(EM2) - Restless Sleep (Closed)

[Ender]

It is always exciting, to discover new things, isn't it?

The voice awakens you early, seemingly haunting your mind. A clipped, what could be described as Imperial Accent, but it seems... archaic.

Don't be so surprised. You found something. Of course you did. And in your arrogance, you brought him home. Wouldn't another say... this belongs in a museum?

The voice, definitely male, continually whispered in your sleep, keeping you tossing, and turning.

Seems you are quite the student, too. Such a keen mind... you must be very proud... A curious one, aren't you?

For the day, all of your checks will suffer one setback die due to restless sleep. In addition, being in proximity to the tome over night, you incur 1 conflict.

But... there seems to be some benefit, as well. The language still is not comprehensible, but the patterns are more apparent. And the map... you swear you've seen it before, much more recently.

[Sharn]

Sharn awakened when he thudded at the floor, having somehow fallen from the bunk. Cursing in Cheunh, he localised his discomfort to haze in the head and cold sweat all across his body. To address irritation, he cast off all clothing and paced around the room naked, trying to compel his cortex to deal with it like it should. What the Mustafar was that?!

[Ender]

All your brilliance, and yet you ignore what is right in front of you. How... single minded. I see a bit of myself in you, Chiss.

The words rattled in your mind, adding to the dull throb in your head.

You eagerly took what you seek to understand, only to try and quantify the arcane, the esoteric. I can help you. But not in the way you think...

[Sharn]

"I will help myself the way I think! Your pitch is all smoke and mirrors, you just want to cover up the truth with mumbo-jumbo talk!" Sharn blurted, holding his head. "Who are you, and why are you abusing my connection to the Force to get into my head?!"

[Ender]

Arrogant and Impatient. So useful to me, so easily... baited. It bothers you when you don't have all the answers, doesn't it? The voice seems to reverberate in your mind, calm, cool, and chiding. Oh yes. Everything can be rationalized, everything placed in neat little columns. Smoke and mirrors it may be, but my Power is unquestionable. Though it seems I have been asleep for... I can't even fathom. Not since the Jeda'ii did this to me...

From your periphery, the tome flips open, as if a strong wind hit it. Pages flip faster and faster, until they stop. Another map.

Something you need to study then, you think? Something your mind works so well at...

[Sharn]

Jeda'ii... Sharn quickly scanned his historical knowledge by when they had been gone to put the voice in some timeframe. "Neat little columns? Haha, you prehistorical ignorant, you think you have any grasp on quantum physics? Laughable. I'll crack right through your esoteric crap and discover the underlying logic of this." Still, he took a peek at the map...

[Ender]

The Map seemed familiar. If you overlayed it with a map of Noventa, you could identify some landmarks. While it is ancient, some things never change. Mainly, the mountain marked.

I do not need quantum physics. I have the Force, and it bows to my power. And here I am, speaking to you. Do you think your mathematics will truly help you understand the great mystery?

[Sharn]

"To put it in terms of your unscientific mind, pretty much yes. In my lifetime I've witnessed two all-powerful individuals ruling the whole galaxy, and their power-bloatedness was their premature undoing. There are well-documented studies how personal power damages the cortex and hinders computation and sense of verity. You yourself admit you're scrapping for re-existence after so long a hiatus you have zero idea of the contemporary galaxy. I cannot stress how miserable it looks to me. Science ensures sustainability, and the Force is as subjectable to it as anything else." He committed the locations to memory and started pattern-seeking.

[Ender]

Yet I exist outside of time. No matter what others had done... The voice seems to trail off, as you refer to the map.

Yet for something so hidden, they certainly let me leave a map. Or maybe because they didn't know what it was, either... You would note the map is oriented around the mountain. But it does not seem to make normal sense for cartographic means. There has to be some rhyme or reason to it.

We all seem profound power. Even you. You know it, such a natural instinct. Embrace it, to command destiny and all one sees. To not be held by the whims of fate. An attractive proposition, don't you think?

[Sharn]

"Power without knowledge means nothing to me. There is no such thing like fate. There is no such thing like destiny. Those are bogus terms sentience created in its adolescence to accommodate its ignorance. I won't embrace falsity, I won't chase after empty pipe dreams into rabbit holes. I am sick of priests, doomsayers, tricksters, magicians, illusionists who have mastered a prank or two without understanding patterns that govern it and boast and brag like they have owned the universe. The only true bragging right is when you know, realise, understand. My commitment to it grounded in my intellect is what makes me superior."

Sharn grinned. "If you want to bargain, let's bargain. You wouldn't have babbled so much if you didn't want something from me. Put it on the table. Or have you already?" He asked mockingly.

[Ender]

In time. You're already piqued. Otherwise you wouldn't have found the tome. You wouldn't have come to the ruins. And you certainly wouldn't be looking at the map if you weren't already curious. The voice matched Sharn's own laugh, if only to show he was still the one in control.

There is no bargaining here. Only... time. And I have plenty of it.

[Sharn]

"I might just burn the book." Sharn bluffed, though he was not entirely convinced he wouldn't do it under the right circumstances. Unlike science, esotericism deserved no special regard even if paginated.

[Ender]

"I might just burn the book." Sharn bluffed, though he was not entirely convinced he wouldn't do it under the right circumstances. Unlike science, esotericism deserved no special regard even if paginated.

Then all you lose is the book. I will still be here. In your head. Only driving you mad as you won't have a focus to project me upon, Chiss. Though the laughing did stop, and the tone of the voice turned quite stoic.

Do not think this some children's tale where an evil sorcerer partitions his soul into external objects. I am awakening, your taking the book was only the catalyst. Which makes me think you are special. I have been wrong before. And then, silence. A few moments of it.

There was another. A woman. Do you not belong to her? She is diluted, but I can sense the blood of the chosen within her. Surely you must be her slave.

[Sharn]

"Her slave?" Sharn laughed mockingly. "You are out of your mind." The pun made him feel better. "Whatever her ancestry and however appealing she is, I am the superior one." He paused. "Though you've got me curious now. What is she?"

[Ender]

You have no idea, do you, Chiss. She is a creature of magnificent power and parentage. I wonder if she does, if she didn't tell you... The voice remained deadpan, accent clipped.

Find me. And I might just tell you.

[Sharn]

"This is a tertiary interest of mine at this point." Sharn stopped. "But what I have just realised is that whatever release from slumber or imprisonment you're seeking, you likely need to dupe someone into assisting you, and by grandstanding, half-assed flattery, arrested promises and nagging, you want to cajole me into taking rounds across hidden places on the planet this map represents in order to catalyse your freedom further. Hence, I have begun to hold causality in your affairs. You have indirectly admitted it already. So in the end I think there's merit for bargaining here."

[Ender]

The awakening is inevitable. But You do make a point. There was a sense of... understanding, given in the voice. Now, why would I send you on a bantha milk run, of trotting all over the planet, or even the galaxy, when it serves me to have you come directly? Was the voice behind you now? At the edge of your vision, but not fully visualized, was a vaguely humanoid shape, taking a relaxed posture.

You mentioned tertiary. Why? The form moved again, taking a seat at the edge of the desk in your room. Clearly, you have talent, why categorize it so neatly with academic study?

[Sharn]

He approached the map in the book, enjoying the voice's self-moderation and his small victory. "Where is 'directly' then. And I categorise because I am an academic. I impose definitions on the world so that its ontology becauses discernible, then verify it through science. You may have been a powerful Force-User, but I aspire to be a true Force-Understander who is not limited by talent-driven intuition. in this, I aspire to be greater than you or whoever else throughout immemorial. Fear not, my nameless head voice, I don't think small."

He chuckled. "The woman in question may become more important to me if she becomes a trusted companion or a sexual partner. In such cases I'd get more curious about her ancestry."

[Ender]

This world has changed quite a bit. I am not really familiar with the way it is now. But, I imagine... this was in the temple at Mount Hamankarn, yes? There was almost a sense of weight to the form, as the bed shifted beneath it. You... are in the Northern Hemisphere, I sense. Was that a breath in their words? It passed for a moment. The map, as I said, should match certain landmarks. There should be... a mountain range in that hemisphere.

There was yet another laugh. I suppose it seems a bit convenient to always put these important places in Mountains, but I have found that they seemed to be for more attuned to the Force. Or perhaps that is just how I attribute it to most species placing special places there.

Were they looking at you directly?

Well, one must consider all aspects to truly understand the Force. Perhaps we can help each other there. And the desire for trusted companions... so very understandable.

[Sharn]

Sharn somewhow weathered the shivers of that entity's creeping substantiation. For someone who was not a sub-particle physicist it might have been too spooky. He could project a few theoretical models of how it was possible, however, A good theory was the bane of fear, otherwise sentients would have never invented deities.

"So some climbing awaits me. Alright." He cross-referenced the revelations with his knowledge of planet topography.