Chapter 12 – A Map for the Future
Louise bowed lowly to Zash before walking out of the room with a hop in her step and a smile plastered on her face. My final trial, Finally! Not only that, but I have the advantage! She cheered in her head.
Her destination was clear, her quarters. She wanted to get all dressed up for the occasion, robes and all. Her bedroom door slid open with a hiss, showing the spartan room inside. Her grin faltered slightly at the sight. She would be leaving this all behind, what had been her home for a year. Slowly, Louise walked into the room, the thought of her leaving this place had caused a feeling of nostalgia to make itself known, but she quickly squashed it down. Now is not the time to think about that. She thought determined.
Picking up the pace, she quickly pulled out her foot locker, opening it up to reveal all the clothes she had, as well as her blaster pistol and Vemrin's lightsaber. Out of all her clothes, she had two to pick, the recreation of her old robes, and the new pair that Lyira had acquired for her. Looking at her options, she could not help but feel a deep pang of longing and hurt. The only clothes she had which here not supplied by the Academy were the two robes Lyira had gotten her.
Quickly, she got changed into Lyira's gift, the warrior robes, she found it only marginally less tight than the rest of her outfits. Why are all my clothes are shrinking!? The annoyed Pinkette thought. Once dressed, she pulled out her blaster, quickly strapping the holster to her hip along with her lightsaber, which instead of being hidden in a pouch, was now displayed openly for all to see. She also grabbed a bag to carry the rods for the trial. Once pleased with her loadout, she headed out the door and off to Naga Sadow's tomb.
...
Naga Sadow's tomb was one of the closer tombs to the Academy, second only to Ajunta Pall's and… Ludo Kressh's. Having visited it a few times before, she was able to navigate it easily enough. The tomb itself was different from the others she had visited, being one of the closer tombs it had quite a lot of traffic. So, besides the unholy screeches, it was one of the safer tombs to visit; no k'lor'slugs, no insane soldiers, no failed acolytes, and no slave revolts.
Pulling her datapad free, and inserting the datacard, she quickly began to read through the information, trying to find any descriptions or images of the rods she was looking for. Soon enough, she found it: The four rods, each named after an inscription written on it in the ancient Sith script, were large key shaped grey rods topped with a large purple crystal held in place by two triangular prongs. At the other end of the rods was a strange protrusion that bent out at an angle before bending once again, parallel to the rod. The names of each rod are as follows, Hate, Fury, Wrath, Despair.
At first, Louise thought that the Sith definitely had a unique naming scheme, but then another thought hit her. I've seen these before… During her previous ventures, she had seen at least two objects that fit the description but never thought much of them. Wait, wouldn't the Sith archaeologists have found out their purpose and taken them, or even taken them because they were obviously important? Louise paused midstride within one of the many chambers of the tomb.Is the Empire this dense!?
Silently grousing over her latest epiphany, the Pinkette followed her memories to the chamber where she had seen the rods. Entering the chamber, she found exactly what she was looking for, in the centre of the room was a statue of half a man presenting one of the rods in a submissive manner. Grinning at the seeming simplicity of the trial, Louise walked up to the presented rod, only to stop short of it as she remembered something important; they were big.
An annoyed sigh escaped her lips as she realised that she would have to lug around four of the rods which were around a meter and a half in length, bigger than the bag she was carrying. Carefully, she tried to lift the artefact, a feat which she could only thank her exercises for, but they were still heavy. Another sigh left her mouth as she put it carefully back onto the pedestal. I have to carry four of them…
Shaking her head, she began to try and brainstorm an idea on how to lug the four rods. Thoughts of simply using the Force crossed her mind but were banished just as quick. What if I got attacked and they broke? Other thoughts were also banished as she found problems with them, that was until she noticed a small group of acolytes conversing in the corner. She chuckled silently as an idea started to form.
As she walked over to the acolytes, she called out, "Excuse me?"
"What?" one responded curtly. A tall and red twi'lek with black tattoos reminiscent of ancient Sith designs which looked odd against the maroon acolyte uniform. Though I have to admit, those tattoos compliment her skin tone really well. I wonder if I could get a tattoo like that… Louise thought admiringly.
The twi'lek was one of the few aliens that had been let into the Academy, and despite not knowing her personally, Louise knew she had been a slave, which is where she got her tattoos.
Frowning at the tone, she nevertheless continued, "I require assistance."
"And what assistance do you need, pink-" one of the other acolytes, a stout dark man with short brown hair and eyes, began haughtily. But quickly stopped upon noticing the lightsaber at Louise's hip, "er… my lord?" he said nervously.
Louise's lips quirked. He thinks I am a Sith Lord… or at least an apprentice. "You see that rod?" the pinkette gestured to the statue in the centre of the room, "There are three others like it, I need some of you to help me haul them deeper into the tomb. If you help, I will be more than happy to pay you for your assistance."
Briefly, she felt like the Sith Lord down in the lower wilds who had asked for their assistance months before. She had enough money -or credits, as they called it- to go around, mostly from helping Sith Lords or the Military with things. Though, as Lyira had once pointed out, successful acolytes have the credits of their fallen rivals split up between each other, meaning she got a share of Kory, Niloc, Gerr, Wydr and Balek's money with Ffon. She felt slightly bad because of it, but the Pureblood was quick to quell her, telling Louise that it was their way of helping her in death.
"Well, I got nothing better to do." The man said, stretching slightly, "Anyone else?"
...
Three rods later, and Louise and her small party of acolytes found themselves standing on a platform overlooking a massive chasm, the only path onwards being to the left. On the side furthest from them, they could see a monstrosity of a machine; a large circular platform that sprouted from the deepest depths of the sinkhole with a small dais atop it. Above that, was a similar cylindrical machine above it, the only thing connecting the two was a pale blue beam energy. Eight pylons sprouted at the four 'corners' of the construct, four above, four below, each arching electricity between them.
However, while awed both her and her followers were, it was the grey humanoid creature that floated between the two contraptions that interested the Pinkette. The Dashade…
For a moment, Louise spent her time thinking about how to reach the Dashade, at the moment she could only follow the path and hope it took her to where she was meant to go. She also had the idea of using a speeder or skycar to reach the other side. But that idea was dashed the moment one of the pylons discharged an aggressive bolt of electricity at a Shyrack that seemed a bit curious with the monster on the other side of the chasm.
"Well," Louise said, watching said shyrack fall into the abyss, "We're not getting to the Dashade that way."
"Wait, Dashade? You're trying to get to the Dashade?" Asked the twi'lek nervously, seemingly terrified at the thought of fighting a Dashade.
"Pretty much." Was Louise's casual reply.
"Then what?" another one of the acolytes asked.
"Either convince it to help me finish my mission, or… well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. Come on."
And so, the group followed the Pinkette across a path leading them to another chamber. From there, they made their way to the locked doorway, beyond which, was the Dashade. They found very little in regards to resistance, only a few shyracks that were starved enough to try and attack a large group such as the one Louise was leading.
The door chamber was quite spacious, with what looked to be a meditation dais in the centre for meditation. Off in the corners were four altars where the rods would be placed. The door itself was a massive double door with pale blue symbols etched in the centre surrounded by a stylised elliptical circle around it. Louise could tell it was alive with latent Force energy.
Checking her datapad to revise what needed to be done, she found it quite simple… eerily so. All she needed to do was place the four rods on their respective alter and meditate in the centre of the room, focusing on door and the crystals.
"Okay, I need you guys to place the rods on the corresponding alter." Louise ordered, "They should all have a word engraved around the base of the crystal, as well as one on the altar."
"Will do," they chorused.
Whilst they worked, Louise went over the ritual once more, and again, and again. She knew that a failed ritual could have disastrous effects on the practitioner. Place the rods and meditate, place the rods and meditate place the… hey, where's Ffon? That line of thought made her pause and her paranoia kicked into gear.
"We're done." The twi'lek said, pulling the Pinkette from her musings.
"Thank you… uh, I have to ask. Have any of you seen an acolyte around here?" Louise asked, "He's a Pureblood and usually wears a dark robe with his hood up."
"Yeah, we've seen him snooping around the tomb." one of the acolytes replied, a female who looked similar to Kory, the dead acolyte, "He came in around thirty, forty minutes before you. Surprised we haven't seen him yet. Any reasons?"
"Just curious. Well, I guess I'll pay you all and be done with it." Pulling out her datapad, she began the monetary transfer, however, knowing that it would be too tedious to transfer the credits amongst the group, she decided to give the money to their apparent leader to share. Soon she was done and bid good day to the group who left somewhat hesitantly. I suppose they wanted to see the Dashade up close.
Now alone, Louise walked to the centre of the room and began to meditate on the Force. She stretched out her senses, feeling the Force energy generating from the four crystals and the door, feeling and interacting with the energy. The sound of crackling electricity drifted to her ears, but she paid it no mind; she did not want to mess up the ritual with a distraction, lest something horrible befall her. That was her mistake.
Pain.
Four lances of Dark Side charged lightning impaled her very being, making her nerves scream in agony. Had this been the first time she had been struck by pain like this, she would have fallen unconscious. Now, though? It took everything she had to stop herself from falling to the ground in a heap, feeding off the pain to keep herself relatively stable. The last year had been pain after agonising pain for her. Starting with her time as a slave, to the unforgiving nature of being an Acolyte of the Sith Empire, and then there were the last four months; both the emotional, mental and physical scarring from Lord Kressh's tomb and her training with the Sith Battlemaster. The Empire had done much to destroy what was once and innocent, sheltered girl and turn her into this.
Louise would not let a simple ritual such as this stop her from achieving her goals. So, instead of letting the electricity ravish her body, she instead mentally latched onto the electrical tendrils of Force energy and let the Dark Side fuel her. Combined with her hate, anger and pain, she lashed out.
Thrusting her hands out, she conjured a massive storm of focused Force energy, blasting the door in front of her with a roar of rage.
Soon, the energy from the crystals depleted, along with the Sith symbols -which had lost their blue glow and become a murky brown. The doors swung open of their own accord as if it were welcoming her to her prize.
Louise stood there, staring at the floating Dashade that levitated peacefully inside the blue beam across a short bridge. She had not moved from her position in the centre of the chamber, instead, she tried to heal her aching body. Silently, she seethed at the pain she had felt, and stewed in the hate she was feeling for Harkun and Ffon. Using this, she willed the Force to calm her nerves, removing the pain and ache she felt.
Once done, she took her first shaky step off the dais and began to march purposefully towards the Dashade across the bridge. Soon, she had arrived just short of the platform the Assassin was levitating on.
Her eyes washed over the creature, taking in all its appearance; pale grey leathery skin stretched over its heavily toned body, with several black bar tattoos decorating its chest. She could see strange metallic bumps protrude from his skin, something she recognised as cybernetic implants. However, its face was the strangest of all, instead of a nose, there was a blood red line that started from its forehead and ran down to its chin, and without any lips to speak of, she could see large vicious teeth. It -Louise had no idea if it was male or female- was only dressed in a tribalistic loincloth, utility belt, and a back-slung sheath for a sword she could see poking out over its shoulder.
Louise could see that the creature was strong and a formidable warrior, but she was not intimidated, and any fear she felt, fed her strength. She was made to speak, but before she could, the Dashade threw back its head and started laughing, or what she assumed was laughing. It was not a joyful laugh like one might expect from someone finally meeting another sentient for hundreds of years, but a cold bitter laughter.
"All the world conspires to mock me!" The beast exclaimed in the ancient tongue of the Sith, before laughing some more, "Tulak Hord! I waited for you, I did everything you said! And this is what you send me? Ha!" The Dashade soon turned its attention from the ceiling, and down to the Pinkette in front of him, his reptilian yellow eyes glowing cruelly, "Fate is cruel to me, little one. But not as cruel as it is to you. You have made a terrible mistake."
Louise's eyes narrowed at the thinly veiled threat, "Fate is cruel," she repeated, knowing first-hand how cruel it could be, "But that doesn't mean you need to withhold your name."
"I am Khem Val, servant of Tulak Hord, who was called the Lord of Hate, Master of the Gathering Darkness, Dark Lord of the Sith," The Dashade declared, "Together, Tulak Hord and I devoured our enemies at the battles of Yn and Chabosh, and brought the entire Dromund system to its knees. And now I await his return."
Oh, wonderful, I just had to meet the personal assassin of Tulak Hord! Louise grumbled mentally.This day keeps getting better and better. Turning her attention back to the organic death machine, she introduced herself, "I am Louise, Acolyte of the Sith Empire and…" She paused, not knowing how to word what she was to say next without angering him, "I apologise but Tulak Hord is dead."
"Dead? My lord, why didn't you come for me?" Khem Val's voice seemed devastated as he called for his long-dead master, "I would have died with you- no, I would have slain death itself!" He shouted, "As for you, you should not have come here; for I hunger… and I will devour you!"
And with that, the massive creature began struggling under the invisible binds that kept him suspended. Louise backpedalled away to a safe distance, her hand ready on her lightsaber. The beam began to flicker under the sheer power of the Dashade and she knew that it would not last. Soon, the entire beam flickered out permanently, dropping him unceremoniously onto the ground. Once he was on his feet, Khem Val started advancing towards her, stumbling slightly as he jumped from the platform to the bridge.
From that single stumble, Louise was able to deduce that the ancient assassin was very much weakened by his prolonged captivity, but that did not suppress the shudder she felt. Now that the Dashade was standing on the same level as her, she could truly see its size. Towering over two meters- two and a half meters high, Khem Val glared down at Louise, unsheathing the massive blade from his back.
The sword itself was deserving of its own awe. Finely crafted ashen silver metal, nearly the same size as herself. If that was not intimidating enough, it was the shape; the handle and half the blade was much like a broad claymore, but instead of tapering to a point, it fanned out, making the tip look more like an axe head. Whoever forged the blade, must have wanted an intimidating blade to tear through their enemies.
Louise stood her ground, unclipping her lightsaber and igniting it. The orange blade gave the Dashade reason to pause as if evaluating his foe. Then he charged, his blade held high as he tried to strike the Pinkette down.
Instead of dodging the attack like she would have previously, she parried the blow, using the creature's momentum against him as he sailed harmlessly by. In response, Khem shot his hand out, firing off a blast of electricity at her. Knowledge flooded her mind, directing her movements to successfully dissipate the lightning using her saber. As she did this, her left hand was moving deftly to her sidearm, unsheathing her blaster and firing off a few bolts of plasma, distracting the massive beast as he either deflected or dodged each of the bolts.
Pleased with her distraction, the Pinkette charged and jumped over the creature, dodging an attack aimed at her midsection, and kicked the Dashade in the head with as much force as her rune-enhanced foot would allow.
Khem staggered back, not expecting such a strong attack to come from a lithe girl such as Louise. He held his head in one of his three-clawed hands, dazed. This gave the Pinkette, who had not stopped moving since the kick, all the time she needed to fire off a single bolt of plasma into the Dashades hand.
The ball of plasma struck true and the Assassin dropped his massive blade. Louise quickly holstered both her weapons, drawing upon the Force to summon the sword into her waiting hand.
The second they met, all the information on the type of blade it was and how to use it was pumped into her mind, and through this, she understood two things: one, it was a Sith Sword, forged from Sith Alchemy, lightsaber resistant and extreamly sharp; and two, she was glad she had not used lightning against the creature, for the blade would have absorbed the electricity to be used against her. Had Khem wielded this weapon at his peak strength, Louise knew that she would have been killed.
Louise hoisted the weapon up in one hand, a surprising feat for anyone who did not know her secret and pointed it at her disarmed opponent. "I win." She asserted, smirking imperiously.
Khem looked between her and his empty hand before throwing his head back to let out a humourless laugh, "Ha! Defeated! Defeated! Why did you not come for me, Tulak! Why have you allowed your servant to be reduced to this?" he shouted to the aether, "Fine, little one. In my great weakness, you have defeated me, so I must serve you -this is the law that binds me." His voice was one of resignation and defeat, "But, you are not my master."
"That is alright with me," Louise said stunned at what had happened.Did I just bind a Dashade as a servant…?
The sound of clapping echoed in the silent chamber. Both Louise's and Khem's eyes snapped in the direction where she saw the group she had just paid cheering her victory. Louise raised her hand in recognition, before looking around for where to continue her journey. Her scouting skills lead her to find a noticeable path that connected to the short bridge she stood on, to a previously unexplored chamber. "Let's go." She said to her newly acquired companion.
"As you command, little one." Replied Khem as they began walking off to the new chamber. "But someday I will regain my strength." He warned, "That is whe-"
Louise cut him off, "I don't have time for you thinly veiled threats," she hissed, "I did not free you to fight, I set you free to help me complete my trial! Now take me to the room with the starmap."
"As you command, little one," Khem replied.
"And don't call me 'little one'!"
"As you wish, pink one."
Louise only growled in response.
...
As it turned out, the entrance to the star map was behind an unassuming stone wall, only accessible by the immediate destruction of said wall at the hands of a Dashade. Louise had asked the massive assassin why the criteria for opening the door was so specific. He only shrugged, mentioning that Tulak Hord liked hiding his information in strange, yet simplistic ways before continuing through the tomb.
The two ended up lapsing into a cautious silence; at least, that was what the Pinkette was doing. The halls of the hidden sanctum were littered with droids, torn apart and crushed. At a closer look, she could see that they were not damaged by lightsaber nor blaster, but by claws and teeth… Big claws and teeth.
Louise had an idea about what had caused the damage, one that she desperately hoped was not true.
Though, any thought about what was stalking the halls soon went to the back of her head once she turned into the final room. The chamber was a large hall, obviously meant to house quite a few people; along the sides of the room were tall grey statues of humanoids with their heads bowed low in submission -some were intact, others dilapidated. At the far end of the room was a staircase that leads up a stage. From the mouth of the room, the pinkette could see a large holographic image of the galaxy slowly swirling around in the dim lit room. The image was captivatingly beautiful, in her humble opinion.
Louise was about to go charging up to the hologram, but a low growl froze her mid-step. It seemed that Tulak Hord had left more in the way of protection over his hidden star map. Well, merde.
A massive creature with creamy brown skin that turned to a murky red near its hands, feet and the two tusks that jutted from the side of its mouth. Spikes of various sizes sprouted from its back and elbows, reminding Louise of a demonic hedgehog with a human-esque mouth that seemed to twist into a permanent smile showing its many pointed teeth. Two small milky white eyes gazed in an unfocused manner towards the two interlopers from where it was hiding from behind the statues. A Terentatek. A starving Terentatek, if its sickly thin body was anything to go on. This is actually worse than my original theory…
Normally, the diminutive Acolyte would have chosen to flee from such a beast as to not die, but it was between completing her trial or being killed by Harkun... the choice was simple. Even the Sithspawn knew which choice it wanted Louise to make as it charged towards the intruders, knocking over a few statues in the process.
In response, both Force-sensitives split up, each moving to the opposite sides of the beast, pulling free their weapons and getting into their stances. Khem was the first to act, charging the Sithspawn with his alchemical weapon held high. Louise on the other hand, chose to instead attack it with the Force, striking it with lightning, keeping her distanced from the creature. Sadly, it became apparent that her attacks were barely affecting it, so instead, she switched to telekinetically ditching debris at the creature.
Khem, using his years of experience, used her attacks as a distraction to strike at its weak points, its joints and soft underbelly. When the terentatek got savvy to what he was doing, the Dashade began utilising hit and run techniques, striking it in one place, before moving out the way for a large piece of rock to slam it in the face.
Neither of the combatants, but Khem, could keep up their attacks, but luckily, the monstrosity was the first to fall. Trapped under a partially destroyed statue, all it could do was claw at whoever was closer, its legs and arms too weak and damaged to lift its weight once more.
Using the Force, Louise leapt atop its head, steadying herself as the creature tried in vain to flick her off, only ceasing its movement when she stabbed it in the eye with her lightsaber. Hopping down from the creature and dusting herself off, the Pinkette smiled at the dejected look at the Dashade before turning her attention to the starmap, "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," she said, feeling a bit tired from her telekinetic bombardment, "but I guess that's what you get when your guard dog has been starving for thousands of years."
Khem merely grunted in acknowledgement, poking the beast with his sword.
Louise began to walk up the steps to the holoprojector, running her hands through the hologram as she went. For some reason, she felt a distinct satisfaction as she watched the projection fizzle around her hand as she intruded in the space it was occupying. I do really love technology…
Now, standing in front of the holoprojector, she scanned for the datacard port, once found, the pinkette pulled one of the cards from one of the pouches on her belt, inserting into the machine. Once she figured out how the projector worked, she downloaded the information and ejected the datacard.
The petite acolyte looked down at the small card in her hand; despite being quite light, it felt heavy. Pocketing the piece of tech, Louise walked down the staircase with the Dashade assassin following reluctantly behind her. The duo got halfway across the room before something stopped them mid-stride. Standing in the middle of the entry way was a slack-jawed Ffon.
At first, neither party did anything but stare at the other, that was until Louise decided to speak up. "Hi, Ffon!" she exclaimed cheerfully, a sadistic smile crossing her lips.
For a moment, he looked like a fish gasping for air as he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, "Y-you!" he eventually stammered intelligently.
"Me?" She asked innocently, enjoying the look of utter outrage on the Purebloods face.
"You!" he repeated, "How did you get here!? An-and the Dashade! You have the starmap!?"
"Yep"
"No, no!" Ffon shouted in disbelief, his brain struggling to comprehend, "There's no way a low life wretch of a slave could have possibly gotten it! You cheated, you filth! How did you release the monster, how did you do it!" he demanded.
Louise made to answer, but was cut off by the Dashade, "I am not a monster," he growled, "I am Khem Val, servant of Tulak Hord, devourer of the rebels at Yn and Chabosh, consumer of the Dromund system. And I am hungry" The Assassin went to unsheathe his sword, but his master stopped him with a raised hand.
"Don't worry, Khem, I will deal with this idiot. Then you can eat." She placated, her eyes never once leaving the acolyte in front of her, "So, Ffon, what are you going to do? I have the map and the Dashade. You failed."
"No! You cheated!" He shouted, repeating himself as if the more he said it, the truer it was, "You must have. Tell me how you did it!?"
"Simple." Louise said cheerfully, enjoying the outrage, "Harkun hated me, he gave me the tough trials; trials that would have seemed impossible to anyone else. He constantly challenged me, disadvantaging me at every turn. He even sent an assassin after me! But instead of killing me like he hoped, he was making me stronger. Harkun set you up for failure, and it couldn't be proven any more than now." She explained, "He sent you off ahead, trying to give you the advantage and that led to me being the successor. When I went to get my trial, Lord Zash showed up and gave me some important information on how to release the Dashade. If only Harkun had kept you behind for a little longer. How does it feel to be destroyed by the one who held you in such high regard?"
"No, Harkun couldn't, wouldn't have done that!" He yelled as if the mere thought that Harkun would have damaged his chances was ludicrous, "I deserved to be Lord Zash's apprentice, not you! You worthless pathetic slave! I am true Sith, I should be the winner, you karking slave!"
Louise's eyes narrowed, glaring down at the Pureblood, "Ffon, I would stop right now, if I were you." She said, her voice losing all cheerfulness, no matter how fake it was.
"Shut up, filth!" He retorted, "You do not get to tell me what to do! You should have been killed in the slave pens, strangled at birth." Ffon ranted maniacally, "You don't have the right to call yourself a Sith! I worked my entire life for this, and a kriffing, worthless, pathetic, slave gets to be Lord Zash's apprentice!?"
If Louise's eyes could have narrowed any further, they would have, "Enough!"
"No! I will be Lord Zash's apprentice, and I will put you down where you belong! I wonder how that traitorous whore, Lyira, will react when I tell her how I made her girlfriend suffer!" And with that, he unsheathed his training blade and sped towards the Pinkette, murder evident in his eyes.
However, he was not the only one who had murder in their eyes, for once what he had said fully registered, Louise went from simply annoyed to absolutely livid, her eyes literally glowing with malice. The second Ffon came within hitting range, she had begun to move using her rune-enhanced body, pirouetting to the side before she sent a devastating kick to his leg, snapping his femur.
Before he could even scream in pain, she had ignited her bronze lightsaber and removed his hand from the rest of his body, along with his weapon. With her free hand, she grabbed onto his face and slammed him down onto the ground, but not enough to knock him unconscious or even kill him, just enough to be painful and daze.
His pained cries were like music to her ears as he squirmed around to get up, "Don't you dare insult her," she spat as she threw her left hand forwards unleashing an agonising beam of pure lightning hatred into his body.
She held him under the tortures effects of Force lightning for two, in her opinion, sweet minute, enjoying every pitch his screams reached before his voice became horse. She let him recover, only to begin electrocuting him again, and again, each time much sweeter than the last.
"Y-y-you m-monster!" he stuttered as his body curled up into the fetal position in a hopeless attempt to shield his body from her wrath, "Y-you ca-can't kill an acolyte!"
"Monster?" She asked, twisting her voice into a cruel mockery of an innocent child, "I thought I was a worthless slave, Ffon." As she said that, her voice took on a more aggressive tone until she got up to his name, where she promptly shocked him with electricity, "Come on, Ffon, show me your superiority!" she roared, lifting him up with the Force, before slamming him down onto the ground, winding the Pureblood.
Before he could begin moving again, Louise quickly walked up to his prone figure and straddled him, holding his face in her hands, "I thought you were trained by the greatest masters? Where'd all their wisdom go, Ffon? Come on, answer me!" she shouted, plucking her blaster from her hip and firing a bolt into his remaining hand, then again at his elbow and again at his shoulder, relishing in his horse cries of pain.
Suddenly, an idea popped into her head, "Kehm?" she called, drawing the attention from the Dashade who was content to sit down and watch the show from a broken piece of statue, "I have a question about our bond."
"What is it, pink one." He asked.
"If I told you to keep a secret, will you?"
"Until the bond is broken, yes." The Dashade answered.
Louise smiled in response, turning back to the now terrified Ffon, "Y-you can't kill m-me," he pleaded pathetically.
"Silence!" she hissed, snapping her fingers to conjure a small ball of flame that she sent shooting into Ffon's mouth, watching with unaltered glee as his tongue was burned to a crisp, "You dare think you can tell me what to do!? You only know me as a slave, but you know nothing about me. So, let me enlighten you.
"On my homeworld, we have a similar system to the Empire, with those who have power at the top, and those without serving. Except, instead of Sith or Force-users, we have mages. As mages, we were able to bend the four elements to our wills; Earth, Water, Fire and Air. However, there is a fifth element, one more powerful and sacred to our people. It was known as the Void.
"Now, there has only been one recorded account, six-thousand years ago, about a user of the Void, and he was known as Brimir, the Founder of Magic, my homeland's holy messiah -not that I buy into that anymore. But there is one problem: if our only account of a Void user is over six thousand years old, how will we know about another Void user? Which is exactly what happened." As she said this, she began to unwrap the bandages on her left hand, "You see, I am a user of the sacred Void, not only that, but I am Gandalfr!" With that, she grasped her lightsaber in her right hand, savouring Ffon's expression as he stared at the now glowing runes, "I am no slave. I am Louise, Master of the Void and the Left Hand of God!" She let her proclamation hang in the air for a few moments before hissing, "Now, Scream!"
A snap of her fingers, and two conjured balls of fire later, and Louise was watching happily as Ffon's eyes were burned out of his skull. Once his eyes were nothing but burnt charcoal and blood, she dismissed the flame.
Getting up from the Ffon, she walked over to Khem who was currently looking at Louise strangely, "You will not inform anyone of what happened here."
"As you command."
"If you're hungry, you can eat him." She informed and without waiting for a reply, turned around and left the room.
...
"Loui- The Dashade!?" The walk back to the Overseers office was a quite affair with Louise acting much more subdued than she had been. She was happy that Khem had not spoken, allowing her to do some thinking on her own. Soon enough, they had arrived at his office, a bit quicker than she would have liked. Now she was standing in front of a shocked Harkun who stared at the Dashade with obvious contempt and anger.
"I also have the map right here," Louise said, pulling the datacard from one of the few pouches on her belt.
The outrage was clear on the Overseers face. "What!? Give me the map!" He shouted, making a grab for the card in her hand, but Louise simply stepped out of range, pulling free her blaster and pointing it at the Overseers face at the same time as Khem pulled free his weapon.
"Try me, Harkun. Let's see if you can move faster." The Pinkette hissed, her rather neutral expression twisting to a sneer. The Overseer backed off, seemingly smart enough to know that it was not an idle threat, "Only I, or Lord Zash, shall touch the datacard as long as it is my power to do so."
"How dare y-"
"What is going on here?" A familiar voice called. Louise, recognising who it was, quickly holstered her blaster before turning and bowing to Lord Zash.
"Lord Zash!" Harkun exclaimed in surprise.
"What is going on?" She repeated, casting suspicious looks between the three other beings in the room.
"I… um." Harkun stammered.
Louise briefly wondered if Ffon got her reactions from Harkun, but quickly discarded the thought, "A conflict of interests, my lord. Overseer Harkun wanted me to hand him the datacard, but I thought it prudent to hand it to you personally." She explained diplomatically, holding said card out for the Sith Lord to take.
"The starmap? Oh, wonderful!" said Zash, taking the datacard greedily, "Now, where is the other acolyte?"
"He hasn't returned," Groused the Overseer.
"Is that so?" The Sith Lord said thoughtfully, however, it was clear to all three in the room, she had no care for the Pureblood, "You wouldn't have seen him in the tombs, Acolyte Louise?"
The Pinkette shrugged in response, "I saw him once, but not much after that. He could be dead, there was a hungry terentatek in the deeper sanctums." She lied, "'Was' being the key word, we dealt with it."
"Impressive, Louise. As for the other acolyte, his life would have been forfeit anyway." Zash said casually. Harkun, however, looked as if his ancestors had been insulted at the blasé way Ffon's life was discredited, "And seeing as you are the last acolyte standing, as well as the one who completed the trial, you are now my apprentice. Now, first order of business; you are to meet me in my chambers upstairs."
The startled look on Louise's face would have made any passer-by laugh. I thought there would be a ceremony… something more at least. "Uh… yes, my… Master"
"Good." And with that final word, Lord Zash turned around and strutted out of the room at a brisk pace, leaving behind a smug looking Louise, a bored Khem and a seething Harkun.
"This is not the end," The latter spat, "Without Lord Zash to save you, you're nothing."
"If I remember correctly," The Pinkette replied coldly, holding up her hand to silence him, "I managed to survive the assassination attempt you organised and every. Single. Trial you sent my way. On top of that, I laid waste to the population of K'lor'slugs, killed a mutated Tuk'ata, survived Lord Kressh's nightmares and killed a terentatek only a few minutes ago.
"Your word has no weight, and three other Sith Lords agree with my sentiment. Had you trained Ffon like you trained me, then you might have gotten the Pureblood you desired, but instead you trained me, the one you hate the most, for greatness. I guess I should thank you, but one shouldn't be thanked for stupidity." Louise turned around in a very Zash manner and began walking out of the office with her reluctant companion behind her, only stopping momentarily at the door, "Au revoir, Overseer."
And so, Louise and her reluctant companion left the room, leaving Harkun behind, and headed upstairs to talk to her new master. Once they arrived in her office, the Pinkette could not help but feel impressed with the chamber. Lord Zash's room was quite spacious, more so than Harkun's, with her desk sitting upon a dais with walls covered in quite a few books, holocrons and texts. It was obvious that she was trying to show superiority in both class and intellect with how her room was set up.
The Sith Lord herself standing at her desk, looking through something on her holocomputer, "Ah, my magnificent new apprentice. Congratulations are in order, I believe." She praised, looking up from whatever she was working on.
"Thank you, Master." Louise replied, bowing slightly, "I am truly grateful."
"You earned it, Louise." Zash continued, "Though, I do wish you could tell me what truly happened to the red one. Don't worry, I will not hold it against you."
"Well, when I retrieved the star map, Ffon showed up." Louise began, trying to make it out so she was innocent, "He was confused and furious that he had been beaten. Tried to kill me and take the map. We fought and Khem, here, ate him. I did not kill him, he simply met his end face to face with a hungry Dashade."
Like Zash had said, she did not hold anything against Louise, instead, a smirk crept onto her lips as she regarded her new apprentice, "That is quite insidious of you, my young apprentice."
"Thank you."
"Now, that the congratulations are out of the way, let's get down to business." Lord Zash said, casually moving the conversation away from the murder of an acolyte, "Despite not having much time to look into the map you brought me, the data on the card alone is enough to tell me we have a lot of work ahead of us. I will soon be heading off to Dromund Kaas and you will accompany me. In an hour or so, you will meet me down by the shuttle bay, there we will depart. If you have any business to attend to, I would get them done. understand?"
"Yes. Thank you, master." With a final bow, Louise left her master to continue whatever she was doing before. The former acolyte only had two things of interest to do before she was ready to leave, one, which was obvious, was to get packed; the other, was to get some food.
Once downstairs, the pinkette headed off towards the cafeteria to get some much-needed food. Naturally, as it was around midday, it was packed with hungry Acolytes and Sith. Louise grabbed a decent sized meal of vegetables, meats and some bread. Khem did not choose anything.
Lunch was a silent affair, one that brought many an eye to the duo. Louise, at one point, offered some food to the Dashade, but he turned it down. After the meal was finished, she headed off to her room. Once inside, she let nostalgia take hold. Now that she had finished her trial, and her chances of death were lower, she could fully immerse herself in her memories of the place. Part of her felt nervous about leaving the Academy, it had been her home for nearly an entire year, but she was going to a new place with different things expected of her. Not only that, but she would be going to Dromund Kaas, where Lyira was.
A newer, stronger wave of anxiety took hold as she thought about meeting the Pureblood again. She had questions, questions she wanted answers for, but at the same time, she feared what the answer would be. Why did Lyira have to kiss me, it was so much simpler before.
Louise sighed and started the simple task of getting packed for Dromund Kaas.
Soon, she was ready with a large duffle bag filled with her clothes and other items of interest. A quick look around the room to see if she missed anything and the Pinkette headed out of the door, meeting up with Khem who had waited patiently outside.
"It looks like trouble, pink one." The Dashade assassin spoke up as they left her, now old, room. He was quite right in his assessment, as blocking the hall in which she stood were three men.
The first man, obviously their leader, was a large tanned man with short dull brown hair and equally dull eyes. He wore a red jumpsuit with dark red pauldrons, chest piece, gauntlets and boots. A lightsaber on his hip signified his status as a Sith; if she were to guess either an apprentice or a lesser Lord.
The other two were lanky guys with similar, but obviously lighter, armour in a purple hue over a grey uniform and forgettable faces. She could tell by the vibro-swords on their backs, that there was a high possibility that they were simple thugs working for a Sith.
"Stop right there, Slave." The man commanded. Immediately, Louise hated the guy, "Darth Skotia has a message for you."
Darth Skotia? Louise did not recognise the name, though, with the amount of Sith in the galaxy, it was hardly surprising, but the simple fact that a Darth of all people had taken interest in her, was an uneasy thought, "And who might you be?" she asked calmly, not really wanting to fight.
"I am Darth Skotia's apprentice, Ortosin Mali." He introduced arrogantly.
Louise nodded in understanding, pleased that it was not an actual lord she was talking to and merely an apprentice, but the fact that it was a Darths apprentice lingered in the air, "Okay, Ortosin, what's the message?"
"The message is this: You will not go to Dromund Kaas." Ortosin began, "Everything you've done here, everyone you dealt with -Lord Zash included- is insignificant.
"Darth Skotia has eyes and ears on Korriban." He continued, "He knows what your master is up to, and he is displeased, to say the least. On Korriban, Lord Zash may have her way, but on Dromund Kaas, it's a different story. So you see, you have to die."
Louise let out a low sigh, she did not want to have another fight, but he looked as if he was not going to back down, "Khem, I forgot… what do you do to Force-users?" She asked with half-hearted faux-confusion.
Khem turned and leered at the trio blocking their path, "I consume them and spit out their bones."
"Um, Ortosin – is that a Dashade? Maybe this isn't such a good idea." One of the thugs voiced, cowering slightly.
"Yes, you are quite right." Louise said quickly, cutting off Ortosin before he could get a word in, as she slipped the bag off her shoulder and onto the floor, "And I, for one, have had a bad day. I had to fight the big guy behind me, kill a massive terentatek and tortured a prick who thought he was better than me. If you leave now, nothing horrible will befall you. If you do fight, I will burn you alive!" And with a simple snap of her fingers, she generated a fist sized fireball hovering just above her hands.
Her display got the desired effect at the thug fled the room with his colleague close behind, leaving only the two Sith apprentices and a Dashade assassin alone in the hall. Skotia's apprentice seemed to be second guessing himself as beads of sweat started to form on his brow. Instead of fleeing, though, he squared his shoulders and pulled his lightsaber from his hip, igniting it.
What followed was what Lyira would have dubbed a 'curb-stomp battle' as the moment the crimson blade of her would-be opponent's lightsaber sprung to life, Louise expanded the fireball and unleashed it upon him. Though, through the use of a Force barrier, he managed to negate majority of the fire and damage. Louise understood that an apprentice would not be stopped by a simple fireball, no matter how unorthodox, but it was a good enough distraction for Khem to get close with his sword.
Despite the distraction, Ortosin managed to dodge, giving him room to swing his blade at the giant… only to get intercepted by Louise's own blade. He tried to use the Force to give himself some room, but the combined power of the Assassin and the pink Apprentice managed to deplete the pushing power of his telekinetic blast. In reply to his failed attempt to make room, the duo ravaged his body with dual bolts of lightning.
Unable to defend against the combined onslaught, he felt to the floor, screaming in agony. This continued for a few moments until Louise noticed several Sith and acolytes arrived at the scene, wondering what the agonising screaming was about.
Louise, for her part, looked a bit startled at the attention she was receiving, which only increased when she noticed someone trying to get passed the crowd. Once they did get passed, she felt a weight well and truly form in her gut, "Apprentice, care to explained what you are doing?"
"I…" She took in a large gulp of air, trying to calm her nerves. "I didn't start the fight, Ortosin, th-"
"Ortosin? Darth Skotia's apprentice?" Lord Zash questioned, eyes narrowing as she cutting the Pinkette off.
"According to him, yes." Answered Louise.
"I assumed something like this would happen…" Zash's tone was colder than she had ever heard. Louise liked her Master, but she could be quite forceful and scary, "Leave him. I have finished up here, I think it is time we should leave to Dromund Kaas."
So, the trio left the Academy, leaving the severely weakened apprentice to clean himself up and the other Sith entertained. The walk was mostly in silence as Zash had ordered her to be silent until they arrived in a safe area. The only sound was Khem grumbling about not being able to eat the Skotia's apprentice.
Soon, they arrived at the familiar landing platform for the shuttle to Dromund Kaas. They entered the ship, quickly activating the shuttle and set off to the space station in orbit.