A/N: Realizing why he could not best Vitiate on Korriban, Arik and his team of Jedi head to the accursed of Ziost, former capital world of the old Sith Empire. It is there that they will attempt to help their leader regain his full strength in the Force. Little do they realize, in addition to the dangerous creatures that reside in the desolate world, a certain individual is awaiting the former Dark Lord hoping to kill him for what happened to Vaylin.
Chapter 11: Nightmare Land
3611 BBY, above the surface of Ziost in a station long since abandoned.
Arik, Talia, Bailyn Saynor and Thexan Tirall (Arcann's son), Trent and Trania Grell, and Satele Shan were all getting off the shuttle into the station above the desolated world that Terrik tried to save decades before Vitiate consumed all life on the world. The station was offline with the exception of life-support and orbital controls. They were getting the coordinates left by the former operators to locate the deadly sanatorium on the surface. They were able to find the route to it, but not the building itself.
Trent noticed something odd and began touching head in pain. Arik noticed and asked, "Trent, what is wrong?"
"I sense that something amidst the Void on the surface is waiting for us." Trent said as he began to collect himself and recover from the warning. They began to collect the data on where to go. The group was then were approached by the redeemed spirit of Ajunta Pall in his Jedi robes. He glowed with the Force with his hood on his head.
"I have watched your progress, my friends. It is impressive to see that you made it this far. I bring you a warning. Ziost is not what it once was. The world is become like Nathema, a Void in the Force. You will need to shielding technique that you learned from Master Osten to shield yourselves from the worst effects of the Void. It will try to take your strength away from you and make you grow insane. However, you not stop its hunger completely. You must be careful, once you set foot on the surface, the danger will only grow. The sanatorium will be in where I made my first attempt at a castle. The monsters that guard certain areas are there still live but they are now corrupted by the Void." The ancient former Sith Lord said.
"We will, by the way, I wanted to thank you." Satele said.
"What for, descendant of Revan?"Ajunta said.
"For helping us in the Jedi Order, such as ending Kira to Nar Shaddaa to escape the Emperor's attempt to conquer and destroy this galaxy and for helping her to lead up to the birth of one of the greatest students I ever seen in the Jedi Order." Satele said as Arik blushed with embarrassment.
"You are welcome, consider it repaying my debt for leading to the creation of the Sith and the inadvertent creation of one of the greatest evils in the history of the galaxy." Ajunta said bowing his head in respect to the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. "May the Force be with you all." The Force ghost then disappeared in a flash of light.
"That was interesting. Our ancestor came to warn us of a major threat on the planet before we head there." Arik said.
"Through the Force anything is possible, brother. It is possible there may be something we don't know that he does." Bailyn Saynor Tirall said (A/N :Think of Ashley Burch voicing her in this story).
"Indeed, my love. I sense a very faint, but sad and angry signature in the Void of this planet. We must be careful, when we reach the surface." Thexan said. The Jedi team then boarded an Imperial shuttle to reach the safest way to begin their trek through the frozed, cursed surface of Ziost. While on the surface, a twenty-year old woman was meditating in the room where Arik's strength was reduced. She then received a holocall from Vitiate.
"Nilyav, Arik and his team are heading to the sanatorium to reverse the curse I put on Deimos. Have the new tuk'atas sent out to attack them. If those fail, then when they enter the building then you kill Deimos' beloved to hurt him badly for his betrayal." Vitiate said with his face covered with his hood on his throne.
"As you will, my lord. Deimos will be begging for death when I am through with him." The young Dark Jedi said as she cackled in releasing some dangerous Sithspawn from their cages. "Go my Voidhounds and tear the intruders apart, I command it."
At the same time, the Jedi team had just landed. Arik then began to fall on his knees on the frozen world holding his stomach. The Void was trying to claim him, spirit and mind. Essentially, it was making the powerful Jedi Knight sick to his stomach. Trent and Trania then used the shielding technique helping their friend get to his feet.
"Are you all right, Arik?" Satele said checking on her former student.
"I am all right, Master. I am just sick to my stomach. There is something wrong with the Force. Satele, remember when we went to Malachor's remains? That place was dark and cold. That was a Wound in the Force. This is a complete Void in the Force, the Force is corrupted and it is trying to absorb our lives. We should be careful, this place will not let us detect any danger." Arik said getting up.
So the Jedi team went for hours on the frozen wasteland and looking for the sanitarium. The route that they took showed them the ruins of Ajunta Pall's legacy. It even showed the statue of his apprentice and later wife. Talia looked curiously at the statue and began to read what was written in the ancient Sith tongue. As she looked at the statue, Arik noticed a door that said in the Common Sith tongue, "Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. For the door to open, blood of the first Sith Emperor must be poured in the chalice of his dark bride."
"What in the Corellian hells does that even mean? Blood of the first Sith Emperor..," Arik said as he was thinking.
"Arik, I think it means you and your sister's blood." Talia said.
"Now that makes sense. Keeps out unwanted intruders and attempted power-grabbers." Arik said as he got his boot knife. "Bailyn, we need to spill blood on the altar's chalice in order to open the door. Just hold out your hand over the chalice. I will try not to hurt you too much." Arik said as he pulled the glove off her hand and cut her hand causing blood to come out. Arik then did the same after he cleaned the blade. The altar then gave off a red glare as the wall collapsed piece by piece. Arik then heard a loud roar and turned to where it came from.
Suddenly, a large black Sithspawn came down from the dark statues and threw Arik down on the ground on top of him. As the animal was prepared to deal the deathblow, a shot hit the animal's eye, killing the creature. As Arik lifted the monster off him, he looked at the approaching rusty red droid. Satele helped her student off the ground and he turned toward the machine.
The droid then addressed the group saying, "Introduction: I am HK-47, assassin droid of the former Sith Lord Revan."
"Wait, the 'HK-47', I thought you were destroyed on the Foundry by the Imperial Strike team and eventually on Yavin 4 when my father fought Revan."
"Answer: To the first statement, I was destroyed by the meatbags on the station; to the second statement, I was copied by the Shroud and eventually put in storage, until Vitiate came and brought me back in my original upgraded body then gave me to you, master." HK-47 answered.
"Oh, I almost forgot about you, my friend. You were able to do what Hadje could never do: kill selected targets without drawing unwanted attention to our groups. I left you inactivated on Dantooine." Arik said.
"Statement: I do not blame you for not activating me. However, it was your father who sent me to this desolate place to help you and your meatbag mate, Talia."
Arik then placed his face in his hand and shook his head with embarrassment. He muttered, "Of all the times I get stuck with an HK unit, I get handed one of most psychotic droids in the history of the galaxy." He muttered. "Oh well, never look a gift ronto in the mouth."
"Statement: It is so good to work with you again, master." HK said.
The group was set to move when they heard large growling noises. More of the creatures appeared and Arik yelled, "RUN!" The group then ran to the dark chapel of Ajunta Pall to seek refuge and shut the door with the creatures clawing the door trying to get at the invaders of their territory (Think of the creatures roar from Dead Space 2 and 3: the infamous and dreaded Stalker).
The group was panting at how they were almost killed by the creatures outside. Just then, they saw they were in the area they were supposed to be in. Suddenly, Arik then had a vision of the place in a distant past. It showed his ancestor, Ajunta Pall and his dark bride, Orana, taking of the black wine and placing on each other's lips respectively. They then drank of the wine and smiled in a dark way when she showed him her pregnant belly after consummating their union several months before.
"Soon, my love, our bloodline will surpass all of my brothers and sisters in power and they will destroy my masters for their self-righteousness." Ajunta Pall said as he looked towards Arik causing him to collapse on the floor. Thankfully, Satele caught him and she helped him up to regain his balance.
"Are you alright, Arik?" Satele asked with concern.
"I am fine, but this place, for me, it brings back memories of my ancestor wanting revenge on his masters for banishing him and his brethren. Not only did it show me the vision of what my ancestress looked like, it also showed me how it began.
HK then approached and began to complain saying, "Angry query: Why did we run from those meatbags, master?!"
"HK, we were outnumbered, in their territory, and they were bigger than us. We do not engage 'meatbags' that can easily kill us. Even Revan would know to not do such foolish things." Arik said calmly.
Reading the text on the wall, Arik told them that the bloodline began when Orana Varik, recently married, showed up to the dark chapel to decide if she wanted to make the rebels slaves or kill them. She proposed a third option that included consummating their union. Ajunta Pall agreed with a passion-filled kiss taking her to the center of the room. (Sorry ladies and gentlemen, no lemons or smut on this story. I have too much respect for my Maker to be going into detail). He stated that those, who were humans, which lived, were forced to give up any female daughters to give to the sons of Ajunta Pall. This insured that the bloodline was not tainted by the Sith species that were around.
"What happened if they violated the purity?" Trania asked.
"I believe that they would be killed violently and they were forced to watch the abomination be killed quickly in front of them before that." Arik said as he looked in sadness. "This place has the Force in it. I can feel it, but why?"
"Because, Jedi, this facility was made by my grandfather to avoid another repeat of an out-of-control Force-sensitive from causing too much trouble. Welcome to Hell, my old friend." A voice on the intercom said.
"I know that voice. It sounds familiar…" Arik said as he tried to piece together who it was.
"I am Nilyav, Warden of this Sanatorium and the secret daughter of VaylinTirall, former Empress of the Eternal Empire." The blonde dark Jedi said as she was cackling and the floor below them lifted them up to her and twelve dark-robed individuals of mixed Sith Pureblood, Human, and Zabrak respectively.
"Aww…. Look at that, my pretties; he brought his friends to die by his brother and sister's hands." Nilyav said.
"Brother and sister's…?" Arik and Bailyn said in confusion
"So slow to catch on…" Nilyav said as she motioned to them to remove their hoods revealing that their faces were similar to Terrik's face. It was then Arik was shocked to know that his father was the dark robed figures' father as well. Arik then began to have a realization that his father was used to breed warriors designed to kill their younger siblings.
Suddenly, they all cast Force Lightning on them and he began screaming in pain as their power was draining his own. Talia then attacked the Sith Pureblood son of Terrik and decapitated him throwing off their concentration. They then pulled out their lightsaber pikes and the fight began fight the experienced Jedi Knights. Bailyn and Thexan fought the Sith Lords quickly and bested the female Zabrak-Human hybrid. The Grell-Osten siblings were able to take on eight of them and made the lightning that they cast, return and turn them into dust. Satele and HK-47 was able to best the rest when they tried to make a break for Arik unconscious body. When they were all bested,Satele and Talia began to heal Arik's unconscious body.
Nilyav then began to approach with a yellow lightsaber and Force Lightning in hand; she prepared to kill her former commander. She then began to glow purple eyes, Thexan tried to attack his enraged cousin but was thrown aside into his wife, Bailyn. Trania and Trent tried to stop her but ended up being electrocuted to unconsciousness. Satele noticing this then gave her student the Revan Mask, proceeded to stand her ground against her, and was bested by Nilyav after missing a lightning bolt in a lightsaber block. Talia then quickly helped Arik put on the Revan Mask and stood in front of Arik with her lightsaber at the ready to fight the enraged force user. She then heard to dark voice of Vitiate from Nilyav's mouth, "Well, well. Talia, we meet again, my enemy…"
"Leave Arik alone, he was in suffering because of you. You even tried to the same to his mother." Talia as she used the Force to throw pebbles and rocks at the possessed Nilyav. She skillfully blocked every rock with her yellow lightsaber. "You are so very much like your ancestor, the same defiance, the same hopeless faith in the Light. I am getting a very distinct sense of déjà vu. You would rather him be a Jedi than embrace his darkness. His mother was so powerful even as a child, I gave her a chance to join me, but she spat in face refusing to join me. I took pleasure in Scourge torturing her. Too bad, he joined Arik's father. I was hoping that his son would finish what I intended to do decades ago." Vitiate responded.
Vitiate then proceeded to choke Talia with the Force then threw her on the ground next to her boyfriend. He then had Nilyav pick up Arik by his throat with the mask on and tell him as he was being lifted off the ground, "What a shame, my former student, to get rid of such powerful talent like you. Then again, I can find a self-righteous, homicidal maniac anytime I need one. Die…" The possessed then tried to drain him only to be met with a powerful resistance as Arik regained consciousness.
"Surprise, Tenebrae… I have regained my strength. Now you will see my full power unleashed. Beware darkness… my old friend." Arik said Revan's mask on giving him a distinct voice. The Jedi Knight then Force pushed Nilyav to the ground on her back.
"What have you done? THIS CANNOT BE!" Vitiate yelled as he attempted to use Force Lightning on Talia and his Master. Arik then ran to them and grabbed the lightning allow the Force to flow through him to channel the lightning back at Vitiate possessing Nilyav. Arik then limited the lightning to banish the Dark Lord from Nilyav's mind. Nilyav was crying over how painful the fight was for her to banish him from her thoughts.
"Be gone, Vitiate. For too long, Nilyav has sat in the shadows of your evil. Now I will draw you out like a predator is drawn out by an intruder in their territory." Arik said.
"If I go, Nilyav dies. Hero…" Vitiate taunted as he was given a blast of Arik's incredible strength in the Force.
"You did not kill me; you will not kill the daughter of Vaylin. Get out of her mind, you monstrous bastard!" (Forgive the language, but this word is appropriate as he an illegimate child. Read the Revan novel, for more on Vitiate.) Arik said as he showed his full strength in the Force.
"Nilyav is mine" Vitiate said as he chuckled with a dark glee.
"Be gone from her, now and forever. You demon from the Void!" Arik said as he waiting on Vitiate to make a mistake. The Dark Lord attempted to strike Arik with slash from her lightsaber. The Jedi Knight ducked and then used his right index finger to touch Nilyav's mind pushing Vitiate from her mind. Vitiate, in his space fortress above Nathema, was bleeding from eyes and ears pondering his defeat by his former apprentice.
Nilyav laid on the floor moaning as Trent Grell then went to help the poor woman on her feet. "Uuuuugh…. I am free. Thank you, Master Jedi."
"Breathe the free air again, my friend." Arik said as he was getting up with Talia helping him up and Satele smiling at seeing her student with his mask. "One question: why is Revan's mask on my face?"
"I put it on you, it looks good on you. I think you ought to wear it." Talia said.
"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. The brief flash of memory from the previous owner on this thing is one of the reasons that I do not want to wear this thing for long." Arik said as he pulled the mask off his head.
"What did it show you?" Talia asked as she put the mask up in her backpack.
"It confirmed what I believed to be already true. Vitiate started the Mandalorian Wars, not the Mandalorians themselves. The Mand'alor was betrayed to his death above Malachor V. The fool made the mistake of making contact with Vitiate leading Revan and Malak to discover the monster's existence. After that, it just flashes away to me. I will know more as I go along the way of journey." Arik said he handed her the mask making his way to Nilyav.
"Trent, help Nilyav up. We now to need to leave I have a feeling that someone is coming toward us for freeing Nilyav from her conditioning. Suddenly, they heard an echo of a clap and they heard it coming from a pillar, out from it, a Sith Pureblood with her hood up, and spoke in a calm, but dark voice. "Well, well, you were able to break my Master's hold over his granddaughter. What a pity, I must say I had her kidnapped when you just fifteen years of age. I had her stripped of her Jedi robes, humiliated her, and took her as a dark acolyte."
"Servant Eleven, we meet again. I managed to kill one of your fellows on Brentaal IV and show to your Master, that his influence is ending. Just tell me one thing though- why did you rob me of some of my power and how did your Master survive in that tower when he tried to take over my father's body?" Arik asked.
"No ignorance, only knowledge. It is simple; he did not want any of his enforcers from trying to overthrow him for his position. To the second, it is that his Valkorian body was doomed to fail from the beginning; he was shedding his skin to avoid dying completely. The holocron may have weakened him, but it was used on the wrong body." Servant Eleven answered.
"What about Nilyav? What did you do to her?" Arik asked with aggression in his voice.
"My, my, you are so full of questions. Aren't we?" Servant Eleven said with a sadistic smile. "Why I let her suffer her mother's fate. And then let the men have their way with her."
"You what?!" Arik said with anger in his voice.
"Just kidding, I tortured her physically when she failed to help you on Belsavis. Saved her the trouble of being taken advantage of by those officers who locked you up and then disregarded orders to leave you be to taken to Tython. It was glorious to see you take them all down and show them the true meaning of terror." Servant Eleven said.
"If you plan on turning back to the dark side, then you are mistaken. I will not go back ever again." Arik said with determination in his voice.
"Enough talk; let us end our rivalry, once and for all." Servant Eleven said as she activated her black-cored purple lightsaber. Arik nodded towards his Master to stay back from the fight. She nodded in agreement for her and the others to stay back from the fight.
Arik activated his two blades and sprinted towards her by slashing at her with his purple blade only to be blocked. The Sith Lord then had Force Lightning thrown at him only for him to unleash green Force Lightning in return to collide with one another. The deadly could not hold out as Arik pushed with all of his strength into the dark servant causing to get thrown back on the floor. She got back up filled with anger and then had tried to attack Talia only to be met with the Jedi using a combined Force push to throw her back in the fight with Arik once more.
The two Force-users battled it with a deadly flourishes and flurries for five minutes until an opening came, and Arik took advantage sliced off her dominant hand. This surprised Servant Eleven as she looked at him with hatred. "I will not be contained and I cannot be redeemed. And you will not kill me." She hissed.
"I don't want to kill you, but you will face justice for your crimes." Arik said with determination.
"I think not, my most prized apprentice. You have silenced a servant, but her strength is mine now. If she dies, she chose and all will die with her on this pathetic rock. Ironic for the descendant of Ajunta Pall to die in the very place where your bloodline continued. I should have killed your mother when I had the chance. Goodbye, my arrogant son." Darth Vitiate said to Arik. He then saw that the giant elevator was destroyed and that their only way out was blocked by debris.
"Suddenly, I am feeling a little claustrophobic here. I do not like feeling trapped in a place where my ancestors had their children conceived." Arik said as Nilyav began to turn around physically. "I know a way out. Consider it my gift for saving me." She said.
"Alright, show us then, but take your time." Talia said.
For two hours, the entire group were able to navigate the deadly way out and in the process learn of what Nilyav endured as Vitiate's servant. Arik was not surprised on how evil Vitiate really was and became more upset. Eventually two days later, the entire group returned to the station above Tython where they were getting the supplies needed to fight Vitiate and his dark forces. Nilyav was taken to Tython by Trent to help heal her wounded mind and spirit. Satele then ushered Arik in her quarters while everybody went to either meditate or rest from the trip. HK was plugged in on the ship ready for the next mission.
"So you got to see what you ancestors were like and how it felt to wear Revan' mask. How do you feel about being at full strength once more?" Satele asked as she sat down.
"I feel great, now Vitiate will truly be no match for me. I feel I could take on the Dark Council alone." Arik said with his hands clasping together.
"Careful Arik, pride goes before destruction." Satele warned. "Now what did you want to show me?"
"This is what I am going to give to Talia." Arik showed a deep silver ring with a small brown diamond.
"Arik, you are not going to ask her to marry you? Are you?" Satele said in confusion.
"Not yet, my friend. But what do you think?" Arik said.
"Child, the ring is nice and all, but you need to wait until the right time. Love is a beautiful thing that you and Talia have, but you need to realize marriage is a difficult thing to master and you still have watch what you say and do. It requires commitment, loyalty, and respect. Jace and I learned that when we married." Satele explained.
"I know what you mean, I love her very much. I am afraid that I will lose her and all my efforts will be for naught in redeeming myself." Arik said with tears in eyes. "There is no emotion, there is peace…"
"Arik, please calm down. I was not trying to frighten you. I warning you. Ask her hand when the time is right. OK?" Satele said as she went to hug her student. He returned the gesture. "It's funny really. That when you were a baby, you did you best to hug me. Now, you are all grown-up and learning to express love properly. May the Force be with you on Alderaan."
Arik then got his crew and proceeded to prepare to leave the ship. Trent and Nilyav then sat in the specialists' seat and began to put in the coordinates for Alderaan to take care of the new threats that the DZK was doing to House Thul and House Organa.
A/N: Although I used a normally vulgar word, I do not condone its use. Please forgive me for using that term, but I believed it was a proper way of showing Arik's contempt for the monster. I am also sorry for the delays, I am getting ready for graduation. I will try to work on the next chapter or Blindside's when I am not busy. As always, thank you and God bless!