Chapter 1
Into the Shadows
The young boy heard the death shudders of his fallen brothers and sisters inside the Sith temple followed by the detonation of star ships from outside. He heard an echo that overlaid all noise. The sound pierced the minds of Sith everywhere, even those not around the battle on Coruscant. The almighty Emperor Darth Krayt had been slain by the Jedi. Though he did not see his Emperor's death he could feel it through the Force. The youngling walked over the bloodied corpses and hacked limbs of his fallen brethren; his anger consumed him with an even deeper hatred for his adversaries as he stared at the only body distinguishable from the rest. He ran his fingers down the tattooed engulfed face of his master, a Nagai like him. "I will avenge you my Lord." He whispered in the corpse's ear. A figure garbed in brown robes searched the hall not too far from where the child sat. The figure approached the Sith corpse to look down upon the child that sat next to it, whose face was dripping with tears that soaked the face of his fallen master.
The figure spoke with a young feminine voice, "I'm sincerely sorry for his death. If only he had turned away from the dark side and realized the error in his-" The child interrupted not even bothering to look up at the person's face, "shut up!" His voice cracked as he cut her off. "You Jedi make me sick with your lies!" He looked up and saw the young woman, her face not yet scarred from battle. It glowed florescent with the light energies of the Force. The child grew angrier at the woman, for how could her face glow so bright and peaceful while she takes part in slaying his people. In his mind the Jedi are the dark ones, the great evil.
After the silent pause the woman continued, "Though I sense that you have fallen deep into the dark side, it is not too late to change your path. You're still just a youngling." A cold chill ran down her spine, a bitterness she had never felt before. She looked about her surrounding to see if maybe there was another much stronger Sith lurking about that emitted this great unpleasantness.
Within seconds, the Jedi realized that the bitterness no doubt was, emitting from the child standing before her. The young Sith drew his small lightsaber and lunged it towards her abdomen. The crimson red saber failed to reach as the Jedi flipped backwards and countered with a strong force push. His body slung back into the wall behind him, his lightsaber plummeting out of his hand. Despite her appearance, he soon learned she was very strong in the force. The woman spoke with a sudden change of tone, "I bid you child stop and surrender immediately! I do not wish to harm you!" He ignored her meaningless pleas as he used the force to pull his lightsaber back into his grasp. As he was about to stand up to engage the woman in combat again, he felt his back spasm with pain and he was back on the ground. He had impacted the wall harder than he thought. The Jedi spoke again, "You are too weak to continue this unwinnable fight." She began to approach him slowly. "I give you my word, when we take you back on our ship we-" All in a few seconds, a crimson lightsaber pierced through her heart, not even giving her time to shriek in horror. As her body collapsed to the ground the Sith lord garbed in black robes drew his saber out of her body. "The enemy has destroyed the Temple's hangar! Darth Nihl has ordered us to evacuate this world and flee to the shadows of the galaxy. Sith strode anew path now."
Darth Zahvai unsealed his eyes from profound meditation, feeling the same level of agitation and distaste he felt during the battle. "Ah, you have awoken just in time, master." Zahvai looked up at the HK unit, which was the source of the voice. They continued, "Darth Mazara would like to have a word with you." Zahvai arose to his feet and walked through the ships corridors. He entered the ship's cockpit, and his eyes laid upon Mazara piloting the stealth vessel. "I sense a great disturbance in you," she said to him in a soft voice as she put the ship on autopilot and stood up from the pilot's chair. She was a medium height Twi'lek woman with red skin littered with black Sith tattoos. "They haunt me, Mazara." Zahvai looked into her eyes; the ship's engines were hushed, creating a halcyon setting inside the ship. Mazara stepped closer showing concern, signaling him to continue by nodding her head. "Darth Nihl has ordered us to hide in the shadows, but I can only remain patient for so-." Mazara pressed her finger against Zahvai's lips, holding it there before slowly dragging it down his chin seductively. "The blood of the Jedi will be spilled…in time." Zahvai's displeased expression transmuted into amusement upon his face. "I once heard stories of Sith pushing the Jedi to the brink of extinction." He brushed Mazara's hand off his face, and shifted his attention toward the window that viewed the planet they were headed to. "It is funny how fate has turned on us."