Chapter 1
The sun rose over the horizon on a cold, wet morning on Naboo. The rain fell from the dark clouds that blocked the rising sun on the far side of the horizon. The sounds of thunder echoed through a valley on the outside edges of the capital city of Theed. In the valley sat a home, and it was the only home for miles and miles. In fact, from any side of the home, one could not see any signs of civilization and that is the way the master of the home wanted it. He liked his solitude and his time spent alone with his family.
Inside the home, the master and his wife slept, side by side and in each others arms. Their love was strong and had been so for the several years that they had known each other. He had once been a different man, evil and powerful man; but this woman, this beautiful woman, had changed everything about him. He had once been known as Lord Leviathan, but no more. Now, he had no name. He couldn't go back to using his real name, the Sith would find him too fast and if he were to take up a name before the final part of his treachery was done, his family would be placed in danger.
He rose slightly, the lightning waking him from his sleep as he looked out the window of his small, isolated home. The man then looked to his beautiful wife, Nedra. She had stolen his heart and then did it again when their two kids had been born. Hanix was the older by two years, and had already shown strong potential in the force, something that he had hidden from the Dark Lord. The youngest, only a couple years old, was Mandrake. His potential was yet unknown, but something inside the former Sith Lord told him that his youngest would be powerful as well.
They were the reasons for why he had committed his treachery, and they were the reasons why he had to finish it. The Sith were on the defensive because of him. He had reached out the Jedi Order and had given them all the information they needed to land a major blow to the Sith; but things were not finished just yet. The Sith had retreated back to Korriban and he would have to tell the Jedi how to invade the evil planet; he would have to teach them how to survive the harsh climates and conditions of the planet. That was where the final blow to the Sith would take place and his family wouldn't be out of harms way until the Sith were destroyed.
He sighed slightly as he sat all the way up and made his way out of bed; but before he could make his way completely out from under the covers, he felt a soft touch on his arm as he looked back over to Nedra, a smile on his face,"Morning, my love."
"Morning." she replied, smile on her face. She leaned up to kiss him softly before laying back down."And where do you think you're going?"
"I thought I'd just go check on the boys."
"Good, then I can go back to sleep."
He smiled as he made his way out of bed and tossed on some clothes before making his way out of the bedroom and over to the room that his two boys shared. He peered in through the door and saw that Hanix was still fast asleep and Mandrake was just not beginning to stir at the sound of the thunder. He made his way over to his youngest son and as he leaned over, he heard something that didn't sound like thunder; it sounded like a surge of electricity. His sense perked up and he reached out with the force, but sensed nothing; in fact, it was too much of nothing. The Sith knew how to block other force users from sensing them, it was why they made great assassins and it was why they were the Jedi's most dangerous foe.
He quickly moved over to Hanix's bed, waking him quickly. His son looked up at him, and went to speak, but he quickly cut him off,"Get your brother and hide. Stay hidden until I or your mother comes to find you; do you understand?."
His son simply nodded as he took off back to his bedroom, where his wife quickly jumped up out of bed, looking at her husband. All she had to do was see the look on his face and she knew something was wrong. Her fears were confirmed as she saw her husband grab his lightsaber and head back out the bedroom door, leaving her there alone as she began to get dressed as quickly as possible. She headed out the door and over the children's room, but she did not see them anywhere. She panicked slightly as she rushed through the house. The front door was open and as she looked through it, she saw her husband and another man engaging in, what looked to be an intense lightsaber battle, and that would be the last thing she saw as a lightsaber appeared from out of nowhere, connecting with her neck and killing her instantly.
The master of this home and land felt her death through the force, he didn't even have to see it, he just knew. The greatest love of his life was dead, and the men who were responsible would pay for it. His rage was now in complete control as he quickly thrust his hand out, using the force to reach out towards his opponent. The Sith thought the traitorous Sith Lord was trying to use force push, but he realized this fatal error too late. The Sith was now completely cut off from the force, he was completely blind, and before he knew it, the former Sith Lord's lightsaber had sliced through his torso. The power force user than put his lightsaber away for the moment and looked to the man that had struck down his wife.
As his anger flowed, the Sith rushed forward towards the man, not knowing what he was so eagerly rushing into. Though the former Sith Lord was talented with a lightsaber, he was even more talented with the force. He was a Sorcerer of almost unmatched ability and it seemed that Sith he had encountered here so far were none the wiser; but he didn't mind, the easier the better. The Sorcerer dug deep and reached out with The Force and with it, he reached into the chest cavity of his opponent and instantly stopped his heart with a single thought, killing him before his prey even knew what had happened.
The Sorcerer quickly rushed back towards his home, knowing that more Sith had to be on their way; Sith that would be much more powerful than these. He was determined to get his two sons out of there and get them to safety. He knew that he wouldn't be able to go where he sent them, but he knew they'd be safe and able to live their own lives; and hopefully they would live them free of the influence of the Sith and the Jedi. Through his years he had learned that the Force was more a burden than a gift, and it was a burden he did not want his sons to carry.
As he reached the room where his children were hiding, he called for them, and Hanix immediately emerged from the shadows with his brother in his arms. He quickly grabbed Mandrake from his eldest son and then motioned for Hanix to follow him as he took off through the house and out the back, trying his best to get them to a ship he had hidden away just a mile away from the home, near a cliff that dropped off a few hundred feet to a plain down below. It would only take them a matter of minutes to reach it, but the man feared that a couple of minutes would be too long, and he was right.
As they came upon the ship, there stood three men, dressed in black robes, hoods pulled up over their heads. The Sorcerer came to a quick halt and put his youngest son down on the ground. He looked to them for a moment, knowing that this would most likely be the last time that he saw them. A tear almost formed in his eye, but he held back his feelings of sadness, and instead let his rage take over once again, and as his anger did, he said one final thing to his sons,"Get to the ship, no matter what and leave. Don't wait for me, just leave."
His sons simply nodded and the man charged, his rage building as he let the force build up inside of him until he finally unleashed it in a singular blast that sent all three men flying through the air. They quickly landed on the ground and all rose to their feet. One stood first and lowered his hood, and it stopped the Sorcerer in his tracks. He recognized this Sith, this women. She was Lord Vain, a powerful and beautiful Sith Sorceress. Her Sith name described her to a point, but what it didn't describe was how potent and dangerous she was.
He quickly grabbed his lightsaber and focused in on her and her alone. The only way his sons would escape is if she were dead. The other two, he would be able to handle, but her, she would be a true test of his abilities. The Sorcerer charged, knowing that he had to defeat her, no matter what. As he began to square off against her, his sons rushed towards the small ship, but they were cut off by the other two Sith. One charged and tackled Mandrake while the other grabbed a hold of Hanix. As Hanix kicked and screamed, something began to happen, something that he couldn't control. A shock wave blew out from his body and knocked the man holding him back and onto the ground, completely unconscious. As Hanix looked to his brother, he saw that the shock wave had in fact done the same to his brother and his attacker.
Hanix quickly made his way over to his brother, but before he could get there, a force barrier appeared around the younger brother. The eldest son was knocked over as he ran into it and looked over to his father, not knowing what had happened or what to do. His father however, knew exactly what happened. Lord Vain had put up the barrier and it wouldn't go down until she was dead. His rage grew stronger, almost to the point of losing control as he yelled out,"Just leave, you can't save him."
The boy ran up the ramp and into the ship, heading straight for the cockpit. As he reached it, he went to work, doing exactly what his father had taught him to do. The ramp came up and the ship powered up, after a few seconds, it was ready for take off. The ship lifted off the ground and took off into the atmosphere and into space. Hanix was out of immediate danger, but was far from home free. There was still one obstacle to overcome, the Sith ship that was sitting in orbit, ready to capture anyone who was trying to escape the planet.
Back on Naboo, the battle surged between Lord Vain and Lord Leviathan. With Hanix gone, and no fear of the youngest boy escaping, the female Sith Lord had dropped the barrier and now had all her attention focused on her dangerous rival. By now, both were covered in sweat, and both were beginning to wear down, but neither was ready to break just yet. They had thrown every bit of force trick at each other that they knew and they had fought to a stand still. They were evenly matched and now, the only thing left to do was just fight it out with their lightsabers; and that they did.
The clashing of lightsabers was all that could be heard as the two went back and forth, flipping and rolling, jumping and leaping, towards and away from each other. Eventually the battle led them to fighting at the very edge of the cliff. One miss step, one wrong move, one dropped defense, and one of them could be falling to their death. That was something that neither one of them wanted to happen to them, but they were more than willing to subject the other to that particular fate.
As the minutes past, the Sith Traitor finally made a single mistake. He got too close to Lord Vain, focusing all his force powers on keeping up with the younger, more agile female. That was when she placed her hand on his abdomen and unleashed a wave of force energy sending him right over the cliff. She stood there for a moment, looking out across the horizon before turning her back to the cliff and making her way over to her two companions, who had the boy captured and secured. She took a deep breath as she stared a hole through the two men,"You had better hope that the Dark Lord is not too angry about us only capturing the one boy; whatever punishment he gives me for my failure will be twice as bad for you."
The small ship soared through space, out maneuvering the much larger Sith battleship as he tried to set in a course for a jump into hyperspace. His father had prepared him for this day, and Hanix knew exactly where he had to go. He had to go deep into Republic Space, he had to go to Coruscant. The Sith would not dare follow him there, especially in their weakened state. As the computer did the calculations and prepared for the jump, he had the controls and was doing his best to dodge shots from the ship. He knew they weren't trying to destroy the ship, but he knew that he couldn't allow them to disable his engines.
It seemed like an eternity, but the calculations finally came in and he just had to line up the ship correctly now, while still avoiding that potentially disabling shot from the Sith ship. Tensions grew high as he leveled out the ship and set in the course as the Sith Ship approached from behind and was lining him up in their sights. They finally had his engines targeted, but before the shot could get there, the ship was gone, and Hanix was gone with it.
Aboard the Sith ship, Lord Vain and the two other Sith approach the throne room, entering with the two year old boy in tow. They stopped at the foot of the throne and knelt before the Dark Lord, who quickly rose and looked down upon the three Sith who had failed him.
"You have failed me Lord Vain. Because of you, the boy was able to escape my grasps; but I see that you have the other child. What of their father?"
"He is dead, my lord. He fell from a top the cliff where we are battling; there was no way he could survive," Lord Vain responded.
"But you didn't not witness him die?"
"There was no way he could have survived my lord, he is dead," she began to plead.
"Unless you saw him die, then he is still alive. He is more powerful than you give him credit for Lord Vain. Your ignorance is unsettling, and the incompetence of the men in your charge is equally unsettling. Lord Leviathan might be a traitor, but he is a traitor who never failed in anything he set out to accomplish."
"But, my lord..."
"Silence, if it wasn't for the fact that you're the last remaining Sith Sorcerer in our ranks, you'd already be dead; but don't think that doesn't mean you won't be punished."
The Dark Lord reaches out with his hands as Lightning shoots out from them, hitting Lord Vain in the face. The Dark Lord made sure not to kill her, keeping the blast short and quick, but he slowly began to disfigure the appearance of her face, making her look like an old hag in just a matter of minutes. When he was satisfied, he stopped, and then took his place on his throne once more,"Now, whenever you look in the mirror, you will remember what failing me will cost you. Don't ever fail me again."
"Of course, my lord." She lowered her head as she responded, holding back her emotions and rage. She was no longer beautiful, she was no longer the woman that she prided herself in being. If Lord Leviathan was still alive, she would kill him for this, but first, she was going to kill the two men who failed to capture the eldest boy."
"Now, I have a new mission for you, Lord Vain. This boy has great potential. His father was strong in the force and I believe that he will be as well. Seeing as how we only have one of his sons, it is imperative that he get the best training possible. So, you will instruct him in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force; don't fail me again."
"Of course, my lord." Lord Vain stood and grabbed a hold of Mandrake, dragging him out of the throne room. She quickly tossed him to a Sith Apprentice and instructed him to find the young boy quarters and to report back to her once he was done. As he walked away with the boy, she turned to face the two men who had failed her and reached out to both of them with the force, crushing their esophagus. In a matter of seconds, the two Sith collapsed to the floor and began to slowly suffocate. The kicked and flailed for almost a minute before they final succumb to the attack and died. Lord Vain looked at the two warriors, but their deaths did not appease her anger. Their lives weren't enough to make up for what the Dark Lord had taken away from her. She scoffed out of anger and then went to her personal quarters aboard the ship.