In the Beyond (Xander)

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

Xander Blackmoore had achieved the rank of Sith Knight, as she had known some time ago that he would. As such, now she could make good on her promise to mentor him in the art of Farsight, or what was sometimes referred to as divination. Of the many skills that Razielle had claimed over the years, Farsight had been with her the longest. Like Xander she had been gifted with it's insight before she had the power to control it. It was something that they had in common.

He would not be the first Sith Apprentice she had trained in the art. She had already worked with her son, Darius on the skill. During the session he had caught a glimpse of a threat in his future, to his new bride Lila, and their future children. With all her considerable power, the identity of the threat still eluded Razielle.

Even now, she stood before a polished obsidian mirror. Larger than the tabletop framed one she had set up for Darius to use, this one stood as tall as herself. With one hand braced on the twisted black wood of the frame, she stared into the darkness of the mirror, searching for answers that refused to reveal themselves while she awaited the King of the Indupar to arrive.

When she sensed he was near, she flung a gesture at the door, bidding it to open with the use of the Darkside.

"Come in, Xander."

[Xander Blackmoore]

It had been some time since Xander had met with Lady Adrasteia in regards to the subject matter they were set to discuss. The last time they met, she had given him insight in ways to control his visions, or at least diminish the frequency of them. She had told him the skill which was needed to control the visions was beyond him as a disciple, but she had promised to teach him when the time came. The time was now, and he had been summoned. Xander knew it would come at a cost. The woman had told him as much, though she always remained elusive on what the price would be.

There was a fear the cost was more than the King could pay, but he would do it if needed. The visions which had plagued him his entire life would be under his control after today, and near any price would be worth it. His hope was that today he did not uncover anything which would disturb the Sith Master. Her good graces were a preferable place to be. Such were his thought as he reached her door, one which seemed to open of its own will. Xander knew better however, and nodded as the voice of the siren called to him.

"Milady," he said with a bow. A King bowed to no one, yet here Xaner knew his place. Of course the lady may find it ironic, but such was the way of things.

"So today has finally arrived."

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

Whatever she had hoped to find within the polished black surface remained elusive as ever. With the signs of her stress wearing on her features, Master Van-Derveld turned to the Knight.

"So it would seem."

King or not, Razielle would bow to no man ever again. As it happened, she was a witch queen of Dathomir now, and as such even were she not a Sith Master she would never bow to him. Putting faith in a man had cost her years and tears.

"How has your practicing gone? Still painting, or does the life of a monarch steal your free time?"

[Xander Blackmoore]

Xander shook his head and waved off the comment.

"I am always painting. You know what it means to be haunted by something you cannot control. We are the same in this regard. I have found a suitible distraction from the impulse to always paint however.."

Lady Adrasteia was observant enough he would know of what he spoke.

"You keep looking at that mirror hoping something will change... has it?"

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

Xander was correct. Razielle Van-Derveld was a woman haunted. By the past. By the future. By the ghost of a love gone horribly wrong. She could no more stop the things she saw than she could stop the galaxy from spinning. She had tried to tell him this before, there was no stopping the influx of visions people like them were afflicted with. There was only learning to adapt, to decipher what would be from what could be. Like following a map where the path was constantly changing before your eyes, it was it's own kind of frustration.

As to the situation with her son and his young bride and family... things remained the same. She saw nothing but the loss of Lila and the children. Not a clue as to who took them or why. Which still led her to the conclusion that whoever was behind the nefarious deed, knew of her Sight and had taken steps to circumvent it.

"No...", she said, trailing her fingers across the cold smooth surface of the mirror. "All is darkness."

He had not come to hear of her woes though. She nodded with a ghost of a smile at the mention of his distraction, knowing all too well what he meant. She could try to warn him against that too - that what now was so sublime could quickly become a gaping wound in his soul, but that was his own lesson to learn, and she was somewhat jaded on that topic. Maybe things would go differently for Blackmoore. There was that possibility.

"I have always found using a tool to direct my Sight helpful, but it not necessary. They will come whether I am before a scrying mirror or not. Whether I am shuffling a deck of tarot, or lacing up a boot. With that in mind, I invite you to consider for yourself what might feel most comfortable to you now."

Razielle gestured to the shelves behind her as she had done once before, when Xander had not yet been ready to school his mind in the ways of Farsight.

[Xander Blackmoore]

"My canvas and paints are the tool I prefer, but your mirror intrigues me," Xander said without any hesitation.

Moving toward it with an outstretched hand, Xander looked on it as if he expected to see more of the massacre which haunted his dreams. Razielle was the only one who knew he saw this. Not even his assassin lover knew of the things which haunted the mind and dreams of the monarch. She would come upon his art sooner or later, but until that day, it remained a secret between the two.

"Have we spent enough time on the required pleasantries? I am eager to have some semblance of control."

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

In all of her time an experience with Xander Blackmoore he had only ever been an eager learner, and for the most part a respectful one. Even despite the deficit of his inferior gender. That he also shared the burden of Foresight with her, and all the nightmares that went with it, gave them an even more common bond. He had experienced Dathomir, embraced the tongues of Beasts, and been a worthy student, and member of the Sith Empire.

But that did not mean she would not snatch his otherwise charming tongue right out of his kingly mouth, if he thought to be flippant with her again. A lesson needed learning here..

"Does it? Does it intrigue you?", she asked maybe too sweetly.

Facing the mirror herself, the Sith Master curved a hand around the frame again, and watched Xander's reflection in the polished glass. When his eyes met hers in the reflection, the mirror cracked... From the fracture, fluid began to seep out, colors of red and gray, smearing together in a thick ooze which covered the glass, forming into a painting familiar to them both. A scene of death. But that was not all, behind the scene the impression of a hand pushed at the image, clawing it's way forward. Fingers covered in both the smear of oil paints, and covered with shards of shattered obsidian punctured through into the Sith Master's office, reaching for Blackmoore. Another hand followed, and soon a thing was crawling out of the image itself. It hissed with what would have been Razielle's voice, had she spent a year gargling glass shards and destroying her vocal chords.

"You think to rush me?", the Adrasteia-thing hissed at Xander, while the real Razielle stood as she had, looking on into the mirror, watching as the horror attacked the Sith Knight.

Paint flooded into the body, making her grow to twice her normal height. The sconces around the room shone their glow upon the thick, oily iridescent quality of her form.

"I am a queen. I am the voice of the empire you serve. Know your place or I will be your end.." It leaned down low over the Sith Knight, grinning it's hateful grin in his face.

[Xander Blackmoore]

Xander watched in horror as the image from the mirror dared to attack him. Razielle had worked some magic to make a point, one Xander had to always remember. His eagerness for control did not give him the right to loose his self-control. It was what separated him from those of the empire who were mad, insane. His head bowed low in an apologetic form.

"Forgive me, milady. I do not presume to tell you how to teach. I have briefly forgotten my place it seems."

The monarch prepared himself for whatever form of punishment she chose, knowing Neferis was partial to lightning. Rumors of Razielle suggested she preferred the cold. Whatever she chose, Xander would take it as he had always done before.

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

As quickly as it had been conjured, the illusion was dispelled. The monstrous vision of herself as a painting come to horrifying life reduce and oozed back into the mirror as though it had never been, leaving nothing behind to suggest that it had ever been real. Just the reflection in the polished black obsidian of Razielle with an amused smile on her face.

"It seems so.", she agreed. "You are good stuff, Blackmoore. I would hate to see you ended before your time."

"The mirror is a tool, like any other.", she continued as if he had not just interrupted her lesson with his impatience.

"Gazing into it, I imagine, is something like looking at one of your blank canvases. At first, nothing. By meditating on the design of the Darkside, the image will become increasingly more clear until it lives inside your mind. And then you will need no mirror to perceive it. It will haunt you, seared into the insides of your eyelids. Invading your dreams..."

Which was exactly why she almost never slept.

[Xander Blackmoore]

"Of that, I know a great deal," Xander replied, in regards to her comment about his visions invading his dreams. "I am beginning to gather what I hoped to be a solution is not one at all, but rather a semblance of control?"

This question was not an impatient one, but rather his effort to understand what he was learning. The king was afraid now that he would never gain control, and the vision which haunted him now, would never go away. There was no easy way to tell her, so Xander opted to just say it.

"I painted it again," he said.

Razielle would know what he referred to. Xander looked away from the mirror.

"And I do not wish to see it again. This nightmare of yours, it has become mine as well. Though rather than a canvas, the scene took over te entire cargo hold of my ship. If we proceed with this lesson, will it bring to the front the thing neither of us wish to see again?"

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

"I told you when you first came to me as a Disciple that I did not believe control would ever be option for you. That your best plan of action was in learning to embrace the gift, not to prevent it. It will never get better. It will never leave you, and if you don't learn how to deal with the things you see, you will go mad from it. There are no words of comfort for people like us, Xander. ", she sighed, wishing she had something better to tell him. Wishing that someone had something better to offer her, as well, but wishes were for fools.

The nigthmare he had painted. She wanted it gone form her mind, but it lingered there haunting her as well. She still had his painting. It was in her chambers on Dathomir at the Sith Temple, under a drop cloth and locked away from anyone else stumbling across it. She knew he would not have chosen to paint it willingly, that his actions were as uncontrolled as the babble she sometimes spouted when a vision held her in it's grasp.

"I am sorry.. that you were dragged into it. I can offer no explanation as to why, apart from the relationship we have developed over the years in the arts I have taught you. I am sure you can tell form the scene, sides have been chosen, but it does not matter. In the end, all was death...", she looked away, knowing one of those deaths was her own.

"Did anything change?"

[Xander Blackmoore]

"I could tell you, but do you wish to see it for yourself?"

The question was poised, her curiosity would eventually make her say yes. Until she did though, Xander should be focused at the task at hand. His blue eyes gazed upon the mirror once more. He gave his answer.

"I was there, looking for someone, frantically. The scene is still massive, deadly, horrific. Unfortunately I was not alone when I painted like a mad man."

He turned his gaze back to Razielle.

"I am aware of my promise, but it seems I was in quite the frenzy for the better part of an entire day. The only good to come of it is I am now immune to the venom of the Hssiss. If you want me to catch you some."

Xander smirked. It was a peace offering. He knew it, and so did she.

[Razielle Van-Derveld]

Razielle recoiled a little at the suggestion that she should see this painting he had done. Seeing it was the last thing she wanted, but he was right, she would all the same. She had to know as much as she could about it, to try and prevent the event.

"I'll...see it.", she hissed, not at all warming to the idea.

The news that someone else was now also aware of the anomaly disturbed Razielle, but it could not be helped after the fact. Xander's word had been broken, but not by his own conscious action it seemed. Incinerating him in her office would not make her feel any better, and she had already scared him into a measure of respect once already, another round of terror was not required at this time.

"Venom you say? Sounds like a woman's weapon. That will make it the Mecrosa Order assassin you were with on Indupar then.", she concluded.

"Rumors are not something I put much stock in, Blackmoore, but the rumor is that she is your mistress. If you enjoy her, keep her quiet."

Or else, was left unsaid.

[Xander Blackmoore]

"She already understands," Xander said as he opened the door for Razielle. "I am not certain the scene is what you think it is however."

Razielle would be the judge of that, but Xander was beginning to think the vision he saw was related to the amulets he had never uttered a word to Razielle about. He was walking a dangerous line, but he could not tell her of the secret he found.

He led the way to the hangar bay, and lowered the ramp to the ship. Walking up the ramp, he took the Sith mistress to the cargo bay. His eyes fell right to the scene of the frantic search he was looking for. What was it, who was it, he was looking for. It was going to be time soon to tell the woman, but he would delay as long as he could.

"Here it is..."