Out of ashes

[Nova Elgrin]

Flakes of dust and ashes danced in the air and were quickly captured by a ghust of wind. Nova had been exploring the ruins of the once mighty temple for quite some time now, but she had not have the fortune of finding any survivors. She saw mighty pillars crashed to little more than marbles, and just next to her the remains of a giant statue rested. The features of the unkown Jedi's monument had remained unharmed, except for a single deep crack that split his face in half. The memorial was crafted from a stone that resembled sandstone, even if just in shade, not structure. Precious minerals of bright green caught the rays of sunshine and refracted the light disturbingly similar like the irides of a living human being. Nova felt as if she was observed. Was it the giants head and its lifeless gaze that forced this feeling upon her? She couldn't tell.
She kept on wandering the many bumpy paths this destruction provided. A bird was singing a cheerful song, somewhere in the distance. It didn't feel right and she wished it would have stayed silent. This was no time for songs. This was the time for silent prayers.

The young Elgrin reached out in the force. She found herself overwhelmed by impressions. The terror of the ones who had died here still vibrated in the air. And then something else caught her attention. A shudder run down her spine and raised her hackles. Her steps carried her further to the source of her uneasiness. In some distance she could see a human like shape with its back to her, just in front of another statues visage. The stranger was as motionless as the features before him. A sudden cold reached out for her and took her fluttering heart into a grip of ice and iron. The darkness was so prominent, it felt almost choking. Her brows furled and darkend the blue of her eyes to shade of a storm-lashed sea.
Before logic and wits could serve her, her temper and reflexes gained the dominance, so she reached for her lightsaber and let the vibrant blue come to life.
"Did you do that?!" the destructed temple...the thousands of dead ones...

@Soverin

 

[Soverin]

​

The winds of Tython carried the very word of the force. Mors could practically hear it's voice as he walked out into the dusky evening. He was looking for a quiet place. He was only able to enjoy solitude for a brief time prior to seeking out the planet's jedi temple. The great forests breathed loudly as leaves, petals and fern shifted on the wind. It was that inescapable feeling of life again. It seeped in through his body and reminded him to taste each breath. It changed his perspective of all things, as little as he understood it.

Before he could trek a proper course for a stroll he found himself lost, standing among thin rays of sunlight in a dusty crevice.

A swift accusation was all Mors heard after practically leaping at the sound of that familiar snap-hiss echoing through the chamber. It was well and easy finding the corruption of the dark side on the man standing a distance from Nova. His skin was sickly and pale in the glow of her saber's blade. A finely organized ensemble of black clung to him like armour, covered partially by a cloak of deep caramel. The circular chamber appeared perhaps deeper and darker at his back, not as easily penetrated by the sunlight creeping in through the foundation's flaws.

It took a time for him to decipher the riddle of her words, but the hum of her saber coaxed a bit of haste in his process. The sithly defector saw the faces among the stone -- the intricacy of the architecture, swathed in light of blue. His brows budged as the pieces fell into place, and the picture appeared as she saw it.

"Peace." Mors made no move, holding his ground like a predatory cat. "You sense the dark," he inquired. "I have sworn it away, but the stain is not easily erased." The anzat peered toward the ground, starting a path to hop down off of the small pile of stone he'd climbed in his wanderlust. Still standing a cautious distance away from Nova, he let the hostility settle for a silent moment before speaking again. "I mean no one harm."

​

 

[Nova Elgrin]

Peace? Sweet sin from the mouth of a darksider. Nova thought to hear him abuse the word by giving it a certain sinister hint with his hoarse throat. But already the blink of an eye later she wasn't too sure herself anymore. Maybe she heard it because it was, what she wanted to hear as to have the pleasure of seeing her prejudice confirmed. The blue of hers regarded him intensely. Her mind was already in the process of analysing her self chosen enemy. Apearingly a basic human, athletic body, sculpted arms, fine hands with slender fingers. The knuckles that raised themselves under marble coloured skin even granted him an alien elegance. His features promised youth and would have for sure lured more than one girl into daydreams, if there weren't the undeniable taint of the dark side that would spoil even the fantasies of the most innocent virgin. Redish eye circles and the paleness some would only expect to see on a dead body dominated his face. His gaze was intense, even from afar. The icy blue felt like arrows piercing her.

Nova of course did not believe a single word of what he was saying. ."One does not simply swear away the darkness" she growled, trying her best to sound as threatening as she could. If he could hear the subtle shaking in her voice? Her saber stayed ignited, yet its blade was pointed towards the ground and her stance was a defensive one. "Who are you?"

 

[Soverin]

Every subtle movement Nova made dispersed the blue glow of her saber into a different position. Mors eyes lit up with a predatory glimmer as the light sloshed from one side of his reflective iris to the other. He watched her, soaking in her fear... her curiosity. The prevalence of his apparent youth betrayed the hundreds of years he'd been travelling the galaxy, the equal amount of planets he'd encountered and the billions of steps he'd taken across them. If he was stone, then the jedi across from him was ripening fruit; gentle, bruised by the hand of time and compelled by the warmth of light. He was no such paragon. The anzat felt a trifle unwelcome, despite the rather warm ceremonies he'd received upon kneeling to the order, but he knew the girl's words were in no way unwarranted. Even worse, he knew they were true.

Mors curled back his broad lips as he pivoted on a step, sending his gaze around to regard the decayed statues all around them. "My name is Mors Soverin." A fallen statue of an immaculate figure caught his attention. The look of deep introspective thought on it's face forced the defector's gaze deeper and sharper before it turned back on Nova. "I was abducted by the sith, on Apatros." Recalling the day was as easy as recalling yesterday. "Confusion, anger and fear guided me to accept the call of the dark side. I was promised power, thrown into their war machine like a manufactured weapon."

In a flash he recounted his days as sith, a blur of instants that crossed his vision before ceasing. "I never received the power promised to me. I saw only serpents hiding at the edge of the galaxy, claiming vengeance upon planets that'd long forgotten how to fear them. Children and beasts with swords of starlight who claim to hold true power."

Mors cut short, timidly flicking his eyes back and forth between looking into Nova's own as he began to spat venom at the edge of each syllable. He took a painstakingly long break to passify himself, returning to his usual monotonous alien expression. "No. One does not simply swear away the darkness" He agreed.

 

[Nova Elgrin]

Very carefully Nova dared to draw closer to him. It wasn't fully clear if it was lack of fear or the desire of having him in range for a saber thrust. She wasn't even quite sure herself. Just a few arms length's remained between them. The reflection that danced across his eyes under the the glow some unknown source granted him. Did her eyes trick her? Was it just the sunshine that traversed the long lashes of his? Like black scimitars...
When he introduced parts of his past to her, a hint of compassion claimed her expression, yet was quickly hidden behind a lurky gaze. She couldn't afford to show weakness around a carrier of the dark sides taint! Maybe he just lured her into giving up her defenses? But if had indeed had his part in the destruction of this holy place, why not just cut her down? Or maybe he was one of the weaker ones, left behind to deal with the injured and crippled? Yet he didn't radiant weakness. Further more there lay a dominance in his aura that startled Nova and threatend to push her into submissive behaviour.

At the end of his speech the blue of her saber vanished, yet the hilt remained in her hand, and her fingers clang so rigidly to it that her knuckels went white.
The srong presence of light had gave her enough confidence that her counterpart was outnumbered, that she thought she could handle the risk.
Nova had never seen a Sith that had betrayed his kin and seeked the redemption of the light side. She had heard tales, but they were rare, and the ones with a good ending even more so. The fact of this man standing here opponent to her and not having harmed her so far collidied with everything Nova believed in. There was darkness and light, and their individual servents when it came to the force. But there were so many more shades when it came to personality. The blonde would have loved nothing more than to force the young man into the stigma of one side or the other, as her moral codex and understanding of 'the inbetween' were muddied waters. Despite the sweet breeze of spring she felt cold. In her head there were as many questions as the galaxy counted stars, yet she decided for one for now

"Won't they hunt you? I heard the Sith have their very own methods to deal with...deserters?" She used this word fully on purpose and her tongue lengthened it subtly. And if just to see, if it would offend him. Also she had heard rumors. She didn't if they were true. Concern for him wasn't the source of her question, but if she was right, he would bring great danger to the Jedi he would surround himself with.

 

[Soverin]

A nod. "Terrible, unnatural methods."

Mors was a perfectly still creature when not answering the jedi's queries. The deep thought underlying each of the anzat's simple responses was denoted in his perpetually calculative manner. His eyes consumed his environments and interactions into grinding machines that were never sated. If he were not flesh and blood he might be passable as machine, strange and terribly synthetic. To fully embrace the dark side he was scrubbed clean of any emotions that did not aid the vicious crusade of the sith. The remnants left behind offered Mors a short spectrum of primal senses, as such, Nova's prodding elicited little more than a nod, a nod of agreement. There was nothing wrong with the word, certainly none at all, he thought. He was a deserter, always had been. The title might've been applicable even while and before he was sith.

Upon confirming her suspicions, Mors turned to a previous thought, snarling at the idea.

"No. I will hunt them."

( @Nova Elgrin )​

 

[Nova Elgrin]

When her counterpart announced he would hunt them a shudder rocked the young girl. The calmness he radiated seemed almost unnatural. His chest was rising and lowering ever so slightly it could have been just as well imagination. Something about him felt wrong. She couldn't excatly point her finger on it, yet the feeling didn't quite leave her. His statuesque posture had something alien. Was it a mark of the dark side? Had he been talking to the others she could feel in the force? She still hadn't revealed her name to him, and most likely it would stay that way, except he would ask for it. She prefered however not having one that still carried the dark taint knowing her identity. He had claimed he had been abducted. She wondered why his path lead him here then?

"You say the Sith abducted you...why are you here? Why do you seek the company of the Jedi, if you could instead search for your family?" she wasn't really certain herself, if she wanted to lure him away from the Jedi as she clearly still viewed him as a threat and possible traitor - or if she really wanted to learn why he didn't seek to return to his own blood. He looked so young. Surely his parents were still alive? Or had his abductor harmed his parents?​

 

[Soverin]

"I cannot return to my family," he felt a bit more at ease now that he wasn't at the mercy of the jedi's saber. "Don't mistake my betrayal for fear. The path I follow is not the path I set upon when I left my homeworld -- I'm correcting my place in the stars."

When Mors finished speaking he noticed a ringing that had chimed in at the back of his skull. Everything within his field of vision wore a thin film of gloss. The distant thrum of a headache began to pull at his mind. Hunger was setting in. The anzat glanced briefly down to his slingbag, then back up at Nova.

 

[Nova Elgrin]

Silence was her answer to his statement. Correcting his place in the stars? It sounded like an honorable approach. And yet it was a dangerous task. She still didn't quite like the thought of him being around this holy place, but maybe the wise masters would find a way to guide him? Was there redemption? And at what point an individual should be forbidden from the try of reaching it? Was there not blood at the hand of every Sith? Every worshipper of the dark side? How much blood did one had to shed to be uncapable of returning to a lighter path? And should they be accepted as wanderes on these long and twisted serpentines which offered so many opportunities to lose the way just again? So many questions.....

She wanted to reply something but the rosé colourd pair of lips of hers didn't open. The feeling that now claimed her body didn't came suddenly, no. It had sneaked to her on soft soles. A bitter-sweet numbness concquered all of her senses. Her feet started moving without her doing so concsiously. The young girl walked up towards the man with the raven hair, her pace being in no hurry. She didn't stop at an arm's length, no she reached even closer. Her skin coated with a pleasant tingle, a strange sensation, both welcome and yet almost painful. She felt drawn towards him like a moth to the light, and deep deep inside her something knew she would be burned. And yet she couldn't resist his call.
Her delicate hand found his chest. Then her knee slightly began to give way.

 

[Soverin]

Mors felt chills creep beneath his skin. He'd forgotten how long it'd been since he'd last feed. Scumming it up in Nar Shaddaa only secured him a pool of small morsels at best. When he darted toward his belt to retrieve his last canister of synthetic brain supplement, he found his hand incline toward the jedi in front of him. Her mighty force presence and strong sense of will activated an instinct in him; a feral instinct, that of the anzati people.

With eyes wide, anxiously locked inside his own body as his predatory senses took over. He looked as if he were beckoning the force to subdue her, but the power was far more primal and ancient. It lulled the mind without ever announcing itself, trapping victims like flies to a subconscious web. Feeling his natural hypnosis playing on the girl, Mors was only able to look on in horror as she approached. He was freed from his prison for only a moment as his hand shot to his chest to clench her wrist, attempting to push the girl away. But his attempt was not so harsh, taking hold of her by the arms as he pivoted to help catch the faltering jedi.

The flesh of his cheeks squirmed in the presence of the meal, slowly creasing open to reveal slithering alien tendrils tipped with hooked barbs. Mors fought against the urge, trying his damnest to break free, entirely in vain. He could feel the connection to her mind as his grip grew tighter and tighter.

He found the stair case again, winding up into the cosmos. He sat at the foot, and Nova, the host of his trip into the sea of memories, stood idle at the top. Nothing but the empty blackness of space and the distant stars stood along him as he made his journey to he top. It was a terrible walk of shame that he would have to endure alone.

Mors took a step, furious to the idea that he might actually walk the staircase and accept the inevitable again. He considered deeply that his path might never change, and that he was truly a monster, fit to roam the galaxy feeding on prey just like one.

"No... No. No!" he began to shout. Mors flew into a rage, swinging about in a fit of violent strikes. He eventually collapsed, heaving against the floor as he peered through his transparent path into the inky black below. One hand lifted high with purpose and slammed down into the phantasmal glass. Again, and again and again. If the stairs ever allowed noise, he would be screaming. This was not going to happen, not now when he had sacrificed everything to incite change. "NO!" The anzat roared, piercing the floor with one last desperate jab,
​

The sound of the stars breaking flooded over the ringing in his ears as he breached the veil between the sea and reality, willfully powering through his feral instincts. Both tendrils obediently relieved themselves from their hold on the girl's brain, dispersing back into hiding beneath his skin.

It was probably right that he held her there for a moment, trying to coax her out of her comatose state. Best case scenario she was knocked out cold for a short while from lack of oxygen... He had hoped not worst case.

 

[Nova Elgrin]

The stars, what could ever match their grace and the dreams the inspired within so many of ther humble observers? Nova looked up. There were swirls of deep purple and bright pink on its peaks, just like foam riding on waves. Nova felt a bliss she had not felt in her life before. It was soothing, it wrapped her like tightly like the mother its child. All of her body let her feel sensation beyond denilation and there was no sorrow, no sadness, there was nothing but peace. She never wanted to leave this place. She enjoyed it just a few moments more, when she felt a sudden jolt rocking her body.

Nova opend her eyes, still giddy and confused. She found herself still comforted by the sweet call that had her come closer, but it withdrew seconds later. She felt arms holding her, supporting her and she wanted to push him away as clarity managed to get ahold of her again, yet instead her hand clenched itself to the fabric of his shirt and his shoulder, her nails drilling itself into his skin. A violent pain throbbed in her head, so intensly she wanted to scream, yet couldn't. Her right hand freed itself from him and digged into the rich curls of hers. Close to her temple her fingers clenched and tensed the golden streaks, ripping multiple of the fine hairs out as if she tried to pull the source of her pain out of her head. Not a single word fled her lips, yet a whimper contorted with pain did..

 

[Soverin]

Mors was unsure if he should even attempt to help. He wasn't certain that he'd satiated his hunger, taking a few careful steps back as Nova writhed.

"You need to see a healer. Immediately." The deserter palmed across his belt for the lone canister that lay there, not taking his eyes off of the injured jedi for a moment. Popping the thin syringe from the canister's shell was second nature to Mors, an action he'd performed countless times. One shaky hand directed the syringe to a particularly intricate space on his neck to administer the grey gelid material within. He was quick about casting away the device, once again setting his undivided attention on getting Nova to safety.

"I need to take you back to the temple."

 

[Nova Elgrin]

When he withdrew from her, her body remained on the ground, hunching with pain, her hands still deep digged into the blonde curls. Even though he had gained some distance to her, she still felt a weird connection between them, that wasn't there before. It was an invisible link, as fine as a single thread of a spider web and yet as powerful as it's grip to a butterfly.
She wasn't able to speak a single word, at least her mouth wasn't. Yet her soul gave a whimper of pain when the echo of her mind reached out to him >>Help me<<

 

[Soverin]

Mors made good on his words. Even before Nova was able to usher the notion of help he'd lifted her from the ground with relative ease, cutting his gaze through the dark to find a way out. A subtle crack in the wall, shown bright with starlight from the open sky outside, was their ticket. The ex-Sith was gentle as he started up and away, carrying Nova along to safety.