I intend to upload weekly on sunday evenings, hopefully by the time you're seeing this I'll have a stable backlog of chapters. I will read and note all reviews, I will try my very best to properly acknowledge them and I'm open to going back to chapters I've already written to adjust for constructive criticism - nothing's set in stone until the very end when it's marked as complete!

The Sorcery Within The Sith Empire.

Prologue.

The Valley of The Dark Lords.

Chapter III.

The Tomb of Ajunta Pall.


I was a murderer.

The path to becoming Sith was vile and destructive, I left two rooms destroyed, one of which is filled with corpses - why was the fight in the archives to begin with? I know that the training room is being used by the other acolytes, but surely there was another space to use, there is no good reason for such a place of knowledge to be destroyed; though granted that's the exact same way The Sith treat The Tombs, there's a severe lack of appreciation for the past as history, as knowledge, instead ancient relics are viewed as nothing more than catalysts for your own rise to power. I couldn't blame The Sith entirely though, it's my fault for killing those acolytes, why is my life more important than the lives of any of the five dead acolytes in the other room? I was selfish, I was a selfish, murdering, desperate child, obsessed with my own survival just as much as The Sith are with power, I'm a hypocrite. I don't know how I can ever look at myself again, I couldn't cling to the excuse of them being possessed this time, I wasn't putting them out of their misery, no, they were possessed, they were perfectly fine, they were acolytes of The Sith Academy just the same as I am - I was making them into failures, many of their Overseers probably favored them just as much as Vernache apparently favored me, I didn't deserve to win, I didn't deserve to survive, but I did, now I had to live with that.

I walked into Overseer Vernache's office, Dayo-Kaza was there with a double-bladed vibrosword while Seidoa's twin vibroswords were stained and bloodied - Pheraza's blood, she wasn't here - the Togruta was dead. Assistant Overseer Calenph was in front of us, pacing back and forth while Vernache was at her desk, busying herself again. I took my usual spot as the one at the end of the line, farthest to the left. I looked at Calenph's hip, I had thought her weapon was a lightsaber but looking closer, the hilt had a very strange, wide emitter, I hadn't seen this before, perhaps it formed a large, cleaver like blade, or something else entirely, I didn't know, and I didn't want to find out.

"You three survived your first day of trials," Calenph began "Perhaps you've developed illusions that you were nearly done - hardly, tomorrow, you will have three trials - you will go into the three Tombs of The Valley of The Dark Lords itself, where you will die. As for tonight; the female quarters are the next door to the left, the central door on this side, opposite of the male quarters, your bunk numbers have been assigned to your Datapads, report back here at dawn. Dismissed." Calenph's effort was devoted entirely to demoralizing, in terms of actually telling us about our sleeping arrangements, she told us the bare minimum and left the majority of the information we needed for us to read for ourselves. I quickly made my way out of the group and checked my Datapad, I was assigned Bunk-17, the living arrangements consisted of the bunk and a footlocker, within the footlocker would be a set of basic casual clothes, consisting of an upper robe and a set of tights. These conditions would be satisfactory, it was The Sith Academy, not a luxury yacht, the living conditions were utilitarian - for good reason too, our class was cut in half just on the first day.

I walked into the female quarters and changed into the light gray upper robe and black tights, leaving my hooded black Academy robes, training lightsaber, and Datapad in the footlocker, now more comfortable and finally having a chance to lay down, I rested my head on the pillow and reflected on what's happened thus far. I remembered the grasslands of V'aran'abb, short, dry, pitiful grass growing out of permafrost, frozen snow-capped mountains as far as the eye could see, the planet was cold and largely barren, but it was naturally beautiful - more importantly, it was home. As for Korriban, Korriban was nothing, it was a hot, evil, burning dust bowl, but it was a massive source of Dark Side power, hence, to The Sith, it was valuable, yet not valuable enough to maintain The Tombs - Korriban was only about power, not about history - the word history isn't used anywhere in The Sith Code, but the words power and victory are both used twice, but I've already devoted enough time thinking about Sith Philosophy. What I found much more fascinating in my time on Korriban thus far is The Force, I could already do so much with it, Force Lightning, Shocks, Electrocutions, Lightning Strikes, Chain Lightning, and even Force Storms...I could only imagine what I'd be able to do in the future, if I manage to become Sith and learn under a Dark Lord, a Master, a true Sith Force User rather than an Overseer...the possibilities seem endless, and right now, given what I've done, so does my power!

However, the key now was to survive Korriban, and that meant being ready for anything tomorrow - I'm sure the trials will be crafted specifically to wipe us all out, especially me, given I was meant to be Vernache's young star, which in turn meant that I had to prove myself more than the others, who just had to act as obstacles in my path. I hated to think of Dayo-Kaza and Seidoa as obstacles, I hated the competition The Sith Academy forced on us, but there wasn't any choice here, it was become Sith or die, and I was determined to survive. I had to be ready for tomorrow, so I pulled the sheets over me, adjusted the pillow, and fell asleep, both excited for and dreading whatever was waiting for me in the morning.

Unfortunately, what awaited me in my sleep wasn't much better; my mind inevitably ventured back to what happened earlier today, the battle, the lightning, the murders. I could see the cold, silent, hooded Sith electrocuting the others, mercilessly, robes black as night and lightning vicious and purple, then under the hood, The Sith had featureless red eyes, no pupils, no hope, no light, I saw her get knocked down by a Pureblooded and true Sith, her blue face twisting in agony, lifting her arms - struggling in the lightning - and finally blasting back her opponent, The Chiss's face had an expression of pure hated, teeth barred and nostrils flared, brutally murdering The Sith. In the end, her eyes opened wide, expression turning from anger to horror as she realized what she had done, she finished off The Sith with a quick and final shock, five acolytes dead, two rooms ruined, and one scared little girl in over her head - me. I managed to sleep, but not without constant reminders of what I had done a mere few hours ago.


The next morning, dressed now in clean robes - visually identical to the ones I wore yesterday, evidently The Academy staff went through our footlockers at night and replaced our robes, given the heat, probability of the robes being torn or damaged, and the sheer amount of physical effort an acolyte will need to go through between fighting, scavenging Tombs, and moving through said heat, this was probably for the benefit of the Overseers as much as the acolytes - I walked into Overseer Vernache's office, followed by Seidoa, we took our usual positions, her on the right, me on the left, both of us looking up at Vernache, sat in her high-backed chair at her elevated desk, Assistant Overseer Calenph stood opposite of me, looking down on us, sneering, just to the left of her superior - to Vernache's right, from her perspective. Just as I began wondering as to where Dayo-Kaza was, she walked in, double-bladed vibrosword on her back - I wondered how she managed to get it into her footlocker, it clearly wasn't collapsible, given she wore it fully extended, despite the possible dangers - and fresh robes, just like the rest of us. We all stood at attention, a Cathar, a Iridonian Zabrak, and a Chiss, all at the mercy of the Overseers.

"Assistant Overseer Calenph," Vernache began, looking at her Cyborg assistant "Administer the trials," Calenph walked down and gave Seidoa and later Dayo-Kaza their trials, given what I did yesterday and my relentless overnight reminders of what happened, I didn't particularly care what their trials were, but from what I did overhear, Seidoa was going into The Tomb of Tulak Horde and Dayo-Kaza into The Tomb of Naga Sadow - Marka Ragnos, Tulak Horde, and Naga Sadow, three - I assumed that my trial would take me to whatever the fourth and final Tomb would be, though I also imagined I'll visit the other two Tombs later on as well, for my next two trials after this one. Calenph finally walked up to me as my fellow acolytes left to complete their respective trials.

"Deep in The Tomb of Ajunta Pall, there is a holocron - perhaps the oldest holocron we know of - but the chamber the holocron was in has already been breached, a looter, or perhaps another acolyte - " Calenph was cut off by Vernache.

"Not an acolyte," Vernache insisted "My eyes have found the holocron and I have not sent an acolyte in, the looter must be either very lucky or very crafty, but not lucky enough, nor crafty enough to avoid all the traps."

"When the looter breached the chamber, the door closed and sealed behind them, open it, crush the looter, take the holocron, and return," Calenph emphasized crushing the looter, yet we didn't even know if whoever triggered the traps was alive or if they were a looter at all, and even if they were a looter, there wasn't necessarily going to be a reason to kill the looter, they may offer the holocron because I let them out to begin with. The Overseers wanted me to commit more and more senseless killing, why? who knows, just another attempt by The Sith Academy to turn acolytes into cruel, sadistic savages living off of anger and bloodlust, just like The Overseers, just like The Sith Lords, and just like The Dark Council governing this whole Empire of brutality. I know that The Sith are far from the only force into the galaxy to commit evil, The Republic have done evil things - including maintaining a prison world, The Chiss Ascendancy has certainly done evil things - they're allies with The Sith after all - but no one really comes close to the sheer amount of evil within and around The Sith Empire.

"This will be a trial of the mind as well as combat, Gl'ickeneose, you must figure out how to open the chamber and you must be able to defeat a looter strong enough to get that deep into a Tomb and stealthy enough to avoid identification or even detection before the traps of The Tomb itself gave away the presence of this looter. Happy hunting acolyte," Vernache sent me off, once again into The Tombs, into an area I know is trapped to open an ancient door with the expectation of killing someone who hasn't done a single thing to wrong me other than coincidently being after the same holocron that I'm now chasing.

"Understood," yet I bowed my head to The Overseers and walked off like an obedient little acolyte - I was a coward committing murders and atrocities because it's the easy way out, why in the world would my life be worth more than any of the possessed slaves and soldiers, the other acolytes, or even this one looter in The Tomb of Ajunta Pall who I've never seen, who knows nothing of who I am, and has no reason to harm me - but I have a reason to harm them, and because I don't have the backbone to stand up against The Academy, I'm going to do it. I wasn't Sith material, but I didn't have an alternative, I couldn't escape The Academy on my own, and even if I did, where would I go? Home? I'd just be caught again and this time, I'd be executed instead of being sent to Korriban, to The Jedi? No, they'd punish me once they found out what I did during my trails, The Chiss? Again, The Empire will find me, in fact, The Ascendancy might even willingly hand me over due to their alliance - I had no alternative, no hope...only a mission to kill a looter.

The whole trial seemed rather pointless, just going to get a holocron, an old one, yes, likely full of ancient knowledge, but if Vernache's eyes could see the looter breach the chamber, why didn't they just take the holocron for themselves...I had a feeling there was something more to this, Vernache said this would be a trial of the mind and of combat, given her spies are down there, somewhere, somehow, I had to image cracking the sealed door would be difficult, and perhaps the reason why the looter wasn't defeated is that the looter is more powerful than the watchers...how powerful were the watchers to begin with? What even were they? Perhaps the watchers weren't even physical at all, perhaps Vernache's eyes were some sort of Force Technique, that could explain how I've never seen them despite the fact they've evidently been here watching me the whole time. The Force was incredibly strange and fascinating, it could do so many things and it was equally mysterious, I didn't know how it could do these things or what even could be done, for all I know, one day, I'll be able to use The Force for things I couldn't even begin to comprehend, things like teleportation and mind control...the possibilities are endless, but then I remembered the room of dead acolytes, the room of people I killed, is endless power worth it? I don't know if I can say either way right now.


I walked down the steps of The Sith Academy, my black hood covering my blue face, to the untrained eye, my featureless solid red eyes must seem devoid of feeling, but if a true Chiss was here on Korriban with me, they would immediately see the guilt in my eyes, the conflicted feelings inside of me, and bubbling resentment for my current predicament. All the red armored Academy guards saw was two glowing red orbs masked by a hood of darkness on a black robed figure - even us acolytes looked as frightening as Sith, though for good reason as well, I tore apart a whole other group of acolytes, I was the among the final three of my class; we had Seidoa, the violent berserkering warrior with two swords, Dayo-Kaza, the specialist with a unique and deadly weapon killing more with shock-and-awe than with actual effectiveness, and then there was me, the lightning-swinging little murderer. Vernache wanted to turn us all into killing machines, and me in particular, I didn't want to be the one to fill the role, but otherwise, I'd be a dead woman.

Only a few meters later, I was descending down into darkness, another Tomb, The Tomb of Ajunta Pall, the oldest Tomb in The Valley of The Dark Lords and the relevant section to my trial was the front wing, originally built below the proper entrance to The Valley - which has now collapsed and been buried - it has now been excavated in such a way that this part of The Tomb in the center of The Valley of The Dark Lords was the way to enter, with the pillars on the roof once being on the surface level of The Tomb, before The Sith Empire arrived to seriously excavate the area, which the smaller and weaker Sith Empire of Revan wasn't able to do, they were literally barely skimming the surface of Korriban. I turned left at the bottom of the steps into the Tomb before turning right twice onto a cat-walk looking over main section of The Tomb, below I saw a Sith Pureblood acolyte with a large vibrosword - not a training lightsaber at all - kill a K'Lor'slug, she felt incredibly powerful, and to her, I think I did as well, as we made eye contact for a moment before both of us moved on to our own trials. She must've been out of sequence with the other acolytes, as she wields a sword yet wasn't part of the martial trial Dayo-Kaza and Seidoa did.

The Sith Academy was full of people, there were so many full bunks in our quarters even as acolytes were dying by the dozens every single day with each passing trial. The Sith Empire was definitely mobilizing, they were building massive starships in the form of The Empress-Class Super Dreadnought as well as thousands of smaller, more tactical and personal starships - many to deploy the very Sith they were shaping up in The Academy above. I wonder what exactly I'd be doing if I became Sith, Vernache said my would-be Master wanted an apprentice strong in The Force, but she never specified what for, all I knew is that, as always with The Sith, it would be something nefarious, but I didn't know enough about Sith politics or culture to know what tasks particularly Force-Sensitive acolytes do in The Empire, from the holovids I would watch at home on V'aran'abb, the front line warriors of The Sith Empire tended to be brutes who fought mainly with their lightsabers, so I suppose the Sith more proficient in The Force were more often leaders or engaging in subterfuge, assassination, or as a force-multiplier than as front-line warriors.

I descended deeper and deeper into The Tomb until the point where I had no idea how much sand and rock was even above me, I didn't know how sturdy ancient stone was but I certainly did not feel comfortable so deep in a Tomb - I don't know how Vernache's eyes did it, whatever they were, if anything - especially not the oldest of the most ancient collection of Tombs on Korriban and likely within the entire Sith Empire. Finally, at the bottom of a long and thin staircase, I reached an equally long corridor engraved in ancient Sith tongues dotted with carvings of ancient Pureblood warriors, I grabbed my training lightsaber and lit the enclosed yellow blade to use as a makeshift torch. At the end of the hallway, The Tomb opened up to a larger chamber with a massive sealed door at the other end, I assumed this was where the holocron and the looter were trapped - on some level, I hoped the conditions were poor enough that the looter had already died, though I doubted it, these Trials existed only to test me and my fellow acolytes - I wouldn't even be surprised if Vernache herself engineered the looter entering The Tomb for the holocron and getting trapped.

There was no way to open the door from what I could see, merely two circular orbs that could serve as lights, though there weren't lit - meanwhile I noticed the two small chambers to either side of me, and I realized what this must've been - a puzzle, perhaps solving both halves of the puzzle would light both lights and then the door would open and I could retrieve the acolyte and hopefully, there would no longer be a looter to deal with. I held my training lightsaber and walked to my left, finding an old computer terminal in the left chamber - looking over my shoulder, I saw the same in the right chamber. I held the training lightsaber up high to light the terminal as I activated it, sluggish from it's ancient age and covered with a fine layer of dust from the slowly crumbling bricks, struggling to support the weight of The Valley of The Dark Lords above - I wanted to leave here as soon as possible and I really, really hoped I wouldn't have to fight anything - perhaps the beasts and any other looters would be draw away by the Pureblood girl fighting above and I wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed while attempting to open this cursed door over this old holocron. I valued the history of The Chiss and now, as an acolyte of The Sith, I should value their culture as well, but I don't, there's nothing to value in savagery and genocide, though The Sith viewed those as positive traits.

I found the function to open the door and activated it, I saw the left orb on the ancient door light up in green, but when I turned back to the terminal, I saw a timer - 15 seconds - I tried my hardest to rush across the room, running as fast as I could in these Sith Robes - they were light and flexible, but they still limited my running stride - however, it was no avail, the green light on the door went out and I was back to square one. I tried again, this time from the right terminal, hoping in vain that for whatever reason the timer here would be different, but no avail, I ran again and only ended up in the middle of the room, drowned in light from the green orb until it faded out, leaving me in darkness without a clear solution. I looked to my left, the terminal would only give me fifteen seconds to get to the terminal on the right and click the correct function - I had an idea - I went to both terminals and set them up on the function neither orb was lit, but I could light both orbs here, surely I could. I went to the terminal on the left, clicked the function, didn't even wait to see the timer before turning to the terminal on the right and running, I used The Force to make me quicker, I felt a wind coming off me and blowing me forward - I was moving with Force Speed - the green light wasn't out yet and I had made it to the right terminal - only to find it reset when I clicked the function on the left. It seems this trap was meant to be opened by two people simultaneously, meanwhile, I was here alone, hopelessly.

I sat down back in the middle of the chamber, I knew that both Jedi and Sith would meditate, reaching out to The Force to learn and understand more about not only The Force, but about themselves as well. I reached out with The Force myself, feeling my power, feeling the darkness of The Tombs - darkness in two ways, literal darkness and intense Darkness from the spirits of long dead Sith - I wonder how precise my power could be, I mentally focused myself on a single grain of sand, seemingly something that fell from a crack in the roof, I focused and felt myself roll the grain of sand, interesting. I lifted the one grain with The Force, allowing it to levitate at eye level - though mine were closed due to meditation - and then allowing it to zip around my head before stopping abruptly, back where it had been - meanwhile, I focused on another grain behind me and to the right, this one I rolled into the dust and made circles, I could do both precisely, I could levitate a grain on my left and roll one on my right - now I had a real idea. I let go of both grains and focused beyond them, I focused on the terminals in the side chambers, then, with The Force, I found both functions to open to door, finally, I clicked both at once and felt myself be drowned in warm, green light.

I opened my eyes to see that between the green orbs, a large button now revealed itself - this must be how to actually open the door. I rose to my feet and walked to the door, I lifted my left hand and placed it on the button, I pushed down and heard the loud, rumbling sound of the door beginning to open. I watched the massive door open and looked inside - this particular chamber was thankfully well lit - and saw the holocron on a large pedestal at the center of the door, meditating before it, was a robed Kaleesh woman - a Sith I feared...did Vernache fool me? Perhaps I wasn't the favorite, instead I was just an ignorant little fool who fell for her praise and fell into this trap...I was just going to be killed by a Sith - I saw a vicious, double-bladed vibrosword on her lap, my eyes wandered to her hip and I saw a stealth generator - hunters on V'aran'abb often used them when after dangerous big game - fortunately, I did not see a lightsaber. though given my skills with this pathetic training weapon, the double-bladed vibrosword would be more than enough. I braced myself as I saw her rise and turn to me.

"My lord," she bowed, a traditional Kaleesh bone mask over her red, scaly lizard face "I am honored to be in the presence of a glorious Sith,"

"Glorious Sith?" I asked, bewildered by the fact that one: she wasn't attacking me, and two: she thought I was a Sith Lord, surely if she's on Korriban she knows the outfits of Sith Acolytes, they're all over The Valley of The Dark Lords.

"Yes, my people see the truth - The Sith are gods among us - I came here to study this holocron, to learn more about The Sith, to learn more about our gods," she was fanatical, surely she is more extreme in these beliefs than the other Kaleesh, though I did notice that she said learn about The Sith, nothing about becoming a Sith, and clearly the way she treated me meant she wasn't a Sith herself, perhaps I was safe from her using The Force at least, though, surely it couldn't hurt to be sure - and to be honest, I didn't want to fight her regardless.

"Do you want to become Sith?" I asked.

"No," she looked down, almost depressed "I don't have The Force, I cannot become Sith myself - I can merely learn, strengthen myself, and live like a Sith god, that is why I am on Korriban."

"So you worship The Sith, yes?" I asked, cautiously, hoping she would be willing to hand over the Holocron.

"Yes," she said simply now, gone were her monologues on Sith glory, now she was eyeing me suspiciously as well, her yellowed, slit eyes darting all over me.

"Then perhaps you can donate the Holocron to The Sith?" I was desperate now, I felt the longer I stayed here the more likely it was she would attack me.

"You do not wear a lightsaber, you wear a training lightsaber - a glorified vibrosword - you are no Sith!" she growled, now brandishing her double-bladed vibrosword "I found this Holocron myself, I waited here in the dark for three days without food or water, now you wish to take it from me with lies so that you - not I - may learn the precious secrets?!"

"Look - I opened the door for you, please, you can go, I just need the holocron, I am an acolyte of The Sith Academy, I'm just trying to complete my -" she interrupted me.

"No! If you want this Holocron, you will take it from me!" she put the Holocron into a pouch on her belt and disappear from sight, she was using her stealth generator. I reached out with The Force, felt where she was, and did something else I knew The Sith often did - I rose my hand and curled it into a fist, watching her stealth field fade away as I Force Choked her, however, she was a very resilient one - she grabbed her vibrosword - not her throat as most would when choked - and slashed at me. I dropped her from my Force Choke as I saw a cut on my left arm. I felt a deep, burning pain and lashed out, electrocuting her with Force Lightning, make her feel the same pain and burn that I did. I stopped The Force Lightning and pulled my training lightsaber to my right hand with The Force - it was my offhand, but she didn't know that - holding it against her throat.

"The Holocron, please," I was practically begging her, I was wounded and quickly exhausting myself with all these Force feats, I wouldn't be able to keep up the fight much longer.

"You defeated me entirely with The Force," she said, astonished "You will be Sith, acolyte, you will be a god, and I will be watching." she said this and disappeared with her stealth generator again, where she had been laid the Holocron - if I wanted to, I could still feel her with The Force, I could stop her escape, but I already said I didn't want to fight and I especially did not want to kill her. I picked up the Holocron and put it in my robes, I had to remember what her presence felt like, after all, she said she'd be watching me, that was rather worrisome - with her stealth generator, I had no idea where she'd be, when, and I didn't even know why she went from trying to kill me to promising to watch over me - she was a strange one. In any case, I had the Holocron and I would need to report back to Overseer Vernache, only to be sent on another suicide mission.


Alrighty then, another five thousand words of chapter for you, I hope you're all enjoying, if not, tell me so I can improve my story, I'm fully open to constructive criticism!