disclamer: I don't own Star Wars.

The Dark Path...

And he took the path, the path that is so easy to be taken,
Down into the Dark, into the forbidden hells of his soul,
He walked alone, and with sorrow, but he walked without fear,
He knew that the revenge would be sweet,
it must be...
it MUST...

Further and further down this dark path he went...
and entered the Dark realm... but he walked without fear...
He will enter the Dark throne room,
and he will be knighted!
Then he will take his revenge,
Yes...

He entered the throne room, and kneeled down,
he kneeled down as a fallen - as a disgrace,
as nobody...
Then he embraced the Dark, and the Dark embraced him,
Taking his soul, and his body, in exchange for power,
Power for revenge!
YES! Revenge...

And then he rose, yes he rose
he rose as a knight, he rose as a POWERFUL lord!
And now HE WILL TAKE HIS REVENGE!
YES! Revenge...
...revenge...
...revenge...
...avenge...

-untitled, unknown Ancient Sith Prophecy

The explosions rocked the jungle, so powerful they knocked over even the most sturdy of trees. A women, with her child ran through the burning wood, yelling something to her little boy, but the droning of fire, screams, and death prevented the ten-year old ears from calculating just what she was saying. Since he couldn't hear, he didn't even bother understanding. Why couldn't he hear anything? He just tried to keep up and hold her hand.

"Mommy! Mommy! What's going on?!" He tried asking her. She just kept screaming inaudible words and gripped his hand tighter.

A bomb detonated no more than twenty yards from where they were, and the blast sent them sprawling, even as the radioactive elements emitted from the mortar melted skin. The boy, ignorant of his own plight, scrabbled for his mother, only to find shrapnel inbedded in her forehead. Shaking her, howling words at her that even he couldn't hear, trying to wake her up; he didn't realize that half of his face had melted, or the pain of shrapnel that had ripped through his own body. Longer and longer she didn't wake up, and the boy started to cry. 'Why can't I hear,' he asks himself. 'I could hear until that brown ball destroyed our hut.'

Little did he know that concussion grenades could destroy the ear drums, nor did he know that being deaf was even possible. That is what happens when you grow up on a world that doesn't have schools, or a government, but farms and temples and such, where the only learning comes from religon or how to plant crops. If he knew about grenades, he would have known to cover his ears, protect his sensitive ears.

Also, if he knew the difference between good and bad, Jedi and Sith, he never would have willingly went with Darth Revan, either.

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Ten years went by as he continued his training as a Sith. Ten long years since Revan found him screaming to his dead mother to wake up. Since that fateful day, he had learned many things in the Sith Academy on Korriban.

He learned of and about his plight, and how to overcome it both physically and through the Force. He learned how to fight, kill, and survive against the most ruthless adversaries by relying on a sharper sense of sight. He surpassed the greatest swordsman in the academy, severing the man's head with a flick off his blood red lightsaber.

He learned how to spread his senses past what he could see, feel, or taste. He could "see" an attack before it happened. He "felt" what other people thought. He "tasted" the sweet feeling of victory and power. He mastered the art of shooting lightning from his fingertips, drain the life force from a slave, twist a persons mind to his will. And with each passing day, his hatred grew for the ones who took his mother, an anger that powered his motivation to learn, so he may ultimately have his revenge.

He couldn't hear, so he didn't tell anyone of his aspirations. If he could have, they surely would have told him that it was the Sith who attacked his planet. The very same Sith he was training with, the Sith he wanted to become. However, he kept his personal hell private, and stayed blissfully ignorant.

He felt he owed his life to Revan, even if the man was dead, assassinated by Lord Malak. So, imagine the student's suprise when he sees, of all people, Revan, infiltrating the Sith Academy with his Twi'lek and Wookie "slaves". Curious, he followed "Dak Naver" around between training sessions. He volunteered to help in excavation of the Valley, just to shadow Revan as he battled for prestige in the Tombs. He watched in awe as Revan walked through challenge after challenge, while exhibiting the same kindness he showed all those years ago. Saving Ajunta Pall from his misery, helping Mekel defeat the sociopathic old academy master in Tulak Hord's tomb, aiding Lashowe to kill the Queen Tuk'ata, repairing the haywire droid in Marka Ragnos' tomb, and defeating the Terentatek in the shyracks cave, allowing the pathetic rebel students exit. While he admires the generosity of Revan, he realized that Revan was now a Jedi, an enemy.

He confonted his savior, just once, just as he was leaving Korriban, and gave him a package as he boarded the Ebon Hawk. The student knew that Ulic Qel-Droma's Holocrons and the late Master Uthar's old robes would serve the redeemed man well.

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Once Yuthura Ban, her apprentice, Dustil Onasi, and his group left, their was a power struggle. During this time, the student learned that it was the Sith who had attacked his world, who had won using concussion grenades and radiation mortars. He didn't know what angered him more, the fact that he didn't know the people he was living and training with killed his mother, or that he was actually one of them. Disgusted, he took his anger out on Shyracks in the cave nearby the Academy. As he mindlessy slaughtered, he came across a sealed tomb, which was scribed in the Ancient Sith dialect: Here lies the Great Ludo Kressh, the Epitomy of Dark Side Cowardice.

Interested, the student went on. He fought illusions and monsters, ghost and spirits conjured by the ancient Siths' hatred as he plunged into the depths of the disgraced Sith Lord's tomb. Deeper and deeper he went, as he began to feel like he was taking the dark path into his own mind. He fought and fought for his life against the illusions, but he walked without fear.

He finally, after what seemed like hours, came to the burial chamber. He saw Revan, dressed in Sith robes and mask, along with himself, staring back at him. For the first time in his life, the student saw his own face. His blonde hair was halved by the radiation damage done from that fateful day, mirroring the melted left half of his face. Scars criss-crossed down into his tunic, and hateful, yellow orbs sat in sunken recesses that were his eyes.

He and Revan disappeared, and the spirit of Ludo Kressh stood before him, and taught him how to take his revenge. He was knighted, in this Lord's final throne room, kneeling before the spirit a disgrace, standing before it a Sith Lord. He embraced the dark as it embraced him, and he sent himself out of the tomb, crusading for Kressh's, and his own, revenge.

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The Academy was abuzz with activity when the student marched in. The many apprentices and teachers were eager to know who was stepping up to lead. Who killed the other Masters. So, again imagine the suprise when the deaf Acolyte storms in, leading a company of Sith Commandoes. The commandoes charge, and the temple is abuzz with a diferent energy, the energy of death as hundreds of Sith die at the hands of trained soldiers complying to the orders of the new Sith Lord. Leading the way, the Lord cleanses the temple. He sweeps the corridors, slaughtering apprentices, guards and teachers. As the purge winds down, he orders the commandoes to kill anything in the colony and Valley grounds. He, meanwhile, searched for the Sith younglings.

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He found them hiding in Uthar's chambers, crying and simpering. They saw him open the door, and, clueless to his betrayal, fawned to him. Their cries for safety was met met with laughter and a blood red lightsaber, as a lone holocron recorded the Unkown Darth's dark path to ultimate revenge, and recorded his march to a new era of Sith history.