Mind Games - Aysa & Ferinus

Ferinus Corsai

The Dark Lord Ferinus kept his steps light as he walked down the hall of Phantom's ship, looking only for one room in particular. His eyes were closed as he stretched his feelings out to encompass the surface of each door he passed, looking for just one distinct presence.

It was only a moment or two before he stopped dead in his tracks in front of the door, his black leather boots making a small scuffing noise as he turned. For a minute, he only stared at the door's surface. But he could feel her inside....or, at least, he felt what she chose to reveal. Admittedly, what that amounted to was one large mystery. Ferinus, while delighting in the mysteries and illusions of his own machinations, detested untested anomalies from anyone else.

Her presence was....smooth, like a dark blanket of the finest silk softly resting in place. He knew that meant she had to be sleeping. Or in a coma. Either way, that boded well for what he sought to do.

He reached up a hand to slowly rub his silvering goatee. It had been a long, tiring experience planetside. While his skin had retained some color from the experience, he could not deny that age was catching up with him. He was not an Anzat like his old apprentice. Barring any extracurricular experiences, Ver'metus would enjoy a longer life. Ferinus' Nubian body, though it had literally withstood Hell and Bane-only-knew how many regenerations, was far more finite.

Perhaps the most telling sign of his age was what he was about to do. She had been right. He was being paranoid. But he didn't know her. He didn't know what she was planning or what she was capable of. All he knew was she was adept at blocking his attempts to reach into her mind.

But when the mind was resting....well, that was an entirely different matter.

He pressed the tips of his long fingers into the gap between her door and the wall. Then, his fingers began to slowly disintegrate into the blackest tendrils of smoke. Soon, his hand was gone as well, then his arm, then his chest. It was only a few seconds before Lord Ferinus had shifted through the crack by the door until the last tendrils of smoke were sucked in.

There she lay, in bed. He knew she had to be asleep. A column a black whips of smoke rose silently from the ground until Ferinus reformed. His glistening onyx eyes stared down at her body wrapped in the sheets. Those same eyes scanned over every elegant angle of her form. She was a formidable woman, to be sure. She had all the qualities and personalities that befit a woman who knew what she had and who she was....and how to use those assets to her advantages.

And they may even work on lesser men. Truly, she had to know she was on a ship full of anything but lesser men.

Still, he had no time to waste. If she were to wake at any moment, his calculated risk would be all for naught. He needed answers and he needed them now. Whether she would give them up willingly or not was not hers to decide any longer. He closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the floor near her bed. Thin, black veins secreted their oily way across his face, jointing from his now black facial scar until they spread across his face.

And the world fell away....replaced by darkness.

There he stood in the midst of it. It felt absolute....almost cold, even. This was the mind of Aysa. Ferinus knew he was approaching the front door. He felt the same weightless sensation as he did whenever projected his own being inside someone else's.

But this time....it didn't feel right. Something was wrong. Something was....amiss. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

And then....they raged up all around him.

A towering inferno. Walls upon walls of blistering flames. Aysa's mind was thrown into blinding red and orange light as the flames surrounded him. He felt its heat, threatening to melt his hair and skin until he was nothing but a pile of smoking bones....

At least, that's what the flames wanted him to believe.

This was her defense mechanism, he was sure. An impressive one....but not one strong enough to repel a Dark Lord of Sith Alchemy for a second time.

Separate....and join together.

Solve et Coagula.

Ferinus smiled as the flames covered him and tried to tear him apart with their red-hot arms of fire.

He whispered.

"You cannot burn what is already condemned."

His body was no more, burned away by the flames. Still, the flames did not go out. In fact, they never lost their intensity. For a dark shadow in the shape of a man now stood within them, unmoving. Unwavering. It sought to destroy a man....but what it held was a monster.

Ferinus held up a shadowy hand.

"Come, come now. Is this any way to treat a guest?"

He felt the flames flow over his shadowy form, as if they were searching. Searching for any new part of him that needed burning. He knew its quest was growing more futile by the moment. Let the flames keep at their task. It would tire them out....tire her mind out.

His deep, placating voice resonated everywhere.

"I know you seek vengeance....vengeance that, perhaps....you've already obtained...."

The flames tried to circle his body and head but they found no more skin to burn.

"But it's never enough, is it? Yours is a fire that cannot be quenched....at least....not by anything you've found yet."

Ferinus head looked upward, as if the source of the flames could be found there.

"But I am not here to hinder you. I want to help you burn whomever it was that wronged you. I would delight to see your enemies burn on the pyre....alive....and screaming."

Then, his shadowy head bowed.

"I am not your foe. Let me burn what you wish to burn. Show me. Show me your enemies so that I may join my fire with yours!!"

Slowly, the flames retreated from all around him. They never left, thought. It was almost as if they were giving him his space.

Ferinus felt the freedom of his form. His shadowy body reformed into that of his normal self, the man currently standing inside her mind. He folded his hands formally and smirked.

"Quite kind of you. Now....where shall we begin?"

Ferinus Corsai

Ferinus stood stock-still as the flames slowly danced backward into the background, which was swirling and pulsating....like a water-color painting doused and bleeding.

But it was soon replaced by a new picture, a bright one. Golden sunbeams began falling and streaming all around him, carving through the darkness until a new scene unfolded all around him. Ferinus knew this must be what the flames want him to see. This must be one of Aysa's memories, one that currently serves as the fuel for the fire that she is.

A hallway?

Yes, with large windows on either side. A bright day lay on the other side but within these walls there was smooth music and floral smells. Extravagant decorations adorned the walls.

His nostrils flaring once, Ferinus strode through the hallway, unsure of where he was yet all too eager to discover the truth.

"Well, then, let's see what you have to show me, my good lady."

Ferinus knew he walked a tightrope now within Aysa's mind. He was an experienced and deadly Sith Lord. He also believed his mastery of Sith Alchemy to be unparalleled. Battle after battle, war after war, year after year had forged him into the sheer of force of will he was today.

But within the mind, all of those attributes were suspect.

As much as he would not admit it to anyone else, Aysa already had his regard. In the short moments they'd shared, she'd shown her intelligence and capability. She'd shown her....allure. She had powers of her own and the mind was the great equalizer. For now, her mind and thoughts were beginning to bend to his authority....to yield to his power. Where once there was defiance....now there was an invitation. But navigating anyone's mind also came with the danger of exposing oneself. Aysa could begin asserting her own will over Ferinus.....though he'd never had a problem with that before. Not since he went toe-to-toe with the great minds of Kashyyyk Academy....

Ferinus threw open the double doors into the entryway. No doubt about it, this was a church. And it appeared he had arrived just in time for a wedding. Servers and guards were bustling about, rushing this dish and that vase of flowers to this way and that way. They must be preparing for the reception.

Which means....the ceremony was currently underway.

He was late.

He looked down at his black robes.

"This is a tad informal."

He clapped his hands together once and a column of swirling black shadows burst forth in front of him, spreading across his body. Soon, he appeared in flowing jet-black dress robes and a top hat with a sleek black cane.

"Yes....much better. Can't disappoint Miss Aysa, can we?"

He began striding forward toward a pair of large doors which he was certain led to the sanctuary when a curt voice echoed behind him.

"Excuse me, sir!"

Ferinus spun where he stood. A man in a golden mask carrying a large tome was staring intently at him.

"I will need your name, sir. Only invited guests are permitted into the wedding....a wedding you are late to."

"Of course!" The Sith Lord said with a smile. "Ferinus Corsai. I'm a dear friend of the...."

His eyes swiveled down to the front of the book.

Her name.

It was on the cover! Along with a Viktor...

This was her wedding....

"...the bride's!" Ferinus quickly finished. "The two of us go very far back."

"Not as far back as you may believe, Mr. Corsai," the man curtly fired back. "I do not see your name on the registry."

Ferinus slapped his hand on the back of the book, stretching his own thoughts into it, his own assertiveness.

"Please....do check again, would you? I'd hate to miss my dear friend's wedding."

The golden-masked man snapped the book shut.

"There is no need to check again, sir. Your name is not on it. I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to leave....once."

He slapped a strong hand on Ferinus' shoulder. To the Sith's great surprise, it was a grip that anchored him in place, one not becoming of such a thin bookkeeper.

This was another defense. Aysa's mind was already beginning to fight back. She was trying to get him to leave the memory. Ferinus was impressed. Not even a few moments of his intrusion inside her and she was already shoring up defenses.

He had to beat this next challenge if he was going to find what he was looking for.

"Ah, I see. I....I believe you're right."

The masked man's face turned quizzical. Ferinus continued.

"Forgive me. I'm afraid I'm getting my venues mixed up in my.....accelerating age."

His relenting seemed to be working. The man's grip slackened. He even removed his hand.

Ferinus stole a quick glance around the room, looking for some other way into that ceremony. All he saw were the various members of the staff. Many of them....wearing golden masks.

Ah....

Aysa was a strong woman....but Ferinus began to wonder just how strong she had had to stay for so long. He had to wonder just how tired she was of always needing to prove herself to others....of never getting the chance to be....herself. To just be....relaxed. He wondered just how easier he could make it for her if she just let him....take control. Just for a bit.

And he let those thoughts resound all around him....and into her mind.

He then slung a shoulder around the masked man, who quickly hugged the book to his chest.

"You know, my good man, that is a brilliantly beautiful mask! What lovely craftsmanship!"

Perhaps his thoughts were working. He was not able to steer the man away from the entry way and into an unseen corner.

"I simply MUST know where you got it...."

As they rounded the corner and out of sight, a sudden liquid splatter and a soft shuffling was heard. Ferinus emerged from the around the corner, now adorned in a golden mask, sucking on his red finger tips.

"Mmm....almost tastes like the real thing."

He looked up thoughtfully.

"She must cling tightly to this memory....but why?"

With another one of her mental barriers dispatched, Ferinus quickly slunk through the main doors and into the sanctuary.

Beside her, her future husband Viktor, a true born son and heir to the region's largest fortune knelt with his head of golden hair bowed. Aysa glanced across at him, her vision obscured by the fine golden veil that covered her face. Before them both sat a large table carved from lilac stone with five evenly spaced chairs behind it. The furthest chairs on either side were vacant; their positions usually held by their fathers. Two of the Council’s five elders sat quietly in their bejewelled robes as the third stood in front of Aysa and Viktor.

He spoke of the sanctity of marriage, of the importance of the bond between a husband and his wife and the purity of their union. Aysa looked up at him. She so desperately wanted to believe his words but she knew them to be lies. There was nothing pure about this union, nothing sacred.

“Marriage is a conscious act of will.” He proclaimed to the enraptured congregation. Aysá bit her lip to stop herself from saying something she would undoubtedly regret. Speaking out against the most sacred of traditions and scripture was against the law and those in positions of power and influence were punished more severely than others.

Ferinus, seeing where he was, looked to his right and saw a heavily armored guard with a large spade wearing his own golden mask. Ferinus looked to his left and saw an opening. He folded his hands and slid over to the and at attention on the right side of the doors.

The guard looked over to him and angrily stared.

Ferinus stood unflapped.

"At ease, soldier. Private security detail."

The guard looked unconvinced, his stare still holding.

Another mental barrier?

Ferinus lowered his own stare.

"Or would you prefer to be the subject of my report to my superior who will then report to your superior? I guarantee you....mine has more money."

That seemed to do the trick. The guard shook his head and turned back to the ceremony. Ferinus did the same.

There she was. Ferinus couldn't stop himself from marveling at her beauty in that dress. But....she didn't look herself. She looked....younger? Not so much physically, perhaps, but definitely spiritually. She had no fire in her eyes here, none of the original spark about her that drew him to her from the beginning. Here, she looked....fearful, even. Who was this man she was marrying? She smiled on the outside but Ferinus could sense its emptiness from all the way at the back of the room.

"There comes a time in a woman's life where duty trumps self. We are servants to our fathers and then to our husbands. We must seem willing lest we defy our betters. You may not love your intended now Aysa, but there will come a time when he will fuel the fire in your heart."

Ferinus almost started. Where was that voice coming from? It sounded....matronly. Arrogant....misled....ignorant.

Aysa's mother had been best placed to council and advise for she, like every other high-born woman in attendance, had been through the same thing. Aysa's mother however had been wrong with her suggestions of love. There were two people in that room that knew Aysa could never love Viktor; not in the way he expected nor tradition demanded. She knew it, he knew it, but that man was not the one beside her.

The rest of the ceremony passed in blur. Aysa didn’t feel a thing as their hands were bound by swaths of golden silk or hear the joyous proclamation of their union. It was only when Viktor began to stand that she was pulled from the chaos of her thoughts. She rose with him and smiled as she was expected to but for a fleeting second it seemed as though Viktor had seen through the façade. She assumed it was just her guilty conscious playing tricks when he squeezed her hand and led her down the aisle.

Aysa smiled as she made brief but deliberate eye contact with her mother who stood proudly beside her father and brothers. She passed them quietly amid the applause, acknowledging the well wishes from others with a barely noticeable nod.

All but one clapped.

Eli stood in silence, his blue-green eyes fixed upon her. Aysa saw him and felt her stomach drop. He masked the heartbreak with a small reassuring smile but she could see the bitter truth his eyes. It killed her that she was doing this to him but she was powerless to stop it either.

Aysa and her new husband were now coming straight for them down the aisle. Ferinus looked and saw the guard on his right make for the door. He had better do the same.

As the pair of them opened the doors, he and Aysa became dangerously close.

This was her dream.

Her memory.

Yes....her memory. It was hers and hers alone. He was in a foreign place....a place where he was an outsider.

Yes...an outsider. What truly was the point of his being here?

And come to think of it....she looked absolutely breathtaking. Every detail in perfect form, a feast for the eyes, a feast he could take in right here, right now. A feast he could take in forever if he so chose...

Bane help him....that hair...those eyes....those lips....that neck....those....

Wait....

Wait....

A familiar cut through the darkness over the crackle of distant flame.

“I don't think a mother's words have ever rang truer, well the last part at least. Do you believe what she said? That Viktor would fuel your fire?"

“Honestly, Master ... The fire was already there, it was just started by someone else.”

The voice cut in before Aysa could continue.

“Ah yes, Elikai. Eli was the ember but Viktor; he was the one that turned that ember into an inferno"

Ferinus shook his head, taking a breath.

Oh....clever, clever girl.

He should have known. Their close proximity in his dream had given her mind an in....a chance to assert itself over his. It had become a chess match and had been on the move.

Until that voice cut through everything, wrenching him awake again.

That voice....

Did....did he know it?

If she wanted to play this game while he was in her head, two could play it just as easily as one.

Before she passed through the doors out of the sanctuary, he slipped his arm around the small of her back, gently massaging her waist with his fingertips.

He leaned in and whispered lowly in her ear.

"All of this....it gets so tiring doesn't it? Don't worry. Don't burden yourself any longer. Why don't you....show me another?"

He grinned into her ear, eager to see the results of his latest power play.

Ferinus Corsai.

Ferinus was prepared this time. He was forced to be, lest he fall into the trap her mind was attempting to ensnare him in. He could not deny she was a....formidable and wondrous display. Ferocity was welling up within him.....but this was just a show. He knew the twisting, winding halls of a mind, its intricate puzzles and terrible traps.

They were each unique to the mind, to the soul, to the person. But people could be changed. They could be manipulated. Aysa was a goddess inside her world but none were immune from the temptations that came from below.  She had power, undeniably. He would be a fool to overlook or underestimate that. But power was a tricky thing.  Those who had power were never just threatened by others with power....they were intrigued by it. Perhaps she wanted to see what he could do for herself. Perhaps she wanted to see.....what he could offer her. That was why when she looked at him, his onyx eyes matched her gaze....and his eyes showed the darkness he'd witnessed, the darkness that had molded him.

He not only took her hand, but held it rigidly. Licks of dark flames licked between his fingers and across hers. After all, he didn't want her to feel any desire to let go. As long as he had contact.....he could work within it. Ferinus felt that both himself and Aysa strolled together in such stark contract to the blinding white light all around them. His soul would cast a shadow even in this environment....and he had a sneaking suspicion her own was far more comfortable in....less than these garish surroundings.

That's when he heard them. Voices echoing all around them. They were not the same as the original that he'd heard during the "wedding." It was Aysa's won voice and.....a different woman's.

He knew that voice.....The Sith Lord opened his mouth to speak but was then lambasted, thrown into an entirely different scene. Her mind was attempting to buck him, that was for certain. There was suddenly whirling, whipping winds and rain pattering against his skin as they stood on a dark cliff, flanked by black-masked guards.

His flaming hand was intertwined with hers....and yet she was also on her knees in front of the man she was just beside at the head of the aisle.He watched the scene unfold before him, saying nothing. He was trying to determine if this was another trick she had to offer him....yet it felt different. First and foremost, no one else on this cliff was interacting with him. For all intents and purposes, they may as well be invisible right now. Her mind was simply showing him this and that was all....exactly as he had instructed her.

His lips curled into a smile. Perhaps it was time to test what his strengthening authority could accomplish.He waited until the useless babe took its tumble. He waited until he heard her guttural, screaming cries sail through the roaring wind. He watched as the fool kissed her forehead and instructed for her to receive medical attention.

Ferinus squeezed her hand and leaned toward her.

"When I first saw him at the head of the aisle....I must admit that I never would have guessed he had that in him."

Ferinus chuckled.

"Cavalier...with a flair for the dramatic. Yet....so very weak and insecure."

The Sith Lord ticked and turned toward her until his eyes bored into hers, attempting to fix her mind to his gaze, making it so he was the only one occupying her.

"Why perform this display? Why feel the need? He should have ended the both of you in one swift stroke. No one would know. No one need know."

He leaned into her ear and whispered, tracing his pointer finger so very slowly across the inside of her wrist.

"And good riddance."

And then....she was gone. And he was blasted back by one of the strongest gusts of wind he'd ever encountered. He stumbled back a few paces until he right himself. Then another blast threw him cascading off the cliff. In a last desperate grab, he slapped a palm against the cliffside and held strong. So.....her mind was far more fortified than Ferinus at first thought. He couldn't help but laugh as he reached up and gripped the cliff with his other hand as the rain railed down against him and the wind would not relent.

"Is this your best effort to repel me?! I am still here! I am not retreating!!"

His shouts into the wind sounded almost muffled amidst the incredible noise. Ferinus looked down below him. The crashing waves beneath him were calling out to him, beckoning him to a watery grave. She was attempting to scare him, hoping he would quit his quest....perhaps knowing her own growing willingness to submit? So he would speak with her directly. He released one of his hands and outstretched it, palm open, to the seas, slowly rotating his hands in a circle in the air.

"You want me to feel fear, Aysa, but tell me....have you ever felt death?"

This time he whispered it into the wind and the rain as the waters below him began to spin, slowly turning into a whirlpool below him.

"Have you felt its cold claws reach into you, stopping your heart and clouding your mind? Have you felt it softly ripping away all you are and all you had ever been until, at long last, there is nothing more of you left?"

Ferinus' onyx eyes stared defiantly down into the now swirling whirlpool. He didn't know if this would work....but he knew she could hear him.

"I have.....and I fear it not.....and I'm certain you would like to know how that feels. You want to feel that too. You want to know what that....tastes like."

Ferinus let go of the cliff, tumbling down through the air, not ceasing his whispers.

"I can show you. I can show you so much. All you have to do.....is let go now....and listen...."

With that, he shot into the whirlpool, plunging into blackness

***The swirling, churning waters suddenly gave way to blackness as Aysa would find herself suddenly standing in a dark cavernous chamber lit only by torches along the high stone walls.

The air all around was oppressive. Heavy. There was a dark energy seemingly brimming and vibrating, filing the entire expanse with an imperceptible discomfort.

The energy was concentrated around a high stone dais in the middle of the chamber. A series of steps led up to a flat platform upon which sat one steel throne.

On that throne sat one robed, armored figure. The hood concealed the face of the man save for a pair of glistening eyes staring forward. Their intensity was enough to shine through any shroud. They stared, unblinking, ahead at a shorter, thinner robed man standing on the top two steps.

After a few seconds of silence, the Dark Lord’s armored fingers drummed once upon his grand throne.***

“How many times have I warned your brothers and sisters about bothering me with such lunacy?”

***The Dark Lord’s words were slow and sonorous. Through the energy in the air, they stretched as far as the chamber did, sounding to Aysa as if she was inches away from him.

But as he finished, the shorter figure spoke with a much younger yet familiar voice to her.***

“It’s not lunacy to speak the truth, my Lord. You know that it’s not."

“Putting thoughts in my head is a sure way to try my patience, Ferinus.”

***Sure enough, the younger man threw his hood back to reveal a tanned face with blazing hazel eyes, dark brown hair. Aysa would know by now that she had successfully infiltrated one of the Sith Lord’s treasured memories.

But the only similarity between the man she knew of and this man was the scar down the center of his face,***

“You know what I have studied, my Lord,” Ferninus said pointedly. “You know what I have learned. That’s why you have elevated me to this position. When has my counsel ever once led you astray?”

“The list of those moments is growing longer of late,” the Dark Lord indifferently replied.

***Ferinus opened his mouth….paused…..and let out a sigh.***

“I have admitted to underestimating Velaren. I have accepted my shortcomings as a Sith Alchemist.”

“HAVE YOU?”

***The very air almost seemed to break as the Dark Lord raised his voice. He steepled his armored hands in front of the shroud hiding his face.***

“It is true that you have quickly risen in our ranks. Your thirst for vengeance garnered you admittance into the Sith and your commitment to our cause has earned you a place among my Jen’Ari. Yet you constantly fail to see the thin ice you’re walking on.”

***His shrouded face lowered so that those glinting eyes even seemed to bore into Aysa from her distance.***

“But ever since we brought you into our academy, your mad experiments have placed the lives of your brothers and sisters in danger, alienated the support of your betters and compromised the very structural integrity of this academy.”

***Ferinus held up a bandaged finger.***

“For the record, I believe I was appropriately punished for all of those instances.”

***His hazel eyes swiveled to the floor.***

“….I have the scars to prove it.”

***The Dark Lord's armored hands clapped back upon the armrests of his throne.***

“Perhaps,” he intoned. “You require more scarring.”

***Aysa would see Ferinus’ fingers close into fists. He stood straighter upon the steps.***

“You may hear this as insolence, my Lord, but you’ve just proven my point.”

***With that, the Dark Lord practically jumped to his feet in one fluid motion, walking toward Ferinus.***

“Elaborate while you still have your tongue,” he growled.

***Ferinus took one step back and drew in a hurried breath.***

“We are connected now, blood and soul! Through the very Force! I told you not to perform that ritual! Now, if anything happens to me-“

***The alchemist never finished that sentence as an armored fist from the Dark Lord cracked across his face. A shining crimson spurt sailed from his nose as his body crashed onto the steps, sliding down only a few of them.

The Dark Lord clenched his armored fist, now stained with blood.***

“I named you my SOUL, Darth Ferinus! Your death would only hinder what we have fought and shed blood to create. Why would I NOT do everything in my power to further our cause?!”

***Ferinus lifted his broken face from the stone steps, peering right into Aysa's eyes, yet looking through her at the same time. He bared his teeth, spat blood on the step where his face came to rest and defiantly stood back up.***

“This is one problem you can’t punch your way out of, you great IDIOT! All it takes is one fateful strike, one deadly move, then everything you have built WILL be gone!”

***The Dark Lord stood frozen for a moment before slowly crossing his large arms.***

“You’re trying to goad me into killing you myself and severing our connection,” he coldly stated.

***Ferinus was still breathing heavily, but holding his ground.***

“And sparing this academy from certain collapse at the hands of our enemies.”

***For several more heavy seconds, neither Sith uttered a word. Even the crackling of the torches could be heard.

But then they were silenced as the Dark Lord spoke again.***

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say your old Ji’Dai self was showing, Ferinus. Self-sacrifice is not becoming of anyone. It is a foolish, fruitless endeavor.”

“More foolish than keeping around a constant liability?” Ferinus shot back.

***If it was possible, Aysa would see the Dark Lord’s slitted eyes squint even thinner as he chose to listen while Ferinus spoke again.***

“Vitiosus….Sinistra….Phantom….Stormro….Ver’metus….they all still have a force driving them,” he said. “Kriff it all, I was just sitting in a damned tree with Si’at as she spoke to me about Sarian. The passion in her words….it made me jealous. Envious, even.”

***Ferinus pressed his lips together.***

“Because I know what separates me from the rest of them now. I woke up in the med bay without a purpose. Now, I must be kept near you and within your knowledge at all times to ensure that your life is never in danger.”

***The alchemist swallowed, looking the Dark Lord in the eye.***

“That’s not freedom. That’s a prison of my own design. I choose death.”

***The Dark Lord stayed silent again, as if mulling over the lesser Sith’s words.***

“You would give your own life for our brotherhood and our cause?” He challenged.

***This time, Ferinus only shrugged.***

“I am afraid of death. There, I said it. I don’t know what comes next. I was raised to rejoice in becoming one with the Force….but I see that belief now for what it truly is: Hypocrisy. Lies. Indoctrination.”

***Ferinus faced the floor.***

“In all of the tomes and scrolls I have read, there are writings of a Void, unending and limitless. I don’t know if I was always destined to see it sooner than everyone else here….but I see no path that doesn’t end there.”

***The Sith Alchemist took a deep breath and snapped his head up to face the Dark Lord, resolution blazing in his eyes.***

“You and everyone here already opened my eyes, freed me from my chains. I have seen the true way and felt its power. Perhaps my conversion and my vengeance was always meant to be my final act.”

***Ferinus unclipped twin lightsaber hilts, one of which was hewn from gold.***

“I welcome the next challenge,” he said.

***The air seemed to be sucked out of the room. Time seemed almost frozen. The silence was palpable. Neither Sith budged an inch.

Then, in one lightning-quick motion that moved like rushing water, the Dark Lord stabbed his armored gauntlet into Ferinus’ chest.***

“AARGHCK!!!”

“You will indeed be tested, Darth Ferinus.”

***The shocked eyes of the alchemist looked up at the Dark Lord as his body shook and spasmed.***

“And they will determine if you are worthy enough….to come back to us.”

“Uck…..uck….”

***Crimson blood began streaming down the Dark Lord’s arm, dripping onto the dais. Aysa would be able to hear every drop strike the stone.

The Dark Lord clenched his fist inside Ferinus’ chest.***

“AAAaaaRCHK!!!”

***The Dark Lord lifted Ferinus into the air with one arm. Blood was spurting from the alchemist’s whitening lips, his eyes staring at the ceiling, twitching.***

“You feel it now, don’t you? The cold…..the numbing. You will see them soon. Heed their every word, withstand their every test….and you will be transformed.”

***The triumphant Dark Lord brought the spasming Ferinus within inches of his hood.***

“Fail….and you will stay there. Forever.”

***The Dark Lord cast Ferinus off the dais. The alchemist’s body bounced off the steps and slid all the way down to the floor. Ferinus was still retching and coughing, clinging to every last breath as he slowly tried to push himself back up, blood pouring from his gasping mouth.***

“I do not know yet what I will tell the others,” The Dark Lord stated before sitting back upon his throne.

“But fortunately….I have the luxury of time.”

***Ferinus managed hoist at least his torso up, his elbows almost buckling. He raised his head and stared directly into Aysa’s eyes….before coughing another glob of blood.

Then, his eyes started slowly looking from left to right. Left. Right. Faster. Again. Fear glinted in his twitching eyes. His mouth dropped open even more. He drew in one last rasping breath.

And then collapsed on to the stairs.

He was still.

Yet his eyes still stared into hers.

Then….everything faded to blackness once again. A bloody hand suddenly clamped itself over Aysa's mouth and pulled her back. She would smell the metallic stench of it on his hands as his cold breath whispered into her ear.***

“Well done. No one has ever seen this…..no one was ever MEANT to see this.”

***He roughly twirled her around to face him. Blood was still steaming from his mouth and his eyes. Half of his face was decaying to a yellowed, brittle skull.***

“So then….if you’re so interested to know more about me, then it’s only fitting that you should see….what came next.”

***He body fell away into smoking wisps of shadow. She was surrounded by infinite black. It closed in all around her with no end in sight.

That is, until a whip lashed out behind her and wrapped itself around her throat. It was made of a crackling, electrifying crimson energy, shooting long daggers of pain directly into her throat and threw her body.

And she was held there. Other crimson whips crackled to life around her. At least of dozen black hooded figures surrounded her, each holding a whip.

As one, they all raised them and brought them lashing down upon her, over and over again.***

***The figure shrouded in black, flowing robes watched her rise in defiance against the torture. It slowly tilted its head then shook with booming, sonorous series of laughs.***

“My dear, fascinating Miss Myral. For the first time throughout this little game of ours…you are definitively wrong.”

***The figure yanked on the energy whip and then took a knee. Its seemingly endless void of a face gaped a few inches away from hers.

That is, until the figure drew the hood back to reveal Ferinus’ face but it was unlike any she had ever seen. It somehow looked younger, but the skin was white and the scar down the middle of his face was pitch black in color. Dozens of tiny black veins stretched out from it, consuming his face in its entirety. His silver hair was longer and fell to his shoulders.***

“Your freedom is your own,” he intoned. “You carved it out of the galaxy, baptized it in blood and, now, you hold it like a trophy, daring any and all to come and take it from you.”

***He brought his index finger around his face and then pointed to the darkness surrounding them.***

“What this is, where we are, you could never understand. I did not understand. I learned.”

***A knife shot out into his open right hand.***

“And now you will learn.”

***In one fluid motion, he brought the tip of the knife down into her chest, just below her collarbone. Deftly, he stabbed the tip of it into her skin, slowly cutting down.***

“And the first lesson you learn here….is that the price of admission is paid in blood.”

***His jet-black eyes swiveled down to stare at the wound.***

“It is time.”

***His hand still clutching the knife, he uncurled his thumb and pressed it into the blood welling up from his cut.

And suddenly, the world around them whipped forward and bucked, changing into a blur until it became a deep, dark forest.

Aysa would find herself standing in the middle of it all.

To her right, two figures burst through the trees, clashing lightsaber to lightsaber. A taller, larger man brought a crimson saber down onto a much younger man with flowing brown hair and hazel eyes, holding up his own orange saber to block and parry the blow away.***

“This is where our little game ends, Jedi,” the larger man growled.

“You killed him! You killed him without a thought, you bastard!” The younger man screamed.

“Now….I’LL KILL YOU!!”

***The young man reared forward, bucking the Sith off of him and throwing out his hand, sending his opponent slamming into a tree.

The young man slung his lightsaber aside and threw both his hands forward.

The grass and leaves around his feet burst away from his body as he screamed, tears streaking down his face as he pounded the Sith with the Force, harder and harder against the tree.

The world bucked and shook again until Aysa stood on a frozen planet. Snow whipped around her, its tiny crystals stinging her face.

The pounding steps of a stinking, skeletal rancor dash past her. The great lumbering behemoth crashes to the snow face-first, catapulting a young man through the air. He lands hard on his side and clutches his ribs, grunting.

It’s the same young man from the forest, staggering to his feet. He is soon surrounded by a half-ring of Jedi holding their blue and green sabers poised for battle.

He slowly let his hand fall away from his injured side and wiped his matted brown hair away from his face, unhitching twin hilts and igniting twin crimson sabers.

Shadows consumed the world again.

When they dissipated, the man was older and, this time, bore the scar down the center of his face that she had seen before. He was standing inside a dark, damp cavern side-by-side with Aysa until he began approaching a large stone altar. It bore nothing on its surface, yet he drew up swiftly before coming too close.

Aysa would recognize a younger-looking Ver’metus standing behind him. He stops as well but soon attempts to walk forward again. But he is stopped by the man in front of him throwing out an arm.***

“I sense nothing within it that I understand,” Ver’metus said.

“Neither do I,” the man gravely said.

He took a step closer to the altar and took a knee. Never taking his eyes off its stone surface, he slowly tugged off his black leather glove and gingerly laid his fingers on its surface.

His body spasmed once. He shut his eyes tightly.***

“GrrAARRggghh!”

***He winced and hung his head, shaking one more time before wrenching his hand away, falling on his palms and breathing heavily.

Ver’metus ran to his side.***

“What was it? What did you see?”

***The man lifted his head and opened his eyes, the scar down the center of face turning a pitch black with tendril=like veins spreading across his face.***

“It is….our way….through the wilderness.”

***The world bucked and shook again. Aya was standing on the bridge of a small transport. Beside her, the same scarred man stood, wearing only a silver silk robe. He studied a data pad intently, his eyes darting over whatever information was on it. He swiped down again and again, seemingly consumed.

That is, until a woman spoke.***

“Ferinus?”

***The younger man’s eyes swiveled to meet Aysa’s for just a moment before he turned back to an open bedroom on the other side of the bridge. An amethyst-eyed woman was awake and smiling over at him, beckoning him back.

His smile was almost predatory as he turned to walk back to her and the world bucked again.

This time, Aysa sat atop a massive limb of a gigantic tree on a dark night. Torrential rains hammered the world all around her.

Ahead of her, the form of Ferinus that she saw in the Void sat next to a woman with long brown hair and piercing eyes that only stared ahead into the void of the forest. Her wet hair was sticking to the sides of her face as the two sat side-by-side.***

“Whatever the future holds, I know you will withstand it. That is the warrior and woman you are, the one you’ve always been.”

***She didn’t even look at him, continuing to gaze into the darkness of the woods.***

“How would you know? You weren’t even here. You don’t even know half of what has happened. You were just gone. And the rest of us were just supposed to take it.”

***He pressed his lips together, saying nothing at first. Finally, he turned to her.***

“Am I really so different now? When you look at me, do you not see a man who had shed blood for you? Do you not hear the words of the man who chose to give up his seat at Feral’s table to ensure your place here?”

***She hung her head and shook it slowly.***

“Well….you’re sure as hell a lot more cryptic now.”

“You know why I did it.”

“Yes, I do, but that doesn’t mean I have to forgive you for it. You didn’t have to do it. You didn’t have to leave. We needed you. I needed….”

***She bit her lip and shut her eyes.***

“You could still have made a life for yourself. Instead, you chose to die….leave me….and for what? For his sake? For hers? Or for your own sick power trip?”

“If you believe for one single second that I CHOSE that hell-“

“What am I supposed to think?! You haven’t talked to ANY of us about it! One day you were here and the next….”

***She leaned her head back until it came to rest against the tree’s trunk.***

“So you’ll just have to forgive me for not jumping at the chance to hear your sudden counsel.”

***Ferinus turned back, eyes forward, just looking at the trees all around them. He crossed his arms in his lap, leaning forward, thinking.***

“If you truly wish to know what happened there….I will tell you. Over a stiff drink. But you and I both know that’s now why I’m here right now. My past is the least of your concerns at the moment.”

***He turned to her.***

“You chose this path. You chose him. You chose the burden that you now carry. And you chose it because you wanted it. You love them all….though it may be hard to remember that during every waking moment.”

***She didn’t say anything in return, so he continued as the rain continued to pour.***

“It is only weakness if you allow it to be. That choice, that freedom, has always rested with you. You don’t need my counsel to know that to be true.”

***His black eyes swiveled to the left for a moment.***

“Perhaps….you merely needed to hear it from me. Or….perhaps….you only need to listen to your true nature. The one that still resides within you.”

***Hesitantly, at first, he laid a hand on her shoulder. For the first instance all night, she looked him in the eye.***

“And for every moment of weakness….you need only call and there I will be.”

***As another man appeared at the base of the tree, Ferinus’ body broke away into a mass of black wisps of shadow.

And the world bucked and shook again.

Aya stood inside the cavernous halls of an old academy. Ferinus walked out of a large doorway on the side, a serene smile on his face. He had only a small detonator in his hand. As he walked down the hall, he flicked it open and pressed the red button down.

Gigantic explosions of flames rang out behind him. The rolling yellow and orange fires raced forward until they consumed the hallway around them both.

The world bucked and changed again.

Aya stood inside Ferinus’ chambers again. This time, he was older, in his 40s, though he didn’t look it. He sat in a large maroon leather chair in front of large windows offering a view of a massive ocean at sunset. White cliifsides bookended the view. He was sharpening a short blade while gazing out at the sun.

Shhhnnnnk. Shnnnnnnnk.

The door behind Aysa opened and another woman stepped inside, one with long black hair and piercing green eyes, which were the nuclei of her jet-black facial tattoos.

The sharpening stopped for a moment. Ferinus chuckled and spoke.***

“Think on The Devil and she shall appear.”

***She silently closed the door behind her.***

“It flatters me to know that I’ve wormed my way into your head, Ferinus. I thought no one was allowed in there.”

***He chuckled again and continued his sharpening.***

“Regarding our last conversation, my dear Inara, I would tell you that madness is….tricky.”

Shnnnnnnk. Shnnnnnnk.

“There are times when we….lose ourselves.”

Shnnnnnnnk.

“Our pre-conceived notions of who we are become….consumed….by something else.”

Shnk.

“Sometimes, they’re wiped from us out of necessity. In other instances, they can be caused by a certain….impetus.”

***The woman began walking toward his chair. He continued speaking….and sharpening.***

“You asked me my thoughts on such things….but everyone has their….”

***He held the shining blade up in front of him.***

“….tipping point.”

Shnnnnnnk. Shnnnnnk.

“But once we learn to embrace this new side of us, we sharpen our minds and our abilities….into the perfect weapons.”

***In one fluid motion, the woman had a knife to his throat. She drew its edge slowly, deliberately across his neck, only barely breaking the skin until a red line was drawn from side to side.

The woman came around stood beside his chair, bringing the dripping blade to her mouth. She licked the blood off of it, her eyes boring into his.***

“As sharp as this, you mean?”

***In one move, Ferinus jumped, sending his chair flying back and grabbing her throat, slamming her into the window. Cracks splintered the glass around her yet he held her in place.

She did not resist.

He brought his face within centimeters of hers and whispered.***

“I hope, for your sake, that doesn’t scar. I have enough of those to go around.”

***Like a cat, she wrapped her lags around him and pinned him to her, grabbing the back of his head and bringing their lips crashing together. After a long moment, she parted, breathing heavily.****

“You don’t have nearly enough.”

***The world bucked and shook again. Aysa found herself standing upon a barren wasteland. The ground was dry and cracked. There was nothing to be seen for miles around.

Save for the two men dueling in front of her.

She saw Ferinus bringing his crimson saber crashing down on an orange one wielded by a younger man, one with tanned skin, brown hair and amethyst eyes.

They locked sabers and the young man screamed.***

“You killed her! You killed her without a second thought!”

***Ferinus growled as their sabers crackled with energy.***

“She was a mistake needing correction…..same as you.”

***The Sith Lord bellowed out a brutal roar as purple flames erupted from his onyx eyes. They spurted from his flaring nostrils and blew from his mouth as he pushed the younger man’s blade away and spun, bringing their sabers crashing together again and again.

In desperation, the younger man threw out his free hand, propelling himself into the air and say from Ferinus with a Force Push, soaring in an arc over the Sith Lord’s head and landing a few feet behind him.

Ferinus wheeled around and charged.

The young man turned and, in the blink of an eye, hurled a bolt of Force Lightning at the Sith, who brought his blade up to absorb it. Keeping the lighting pouring on the Sith, the young man leapt into the air again and brought his saber down with enough force to lock it with Ferinus’ again, pounding him onto one knee.

But Ferinus held the blades locked just above his face with one hand. The young man continued to scream at him.***

“You will PAY! For everything! For-“

***The young man was silenced by the knife shooting out of Ferinus’ sleeve and into his jugular.***

“Ulk….guck….”

***His amethyst eyes bulged as they looked down in fear and surprise at the Sith Lord.

He blinked only once before his entire body began to glow, whiter and whiter until it was blinding to behold.***

“Arrrrggghh!”

***Ferinus bellowed but it wasn’t enough to stop a Force Blast that splintered the very Earth, sending all the world into a blinding flash of white light.

When Aysa’s vision would finally clear, she would be lying on her back next to the singed, broken and smoking body of Ferinus.

He lay still as stone, silent as a tomb.

There was nothing but silence surrounding Aysa, threatening to crush the very life out of her body, threatening to deaden within her ears and make her very skull burst.***

“Ahhhh!”

***In a spasm that rocked his entire body, Ferinus started awake with a rattled breath.

His emaciated face slowly turned toward her.***

“Whether you understand or not….it is only the beginning.”

***His burned arm slowly worked its way to the other, activating a blue, blinking distress beacon as the world began to fade away into oily wisps of shadow all around them.***

“What you see….is it your own? Are you truly in control?” His voice echoed. “Or are you at the mercy of the machinations of another?"

***Ferinus chuckled to himself while lying on the scarred Earth beside her.***

“Then what I suspect....may be true. Perhaps you see.....along the same lines as I....after all.”

***In his current manifested form, his chuckles were wiry rasps piercing the air.***

“You know....it’s been a long time since I’ve sparred with anyone like this.....that didn’t involve cleaning weapons afterwards.”

***He slowly sat up to a sitting position, his broken body crackling sickeningly in the process.***

“It seems we have both sought something in common....Freedom. To know Freedom, one must conquer adversity. To conquer it, one must understand it.”

***Ferinus crackled open his blackened palm and a brilliant purple flame sputtered to life, hovering above his knuckles.***

“Those who look at fire and see only a means of destruction....see with only one eye. They’ve blinded themselves to its capacity....to create.”

***The Sith smashed his flaming hand into the barren ground, and the world shook again. This time it bucked and nearly exploded with light. The ground shone and went from cracked ground to lush, green grasses. The stale, yellow sky washed away to reveal an endless blue. Before Aysa could protest, her manifestation would have returned to normal, though she would have to catch her balance.

They both stood on a long, thick tree trunk on its side, stretching between two sandy cliffsides. To her right, a giant, cascading waterfall was splashing her ever so slightly. Below them was a 30-foot drop into the clearest pool of water.

Ferinus stood across from her, holding two shining metal blades. His own manifestation had reverted to the way he looked nowadays, but with a change off attire. The scar down the center of his face was still prominent, but his hair was back to a dark brown, with touches of silver on the sides.

He shirked his black cloak and rolled his shoulders beneath a black tank top, bearing both blades out in his hands. He looked around and smirked to himself.***

“This....is one of my favorite worlds. People often believe the Sith abhor beauty in all forms but this....this is just lovely. For a reset, anyways.”

***He deftly, slowly spun on the log they were both standing on.***

“Worlds like these hide their dangers. They lure you in with their beauty and tranquillity.....preferring to kill you only once you venture too far into their shadows.”

***He turned to Aysa and cocked a half-smirk.***

“I trust you know that particular stratagem.”

***He chucked one of the blades at her, it spun end-over-end through the air, embedding itself in the wood right in front of her.***

“I used to train others here, teaching them that nothing is ever as it appears. They learn.....or they don’t.”

***Brandishing his own blade, he fluidly twirled it in the air, giving Aysa a customary Makashi salute.***

“After all, this is merely my current creation. Perhaps your own will can find a place here. In fact....I’m counting on it.”

***He began walking toward her with his blade, it bothering to stop and trusting her to figure out the rest.***

“So tell me....what is the freedom you wish to attain?”