Vasari
Blackguard Imperium
Tell me that I wont feel a thing...
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Affiliation: Academy of Iridonia - Blackguard Reborn
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Post by Vasari on Nov 13, 2019 12:11:47 GMT -8
For the first night since her return to Iridonia the apprentice was not dreaming of Dathomir, or Luxeria. this night the dreams were of the last days she spent at the Academy, making due with life after the First Order occupation of the planet, avoiding the new Masters that seemed to enjoy tormenting the students just as much as the ones prior. The only Master that retained her position was the BladeMaster - Clarell whom Vasari had fought side by side with against the invaders until they had reached the headmasters quaters. The events of that day she had been sworn to secrecy and she had never spoken of again. The next morning Vasari went about her lessons like normal and Clarell held classes like normal. For the two of them it was like nothing had happened. The soldiers they had killed were no less dead, but their defiance it seemed had been ignored. Vasari needless to say kept to herself more and more, spending her time in the library, secreting away information she could from the library and working in secret to construct her own Mind Maze which held her own take on the magic that she had learned and her own mental disciplines - the Mind of Many - the Mind of Stone - and the Mind of Ocean, all of which safeguarded by a labyrinth designed to trap mind of any attempting to enter that was unworthy. The first levels of the Labyrinth allowed the seeker the chance to leave the maze safely. The deeper levels prevented the mind of the person from leaving at all - the point that they would become trapped and go mad should they attempt to force their way free of the puzzle. She did not want her tricks and self made talents falling into the hands of the First Order - unless they were clever enough to beat her puzzles.
The dream progressed in a flash of a series of memories of those weeks following the occupation and the change of leadership until finally the entire academy was called to assemble in the main yard. The new Sith'ari was finally coming to see one of the prizes he had taken, and the Masters required everyone to attend. Vasari stood by the pillars of the Archives - out of direct sight as was her preference while the more bold attention seeking acolytes lined up in rows behind the masters that favored them. It was those preening peacocks that Vasari hated the most each and every one of them had challenged her at one point in time. She was an oddity at the Academy. She had been here longer than any of the other students could remember - in truth she had been here since she was six, having walked out of the desert with nothing but clan Nightshade's Zhaboka and a few rags to collapse at the door of the Academy. She was inducted the next morning and her studies began the moment she was well enough. She worked for a few years in the Medica until her talents had been noticed and she pursued other courses of study - finding the healing arts beyond her desire, if not her skill.
That day she remembered clearly... because that was day her childhood at the academy came to an end...
The shout pulled her from her dream but she did not rouse. With her REM cycle inturupted it took her mind a long couple minutes before she could wake properly, and then there was the fever to contend with, and the general lack of energy the exhaustion of the wound had plauged her with. In some ways that is what the poison was - a plauge sapping at her strength and her very will to live. Still unconcious, her mind a blurry haze of choppy ocean waves she felt a gentler touch against her mind. A voice calling out to her...
She blinked her eyes open several times attempting to force herself awake - feeling a presence nearby, but as of yet unable to tell who it was. Her vision was a blur and as she fought with consciousness. She didn't feel the warmth she normally felt from a living being, she felt cold but she wasn't sure if that was the fever sweats or the presence. She thought she recognized the voice speaking to her mind, but for several long moments she couldn't focus enough to make the dark image above her come into view.
She shifted a little, half in discomfort and the blood stained blanket fell away revealing her wound completely. She wasn't wearing her normal armorweave breast wrap - but the bandage covering her was wrapped up to cover her breasts - and it was wrapped tightly enough to bind her broken ribs as well which had mostly healed over the course of the month since Dathomir but motion still came difficult. The bandages were stained with dark red blood - the veins visible through her tattooed skin near the wound below the wrap were a bright vibrant green - when shown through her dark red and black skin turned a very menacing color and the scent of decaying flesh and rot caused by the constant shock treatments she was doing to herself in attempt to purge the infection from her skin left the smell of burnt flesh in the air as well.
As the haze of sleep began to clear she opened her eyes again, her mind was in tatters, much like her body, but she forced herself to focus on the presence. It felt wrong, but familiar all at the same time... and when she finally opened her eyes she saw dark red and yellow looking back at her and then the presence made sense... It was her Master.
"Sith'ari..."She whispered weakly raising a hand towards his cloak - upon the center finger rested the ring he had given her - one of the few things that had survived her trip to Dathomir mostly because they would have had to cut it from her hand to take it from her."I may have... lost... your ship... again..."
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Viox Savage
Blackguard Imperium
"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
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Post by Viox Savage on Dec 14, 2019 21:46:15 GMT -8
Normally, at the mention of the destruction of yet another of his ships at Vasari's hands, he would have scolded her for it. This was neither the time nor the place to do such a thing. She was well and truly dying. Wasting away slowly as she was plague with some unknown toxin. Taking in the horrid sight of her, he had only one option. Reaching out with his mind, he connected with Vasari's. Carefully. Due to his current self-inflicted condition, he had to be wary of how strong or deep a connection with another went. Too much, too fast and he would consume her very essence without hesitation. Too little, too slow and she would possibly perish before he reached a place that could help her. Giving Vasari something to focus on, at this point was key. Pulling off his cloak and wrapping the slender frame of his apprentice in it, he scooped the wounded Zabrak up in his arms.
Focus on my voice, apprentice. Draw your strength from mine.
The words would carry across Vasari's mind, commanding, but not forcing. As he turned to leave, he summoned called out to his A.I.
"Rampant! I need a medical transport sent to the Academy! NOW! And ensure everything is prepared at the Palace for our arrival. My personal medical team will tend to her."
Moving quickly back through the passage, the Zabrak retraced his steps, carrying his apprentice as he went.
Sire, a medical transport has been dispatched to your location. Medical staff at the Palace have been notified of the incoming patient. All relevant medical histories have been forwarded to them as well.
The reply was exactly what the Sith'ari had expected from his A.I companion. Now hopefully Vasari would make it to Malidris and the medical team currently on stand-by at the Dark Diamond Palace...
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Vasari
Blackguard Imperium
Tell me that I wont feel a thing...
Posts: 1,244
Affiliation: Academy of Iridonia - Blackguard Reborn
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Post by Vasari on Dec 15, 2019 14:59:16 GMT -8
Her current state of awareness did not last much longer and after a mere span of moments she had slipped below the surface of consciousness to the relatively comfortable embrace of her mind. Her body was - simply put, dying. She was running a dangerously high fever, the poison running through her body from the three wounds she had sustained had caused her blood to slow and and the skin around the wound between her ribs leading into her heart had begun to fester with infection. The air around them was thick with the scent of disease, burnt flesh, and corruption... normally a fitting place for any Sith to feed upon the anguish and fading life force of another. Vasari's mind however was quickly falling deeper into itself where she fought a battle on a completely separate front. The delicate balance she had always striven for within the force had been thrown off on Dathomir. She had been faced with every decision she had ever made and her fear in the face of not only those decisions, but also loosing Luxeria had broken her in ways she had not been prepared for. She had slipped off center into the dark side of the force enough to save Luxeria's life, and preserve her own, mostly in part due to the presence of the ring her Master had given her, and the point of reference it had provided. If she was more aware she would have questioned if Viox had given her the gift on purpose... like his other gifts it had quickly served a purpose in the following months. Just as the books he had given her had taught her the spells and abilities she had needed to survive Anzat, the ring had saved her on Dathomir.
The presence of her master's mind edging closer towards her own did not pass unnoticed and Viox found the usual defenses she had had always in place gone - shattered on Dathomir, and now no matter how slowly he proceeded he would quickly enough gain access to the fabrication of her inner most thoughts - the Labyrinth of books she had built as an Acolyte in the darkness of this very Library. The book shelves that made up the library however were rotting - the books that were her memories burning or already burnt to cinders. This was just the outer most layers of her mind - her core consciousness lay within the center of the maze of bookshelves in a garden oasis with a reflection pool at its very center - that is where Viox would find the manifestation of her base consciousness looking into the pool that bore her no reflection...
The call to her mind was felt and Vasari looked up from the reflectionless pool - her eyes gone leaving only empty hallow sockets in their place. As she moved the red cloak she wore fell away revealing dead necrotic skin around a sickly skeletal structure lacking muscle or tone. Her horns were longer and unkempt if not broken away and left jagged. Her dark vacant eye sockets looked right towards the new manifestation that had appeared within her mind, she couldn't quite place the look of the person - everyone always appeared within her mind differently - it was not how they perceived themselves at first... it was how her mind viewed them. And right now she didn't see a person simply a darkness. Whether that was because Viox was withholding the brunt of his presence within her mind or for another reason she was not in the right mental state to know... but even in the necrotic state her mind was in she felt a chill of emptiness from the presence. The voice however brought some ease to her failing mental state and she was able to answer back...
Master... The word itself was a testament to how broken she felt in this moment... she would never normally address him as such and he knew it. She was hardly a traditional student.I can barely feel you...
She shifted a little by the pool - her mind reaching out to attempt to do as bidden and draw strength from him - it manifested as the zombie-like creature by the pool extending an arm towards the dark figure a green mist moving towards the darkness almost as if it was being drawn... no not drawn... sucked in. Like a gravity well all life force too weak to hold its own shape was beckoned towards it. As more of the green mist shifted towards the darkness her zombified manifestation grew more horrific... more distorted, and she grew weaker.As Viox pulled Vasari's limp half lifeless body into his arms and began carrying her out of the secret depths of the library the ring about her finger grew cold against her hand. The ring pulsed with power, as if it was obeying some command given by the Sith'ari on the apprentice's behalf but even still it was difficult for the ring to keep her alive, and even the power of the artifact had a difficult time actually drawing energy from the Sith Lord's presence. While she was not conscious, and even though her mind was having problems drawing strength from him her body sensed his own, the warmth of him the blood beneath his skin and the beating of his hearts within his chest and she curled up subconsciously against him, her weak fingers grasping at his cloak as she carried him up towards the waiting transport.
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Viox Savage
Blackguard Imperium
"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
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Post by Viox Savage on Jan 12, 2020 21:02:15 GMT -8
Holding the barely alive Zabrak in his arms, bundled up in his cloak, the Sith'ari continued to make his way back out of the hidden alcove Vasari had sought refuge in. She was cold, clammy and barely breathing. But she was alive. And that was enough for him, at least for the time being.
Strengthening the connection between their minds, Viox focused on her more. While nothing more than an ominous darkness within Vasari's mind, that was soon corrected. If he had learned anything in his life, the Netherworld and the inner recesses of another's mind shared similarities. Thoughts were the driving force here, not words. Images, memories, they all influenced how one was perceived. And so, the Zabrak began to shape his image from Vasari's thoughts of him and soon enough, he would appear more or less as himself.
You must focus, apprentice. Forego the delicate balance that you maintain and allow our minds to fully connect. Shut out all other distractions. My voice, my presence is all that matters here.
He spoke to her in a commanding, yet reassuring tone. One she was familiar with. The miasma that was her mind didn't make any sense to him, but again, this was her mind. And not just the outward, surface thoughts, but the deep, inner recesses of her mind. Parts usually kept hidden, private. Unfortunately modesty of the mind wasn't an option here. He couldn't afford to lose her. Not like this. Not now. She HAD to live. And he was going to do everything in his power to ensure she lived.
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Vasari
Blackguard Imperium
Tell me that I wont feel a thing...
Posts: 1,244
Affiliation: Academy of Iridonia - Blackguard Reborn
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Post by Vasari on Jan 13, 2020 19:32:36 GMT -8
Vasari lay half in Viox's arms half curled against his chest totally dead weight - there was no life left in her body and the only shred of vitality that remained in resided within her crumbling mind held together now by the single connection that remained to her... her connection with her Master.
The zombified manifestation of Vasari's conscious mind was still being drawn towards the darkness that surrounded Viox, but as the darkness manifested as a more familiar image the pull into the nothingness became easier to resist. The undead presence of Vasari's mind pulled back from the Sith Lord that had joined her by the reflection pool - the only remaining visibly recognizable feature that remained in her mind. She raised her hollowed and empty eye sockets to view the older Zabrak. She could still feel the pull and like everything else within her mind at the moment he felt like death, but death manifested as a dark being filled with more power than she had felt in a long time. She heard the call of her master's voice and the zombie-like being hesitated and hissed in response - the sound loud and reverberating through the emptiness of her mind - the power of the noise causing the pool to ripple beside her. After a silence fell her mind attempted to form a reply.
"Master?!"The sound rang out again - sounding panicked- the failing power of Vasari's mind howling against the intruder"It wasn't my choice! It wasn't my choice!
Vasari's mind shifted and Viox's intruding mind was met with images from the woman's childhood - an Iridonian tribe massacred by red shadows with glowing purple weapons, an old Dathomiri Witch in red robes, and a young Zabrak child barely old enough to hold the bloodsoaked Zhaboka in her hands. Another image of the Witch casting a spell over the young Zabrak's unconscious body as she lay amidst the dead Iridonian's. The next series of images were all her life at the Academy from the time she joined as a child all the way until the Invasion of the First Order - the Invasion that was prophesied by the Dathomiri Witch years before. Then the images faded as the power of Vasari's mind failed and the Zombie collapsed next to the reflecting pool...
"It wasn't... my... choice..."
Vasari's mind grew weaker but no less hostile towards the intruder - he wished a deeper connection, something that Vasari would never have allowed until this moment. She had faced great evil on Dathomir, and it had broken her, but she had also faced her own choices and her own failures in life. Viox wished a connection and she didn't have the presence of mind or the strength to deny him, but he would not find a mind at peace with itself, with the force, or even with him... And he may not be prepared for what he would find within his apprentices mind.
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Viox Savage
Blackguard Imperium
"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
Posts: 2,938
Affiliation: Sith Order
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Post by Viox Savage on Jan 15, 2020 15:44:20 GMT -8
Carrying the near lifeless Zabrak in his arms, the Sith'ari strode from the Library and out into the courtyard of the Academy, where a Ministry-Class Orbital Shuttle, modified for medical evacs, was waiting. Climbing up the ramp, the Sith'ari carefully laid Vasari's limp body down on the gurney while the medics began their process. Attaching IV's, scanning her body and doing whatever they could to prevent the toxin rushing through her veins, from causing more damage until they were able to properly tend to her at the Central Hospital in Maladris. Seating himself across from her, Viox sat. Reaching out with his right hand, he clasped his fingers around hers and closed his eyes. Directing any sort of healing energies he could to her, he continued to maintain the connection to her mind.Whatever afflicts you, whatever happened may not have been your choice. But here, now, you have a choice, Vasari. You can choose to allow this sickness to overtake you, or you can choose to fight it. Stand with me, apprentice. We will fight it together.A mind, afflicted by the dark side and driven to the brink by psychosis, was not going to be a place where one would find even a modicum of peace. And he had been prepared for that much. But as the shadows began to take shape around them, he was ill-prepared for what he would see within his apprentice's mind...
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Vasari
Blackguard Imperium
Tell me that I wont feel a thing...
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Affiliation: Academy of Iridonia - Blackguard Reborn
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Post by Vasari on Jan 15, 2020 16:38:32 GMT -8
Vasari moaned in pain - more unconscious and delirious than anything else - as she was placed on the gurney and unknowingly was passed over into the hands of the medics on the medical transport that Viox had called for. She wasn't conscious to feel the needs piercing through her skin attempting to flood her body with medicine, fluids, and blood clotting agents that would work to slow her blood flow attempting to keep the toxins from reaching her heart. It was the way the poison worked, made from one of the many deadly plants on Dathomir and bewitched by the magics of the Nightsisters to slowly cause the body to decay and rot around the entry wound... once the poison reached her heart she would rot from the inside out until she died a very painful death. The real pain however, was what the poison did to her mind, warping her and perverting the balance of the force within her. Making it harder and harder to focus until finally you were driven mad by the poisons necrotic effects. Vasari had known this and knowing she had not the tools nor the talent to save her body, she did have a will and the training to fight the poisons influence in her mind... and that is when Viox had found her - mid battle with the poison destroying her mind, and corrupting her sense of self within the force, when her master had found her... She was losing...
While the ship rose into the air departing the courtyard of the Library for the Capital City of Maladris Vasari's mind continued to decay around the pair, the once clear water of the reflecting pool now turning a murky green as the emerald green mist seeping from the red robed zombified manifestation of Vasari succumbed to the strength of the poison.
The images of her life - memories faded away as Vasari's willpower grew more feint. The power of the poison was growing and due to the nature of the spell was corrupting Vasari's mind against everything she had learned and was taught - and turning the child to its own purpose, in this case - the purpose of the poisons creators. The scenery of the reflecting pool and the burning library labyrinth faded away and Viox found himself seated upon a thrown within Vader's Castle on Mustafar - a young, healthy, and perfectly beautiful manifestation of Vasari kneeling at his feet wearing her usual combat garb that barely covered the exciting parts and left most of her Sith Tattoos on display - along with a fair bit of skin. She looked up at him then...
"I am yours to command my Lord..."
She half rose and walked towards Viox climbing the steps to his thrown with a slow steady sway of her hips, her burning orange eyes focused on the Sith ruler.
"Or would you prefer me call you... my... Master..."
She half spoke half purred the words as she conquered the last step and slipped herself up onto his lap, her movements every bit as seductive as Luxeria had taught her to be on Coruscant... every bit the perfect distraction to keep his eyes on her body, and not on the small knife she had concealed within her gloved hand that she know flipped into her skilled fingers and thrust out like lightning towards the Sith Lord's throat...
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Viox Savage
Blackguard Imperium
"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
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Post by Viox Savage on Jan 15, 2020 18:22:51 GMT -8
Now in the air, heading away from the Academy, the med-evac shuttle continued on its course towards Maladris. The occupants within the shuttle's passenger bay continued about their business, save for two. The prone form of Vasari Nightshade, laying on a gurney and her master, Sith'ari Viox Savage, seated across from her, his right hand clasped over hers. Viox and Vasari were busy in a different sense. A battle of the mind was taking place between the two. Vasari's toxin addled mind was waging war upon itself, and the now intruding presence of her master.
Asserting a more steady, yet controlling connection to Vasari's mind, the scene within his apprentice's failing mind changed to a familiar one. Darth Vader's Castle. The focal point to the creation of the Blackguard. The very first step in the much larger scheme of things. And the starting point of Viox's own ascension to truly becoming the Sith'ari. Regardless of the importance of this memory, he was seated upon a throne within the castle. Vasari was kneeling before him, then seductively she rose to her feet and made her way towards him, moving her body in an almost mesmerising fashion. The way her hips moved. The fiery passion burning in her eyes and the playful, flirtatious smirk on her face. And then, she slid herself down on to his lap. Normally above her seductive wiles, inside her own mind even if it was faltering, her techniques and persuasive methods were much more difficult to resist. Though not impossible. Catching her hand, with the knife-tip pressing gently on his throat, he sighed. Eyes flashing up to met hers, he smirked.
"Why the sudden change of heart, my apprentice? Do I not quench your thirst for knowledge? Do I not slate your hunger with the flesh of my men...?
His smirk widened to a full grin as his fierce yellow eyes gleamed mischievously, staring back into the fiery eyes of his apprentice. If she wanted to play games, he would indulge her for the fun of it...
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Vasari
Blackguard Imperium
Tell me that I wont feel a thing...
Posts: 1,244
Affiliation: Academy of Iridonia - Blackguard Reborn
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Post by Vasari on Jan 15, 2020 21:02:27 GMT -8
The heartbeat monitor that Vasari was hooked to in the sheep and the buffeting of the winds around the transport were the only sounds that could be heard over the roar of the engines as the Med-evac blasted away from the Academy, the sound of the beeping was slow but so far remained steady...
Vasari's eyes narrowed at the older Zabrak's words and the nonchalance and almost flippant attitude he took with the would be assassination. She didn't let up, knowing that she couldn't overpower the much stronger warrior she altered tac and muttered something in the language of her birth - the language of the Dathomirian Witches, here usually orange eyes burned with a ring of emerald green as she sat in the Sith'ari's lap, still pressing the dagger towards his throat against the strength of his arm. The Major he had mentioned walked into the room his weapon trained on the Sith'ari as Vasari's words returned to Galactic Basic.
"He was merely a test... to see if my magick was stronger than his loyalty to you! Had Luxeria not interfered... it would have been!"
At Vasari's command the major raised his hand and a half dozen more of Viox' own soldiers poured into the room, their weapons all trained on their former master. In the past the young Zabrak had been chided for treating them as lesser, and so she had turned them against their master - the one that they had fought side by side and bled with, the power of their loyalty meant nothing compared to the power of Vasari's mind, and the spells she had cast over their minds.
"Luxeria didn't see the truth... and neither did you... you believed i would be seduced by flesh alone?! Your pawns are now mine!
Here the scene played out in her mind the way she had planned it, the way it would have gone if Luxeria hadn't turned her away from this path on Coruscant. Unknowingly the girl had turned a double agent again, and when they two of them went to Dathomir... it was for more than a book. It was for Vasari to face her past, and confront the evil she had been raised to commit. The Assassination of Viox Savage!
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Viox Savage
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"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
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Post by Viox Savage on Jan 15, 2020 21:43:01 GMT -8
And still, the trip to Maladris continued.
Despite Vasari's continued attempt to drive the dagger into his flesh, he began to slowly close the prosthetic fingers of his left hand around her wrist. At the moment, the gloved, metallic fingers would only continue to squeeze, but eventually, they would crush his apprentice's wrist. Pushing her hand back just enough to relieve the pressure of the blade's tip, a small droplet of blood trickled down the Zabrak's neck. A bemused look crossed his face and his eyes flashed dangerously.
"I falsely believed you were smarter than this, apprentice!"
The anger in his voice was measurable, but it quickly faded and his voice returned to its whisper-like cadence.
"So, it is betrayal you have chosen? Very well then. It is time for a lesson!"
With his eyes shifting from the fierce yellow they usually were, they now became a vibrant, fiery violet. Wisps of black, smoky tendrils began to creep out from beneath the throne and an opaque shadow began to form around them, the vague visage of several Zabraks could barely be discerned.
"I must warn you apprentice...this isn't a path you wish to continue down. Lest it destroy you...."
Despite being in her mind, despite being threatened, despite Vasari's attempts to destroy him in her own mind, he would resist her until he no longer could...
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