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Echoes
Topic Started: Jun 9 2009, 07:45 PM (943 Views)
Cul
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Ra blinked sleepily, as she murmured, and then sat up, putting some small distance between the two of them. Even with the dim light of the sun piercing the shrubs in front of the cave, his opened eyes gave off a strange glow, as if they were a strange colored fire, burning with an unfelt warmth.

"What's the plan? Anyplace else but Ziost, my first instinct would be to say we go back to bed, since last night was strangely comfortable. And a whole lot warmer than I'd have imagined." It was hard to tell, from exactly how he said those words, if he'd fully realized the exact position they'd awoken in.....but it was equally hard to tell if he hadn't.

"However," He continued, taken the offered breakfast, and eating some small bites, "Since we are on Ziost, and we have a mission, that's probably the same, I suggest we check your wound, and make our way towards those ruins, since we're looking for one specific Temple. And it shouldn't be hard to find. Nothing in thousands of years hurt it to any noticable degree, my guess is the Temple of the Lost will be the one still standing. After that, we do what only a small handful of people have ever done, and gain entrance, and discover exactly who it is, that's operating in a very bad place, that my father and the rest of the Jedi shut down around twenty one years ago."

He chewed in silence for a few minutes, studying the girl before him, and a smile slowly crept to his face. It was a smile that spoke confidence, optimism, and...something else....a sense of purpose, or knowledge.

"After that, I was thinking we kick some serious Dark Sider, or wanna-be Dark Sider, butt, shut down this operation before it even begins, bring the whole Temple crashing down for good, and hop into my fighter, and make a hyperspace jump to a world with a little more tropic atmosphere, for a well earned vacation. Sound good?"

And every last word was spoken, with the same confindence, and seriousness, of Ra's almost infectuous grin....
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His mention of finding some vacation world made her brow arch, but she couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at her lips this morning. His grin spreading to her and she slowly nodded to him. “Sounds like a plan to me. I think we‘ll both be in need of a vacation once we take care of things here…maybe someplace with hot springs…”

She smirked again to him before she readied their packs and then pushed her way out of the open cave through the grass and weeds and branches. Though for sure, she almost wished they could have remained there as well, but that was not going to be the case.

“Lets just find what we need and get off this rock. This planet is already proving to be bad luck and I don‘t plan on hanging around any longer than needed…” She said was they made their way through the thick forest trees. Pausing when she came to what seemed to be the entrance to the temple. “This place was crawling with guardian droids yesterday…I don‘t know how many I took out, but there are sure to be more of the same or worse inside…you ready?”

The sixteen year old looked to him a moment then almost laughed at her own question. As if it really needed asking…
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Ra studied her carefully, as she readied their packs. Her Jedi training seemed to be holding out, so far. 'No attachments', wasn't always easy to live, and he'd felt her anguish when her Master had died. No, she wasn't giving in to it, at least not right now.

"Hot springs sound good. Definitely need to be clear of this place, to find any of those. As for the droids? I'm certain there are more of them about, though how many is hard to say. I'm not real worried about the droids. It's whether or not they're still running on old automated orders, or if someone's taken up residence here, to direct them to their current tasks, that worries me. After all, Ziost isn't exactly a friendly type of place...." Ra stepped out of the cave, adjusting his clothing, and silently wishing Ziost did have hot springs, to ease his sore body.

"How is the wound? Even with the shot, we should check for infection. Be a shame if such a pretty Jedi girl got rabies, or somesuch." Ra teased, taking her arm gently, and removing the bandage, to inspect the wound.

Nodding, more to himself than anything else, he replaced the bandage with a fresh one, and smiled. "Looks good enough. Any aching or burning that seems unusual?"

Ra took a second, to get his bearings. Even with the sun rising, Ziost remained fairly dimly lit, with a perpetual haze settling in the dead forest. But he knew where the Temple of the Lost was. The part of his blood that was not Cul, had been tied to that place for many years, and he could almost orient his eyes towards it's location from across the galaxy.
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“My wound is fine, Ra…” She told him as he insisted on checking on her arm, but she allowed him, fighting the color that rose in her cheeks at his gesture of concern again. There was no obvious sign of infection, the antibiotic he had given her seemed to insure that she was fine for the moment. Sighing, she let him rebandage it and then pulled her sleeve slowly down.

“Thank you, Ra…but I‘m fine in all honesty…you did a good job on it last night…” She told him softly and she almost marveled at how soft her voice had turned. Oh, stars, she needed to stop this. Maybe she was just emotionally weak right now what with the death of her Master.

As they neared the entrance, she softly sighed and reached for his hand as they headed for the downward steps. “Ra, wait…”

She had to be out of her jedi mind…

“Just incase we don‘t make it out of here…” She told him softly before she rose up and pressed her lips to his quickly. Something told her there were bad, bad things lurking in the darkness in the temple. And she was not going to die without sharing a kiss with someone.

Her cheeks burned for a moment after she pulled back and she swore at herself in ever language she could thing of before her lips were back on his for a deeper, longer kiss than the first and it was only after her senses returned somewhat to her that she moved away from him to nervously straighten her robes.

“That was for luck.” She told him as if nothing had happened and she checked her saber before she headed down the steps.
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Their trek to the temple had been uneventful, and Ra stared down the giant stairs, set up on all four sides of the massive temple, that sat on the solid obsidian rock of the whole structure, rising far above them, it's only visible doorway still higher than where they stood now. Typical Sith logic. Walk down lots of stairs, just to climb up plenty more. Come to think of it, that sounds vaguely Jedi-ish too... Ra thought with some bitterness.

As he prepared for the climb down, however, he was stopped, by the warmth of her hand in his, and a ripple of something he couldn't place, emoting off of her, through the Force. Much to his surprise, the hand holding was followed by a quick kiss, which was followed by a second, longer, and deeper kiss, which gave Ra time to respond, putting some effort of his own, into the second kiss.

As they broke, he had to admit, albeit, to himself, to feeling a little light headed. Must be this place, and it's Dark Side effects, taking a toll on us both. He mused.

For luck, she told him. He smiled, arching an eyebrow, as he pulled her back to him, close enough their bodies pressed together. "In this place, I think we could use all the luck we can get." He told her, as he pressed his lips to hers, for a third kiss.....

That he broke, far quicker than he'd planned, pushing her away from him, as his saber launched to his hand, igniting in time to send a blaster bolt screaming back at the droid that had fired it. His eyes narrowed, as he turned from where they'd come, seeing dozens of combat oriented droids of an unknown design approaching fast.

He weighed their options, and took note of the fact the main doorway to the temple, which was legendary for it's inaccessability, was wide open. "The door is open. Jump for the Temple! We should make it close enough for a quick sprint up the stairs, and inside. That's too many droids, too spread out, for two of us to handle."

Ra spun his saber, deflecting several more shots, as he drew upon the Force, readying it to power his legs for both the jump, and the mad dash up the remaining stairs that would follow.
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He’s kissing me.

Adairon couldn’t believe it even as she felt him draw her close and melded his lips against her own. Maybe it was the dark side of the Force somehow tainting their actions. It was the easiest of conclusions to admit too.

Thankfully(not exactly thankfully, really), the droids appeared and they were suddenly drawn apart and under fire. Her Master’s saber flashed out and she swung the blade to block a couple of the bolts fired at them and looked to the entrance at his call.

It was indeed open.

“Lets do this then!” She yelled back to Ra and, calling on the Force, she sprung upwards toward the top of the temple and the entrance. She barely avoided twisting ankle as she landed in a sloppy roll once she crossed the temple door and she groaned at the throb in her injured arm, knowing she might have torn it open in the impact, but she ignored it as she rose to her feet and gazed into the darkness of the temple.

“Hopefully those droids are the worst we‘ll find in here…” She told Ra softly when he joined her and knew it was wishful thinking. She took a step forward, her saber still in hand and as if on an ominous cue, the torches along the walls of the chambers entrance sprang to life with a ghostly, wicked white flame and she swallowed a bit, pushing aside any fear of the uncertain and continued forward until she reached a large door. Along the outer edges of which was carved an intricate mesh of symbols that were of some ancient language that she did not understand.

"Looks like some sort of Sith language...I've never seen it before."

Her eyes moved over them and then to the center of the door that held what looked to be a white polished stone of some sort set in a precious metal facet on the door itself. The stone a bout as big as her fist and rounded. She furrowed her brow and reached to touch it, but groaned as she felt something from the gem. A surge of power and then the runes around the door began to glow with the same white fire as the stone and the torches. The energy from the orb seeming to lick out under her fingers and she pushed her palm against the fixture. The door groaning a bit before it descended down into the floor and she turned her eyes to Ra as the inner chamber was now open to them.

“This is one of the times when I regret that chivalry crap about ladies going first…” She muttered, but stepped over the threshold anyway, raising her senses and keeping alert of all that was around them.
Edited by Shevron, Jul 6 2009, 07:19 AM.
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Cul
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Ra waited until she'd made the jump, his saber spinning in a wild attempt to turn back the incoming blaster fire. Sooner or later, he knew, one bolt would score a hit, and from one, more would rapidly follow. So it was with some relief, that he watched her land, and launched himself out across the expanse, landing with a grunt, but not slowing, as he sprinted to the opening.

He could feel her emotions spike a bit, as the landing had likely caused some pain, not to mention the prospect of taking shelter in an ancient Sith Temple....But she wasn't showing much fear, or slowing down much either. He smiled, at her comment about the droids being the worst they'd encounter. Somehow, he doubted that was all that likely, but he'd leave it unsaid.

He glanced at the markings on the wall. She was correct in her assumption as to the dialect. "They are Sith writings, and an older dialect too. But I could translate them for you, if you wanna hang out in the entryway for a couple hours?" He gave her a lopsided grin, as they pressed on.

He was not at all shocked, as the second door opened for them, as if on command. He gave thought to the very few people who'd ever been Master of this Temple. It's creators had died for their efforts, leaving the place sealed for over a thousand years, until Thomas Darque, on a trip back in time, had made one trip inside. Years later, for Darque, and thousands of years later, for the galaxy, Darque would again enter the Temple. But no one in the time between had gained entry.

Past Darque, only Darque's prize Apprentice, Culwyn Graves, and Darque's grandson, incidently, Ra's grandfather, Hadrius, had ever been granted control of the Temple of the Lost. Even mighty Sith Lords the likes of Heiseto Leonhart, and Darth Gritus, had been unable to gain entry, uninvited.

It was the uninvited part, that was troubling Ra at the moment. Since even Darque, the true Master of the Temple, had needed to force his way in, his first visit, Ra was doubting that the place was unoccupied, or had lost it's odd enchantments. No, some Darksider, or collection of them, had settled in, in Graves's absense, and at least one of them had to be home right now, for the doors to be this open and inviting.

"I'd offer to go first, but it's rude to push past. And besides, Ada, the view from back here is better." He grinned, hoping the banter would take both of their minds of what they were doing, and where they were. As it was, he could feel the taint, the growing, rising aura, of the Dark Side. There was no doubt, that they were not alone....
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“I can already imagine what they say… ‘Beware ye that crosses here,’ ‘Go no further, turn back while you still can,’ or my all time personal Sith favorite, ‘A thousand curses upon those who enter here and may plagues follow their unborn children and children's children and yada yada…’” She laughed to herself at his suggestion of hanging around the entrance for a bit. No thank you.

“This place is ancient…how old is it?” She asked, but in reality, she really didn’t care to know. In fact, she’d have liked to think of a hundred other places she would prefer to be right now. That tropical planet with Ra was sounding better every moment.

Lounging in the humid air of some beach far, far away with the sun beating down on their skin…being able to just…breathe.

And then of course there was Ra. Her imagination could already see him shirtless in the sparkling sand at night under the moons of the world. The tide rushing in around their feet. Taking a step towards him her arms wrapped around him and he gathered her in his arms and took her to the sand with him.

She felt color instantly rush her face. It’s just the Temple…just the Dark Side trying to use temptation against us. She swallowed the lump in her throat that tasted suspiciously like her heart.

This had to be stopped…at his last comment though, her eyes darkened with annoyance and before she knew it, she had stopped and was raising a hand to strike him. “Stars help me, Ra, I am this close to slapping the living...daylights…” She suddenly stopped midmotion as she looked behind him. “Wait…didn't we just come that way?”

There was a dead end behind them and she softly blinked at the wall that could not have been there moments before. Perhaps it was one of the enchantments on the Temple itself…?

“Well, that’s weird…How are we suppose to--What was that?”

There was a corner up ahead of them and she swore to herself as she thought she heard voices. Turning from him to look at the corner, her hand reached once more for the previously belted saber handle. There was no telling what might come around that corner...
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RA merely grinned, as she spun to slap him.He shrugged, attempting an innocent look he knew not a souls alive would believe, but the sincereity of the attempt made it hard not to be endearing, all the same.

It was among his better natural defense mechanisms.

Especially with women.

He came up short, however, when she mentioned the wall, where they'd just come through. He turned, somewhat surprised to find it true. Oddly, in all the mentionings he'd heard, of the Temple, including from Hadrius, in the Cul Holocron, it's ability to shift it's walls, was never mentioned. Something he'd have to berate Hadrius about, the next time they spoke.

Providing, of course, he survived this experience to speak with his long dead relative again....(Funny, how if a normal person says that, they're crazy, but if it's a Force user? Heck, did that last week, how bout you?)

He shrugged. "Dunno, Ada. Guess when the time comes to head out, we'll figure it out then. Think of it this way, if we have active Darksiders here, those guys are always pretty decadent, no? So maybe they have a hot tub, or something, we can lounge in, after we've kicked their butts good, savvy?" He winked, then came up short.

From around a corner that also hadn't been there, moments ago, there was a faint light, that was growing brighter, and what sounded like voices. Deep voices. But more, Ra could feel a rise in the presense of the Dark Side.....and he could hear the hum of lightsabers....

"View or not, I think I should forget chivalry, and take the lead. Try not to cut my head off from behind, and follow my lead."
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"Well, you are right...the view from back here is certainly an improvement..." Adairon muttered under her breath as she took up a flank behind him and readied her saber. Her eyes wandered his backside a moment in thought and lingered. It took her a second to bring herself out of her own fantasies and focus once more on just what was going on.

She drew strength from the Force as the voices drew near, bringing with them a damn near choking wave of Darkness. Who ever it was here in this Temple that was approaching them now was powerful...very powerful.

Adairon felt her chest ache with a wish that her Master was here with them. Ra was quite strong, and he'd proven that, but they were still both young. Maybe they didn't have the experience they would need against this foe...

Stop second guessing things...this is where we are and this is how the game is being laid out. There is no going back now...

They would have to play their cards as they were dealt them. As the voices came around the corner, she straightened her spine and held her saber at the ready in a defensive posture, but when she caught sight of the faces, she felt confusion rise in her chest.

The resemblance to Ra was...unmistakeable. For a moment, she wondered if she had been betrayed by the handsome Cul, but no. She sensed no malice from him...he wouldn't have led her to her death like this...

Or would he?

Of course not. She told herself, pushing those doubts aside. She might not have known Ra long, but she trusted him and she believed that trust to be well grounded.

"Well...this just got interesting..."
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Ra grinned at her comment about the view. He was, by now, fairly certain that the effects of the Temple, of the world itself, were influeincing them. That, or the shock of yesterday had snapped her mind, and he really was as insane as he pretended to be at times. No, it was somehow more comforting to accept the taint of the Darkside.....

Ra held his saber, unlit, in his hand, as they rounded the corner, and nearly dropped it, as two giant men, white of skin, and black of hair, each wielding a humming red saber, approached. His saber sprang to life, as his heart pounded, for he'd seen the face both men wore, many times in his life.

Hadrius Cul's uncle, the only son of Thomas Darque, Durian, had worn the same face. So had a clone, formed from the pure essense of the first Darksider, created by Thomas Darque, many years before. The clone, discarded, had gone on to become a powerful Sith Lord, able to draw upon larger amounts of the Force, higher reserves of energy and power than all save a precious few. Darth Aurin had been his name.

Ra stared at the unblinking black eyes of his two opponents. "Ada, on my left. I'll take the one to the right. Try not to get dead, cuz I'm kinda looking forward to those hot springs. Especially since you'll need to lose the robes for that."

Ra spun off to the right, his saber slashing out in a fast strike, as he gave Ada a wink. He wasn't all that suprised, however, when his strike was easily parried. The sheer strength of his foe caught him a little off guard, and forced him to back up, however. Ra narrowed his eyes, and attacked again, this time with a series of rapid slashes. Each was met and parried, forcing Ra to move backwards, as well as to the side. The Darksiders were dividing them.

Ra spun, attempting to close back towards Ada, only to have his path obstructed by his opponent. Growling in irritation, he stabbed at his foe, only to be parried, and to recieve a boot solidly to the chest, sending him sprawling backwards, even further from Ada. "Say, aren't you supposed to be dead or something useful like that?"

His foe began to advance, face expresionless, and still silent....
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They were being boxed. She could see it as she kept her peripheral vision keyed to make sure Ra was alright. The two clones were keeping them apart to make them less likely to help one another. It was a bit aggrivating, but she knew they would need to keep focused right now.

And Ra's words about getting her robes off in a hot spring were definitely not helping matters. She fought color from rushing into her face after he'd said that and focused on the task at hand.

Her violet saber cut the air, barely missing the clone as they danced around one another. She was exceptionally light on her feet when it came to saber duels and she seemed to be keeping her own quite well as she moved, that was until the clone decided he had had enough and lunged forward through her defenses so quickly, she had to twist her body into an unnatural spin to avoid being sliced open at the gut.

The red blade had just barely grazed her robes, leaving it burnt, but she ignored that for now as she used the dark sider's momentum against him and pushed with the Force to send him flying back into the closest wall with a definite crack to his shoulder. He wasn't down for long though.

As the black eyed clone got to his feet, she set her violet eyes on his challengingly and readed herself for his next attack. He'd nearly gotten her with that last one...she wouldn't give him the chance again.
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Ra kept somewhat of a watch on Ada's progress against her combatant, though his attention was still mainly focused on his own foe. A series of powerful blows striking against his saber with incredible speed forced him further back. There was little doubt that they were focused on dividing the two, but something made Ra think the motive was more than preventing cooperation.

He reached out with the Force, to read his assailant. He was there, living, breathing, radiating power through the Force. A scary amount of power. But there was something not quite right. Something Ra couldn't quite put his finger on.

The momentary distraction nearly cost him his head, as he barely sidestepped another powerful blow. Ra frowned, as the clone raised a hand, and the Force surged out, sending Ra sailing backwards, crashing into a wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

He blinked away tears, and gasped for breath, coming to awareness barely in time to roll away from another blow. Sparks sizzled as the saber struck the enchanted stone of the Temple. Ra was on his feet in an instant, summoning his saber back to his hand, and igniting it in time to parry another powerful blow that drove him down to one knee.

He spared a quick glance in Adairon's direction, only to realize the Temple had again shifted, and Ada was no where in sight. "This is starting to get old fast. You're not much on the whole conversation thing, nor, I imagine, is your partner. And you're certainly not as easy on the eyes as my new friend is. Why don't we just let bygones be bygones, and we'll show ourselves to the door?"

The only responce he recieved, was a snarl of rage, and a renewed offensive...
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Ra was gone. The walls had shifted again and left her alone in a wide open room with her enemy and hardly much light. She could make out his figure only because of his read saber, but he seemed to realize this after a moment and extinguished the blade. For a moment, she thought he might have backed off, but that was quickly cast aside when she felt a foot smash into her kidneys from behind her.

He was fast. She was sent sprawling forward on her hands and knees, her saber leaving her startled grasp, but it was called back fast enough to reignite and meet the saber that now came crashing down toward her from above. She twisted onto her back to hold the weapon at bay. Squinting as red and violet sparked in her eyes and reached out to Force push him back.

The attack did nothing. He was shielding and she cursed for a moment, wondering just how long she could hold him back from her laying position on the floor.

"Alright, jerk, this is starting to get real boring..." She muttered as she pushed harder against his saber, attempting to drive him back, but he pressed down stronger, the Force aiding him along with gravity and she felt her grip starting to shake.

No...she had to live through this. She didn't survive the attack that had killed her Master to die here...

And another thought came up to the front of her mind. If she died, she wouldn't get to spend that vacation with Ra...

She could see them now in the hot springs together. The steam rising, clothing long forgotten, bodies moving closer in the heat of the water. Melting together, joining together. Sweat slicked skin, molten kisses...

The image of that startled her a little with the intensity of it and she blinked out of the image to find herself still on the floor with the assailant over her. Dark side or not making her feel this way, she was definitely not wanting this to be the way the story ended.

She deactivated her saber at the same time her feet came up and drove into the dark sider's groin. He hissed in pain and she let out a scream as his saber cut into her shoulder, but she was willing to take the pain if it meant she could end this now. She ignored the searing pain and drove her saber upward, the blade activating as she came to a crouch and the sound of the heat burning through his belly touched her ears along with his screams.
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Ra decided to switch tactics. It had become painfully obvious that he wasn't going to be able to match power with the clone, so all he gained was exhaustion by even trying. No, this would take something a little less direct. But Ra had discovered what it was, finally, that felt slightly off, about the clones.

They weren't actually thinking. They were responding to what amounted to preprogrammed orders. They were living automations, trained to use the Force, but little more than battle droids, for mentality.

He smiled, as he continued to back slowly away. Each new blow was met with his saber, though only enough to turn the blows aside, not to fully parry. Ra's grin broadened. "And here is why you're not going to beat me, old chap. You just haven't got enough swagger.

Ra lept backwards, then launched his saber through the air towards the clone. The blade spun with deadly accuracy, only to have the clone simply bat it aside with his saber, as he rushed the seemingly unarmed Ra.

Ra smiled, waiting until the clone committed to a killing blow, before pulling free his second saber, and igniting it's blade, barely in time to parry the blow. The clone responded with a snarl of rage, and began to hammer more and more blows, backing Ra against a wall. "I'd say this was amusing, but it really wasn't. Later chap, don't forget to write!" Ra cheerfully bantered, as he reached out to his other saber, summoning it back towards him, spinning wildly, and silently, till the last second, as Ra used the Force to reignite it's blade, taking the head from the clone.

Both gleaming red sabers rested in Ra's hands, as he panted, catching his breath, before he placed them both back to his belt. All he needed to do now, was find Ada, and get out of the Temple alive....




From a short distance away from Adairon, there came a soft clapping. A man, perhaps in his mid twenties, looking very much the part of a Darksider, especially with several scars, walked casually towards her. "Very impressive, my dear. I was really quite certain he was going to kill you."

The new man carried himself very much like a trained killer, and his eyes and smile bore nothing but unpleasantness. "And that would have been such a waste of a pretty little lady like yourself." He leered at her unpleasantly, as he continued to approach her, his hand drifting to a saber on his belt. "Why don't you hand me your saber, and come along quietly, and we won't have to mess up your pretty face any."
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