Open Recreational Medicine

[Rhaenys Drast]

Rhaenys had once told Jeset that she liked the reading, planning, preparing side of things more than the actual doing of them. Theory was much more her thing than practice. Well, today she had one more discomfort to add to the list of reasons that supported that claim, the smells. She had never been to an actual hospital before, having money had meant that on the rare occasion that she did fall sick, treatment had always came to her. And the academy infirmary was just too small to smell quite this bad. The disinfectants, the medicines, and the general smell of sick and old people, she just didn't like it. But, this was something she would have to get used to, just like all the other discomforts of being in the field. She couldn't get anywhere unless she got used to getting her hands dirty.

She waited in line at the entrance, no weapons, no identifying marks distinguishing her as a Sith, an ID card in hand identifying her as a Coruscant local transferring from a nearby hospital, a medical file detailing her medical history ready for inspection. It was a simple yearly checkup that she needed, though she'd have to wait her turn before the doctor could get to her. Which, as irritating as waiting for anything was, she was okay with. She had already passed the tricky bits, explaining things to the others, and not getting laughed out. Going up to a famous champion and trying to convince them of the validity of your ideas had been the scary part, specially for someone like her who was unaccustomed to rejected. Compared to that having to stand in line and sit in a waiting room smelling of antiseptics was just a minor inconvenience.

@Arcangel @Phoenix

 

[Amun Seti]

Jeset grimaced as he approached the hospital. Its almost fortress-like walls, the quintet of towering towers. Whatever the Jedi were now, they had been something much grander an age ago. Jeset wasn't sure which was better, the Jedi who clung to their mandates sitting pretty atop high towers, or the ones who cowered in jungle temples and sat idly as the galaxy burned.

It didn't matter. Jeset wasn't standing at the foot of the jedi temple turned museum turned hospital to muse about the moralistic failings of the Order to which he had once belonged as a child. He was dressed casually, his nondescript clothing unmarked with logos or anything else, just simple pants, shirt, hoodie. The messenger bag that he wore on his shoulder carried a few things in it to prove the false identity he had assumed for the mission, a student ID, insurance cards, a few study notes from the nearby university.

In the palm of his hand he carried a small bottle, a chemical solution that when swallowed would induce short term nausea, fever, and vomiting. He swallowed emptily, taking a deep breath. He wasn't looking forward to this next part. Holding his breath he downed the concoction discretely, doing it as he pretended to wipe his nose with the back of his hand. He gagged, masking the reaction by holding his face in his elbow as if he were coughing. By the force the stuff was disgusting.

Jeset stumbled into a guardrail overlooking the speedway, letting the tiny glass flask tumble from his grasp to shatter on the roof of a speeder passing underneath. He was almost tempted to immediately down one of the pills tucked away in his shirt pocket that would block the reaction that was about to happen in his body, but that would likely ruin the mission. Instead he stumbled into the emergency entrance of the hospital.

There was a short line at the emergency desk and by the time Jeset reached the counter sweat lined his forehead and the double stuffed burrito he had bought from a sketchy looking food truck earlier that day was doing flips in his stomach. The woman at the desk was a rather cute twi'lek and Jeset almost regretted what was about to happen.

"Welcome to-" The emergency receptionist started her rehearsed line that she repeated day in and day out. Jeset interrupted her swiftly.

"By the force, I feel like I'm dying." He groaned. It wasn't even halfway a lie. "I need, I need to see a doctor." He sniffled, a bead of snot dripping from his nose. His skin felt like it was on fire and he was about ten seconds away from hurling.

"Okay, I'm going to need some identification and ins-" She started, a concerned look furrowing her brow.

"Its all here." He said as he slammed the messenger back onto the counter, unzipping it to let its contents slide out onto the counter as he clutched his stomach. "Oh, oh no. I'm gonna-" He froze, looking around frantically for a second for a trash bin before grabbing the now empty messenger bag to empty the contents of his stomach into it.

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla had arrived at the temple in a mixture of grey and blue robes that could have been worn on any billions of people in the galaxy. Robes that - in this rare instance - were worn by a Sith Champion and Nightsister. She carried no weapons with her - not even her hunting knife - but that was nothing unusual these days. Since beginning to delve into Sith sorcery and sign casting, she'd had little need for physical weapons. The Shadow was a far more potent tool.

They had all arrived in different areas of the medcenter, and Arla had opted for something far less unpleasant than self-induced vomiting. She'd walked in the front door and up to the reception desk, leaning closer to the woman and speaking in a semi-hushed tone, though over the bustle of the waiting room, there was little chance of people easily overhearing.

I'm here to visit room 115. Could you tell me who is in that room? she said, the Shadow touching the woman's spirit to make her more pliable.

Juvet Antoria, the woman said, and Arla nodded confirmation. The woman went about grabbing a small sticker with the words "Friends and Family" written at the top and she drew in the numbers "115" with a small stylus before handing it to Arla who slapped the small sticky nametag to the front of her robe.

Thank you, Arla said in a joyless tone that was in reality because she wasn't that happy, but it also fit with visiting an ill person in the medcenter.

She slid quickly through the halls, not quite able to stop herself from looking around and thinking about the history of this place. Whether the Jedi were enemies or not, there was so much information to likely learn here.

But below it, she could feel the power of the nexus.

She moved at a brisk pace to find the others, heading in toward the center of the facility where the cafeteria distributed its mediocre food... a place where no one would blink twice about several people gathering together.

 

[Rhaenys Drast]

As the line moved on one by one, Rhaenys wondered what the others were up to, if they too felt the pulse coming from below them. She had never experienced a nexus before, and even at this distance it wasn't something she could ignore. The closer she got, the more she felt it, so much so that by the time she reached the reception and handed over her documents to sign in, she was positively shivering from excitement. Which the lady behind the counter seemed to notice, it was her job to usher in sick patients after all.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

"Oh, yes," she replied with a weak smile, "just a little scared of hospitals. I won't have to do any needles, will I? I'm scared of needles, I asked them to put that in my file."

The woman smiled, typing away on her console. "Don't worry ma'am, says here you're in for a checkup, no needles at all. Just a few routine checks and you'll be out of here in no time."

She handed back Rhaenys' ID and documents, and gestured further into the building. "Up that way, head up two levels, the doctor's in the Block C, room 314. Just follow the signs."

Collecting her effects, she smiled weakly and nodded, before heading into the building. She followed the directions as the woman had shared them, but once out of sight she turned away from the elevator that would take her up and instead continued walking past it, making for the cafeteria, where she ordered a sandwich and some juice, and went to stand by one of eating counters lining the walls, waiting for the others to arrive.

@Arcangel @Phoenix

 

[Amun Seti]

Jeset shuddered as looked up from the bag he had just hurled his lunch into at the look of disgust on the twi'lek's face. She seemed stunned for a moment, before nodding. "Go wait over there, someone will be here shortly to take you back." She pointed at a crowded waiting room before gathering the still clean documents and identification. "I'll process these." She said with a wrinkled nose.

"Thank you." Jeset wheezed as he turned from the reception desk and found a seat. He was burning up and he felt miserable. This idea had perhaps been a mistake and he couldn't get the pills that would counteract the effect quick enough as he fished a pair out of his shirt and crushed them between his teeth.

Luckily he didn't have to wait long as a nurse called his name and he lurched to his feet to follow the nurse. Once they were behind the doors into the inner part of the hospital, Jeset made his move.

"Where, where's the bathroom?" He asked with a quavering voice, only half faked. He was beginning to feel better but there was no immediate relief from the chemical effects. The nurse looked a him for a moment before pointing to a doorway. Jeset smiled.

"Thanks, you forget you ever saw me." He said as he mustered up the focus for a mind trick, waving a finger at the nurse who stared at him blankly for a moment before turning away and walking down the hall. Stepping into the bathroom, Jeset splashed water from the sink on his face for a moment, swishing water around in his mouth and spitting it out to clear the vomit flavor from his mouth.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Jeset followed signs for the cafeteria to meet his two co-conspirators there. The cafeteria was crowded and they would easily be a few among many, easily screened by the multitudes of people. Dabbing the lingering sweat from his forehead, Jeset grabbed a bite to eat before finding the others.

@Phoenix @Wit

 

[Arla]

Arla had ordered some veggie snacks from the cafeteria and was happily munching on them when she saw the two acolytes make their way in. The fact that she was doing this with acolytes hadn't escaped her notice as being possibly foolish, but she had a quiet confidence in herself that she would find a way to manage even if they turned out to be too... acolytey.

But, she had to give credit that it had been the ambitious plan of one of them, so maybe they were part of the up-and-coming generation of Sith. Each generation had its stand-out performers, and any smart Sith was on the lookout for who those might be.

She didn't mark their arrival with any great pomp, but waited for them to take their seats.

You both feeling good? she asked. The Nexus was going to test them - all of them - and could easily sway the hearts and shatter the wills of those who were not prepared. In many ways, this would likely be the hardest test either of them had faced up until this point.

We'll need a location where we can be uninterrupted. The process can take... some time, she said. She actually didn't know precisely how long it took because it wasn't an exact science, but she knew that it wasn't something to be done in thirty seconds.

 

[Rhaenys Drast]

Taking a few bites of her sandwich, which turned out to be even drier than it looked, she spotted Arla's arrival, and wandered over to her and took a seat with her. By the time Jeset had joined them she had taken another bite of the sandwich and had pushed the plate away from her, convinced that she couldn't have more and turned her attention to the juice. But it had pulp in it, and as such was also undrinkable.

"There's a morgue a few levels down, its normally occupied but there's an storage room not too far that we could use. It should be unused, and I think we can raid a supply closet to get our hands on an out of order sign to make sure no one disturbs us. It's about as close to the nexus we can get without trying to get past the guards that patrol the foundations and the old temple itself. The proximity to the morgue, I thought it might help?" She had read that somewhere, but had also read contradictory reports in other places, so she wasn't really sure what to believe. But it was still a good place to use, even if it didn't give them any particular advantage. So she quickly followed up with plan b as well.

"Or there's an old lecture hall that is marked for renovation, if you want something safer, and bigger." Arla was the expert, and she knew that Jeset had a lot more experience in the field than her, so she shared the information and let them make the call. She knew her limitations, and wasn't above listening to better counsel.

@Arcangel @Phoenix

 

[Amun Seti]

Jeset found his seat next to his fellow Sith, eyeing the burrito on his plate with distaste. It had seemed a good idea at the time to refill what he had lost earlier, but as the smell his his nose, his appetite turned. Instead he settled for the plain and pure water that he drank greedily from its bottle for a moment as the eldest Sith spoke.

"Totally, feeling great." He said in a lie, though it was slowly coming closer to truth. His stomach was beginning to settle and he was beginning to feel like a whole human being again. The burrito wasn't going to be going down though as he pushed it away from him slightly as he listened to Rhaenys go over their options.

"You gonna finish that?" He asked, pointing to the barely touched sandwich that she had pushed away before grabbing it and taking a bit of it. Dry and tasteless, just what he needed. A bit of water solved the dry problem and he chewed quietly for a moment as he thought.

"Can we do this without being in direct proximity?" He asked slowly after a moment, directing his question towards Arla. Corrupting nexuses, nexus', nexi? Corrupting a Nexus wasn't exactly his specialty, acolyte and all. The older witch was probably the most experienced in the more subtle aspects of the force so he deferred to her experience.

@Phoenix @Wit

 

[Arla]

Arla watched the two of them as they ate their food and seemed like it was almost making them nauseous, giving up after a few bites. Arla wasn't too sad to see that she'd had her veggie snacks and was having more success with that.

I think lecture hall, she said after a moment. We need a certain amount of proximity, but that's pretty much met by just being here in the building, she said. The classroom will give more room for setting up runes and for just... not being cramped, she said, her face scrunching up slightly at being squeezed into a janitor's closet for this.

Let's get moving. You know the way? she said to Rhaenys, following behind her as they started making their way to the old classroom.

Drast, she thought to herself. That name had old power behind it at one time. Now it had... dwindled, but she wondered if this one would become something or fall into anonymity. She wondered to herself about whether that would be the same with herself. Andruil and Raze were her parents, but that was no guarantee that she would rise and become powerful. That she would make something for herself. She had spent her whole life thus far chasing after her own name. That was why she would achieve it. Not because of her parents.

@Arcangel @Wit

 

[Rhaenys Drast]

Rhaenys nodded when Arla picked the lecture hall, appreciative of the fact that she explained her reasoning behind the decision. That was useful information, and she would learn from this for the next time she had to plan anything similar.

"This way." She said as she got to her feet, picking up the food and dropping it off in a bin along the way, unintentionally ignoring the compost bin the uneaten food could have been dropped into. What was a little environmental ignorance when you were planning to screw things up on a much grander scale?

Leading out of the cafeteria, she proceeded to guide the group down a few corridors, up an elevator to a higher level, and then down a few flights to stairs till they were in the basement level, normally only seen by visitors while on their way from one wing to another, or when in need of some of the more old-school procedures. "So," she asked Arla as they were climbing down the last flight of stairs, "where did you learn how to do stuff like this? Was it a Dathomir thing, or something that came after?" She stopped at the classroom door, pulling it open for the others to enter. Beyond the doors was a large-ish classroom, mostly emptied of the desks and chairs that would have normally occupied the space. Though a few fixtures, bolted onto the floor, still remained.

"How do we begin?"

@Arcangel @Phoenix

 

[Amun Seti]

Jeset watched the exchange between the two women at the table quietly as he chewed the dry sandwich. And chewed. And chewed. He was pretty sure he had never eaten a dryer sandwich in his life and was more than glad to dump it into the trash as they exited the cafeteria.

He followed the pair, hands in his pockets as he kept his eyes and ears on their surroundings. Rhaenys had plenty of questions for the older Sith and Jeset was more than content to just listen to the exchange between the two. An eyebrow rose silently behind the pair as Rhaenys mentioned Dathomir and he appraised Arla with a fresh set of eyes. Sith, they tended to be predictable, but a Witch of Dathomir. That was interesting.

They got lucky as they descended into the basement, passing nobody as they travelled the hospital halls. The classroom was all but cleared out. Stepping into the room, Jeset looked around before turning to the door behind them and waving a hand at it, his mind probing the inner mechanisms. A quiet click echoed through the small room as the door locked.

"The room is secure." He said quietly as he turned to the the pair, settling his eyes on Arla. He was curious to learn exactly how to corrupt a nexus, something he had only read about in bits and pieces during his studies. He had little else to add as Rhaenys asked the only question on his mind.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla continued down, lost in thought about what she needed to do in order for them to be successful. There wre an abundance of runes that could be used, but she also didn't want to risk breaking the acolytes.

Her mind was snapped back to the present as Rhaenys asked about where she learned to do this.

I was taught Shadow Magick on Dathomir, yes. But the Sith Sorcery I've learned has come after leaving my home, she said. And the other bits and pieces she'd picked up since then were also the product of her travels with the Sith. It was one of the reasons she had chosen to come to the Sith in the first place.

As they entered the room and the others made sure that it was secure, Arla went to work. The door had no windows, which was good, and hopefully one of them would lock it.

She began to wave her hands in precise patterns, creating glowing runes of red that hung in the air. While summoning the runes and glyphs in shadow magick was green, those of Sith sorcery were not, and the color now betrayed that this was a Sith ritual. The Nightsisters had little need for corrupting nexuses.

She worked her way around the room until glowing spots had been left all along its walls and floors with three specific areas that had far higher concentrations of markings. Arla took a seat in one of these areas while she motioned for the others to do the same.

Focus your energy on the nexus. Pour your anger and hatred into it as you would a kyber crystal, she said. You will be tempted by the Light, and the Primal Spirits will attempt to consume you, she said. In other words it was a delicate and dangerous balance what they were about to do.

 

[Rhaenys Drast]

As Arla began setting up the ritual, Rhaenys found a comfortable looking spot by a wall and began observing, trying her best to stay out of the Champion's way. She had heard about sorcery, read about it, prepared as best as she could for this mission, but theoretical knowledge could only get you so far. This was the real deal, and it was fascinating. She could sense the pulses in the Force, and just barely spot the differences between what Arla was doing and how the Force felt when someone used it in a more mundane way. A smile appeared on her face, and grew wider as time passed. There was knowledge here that few in the Sith, few in the Galaxy, knew about, and for once it wasn't out of her grasp. The possibilities excited her.

As Arla took a seat at one of marked areas, Rhaenys turned to Jeset to give him an excited grin, before moving to take a seat at one of the other spots. She nodded at Arla's orders, and closed her eyes as she opened herself up to the Force. She could still sense it, the energies all around her, familiar, yet different. And corrupted by the Light. It called to her, just like Arla had said it would, though she wasn't sure what the Champion had meant by the Primal Spirits. She wondered if she should ask, when she suddenly heard a voice.

"Is this the path you wish to walk?" A shadowy figure appeared in her minds eye, one that she thought she ought to know. "Or the one they want you to walk? Do you do this because it's right, or because it's easy?"

Her eyes burst open, but there was no figure, just the three of them. Breathing hard, and after a few moments of hesitation, she shut her eyes again. "Who are you?" That was all she managed before the light touched her, and she felt a burning pain in her chest.

"You dedicate yourself to a cause, but not the right one. Open your eyes, see the truth that lies before you."

@Arcangel @Phoenix

 

[Amun Seti]

Always the observant one, Jeset paid particularly close attention as Arla started to paint glowing glyphs in the air, on the walls, across the floor. Pure, visible manifestations of the dark side that defied the sanctity of the physical world. Enthralling.

"Might I ask you some questions, when this is over?" Jeset asked the senior Sith as his eyes remained glued to a symbol that seemed to hover just off the ground, a searing red imprint of sorcery. There was no time for an inquisitive mind in the moment, as the ritual had already begun, but Jeset was beyond curious.

With a nod to Arla's words, Jeset took his own seat in the center of a circle of glyphs. Already he could feel the shift, the tenebrous energy that encircled him beginning to take hold. With closed eyes, he reached out and within, first searching for the kernel of darkness that had long ago bloomed within him before finding the steady pulse of the light that so readily seemed to swallow him up.

"You shouldn't be here." A whisper graced his ear, a girl's voice that sent a cold shiver down his back. The voice was eerily familiar, yet held a different inflection than it once possessed. He refrained from opening his eyes. The pull of the light was a familiar, one that he had once wallowed in. The voice however made his stomach twist in a way that no bad burrito or chemical concoction could.

"I decide where I should be." His own words echoing in his mind, reverberating between the light and dark that both crept in towards him. He didn't need to see her to know the owner of that voice. A voice that he shouldn't be hearing. A voice that could no longer speak in this world.

"Like you decided for me?" The voice said and he felt a faint energy shift past his shoulder, the whisping of dark black hair flashing past his face. A floral scent that brought him back. She stood before him in his minds eyes, back to him much as it had been once long ago. A stab of guilt ran its iron length through his heart and it took every ounce of power within him to keep from crying out, the pain knifing through him in body and in spirit. No, not guilt, a lightsaber.

He looked down in his mind's eye, a crimson brand sizzling in her chest, protruding outwards from the center of their ribs as it burned and black hair fell across their vision. He tried to suck in a breath, hot air struggling to make it to her lungs. Was this what dying felt like?

"Yes" She heard the words echo from behind her. He looked at her back, lightsaber held in his hand, blade piercing through the long black tresses of hair and into the flesh and bone beneath. He gasped. It hurt. It hurt so much. He wasn't ready to die. Not here. Not there. Not then. Not now. "NO!" He growled through the pain, through gritted teeth, through burning lungs.

@Phoenix @Wit

 

[Arla]

Arla's mind was pulled from the many runes she was making and even the occasional consultation with her grimoire as Jeset asked her if he could ask questions later.

You can always ask, she said. She wasn't the type to slap people for asking questions - in fact, she appreciated inquisitive people who wanted to learn - but it wasn't a guarantee she would answer depending on what he asked.

Arla took a seat in her spot and crossed her legs, placing her hands on her knees and closing her eyes. She was no stranger to this kind of work, but she had never faced down a nexus before. For her, a Shaman of Dathomir, things were far different.

She let her astral form flow out of her body, mixing into the world around her and seeing the other spirits who passed through this place. Dead who even recently had passed in this very medical center crossed the Veil here where it was thin. Where power from the spirit world passed freely into the physical. It was like Dathomir but... smaller.

And yet it was oh-so-familiar in its own way.

Let us be at peace, daughter of the darkness, voices hissed at Arla. You abandon your duty to seek your own power. Turn back, they said, a reminder of what she had given up to come be with the Sith. Now not only was she not at home, she was tearing a rift in another passage point for the spirits and even calling across the Primals that would tear at the hearts and minds of those in this medcenter.

I walk the path of power. I walk the path to uphold my mother's rule, she replied to the spirit even as doubt ate at her heart.

And even as she said it, her anger rose but so, too, came her guilt. Guilt that she wasn't home. Guilt that she was sabotaging the spirits here. Such was sacrifice. The rancor didn't worry itself with the thoughts of the nerf.

Pbu yarığa gel, perdeyi geç ve beslen! she began to chant in ur-Kittât, over and over as winds began to whip through the room all around them.

Although they wouldn't be able to see it, in the surge of Primal Spirits attracted by the chant, a Spirit of Doubt had laid its sights on @Rhaenys Drast exploiting those doubts placed by her long dead ancestor. She would feel wild fear and uncertainty so strong it would threaten to make her flee the room just to put as much space between herself and the Sith Order as possible.

For @Jeset, he was targeted by a Spirit of Guilt. Feeding and growing stronger off of his regret, it would amplify those thoughts, driving him nearly mad and tempting him to simply pull out a weapon and end his misery then and there. It's what you deserve a voice seemed to whisper in his mind.

 

[Amun Seti]

Pain seared through his lung, piercing his very soul as guilt seemed to overwhelm him. His mind felt stretched, as thin as the fabric between this world and the next. It was hard to place where he was, when he was... who he was. Whether it was some nefarious demon or truly the spirit of the girl he had murdered didn't matter in the moment as Jeset reeled against the torment.

"It's what you deserve." The words echoed through his mindscape as the pain faded into nothing. He stood, motionless as he stared at the face of the girl he had killed what she might look like now if their places had been switched that day. He felt the hilt of a saber in his hand as he faced down the shade of his victim, her own blade igniting.

"It's what you deserve." His words echoed through the cavern of his mind as Jeset stared down the boy that had killed her, saber in her hand. Jeset's mind reeled as they tried to gain perspective on what was happening. Who were they. Which where they. The echo of sabers clashed in his mind as he fought himself, herself, themselves.

"NO!" Jeset shouted as he tried to tear away from it. Sweat poured down his face even as his eyes remained locked shut, glowing red runes surrounding him. There was no escape from the ritual, no escape form the spirit. No escape from himself. There was only one option, to face his demons... or to die.

"It was me or you!" He shouted at the shade. She wasn't real. She wasn't real. She wasn't real. He told himself over and over as they fought, now on more equal footing than they might have been all those years ago. "If I didn't... you would have killed me!" His words lacked conviction. Would she have killed him?

"You killed me!" She shouted at him, their faces twisted in rage as paired sabers crackled, locked against eachother. Face to face, he started her in the eyes. Face to face, she stared him in the eyes. It was disorienting, vertigo spinning through his head as he couldn't keep grasp on which perspective, on who he was.

"I had to!" He spat. Lies. There was always a choice. "You chose this!" She growled as maggots began to crawl form her rotting flesh. He could feel them wriggling under her skin, she could taste the grave dirt and the rot of his tongue in his mouth. He stared at her in the crimson light of the saber.

"We... we both died that day." His words rang hollow from his throat. Whether true or not, the realization struck him like a weight. He couldn't it. It couldn't. No. He was still alive. He would live. A guttural growl rose in his throat as he faced down Jeset. "No. I killed you!" He shouted at the shade, breaking the saber lock, beating her blade back again and again with his own. His rage pounding, pulsing, crashing against the light of the nexus that sought to corrupt his absolution with shades of the past. "I killed you! And I'll do it again!"

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Rhaenys Drast]

She wanted to run, to flee, to get as far away as she could. And sensing the doubts it had sown in her mind, the spirit whispered. "We are more than our circumstances." The voice was familiar, yet unknown. "We are more than those that came before us. We choose our own path, shape our own destiny. I chose, so can you."

At that moment she felt the darkness that Arla wielded, the pain that Jeset felt, and it burned her much as the light had. But compared to the light it was familiar, a pain she had known for a long time. An old friend, one that she did not want to see often, but a friend nonetheless. And she remembered.

This had been her idea, her big play, announcing herself to all who had ever doubted her, thought her nothing but a name. The light had made her waver, just as Arla had said. It had made her doubt, but it had also reminded her. It could not lie, only twist the truth for its own purposes, she could see it now. And the truth was she had chosen, she had come here of her own violition. And she was not going to leave, not yet.

She grabbed the darkness that was beginning to spread from Arla and Jeset, and held on for dear life. The Light wanted to push her away, but she pushed against it with every ounce of will she could must. "I am stronger than you were, and I choose this. I want this." I need this.

@Arcangel @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Anger, fear, lust, hatred, despair, and more were drawn to the ritual. Sentient manifestations of these Dark emotions began to press against the nexus, their very presence causing a taint to cling to all the energy that flowed across the Veil.

Rather than chanting further, she stopped, the power of the Spirits already drawn here. She could hear the shouting and accusations being leveled against her by the very Primal Spirits she was looking to bind. It plagued her with doubt. Regret over not being home, questions about whether she should be here and doing this, but she gritted her teeth, pressing down on the Force and turning those doubts into anger and anger into will. Such was the nature of the Dark Side.

That will was poured into an invisible barrier around the spirits that had been gathered. It was only now that she truly began to draw from @Rhaenys Drast and @Jeset. They would be able to feel their power being sapped from them as she focused the energy of all three of them to create this sphere. It would bind the Primal Spirits and plug the tear through the Veil. In other words, all the energy that flowed from the Nexus would be inherently tainted by their dark emotions.

It was quickly draining her, though. The fatigue and exhaustion was far more intense than she expected even with the assistance of the acolytes, and more doubts began to creep in. More uncertainty.

Focus! Give it your all, we're nearly there! she shouted over the gusting winds of the room as she drew power even from the runes she had earlier laid down. The Acolytes, too, would be able to feel themselves refreshed if only a little by their stored power, but the strain was still immense.

 

[Amun Seti]

Jeset's saber pounded against Jeset's, the clash of crimson plasma echoing through the mind, the thrum of the darkside pulsing through his very soul. There was nothing but the fight in his mind against the shade that besieged him. With one final bash, he sent the shadow of the Jedi he had once been sprawling. That she had once been, sprawling.

He stood over her, panting. Anger swirled in his chest as whispers gnawed at his mind. All his fear, doubts, despair. Hatred. He hated. A writhing ball of icky blackness that seethed at the pit of his stomach, that threatened to spill out of him as vomit as he stood over the shifting and shimmering form that lay beneath. His eyes blinked and he couldn't tell the hair from white or black, the form from his or hers. Only that they stood over them, blade in hand.

"Don't, please don't." She shifted her hand up to ward against a strike that was yet to come. "Please... I don't want to die." The voice, the words, his. He looked down as his grip on the lightsaber slackened, though he still held it high, ready to bring it down.

"You... I..." He stuttered, voice cracking as uncertainty gnawed at his bones. Was this. This wasn't how it happened. He had never faced her. Never looked her in the eyes. "I don't want to die." She repeated. He looked her in the eyes now to see his own fears, doubts, angers, reflected there as a mirror into his own soul. What he saw was wretched and his stomach threatened to rebel again. He began to lower his saber before a shouting voice pierced through the veil.

"Focus! Give it your all, we're nearly there!" He glanced up to see Arla standing on a balcony that overlooked the arena, a red glow encircling her as wind seemed to whip around her. She. No, she hadn't been there. Where. Why. The ritual. He looked down at himself, the image flickering to the old Jeset that he had killed, back and forth before finally settling on her form, empty eyes peering back up at him.

"Aaaaaaaah!" He yelled, channeling all the negative emotions that swirled through him out through it. His fear. His jealousy. His doubts. Through the edge of his crimson saber and down. His anger. His hatred. His will. To the tip of the saber and through false Jeset's chest. Into the nexus he poured everything he had. All of it. He felt his heart racing faster than a Fathier as sweat poured down his forehead. He could feel his energy, his life, his very being.

It was fading. He tried to scream as he felt himself being dragged down the length of the saber. His mind and body felt twisted and wrong and he could see the shadow of his hand twisting on the hilt, swirling as if it were being sucked down a vortex.

"A..a...Arlaaaa..." He tried to scream but only a hoarse whisper came out, and with it a wisp of breath that too swirled towards the vortex. He could feel it. The light and the dark. The Nexus. Its power shined so bright. So bright in front of him where he held his saber stabbing into its cracking and shimmering exterior.

"Arla..." He had no breath left with which to speak, merely a rasp. Then a pulse of power from the balcony above, barely a whisper. He gasped, inhaled. His form recoiled for a moment from the nexus but he could not tear himself free, all he could do was pour himself into it once more. Pour himself in, and hang on.

@Phoenix @Wit

 

[Rhaenys Drast]

She felt her energy sap, the ritual beginning to draw from her. But as she grew weaker, the spirits struck again, and images began flashing before her eyes. She was back, on Serreno, in her family's ancestral home, the house where she had grown up. Where her father had taught her to read, her mother had helped her build her first saber, a place of happiness, a place of hope. And then the vision shifted. Her parents, dead at her feet. The vision pulled back, drawing her out of the house, shifting once more. Her home, destroyed. She pulled back from the crumbling ruin, only for the vision to shift again, taking her high up. Her planet, burning as fire rained down from the skies. The vision pulled back again, till it brought her to a fleet in orbit, finally coming to a stop on the bridge, where a solitary figure stood, staring down at the destruction down below.

She wanted to move, to run away, but the spirits would not let go, pulling her forward till she was face to face with the monster who had taken everything from her. Face to face with herself.

"This is your future," the spirit whispered once more, voice tinged with sadness, "the inevitable end of the path you are currently walking down. Sooner or later, the darkness will destroy everything you hold dear, everything you ever cared for."

She fell to her knees, fear of the vision and the pain of what it showed cracking her will, begining to wear down her determination. She was about to give in when she heard Arla's voice, her encouragement. And in that moment she felt a surge of energy, the strength of the Nexus, and in a moment of clarity, she acted on instinct, letting everything her mother had ever taught her take over. She took all the pain, all the fear, every dark emotion that had swelled up within her, that the spirits hoped to use to break her, and she pushed is straight at the light, at the Nexus.

@Arcangel @Phoenix