The Dark Academy on Korriban

Sensing his agitation, she pulled away from his masterful work and turned, slipping a leg between them, so that her legs hung over his hips. She smiled and slipped her arms beneath his, drawing their bodies close. She bit into the flesh of his shoulder before raising her cheek to his.

"Dare I trust you?" She whispered lustfully in his ear. "But I want to. Your mind, your body....

She pressed into him harder, "You're sorely tempting me to tell you."

"If you expect I'll pass the trials of the Farro and be trusted with your family's secrets, you should trust me. If you suspect that I'll fail those trials you should not," he says to her, curiosity in his eyes.

"Vhat zhat you already had and I knew for zertain. I've zeen zo many futures, zo many possibilities. In zome you are true, in otherz you are not. In zome ve are together for centuries, in others you slay me on the morrow. Vhat zhat I could zhow you directly, but my teachers vould be most upset vith me."

She cleaved to him strongly and uncertainty was hidden beneath a veil of chaotic thought clearly meant to mask her feelings. A trick of her training among the Farro.

"Clear your mind. Empty thoughts of those visions. Look to your feelings. Trust your instincts," he says, uncaring of her hidden emotions. "When the dark gives you 1000 visions that's either it's way of saying it doesn't want you to know or that you must make your own choices no?"

"I vant to trust you," she confessed.

She bit at the side of his chin and then pulled away just enough to look at him, with a kind of appraising eye. "Perhaps a half truth. I cannot share it all, but I can at least tell you a little of vhat I've found. Do you know anyzhing of zhe Infinite Empire und zhe Rakata?"

OOC: Dapper put it to me as a Hard Knowledge: Education or Xenobiology (Intellect) roll.

"No clue. Is that a parable or story from Korrizan?" He doesn't seem to have a clue at all.

Transmutation, [D7 MM], Lore, Infinite Empire?: 2eA+3eD 0 successes, 2 threat

She shook her head, "Long, long, long ago, back during zhe wery earliest tribe kingz of zhe Sith, zhere vere already powverful galactic empires. Zhe Hutts had enslaved many systems, for example, but zhe greatest of zhese early ciwilizations vas zhe Rakata und zhere Infinite Empire. It vas wast und powverful vith an understanding of zhe universe zhat ewen our new empire und zhe republic pale in comparison."

"Zhey used zhe wery Force to powver zheir greatest mechanisms. Zhe Star Forge iz v'one, und I found another. A small orb called zhe Woid Engine. Long ago it vas subject to a powverful ritual zhat aligned it fully to zhe Dark Side. To zhe best of my understanding as it iz now, und vhich vill grow in zhe future, it observes all of time echoing forvard und back, und can show all possibilities. It is....zhe infinite, and zhrough it channels zhe Dark Side. It iz, like zhose places powverfully touched by zhe Dark Side, a vergence unto itzelf."

He listens quietly, his hands caressing her sides as she explains. His face is neutral like that of a student willing to learn. Though his focus was almost entirely on her story, he did have a minor offshoot onto the witches appeal.

"Apparently the were less infinite than they claimed," he says with a nod. "But apparently not lost forever if relics still remain. You must carry this void engine with you always then, because I've felt the the similar surge as I have in the tombs." He grins at her... I thought it was just us together creating a stronger bond with the dark side. Though I suppose I'd actually need to learn Farro techniques for that to happen, no?"

"Yes," she agreed. "But that is what I considered. Zhe Infinite Empire suffered decline because of infighting und ewentually a terrible plague. But iz zhat all? In some vay zhe Infinite Empire remains vith uz in a vay that is beyond all others. Vhen I zay zhat zhis orb zees all of zhe future und past, it does not do zo in zhe vay ve might conceive. It does zo by existing in all possible time simultaneously zhrough its connection to zhe Dark Side. It iz outzide of time."

"All possible time simultaneously? Does it function on some sort of technology similar to warp engines, time dilation and all that?" The concept was not necessarily completely alien to him. He was, after all, up on basic principles of warp engines as a spacefighter pilot. But it's also apparently interacting with the dark side and that is where he gets lost.

"I do not know. No book, no discussion of engineering or mechanics or anything I have read to learn more of it, explains its nature. It is, like the Star Forge a creation of the Force that is beyond all modern conception. It is as far beyond us as we are beyond the Sith of old."

"I see. Well then, I probably shouldn't give myself a headache trying to figure it out," he says with a chuckle. "How dangerous is it?" he asks with curiosity more than concern. He knew she could take care of herself.

"Strangely benign," she admitted. "At least from vhat I have experienced. It iz abnormally passive vor zomezhing zo seeped in zhe Dark Side. It zeeks only to obserwe. It obserwes all of time. Zhat iz itz only purpose. In some vays I beliewe it acts as a conduit of zhe Dark-light be sheer accident of zhe Sith rituals enacted upon it long, long ago."

"Interesting. I imagine that that is as far as you're going to push your trust in me for now though," he says with a smirk. "But I thank you for it."

"I vould go further. Zhe Sith rituals were old and powverful, but taxing. It vas blut sacrifice of zhousands if not tens of zhousands, maybe even hundreds of zhousands. Sith blood, heawily infused vith zhe Dark-light. It permeated zhe relic vhich they worshiped as a god. Zhe zacrifices might have ewen happened ower years or decades. She sheer amount of their sacrifice permanently transmuted the artifact into vhat it is today. Zhat iz vhy it iz a wergence."

"Have the Farro accomplished anything of that magnitude? I don't know enough about your history, something I need to rectify."

"Nothing like zhis. Nothing so....concentrated. Ve have many rituals to draw zhe Umbră-Ușoară, und ve know zhat our sacred ritual zites are such because of zhousands of years of channeling zuch powvers. Ve know zhat zuch permeation of zhe Dark-light can permanently seep into zhe very land, but newer have we zeen it affect a zingle object. Not like zhis."

"Vhat I vonder iz.....if zuch sacrifice vere made, akin to zhat to transmute zhe Woid engine, could it bless a being in zuch a vay. Could zhat powver be channeled into zhem to make zhem unto a great wergence in zhe Force. A living embodiment of zhe Dark Side. It iz eweryzhing I have dreamed of."

"I think that might be the wrong question. That would take decades and thousands more sacrifices," he says. "The right question, I would think, is can that power be transferred... from the void engine to a person. Use the work that has already be done and just change the vessel?"

"I am not certain I vish it. To transfer it from zhe Woid Engine might damage it or make it inoperable. I am not sure I am villing to lose it, yet. Zhough," she considered it for a time. "I might...vith research und some guidance of mein great-grandmuter. Implant zhe orb vithin me. Much vould have to be considered."

"If your great-grandmother is as wise as I suspect she is then I'm sure she'll have a few good ideas of what to do with it. Perhaps it itself, being older than the house, might have potential use to strengthen the sorcery of your family," he says.

"If it exists in different times perhaps it's inclusion in some rituals might allow the manipulation of time, perhaps allowing an even greater extension of lifespans?"

"Zhere are a zhousand possibilities vith a relic of zuch powver. I vill be saddened to zee it leawe my possession, but House Farro vill thriwe, und I vill have prowen my dewotion to great-grandmuter und our House beyond anyzhing I have done in zhe past. I am zure to be revarded vith more zacred teachings."

There were mixed emotions, obviously a tinge of bittersweet sadness, but then thrill at the prospect of such knowledge being opened to her.

"A trade off, for sure. But one that you get to choose to make. But I know you care a great deal for the Farro. I will and do too," he says, pulling her in tight to his body.

"It will be good for all of us, he says with the confidence of one who considers becoming a Farro a given, before kissing her deeply and passionately.

She pressed into him, her arms and legs wrapped about him, her hips pressed tightly to his. Finally she broke their embrace.

"Mein ztrength iz our ztrength," she said though it was unclear whether she meant the two of them or her and her house.

She rested her head on his shoulder and sat in silence for several long minutes. Then she smirked, "You've made me zoft. A part of me vould rather ztay here, against your body, enjoying our pleasures. Not have to vorry about anyzhing else. But I muzt be ztrong und deny zuch urges. Focus on mein training."

"I do not want you to feel that way Jun-tsu," he says. "I want you to be strong..."

"...no, I want us to be strong. I will do what I can to make that happen. I hope you understand that. You always have me when you need my blade. And if you wish, I can train you with them even after we have graduated this academy. As I've said, you are my witch-princess and I'll be your knight. And there will be nothing we can't stand against. Don't think of it as me making you weak, think of it as us strengthening a bond that makes you stronger by our association."

Her smile turned a touch more mocking as she eyed him. She had meant the off-handed comment as a half-joke but was happy to hear his vow of devotion again. Slowly she untangled herself from him and got to her feet.

"Vell, as much as mein rituals can help ztrengthen your blades, I zuppose ve should be returning to zhe Academy. I've obligations zhere," she peered into the distance in the direction of campus.