Ask Nemesis

[Sah'ra Ryun]

One blink of an eye would be all it took to cleave the heads off their shoulders had Valentine not yelled out. Sah’ra turned in time to see the blue glint from the torches on the razor sharp edge of the guillotine as it sped towards her, a single brief moment spent considering that this was how she would meet her end. A lifetime spent crawling around in tombs and ruins, poetically brought to close doing as such. Fortunately, albeit accidentally, the taller of the two boys leapt back from the blade and collided with her, pushing her against the stone wall and knocking the wind from her lungs. After all, he was the giant amongst them.

”Have you considered,” Sah’ra began as she irritatedly addressed Valentine between struggling gasps of air. ”that wearing a mask might not be the greatest idea in a dark crypt, Valentine?” Anticipating a backward swing from the guillotine, the woman looked above but found that the steel scythe had vanished in the darkness that hovered above. The dim light from the torches did nothing to penetrate the shadows, leaving her in a state of anxiety. Looking back to the group, she took notice of the blood seeping from the wound on the one young man’s chest. With her own wound to worry about, she proceeded to slice the left sleeve of her tunic at the elbow with her throwing blade. Water from the canteen on her hip would clean her own wound before offering the container to Ezra. ”Best keep that as clean as you can. Traps aren’t the only thing down here that could kill you. Who knows what type of infectious diseases thrive here,” A mediocre thank you for saving her life partnered with a sly smirk as she wrapped her hand.

Auryn quickly located another trap as a series of tiny darts shot from one wall to the other, many clattering to the floor whilst some lodged themselves into the stone. Her first instinct was to simply use her abilities to carry herself over the pressure plates but past experience had shown her that utilizing the Force in places such as this had a tendency of playing out in unexpected ways. Sah’ra would instead silently walk ahead of the group, carefully watching where she stepped as she attempted to identify a pattern amongst the triggers.

Each step was measured as she hummed a childhood melody to ease her nerves, her eyes flicking in every direction as she maneuvered the hall. Only when she was standing directly above each plate did she notice a series of markings in a numerical sequence. While she hadn’t identified all the numbers, she was confident she had figured out what the others needed to do as she came to the end.

”If the plates are pressed in a specific order, I believe it may disarm the remaining traps. Unless you boys think you can copy my path perfectly. Plate one is about half way through. Plate four is the last I avoided. ” she called back with a sigh of relief. Whether or not they made it didn’t matter. She had and that's all she cared about. There were still many plates that didn’t play into the deactivation and would solely trigger a trap, but that was no longer her problem.

Spoiler

11/20 on navigating and analyzing the trap plates

@Faded @Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Valentine Veila]

.

Valentine chuckled at her comment, "Don't be cruel love, you know I have self esteem issues regarding my face.." He spoke, the joyful tone in his voice made it almost seem as if it were a joke though he was all too serious in concept. His eyes studied through the dark corridors long enough to see Auryn toss a torch onto the ground, his armored form taking a swift step backward from the darts that lodged themselves into stone nearby. Luckily, he didn't feel the prick of any of their tips; couldn't trust anything in these crypts, considering half of the armaments were likely poisoned.

Valentine lofted a brow as he observed Sah'ra navigate through the tiled floors with a certain patterned gait. "So what do you want me to do Sah'ra? You know that balet wasn't entirely my specialty". He asked, attempting to mimic her patterned walk; albeit difficult he navigated across towards plate four, and then with a gentle slide of his right leg identified plates five and six as safe. Standing now a few meters to the right of his companion, he nodded towards the group.

"Harder to do than said, though I think Im getting the hang of it.."

[OOC: Rolled 11/20 for navigating traps]

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime @Tulos

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra eyed the woman suspiciously as she produced a throwing knife. What else did she have hidden away? He couldn’t argue with her logic about cleaning the wound. He was in the middle of cleaning himself up when a large scythe swung backwards. While most of them ducked, Valentine was caught with the blunt end coming his way. The result was an almost thwack to the head that would flatten him right there.

There was a moment of silence where they all stood around and Valentine was completely out cold. Ezra was deeply conflicted - he was a Jedi and Jedi were supposed to help people. But this guy had been a complete imbecile this entire time and would likely get himself killed if they went further in. On the other hand, was it really Jedi-like to just leave him and keep going? Their mission was to retrieve artifacts and this place seemed promising.

“Maybe we just let him..rest..” Ezra muttered quietly, blinking at the masked man. He didn’t look particularly injured, just knocked out.

A glance back suggested the way back was blocked anyway, so they had no choice but to keep moving. Ezra started stepping through the plates on the ground, avoiding most of the traps. At one point he bolted down the corridor in an attempt to time things with the traps. He made it to the other side, but one of the blades slashed into his arm. Ezra cursed to himself, realizing he had another injury to patch up.

It was then that he began to feel a pulse of the Dark Side somewhere deeper in the chambers. He didn’t react overtly, but he did glance over at the others to see if they felt anything. It made him uncomfortable, but he knew exactly what it was. It was a toxic, yet inviting call. It was a presence that felt chilling and yet warm at the same time.

Roll: 7/20

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime @Faded

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Auryn stared at the floor, by all appearances spaced out while others made their way across the trapped bit of floor. He only looked up again when the creepy stone mask guy got konked over the head by a returning scythe. The Firrerreon briefly rubbed his head and dragged the man into a corner away from the traps without comment. While Ezra navigated the traps, Auryn seemed to space right back out, looking nowhere in particular.

Grimacing further as Ezra collected another cut, Auryn, still visibly spaced all the way out, walked forward across the danger zone. For someone with Auryn's overall attitude and bearing, the young man clearly had grace when he felt like it. He stepped light-footed onto the first numbered tile, rotating to get to the next, back one tile, and right on forward. But this place was designed by Sith, so naturally, the "correct" order was still trapped.

A blade swung out and Auryn ducked, elbow swinging up to strike its flat side, and, it snapped right off the wall. He grabbed it and shoved it upward into another semi-hidden slot in the ceiling, stepped on another couple of tiles, then hopped up and forward into a spun arc over a jet of flame. The jammed slot in the ceiling made an ominous grinding noise as he bounced off a wall to avoid a trap hole in the floor.

Landing one-footed atop another numbered tile in order, he quickly hopped across three more tiles, did a suspiciously ballet-like spin around a buzzsaw trap, and limbo slid along his knees beneath a series of spears from the wall. Then he hopped up to his feet precisely on the final tile somewhere near Ezra, sinking a half inch down as the tile triggered. A loud series of clunks resounded through the chamber, all the trap tiles depressing at once, disarming all traps. Auryn brushed his bright gold hair from his face, lit and shining from nearby torchlight, and sighed in a long-suffering sort of way.

"Hate it here. Puke 'n traps n' fuck all," he grumbled. Golden eyes looked at Ezra, meeting his concerned-looking silver gaze. "I'll get that," he said in a mildly authoritative tone while the jammed trap in the ceiling broke behind him, dropping a large blade to the ground. Auryn pulled a bacta patch from his belt and applied it to the quarter-Sephi's newest cut. "There y'go," he said, finishing up with a brief pat on the other boy's shoulder.

He glanced back upward past Sah'ra at this corridor's exit, sensing the same something further beyond. Auryn finally looked properly uncomfortable, scowling and tense and chewing away at his gum. A piece of spicy cinnamon gum was offered to Ezra as, after a delay, the door forward ground open. Auryn made eye contact with Ezra, then glanced over at Sah'ra and back. "M'going first."

And he walked forward, taking the lead.

@Sreeya @Tulos @Faded

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Sah’ra watched as the others prepared to make their way through the trapped corridor but her eyes soon diverted upward as she saw the faint glint on steel she had been so concerned about earlier. She was now out of its path and had no worries for her own life but as Valentine soon found himself sprawled across the floor, she wondered if he’d ever see the light of day again. After all, she wasn’t about to drag him out of here even if there was a clear path. ”I told you so,” Sah’ra plainly called out in reference to the mask her partner had worn, shaking her head.

It seemed she would be travelling with these two young men, they’re presence holding more potential necessity now that Valentine had been indisposed. She watched with anticipation as Ezra took his first steps through the pressure plates but it was the other that mystified her. Absolutely careless, his mind in the clouds and yet his movements were graceful beyond words. It was a spectacle to be sure, something she had only seen accomplished by other Force practitioners, and she began to wonder just exactly who these two young men truly were. ”Perhaps you should consider a career in dance. That was a sight to behold,” she said to Auryn as he treated his friend’s cut.

Like Ezra and Auryn, Sah’ra too felt the wave of darkness that came from deeper within. They were getting close now, she knew it. But if her theory of these two was correct, then perhaps… Sah’ra cast a side eyed glance over to them both and upon seeing their reaction, making brief eye contact with Ezra, she smirked subtely after he had looked away. Perhaps they were just frightened, an entirely understandable possibility given their surroundings, but she was growing more certain that there was something familiarly special about them both.

”Uncomfortable?” she would ask Ezra after Auryn pulled ahead with the two, leaving them in tow, Sah’ra ensuring there was enough space that if he so happened to trigger any other traps that she’d have ample time to react. While the quarter Sephi may have maintained his stoicism, she could feel the emotions of unease pouring off of them both. ”Exploring the tombs of ancient Sith, it’s not for everyone. Be sure to let us know if you start hearing voices in your head,” she added with a genuine smile. ”Have you visited places such as this before?”

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra stared blankly as Auryn practically danced through the traps. He even showed off by switching them all off. Part of him was envious, but most of him was irritated that Auryn likely just blew their cover. To move with unnatural grace like that could really only be accomplished by Force users. Ezra was about to pull a bacta patch out, but Auryn arrived there first. His expression softened slightly as he looked at the Firrerreo, giving a nod in thanks for the gesture. His gaze flicked towards the woman that now looked curiously at Auryn. Damn. Did she know? Was she a Force user? He thoughtfully chewed on the spicy gum Auryn offered. He liked this more than the apple nonsense at least.

He stared after Auryn as he walked ahead, suddenly finding himself briefly alone with the older woman that sidled up near him. Ezra eyed her suspiciously as she asked if he was uncomfortable, “M’am, you keep looking at me like I’m a prime cut of Nabooian bantha filet,” He responded dryly. He was in no rush to reveal that he could sense the darkness around them. She already dropped enough hints about potentially being a Sith, which meant this place ran the risk of empowering her. It was far better to have her keep underestimating the two boys.

He almost considered not responding to her question, but he feared whatever Auryn blurted out even more, “No,” He said as they walked, “You don’t feel bad for leaving your friend behind? He didn’t seem to be doing so great..” Ezra reminded her.

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Auryn carelessly flipped several stray strands of golden hair out of his face. "Already have. Maybe I'll send ya tickets t'my debut." Spoken, as usual, in a tone of complete self-assurance that made telling a joke from seriousness very difficult. Then they moved on forward.

The Firrerreon's head suddenly shot around, pupils increasingly dangerously close to feral-looking slits. Had he seen someth-!? "Don't joke 'bout filet 'less you're offerin'." His stomach rumbled spitefully. Gum really wasn't doing it for him. Marching irritably forward while the two behind him talked about whatever they talked about, Auryn thought about steak. These lovely thoughts were ruined as the trio came into a new, wide-open chamber.

Calcified growths that appeared covered in bone-white fuzz subtly pulsed overtop seemingly random surfaces, best described as 'meat moss'. Auryn immediately hated the meat moss. Habitually, he covered his nose and mouth with an arm from the smell of death floating off its bulbous, undulating surface, nearly wretching. Beneath, the faint hints of long-buried corpses reaching for salvation that never arrived barely remained, devoured by the moss.

At the far end, beyond an ancient, cracked table, was a statue that near-literally stank of the Dark Side. There was no immediately obvious source beyond the statue itself. "And the treasure was fucked up corpses all along. Where's the exit?" he asked no one in particular from behind his hand, glancing around, every nerve tightly on edge. The air felt to him like walking through oil that wanted to swallow them whole.

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

A snide chuckle partnered with rolling blue eyes was what Ezra would receive for his comment, though from a certain point of view he wasn’t incorrect. The pigheadedness of youth dominated these young minds even now, the affluent upbringing she surmised on Ezra’s part due to his attire only further inflating these opinions of himself. Still, there was no denying the suspicions of their potential she had begun to harbor. Indeed she was intrigued but not in the manner she believed him to mean.

”Two young men carelessly strolling through an ancient tomb; what isn’t there to be interested in? Surely you must understand my curiosity,” she would respond as she stared ahead. ”Should I be?” Sah’ra replied to his question curtly, turning her face to him briefly as they continued to walk, her eyes piercing into his. After all, only mere moments before the arrival of these two mysterious men she had considered sacrificing Valentine if the need arose. Of course, these two didn’t need to know that. ”If he’s worth as much as he boasted during our travels, he will find his own way out. If not?” She paused, turning to face the corridor again with a sly grin. ”Well, it’s all something for him to worry about when he wakes up, not us,”

As the trio of explorers approached the final chamber, Sah’ra was practically salivating at the raw power she could feel emanating from within. Her pupils undoubtedly dilating, flecks of yellow cutting through the typical blue of her iris’. Quickly she forced herself ahead of the two others, basking in the waves of darkness as she searched for it’s source before they finally settled on the statue that resided at it’s center. She didn’t notice nor care about the stench of decay that wafted around them. Not when she was so close to her goal. As she approached the statue, she could read more scripture engraved into its base that was far superiorly preserved than what they had found earlier.

”Tik meistras ir no galez avoztuna kam lay zemiau…” she whispered softly as pale fingers traced above. While Auryn seemed confident there was nothing left to be found, Sah’ra knew he was wrong. She could feel the dark side pouring itself through her and as she turned back to the two young men, she would once again smile upon them.

”Back the way we came, I’m afraid,” Sah’ra responded in a sickeningly sweet tone, though her posture read far differently than what she offered them. Her hands hung at her side, palms slowly turning outward as she allowed the powers of both Ziost and this tomb to flow through her. It was time to see if these young travellers were what she had come to suspect. The Force would seep into their minds, drawing out and twisting memories they shared with one another with feelings of resentment and jealousy. Images of loved ones tainted by malicious actions by the other, whomever that may be. ”I’m afraid the only path is forward and only one of you will get that chance. Perhaps it be best if you… decide amongst yourselves?” she continued, the sweetness replaced with a sinister resonance, her eyes further melting into a deep yellow against the stark contrast of the paleness of her skin. She would continue to attempt to turn them on each other in a final effort to locate the horde of treasures that undoubtedly lay below.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra felt more and more uneasy as he kept walking forward. He felt uneasy not because it was uncomfortable, but because it was so tempting. Each step forward was tugging at something in his mind, something he was afraid of, something that surfaced around Dash and had scared him. He felt that familiar presence beginning to creep in the corners of his thoughts. He hardly heard anything the woman said, focusing on trying to keep his wits about him. Even the stench of decay wasn’t enough to distract him.

“What did you say?” Ezra asked flatly as he looked at the woman when she muttered something in another language. His sharp ears picked up her speech.

Unfortunately for Sah’ra, Ezra and Auryn didn’t know each other well enough to have any meaningful triggers against one another. But for Ezra it didn’t even get to that. As the Force penetrated his thoughts, Sah’ra would find a curious amount of resistance after the initial breach. This was no ordinary lowly skilled Force user, but someone that was naturally blessed in mental fortitude with the Force.

The downside was that, while Ezra was powerful, he was not skilled enough to wield everything correctly. He mentally pushed her presence out of her mind, but it manifested externally in the form of a violent push. It would be enough to send her flying clear across the hall and crashing into a wall to land in a heap of old bones. It was the strength of a Knight, someone that stood on even ground with Sah’ra.

Ezra’s eyes were wide with surprise as he had no intention of doing that push. If anyone looked, they would see the unmistakable glints of gold in eyes that suddenly didn't look like Ezra's. He had no words to offer, no excuses, nothing at all.

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Sah'ra knew nothing about Auryn, not even his name, so her attempt at manipulation in the Force was blindly reaching for something to latch onto. Ezra didn't know any of the Firrerreon's loved ones, either. He'd never been there to meet them. He hadn't known them before they burned.

Instead, her intrusion prodded at an already tense young man, pushing against a mind fighting down fury for peace and calm. Ezra wasn't there in the flames. But the Sith were there, shadowy and indistinct in the haze of painful memory. Sah'ra was there now, too, a dark presence flickering in the corners. Every muscle tensed against itself, skin slipping to silver shades and pupils narrowing to feral, catlike slits. Lips curled into a fanged snarl, an angry growl rumbling in the young Firrerreon's throat as he managed to push Sah'ra's presence from his mind, unintentionally presenting a crude mental counterattack in the form of a memory of orbital bombardment. (@Sah'ra Ryun)

Both hands clenched at his sides, legs a hair's breadth from lunging forward. Then he felt a pulse of fear and anger that wasn't his own, the Force blasting forward- from Ezra. Auryn caught the glint of gold in silver eyes as he glanced over. Eyes widening in shock, he strode next to the quarter Sephi and gently placed his left hand on Ezra's shoulder, keeping his eyes on the creepy woman and drawing his lightsaber defensively in his right.

"Ezra," he said, unheard by the woman at this distance. "Breath. Focus on five things you see, four you touch, three you hear, two you smell, one you taste." Even as he said it, chewing his gum afterward, his own demeanor calmed. Auryn did not judge Ezra's struggle. He was grounded by it. The last time he'd faced a Sith, on Yavin, he'd been isolated in his fight.

Not this time. Auryn was still afraid and angry, working to balance it with peaceful calm. "We got this." He knew it would have been 'smarter' to strike in the confusion, sure. But Auryn wasn't going to leave the other padawan to struggle alone, and he refused to let himself succumb again to furious instinct. The Force flowed through and around him.

"Together."

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Sah’ra had not expected either of these young men to be as powerful as they were but her suspicions were confirmed all the same. Without training, understanding of the Force and its mysteries, it would have been impossible to resist even falsehoods burrowing into their minds. Briefly her tendrils had scraped the surface of their psyche before being shut out, the door to their consciousness slammed in her face. Yet she could see briefly into the mind of one, a memory pulled from his past. Ships rained fire on his homeworld of Firrerre, leveling cities and glassing plains. Very few survived, a reality of Auryn’s past that had been put on display as well as the pain and anguish he had felt and would continue to feel for years to come. To the Sith woman, these sensations and memories were as sweet as nectar and as intoxicating as fine wine.

As she fed on these emotions Auryn had unintentionally presented, they would serve the Padawan in unexpected ways as the kinetic blast of Force energy slammed into her, throwing her from her feet. While initially caught off guard, Sah’ra was still able to slow her propulsion across the chamber enough that as she reached the wall opposite Ezra and Auryn she would relatively be able to control the impact before descending into the pile of skeletal remains. Smaller broken fragments erupted from the collection of dead, a jagged edge colliding with her cheek beneath her right eye, blood seeping from the small wound.

Collecting herself as she crouched in place, a pale hand rose to touch the scrape until amber met speckled silver. From where she was, she could see the change in Ezra. She could see how something had awoken in the young man, a level of him craving to reach out and grasp these new sensations. As her hand slowly lowered from her cut cheek, a devilish grin formed as she stood.

”Impressive, I must admit,” she called out as she noticed the weapon in Auryn’s hand as he attempted to soothe the other Padawan. ”Intoxicating, isn’t it?” she teased, directing her words to Ezra. ”Perhaps you were destined to come here?” Here, in this tomb, on Ziost, Sah’ra knew she had a far grander scope of strength and potential and she fully intended on capitalizing on this fact. As Auryn spoke, her left hand rose whilst the blue flames that illuminated the chamber dimmed into total darkness. Her voice would echo around them, impossible to pinpoint its origins by hearing alone as the Sith began to circle the chamber, drawing her lightsaber hilt from within her robes yet leaving it inactive in her grasp. ”Perhaps there is something more to be learned. Your potential is hindered by studying only a single side of every coin. I can feel your desire to reach out and grasp what could be, should be yours. I could show you, but it would come at a price,”

As she circled the chamber, sensing her surroundings with the Force while the nexus of Ziost shrouded the area in darkness and clouded the minds of the Jedi, Sah’ra kept her attention on Auryn. Having seen the destruction of Firrerre in his mind, she was able to pinpoint his ancestry. She knew that the physical darkness meant nothing to him. ”Choose this moment to break your chains. Shed the shackles of servitude. Become who you were meant to be. Let me show you,”

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra was still in shock over what happened. Jedi didn’t do what he did. Why was he always struggling to be a Jedi? He looked at his injuries, the ones he couldn’t actively use heal on. Why couldn’t he heal? Sah’ra’s efforts were working more than she would know - seeds of doubt that were already planted now began to take root. Ezra looked at Auryn when he stood in front of him. The Firrerreo would gaze into chilling, yellow-tinged eyes.

Auryn’s words sounded like a very faint echo. Ezra tried to focus on him, tried to anchor down to physical reality. But the darkness called and beckoned to him. Sah’ra’s voice was honey, a siren song that wove in with the pulsing darkness that manifested all around them.

“I…I’m a Jedi..” Ezra said quietly as he continued to gaze at Auryn. He reached and grasped Auryn by the bicep to keep himself grounded. The woman spoke of showing him a path, and his own temptation and thoughts nudged him.

‘You can’t talk to your fathers about what you feel, they will never understand.’

‘You can’t talk to the Jedi about it because they will mark you as someone prone to fall.’

‘You can’t talk to Dash about it because you remember how afraid he looked when your eyes changed.’

He was alone. No one would understand. No one could explain. What if he wasn’t a Jedi? What if he was…something else?

Ezra avoided looking at the woman, his jaw tightening, “You need to leave,” He told the woman, his voice not as commanding as he hoped, “You are outnumbered.”

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime

 

[Auryn Angharad]

The Sith would hear a sound halfway between scoff and snarl the moment she mentioned 'destiny', echoing slightly in the pitch black. "Destiny's fake. A person's path is what they make it." Auryn said the last part more toward Ezra, who looked somewhere between quietly panicked and spaced out. His brows lowered and his angry expression softened as the quarter Sephi grasped his arm.

Auryn squeezed Ezra's shoulder in return and took a deep breath. "We are Jedi," he repeated after Ezra. Loud and defiant. Hints of anger in his tone, but also a certain sureness. He'd been with the Order since he was young, and he tried very, very hard to be good at it in spite of things. It was difficult, but that sure wasn't stopping him. "Take your patronizing nerfshit and shove it back up your ass, lady."

Still, this place was bad for them. While Ezra fought doubt Auryn didn't so much know about as felt, the Firrerreon's temper was called by the darkness around them, hints visible on his face, in his posture. Twin golden eyes stared through the black, tracking the Sith woman's movement. Ezra mentioned how the Sith was outnumbered and followed up near-immediately.

"Gonna be real awkward for ya when Councilor Vanloa 'an the rest catch up to us." Spoken with the same kind of unshakeable, idiot-like confidence as damn near everything else he'd said today. Sah'ra certainly didn't know him well enough to tell if it was the truth or not. "Jedi don't leave people behind like you do," He declared matter-of-factly to the Sith before glancing at Ezra and the yellow in his eyes, the way he avoided eye contact. "Whatever happens."

As Sah'ra predatorily circled, Auryn stayed slightly between her and Ezra. He didn't really know the quarter Sephi too well, but Auryn'd fight for him if the Sith brought a fight.

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Sah’ra clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as Auryn made his comments, steadfast in his position and desire to keep Ezra from faltering. He really was a fiery young man and if she were pressed on the matter, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t actually respect the Firrerreon’s devotion. While she wasn’t sure if his statements were true or not, she remained entirely confident despite his revelation.

”I’m sure your Master will have their work cut out for them making it this far, child,” Sah’ra cooed from the darkness, her voice still reverberating around the chamber. After all, this tomb was made by the Sith for the Sith. Perhaps the Jedi would be able to discover the secrets of the door sealed by blood magic, but by then she will have recovered her artifact and made her own escape. ”For now, it’s just us. Delightful, don’t you think?”

She had circled a quarter of the way around the chamber, her eyes narrowed on where she sensed the two Padawans at the center. While Auryn seemed concrete in his conduct, she could feel the anger bubbling inside him. She didn’t need to see his face to know that it only required time before he too could crack.

A sentient mind is a mysterious thing. They can create faces in objects that have none purely by instinct, imagination running rampant. Place them in total darkness, and images can begin to materialize all around them with the right push and Sah’ra was only too willing to give Ezra and Auryn that shove. She had seen the memories of Firrerre in the young man’s mind, her free hand lifting up in the darkness as the powers of Ziost fuelled her effort. Slowly she worked, trying to draw these memories forth once more. The chamber, dark as it may be, would shift into burning cities and explosions whilst the Imperial fleet continued it’s assault once more, forcing Ezra and Auryn to relive what may well have been the darkest day of his past. ”Destiny is all, Padawan. It was your people’s destiny to burn. You may have escaped the destruction once but you only prolonged your fate,” The vision would continue, the faint shape of a masked man overseeing its destruction taking form.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Ezra Thorne]

The more the woman spoke, the more harmful she was. Ezra made some quick decisions, and he decided that being an overly virtuous Jedi would likely get both him and Auryn killed. There was no doubt the woman was a Sith and it was no mystery what she was doing. His saber flew to his hand and he ignited it, deciding against giving the woman even another second to invade their minds or conjure any images.

This time, his attack was on purpose. He would rush in with his saber, swinging with his right-handed blade to cut from her right hip to left shoulder. Ezra moved like a blur, clearly having practiced combat quite a bit. She could keep trying to conjure images and get cut in half or focus on the sudden blade coming her way.

@Mr. Teatime @Tulos

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Auryn's patience was rapidly wearing thin between hunger, the surrounding darkness, and Sah'ra's irritating voice. But he still refused to start the fight, internally insisting on keeping himself in check. Didn't stop his increasingly caustic commentary, though.

"That door's made of stone ya dumb bitch. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together coulda just cut through," he spat with venom, obviously getting worked up. Then Ezra shot forward, saber igniting, and restraint strained against instinct and protective nature. Like a stiff statue come to life the Firrerreo shot forward at an angle. Sah'ra's mental attack was too similar to her last trick and Auryn was on guard, plus the lack of ambient light had little effect on him and his psyche. His mind rejected her influence.

The Firrerreo had experienced the death of his homeworld like few in the galaxy could; her skill was lacking in replicating such a thing. Instead, as he moved forward just after Ezra, his left hand lifted up, visible over the quarter Sephi's shoulder.

"Dyab pran je ou!" he shouted, a flash of light blasting from his open hand as his nictating membranes covered his own eyes, preventing him from being affected. Coming from behind and to the side of Ezra, the other Padawan would be unaffected but would find the Sith well-lit for his attack, while Sah'ra risked temporary blindness from the two-pronged surprise attack.

His footwork took him to the opposite side of Ezra's saber hand, poised and tightly-coiled for an attack.

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Sah’ra could feel the Firrerreon’s frustration and anger bubbling over, venom seeping into his words. In the inky black she offered him a snide smirk, though whether or not he could see the contrast of stark white teeth against her black lipstick was unclear and also entirely irrelevant. What did matter is that she knew she was getting under his skin, coaxing any sort of dark reaction from him that she could.

Yet it was Ezra that attacked first, the bright purple blade snapping to life as he charged towards her. She had been watching, waiting for a provoked retaliation so when he began his charge, she was prepared. She was quickly able to break her focus from her previous efforts of altering their surroundings, her own crimson blade igniting in her right hand as she positioned herself to counter his attack. She originally intended to catch the underside of his blade with the middle section of her own at an arm’s length then to force his attack into an upward arc, sweeping the violet plasma over her head rather than through her abdomen.

That was before Auryn illuminated the chamber from the palm of his hand however. She had still seen Ezra, had planned her defence, but the second Padawan had succeeded in throwing her off. While her focus had been on Ezra, Auryn’s positioning was directly at his back and caused the total darkness to flash into bright white.

”Argh!” the Sith hissed as she acted, still sensing the location of the quarter Sephi but her timing was off in comparison to her original intention. Rather than meeting Ezra’s blade with the middle section of her own, the connection was made from above and closer to the emitter thus forcing her into a defensive lock. Ezra was young but he was strong so knowing keeping the lock would not be in her favor, she quickly lifted her left hand above her right forearm to throw him to his left, the Force focused at his abdomen. Given the positioning of Auryn, something she could still sense yet not see as she recovered the flash of light, he was likely in the path and would have the much larger Padawan slam into him if he didn’t move out of the way.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Auryn Angharad]

With Auryn's flash of light appearing successful, his free hand rose to the grasp his lightsaber's pommel for a two-handed grip, hilt up near his right shoulder. He scooted to his right behind Ezra back Sah'ra's telekinetic attack came in, concealing his movement behind the other Padawan' whether he got moved or not, further aided by the Sith's temporary blindness. This would avoid getting hit by Ezra if he got thrown. Auryn inhaled and called the Force to boost his Firrerreon strength for a short burst.

He exhaled with focus while stepping in right-foot forward and diagonally swinging his blade in two hands to slash into Sah'ra's left shoulder and sever her left arm at the elbow. His swing would end in a close, tip-forward guard pointed toward the Sith if otherwise uninterrupted.

The Firrerreon padawan was quick. It was less his skill- practiced since he was young- that kept him off the battlefield, but other concerns. Although clearly, Ezra beat him in power with the Force. Auryn was hoping this combination would rapidly overwhelm the Sith and disable her before something stupid could happen.

@Tulos @Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra caught the Sith haphazardly block his attack. The blindness from Auryn’s attack offered a bit of an advantage for Ezra. However, that still didn’t ensure he was quick enough to avoid the push. The part Sephi slammed his blade down into the ground to slow his skid back and keep himself on his feet. He focused the Force to suddenly invade her thoughts. There was no malice as much as complete distraction and a break to her focus. This was all while Auryn went in for the arm attack. Ezra’s saber was held across his torso to protect him.

His intention was not to kill her - she was not like the other Sith he came across. There was an intelligence to her. She wouldn’t act like a mindless beast if she was defeated.

@Mr. Teatime @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Her eye sight still hadn’t returned to normal, the dramatic adjustment from darkness to bright light taking a few seconds to wear off, but Sah’ra still had the Force to guide her. She didn’t need her eyes to see Auryn move behind Ezra nor to detect the looming sense of danger as he prepared his attack, much like a youngling with a training remote. Fortunately her saber was already positioned in such a way that lifting it to catch the descending green blade was a simple matter of raising her arm.

Given that Auryn opted to double his hands on his hilt, offering him a greater degree of strength to his swing, Sah’ra was once again in a position where she stood a risk of being overpowered. The influence of Ezra’s attempt to dull her senses loomed over her yet the nexus of Ziost still flowed through her. Much like they too had done prior, she closed off her mind from his influence as she quickly twisted her body beneath the sparking connection of green and red before coming out at Auryn’s left side, facing the space she had previously stood. As she straightened her posture, her saber beneath the Firerron’s, Sah’ra brought her own blade down at an angle, seeking to find purchase against his left knee.

She didn’t need to kill anyone, and while these two young men were Jedi, she found little desire in extinguishing their lives. She had come to respect them and what they could become. Yet to obtain what she had come here for, she needed just a bit more susceptibility to be expressed from one of these young men. She needed them to express their anger if she was to unlock the sarcophagus, whatever the cost. If she could injure one badly enough, then perhaps it would ignite the flame she sought to ignite.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​