Outside the Snowfly Forest "Yes," said Vic, his voice neutral, revealing nothing of his true feelings on the subject. "Five years ago." Rosencrantz seemed to accept this as an answer, and for another short while there was silence. The pair reached a gateway, behind which were steps leading down to what was presumably the entrance to the forest. The trees were tall, and covered in snow at their highest branches, while the path through was shrouded in darkness. Over the top, the air was so foggy that Vic could not tell how far the forest stretched. A strange, eerie light seemed to glow for a moment within the forest depths, and then it was gone. The pair began to descend the crumbling steps slowly, and the darkside seemed to grow thicker in the air. "So how did she die?" said Rosencrantz suddenly, turning to his companion. He had the slightest of smiles on his face. "How was she taken from you?" Tag: nemisis
Snowfly Forest Duane was still advancing, despite the flesh crumbling around the gaping wound in his chest. Kara backed up a few more steps, her lightsaber forgotten at her side, and let fly with Force lightning again. And again. And again, unleashing streams of white-blue energy lashing into her foes, causing what remained of them to crumble into nothingness. Within a matter of seconds, she had destroyed both of the undead knights, severed body parts and all. Like a cleansing fire, the darkside had enabled her to eradicate every last atom of her enemies. The only traces of their existence were their lightsabers, which lay on the ground. And then it was over, no longer exhilarating, but exhausting. The snowflies were building in number around Kara, as if feeding from the power that emanated from her. The darkside hung as thick and heavy as she had ever felt it, and it seemed as if she were trapped inside a suffocating smog, enveloping her and seeping into her skin. And then, she heard a noise- high pitched and constant. The world went white, and her vision was stolen by the Force. Images flared into her eyelids, vivid and striking: Guildenstern, captain of the Imperial Knights, doing battle with Vic, her fellow Jedi... A man in yellow armour, firing lasers at Neesa... Samantha falling from a great height, and slowing suddenly, caught in mid-air... And then the images blurred, and flashed rapidly in confusing and dizzying sequence: The man in yellow armour...laughing and laughing as a dark halo forms around his head... Hardin, on his knees, pleading... Samantha falls again, but this time into the darkness... Guildernstern, a towering figure atop a roof...arms raised to the blackened skies... A winged creature, a Sith spirit, a raging dragon, a weeping child... And Sydney Losstarot, author of chaos...and on his back... A blood-soaked tattoo glows with an infernal aura. And Kara awoke from her vision, breathing heavily. The snowflies dispersed at once, leaving her alone in the clearing. Tag: Xan
The pair walked together once more in silence for a little while. After a while, they reached a gateway that had steps underneath it which seemed to lead to the entrance of the forest. The trees were tall, and Vic expected that the forest was rather large, but he could not tell because of the dense fog. He felt a brief hesitation in himself as he looked down the stairs; the entrance was shrouded in darkness, and not just visually. He felt an intense pull to the Dark Side, more so than he had expected seeing as this whole place was a haven for darkness. Just before Jan began to descend the stairs, a light appeared through the fog, bright and very eerie. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, leaving the Jedi to wonder what exactly had caused it. He had strange feeling that Jan was going to lead Vic to this light. "So how did she die?" Rosencrantz said out of nowhere, turning to face the Jedi. His face showed a slight smile, bringing forth a bit of anger within Vic. "How was she taken from you?" Vic did all he could to not pull out his lightsaber and slice the Bounty Hunter in two. But the darkness that bled from the forest made the decision seem like a smart one. The Jedi had to stop and take a few deep breaths to keep himself from doing potential harm to Jan. "I don't see how that is your business, Bounty Hunter." He did not look at Jan, feeling as though if he did, and saw that smile again, he would snap and do something he could possibly regret. "Just continue to walk."
Entrance, Snowfly Forest Vic's anger was clear in the Force. The Jedi had to stop and take a few deep breaths to keep himself from doing something he would regret. "I don't see how that is your business, Bounty Hunter," he said without looking at his companion. "Just continue to walk." They descended the last of the steps, and entered into the forest. There was no sort of path along the ground, and for the first half minute it seemed they were simply wandering deep into a labyrinth- when Vic looked around he saw that the entrance that they had walked through was already too far away to see. "Astonishing that she died so young," said Rosencrantz suddenly. "I can only assume that she was taken through violence. And that you failed to protect her." Tag: nemisis Central Clearing, Snowfly Forest Kara closed her eyes and reached out with the Force once again, searching for traces of her foes, or any sentient presence for that matter. She could feel very little except the masking serenity of the snowflies, and certainly the dark touch of Sydney was long gone. A familiar aura seemed to glow suddenly in her mind, and she realised she could sense the somewhat reassuring presence of a Jedi, somewhere to the south of her current position. Which of her fellow Jedi, she was not sure. Tag: Xan
Vic walked into the forest not knowing exactly what to expect. He tried to calm himself, but it was a lot harder than he had expected. Vic knew what Rosencrantz was doing, tempting the Jedi with his words in order to try and make Vic angry. That, plus the outstanding pull of the Dark Side was a bad combination, especially since he was talking about Kelia, Vics wife. After several moments of walking, Vic wondered if they were actually heading to somewhere in particular, or if Jan was just leading him randomly into the forest. There was no path that they were following, so Vic could not help but feel lost. Taking a glance behind his shoulder, the Jedi could not make out the entrance of the forest, which seemed strange since they had only walked for several moments. "Astonishing that she died so young," Rosencrantz said out of nowhere again. The anger was already bubbling up, ready to boil over. "I can only assume that she was taken through violence. And that you failed to protect her." Despite the fact that Vic knew that Rosencrantz was intending to get a rise out of him, to use the darkness that this forest was offering in order to gain power, that comment was all Vic could handle. Vic whirled on Jan, reaching out to grab him across the throat. His face was shaking with anger as he spoke. "This is not about my wife, bounty hunter! You leave her out of it. Do you understand?" His other hand was grasping his lightsaber, his thumb on the switch. Then, as if acting as a savior, a beacon of light that was shrouded only slightly by the Darkness emanating from the Forest, Vic could feel another Jedi out deeper into the Forest. Who it was was unknown to him, but he could only expect that it was Kara, the other Jedi could not have made it into the forest this quickly. Through his thoughts, Vic forgot that he had been threatening Jan. Now, all that remained was a response from the bounty hunter.
The road to the Temple of Kiltia was quiet, too quiet. Kimara had expected more resistance to their presence, especially since the caverns that led here were filled with such horrors. As if on cue, a dark presence permeated her senses. "It's about time." She muttered to Anengy. There was a sense of relief in her voice, as if knowing that an adversary was near gave her comfort. Truth be told, it did. Not knowing when the next attack would come or from was starting to wear on her frayed nerves. Before anything more could be said red bolts of blaster fire poured from the sky. Kimara could not help but imagine them as blood red rain, surely a bad omen if ever there was one. There was no time to reflect upon this at the moment however, now action was needed if she was to survive. Drawing her lightsaber Kimara blocked those bolts that dared come near her, though she wasted no effort trying to direct them in an particular direction, her focus was to find either the temple or some other building in which to take cover. Staying out in the openness of the streets would get them killed....fast.
Chapter Four: A City In Darkness Somewhere in the Snowfly Forest Vic spun, grabbing Rosencrantz by the throat, his grip so tight that he lifted the man slightly off the ground. "This is not about my wife, bounty hunter! You leave her out of it. Do you understand?" A few tense, still moments passed in the eerie silence of the darkened forest. The Force pulsed ominously with fear, and anger...and death. Vic noticed a strange white light now shining just above his head, shimmering and moving. After a moment he saw that they were tiny winged insects, flitting around in a large, luminous swarm. Their strange dance was soothing, almost hypnotic... And it was at that moment that Kara appeared out from the shadows nearby. She had tracked the presence she felt in the Force, and the scene she now saw in front of her was perhaps not what she expected. Her fellow investigator Vic Horkin stood gripping a yellow-armoured man at the neck, with the snowflies gathered in a strangely sinister halo above the pair. Before either of the reunited Jedi could say a word to each other, Rosencrantz spoke up, his eyes somewhat glazed, apparently fixated by the snowflies despite Vic's hand on his throat. "Beautiful," he whispered with what sounded like a mixture of awe and fear. "They gather where the Dark runs deepest..." Tag: Xan, nemisis Rue Sant D'Alsa As the lasers streamed from the sky in what looked disturbingly like blood red rain, Kimara managed to deflect a few shots and dived for cover underneath the overhanging roof of an abandoned cantina. The barrage did not seem to be stopping, and the Force told her that several presences were on the nearby roofs, but she could not pinpoint exactly where. Glancing down the street, she could see the spires of the Temple nearby. It would probably take about fifteen seconds for the two Jedi to sprint to them, but that could easily be enough time for them to be picked off... Tag: Despised, Trimaj
Vic shook with anger, and felt a bit of disbelief through the Force. After a few moments, he realized that the disbelief did not come from someone else but from his own self. He could not believe what he was doing, strangling the man that had helped him so much through his journey. He knew that Jan had just wanted to get a rise out of him, but Vic had let himself get angry anyway. Disbelief was not the only feeling he felt through the Force. Fear was among them and so was death. That looming feeling as if someone had just died. He searched deeper into the feeling and suspected that they had been killed out of cold blood. He tried to look towards the source of the death, but was distracted by a light that had appeared over his head. Still gripping the bounty hunter, Vic peered upwards, wondering exactly what was causing the lights. They appeared to be winged insects, flying around in a large swarm. It was a soothing contrast to the darkness that this forest presented. Vic found himself incapable of looking away. "Beautiful," Rosencrantz managed to say through the choking he was receiving. "They gather where the Dark runs deepest..." Vic now brought his head downwards, his stare turning to the Bounty Hunter. Where the darkest runs deepest? They were directly above his head. It was at that moment that the Jedi realized he had done what he had pledged never to do, what he had trained for the past 29 years not to do, something he even managed to fight off when his beloved wife passed on...he gave in to the Dark Side and let it control his feelings. "Vic?" The voice broke through the silence that followed like a lightsaber through plastic. "What are you doing?" Vic let go immediately recognizing the voice instantly. He dropped Jan quickly and turned to see the Zeltron Jedi he had become so familiar with. Kara stood there - from the direction of the death he felt earlier - staring at Vic. He could feel the chills that ran through her body. "It's nothing," he replied. "I uh...I am glad to see you're okay." He hoped this would move the topic off of him and the situation Kara had just walked upon. However, he knew it would not, and expected to be questioned by his fellow Jedi.
Taking note that the Temple was not far off, Kimara went over the options available to her. She could make a run for it, but it seemed unlikely that she would survive such an attempt. She could enter the building and try reaching the roof in order to put a permanent stop to her attackers, but she had no desire to shed more blood at this point. The only option which seemed likely to bring her to the Temple unharmed and without more killing, was to try and cut her way through the building walls and slowly make her way through the city. She didn't like the idea at all, it seemed destined to fail. Though she had a bad feeling about it, she looked for an easy access point to the building she was taking cover near. If she found none, she would create her own.
