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~Ziost ~ Approximately 2000 years BBY~
“Do you think they will come?” A dark skinned female cathar spoke, reserving her fear, in hope of some unexpected realization that she already knew. Her red eyes focused on the horizon as she stood against the railing of one of the five extended wings of the fortress. She claimed a slender frame for her species, white accents on her face and ears that contrasted her darker fur coloring.
“Yes.” A response from a humanoid male with long white hair. A black veil covered his face, indicative of his race, which had no need for physical sense of eyesight. She would have known better than he, in regards to future events but deep down he knew she was desperate for confirmation from him. Her inquiry was more of a last hope that maybe something different would transpire.
The both of them continued to stare out across the landscape as the wind blew slightly. The eternal winter of this place was as serene as it was deadly. The sun below the horizon, which made the blue and white landscape glow even further as it bathed in the twilight of the coming night. The snow covered mountains, the black, ash, grey, and silvery rocks that dotted the peaks. The azure fractures in the ice that opened up into massive fissures and blue caverns of endless expanse. The only thing out of place was this abomination of iron and dark stone, that was nestled and carved within the ever present walls of ice was an ancient temple fortress of dark stone and iron
“The cold dark embrace never leaves this place, does it my love?” The cathar woman offered up, hoping to draw Telkat’s attention away from what she sensed in him. There was beauty in this place, as deadly and barren as it was.
For a moment there was silence, not that he refused or declined to respond. Just simply that, as he looked out upon the landscape, the reality of things continued to set in.
“No my love.” Telkat responded as continued to stare out across the frozen expanse. He almost wished she had not shared with him the coming events. But what choice did she have? Telkat had wished in the recent weeks and days that perhaps they could ignore it. Her revelation was simply a confirmation of what he knew had already been in motion. What he knew was inevitable.
“The brotherhood is weakening” Telkat responded, adding to his one word response earlier and extrapolating.
“For all their hubris, they are stagnant... and as a result... desperate.”
“We can flee! Disappear, leave all of this!” Merian responded, believing and knowing that despite everything, as deep as they were, she was willing to give this all up. She was willing to walk away, and to the extent that he wished they could, so was he. He wanted to believe what she said was true, that they could flee. Disappear. But it was too late. As embroiled as the brotherhood was, their desperation melded with a fanaticism and zealous vengeance that spurred rash consequences. Their work here was important, critical!
“I refuse to send you into that chaos!” Telkat responded with a fervent and stern voice, as if there was already an understanding between the both of them as to what they knew was about to transpire. His jaw quivering slightly as he had let his emotions get the better of him. “I refuse to send any of us.” He spoke, composing himself slightly, his hands reaching down to Merian’s stomach as he caressed her belly. Embracing her, as she moved closer. Merian smiled, as she held back her emotion as best she could, warmed by his show of affection and fire to protect her, and their unborn. She was nearly eight months pregnant now, and it would not be long.
Their conviction was admirable, their intentions true. But the darkside that embraced them both so fervently seemed to respond within both of them unknowingly, the realization that its influence had suddenly been challenged was something one would not think attributed to an inanimate flowing force of energy. But nonetheless it did, such was the nature of the darkside. As a result, while the both of them seemed to be convinced of the path they needed to take, it clung to them even more and ripples of their dissent extended out like small waves in a pond. Extending out and growing.
Four months earlier….
“Milady.” A servant girl rushed to the side of her mistress. Lady Merian.
“Are you alright?”
Deep within the fortress, near its pinnacle and below the massive promenade that was on the top of the fortress, the cathar woman was sprawled out across the floor in her robes. Throughout the chambers the roar of the many fires pits were audible as were her struggling moans.
The flashes of events that she had been assaulted with were fresh in her mind and continued on, playing in her mind, appearing again and again as she attempted to gather herself. There was a noticeable steam coming from the area of the altar she had been standing next to and performing a ritual upon. Visions were never completely carved in stone, and those with the gift of sight knew better than to base any decision on the literal interpretation of such. Reflection, patience and reverence for them always gave way to further interpretation and potential understanding and meaning in pursuit of the true purpose of anything seen.
But some things were always clearer than others. Some things were meant to be seen. Meant to be known. And when it took hold in the mind, it was never something easily expelled.
Obliterated, pulverized. They were all simply gone.
She tried to reconcile it. Despite her best intuition to not delve into the vision immediately and come to conclusions, this one was so clear. Prominent. It was like a spike being driven through her forehead, more painful and sharp than any other vision she had ever experienced. She continued to try and push it out of her mind as she crawled about the floor in an attempt to regain her feet. Two more servants rushed to her side, attempting to grasp her and provide some semblance of support. She screamed as it hit once more. Her body convulsed with pain. This time the vision of the man was even more clear, with pale eyes that suddenly turned to fire, a stern jaw and a gaze that cut through her like molten lava through the ice that surrounded them. His very image conjured fear deep within her, further driving her to frantically claw at the stone floor of the chambers.
~Chambers of Lord Telkat ~
“We need to increase the number of excavation units as well as increase the harvesting convoys from the site.” Lord Telkat stated as he pointed to a map of the underground city. Next to him was a twilek man, adorned in a set of black colored light armor, a silver lightsaber hanging at his waist. Master Silbrar was a twilek dark jedi, under the command of Lord Telkat, a trusted adviser, and due to his nature as an astute warrior, he was also an excellent motivator. He had been instrumental in the excavation and delivery of many of the artifacts found along with the steady stream of minerals from the site. The demand for such from the brotherhood, had driven their resources to be constrained severely. There was little to contest however, as failure to provide them had already elicited responses. Telkat’s predecessor had been thrown from the pinnacle nearly two years prior for his failures. A fortunate turn of events as the poor man had been only a few months away from the discovery of the city, a reward which Telkat had kindly reaped and taken advantage of.
Mirian entered the chamber, nearly dislodging the door. Something one would not have expected from someone with such a smaller frame, however a dark aura hung over her. She was swirling with dark energy, her eyes even showing a darker red than normal as she came up to the large desk of her husband Lord Telkat.
She stared at Telkat for a moment unable to speak, for as much energy as she exuded, her face was frozen in fear and indecision as if unable to verbalize what she had just experienced. Even if she had the perfect words, it would have been received with disbelief and utter confusion.
“Kaan… the brotherhood is no more! Gone!” Mirian tried her best to compose herself, hiding her rapid breathing and nervousness.
Silbrar, whom was standing next to Lord Telkat and next to the large desk he presided over, furrowed his brow. His arms behind his back as he offered a quick shake of his jaw in a dismissive manner. Telkat simply stood in silence for another moment, composing himself, a bit caught off guard by his wifes entrance and her proclamation of the Bortherhood of Darkness, the same brotherhood that had been savaging and beating back the Lord Hoth’s Army of Light, was gone.
“Gone, Miria...Milday?” He cut himself off, deferring to her formal title in the presence of another Sith.
“What do you mean gone, milady?” Silbrar spoke up, offering his own inquiry to receive clarification as to her sudden bursting in and rant.
“I mean they are all DEAD!” Mirian exclaimed. Looking at them both with her blood filled red eyes.
“Milady, I spoke with Lady Githany not a few hours ago…” Silbrar spoke up as if trying to quell her mild hysteria.
“Kriffing listen Silbrar.” The Lady Mirian screamed, implying she was having none of his questioning of her understanding. With that she had finally begun to compose herself, as she took her hands off of the desk in front of her to stand up straight and gather herself.
“The man with pale eyes!” She spoke softly. Neither of them would have known what she was referring to, but the image of him was so firmly burned into her mind that she could not shake it. Even when she closed her eyes she saw him and subsequently saw the obliteration of them all.
“He brings an end, the prophecy of a Sithari.”
“Sithari?” Telkat spoke, almost taken aback. They all knew the legends, and as powerful beings that were within the brotherhood, even he doubted for there to be such a being alive or in their presence. Mirian stumbled once again as the vision hit once more, she winced and let out a slight muffled scream. “Milady, you need to rest.” Telkat moved from around the desk to come up to her and bracing her from collapsing.
Eight months earlier…
Telkat stood within the temple at the epicenter of the city, the breakthrough into the city had yielded more than they could have imagined. And for nearly a year they had been excavating the site. The temple itself in the center of the city had turned out to be a shell that housed a unique mining vault, there was no floor to the temple, it simply opened into a massive cavern that went down, and what appeared to be an endless pit. The walls of which were lined with ladders, scaffolding, ropes and pulleys. The constructed web of construction materials acting as the platform from which it seemed that the walls of the pit were mined. The only structure that stood out was a rock formation that jutted out into the pit from one of the sides. The large rock formation ended near the center of the pit and gave way to a large area upon which an altar and nearby sarcophagus rested beside it.
After the initial reporting of the discovery to the Brotherhood, Telkat had returned to the site, unable to break away from it. Spending night and day within the temple for months and months. Only returning to the fortress at times when the call from his beloved was so strong that he dare not disappoint.
The glyphs, inscriptions, and runes were somewhat of a mystery to even one such as him that was so well versed in the ancient tongues of the Sith. Variations in the syntax puzzled him as he worked to decipher and understand things further. In the meantime excavation crews had been brought in to begin exploring the pit, scouring the tunnels that jutted out from the walls of it and into the rock. The crews suring up the decrepit scaffolding and ladders with more modern amenities where it was needed. The discovery of the rare cortosis mineral here was a shock. Only found on a few planets throughout the galaxy even a small deposits like this could be priceless. It did not take long for Telakt to surmise that the small mining village built around the temple had been built from the stones mined from this unique quarry. There were other veins of minerals running from the formation in the center that descended down into the pit. Geologically this site was one of immense value. There had been no sign of kyber crystals, however one of the base minerals, kyberite flowed extensively down the walls of the pit and up into the jutting rock formation. He had sent samples of nearly a dozen different minerals he had identified away for further testing.
Over the months, the slave crews had begun to extract some of the cortisis, hefting it back to the surface on their backs while they worked to establish a more effective conveyor system to ferry it to the surface. Evcen after months they simply did not have the resources in place yet, and with everything being focused on the war effort it seemed they would receive little help in that category. .
~Fortress Glacies ~
“I am convinced, the samples from the pit are an exact match to the stones in this fortress.” Telakt stated as he mused over the origins of this place. It seemed inconsequential, especially given the fact that the Sith armies were lightyears away fighting. The slow attrition of the many conflicts had spurred interest in ways to tip the balance and give the Sith the advantage in the war. Hence their arrival here. What had initially been a simple exploration of the fortress had yielded the information that had brought them to the underground city, and even more unexpectedly what they discovered there.
“Whoever built this place did it from that city.” Telkat stated referencing the underground city that was now an excavation site.
“What of that sarcophagus?” Mirian asked, as she stepped forward, her slender body accentuated by the sheer nightgown she was wearing, a goblet of wine in her hand. She felt the cold biting at her feet, even with as many chamber fires as they had. This place never fully warmed.
“Sealed, I am finding little clues to how it is even sealed let alone how to open it.” Mirian could tell how frustrated he was. Telkat was never the warrior, but his devotion to the darkside and the Brotherhood, culminated with this latest discovery which he hoped would garner him the notoriety he deserved. Mirian shared that same sentiment. They were a unique pair. A Sith priestess and a Sith archaeologist. She could not remember the last time she saw her husband use his lightsaber, he was better off using a rock hammer and a trowel. But his intuition and knowledge of the ancient languages had allowed him to wield substantial influence and power, and the fact that the information he found they both utilized to grow together in power had allowed them both to rise within the Brotherhood.
“I have a gift for you, my love.” Telkat said as he produced a ruby red amulet. That glowed like fire in the light of the many fires in their chamber. Mirian’s eyes grew large. It was mesmerizing, it held a raw elegance and exuded a slight aura.
“Where did you?” Mirian inquired with a slight gasp, in a shocked but loving tone.
“I found it while excavating and searching the altar.” Telkat moved around to her back, unclipping the golden chain as he placed it around her neck.
“A beautiful gem, required an equally radiant woman to wield it.” Telkat spoke as he clasped it, then grasped her shoulders to lean in and kiss her on the neck. Mirian blushed, gently caressing the gem while embracing the touch of her husband. She turned slightly to see her reflection in one of the nearby polished fire pits. Admiring herself and the newly adorned gem piece. The red gem contrasted her dark fur and matched her red eyes.
“It is exquisite my love.” Mirian lovingly and admiringly spoke of both the presented gift and the bearer of said gift.
“Come my love.” Mirian spoke in a soft tone, as she pulled away but not before grasping Telkat’s hands, drawing him deeper into the chambers and towards the bed. Telket responded by following as their hands linked, pulling close they both embraced and kissed.
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