride the stormcloud and the night, not her. I was to be the one in perfect balance!”

The Master inhaled deeply, then eased back into the chair and folded his hands across his waist.

“But that is neither here nor here, either. For it is you I wish to focus on, Rykounagin. I know of your adoption, first by the Dark Lord Aelvedaar. That adoption, I’m afraid, was proven false with the exposure of the doppelganger. Which leads us to the next adoption by the former Dark Lord Roan. That is another path in which we cross, for that particular soul was my, shall we say, business partner. It is not easy being the only flesh being in the ruling court of the Darker Realms, and I accepted his assistance. Ah, you guessed it, another piece in the con.”

The Master paused, watching a bead of blood trickle from Rykounagin’s mouth.

“But back to you. I have my doubts, my lad, as to the authenticity of that adoption as well. There are certain observations which escaped me at the time, but now that I have had the time to reflect, it was before me all along. I do not believe that being was in fact Roan. I am sorry to say this, and would be happy to expound on my suspicions, but you seem a bit pressed and I would hate to tarry about needlessly.”

The Master watched another bit of blood escape from Rykounagin’s lips.

When he was done, the Master slid deeper into the chair, very tired.

“There,” he said. “Your body will know what to do. The immediate threat of death has passed, and given a few hours you shall be feeling whole once again. In body, anyway. I sense a great turmoil in your spirit, lad. I have never been one to interfere with the mind directly, though, so I fear my aid cannot encompass such problems.

“The fear of imminent death purged, perhaps we may continue our conversation. Accepting the postulate that your adoptive father is in fact not Lord Roan, it brings about many questions to my mind. The first of which, if it is not Lord Roan, then who is it? Then, of course, where is Lord Roan? And the third question which springs to mind is why this impersonation?”

The Master paused, allowing Rykounagin to draw a deep breath. Still pale, the boy struggled to maintain consciousness.

“Is what I am saying making any sense to you? One thing I hate to be considered a blathering idiot, and I am not adverse to repeating myself for the sake of clarity. But I see you are in fact weary and in a great deal of pain. Do not fear the pain, welcome it as I do. It is the one certain thing that separates us from the dead. I will surely miss it when my time comes.”

The Master paused again, then added:

"She had her follow me through the city, and I am rather sure intended for her to either stalk and report on me or keep me from finding my love... speaking of which, for whom I am now worried..." It crossed my mind that she might be rather furious now that I had failed to kill her mother at this moment.

“Your love?” he asked. “I shall expound on my reasoning about the Dark Lady’s wish for your death, but would you mind indulging me for a moment or two on this love of which you speak? I assume, of course, you mean ShaRhylla.”

The Master sat forward on his seat, a look of genuine curiosity on his face.

"Would you die for someone as I chose to do before your son intercepted me? Would you persue that relationship and that love even when the one you love would gladly cast you from a cliff into the depths of hell? Would you face their fury if only to hear their voice?"

“How terrible it must be for you,” he said. “To feel this sort of love. There is an ancient story, hardly ever told anymore, of a servant boy who loved his mistress dearly, but she was a tyrant and beat him. Yet those moments were the most savory for him, for in her fury her entire attention was upon him, and that is really all he wanted. He hoped and prayed to the gods for the day she would see what he had done for her, and come around to the love he knew was in her. It ended poorly, though, for one day she beat him so badly he died. It was only then she realized how much she would miss him. Tragic, really, which is probably why it is not told much anymore.”

He folded his arms across his chest and shifted.

“Oddly enough, you seem to share something in common with my son. He, as you know, has become quite smitten with ‘the witch’, and in fact is downright in love with her. Pity for him, though, that she is all balanced dark and light now, and can no longer be bothered with such things as love for him. I think he knows this in his head, but his heart won’t accept it until he sees for himself. I don’t envy him the heartbreak, but perhaps it will clear his head and we can get down to the business of saving the galaxy.”

The Master sat upright once more, looking closely at Rykounagin.

I did not want to even consider that my love could be flawed. As fanciful and interesting story as it was, it was not what I wanted to hear, and as I often did, I put it out of my mind. "What threat could break this galaxy assunder that those who can wield the all as you do could not merely send away? Open conflict is rare now, so you'll forgive me if I'll tell you something about the wider universe that you inhabit. The sith aren't a superpower anymore. Massive fleets control every system, soldiers march off to command and conquer planet to planet, and those they do not own are strong enough on their own."

The Master frowned.

“I am not holding you prisoner here,” he said. “I have no intentions at all of keeping you against your will. Quite the contrary, in fact. What I hope to do is explain to you our situation – yours, mine, everyone’s – and hope that you see how imperative it is you join us.”

The Master straightened, his face softening and his chin resting on his hand.

“I shall be honest with you, and forgive me if I seem too blunt, or perhaps even brutal. I have observed you, and heard of your actions from others, and it seems consistent. You tend to jump to the side of, well, malevolence when dealing with others. Take the recent encounter with Phalomir, for example. Yes, he surprised you, but your immediate reaction was to try to take his life. This is a pattern, and goes a long way in explaining why he set the ship to crash here. You have been used, and abused. I wish you well in finding your happiness, and sincerely hope your love is repaid. But you will need to trust, and be trusted.”

He leaned back once more.

“Now, as for me, I would like to trust you, but it must be earned. And it goes both ways, of course, for you certainly have no reason to trust me. Nobody does. I was under the influence of the darkness for so long, I sometimes second-guess my own feelings. But I am sure of one thing, and that is that the beings of this galaxy shall one day be facing extinction if we are not prepared. The Sith were not present during the last invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong, and the Vong shall not be expecting us. But unless we are at our full power it will mean little.”

The Master then leaned forward once again, an intense look in his eyes.

I sighed. "You say you wont force me, but that's like saying 'join me or jump off a cliff'. You technically have a choice, just one is a lot more desirable than the other. I suppose the only question I can ask is when you intend to release me."

“So intent upon your freedom?” he asked. “Again, not to be blunt, but look around you. Look at your life, what has happened to you while you were ‘free’. Abused and betrayed, used and cast aside. Then when you have the power of the Dark Lords in your grasp, you lose it through your own lust for more. While you struggle through your decisions, it seems that you truly are at your best when you have direction and purpose. And that, my lad, would come best from being in the employ of a Dark Lord.”

The Master shrugged.

“But, alas, I am not in the power to either free or command you. That is why I come to you, beseeching you to listen and make your own decision. I could ask my son to put you to this task, but I would rather have to wish for it.”

He smiled slightly and drew in closer, his eyes clear and focused on the young man’s own.

“There is something playing in your mind, lad,” he said. “I can see the wheels turning, the plans trying to come forward. Why do you cling to your ways?”

He sighed and shrugged.

"No one needs that filthy thing. Absolutely no one. Let it rot in hell with him, it does no one any good." I growled. "That thing plays everyone who uses it. Every time I've picked it up, all it does is whisper to me that it's been waiting to use my potential, that I could be its greatest wielder over any other."

The Master blinked away a faraway look.

“The Black Hall is gone, the Tower with it. Now the channeller is as it was before it was stolen from me, and how I wish it back. The future of the galaxy depends on it.”

The Master leaned back, his arms crossing over his chest.

“I do not wish to be Dark Lord of the Warriors, lad,” he said. “ShaRhylla is already in line to take the throne, she needs only patience to achieve that loft. However, she needs much more than that to keep it, for she is not ready for the responsibility and sacrifice that comes with that station. So very few are. Her mother was not, learning only in recent years what it truly means to be a Dark Lady. ShaRhylla is still a child, in more ways than you know. Hormones and selfish rage drive her, but in time she will be worthy of the throne. I can promise you that I will support her fully when the time comes for her rightfully take her place.”

The Master sighed, his breath a low hiss.

“The Tower is back?” he asked at length. “This does not bode well. The Tower is the heart of the darkness, I could feel it slip away. I did not feel its return, and what this means I do not know.”

He stroked his chin, deep in thought.

“But we can almost be sure that our doppelganger sits within it. I cannot be totally sure of how the Tower has come back, and what secrets it now holds, but when I was there it did not block the All. At least, not b y itself. When I held Graysith there, the darkness allowed me to deflect her All usage. Confuse it.”

The Master shrugged and exhaled deeply.

I considered. Aside from the apparent "doppleganger", I had never worked along powerfull all users, and began to wonder at just how much they could do. I remembered that weakling, Danner, being placed in my mind two years ago, and wondered if a form of that could be done to me as well.

The Master smiled.

“But if it is death you fear, and condemnation into the very place we invade, then take heart. I can offer you a gift, a guarantee that upon your death your soul shall meld back into the origins. It shall become one with the esoteric pool, safe from the horrors of the world in-between. Only I know how to do this.”

The Master sat back and clasped his hands together. He looked intently at Rykounagin, anticipation showing on his face.

As I inquired, I began to wonder what death truely was like. Painful perhaps? Or would it be a place of suffering that only allowed for silence. And what was the difference in dying in material as opposed to darker realms. Would not dying in the Darker Realms yield to yourself a shade as Roan kept, thus giving you a certain immortality?

“Very well,” he said. “If you seek survival in the material, then we shall find Thoran. There are two ways we may locate him, but I cannot allow you to enter one of the places. Which leaves only one, and I believe you know of this already. It is the Great Library on K’eel Doba, in the city where you would be killed on sight.

The Master made a slicing motion across his neck with his hand, then stuck out his tongue in mock death.

The Master waved his hand, a small portal opening to the side of him, barely larger than a fist. He looked through, into the room beyond, an eyebrow raising.

“It is... occupied,” he said softly. “Perhaps now would not be the best time to go there.”

He turned back to Rykounagin cheerily.

“But if remain quiet, we can wait, and by leaving this open we can both see when the room is vacant and allow some fresh air in.”

As the words of Shayla came wafting through the portal, the Master started and reflexively shut it.

“Here,” he whispered. “We are higher, and may look down.”

He would use love, just as you have already pointed out to me. Remember?

The Master listened to Phalomir’s voice come through the portal. His eyebrow raised. He scowled when ShaRhylla’s words accepted his offer, then paused at Shayla’s words.

I do not trust this offer you give us. And even if I did... I am not so quick as to fall for it just to satisfy my own desire for revenge."

“Very good,” he said.

ShaRhylla’s comments back to Shayla was enough for him.

“Well, that just won’t do, now, will it?” he said to Rykounagin. The Master reached his hand through the small portal and aimed it at Phalomir. A brilliant discharge of dark red flew from his fingertips and struck Phalomir in the chest, sending the Dark Lord flying back into the inner wall of the Library. Phalomir bounced off the wall, an indentation left in the material. He hit the floor with great force and lay still, smoldering.

The Master pulled his hand back through, closing the portal.

“I believe we may need to wait a few moments before going to the Library. Do you know any card games?”

He glanced at Rykounagin, raising an eyebrow.

“Why so silent? Did you like the thought of begin given to her?”

Where is the command? Where is the kill command? My mind screamed, every fibre tensed, until after what seemed an eternity, my grip laxed and the blade vanished.

“So,” he grinned. “It is true, then. The bond does exist.”

The Master began to laugh, building from a chuckle to a hysterical cackle.

“I had to be sure, lad!” he howled. “The fool believes he can simply pass on his bond with you! It was always his problem, and one he shares with you! He – haha! Never thinks things through!”

The Master regained his composure after a while, then wiped a tear away from his face.

"And be careful... I can be passed on... it just takes more than a word to do, but it can, so don't think that my 'co-operation' with you is totally and utterly willing."

“Oh, lad, I should keep you around just to brighten my beleaguered spirit! But alas, we have work to do.”

The Master waved his hand, tearing a portal open once more. He waited, then widened it.

“It appears we may use the Library now without interruption.”

He stepped through the portal and turned to the Revealer. He paused, noticing the long number cycling in the mist of the Revealer. His eye twinkled, and a grin creased his face. He turned back to the portal where Rykounagin was beginning to enter.

The Master reeled, first at the sudden familiar rush of power he felt from a distant source, then again from the physical blast as both the library where he stood and the small ship on the other side of the portal rocked and bounced. When the shaking was over, he glanced about from narrowed eyes to see if the boy had suffered any new wounds.

“Our time draws short, my lad,” he said. “There is no more time for games, I am afraid. We must retrieve the Finger now. I take you to a place of secrecy, of which you must never speak of, even if you are able to discern its location.”

The Master pushed his way back through the portal, into the ship with Rykounagin, and closed the portal behind him. He immediately opened another, and stepped through it, beckoning for Rykounagin to follow.

Within the chamber he opened a small chest sitting on a table, and withdrew a small dark red orb. He then turned and waited.

(((Follow the Master to Middlespace, Thirdspace in this forum, thank you!)))

I growled as I go up and began to stumble after the master. "This is not what I had in mind..."

(((OOC: Rykounagin Begrudgingly follows the master into Thidspace, Middlespace in this forum.)))