May the Force… be with you?
Ling Qi's eyes shot open and with an anguished gasp she rose from the ground to a sitting position. Eyes darting to and fro, panic began to set in. Towering metal structures rose all around her, hemming her in a small alleyway next a metal bin holding what smelled like the refuse of a city. In fact, nothing smelled natural as if there was an underlying irritant pervasive through the air, like the smoke from a campfire but thicker. The last thing she remembered was tucking in Biyu for bed and stepping out to the garden to cultivate. But this… this was clearly not her fief or any city she knew of in the Emerald Seas, let alone the Empire.
As she stood up, it hit her, a weakness that she had long since moved past, the absence of something she had long since become accustomed to. There was no qi, no qi in her or in the world around her. Even Zhengui, Sixiang, and Hanyi could not be felt in her dantian or anywhere near her. In fact, she didn't even seem to have a dantian. Horror began to overwhelm panic, and as she looked at a puddle in the ground, she saw an unfamiliar face. The face of a child, around ten or eleven years old, looked back at her. She felt a shock reverberate through her entire being, and she began to fall backward with no control over her body. And as she hit the ground, blissful darkness took her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waking up was a painful experience for Ling Qi. Every movement caused her muscles to protest, and even her bones seemed intent on failing at any moment. Or perhaps, this was what being a mortal felt like, without qi strengthening the flesh. But even in her memories of her time in Tonghou she hadn't felt like this, so it was probably just this body's particular weakness. Still, a simple plan for the immediate future had developed. Survive. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know how she got here, she didn't know if she could even talk to any person or barbarian here, but she did know what she needed. Food, water, and shelter. Ling Qi started at the dumpster, looking for anything that appeared edible. Much of it was useless trash, much of it out of materials she couldn't recognize. But there was some food. A single fruit seemed to be in decent enough shape, with only a single bite taken out of it. It reminded her, in shape, of Zeqing's fruit. Certainly not in taste though. It was a bitter fleshy taste. Ahh well, time to find some more food and a source of water in this strange place. After that, a safe place to rest.
Traveling through the maze of alleys was difficult for someone who had no previous experience with them. However, it seemed that whatever place this was, it was city like and followed some of the same logic that Tonghou did. Buildings created alleys, streets ordered the buildings, and there were some places in the city better forgotten about by decent folk. It was unfortunate that she was in the places that decent folk seemed to want to forget. There was, however, a… problem Ling Qi discovered while standing at the edge of a street. In front of her was a chasm that stretched down for eternity, lights from some sort of flying carriage the only thing visible. It was oddly reminiscent of the chasm Ling Qi and Li Suyin had discovered in the corrupted cavern. The revelation of how expansive this place was brought new concerns, concerns of finding a secure place from below and above, and how one misstep might send her plummeting towards her death. Sighing, Ling Qi turned around and darted between the crowds of people going about their business. Securing a temporary abode wouldn't happen if she was listlessly standing around.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coughing and gasping for breath, Ling Qi crawled up a flight of stairs towards cleaner air. Going down did not appear to be an option after all. The taint she had quickly grown accustomed to was even more prevalent a couple of meters down, and while bearable, it quickly grew worse the further down she went. It was like acrid smoke filled the air and tried to suffocate everything that breathed it in. There was, however, a silver lining to the whole mess. She had been able to actually hear and understand someone, even if they were speaking with a completely unknown accent, and heard them reference a place called Nar Shaddar. Whether that was the name of a business, district, or of this entire spirit forsaken place she didn't know. But it was information. One, she could actually understand people, and two this place wasn't so barbarous to not even have a name. If it was named, that meant that there were likely other places with names and that meant someway to travel between the two. It would seem, after all, that any place was better than this squalid, rancid, forsaken place.
Additionally, she could feel… something. A light presence that pushed at her constantly and seemed to be everywhere. There were flows and ebbs to it like qi had, but it didn't seem to have different types. Just a singular presence that flowed and ebbed, and seemed to particularly favor her when she was desperate or panicked like it wanted to be near those flaring emotions. Which was kind of twisted in a way, like a spirit enjoying the suffering of those around it.
Suddenly she felt something in the presence. A whirlpool dragging the presence towards a bottomless depth, and in the depths of that whirlpool she could feel the emotions. Hatred, envy, anger, rage. All of it was coming straight towards her. It took her a split second too long to react and flee. Instead, as the whirlpool crashed around her, trying to suffocate her with the sheer amount of presence it had gathered, she jumped into one of the trash bins and dug herself inward. Closing the lid, she huddled in the trash, focusing all of her attention on breathing calmly and as shallowly as possible. And as the whirlpool's center reached her location, it stopped. Slowly, ever so slowly, the lid of the bin was opened and Ling Qi saw the face of the whirlpool. It was human looking, but with dark red skin and tendrils of flesh drooping from between the nose and mouth. The thing smiled a menacing dark smile.
"My, what little thing do we have here?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ling Qi looked out amongst the swirling lights of this… hyperspace place. Her captor was asleep in a locked room, but there was an automaton watching her, likely ready to prevent her from doing anything dangerous or damaging to the ship. His conversation with, presumably, a superior of some kind had been enlightening, but ultimately of no immediate value. Apparently, she was to be brought to a place called Korriban and trained in their academy. For what purpose, she didn't know.
Of more immediate value was the information gathered when boarding her captor's ship and leaving Nar Shadda behind. Nar Shadda was, apparently, the name of an impossibly large sphere where she had been, and not simply the district she had been exploring. It stood to reason, then, that Korriban was another one of these impossibly large spheres with other people on it. Which meant that either the Celestial Empire was on another sphere which could be reached with this ship or something else entirely. Given some of the texts she had read regarding the moon and the heavens back in the Argent Sect, having the Empire being on another large sphere was unlikely. Which meant that in order to get back… she needed to figure out how she got here. Yeah… this was going to be a problem.
Turning to the automaton, apparently called X2-C3, which somehow was even worse than Li Suyin's naming schemes, Ling Qi began to ponder how to approach conversing with it. Eventually, she settled for the simplest straight forward method.
"So," Ling Qi began, "what do you do X2-C3?"
"Beep, boop, bppphlt."
Cradling her head in her hands, Ling Qi could only begin to imagine just how terrible this trip would be.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was even worse. The barbarian, apparently named Lord Runior, mainly kept to himself and meditated. Which left Ling Qi almost entirely to her own devices, and with nothing to do, not even cultivating, boredom quickly set in. Her entire life for the past three years had been an almost constant progression of activity: cultivating, exploring, training, politics, engaging with friends and family, tasks for Cai, etc. Having nothing to do, for days, was maddening. Finally, the time in hyperspace ended, and Lord Runior began driving the ship towards, presumably, Korriban. It was looked like a light red ball, with what seemed like some brown dust swirling across its surface. For some reason, she got the impression that it was dry and dusty, and would not be a pleasant place to live.
Stepping out of the ship after it had docked proved her initial impression correct. The blistering sun baked her skin, and the stone radiated painfully against her bare feet. Everything around her was bone dry, and only the shade seemed to offer any sort of comfort. Gu Xiulan would have loved it here. Lord Runior quickly marched her out of the strange port, and inside the utilitarian looking hall. Stone and metal seemed to be the mainstay construction material, and it was apparent that little effort was placed into the craftsmanship of the building. The number of individuals getting out of their way seemed to indicate that Lord Runior was a man of some import amongst his tribe, and given the diversity of the human looking barbarians around, it would appear that Lord Runior's tribe was quite large and successful at subjugating other tribes.
Soon enough, though, Ling Qi exited the long hall, and an edifice of metal and stone rose from the surrounding landscape. Emblazon with the same symbol she had seen on Lord Runior's ship it was clear that this was where he was taking her. Guards clothed completely in metal made way for the group as Ling Qi approached, and entered, the massive building. Stone engraved with strange archaic looking iconography predominately covered the inside of the room, and Ling Qi noticed the dramatic increase in people.
Clothed in dark robes, each of them seemed far too busy to pay her any attention. But those who caught Lord Runior in their periphery turned, paled dramatically, bowed, and hustled with an even quicker step away. There were a few who were braver, opting to sneer at her, before hurrying on to their tasks. Most notably, however, was that every single one created an eddy in the presence. Nowhere near the level of Lord Runior, but still peculiar.
However, this main hall was clearly not Lord Runior's destination. As he dragged her further and further into the recesses of the building, she began to wonder exactly where they were going. Training halls filled with individuals holding blazing sabers of light passed by as quickly as they had come and even one room seemed to hold the implements of torture. The iconography became even darker and twisted whenever she descended into a lower level until, eventually, Lord Runior stopped by a black metal door. Knocking twice, he opened the door and pushed Ling Qi into a dark room lit by only a couple of candles and occupied by a single elderly woman. He entered the room himself and closed the door.
"Overseer Ragate," Lord Runior spoke in his dark gravely voice, "as agreed I brought you a potential acolyte."
"So I see," said the woman, "and as agreed, Lord Runior, I will support your next bid for the rank of Sith Commander, you have my word. Now, I believe you have better things to be doing than dragging this poor acolyte around."
And with that, Lord Runior nodded and left. And Ling Qi was left alone, in a dark room, with an even more menacing woman.
"Come, child," Overseer Ragate said, "there is much to do, much to learn, and much to achieve with your new place. First, tell me your name so I can get the appropriate filings done."
Ling Qi swallowed hard, and responded, "Ling Qi."
A/N: I have never played "Starwars: The Old Republic" but the Ancient Sith Empires and the Old Republic have always fascinated me in Starwars lore. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake, and as always critiques and criticisms are welcomed.
