The Laenos Lith: Avatar of the Light (open, conditional)

[Anbira Hicchoru]

OOC: For those who don't know what the Laenos Lith is, its an ancient artifact believed to hold the souls of 1000 Force Masters within it. Essentially, all RP's with the Laenos Lith in the title will be dealing with this artifact. I'm doing a short-term kind of experiment to show that omnipotence is not as easy as everyone believes (if you've read Paradise Lost, you'll know where I'm coming from.). This RP series will see Anbira attain quite a bit of power...and he will quite nearly have that kind of limitless potential, but I intend to show the downside and the trappings of this, and as I said before...all effects of this will be in the short-term (meaning if you die in these, don't worry...you come back :p ).

If you're looking for a challenge in order to try and determine a winner, this is not for you. However, if you want to participate in a continuing storyline...that is what I'm after. Any questions can be directed to me, and I will be happy to answer them.

IC:

:: It had been six months since Anbira Hicchoru had...discovered himself. It was a bittersweet recollection, as the Jedi had uncovered many troubling things. With his name, came a wicked past...full of evil that he dared not even inquire about. He could see it in the faces of every soul he encountered. Indeed, it seemed that everyone in the galaxy held a speck of fear in their hearts for the monster he was...back then.

Since then, it was something he had come to live with. The uneasiness of those around him was a scarlet letter to bear until eternity. Perhaps one day, his heart's deeds would change his sinister reputation, and he could atone for the sins he had no knowledge of.

Anbira clenched the green stone in his hand. The stone, it was the only possession he owned. Upon his escape from Byss, he had discovered it, but had no reason why the object came into his possession. Perhaps it was a combination of instinct and random fortune. At times, when Anbira was at peace and fully in touch with the Force, he could almost feel a presence from the stone. He knew nothing about it...other than the Padawan Akrabbim held a fanatical fear of it. Anbira couldn't discount his comrade's concern, but at the same time...his curiosity compelled him to unravel its mysteries. Anbira sensed nothing amiss from it...only a presence in the rarest of times. Perhaps it was the Force, guiding him upon a path that might make things clear.

Of this, he could only hope.

Tucking the stone away within his jacket, Anbira walked through the dusty streets of Mos Espa, on Tattooine. He had taken leave of the Jedi base for a week of meditation, or maybe simply for the solitude, or both. ::

[Nupraptor]

Sssssssseek him!, the voice hissed, not for the first time. But this time it was more forceful, a certain amount of urgency creeping into the insect's voice. The sound of it echoed and splintered through the former Jedi's mind, slicing it's way through his thoughts. He winced, as if physically struck, and brought one hand to the side of his head.

"That's enough," he commanded. "I've already told you that I have no desire to see him again. He is everything that I was; He was everything that I am. Why must you persist in urging me to find the one soul which might be more more damned than my own?"

The centipede seemed to consider this, and Nupraptor could almost feel it moving around in his cranium. The brain, however, lacked the proper nerve endings for that. That knowledge, though, didn't keep him from feeling the tingling in the back of his neck every time the creature adjusted itself.

You mussst ssseek him. Within him.... within him iss what you ssseek.

Nupraptor grunted, placing a hand on his kneecap and reluctantly forcing himself to stand. With his other hand, he brushed at the dust that had stained his tattered robes, a finger catching in one of it's many holes and tearing it a little further. He paid it no mind.

"I seek only justification for the irrevocable choices I have made. I seek only redemption. I agreed to learn the ways of the Dark Side not because I valued my life (which is truly worthless), but because I thought I might redeem myself. A concept I'm sure is beyond your grasp."

You ssspeak in paradox, my friend. You can lie to othersss, but you cannot lie to yourssself. And everything you know, I know; Every thought you have isss mine for the viewing.

"That... is where you are wrong, my deplorable little parasite. I don't think you have even an inkling of who and what I am."

To this, the insect replied with another hiss. In his mind's eye, Nupraptor could imagine the creature baring it's mandibles in contempt.

I know that you desssire power. And you know in your heart that thisss makess you jussst as evil asss the creaturess you once fought so righteoussssly.

"Perhaps," he said simply. The Fallen Jedi steepled his fingers in thought, surveying the dilapidated structure that housed him for the time being. The permacrete walls, once sturdy enough to take a blow from a wookie without so much as a scratch to show for it now looked as if they would crumble to dust if someone breathed on them the wrong way. The door hung half open, allowing yellowed light to spill into the room - It's only illumination.

"I will go."

Yessssssss!, it crooned. There was something akin to joy it's otherwise brittle voice.

"But to satisfy my own curiousity. Know always that you hold no sway over me, creature. I go of my own volition."

There was another sound then, not unlike that of broken glass being crushed underfoot. It screeched loudly for but a few seconds before tapering off. Although he couldn't be sure, Nupraptor thought it was the sound of the creature laughing.

<img src=http://darthogre.clanpages.com/dnup.jpg>

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: The adobe dwelling, according to the guide, was once home to Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi. It had become somewhat of a mecca in the time of the New Republic, as one of the pivotal turning points of the galaxy had begun here...the defeat of the Empire. In the years since the times of Luke Skywalker, the hovel had degraded little...still showing off its spartan but clean form.

Anbira asked for some time to be alone. The Rodian guide nodded curtly, and left, returning to Mos Eisley for a few hours. It gave Anbira time for solace, and time to his own thoughts.

Removing the stone from his pocket, Anbira placed it on a crude table, and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. He had to clear his mind, and it seemed that it took monumental effort to divine any feeling at all from the stone. It had happened only a few times.

He sat, eyes fixated on the artifact ::

<font color=0099CC>What_are_you_trying_to_tell_me?</font>

[Lady Vader]

*Sometimes she felt like she was going mad. And at other times she was almost certain she had gone mad. But each time, reality hit her, and she knew instantly she was still quite sane and in charge of all her facilities.*

*No, she was not insane, but the universe she lived in had more times than not tossed her and flipped her until she knew not where up or down stood. It gave life more of a challenge than she really desired to have.*

*LV checked the instrumentation on her ships paneling, traveling from the Sith Empire to the Sith Order. She made this travel often enough that she could have navigated the ship in her sleep. Corellia and Munto Codru had become her homes. But deep inside, she missed her time on Byss. She hadn't been back there since Anbira's ill-fated illness and sudden departure from the planet. She didn't want to go back. The memories were still too fresh. Yes, she took pride in her mental strengths, but even this one's eventual outcome was held closed to her. Not even the Force had opened any doorways to where it may lead. It frusterated her.*

*The ship began to signal it would be dropping out of hyperspace shortly. In the few seconds left, she began to think of the many planets and hovels she had called home, also taking into account the many she had visited throughout the years. She frowned. One place she had always wanted to make a sort of pilgimage to was Korriban. Though, each time she tought she would have time, something always came up.*

*The ship signaled for reversal to real space and she obliged it, punching a few buttons on her console. Immediately, the blue-green planet of Corellia loomed before her. Yet, she was still contimplating Korriban.*

*With a sudden determination, she punched coordinates for Korriban, also sending a quick message to the Order down below on the planet. She would be postponing her arrival.*

*Korriban was located in the same quadrant as Corellia, between the inner systems and the outer rim. The trip should be short.*

*Finally, perhaps at Korriban the Force would no longer be silent. With the power of the Sith Lords encased within the Valley of the Dark Lords, she hoped to find the answers she seeked. Perhaps there she would find a way to win Anbira back.*

[Nupraptor]

It was the Nightmare again. It came to him whenever he slept now (which was mercifully infrequent), but it was different each time. The desolate setting was the same, though; Inky-black creatures which flitted and scurried from his sight littered the barren landscape. And he was the same. But it somehow always seemed to change, like a land forever engulfed in entropy.

<font color="gray">The ground itself is little more than dry ash, brown and black and as fine as powder. Even as he stands on it, Nupraptor can feel it give under his feet like a large cushion, spanning as far as the eye can see. Instinctively, his hand falls to his side, where his lightsabre had sat for so many years. He begins to reprove himself for the thoughtless action - He had forsaken the weapon some time ago, yet continued to reach for it - When his fingers touch the cool cylinder of metal, right where he expects it to be.

His fingers wrap around it, pressing softly against the small, backswept spikes on it's hilt. He hefts it slowly, like a man in a trance, and gently presses the activation button on it's side. Obiediantly, the purple blade springs to life with a snap-hiss, followed the soft hum he is so familiar with. Only now it sounds.... harsher? He doesn't quite know how to describe it, but there is definitely something unusual about the sound.

Pressing the button once more, he closes down the blade and surveys the landscape. Off in the distance, he hears the steady rumbling of what sounds like hundreds of creatures marching across the flat pseudo-tundra. "It's one of the Little Makers," he thinks. He has no clue what a 'Little Maker' is, yet the thought persists like a nagging memory. For now, all he knows is that he doesn't want to find out first hand.

Without knowing why, he turns and begins to walk across the barren landscape. He's hasn't the slightest clue where he's going, yet he knows where he must eventually end up.

"My house," he thinks. "Not even a house... but my home none-the-less."

He doesn't know how long or how far he walks: It could be mere yards away, or it could be on the other side of whatever world this was. But he eventually arrives there, and it's not as he expects. Somehow, he thought it would a small hovel - little more than a shack; At least, that's how he remembers it. But what he finds is much more grandiose, stretching skyward until it was lost in the twisting brown and red clouds: An ebony tower, twisting and spiraling into the sky which seemed to be forever night. It was without visible edge or definition, lacking any opening or other discernable point of access.

Yet he knows that he must go in there. And so he walks forward, forcing his way through the monstrous bed of roses that encircled this Dark Tower like a protective moat. He blindly gropes through the wall of green stems and red petals, his hands catching on thorns and being cut open in a hundred different places. Yet he continues to grope until, finally, the palm of one hand comes to rest on the cool obsidian of the Tower itself. He steps out of the protective garden of roses, ragged and tired, to see the seemless doorway.

There's a ringing in his ears now, probably from exhaustion. It pulses dimly, picking up in intensity and then dropping back off. He tries to ignore, reaching out desperately for the doorway. Like everything else in this world, he is clueless as to what lies inside. But there is a fierce need to find out, to know what thing could lie at the center of this Tower - Indeed, at the center of this world and all others. He lays his palm on the door...</font>

... And he woke up with a start, the stout 'droid next to his bed twittering with annoyance. The dull throbbing-pulse in his head was still there, beating away at his groggy mind. He shook his head a few times in a vain attempt to clear it of the fresh Nightmare, before realizing that the noise was coming from the 'droid. Absently, he whipped out his arm, backhanding it across it's smooth top. It twittered a little pathetic sound and wheeled itself back a few feet to prevent further beatings.

"What is it?", he asked, rubbing his eyes between his thumb and forefinger.

The 'droid let out a series of rapid beeps, twitters, chirps and various other sounds. Normally, Nupraptor had no trouble understanding the language of other machinery. But he just wasn't in the mood right now, opting instead to ignore whatever it was that had got the stupid things undergarments in a knot. It was a PAL unit, after all: They were notorious for making mountains out of the proverbial molehills. And none of the ships alarms were going off, so it couldn't be too important. Mentally, he made a note to jury-rig a speech box to the little sucker so he wouldn't have to deal with this particular problem again.

His vision still blurry and his mind still haunted, the Fallen Jedi made his way towards the cockpit. Tatooine couldn't be very far off now.