IC - Voidwalker & Arach
Korriban Tunnels
Ragged deep breaths and exhaustion were the trade off bestowed upon Voidwalker, the cost of the barrier his will erected from the sand and stone of the tunnel ground.
The cold sweat that covered his body under his clothing and armor, was little more than a physical representation of his exhaustion, and the heat within the tunnel. Even over the clustered clamor, the sound of screeching metal rang out as if a symphony of war drums gave way to the celebration of victory.
Arach had just barely got a mental hold on the door when it suddenly opened. Surprise and relief flooded through her. She knew who had been the one who actually got it open. The assassin barely had time to mutter a
"Nice going" before Apollyon was giving out orders.
“Ahead of me! Through the door, to the end! Younglings, apprentices! Masters behind and in front! Fly! Fly! Stay together!” Quickly the remaining members of the New Sith Order started making their way through the newly opened path to them. For a brief moment they had a glimmer of hope just beyond the doors.
Then it came.
The bellowing boom of impact. A muffled boom struck once, then twice, then came the sound of falling rock and stone. Followed by the disheartening sight of the barrier starting to crack. The reality of the attackers onslaught had become a living nightmare.
“Go! Go!” Apollyon screamed before she began rushing to Voidwalker's impressive barrier. The same barrier that was being dismantled.
Shock and a feeling that Voidwalker hadn't felt in years suddenly overcame him as he stood before the cracking barrier. Fear. Fear was what now overtook him. He managed to take a straining step back from the wall he had created, yet it felt as if his legs were made of durasteel. He couldn't move another inch, even straining and willing his body to react, there was nothing. His fear had paralyzed him, and his widened eyes were fixated on the growing crack in the barrier.
How? How was this possible? We didn't have even a minute. What sort of dark power is this?
“Hesper! S-save us!”
Apollyon's voice cried out, her desperate plea for a savior ringing out like a siren's song, an alluring and seductive tone to reel in their unsuspected prey was now a shriek of terror and doom. It had been enough to rocket through Voidwalker's eardrums faster than a ship hitting light speed.
When did Apollyon get here? Last I knew she was upfront with the others. But she's here trying to hold the barrier, and I was helpless to do anything. Damnit! No. I refuse to be enslaved by anyone or anything! My chains are broken!
At the sound of Apollyon's cries, Hesper was then on the move, giving her own orders and rushing back to Apollyon's aid. Arach quickly followed, raising her own mental shield as Apollyon had fallen to one knee. When the assassin came to a stop, she raised her hands in an attempt to reinforce the barrier, as Hesper attempted to bring the ceiling down.
She snuck a glance in Voidwalker’s direction.
“I had a feeling you wanted all the fun to yourself.” The smile Arach gave him, though thin- lipped, was teasing. She returned her golden gaze back to her task.
“I love the barrier, though.”
Arach's words and smile were somehow comforting to Voidwalker even in the midst of the impending chaos that was breaking through his barrier.
"You know what they say, if you love something, let it go. That's what we have to do, you have to drop your hold on the barrier and we have to go."
Arach’s golden gaze flashed to Voidwalker. Her brow furrowed slightly.
“What about Apollyon and Hesper? We can’t leave them defenseless.”
She wasn't wrong to remain loyal to the living legend that was Hesper, she obviously had earned this loyalty from Arach. For Voidwalker, loyalty had been a rocky subject, but even he could see the benefit in powerful friends. Still though Arach had shown loyalty to himself many times over in recent events. She was right that they couldn't abandon them, but they both made a promise to keep each other alive, and that's what they were going to do.
"You heard what she said, she'll be right behind us. The butcher will be fine. If Lady Apollyon trusts her to save us, then that's good enough for me. But if she falls, we have to be ready with the next line of defense to buy everyone more time to escape." Voidwalker retorted to the admirably loyal response of Arach.
Arach bit her lower lip and considered. It felt wrong to run while her leader stood alone with a fierce rival on her side and a purer form of evil on the other side of a crumbling wall. On the other hand, Voidwalker did have a fair point. They would be among the first to know if everything goes wrong.
“Okay,” she said, turning to face her companion fully with a teasing smile.
“Just don’t pick me up this time. I can run on my own.”
The sound of her sarcastic remark came as a welcomed pleasure to Voidwalker, a smile quickly dancing across his face.
"Just make sure you can keep up this time." He shot back at the golden eyed assassin. His brief smile faded back to a more serious and stoic expression, a facade to mask the uncertainty that he felt. There was no time for that, now was the time to fall back and prepare for the next move.
"Are you ready to make our way through the doorway?"
Arach’s smile had softened in response to Voidwalker’s.
“Perhaps it is you who needs to keep up.” Her smile also faded and she nodded. Hesitantly, she lowered her hand.
“Let’s go."
With that, Arach turned and made her way back to the door, ignoring her own nerves twisting her stomach.
Voidwalker followed his companion's lead, turning on his heel and making his way towards the doorway. The doorway that was now their only hope of salvation. He ran as quickly as his legs would carry him, muscles burning and throbbing with each passing exchange. Just as the two made it to the entryway, Voidwalker stopped at the sight of the pyro manifested Golem that had been summoned by Thana.
"You, listen to me closely." He instructed the golem.
"I assume your creator gave you enough intelligence to understand basic, you infernal cadaverous abomination. Once Hesper passes through, kill all that attempts to follow."
With his orders given, Voidwalker continued on his way into the doorway. He had no time to wait and see if the golem had understood the command that had been given to it, or if it would even follow his orders. He just needed to be ready for anything that came next. Making his way further into the passageway, he stopped only a few feet ahead of where everyone passed through. He was back enough to be able to set another line of defense or to continue on to regroup with the others, but he was close enough that he could still see Hesper.
If the Butcher of Coruscant fell in battle here, he would be the first to witness her fall. The scales of fate all weighed on Hesper now. She would either save them in the tunnel, or she would be the signal of their doom.
Arach had stayed hard on Voidwalker’s heels, then pulled up to a stop when he did. She silently listened to the commands he issued to the golem, then followed him to the door. The assassin’s golden gaze flickered down to Hesper not bothering to hide her worry. She shifted a little closer to Voidwalker to allow more room for stragglers to pass.
“I don’t like this,” she said, softly. Her gaze flickered to the sorcerer briefly.
“Do you have any more plans to slow them down, if Hesper fails?”
"If she falls, we follow her lead and we bring down the entire tunnel. We'll bring it down in sections and retreat. We'll alternate to save our strength. If she goes down then we both immediately pull down the tunnel from here to the entrance then we fall back, you collapse a section, then I'll do the next. But we have to make it back to the others."
Voidwalker reached his hand out and took Arach's hand in his own, giving her a reassuring nod.
"We have to believe that Hesper will succeed. Hope is dead, all we have now are beliefs. Regardless of what happens next, we have to be ready to move."
Voidwalker kept his sight on the Legendary Butcher, sweat running down his dirt covered face. Whether for his own reassurance or for Arach's, he squeezed her hand slightly tighter. His voice low, his thoughts quickly forming to words and escaping his lips.
"Korriban is a graveyard, and this tunnel will not be our mausoleum. I refuse to be trapped for eternity in this crypt by our would-be cryptkeeper attackers."
Arach lowered her head a little to conceal the small smile spreading across her lips. She returned Voidwalker’s squeeze with her own, feeling a little lighter than before. She was surprised at the level of comfort his touch and the sound of his voice gave her and she furrowed her brows.
She gave herself a mental shake before nodding in agreement.
“Agreed. Corpse dancing doesn’t sound very fun to begin with. Less so when we know they are the ones who will be pulling the strings.” The assassin shuddered in disgust at the mental image.
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that.”
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