[̪̳̺Am̡͇͓z̭̠̖̻̝̙͚͠i̘͘ ͏͍̳̱͉̳iv̫̜̖ ͎̩͕͘N̪̫̳̫a̶̙͉͕̟̤͇ͅk̵̖̗̱̫̻̣t̷̮̥̤̞̯̻i̝̩͙̯̗ͅͅs͈̭̻]̟̫̦̠̱̗
͕͓͈[̯̭͖͓̩T̞̀a̛̺̼̻v̰e̻̲͓̦ ̳̙̼̫͈c̟̺͖͎ͅhai̺͔̹̠̫n̲͜s̵͚̱̼͖̱͎ ̴̺̯̤̯̮͉t̖a̵̳̗̜̗̯v̬̻̬̮̠̯è̝̺̭̥ g̴͔ŗ̱̩̝̗̱ͅa̻̣̯v̦̖̟e̬͉̬ ̦͈g̤̼̖̳̯a̩̭͕l̷̮̜e͚͝j̣͓i̫͙̫̼͖̹ ̷͚̭͖g̣̲͉̜͇a̪͉l̝̟͉̦i̗̕a̶̞̱͓ ͍̯͉̰ļ̣͙ot̸,͏̱̟͇ ̧͙̯̘A̝̦͜r̸͚̯̩̻̬̬i ́i͈̲̜̫͠v͖̝̫̙̟̭̳͡ ͞t͉̟a͝v̝̰̗̜e͓̬̱͖̰̺ ̟̬͉̟̯̼̞͜T̪̲̦̖̹s͚̭̬͕̝͢is̷.͚̲̘.̰̮..͉͉̗͝]
Power, this place reeked of Power; also of Death and Chaos and Pain as I groaned, gritting my teeth as I held myself on my feet. My Protective Runes had barely held it back, protective wards imbued in blood into my armour bending and shredding against whatever the hells had been thrown at us, me. It took a lot to do, and we, I, was being pressed by illusions-made-flesh, standing back up and lashing out with my own power as other of the zombies from earlier wandered towards us. I panted, fighting for breath as the thing distant was flung backwards, slam into the rock face behind it and shattering its skull. A glance at my wrist revealed my comms were down along with damage to my helmet's heads up display.
"Aaron, Abigail...hah...hah...signal detection any allied units..." I gritted out, holding my weapon at the ready as my gaze fell upon the Darksider forced unto one knee nearby, Force a whirl about her and lightsbars gripped firmly in her hands "...Ventress? Are you healthy? Still combat capable?"
"Hah...hah...kriff...you..." she mouthed back, coming back up into a guard stance, eyes angry but not corrupted yellow, nor charging at me screaming for my blood like a berserker "...kriffing magic at me will they...find'em, kill'em"
"Yeah, hold unto that passion, whatever it takes to get through this..." I managed to get out doing a quick check of my armour, weapons, and gear as I once again briefly turned off my lightsaber to do so. Good news, still had my slug-thrower, a few grenades, throwing knives under the armour on my wrists...but everything else was battered or ineffective beyond one or two still intact vials and ration pills inside the back of my suit "...just don't lose control. It's tough enough without either of us going rabid from weakness"
"I AM NOT WEAK..." she snarled at me, Abigail whirling its energy staff in a protective motion clearly perceiving a threat from the Dathomiri as she surged up, standing strong...before deactivating her weapons after considering a moment "...I am not weak. Let us keep moving...whatever that was we went through, the magick here...we need to be strong. I am Sith. I am strong"
The world rippled at that, dark laughter; rage almost like a breeze flowing over us...yet not there as well, the world a grey death place, a dark sky of black clouds with flashes of red lightning. A cursed place, a damned place, something Karguk would have seen once upon a time in a different dimension, a different reality...though the summoning the past part was new. I resisted a grimace at that. It was almost like a pocket dimension, or some extended Sanctum of a ridiculously powerful mage, or a deity. I'd made a mistake in coming here, and I'd definitely come under prepared.
"Perhaps, but be wary of claiming that title here of all places, these are the true Dark Lords of the Sith, and we've only just felt a taste of their power"
"Yes, my sisters..." she replied, pausing, grimacing, voice lowering "...yes, such power"
"Commander; signal located, General Kenobi...tracking, tracking, route plot underway" Aaron and Abigail stated in unison, damage at least not getting to those systems. Sadly that route seemed to run through the big piles of ruins through that big tunnel like doorway. Or into the Temple Tomb...the geography here was screwy, time and distance not working as it should to my mind. Mental attacks perhaps, but the droids were affected too...or it had got to be so much that I could tell the difference.
A concern, but one I couldn't do anything about as I gritted my teeth and we fell into wary silence once again as we careful marched forward, just us four...and the occasional zombie needing to be shot as we marched through the darkness towards the light. Deliberately I kept space between myself and the Dathomiri, droid bodyguards flanking me and shooting where needed, as the risk of Falling was high...the Dark side smothered all, incited the blood with fear and anger.
Control was the key, pushing off the sickly-sweet temptation, the gnawing feeling of threat-threat-threat that permeated the land. It was the sudden...nothing...that put me on edge as the minutes passed, as the enemies vanished as if they never were, or signs of strange magic-dark-clouds. Just ruins, and dead soil, and ash, all around us as my eyes moved this way and that on the watch for the next threat, slug-thrower unlimbered and ready. Rain...
No, ashes began to fall from the sky, like big fat grew black snowflakes as the lightning about flashed, the loud roaring rumble of thunder echoing around us as every shadow seemed to stare at us. Watching us, ghostly shadow people long dead who were gone the moment I, we, turned our heads in their direction...just there, out of the corner of my eye. Figures in robes and with crimson lightsabers at the ready flashing into existence as lightning flickered...then vanishing a second later; it kept me on edge, an effort to wear down resolve, or to simply exhaust us.
Step by step through the complex, walking through tunnels, then out into the shattered sky, through a plaza with flanking pyramid tombs, towards the signal detected by the droids...by two signals, Skywalkers as well apparently, so our quarry drew near at last. I looked up; no winds, no shrieking skies, no colour...just darkness and hateful lightning as the ashes continued to drift down as if in a snow shower. Shifted back down to staring down the barrel of my rifle...something had moved, red, a flash of power in the Force ahead of us. Or, at least louder than the swirling darkness in the Force that sloshed around the energy of this dead tomb world, of the prison the inmates sought to escape.
"Commander; Multiple enemies detected, no heat signature or life signs. Engaging" Aaron stated as our long reprieve came to an end as we came through a passageway, into more half-collapsed and destroyed ruins as dozens of figures shambled forth with weapons in hand. Though 'weapons' varied from large clubs of stone, to ancient broken weapons and blasters...a grenade went arching though the air as my droids used their blasters to start killing the things with headshots.
Now reached out as the second incendiary grenade erupted in a gout of flame, slinging my slug-thrower as I depleted the third last clip and freeing both my hands as I chanted. Calling the flames, inciting the flames...controlling the flames as my gauntleted hands formed into fists as I growled, feeling the heat, the power, the darkness, and tapering down on the emotions as the darkness threatened to seep into my arcane casting. I was in Control, a bastion of Order and Calm amidst the raging power, the Eye of the Storm, as the flames ignited corrupted flesh and burned them into nothingness as I advanced.
Gestured, dragging the flames to my right so they seared and clung, the sudden concentrated firestorm parting into two, tearing into those shamblers as they raised weapons uncaring of their destruction. Blaster shots echoed, Ventress slaying a number of the things as her crimson blades hummed and hissed once again, again to cleave through undead flesh amongst the ash shower, the lightning flashing again and again. I was destruction, the searing flames as I lashed out, chanting and burning, the small horde disintegrating before our combined strengthen as I raised up to...
"GANA!"
The Force Wave hit me like a speeder, extinguishing my flames before I realised it as I was flung backwards to slam into the wall behind me. Pain erupted, though the armour absorbed most of the blow as my back impacted the thick stone, and then my helmeted head hammered back into it moments later...still pain flash through me as I tried to catch up mentally, groaning, gasping as the air was momentarily force my lungs. All around me the darkness blanked everything, the shadows watching, the eyes of the dead blazing crimson with emotions long gone as an armoured warrior in red came into view...
...a spectral armoured warrior the reeked of power, a shade of greatness long ended in the material realm, but here and now...
"Kam Aras Tu Kaina Nenx Jidai?" the warrior, a Sith, of species as much as Force cult, mocked as the skies erupted, shivered, as a wave of power washed over me, as he laughed, lightning sparking on each hand "Nenx Tsis, Rasiz Niekas Sso right? Haa haa haa"
'Move Daron' I commanded myself forcefully, body moving despite aches, despite weariness, as death came towards me. Stumbling forward, less gracefully than I'd like, I ripped my rifle back into hand, arm up, bracing, and firing with swift merciless the arcanely sigiled slugs in rapid succession. Ventress seemed to be alive, pushing back up and summon her blades to her as Aaron and Abigail jumped into attack mode, weapons reaching for the ghost Sith 'Fight!'
"Alchemija?" the spectre mused loudly as my bullets hit it, actually hit, and knocked it back a step despite only the barest flinch of pain "Raganius? Hmm Nenx Gana!"
Ghostly hands flashing upwards, crimson lightning rippling outwards and upwards into the bodies of Aaron and Abigail. My runes in the armour ignited, the protections activating along with the built in resistance to electrical attacks in my bodyguard droids...but clearly not enough as both screeched and smoked as metal burned, before being flung backwards as if thrown by a giant invisible hand. My next round of shots had less than the desired effect, an undead flinch, mild surprise perhaps, but I had to quickly discard the nearly spent weapon unto my back as the lightning sang again.
"Shield!" I commanded, the ritual activating as I threw my free hand out desperately before me and I called up a well known spell. Strengthened it, maximised it, just in time to save me as the blood lightning ripped into me and drove me back towards the wall. Even bracing my feet it was like attempting to hold a door close again some great force on the other side, energy went into in as the...
I grunted in pain as it flickered over the edges and lashed at my armour, as I was driven back, as Ventress rose unsteadily not too far away "Ventress to me! Lend me your strength! Quickly!"
...as I counter-attacked, reaching deep inside myself and throwing forth white-blue chain lightning to match the crimson power, meeting it, driving it back as I kept up the shield with the other. But I could feel the strength behind the blows, the well of darkness the soul could call upon here within its boundary area...and there would be no victory without more power. Power I did not have yet, knowledge that made my attack crude in comparison, brute force against power and knowledge of one long dead yet still bound to this plane...
Somehow she understood what I wanted, moving to side with a bound, gauntleted hand grabbing my shoulder as I felt her raging emotions, the swirling will of control atop the roaring rancor of her anger, the bubbling rage she dregged up. Felt it, let it funnel through me, grabbed it and flung it with renewed power and fury at the undead ghost warrior, the Sith Lord with another blast of lightning darkest blue, crackling and wild as it drove back the others...
...for but moments as the dark laugh rumbled, a swell of the Dark Side, a tidal wave of power as the world blurred and lightning shattered my shield, ripping into my body and Ventress's as we were thrown back into the wall. Screaming in pain as armour buckled, runic protections buckling as armour was, literally, torn off my shoulder and right arm as the pressure came to bear on me...on us...
...agony...
...pain...
...darkness...
...till it ended, as my convulsed despite my efforts, my mind barely in control as I forced it to heal as the spectre came before us, standing over us "Acceptable. You, Not-Jidai, Not-Sith, the Line of Bane...Ahhh, such arrogance of the Apprentice of Plagueis! To think he can summon the spirits of my world and expect no answer, such hubris, such pathetic weakness!"
"Haa...Haa...Haa...I..." forming words was hard, rasping through a hoarse dry throat as the Warrior Lord sneered down upon us, speaking for me "You live, a surprise, but now you bring destruction for us. All for naught, his dreams dust on the wind, his Line are no true Sith, unworthy of our power, of that title. Of His Chosen One"
"You...You, we smell the blood yet to come on you, Warrior, Betrayer, Destroyer...Common Cause. The destruction of the Republic, of the Jidai, of the Unworthy..." the Warrior King laughed, his great antlered helmet shifting as he did, a terrible sight "...only the most worthy should succeed. Some words of advice, Leave this Place with your precious Chosen One, The Unworthy One Knows You Are Here..if you survive that is. Let us see the strength of your spirit"
He reached out, ghostly hand grabbing for my head...
Power swelled, attempted to push INTO ME and I roared, in rage, in pain, in defiance, reaching deep into myself as long forgotten spells ignited, power surged forth to meet the invasion. He may be Marka Ragnos, but this was MY BODY, MY SOUL, MY SHARD, MY POWER...
BEGONE SHADE! BACK TO THE GRAVE WHERE YOU BELONG!
...the world exploded as I wrenched him free, threw the spirit out in a blast of energy. A blast wave echoing out and clearing out the shadows, the darkness, a beacon of light for a moment as my vision blurred into shimmering light...
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