Myriad Reckonings

"What will you do if he finds us?"

Mother thought for a moment as she limped along beside her daughter. "Perhaps we have been avoiding our fate. Lady Saro set us on this path the moment she took Atoa's future into her own hands, and there was never any sense in our undoing it."

"We're only as weak as you allow us to be," Raia said grimly. "Continue that kind of talk and the Faith truly will die."

"You cannot see the larger picture," Mother sighed. "My poor stillborn, it was decided the Faith would die the moment she made contact with the interlopers. We are an afterimage. Look at us--eight women and four men, none of us young enough to bear children. The Atoan people are already extinct. The Faith will go extinct along with us."

The terrain became rockier as he neared where the smoke trail had vanished. He place his staff on his back in order to quickly climb over a small formation of boulders and loose stones. Some of the crystals were quite sharp, but his toughened hands were not cut as he climbed to to top of the boulder. This formation didn't quite match the landscape and he suspected it has been either built or moved at some point.

He paused, crouching atop the boulder and observing the washout below him for any sign of an entrance that might lead underground. He was not far from a small mountain range and the closer he drew to the mountain the more jagged and hazardous the ground became. The sun was blazing in the sky and causing the crystalline rocks to glitter and refract light in every direction, casting odd shadows across the landscape.

Sirejj leaped down onto a solid patch of ground, landing on his feet with catlike grace. A few crystals skittered down the steep incline of the ravine. He took his staff again to aid his balance as he maneuvered his way to the bottom. He could sense an entrance was near, but it was well hidden. Down in this ravine his senses became dampened. It was as if a fog had settled over the ravine and was now covering his path.

He was close. If their presence was strong enough to blind his mind, they had to be nearby.

"I'm meant for a narrower gaze, I know," Raia muttered. She was not a young woman; she needed no lectures on her place or the grander scale. Her purpose was to protect, to guard what remained of their culture while they all still drew breath. "Very well. If you insist the Faith is already dead, what does it matter that this being cones looking for us?"

"If and when he finds us," Mother said, raising her head to look at her daughter properly, "he will ask things of us that we are not yet prepared to tell him. We will have to tell him anyway, and when we do he will have a choice to make that may change the course of events galaxy-wide."

"For better or for worse?"

"That remains to be seen. It unfolds slowly in front of me; I cannot see beyond Atoa for the moment."

Spoiler

I do love putting the jackass characters in situations where the fate of everyone rests on their shoulders. Sirejj doesn't know what he's gotten himself into.

A certain rock caught his attention. It was an oblong shape with jagged edges as if it had been hewn from the mountainside itself. He stepped closer and rested his hand against the cold stone.

It had been placed here intentionally. Behind it he felt the entrance to a winding cave system that went into the hillside and down beneath the mountains. Impermeable and undetectable, it was the perfect hiding place. The stone was huge, and he wasn't sure he could move it himself. He climbed on top of it and saw a gap that opened down into the cave's entrance just large enough for him to fit through. After examining it he dropped his staff in first and then followed, slipping into the darkness.

It was much colder down here and nearly pitch dark except for the beam of light coming from his entry point. The cave turned into many tunnels. There was no telling which one led to wherever the Atoans were hiding. It was so dark that even his bright eyes struggled to see very far. Relying solely on his senses he made his way down one of the tunnels, his staff in hand and stretched slightly out in front of him to guide his way. He did not wish to appear hostile. He would prioritize his motives first. He wanted to see their spells. Learn what secrets they'd been hiding that had saved these few from extinction. He hated to admit it, but compared to the elders of his people, he knew precious little. He was not sure what or if they'd ask for anything in return for their secrets. He's figure that out when he arrived.

"Why risk it at all?"

Mother was silent, and Raia knew her question had been foolish. They went the rest of the way to the main chamber without a word.

Kurra met them at the entrance, her hands clasped in front of her. Her face appeared serene, but even Raia could tell her twin was anxious.

"The presence has breached our home," she said to Mother, who nodded.

"I felt it," she replied. "He will be here in the next half a day, if his will is strong enough to traverse the passages and overcome the obstacles we have laid out in front of him."

"I still think I should--"

"Raia, the spells have not failed us before. They will turn him away from us if he isn't meant to be here."

There was a reason the Atoans had remained hidden for this long.

The farther he traveled, the harder it became to see his way. Not only because it was dark, but because the mingling of the many spirits that had once inhabited these tunnels were doing their best to smother the Force around him. These walls had seen the birth and death of a civilization. They were older than any of those Atoans who still lived. And they did not want him here.

He whispered a few Dathomiri words and the end of his staff lit up, but instead of an eerie green, the light glowed a soft snowy blue. That startled him slightly. The presence was strong here to the point where it dominated his own.

The walls of the caves were scattered with runes, only a few of which he could understand. They were all in the ancient language of the Atoans, which he only understood a few words of, and those words belonged to spells he'd discovered in the past.

He turned a corner and faced a dead end. Frowning, he paused and thought for a moment. These walls held many stories, but they were difficult to decipher. He took a deep breath, pushing away the slight nervousness of being trapped in the tunnels and turned to another path which felt clearer to him in the Force.

He didn't know what kind of welcome they'd have for him. He didn't imagine it'd be a warm one. Hopefully they would see what he wanted them to see- his original intent of learning from their spells and magick.

Raia relented and left her mother and sister to discuss plans without her. This matter clearly didn't warrant concern, if they were to be believed. She was in the way, as usual.

A year or so ago she might have sought out her husband Arlo and they would have walked through the caves together without saying anything, happy simply to be in one another's company. He had been a quiet sort, gentle and prone more to listening than to offering advice. That had suited Raia just fine, and they had gotten on as well as two people forced to live in a small space with eleven others could.

A stroke had taken him from her last winter--she thought it was winter, anyway. He lingered awhile, fading in and out of consciousness, and then passed peacefully on the third day. Being a priest, he had seemed relatively unbothered by his mortality and remained in good spirits when he was awake. Raia, not one for hysterics, simply held his hand and waited it out at his side.
He was buried with the rest of their brethren under the stone Mother had been praying at earlier. Raia thought for a moment that she ought to pay him a visit, then shook it off. The stone brought her no comfort; it was a monument to everyone buried and everyone they could not recover. The waterfall was a better place to clear her mind.

As indifferent as Sirejj was -or attempted to be- he could not help but feel the heaviness of this place. It was to be expected; it was what was left of a decimated civilization. That feeling struck a little too close to home.

What had happened on this world was unfortunate to say the least, and while he had no intention of righting wrongs or picking sides, he, a being more sensitive to the Living Force than most was almost pained by the things he knew had happened here.

It forever irked him how swiftly those who served the Empire reached for their weapons of genocide. There was not even a respect for the knowledge their enemies held, the only thing that mattered was their complete annihilation. The Empire's desire was not to become great, but to become dominating. Eventually their oversight would be their downfall, as all was the case with all tyrants. Hopefully the entire galaxy wouldn't have burned to the ground by then.

The tunnels went deeper into the ground and the temperature changed. It became much more damp and cold and the ceiling dripped with crystal stalactites as the tunnel widened into a massive cave. The floor, slippery and almost crystal clear, reflected the light from his staff. The walls lit up with a vast spectrum of colors as the light refracted from the crystals. Sirejj winced as his eyes caught the full force of the light and lowered his staff, returning the room to pitch darkness.

"Force." He muttered, blinking his eyes to attempt to clear them. The darkness was disorienting at first. Once his bright eyes adjusted he saw a small, faint flicker in the distance. It was so dim that no human eyes would have noticed it, but the Zabrak's eyes, adapted over thousands of years to living in the shadows, was able to see it far off. It glistened off of the crystals. They were far too deep underground for it to be daylight, unless there was some odd tunnel that led directly upwards. That may be the case, for he thought he could hear a faint trickling of water in the direction of the dull light source. He would investigate nonetheless.

Raia took her time getting to the waterfall, meandering through the narrowest tunnels until she reached the dim blue lamps on either side of the passage behind it. The water roared ahead of her, forming a heavy curtain over the exit that one without a strong will and skillful footwork could pass through. Jagged rocks jutted up from the lake beyond, narrowing the cave mouth into a sharp and angry grimace.

Inside the chamber, though, were two benches carved out of either side of the wall. Atoan runes were etched into the arch above the tunnel as well, and a small shrine to the twenty-nine gods at the center. Raia took a seat at the leftmost bench and leaned her lance beside her, breathing in the cool spray from the waterfall.

Spoiler

do we have any magic or force-specific obstacles in mind for him (I don't currently) or are we mostly seeing if he survives the caves (and Raia lol)

The closer he came to the dim light, the farther away it seemed, but the sound of water grew louder. It was clearly more than just a stream that emptied into a mountain chasm. Sirejj's journey was painfully slow on the slippery crystal floor. A slip or fall potentially meant impaling oneself on a stalactite or being sliced open on one of the jagged crystal rocks. He was used to treacherous footing, but it took concentration.

The Force was heavy here. It felt even difficult to climb through the caves with the barriers the Atoans had invented to hide their presence pushing against him. His only advantage was that he knew of similar magicks that the Great Mothers had once used, but he'd never faced them head on before.

The ground turned upwards into a narrow tunnel lined with sharp rocks. He slowed here and very carefully made his way upwards, always maintaining a handhold or foothold somewhere. He'd always been an excellent climber, but even this footing was a challenge for him. He began to sweat despite the cold and shook his head to clear the salty droplets from his eyes.

He felt a draught of cooler, damper air. There must be an even larger cave on the other side of this tunnel, at least large enough for the air to be moving.

Spoiler

I think they'd have put up some magic illusions like ghosts and cave-ins. Maybe some psychological torment as well? Up to you! Raia is either going to confront him if he senses her or she'll follow along quietly and see what he does.

She closed her eyes, resting her back against the wall. It struck her as deeply unfair that only two stillborns had stayed on-world after the purge eight years ago. That had been her and Hyran, who died just a few years after the migration into the caves. She was alone now, and the rest all sat praying or meditating about the galaxy. Raia was stuck on the ground, never to see that higher plane they spoke of with such awe. She had no magic, no special skills other than those she had taught herself. That said, her abilities with the lance were not to be trifled with.

Useless, Mother had called them. She put so much faith in these illusions...but what if this stranger saw through them? What if he did mean to do harm? Who would protect the Faith then? Raia was no paladin, but she was a daughter and a sister. She would defend her family if all else failed.

This was the only entrance into the lower tunnels. Whoever it was would have to come through here, and she would be there to meet him if he did. She was still unsure of whether she would face him head on or wait to see what sort of a being he was, but she resolved to let her instincts guide her. She had time to decide, surely.

Spoiler

psychological torment is always good. lemme see what i can cook up.

"How did all of these people get down here..." The tunnels were narrow and not suited to travel. They were stiflingly tight, only a body's width wide in some places. Sirejj felt his stomach turn when he struggled through the tighter places. The thought of being stuck there made him want to turn around and find the fresh air again. The stifling dampness of the cave made it feel like he was breathing underwater.

The whispers hadn't stopped, but he noticed whenever he let his mind focus on the fact he was currently squeezing his way through impenetrable rock where nobody would ever find him if he became trapped, they grew louder.

He finally reached a place where there was space to stand up and stretch his arms without touching the walls. He took a deep breath and sat down for a moment, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I'd imagined this would be easier." He frowned and looked at the narrow tunnel ahead of him. He did not want to go that way. But the way back was just as treacherous. He could feel a brief clutch of panic around his throat when he thought about what that narrow tunnel might end.

Deep down he knew his destination was forward, but everything in him wanted to find a way back to where he could run.

"Always running from your fears..." A voice came from the pitch darkness. Sirejj startled and leapt to his feet, his staff in front of him and ready for a fight. He felt no one nearby.

Sirejj knew an illusion when he saw one, but recognizing a falsehood didn't immediately render it harmless. His eyes flickered green for a moment but he found he couldn't create an illusion himself and hide his physical self in the shadows. His magicks were smothered here.

"You've been running your entire life. Even when you were safe on your homeworld, you felt the Calling. And yet you ran. Why?" The voice changed tones, pitch, and volume as it slowly began to materialize into a figure that somehow stood out in the darkness.

Sirejj scoffed. "A brilliant illusion. You Atoans must be masters of magicks. If I was a fool I might even be frightened." He forced himself to stand up straight and relax his shoulders. He would not cower before an image not unlike those he could conjure himself.

The illusion laughed, and the voice sounded strangely familiar. "You are the only one here, Brother. I see no other spellcasters." Before him now were two glowing yellow eyes, nothing else.

"You're not of my doing."

"But you've made a companion of me recently." The figure stepped forward and Sirejj saw a reflection of himself. The horns, the dull yellowed stripes that showed through the magicked tattoos that covered his body. But he carried no staff, and a few of the horns on the back of his head were broken. "And here we are again."

Sirejj felt the intense urge to turn around and walk away the way he'd come and abandon the entire thing. His mind didn't even consider Tarkin. He'd evaded the Empire before, he could do it again. But he stood still.

"You're simply an image, perhaps of my own madness, but an image nonetheless." Sirejj took a step forward, desperately struggling to cast a spell of his own but completely unable to do so.

"Madness is a good word for it." The figure suddenly stretched out his hand and pushed Sirejj against the wall of the cave with the Force, ripping his staff from his hands with such intense power it nearly pulled his arm from his shoulder. "All this time you've been running from a golden opportunity, but instead you scavenge for scraps of magicks from the ashes of fallen worlds." The figure lowered his hands so both of them held his staff.

Sirejj remained pinned to the wall. Seeing another being, even if was a manifestation of himself rob him of his weapon was infuriating. This was a level of sorcery he'd never faced and though he was sure it was of Atoan origin, he had no idea how they'd gotten into his head. He fought, snarling as he attempted to break free from the force that held him.

"Pity you never learned to use pain to your advantage." The figure caressed his staff, running his hands over the carefully carved bone and wood handle. "You wouldn't be running from Them if you stood a fighting chance." The figure's eyes glowed a bright yellow and a scar, shaped almost perfectly like that of a massive hand, appeared to cover half of his face. He suddenly twisted the staff with violent force and shattered it.

There was a sharp crack and a flash of light, followed by an outpouring of green smoke that drowned the room. Sirejj was thrown to the ground and though he struggled, was unable to rise until the smoke had subsided. Finally, Sirejj lurched to his feet, coughing from the smoke and the wind that was driven from his lungs when he fell. He looked around the room, which was empty now, and saw his staff leaning against the wall. Summoning it to him he found it unharmed. Speaking aloud a spell, he watched as the staff lit up the room with the soft blue light it had before.

Looking around, he saw the narrow passage from where he'd come was now a wide pathway. The path forward however, was just as narrow as before.

Cursing to himself, he hesitated. In the end, his pride outweighed his fear. He'd come to accomplish a goal. He wasn't leaving until he'd done so.

Spoiler

Ohoho eerie!!!

Meanwhile, in the main chamber, Kurra and her mother were seated beside the dreamers.

"Your sister is up to mischief," Mother murmured. She had not spoken for nearly forty minutes, and had Kurra been stillborn she would have forgotten her mother was there at all.

"Dangerous mischief?"

"We shall see." Mother's eyes were closed. "She craves purpose, and her temper is short. Boredom makes people impulsive, your sister most of all."

Kurra's mouth tightened into a thin line. "Would you like me to fetch her, Mother?"

"No. Not yet. Look ahead, child. There are new branches forming on the tree."

Kurra exhaled and closed her eyes as well, reaching into the Final Heart to do as her mother said. She searched for her sister's signature, her thousands of tiny hearts beating steady rhythms throughout her body. She pinpointed them, felt her own hearts pumping blood into her veins, then cast her mind forward into the life-tree. The visions were vague, murky things tainted by the emotions of strangers. Nothing was certain until decisions were made, and none of them concerned her. Raia, though...Raia had a part to play, should she wish it.

The whispers continued to taunt him as he moved onwards. Sirejj could sense an opening ahead of him and finally, after what felt like hours, forced his way through the tunnel's exit and into an open cave. Breathing heavily and beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion and hunger, he slowly began to walk across the cave floor.

The light was brighter here, but due to the crystals, it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Placing his staff on his back so his hands were free to take a flask of water from his belt, he examined the cave. It wasn't much different than the others. In fact, it was infuriatingly similar. He knew it wasn't the same one, but it added to the illusion that he was moving in perpetual circles.

He could smell a change up ahead. there was the water source he'd heard echoing through the tunnels some time ago, only now it was much louder. He continued walking towards it, replacing the canteen on his belt. He doubted the water was consumable, but then again, the people down here had to have something to survive.

As he rounded a corner he caught sight of the winding path that led upwards towards the sound of water falling down onto the rocks and running away through the tunnels. These steps had been made by intelligent life. That was a hopeful sight.

"He approaches," Mother said, and those who were awake gathered around her.

"Pray that Raia remains passive," Kurra muttered.

**

Raia could not hear the stranger's steps over the sound of the waterfall. She remained on her bench and picked up her lance. It had not tasted flesh in eight years, not since the interlopers arrived with their blasters and bombs. She'd taken the lives of many white armor-clad humans. It was a point of pride; there were notches in the shaft of the weapon.