Walking in the shadows (open)
Posts: 84
  • Posted On: May 27 2004 4:00am
Lahout continued to remain silent as the lizard spoke. Apparantly this being knew more of the carvings than Lahout, which was likely considering Lahout had never seen this place before. However, he did know about carving. His eyes shifted to glance at the closest wall. What the lizard said was true, creatures bearing his likeness were indeed inscribed in deep relief on the wall.

"I ... did not make them." replied Lahout, the seventh etching his voice with age.

While he watched the lizard with his eyes, he continued to probe him with the seventh. The duality, the possession piqued his interest. In all his years, which were a great many by this galaxies standards, he had never yet encountered someone with to spritits in one body.

Gingerly he explored the being, always keeping his touch light.
Posts: 35
  • Posted On: May 27 2004 11:47pm
Trazu nodded, figuring this individual was only here to insure the place wasn’t vandalized or abused then. “So you and your predecessors had no hand in creating this place…yet the ones that did, did not share with you the reasons for creating it?” He asked, a slight tone of annoyance in his voice.

He felt the K’Satizitus shift again uncomfortably. This time however it he hadn’t said anything about it’s past. It took a moment, but he realized something was bothering and annoying it…

The creatures ceaseless probing, though light, was getting to the point were the spirit couldn’t ignore it. This individual was familiar with the force it realized…and was using it to great effect. It felt tiny bits of information about it being revealed to this man without it’s consent and it feared certain secrets it didn’t want anyone to know, especially it’s host, would be revealed if it didn’t do something to stop it.

Like a cornered animal it suddenly lashed out mentally at this man, a specter of it’s physical form in life briefly appearing over Trazu. The specter was ten feet tall and resembled a massive Trandoshan, it’s head adorned with many spines. ~It is net pelito te peko poeplo!~ It screamed at him.

Trazu physically lurched and fell to his knees when the K’Satizitus reacted violently to whatever it was that was disturbing it, causing him to nearly drop his lightsaber. It’s mental scream was deafening, forcing Trazu to cover his ear holes with his hands by reflex, nearly burning himself with the lightsaber in the process.

When he recovered from the sudden reaction, Trazu went over the event in his mind. The scream wasn’t directed at him and he certainly wasn’t ‘poking’ it. The only thing he could think of was that this man before him was somehow ‘bothering’ it. But while he had recovered mentally for the most part, physically it drained him. Anything major the K’Satizitus did drained him: after going through a bloodrage he literally had to sleep for several hours immediately after the spirit’s powers left his body.

“Whatever it was you were doing to it…” He said, panting faintly. “I don’t suggest doing it anymore…things will likely get bloody if you persist…”
Posts: 84
  • Posted On: May 28 2004 9:59pm
Lahout was about to reply to the lizard's question when his probing was suddenly terminated by a swell of the seventh inside the being. He quickly withdrew from the examination, and hardened himself to an attack.

A spectral figure appeared above the lizard. Similar in is general appearance to the physical being, it differed in size and apparent fierceness.

It is net pelito te peko poeplo! screamed the specter, before vanishing and leaving the lizard on the ground.

Lahout blinked at the appearance. His left hand twitched slightly, as if preparing to move to defend, but other than those two moments of weakness he managed to keep his body under control. Marcus always did say I needed more bodily control, he thought wryly to himself. Even the best charade could be destroyed by an involuntary twitch of an eye muscle.

The lizard seemed to be breathing hard, and was still on the ground after the specter vanished. "Whatever it was you were doing to it…I don’t suggest doing it anymore…things will likely get bloody if you persist…" he gasped out.

"I ... see." replied Lahout, the seventh aging his voice again. "You have ... no ... control over what ... possesses you." he continued, saying it as a statement rather than a question.

Even though the apparition was gone, Lahout continued to hold his hardening up. The suddenness at which it had appeared told him that erring on the side of caution would be best.
Posts: 35
  • Posted On: May 29 2004 3:47am
Trazu was about to retort that statement, but sighed instead: it wasn't really control he had over it...it was an agreement. "I used to..." He said, honestly. "Until..." A rush of emotions shot up when he remembered her death...how he failed to protect her. Crushing his eyes closed, he forced those thoughts, those emotions out of his mind. He couldn't afford to show his weakness, not to a stranger...not to anyone.

"Nevermind." He said, pulling himself up to his feet. "I would like to see more of this place...if you don't mind."

He could feel the K'Satizitus seething in the back of his mind, aggitiated and grumpy. As long as it didn't try to take over his body right now, Trazu didn't care how it felt...
Posts: 84
  • Posted On: Jun 9 2004 12:39am
"You may," said Lahout, once again tinting his voice with the seventh. Suddenly realizing that he knew nothing about this place beyond the immediate room, and the passageways he had come down, he sent out a probe in a circular fashion. Like a wave of water, it went out, reflecting back to Lahout when an obstruction was encountered.

He frowned slightly; there was a great deal of interference here, as if someone was blocking his attempts. Once again he tried, this time he reversed his efforts, focusing on the solid rock about him.

Still, he received interference, yet he was able to make out three entrances to the room he was standing in. One he had come from, one the lizard had come from, and one ... directly next to where the lizard was standing.

Lahout stepped over to the lizard in a slow, deliberate manner. Putting his hand out, he touched the wall. A cold chill that was not just from the temperature of the rock seemed to seep into his hand. He pushed slightly. When nothing happened, he decided to cut to the chase. If the being who was living inside the lizard was curious as to Lahout's capabilities, or was thinking of doing anything beyond manifesting, he wanted there to be no doubt that he was indeed capable of protecting himself. An offensive defense was better than playing dead, he thought.

Focusing on the rock, Lahout once again probed it, looking for the entrance. It was right where he had expected, in an area that was quite free of glyphs and relief carvings when compared to the surrounding area. Putting his hand out to the rock, he focused his mind. The chill already in the surrounding rock was his focal point. He drew it, called it to himself. The rock began to cool rapidly, and Lahout continued to pull the chill toward his hand. Then, he began to focus it, and change it. A single bead of sweat broke out on his forehead, and ran down his nose. Manipulation of the physical on a low level like this had never been his strong point. Yet he continued...

...and was rewarded by the sound of rock shattering like so much broken glass. Lahout smiled to himself. Cold was the tool of the subtle.

Stepping over the freezing scraps of what had once been a door over foot thick, Lahout descended deeper into this place, vanishing in the pitch black. He wiped the bead of sweat from his forehead with a hand that shook, the manipulation had drained him more than he had expected.
Posts: 35
  • Posted On: Jun 9 2004 9:35pm
Trazu frowned. Surely if this creature was the Keeper of this place he wouldn't willingly do an act of destruction upon that he was protecting. Maybe he forgot how to open the door... Trazu thought, tihnking that perhaps some knowledge of his place was lost even to the Keeper.

It did not escape his notice that the creature used the Force, or at least...something very similar to the Force. He made a mental note of that should these turn ugly between them. Stepping over what was left of the door, he followed the creature into the newly revealed passage.

The passage was long and descended deeper into the earth. Trazu noted there weren't so many curvings on the walls of this passage, what curvings there were being of rather simple design. Nothing very interesting so far. He thought.

~Farthor dewn thoro is.~ He heard the K'Satizitus purr in his mind, in an almost teasing manner.

And just how long have you known about it? Trazu asked mentally. A faint chuckle from the spirit was all he heard and Trazu scowled. Damn the spirit and it's secrets!

Just then he jammed a toe claw on something. With a loud curse he jumped back, hopping on one foot while rubbing his foot with his free hand. The K'Satizitus snickering at him in his mind, Trazu looked at the ground to see what he had bumped his foot against.

It looked like half a sphere, roughly a foot in diameter and made of some sort of transparent stone. The curved side was down and the non-curved side was very rough, like it had fallen from the ceiling. Looking up, holding his lightsabre high, he saw the circular recess the object must have fallen from. In the faint light, he noticed there were more of them on the ceiling, all doing down the passage. When he looked back down at the fallen one, he noticed it was now glowing faintly.

"Hmm..." Trazu stood there thoughtful for a moment, then moved his lightsabre close to the object. It's glowing intensified, the light now emitating from it a faint red hue. "Reacts to light..." He muttered. "Pity I don't have a real light souce." It was better then nothing he figured as he stretched up to try to activate one of the ones on the ceiling. Being a couple inches shy of five feet, this was a bit of a chore for him, even though his sabre's light blade was a good two and a half feet long.

What happened next was a chain reaction. The one he was trying to activate did activate, but it's activation caused the one that was next to it to activate, then the one next to that one and so on. Soon the whole passage was lit, the light a redish white hue.

"I seem to have found the light switch." Trazu said with a chuckle. The K'Satizitus groaned.
Posts: 84
  • Posted On: Jun 18 2004 3:35am
Lahout blinked quickly as light flooded the passageway he was walking down. Overhead, light after light came on, flooding the hallway with a soft glow of light. Lahout's eyes, having just become attuned to the darkness, reacted by violently contracting, causing Lahout's vision to fade out momentarily. He continued blinking as he walked, his eyes watering furiously. With his vision thus in shambles, he tapped out with the seventh, seeking ahead gently. Nothing would be more embarrassing or dangerous than tripping over a small stone, with a dark one following him.

The seventh revealed to him that there were no doors in this passageway, but the same style of relief carvings existed on the walls. His vision returning somewhat, Lahout took a moment to glance to the side at the carvings. They had now turned to a more violent nature, if that could be possible. Grotesque decapitations, executions, and more were displayed where Lahout was looking. Blinking still, he continued walking down the passageway. He probed ahead with the seventh, searching for anything that he could use to maintain the appearance of being the guardian of this strange, imbued place.
Posts: 35
  • Posted On: Jun 18 2004 8:27pm
Such a morbid fasination with death... Trazu thought, glancing at the curvings as he continued to follow the creature deeper into the tunnels. There was even another depication of the K'Satizitus, this one with it like a shadow over another figure, who was hacking away at hapless victims. Trazu had to supress a shudder: even now, knowing what he was capable of during a Bloodrage session, this sort of thing filled him with dread.

The tunnel suddenly emptyed into a large circular chamber. Unfortunately the light didn't seem to activate any light sources in the chamber, for it remained rather dark. What he could see was that on the outer edges of the wall there were no curvings and there were three identical passages out of the chamber: one directly across from the one they came in from and one on either side. In the center of the chamber there were four spires arranged in a circle, their tops curved inward toward each other, the tips almost touching. At their base was a bowl shaped depression, with a large, five foot tall black sphere set in it.

"Not much to this room is it?" Trazu muttered to himself.

~Enly te theso thut ear blind.~ The K'Satizitus said. ~Den't yea fool it?~

Now that the spirit brought his attention to it, yes he did feel it. There was a strong Force presenc and it seemed to come from the center of the room. Forgetting about the other creature, he moved toward the sphere and held his lightsabre close to it. There were markings all over it, but the limited light his sabre provided hendered his attempts to decypher their meaning. Switching his lightsabre from his right to his left hand, he reached out to touch it....

The place reaked of memories of death and destruction: something the spirit normally enjoyed, but for some reason it bothered it. The astral scent of death was different here, like it originated from elsewhere. Yes that was it...the ones that built this place and latered died came from another galaxy. But why would the Force lure it's host to a place of a forgotten people? Reaching out with the Force, it attempted to figure it out and it discovered two things of importance here.

The first was that the long forgotten spirits of the builders of the place seemed to be trying to warn them of something. This came strongly from the markings on the sphere it's host was trying to work out. But what were they trying to warn them about? There were brief flashes of images in the spirits consciousness. Images of a large arachnid-like creature with a very powerful Force-like aura around it. It was something the K'Satizitus had never seen before in it's entire existance...

The second thing: the sphere itself was a powerful artifact, a Force artifact. That in on itself wasn't unique, but then the object's purpose suddenly became known with a single Force message that came from it: ~Secrets kept...are secrets revealed~

The K'Satizitus instantly brought up it's defenses, knowing what it meant. ~Den't teach it!~ It shouted.

It was too late, Trazu had touched the sphere the moment the warning registered in the Trandoshans mind. Trazu suddenly found himself thrown back and his mind pludged into the past....

Posts: 84
  • Posted On: Jun 20 2004 10:32pm
Lahout whirled, his defenses coming up, a counter-attack prepared. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the lizard fly backwards, hit the floor, and slide a bit before stopping. Abandoning his caution, Lahout pinged the room, and the area about with a violently strong seeking. He came up blank, the seventh gave no hint as to whether there was another being present. On the other hand, he now fully felt that the orb he had glanced at upon entering was indeed, as he had suspected, imbued.

Despite his curiosity toward the stone, and the previous incident with the lizard, Lahout moved over to the being and knelt beside him. Gently he probed, with his defenses still up in case the being inhabiting this body reacted to his exploration. After a few test probes, Lahout decided that both host and spirit were completely out. There didn't appear to be any physical damage, but he was not familiar with this species.

Deciding that it would be best to leave the lizard alone, to come out of his shock in his own due time, Lahout stood and gave the room another check over, this time with both eyes, ears, and the seventh.

Once again, the sphere in the center attracted his attention. Moving closer, Lahout could make out symbols and words. He frowned slightly. There was a great feeling of power from this inanimate object, and it was most perplexing. How could a dead thing be imbued with the seventh?

There was a scripting on the ball. Lahout looked closer, refraining from touching the thing. It was similar to the Basic alphabet used by this Galaxy. He could make out a few words. Cautiously, Lahout moved his hand toward the ball. His hand touched the surface, and for a moment he felt nothing but the cold of stone. Then, it was as if something had attacked him. His head twisted as if struck, and his hand burned like fire. Gritting his teeth, Lahout drew deeply upon the seventh, and struck back. The attack subsided suddenly, and Lahout withdrew his hand from the ball. There was no skin damage, but the burning feeling was still there.

"Let's try this again," he whispered slightly.
Posts: 35
  • Posted On: Jun 20 2004 11:19pm
In it's place on the astral plane the K'Satizitus paced, snaring angrily and impatiently. It had realized too late what that thing was and couldn't prevent it's host from the assult that came and now there was a great risk Trazu will discover a certain secret the spirit had kept carefully hidden. A secret when discovered, may just turn it's host against the path it had oh so carefully guided him down all these years.

It knew that creature...that pretender was poking again, only this time it was helpless to prevent it. With Trazu unconscious, his mind going on a trip down memory lane, it had no access to the material plane...

...

All of a sudden he found himself back on Trandosha. Back on grounds of the K'Satikur Clan. Things were not peaceful either. There was a battle going on, a battle between his clan and another. A battle he was fighting along side his fellow Clan members.

No... Trazu knew what was going on, knew what terrible day it was that was showing so vividly in his mind. I don't want to relive this day! He tried to fight off the memories, but they came like a strong and steady river, undetered and unstopable. His present mind was stuck in his past body, going through the same motions as he had done over two years ago. He could not affect what he was reliving, but he noticed he could now see and feel what he didn't before.

He noticed the one foe that managed to slip through the Clan's defenses and head for the nursery, cutting down a Ekitra as he went.

TZosha! He cried mentally, futily trying to get his past self to realise the threat to his mate's life. But his past self was blind to the threat, too engrossed in the battle to notice.

A question arose in his mind then. Before he had sensed when his love was in trouble, like the time those thugs tried to rob her shop back on Talus: why didn't he sense the danger here?

With his greater understanding of the Force he quickly discovered the reason. Someone was blocking his senses, preventing him from knowing TZosha's life was threatened. That someone...he knew now...could only have been the K'Satiztus.

His mind was now in a state of numb shock, obviously now to the rest of the recollection of that day. Her death could have been prevented...his fall from grace didn't have to be...

He barely noticed the scene change, barely registered the events of an even more distant past, one not his own. Images of whole groups of humanoids, being cowed by large arachnid-like creatures, whom were their slave masters, flash through his mind but he hardly registered them. Nor did he fully acknowledge the battles between these arachnid beings and other races he didn't recognize, the other races losing and the Force like aura around the arachnid looking creatures.

Then there was a ship, fleeing the war torn galaxy. A new home built underground on a new planet, in a galaxy far from their own. The home looked familiar, like the tunnels Trazu was exploring, only in much better shape. Then there was darkness. And a warning.

None of it Trazu was paying attention too, he was too griped by grief, the scene of find her dead body repeating over and over again,...and a ever growing rage. Rage over the fact that the means of preventing her death was deliberately prevented...

"TZosha!" he cried, pulling himself out of his unconscious state. Rolling over, he gripped the gold bracelet on his left wrist, tears of grief streaming down his face. At the moment he was obvious to his surroundings, his mind too focused on what should've happened if someone hadn't interfered...

The K'Satizitus, knowing it's secret was discovered, braced itself for the fight that was to come...