Draw Back the Curtain [Day 7, Early Evening]

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

While last time Jun-Tsu had sought the novelty of Lord Bellious' own manse for their meeting, it seemed more appropriate for the witch to meet her former schoolmate at her own home. She waited somberly in the great colonnade. The mandapa of the old temple that had once stood, now retrofitted by Lord Orethion or his predecessors into the meditation chamber that it was today.

The vaulted ceilings were blanketed in black, with heavy columns to either side illuminated only by the faint glow of a white orb at the center of a circle of prayer rugs. Jun-Tsu knelt on one such rug and seemed to chant some ancient prayer, or at least, in a language that sounded very similar to that of the old jen'jedaii.

Once the Lord arrived, Jun-Tsu had already offered instructions to the servants that she was to be brought to her here.

[Lord Bellious]

Lord Bellious came as bidden, contemplating the weight of the grim decor in silence on her way. Finally facing the hostess, she offered the customary greeting, then leaned against one of the columns, looking to the obscuring darkness of the ceiling. "What will it entail, lady Farro?"

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

Jun-Tsu ceased her prayer and smiled, gesturing to the prayer mat just across from her, "Ve zhall zee. Zhere are vayz to recower memoriez vithout inwaiding your mind und remowing zhe blockz. Zhe Dark Zide zeez all. All ve muzt do iz plumb itz depzh to gain itz perzpective."

A small orb rested in Jun-Tsu's lap, nestled between her hands. Even with the illumination, its surface reflected no light. It was like a sphere of darkness, unlit space. "Join me, and I vill take you to mein mazter, who may zhow uz vhat tranzpired zhat day."

[Lord Bellious]

Moyr crossed the distance and knelt before Jun-Tsu with attentive resolve in her eyes, hands on knees. "What shall I expect?"

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"It iz difficult to zay. It vill depend on zhe mood of mein mazter," Though hidden by her headdress, Jun-Tsu closed her eyes and reached out through the Force to join herself with Moyr. Though the young twi'lek lord could resist if she so chose, the sensation was, spiritually, akin to reaching out to take one's hand.

Gently, Jun-Tsu drew out the senses of her guest, pulling them down. Like slipping into ones body, yet somehow out of it, into an inky blackness that seemed to swallow the light. Through the void they seemed to move until Moyr found herself on firmament. No true ground rested beneath her feet. Indeed, the images themselves seemed to be only in her mind, like a vision, but solid and almost real. All the same nothing existed around her or beneath her.

Then, as she was given the chance to adjust to her surroundings, faint pin pricks of light appeared, like stars in space. They were so faint and so distant, but there were hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, a number without number.

"Mein mazter, ve hawe come to beg your vizdom, und vor you to zhow uz zhe pazt zhat vaz," Jun-Tsu's voice seemed to echo throughout the void, racing out and in like a wave, though she, herself, was nowhere to be seen.

[Dapper Dog]

The void is filled with her presence and she responded, “The past is many things, Jun-Tsu, what is it that you seek?”

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"Lord Bellious, here, v'once came upon a temple on Nal Hutta, but zome forze haz remowed or reprezzed zhe memoriez of zhat encounter. Ve zeek to know vhat zhe Dark Zide zaw zhat day on Nal Hutta, to know vhat she zaw. Learn vhat she learned."

[Lord Bellious]

Moyr had taken the spiritual hand and had followed the lead into the dark expanse willingly, letting herself be excited by the astral journey. Was the sphere a holocron that had enabled it? That it was a meeting with a Darth of old both surprised her and didn't. Still in reverie and mesmerised by the surroundings, she only confirmed the rough accuracy of Jun-Tsu's account before she would speak.

"A sunken pyramid on a planet once known as Evocar, guarded by a creature that exacted a blood price."

[Dapper Dog]

Traya responded, “I am not simply a repository to regurgitate data at a whim, I am a Dark Lord of the Sith, the strongest of the Triumvirate.”

[Jun-Tsu Farro]

"Of course, mein mazter, zhiz iz not juzt zome exercise in vriwolity, I azzure you. You are avare of zhe great feat I am attempting, und zhiz v'one bevore you, beliewez zhat vhatewer lay in zhat temple, may relate to zhe dark Emperor. Zhiz iz a plaze in zhe Forze zhat ve are barred vrom entering, but you," her voice was nothing if not admiring, "You go vherewer zhe Dark Zide goez, nozhing iz barred vrom your zight. Ve zeek your counzil on zhiz myztery of zhe Dark Zide. Vhy iz it verboten?"

[Dapper Dog]

“We shall see if she has the strength to withstand what is to come,” Darth Traya replied.

OOC: Going to need a Discipline or Cool check versus 2 red and 2 purple and setback for mental block, gain a boost die due to the affect of Watcher from Nar Shaddaa.

[Lord Bellious]

Moyr apparently didn't have what it took.

LE7. Cool. I have already won?: 3eA+1eB+2eD+2eC+1eS 1 failure

[Dapper Dog]

“Your metal strength is lacking, what are you prepared to sacrifice to make this journey?” the Darth responded.

[Lord Bellious]

"What would be sufficient?" Moyr clenched her sharp teeth.

[Dapper Dog]

"What would be sufficient?" Moyr clenched her sharp teeth.

“A sacrifice must have meaning or it must diminish, otherwise it is merely a gift or token. What are you willing to lose to gain what you feel has been lost,” she responded.

[Lord Bellious]

"I... will forsake my ability to give life, to bear children." There were many thoughts roiling in her mind due to this decision, but they wouldn't be shared here. Some futures she might wish would be closed though if this sacrifice was accepted.

[Dapper Dog]

"Are you certain?" Darth Traya responded.

[Lord Bellious]

"I am. My legacy, if any, will be of different kind. This is what it is about, is it not? Choosing a path forecloses another."

[Dapper Dog]

“Then it shall be so, Lord Bellious,” she could feel the pain deep in her flesh as something was lost physically and spiritually but the pain focused her senses and she could see past the fog. She could see the words or visions she had experienced.

The Emperor, Vitiate was mortal once but calculating, the least of his siblings but through wit and ruthlessness eclipsed his siblings and even his father and then turned a world to his will and through them sacrificed their lives to be given great power but it was not enough for him over time. The Emperor sought more, through Revan and the Exile and then through his own studies and found a path.

By this point he was more entity then physical being and could shard his essence and she could see another Empire controlled by a being that styled itself an Emperor but seemed more paternal and benevolent yet still authoritative and dominated by his presence. The trappings were not Sith and yet they were familiar.

She could see the vastness of space and time converge as these shards combined once more into one being an empty dead worlds but there was a fracture point a fulcrum, a moment where he existed and did not exist, where multiple futures converged and a near infinite of outcomes, there were paths forward somewhere she survived and many more where she did not or was simply a force bound slave to the will of Vitiate and then devoured for his true ascension turned to ash.

She could see the chain that bound her to the Emperor, she had drunk so deeply of his essence that it may be too late for her… but there was still a chance to avert the outcome of annihilation.

Unless annihilation was what she sought.

[Lord Bellious]

She didn't seek annihilation, but violent transformation. For a very long moment, she allowed herself to be absolutely terrified, finally realising the enormity of the events to unfold so soon. She had walked into the trap and she had sprung it on herself. And contrary to her prior hubris, she hadn't realised until now what it truly was. And now it might be too late. Or it might not.

Her great dread could change into something stronger given time. But was there enough time? The fulcrum was so near.

The physical pain was nothing. But the existential one squeezed streaks of tears from her eyes, a dryland creature genetically predisposed toward not wasting humidity. In her effort to break chains, she tied up a garrote on her neck.