Author's Note: Entry for Anonymous Writers' Alternative Writing Challenge under the category of Epic Poem.
Poetry isn't my thing, (quite frankly I suck) but it's fun to write.
Thank you, Metallica, for the inspiration.
The Slave (Sith Inquisitor) is a video game character. Much of the dialogue and events of the story, and even the gender and species of the Slave, are dependent on the player's choices. Hence the reason some parts may read ambiguously.
Hope You Enjoy!
Come forth Dark Lords of world red-hue
And tell tale of Sith beknown to few.
A slave at first, under Empire's might
His presence in Force, they willed him to fight.
His name chosen, by a master's hand
On Korriban, world of blood-grit sand.
Harkun, cruel Overseer, set tasks ahead
Hoping this slave would wind up dead.
An order was given! "Venture to the tomb of Ajunta Pall
And find the lunatic hermit, they call Spindrall!"
So went he through dark halls of spirits and dread
Hoping quite dearly, not to K'lor'slugs be fed.
From a madman he learned the Code of the Sith,
The foundation of Force Shadows, bound ever in myth.
Harkun, by Spindrall's teachings, was little impressed,
And killed another slave, with lightning and zest.
Opinion made sound, he bid forward a pointy-red thing
"A true acolyte," he claimed, "your necks surely will wring."
Arrogant and loud, the dark student was Ffon
Depending on choice, our slave gave threat or a yawn.
o0o
Next lesson and task, given to the Sith-would-be slave
To learn cunning and cruelty and know power to crave.
An unauthorized murder, within this academy
Thus find the culprit or have the same agony.
Now enchained lay a boy, who saw the whole thing
Yet out of terror and fear he refused to sing.
The slave fed him Force lightning, arcs violet and blue
In pain the boy screamed, "This day you will rue!"
He eventually broke and confessed the dark truth
Yet testimony did nothing save damning the youth
For the identity revealed of the murdering scoundrel
T'was the apprentice of a Lord on the Emperor's council!
The slave left, finishing the task he set out to do
And the boy was killed for saying what he knew!
Returned to the Overseer, the slave found his fellows
And Ffon murdered one, on Harkun's black bellows.
o0o
New trials were given, the bias obvious to see
The completion of task was set impossible to be.
Ffon, off to research letters, like a proud little goon
Our slave to the wilds, in another monster-infested tomb.
Yet no ordinary grave of a Sith Lord was this
For Madness and Mind here often did kiss.
Marka Ragnos! Treacherous Sith Lords, did he rule as golden King!
Even Immortal Emperor in youth, was made to kiss his dread ring.
Encased in stone, the Dark Lord's spirit did live on
Turning every fool who entered, into a mindless little pawn.
And within his abode lay a vile treasure yet unclaimed
Holocron! Knowledge amassed! Amongst Sith most famed!
A record of secrets untouched for a thousand years!
Not one had ever freed it, be they Sith or engineer.
Impeded at every turn, to Marka Ragnos' tomb went he
That place where man and beast, are made one in insanity.
In Dark King's place, a pyramid of grave stone did he find
Apex with fitted knowledge, the blackened forbidden kind.
Mad beasts did assault him, with every attempt to take
Eldritch hound, hairless spider and even a winged snake
His efforts in vain, for the Holocron did not suffer to move
Action-thought-innovation, only his failure they did prove
So lightning he sent, to the vent on the sought after prize
Only for it to spring forward and hit him betwixt the eyes!
Befuddled! Bamboozled! Bewildered! And sore in the head!
He took the object and ran from that place of the dead.
"A forgery," cried the Overseer, as the task was set complete
For he believed no slave could undo the Dark Lord's old feat.
Yet on Harkun was a dark hand that had the Overseer cower
Zash, Sith Lord, stood resolute as a merciless tower.
Her command infallible, the slave's trials continued on
To enter grave another, and retrieve elder lexicon.
o0o
Unbeknownst to all, least among them the slave
The tomb to enter was a pull, on destiny's wave.
Ancient and Mighty, Tulak Hord ruled the Sith Empire
Lord of Hate his accolade, to have set the galaxy afire.
Three planets he sundered, his fleet over each world's sky
As he watered their ground with the blood of a thousand Jedi
Called the greatest duelist of the early lightsaber age
His Sith Magic even worse, when he gave way to his rage.
The Great Hyperspace War waged, saw his legacy to waste
Our young slave set now, on same path by cruel Mistress Fate.
Returned to the academy from the Valley of the Dark Lords
He met her, puppeteer, pulling on every binding cord.
Zash, glad of the treasure from Ragnos' tomb
Cast an eye on the acolyte, she may have to groom.
Curious as to how, he acquired the dark device
She asked, "What did you employ, what was its vice?"
A slave now, a slave evermore, he told a truth, he told a lie
Zash cared not, the prize was won without her having to vie
To Harkun, Hate-Handed Hord's words, were soundly given
Overseer gave words too, in return, most of them kriffin.
Off to study and polish his martial sabre-skill
Two acolytes came, said they were hired to kill
Dispatched and gone, their purpose was all done
For Harkun had sent Ffon early, to ensure that he won.
o0o
Days long past, Tulak Hord had once built a great maze,
Within, a dread creature, who all died under its gaze.
Behind its guard lay a map, an image of an ancient star
Made most famous by that game which began from Endar.
More secrets revealed, that stopped any and all chatter,
Zash came with clues, from what had been ordered to gather.
"The beast, a Dashade, assassin from world now broken
Knows the path to Hord's secret and the Infinite token.
Hate, Fury, Wrath and that thing called Despair
Venture forth, gather their rods, if you so dare
Take them and place, every one of them right,
And they will bring victory, in your and Ffon's fight."
Harkun objected, "But of this knowledge, Ffon knows not!"
Laughing, she said, "Fairness by Sith, a thing not taught."
Zash given wisdom, our slave did venture tomb deep
Face Sith made machines and shadows born of deceit.
First in a millennium, did he come to the Dashade
He woke the assassin that had killed galaxy abroad.
Sleep broken and enraged, to find his master long dead,
Ancient sword rose, to take would-be-Sith's little head.
Khem Val, Dashade and mighty assassin to Tulak Hord
Conquered Yn, Chabosh and killed many a Sith Lord.
Weakened by long sleep, he quickly fell to our slave
Now Force bound to serve, he unlocked the Sith grave.
Farthest in, built tomb of dark desolate place,
Star-Map found and taken, to earn Zash's black grace.
o0o
Returned to dark halls, the map then stolen for Ffon
Overseer yelled, "To Zash! And this slave will be gone!"
Yet Zash came in, as wretched plot circled to be
And bid Ffon to answer, "Did you get this for me?"
"Yes," he first said, but the Lord's anger did build
Coward now culled, fell truth he then spilled.
With smile on pink lips, she struck him with lightning
So ended the trials and the acolytes' infighting.
To Overseer she looked, and cried "Harkun you fool!
What good to me is this handfed red tool?"
At last the Sith Lord, her attention did steer
To the slave who relished, on Harkun's stark fear.
"This map delivered, oh apprentice of mine
Shall deem you reward, one grand and most fine."
Lightsaber given and now enslaved no more
He was mantled a Sith, as written in lore.
But his story is not over, it is far from the grave
For the master's power, an apprentice must crave...
Author's Note: Star Wars: The Old Republic was an old favorite of mine back in my Undergraduate days. I still play every other week or so.
L85PKg is my referral code and I play on the Shadowlands server. Hit me up with a PM if you want to do something and play around.
Hope You Enjoyed!
Signing off,
CE-NEX