Chapter Nine
Ophelia was born the youngest of five children and Claudius was the middle child. Both were children of Coriolanus Draco of the Draconian Throne on the planet of Nyx. Their oldest brother Laertes was more fit to rule than Claudius was but Ophelia had a feeling that unless Claudius did something to aid him, that rule would not come unless their father died in war. Because at that time, their father was waging war with his own father who ruled the Erebus Throne as had a thousand generations worth of Kings before until Ophelia's father married their mother and took rule of the Draconian Throne via negotiations between their parents.
When it came time for Coriolanus to elect an heir, he refused because one of the terms was that if Coriolanus had two sons, he was to surrender the one he did not elect to rule when his father died. Coriolanus loved Claudius and Laertes equally and had faith in both of them being good kings. So when he had not made a decision when his father came to collect, he declared war upon his father. But Claudius felt unfit to become ruler so from age twelve (when the war began between his father and grandfather) to age fourteen, he conspired with Laertes to gain the trust of the Parliament and use them to reunite the planet under one rule.
As the Parliament was filled with petty lords who would like nothing more than to side with one side to oppose the lords on the other due to old feuds, Claudius found that part surprisingly easy. They assassinated the ones that came even remotely close to finding out the truth and none of the others suspected a thing since they were too busy worrying about their own sense of honor and duty. When the lords of Parliament were slowly eliminated by their own feuds (with nothing to tie them together), the Monarch Council (the second branch of government and the older of the two) took all their responsibilities.
Since the Monarch Council was a council of twelve members, Claudius and Laertes killed off the younger ones and watched the older ones die. The family then took all responsibilities and Laertes left to become Chief of Military in the Erebus Throne whilst Claudius went and became the same for their father's Throne. In secret, they traded secrets of military operations for each other that would prolong the war long enough to demoralize the commoners on both sides. Amazingly, it only took a year for the demoralization to be completed and then Claudius dispatched agents to begin revolts in local villages that would spread into the capitals of both empires.
Then Claudius made the final step towards the union by sending the coordinates for his father's very doorstep. Their grandfather attacked under the cover of the night and the defense of the Draconian Throne were barely strong enough to buy Claudius time to finish the conspiracy. Luckily, Claudius managed to activate a portal that would allow only two people to escape and his father had quickly and impulsively chosen that two of Claudius' sisters (Helena and Ophelia) would be the ones to escape. "I already lost my beloved Juliet and the daughter named after her, I will not lose these two as well," the King of the Draco family had said to him.
Determined to prevent his father from cheating him of his destiny, Claudius remembered how he had made sure to become as close to his younger sisters as he could. Taking advantage of that, he seduced Helena into coming a little too close to him after Ophelia went through the portal. He had already tricked his father into fighting his own father by saying that even with his dagger, he couldn't quite possibly handle so many soldiers. Helena came and thanked Claudius for having so much faith in her and for loving her when their father never could.
Then he betrayed and murdered her with the poison-laced dagger, powerful enough to kill her in four seconds with just one stab. Before stepping into the portal, Claudius heard his father vow that he would hunt him down and kill him. Calmly, Claudius had replied that he wouldn't be then initiated the thirty-second countdown to self-destruct of the entire palace upon his entrance into the portal. Then he stepped through and was teleported a hundred and eight standard miles away from the Palace for the rendezvous with Ophelia.
When Ophelia asked where Helena had gone, Claudius quickly made up a story that she had been shot by one of their grandfather's archers before she could enter. After he made that story up, they felt a slight wind on their skin and a rumble beneath their feet which Claudius recognized as the destruction of the Draconian Palace as well as the entire city in its immediate vicinity. As a parting shot, Claudius persuaded Laertes to dissolve the Parliament of the Erebus Throne as his first kingly order, ruling the entire planet through Monarch Council which composed of enough members to rule the planet without Parliament. With the conspiracy's goal completed and Claudius having abdicated his right to be King, Laertes bid his brother and sister farewell before they headed into the unknown.
Via a chance meeting with Odette, Claudius discovered that Ophelia was Force-sensitive and so, he relinquished his sister to her to continue to his own ambitions without her interfering. He went on to become one of the most brilliant scientists in space travel and engineering for space-to-space, space-to-ground, and ground-to-ground weaponry, inventing patents that surprised and baffled many of his competitors. But his finest field of work was when he discovered the taboo of science known as interdimensional travel, the ability to channel enough Force energy, space, and time to create a portal to another dimension whether it'd be parallel or radically different. Using his inferior abilities in weapons engineering and travel as mere pastimes, Claudius eventually managed to make time for a trip to the Outer Rim where he believed he could find the missing piece in his little puzzle.
It was a small planet of no significance where it was believed that the Sith Emperor of the Great Galactic War was believed to have died. What it turned out to be was the once glorious realm of the Sith known as Malachor V. It became painfully obvious to Claudius that the Sith Emperor had exhausted the Dark Side energies of Malachor in an attempt to hold on to his body long enough to find a fresher one to take possession of. Unfortunately, Claudius was the only other human immediately available to the immortal but ill Sith Emperor.
It was unknown as to whether or not the Sith Emperor actually managed to take possession of Claudius or if the younger man had resisted his spirit or even that he possibly dominated it. Either way, Claudius found the missing piece to his puzzle and finished the portal that he had started using for the quest to the dimension of Heraklion Prime. With the device, Claudius could hold the power to either destroy all reality or else rule it as its omnipotent and godly dictator. And all of this was the reason that Ophelia and Maul were presently on their mission to hunt him down before he could have a chance to reach Heraklion Prime and complete his plans for the universe.
Maul listened intently as Ophelia finished her story and knew it was hard for her to have revealed all this to him. It made him feel bad that he even brought up Claudius' request to have her tell him. "I'm sorry about your family and for the sake of the universe, I hope the Sith Emperor didn't succeed in possessing Claudius," Maul said. Then he added that if the Emperor did, they were in for a lot more trouble than they had ever been before.
The first trouble of that day was when Claudius noticed his glasses were no longer working properly. He knew he maintained them regularly and knew that they were clean this time. Sensing something wrong with them (or else he needed a new prescription) he took them off and was shocked to see what the change really was. His eyesight had improved drastically, beyond the need for glasses but he couldn't believe this astounding regression from what he had been told about being likely to go blind before he was even forty.
Not only that but he also felt something else, something he had never felt in his entire life. He felt more powerful than he could have possibly imagined and even decided to see if it was the Force at work. Sure enough, was able to lift objects with the Force and he looked at himself with shock and even a profound worry. Do not be alarmed Claudius Draco, I am the Sith Emperor and I am making improvements to this shell of a man; hold still while I fix your slight limp a voice in his head commanded.
After the Emperor gave his signal that Claudius could move, he not only moved. He also ran faster than any normal human ever could or even most of the other creatures back home could. Smiling, Claudius tested his new power on expendable items in the Jedi Temple of this altered version of Heraklion he presently resided in. Making his way to the most powerful vestige of the Force on the planet, he enjoyed every ounce of Force energy he used to clear any would-be warriors of the Overlord out of his way with ease.
It all came to an end when Ophelia and Maul soon caught up with the scientist. "Claudius, stop this now!" Ophelia demanded. "I will never stop, not now when I am-" Claudius began before the Emperor took over. Painfully, Claudius watched as the Sith Emperor's formed a faced on his chest and stomach, his eyes becoming visible as well as a nose and mouth. What hurt even more was when the Emperor started to talk through this manifestation of his majestic power.
"I had hoped to remain hidden in this shell until I could arrive to Heraklion Prime but you left me no choice," he said. Maul was slightly disgusted and even showed it in a snarl but Ophelia was so surprised to see it she nearly fainted. "Hello Ophelia, we meet at last and I presume the man with you is the one called Maul," the Sith Emperor said, introducing himself as Darth Vitiate. "Sorry to interrupt the thing from another time but I have to take down my brother and bring him in now," Ophelia said.
Maul agreed and helped her attack Vitiate and Claudius with a lightsaber in each of their skilled hands. "I'm afraid you cannot be allowed to interfere with our journey to Heraklion Prime," Vitiate said. Then he raised Claudius' arm in the gesture of a Force Push which was powerful enough to send Maul and Ophelia flying several yards. Claudius then used his magnified strength to open the elevator door that would lead them down to the heart of the Temple.
Maul was the first to recover and helped Ophelia to her feet before continuing the pursuit. "I didn't think that was possible but I would imagine that Darth Vitiate had been subtly manipulating Claudius' actions ever since they met on Malachor V. That would explain why Claudius even came up with the ability to judge what dimension to travel to next based on the amount of Force energy in one dimension," Ophelia said to Maul. "Manipulation is a very powerful tool if used right and I believe the Sith Emperor has been using it well for the last few thousand years if not more," Maul replied.
"So is this the place where I activate a portal?" Claudius asked his new guest. "Yes, go ahead and do so," the Sith Lord responded. Claudius shot into the wall and the portal opened to the next version of planet Heraklion. On the other side, he was initially spooked by what he saw but the Dark Lord calmed him.
"We're on the Heraklion you named Dark Heraklion where the human race mutates into nocturnal flesh eaters. Your new vision that I give you will be keen enough to help you find a path for us both," Vitiate said. "Should I leave the portal open a little longer?" Claudius asked him. "If you insist on playing this pathetic game of Cat and Mouse, be my guest and do so," answered his new friend.
Claudius did precisely that for although the Sith Emperor would never understand why he played this game, that didn't matter. What did matter was getting to Heraklion Prime so that he could destroy it as was originally planned. In no way would Darth Vitiate change that even for their mutual benefit. Smiling, he walked along the trail that his new vision distinguished for him.