A long overdue return (open)

[Zereth Lancer]

Hinges creaked in the dark. Doors opened and closed. Footsteps echoed through the hollowed halls. Here darkness reigned over the light, sin ruled, and no thoughts of saviors or angels ever flashed in the minds of those who inhabited that planet. Korriban was a barren wasteland. Giant tombs of Sith lords littered the surface, and yet their spirits where powerless to stop the destruction of their own people. The great sith people, the massassi, no longer existed. The sith had taken this worthless world and made it their home. Living in the land itself. Buried under layers of rock and soil. Here they thrived and lived. Training their young in the ways of darkness and evil. The planet is tainted with millions of years of acult practices and worshiping of death. Some would deny such claims, others would concur. And some would simply be silent...

A lone ship flew over Korriban. It communicated the proper codes and landed in a docking bay hidden in a mountain crag. A man emerged from the space vessel and walked straight to the turbo lift and stood silently as he was transported down to the bowels of the planet.
The lift stopped, and out stepped the man. His features had changed his he had last walked these halls. His long black hair had been cut at the shoulder, his skin was darker from the suns of countless worlds, but the one feature that gave his identity away, was his blood red eyes.
Zereth Lancer, the sith knight, had returned.

He had been gone for months, almost a year. He had left Korriban to find himself. He had fallen apart after Jezreal's death and it had taken him all this time to finaly seal his emotions down into the depths of his being, never to be used again. Emotion was a dangerous thing. It caused you to become irrational and act without thinking. It was a foolish thing and he would have no more of it.
He turned his head and glanced around the halls, hollowed from the very rock of the planet, and saw no one. Strange, it wasn't this empty when he had left...

[Tarsis]

What a day... Tarsis thought as he entered the Citadel from the Training grounds. He had spent the majority of his day training, as usual, and was feeling rather tired at the moment. Tarsis hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. He spent the night tossing and turning, dreaming dreams of his past. Nothing that he hadn't dealt with before, but the dreams always found ways to mess with his sleep. Twisting and distorting themselves, making themselves worse then the night before, it was as if the dreams were real and Tarsis was playing out a part in the horrifying play.

Walking down the dimly lit halls of the Citadel, Tarsis recalled the dreams, replaying them over and over in his mind, trying to decipher their meaning, if they even had a meaning. He failed to notice the rather large man standing before him as he stumbled down the hallway, bumping into him as he walked. Shaking his head a bit, coming back to reality, Tarsis turned around to see who it was he had so absent mindedly bumped into and at first, he was taken back by the man’s size. He was about the same size as Tarsis, maybe a little bit bigger by a few inches, but still, Tarsis was surprised nonetheless. Tarsis was 6 foot 5 inches and there were few in the Order to match his size, especially now that there were so few, but it wasn’t until Tarsis took a moment to observe the man’s blood red eyes that he realized who it was; Zereth Lancer, a shadow of the past indeed.

“Zereth Lancer! My, my, it’s be along time.” Tarsis said with a slight grin stretching across his face. “The last time I saw you was that day we had that little sparing session. It was in these exact halls if I‘m not mistaken.”

Tarsis could only wonder where it was that Zereth had gone off to. From the looks of it, he had been to several different places; his hair was shorter than Tarsis remembered and he was more tanned now instead of the ghostly pale person he was in the past. Whether or not Zereth remembered Tarsis was yet to be seen, but regardless if he did or not, Tarsis still remembered his would-be Master and was glad to see a face from the past again, walking down theses halls.

[Zereth Lancer]

Lost in his own thoughts, Zereth hadn't noticed Tarsis come lumbering towards him. The impact of their bodies brought him back to reality, just in time to catch his balance and stop himself from falling on his butt. He cursed his lack of attention. A year ago his senses had been so refined that he could see in total darkness, hear a feather drop, and his reflexes where the stuff of legend. But now he was little less then a bumbling fool. Oh, how cruel fate is.

He heard someone say his name and looked up at the man before him. It took him a moment to recognize the face. But after a few moments he recognized the man as Tarsis, the man he had planned to take as his apprentice, before Jezreal's murder. "Tarsis, how good to see you, old friend," A week smile spread across his face, "I can't tell you how great it feels to see a familiar face. Its been such a long time since I last walked these halls... too long, in fact." He said and then a look of exhaustion seemed to overcome his face, as if simply speaking had drained him of energy. But it faded as soon as it came.

"So, how have things been in my absence?" He asked as his eyes looked around the hall for the tenth time "I was half expecting a welcome party, but by the looks of these halls, there are less people around now."

[Baralai Lotus]

Baralai strode up from through the Citadel hallways. Baralai was interested to see who had landed here. He had heard the thrusters of the engines from the library, and he had to know who was here. He smirked when he saw Zereth walking down the hallways.

It seemed the old members of the Order were returning. This was wonderful news, and Baralai knew that it would only mean good things for the Order. He walked up behind the two now talking and placed a firm hand on Tarsis shoulder, before reaching out for a handshake from Zereth.

He had seen Zereth roaming the halls here when he was but an Acolyte. Still. Baralai knew the man was more powerful than he seemed, he could feel it. But now, for some odd reason, Baralai didn't feel that anymore. He didn't feel the same power he had before from this man. What had happened in his absence?

[Tarsis]

"I feel the same way Zereth. It's good to see a familiar face walk these halls again." Tarsis said with a slight smile, a smile that soon faded away. "But times have changed my friend. The Order is few in numbers and the Elders have all but disappeared. Jorshal has taken over though and is running things now. I say he's done a pretty good job, but one can only expect so much from him. He's had his hands full: training, recruiting, etc. But we're managing. There are three knights, well, four now that you're back, and four acolytes." Tarsis paused for a moment as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Looking to his right, and noticing the black eye patch before anything else, Tarsis sighed. It was Baralai.

As Baralai extended his hand towards Zereth, Tarsis went on to introduce the two. "Zereth, this is Baralai Lotus, the mute of the Order." Tarsis chuckled at that one. He couldn't help himself. " He is one of the Knights I mentioned. How he actually obtained that status is still unknown to me, but he is one of the few." Looking at Baralai and then back to Zereth, Tarsis chuckled. He was sure to get a rise out of Baralai about the ‘mute’ comment, but that waited to be seen. “So what brings you back Zereth? And are you here to stay this time?” Tarsis meant no disrespect from that last comment and he hoped Zereth didn’t take it that way. Tarsis was only trying to find out if this was going to be a short stay or if Zereth had indeed returned to the Order.

[Zereth Lancer]

"Yes. I have met Baralai before." Zereth said as he took the silent man's hand and shook it. To Baralai his hand felt weak and without the strength it had once possessed .Baralai's silence puzzled Zereth, as did his eye patch. Obviously something had happened in his absence.

He returned his attention to Tarsis, "The Elders have disappeared?" His eyes radiated with shock, "How could they just leave..." Then it hit him, He had been one of those elders that had left. He had disappeared in the dead of night, without note or reason, never to be seen again, until now. Perhaps it was his fault that the order had fallen apart as much as it had. He forced his guilty thoughts away and returned to the conversation at hand. “Yes,” He said sternly, “I do intent to stay. I can’t promise anything, but I have a feeling I’ll be around for awhile.”

His attention once again turned to Baralai, “Why the silent treatment, old friend?” He asked, a smile washing across his face, but faded when Baralai continued to be silent. “What had happened to you?”

[Tarsis]

Nodding at Zereth as he spoke of knowing Baralai, Tarsis then too, brought his attention to Baralai and smiled for it was amusing to hear Zereth ask about Baralai because Tarsis knew exactly what would come next. Baralai would pull out his trusty notebook and scribble down some eligible paragraph about his run in with the Inquisitoriate, and while afterwards, run his hand through is black hair as he possibly light up a cigarette. Tarsis could only laugh to himself as he continued on in his head, running through Baralai‘s normal routines. Tarsis had nothing against Baralai, but sometimes, just sometimes, Tarsis wondered just what it was that went on his that man’s head.

Tarsis just shook his head as Zereth caught what he has said. Yes, Zereth was one of the Elders that had left so quickly and without word, but Tarsis didn't hold that against him. Zereth was Tarsis' first acquaintance within the Order and his first Master. Not only did Tarsis respect Zereth as a Sith, he also respected his as a potential friend.

It was then that Tarsis had felt a change in Zereth. It came on rather subtle and Tarsis even had to search for it again as it had seemed to come and go. Tarsis was new to the Force yes, but just like any other Force user, he could feel the emotional changes going on inside of another person. Zereth had of course, mastered the ability to control his emotions, no doubt, but even for someone of his skill it was hard to hold back them all. Tarsis felt it safe to assume that he was right in his assumption and in doing so, looked at Zereth and said, “Don’t worry Zereth. No one holds you accountable for leaving. Everyone has issues that they must work out on their own. I know! I have my own that I deal with everyday.” Tarsis was of course speaking of the dreams he had daily and how they were a constant reminder of his past. “Welcome back Zereth. It’s long overdue but welcomed nonetheless. Maybe with one of our Elders back now, things will begin to progress and the Order will start to look like it’s former self.”