Pilgrimage to the Unknown

[Darth Kravos]

Something told Kravos that stripping this woman of the Force would be much easier said than done. Evandrus battered the other cat off the path of Kravos and the Dark Lord felt his old friend's back press up against his own. They had some measure of protection like this when Kravos had an idea.

We need to get her out of here, he said. It was no coincidence that the cave itself was strong with the Force and she was here. She was drawing the power of the cave. She was the cave, which gave Kravos an idea. Push her into the smoke, he said. The words would seem odd given there was no smoke, but Kravos would soon make some.

He reached out with the Force, counting on Cregan to keep the cat-things off of him as he summoned a pillar of smoke behind the woman. As soon as Cregan and the woman were through, he would leap through after and all three would find themselves under the blazing sun, nearly a mile from the cave. Kravos could feel the toll that such a maneuver had taken on his own body. Even for someone of his power, transporting three people such a distance was not easy, but like him, she too was weakened far from the source of her power and her pets. The Sith Lords now had the advantage. @Nefieslab

 

[Darth Evandrus]

That could work.

If they weren't able to block her from the Force then getting them away from where her connection was strongest to the Force would be a good option too. But... pushing her into the smoke? Well, there wasn't any smoke right now but Cregan didn't question it. Kal was his friend and he trusted him.

So while he was still using his lightsaber defensively, he began to channel the Force to himself, preparing to lash out with it. Defending both himself and Kal, Cregan cut one of the cat creature's forelegs off with a quick slash of his lightsaber. Seeing the smoke, Cregan knew what Kal was doing and knew he needed to take advantage now.

Slashing the eyes out of another cat creature, Cregan used the Force to speed up his movements as he charged the woman, using another application of the Force to ensnare her in a stasis effect. It wouldn't last longer than a few seconds against her but it didn't need to - he collided with her, tackling her through the smoke and out into the bright sunlight of the planet, some distance away from the cave.

He needed to learn that...

But for now? He had gotten separated from the woman but she was still on the ground... or she was when Cregan slammed her into the ground with an oppressive amount of the Force. Gritting his teeth, he focused on pinning her down with a crushing weight that was slowly compressing her.

He wanted to make her die slowly.

@Phoenix

 

[Darth Kravos]

The stone woman was being crushed under the weight of Cregan's Force, but she wouldn't go quietly into the night. The sand began to give way under her, leaving her half-buried and she began to cough and sputter through the sand that filled her mouth and nose. She tried to lash out with the Force, sending a bolt of lightning into Cregan, but Kravos reached out, absorbing the energy into an invisible barrier that seemed to shimmer as the lightning struck it and dissipated.

Cregan had his opening to do to the woman as he would, even as her stony body began to sink deeper and unnaturally into the sand that threatened to drown her. The Dark Lord could sense the anger and hatred in his friend, and he would do nothing to try to stop him. He wanted his vengeance, and Kravos could understand that better than most. He would have it.

So, he continued to protect his friend as he did as he chose, leaving the "woman" open to whatever death he had for her. It would come soon, even if not swiftly. @Nefieslab

 

[Darth Evandrus]

The woman was going to die.

Cregan had come here with a smile on his face - a smile that had lasted even when he and Kal first encountered this woman. It was a smile that continued right up until she had spat on the shared dream of two members of the Drast Dynasty. Despite almost all of his activities for the Sith, Cregan had managed to keep his eyes blue and his mind clear from the cloud of overwhelming anger and hatred.

But she had wiped the smile from his face and turned his eyes golden yellow in hate.

As he crushed her more and more, he recognised that Kal had protected him from her counter attack and realised that this woman... needed to die. Ramping up the pressure on her, he pushed on her, further crushing her, as he also used the Force to begin to bury her with the sands of Korriban.

"When you are dead and buried, no one will remember you or the words you spoke."

He assured her quietly as he squeezed harder, shattering her limbs beyond use so that she wouldn't be able to dig herself free from the pit he had dug for her.

"When you are dead, our Empire shall continue to grow and flourish."

Using the Force, he gouged out her eyes and punctured her ear drums to make it harder for her to perceive the outside world and, thus, harder to concentrate on the Force.

"... when you finally can't keep yourself alive any longer this is."

With a wave of his hand, Cregan broke her ribs at the same time as he began to bury her in literal tonnes of sand. The weight would crush her slowly if she was able to survive without being able to breathe. But either way, she would panic as she died and Cregan would feel it even above the sands. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"That vision... I want to make sure it never comes to pass, Kal. But how do we stop people from being... people? Stupid, violent and short-sighted."

@Phoenix

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kravos watched as Cregan savagely destroyed the woman, popping pieces of her one at a time. He didn't step in and he didn't turn away as he let Cregan have his revenge. He only protected his friend from the attacks she might throw out to try to defend herself. He could feel the panic emanating from her before she was gone, buried under sheets of sand never to be heard from again. He felt the life seep into the Force and then it was over.

Cregan was breathing hard and Kravos could feel his own arms were now heavier than before. He let out a heavy breath of his own and took a seat on a nearby boulder, looking over the sand. The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon, which indicated to Kravos that they must have been in that illusion for hours.

He said nothing for a moment, taking his helmet off and laying it across his knee as he thought about Cregan's question. He said nothing for a moment, looking out at the horizon as he pondered and let the silence hang in the air. Entropy, he finally said after several more moments. We have no idea how long in the future that vision might be. All kingdoms rise and fall eventually, all we can do is stave off the end as long as possible before entropy takes over, he said.

He looked over to Cregan. Kravos wasn't a quitter and certainly didn't want to give up on something, but he also wasn't going to lie to himself. He couldn't control what happened to their Empire a thousand years from now. It probably wouldn't even look like the same government anymore. But we're not going to let it happen on our watch. It won't happen on our watch, he told Cregan. If that vision wasn't just completely made up, he added. @Nefieslab

 

[Darth Evandrus]

Was that it?

Was it over?

It sure felt like it was over but things like this could be deceiving. Some things were never over and they just had to be dealt with again and again... but seemingly not this one. This one, seemingly, was finally over and done with. Finally, it seemed that the woman of the cave was dead and they were free from any wretched visions she wanted to show them. And good riddance to her - Would that she'd only died sooner.

Sighing a little bit, Cregan closed his eyes and took several deep, slow, breaths as he sought to bring himself back under control again. The exertion had been taxing and his anger had taken over for a time as well. When he opened his eyes again, the yellow was reversing and the blue was returning... though it was a noticeably slower process than it had been in the past.

He wandered over to the rock his friend was sat on and fished around inside his armour for a moment before pulling out a pack of cigara. He passed one to Kal before lighting his own. Taking a pull, he grimaced a little bit at the taste,

"Ugh... I haven't had one since Andraste got pregnant with Elix." He admitted, "But I figure today would be fine to have one."

Listening to his friend, Cregan nodded in agreement, now aware that he had overreacted to the woman and her visions. He should have gotten angry, yes, but not as blindly angry as he had actually gotten in the end. Puffing at the cigara, he smirked a little bit,

"As if they would stand against our dream while we get live... none of them are stupid enough yet after all." He reasoned before scowling, "Visions... I dislike them on principle. The idea that something HAS to happen a certain way irritates me, Kal. But if the Drast family lasts for only a thousand years? Well we had just make sure that it's enemies last only five hundred I suppose."

It wasn't that simple and it never would be.

"Speaking of enemies... is it wrong of me to be looking forward to crushing the Cartel?"

@Phoenix

 

[Darth Kravos]

Kravos nodded with a smile and took the cigara from his friend. He'd kicked his smoking habit that had been blooming, but still managed the occasional cigar here and there. Perhaps it was his natural propensity to cause trouble for himself that he still tempted fate. He snapped his fingers twice, shaving the tip off and lighting it with a puff of flame. It was a nice parlor trick, but little more. Still, it was fun to do.

You've been wanting to kick the Cartel for a long time, he said with a snort. In fact, I'm not such a great fan either, he said. They both had their histories as Shadows, and that meant that Kal had spent his fair share of time bringing down slavers and criminals. The Cartel had been a necessary ally at one point, but that was slipping into the past. This one would be eliminated soon. It was the perfect example of his lesser evils. They aligned with evil and did evil things for a period of time, but it would all come to an end. The Empire murdered its way into power, but eventually, there would be piece.

It looks like your dream finally came true, he said with a smirk, watching the horizon as the sun set and contentedly smoking his cigar. What precisely the voice had brought them here for was anyone's guess, it seemed, but at the same time, he couldn't help but think that the concept of an academy would stick with them. Perhaps there was that takeaway if nothing else. @Nefieslab