Chapter 56: Reunification
She was trapped in a very old, and familiar, nightmare.
Keera watched as the Sith Troopers tore through the Lylos family farm. She could do nothing as they set charges in the doors of her family's rooms.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, every instinct she now possessed screamed to lash out, to destroy the men and women for daring to hurt her family, for destroying her past.
Why do I keep coming back to this? She wondered.
Why can't I escape this?!
"Because this was the moment I was born," Avaryss said behind her.
She spun to see the Sith Acolyte standing behind her, still clad in the training robes of Korriban, her jaw covered by a breathing mask.
Keera glared at her other self.
"How can you just stand there," Keera demanded, "How can you see this and feel nothing?"
Avaryss laughed, an ugly sound through the breathing mask, and quite painful, if Keera's shared memories with her other self were correct.
"Why should we do anything?" Avy asked, "You know how this ends, all these troopers are going to be dead in a few minutes. We destroy them, the death field that we conjured turned them all to ash; they died screaming."
The masked Sith chuckled.
"I don't have to do anything, we already did it."
Keera hissed and watched as the troopers filed out of the homestead, she knew that her other self was right, but it brought little comfort.
My world ended here, she thought, but it also began.
"Why does life always begin with pain?" she asked.
"Life IS pain," Avaryss said with a shrug.
This was normally the time that the dream shifted, that they found themselves outside, watching as Feer's enforcer reduced the farm house to an inferno; to a smoking hole.
They did not make that transition this time, Avaryss and Keera remained where they were…
…the one made two continued to watch.
What is this," Keera wondered.
"It seems that the Force has something to show us," Avaryss said, peering over her other self's shoulder.
Yes, Keera realized.
"Perhaps you are right for once, Avy.
As they watched, the door to Talitha's room opened, they watched as their little sister emerged, a spanner in hand, the tool she had used to slice the lock.
Keera felt a ripple in the Force.
It was time, she thought glumly.
The charge outside of Talitha's door went off, and the world turned white.
Only this time, the dream didn't end, it continued, and the two remained inside the house.
They finally saw what happened next.
Talitha had only had a microsecond to react, but she had.
She raised her hands and…pushed outward.
The blast flowed around her, stopped by a Force shield.
Both Avaryss and Keera's eyes widened.
Talitha had not died in the explosion!
She was Force sensitive, and she knew how to use it?
She had saved herself.
The blast did lift her up however, it flung her hard against the back wall, the explosion outside of Pamir's room buffeted her, her shield cracked, and Tali caught fire.
She screamed in agony, but still managed to hold her shield. She managed to smother the flames with her power, but she was still in danger. Her home was coming down, everything ignitable or flammable in the house was about to blow. Talitha stumbled towards the back wall, tapping on the surface with her hand, and with her foot, in a seemingly random pattern on the bricks before it.
Keera was not sure what her sister was doing. What was she…?
The wall slid back and Talitha fell inside, Avaryss and Keera followed her, the flames and destruction not touching them. The door sealed behind them as the ceiling finally gave way.
The last of the Lylos family home crumbled away, the ceiling collapsed muffling the last of the explosion.
Yet, Talitha had survived, she was injured, and lying on the floor in this hidden room, or rather, a hidden hall, automatic lights kicked on, revealing a stairway leading down.
Both Keera and Avaryss looked around in surprise.
"What was this," Avaryss wondered.
"Why was there a secret door in our home?" Keera wondered.
Though this was only a dream, or vision, Keera tried to reach out with the Force, get a sense of where they were now…she couldn't.
As she looked up at the now sealed doorway, she saw why.
Sith glyphs were inscribed, not just on the door itself, but around the entry way as well.
Both she and Avaryss recognized those glyphs.
Those are part of a masking spell," Avaryss recognized, "If anyone tried to reach out and find this door with the Force…
"They wouldn't have been able to," Keera finished, "This passageway was hidden against Force –users; those glyphs hide the presence of not only the door but of the person behind it."
Keera shook her head.
No wonder that she felt Talitha wink out in the Force, she assumed her sister was dead, but…
She had not been dead, she had been hiding.
Again, the young dark lord's mind spun.
What was all this? My family was simple farmers…?
Why was this even here?
Despite being in incredible agony, unable to even lift her right arm, eight year old Talitha Lylos stumbled down the steps, whimpering with pain, but clearly not fatally wounded.
Keera and Avaryss tried to follow her, to find out where the stairs led, sadly, it was not be.
The two were yanked away, Keera howled in frustration.
NO!
WE WERE SO CLOSE!
She felt herself rising, the past sinking into the shadows.
SO CLOSE!
IOI
Slowly, the world came back to the Sith Lord.
Avaryss awoke in control, the sound of machines beeping, and the smell of kolto filled her nose.
A medical room, she realized, and with that realization, the memory of what had happened came back to her.
Her attack on Tahl Moritza, the realization that the rebel leader was really a droid and Beric…he…
A wave of anger washed over her.
Beric, her own dear brother, shooting her, blasting her in the gut, she remembered the pain, and seeing him kneeling before Darth Sadi, her humble dog.
A shiver ran down her spine.
Beric would pay for that betrayal.
He would pay…dearly.
Why are we not dead, Keera wondered?
Why would the rebels choose to save us?
It was a good question, Avaryss had to admit, Sadi, Talitha, and the rest of their crew still wanted more from her, it seemed.
They would not get it.
She had come here to end this rebellion.
She would see that the ring leaders answered for what they had done!
She kept her presence in the Force small, just in case Sadi or one of her underlings was watching her. Avaryss sent out tendrils of the Force, seeking just how many rebels might be guarding their new prisoner.
She felt a single presence nearby, a familiar presence, one she had not felt in years, and had known before she even knew what sensing someone in the Force meant.
Talitha.
Avaryss risked opening her eyes, she recognized the familiar imperial architecture, the design of a Sith medical bay.
Talitha sat to her right, all her attention at that moment focused on an item sitting in her lap.
Avaryss' eyes narrowed.
Talitha Lylos had her holocron.
Keera's little sister turned the crystal pyramid over and over, touching the various symbols on its surface, even shaking the device once or twice.
Her expression was one that her older sister knew well, she remembered it from when the other girl was so engrossed in fixing one of her droids that nothing else took precedence.
"Open, damn you," the girl muttered under her breath, "Just open."
Talitha hissed in frustration and set the holocron down.
"Droid," she called out, "Get my tools, I will get this silly little thing to work!"
Avaryss frowned.
A holocron was no silly little thing, and it deserved more respect than to be taken apart like it was some malfunctioning cleaning droid.
Avaryss had heard enough.
"You can't open it that way," she said loudly, "It won't open at all, and it's locked."
Talitha startled at the sound of her sister's voice.
"Keera," she gasped, "You're awake!"
Summoned by her name, Keera took over her body, and sat up, and regretted it immediately, pain burned across her abdomen, she looked down to see two fresh red blaster burns now marred the pale skin of her belly.
Her armor had protected her, mostly, but at close range, the military side arm had still done damage.
Damn you, Beric, she thought.
Damn you!
Keera looked around quickly, it was indeed a medical room, or perhaps a medical bay, it was similar to the setup she had back on her interceptor, a ship's medical bay…
So I'm on a ship, she realized, wonderful, who knew where she was now. If the rebels had decided to flee the system…?
She looked at her little sister.
Clad in the overall of a Sith engineer, Tali looked much like she remembered. Her brown hair was a bit longer perhaps, and the scars on her face had twisted one side of her mouth, giving her voice a slight lisp.
She was also a young woman now, or close to it. Talitha had been about to turn nine when she had died, that would put her about fifteen now, almost sixteen.
Talitha was the same age that Keera had been when she had started down the dark path.
The irony was not lost on the dark lord.
Talitha….was alive, and she is more like me than I ever realized.
She could sense her through the Force now; she could sense ambition and desire, surprise and disbelief.
Keera smiled; a cold cruel smile that did not touch her eyes.
She had come to save her little sister from the rebels.
What she desired now was something far different.
She will share the fate of my enemies, Keera thought.
She will pay.
"Hello Talitha," she said in a venomous purr, "Or perhaps you prefer to be called, Tahl Moritza?"
She glared at the young girl.
"You have much to answer for, rebel."
If Talitha was afraid she didn't show it.
She gave her sister a smile, a misshapen thing given the girl's facial scars.
"You don't understand, Keera, not yet, but you will."
"What is to understand," Keera asked, "You have led a revolt against the Empire. Do you think that the Empire would not answer that?"
Talitha rolled her eyes.
"There was never any revolt, not really, not one that I ever cared about. Our people were angry at your master, and they wanted to strike back."
Talitha sneered.
"They served their purpose, they got mother and me what we wanted; they drew you back here. You're home sister, you are finally home."
Keera digested what her sister had said, and once she had, she smiled again, coldly.
"I don't suppose you can tell me the results of the battle, your strike against the armory and the spore processing center?"
Talitha shrugged.
"The Empire's forces met with complete success," the girl informed her older sister, "Tahl Moritza's most loyal soldiers fought to the last against your minions. Those that did try to flee were cut down by your reinforcements."
A mischievous glint shown in Talitha's eyes, she radiated a sense of deep satisfaction.
Her reaction surprised her sister.
"You feel no anger for your loss?" The dark lord inquired, "I would expect you to be angry about your defeat."
"As I said, it wasn't MY defeat," the girl continued, "The men and women we sent in played their part, and now their use is at an end. They did what they were supposed to do."
Talitha smirked.
"Mother told me once, that true power was not controlling the weak, but manipulating the strong into doing your bidding, to make them so sure of themselves that they will die for your cause, even if it is a cause you care nothing about."
A giggle escaped the girl's twisted lips.
"They died well, my loyal soldiers."
"You mean your willing dupes?" Keera said.
"Same thing, different name," her little sister said with a laugh.
"You should be honored sister; we have made you a hero again. You're the savior of Oridanna."
"Lucky me," Keera said.
"Not so lucky, I'm afraid," Talitha admitted, you are also lost, believed dead. Beric is already spinning that story to your followers."
Keera's eyes narrowed.
Beric, she thought, my dear brother.
She fought the urge to smile.
Oh, how she was going to enjoy peeling the flesh from his bones.
Not if we don't survive this," Avaryss reminded her other self, "We need to find out what is going on. You need to keep Talitha talking. We must know more."
Keera nodded.
Yes, they did need to know more.
Talitha needed to keep talking.
"So this was your idea of a power game? You thought to play with Darth Feer? You and Darth Sadi sought to undermine his rule?"
"To weaken the Darth, sure, but the main focus was you, mother was very clear on that, this has always been about you, Keera. We needed you back. Mother needed you back, and now you are here."
Talitha brightened feelings of familial warmth filled the Force.
"You are finally here."
Keera restrained herself from rolling her eyes.
She still was not sure what was going on, but she was starting to get an idea of it.
This whole rebellion had been a ruse. Talitha and mother had instigated it, somehow they had convinced Darth Sadi to help them, and likely other members of the ruling council here on Oridanna.
Some of the rebellions recent actions now made sense to her. Why the rebels had shifted tactics so drastically.
Talitha, in her guise as Tahl Moritza, had led her followers like herd animals to a slaughterhouse, and all to make her sister look better?
Okay, that made sense, but…what happened next…?
That made little sense to her.
Why make Keera a hero, only to have Beric try to assassinate her?
How did Darth Sadi fit in to all this? What was in it for her?
Keera had a few suspicions, but…
So far, she was not pleased with the conclusions she was drawing.
Talitha looked down at the holocron again.
"It is a most interesting toy, sister," she said, changing the subject, "I can feel the power within it. Your power is in it, isn't it?"
Keera nodded, and reached out with the Force.
The holocron flew into her hands, she looked it over quickly; she wanted to make sure that Talitha or Beric had not damaged it with their stumbling.
"How did you acquire such an amazing thing?" Tali asked her.
Keera stroked the holocron lovingly.
"I made it," she said, not bothering to mention that both she and Avaryss had contributed to its construction.
"It is mine."
Talitha's crooked smile widened again.
"I never figured you for an engineer, sister."
Keera frowned.
"Construction of a holocron is no mere engineering skill sister. It is not like simply assembling a droid or a swoop bike; it takes time, power, and patience."
Keera smiled with pride as she looked at the pyramid of crystal.
"This is not just a device, it is my legacy, and it's what I shall leave behind…."
Keera nodded.
"It…shall endure."
IOI
Avaryss had first begun work on the device shortly after Marr had declared her a Darth back on Korriban. At the time, it had been more of a vanity project than anything else; Avaryss had expected its construction and filling of information to be the work of decades, a long term goal that would pay off well for a future generation. She had been so careful, preparing the holocron, wanting it to be a guide for future generations of her line.
That work had been slow, and tedious, and nearly ended before it had begun.
Despite having done the research and finding the necessary instructions, building a holocron was an extremely intricate operation. She had grown the crystals, filled them with dark side energy, and needed to cut them just right. Everything had to be flawless for the holocron to work, and survive the long millennia to come. Once she had completed the components, the the real work had begun, linking the crystals, shaping them, and then creating an interface, using them to form a proper hologrammic matrix. It had been slow work, frustrating work. Twice she had failed, crystals cracking during the first attempt, and then having the matrix melt down during the second. The result of both failures meant starting over, having to destroy both the prototype and the second version. She had destroyed both; she shattered them during fits of frustration and rage.
By the third attempt, she had been more careful, she had learned from her failure. She had progressed step by step, focusing only on her work, it had been a form of moving meditation, her work had progressed slowly, but it had worked. Her patience had paid off.
Finally, after weeks of tedious work, she had managed to do it, to create a stable matrix; she tested it four times before moving on to the initial recording phase. She programmed her likeness, and grinned like a fool when the holographic gate keeper, appeared, seeing herself staring back at her.
She had never been more proud of herself as she had in that moment.
She had done it. She had created a stable and functional holocron.
Many Sith made the attempt, and many failed, and if they did succeed, the holocron was unstable. There were plenty of tales throughout the Empire of unstable holocrons, and of the unstable creators of those devices. Those Sith had not been patient enough to make sure that the crystals were fully formed or in a proper alignment, such holocrons burned out after the first few uses, their knowledge lost, or given to a single dark lord to ponder, wasteful, in the greater scheme of things.
Keera smiled down at her creation.
The Avaryss holocron would not burn out, she had made sure of it.
This little device would carry her wisdom throughout the centuries, when it was fully finished; it would be a detailed account of not only her lessons, but of her reign as well.
It was an immortality of sorts, and she was justly proud.
Yet, as she looked down on the holocron now, she felt melancholy as well.
Her failing health meant that she would need to rush its completion; so much would need to be recorded in so little time.
It saddened her.
She could have learned so much more, given time. Her creation could have been so much greater.
She could have been so much more.
"It is not finished, yet," she told her little sister, "I still have many tales, spells, and rituals to include in its database. It will be my gift to future generations of my order."
She gave Talitha a sad smile.
"It should have been my gift to Beric's children, now…all is lost."
Tali looked at her, the girl radiating concern.
"Beric told us," she said, "About your condition…I…I'm so sorry, Keera. You deserve more than to be beaten by some sickness. You deserve so much more than dying so early in your reign."
Keera's eyes narrowed.
"My reign isn't over yet. I haven't given up; there is still a way to save myself."
The dark lord smiled a predatory grin.
"Perhaps I shall include that spell in this holocron as well, let the future know how I cheated death."
"I'm sure you will sister," Talitha said.
Keera sneered at her; she could sense her sister's skepticism.
"Spare me your attempt at pity, and your desire to humor me. Believe what you want, but there ARE ways to cheat death. All it requires is the will to do what is necessary."
Keera smiled wickedly.
"You have seen the proof of this with your own eyes. Mother's continued presence in this world is proof of how the dark side is so much more than a simple weapon."
Talitha frowned.
"Mother's survival was a miracle. It was no trick of the Force?"
Keera laughed.
"Spoken like a mundane," she spat.
Avaryss took over again, she sneered at the girl.
"Tell me, Talitha Lylos, what is the Force to you? How would you describe it? I can feel its presence in you. So…what do you believe it is?"
Talitha Lylos smiled gamely.
"Are you testing me, sister?"
"Life is test. You either survive or you die. You have managed to survive up until this point, now I want to see if you have the understanding necessary to continue to do so."
The younger girl sniffed.
"You sound like those old hens from the Imperial Mission."
"I sound like a Sith Lord," Avaryss replied, "Go on, sister; I'm waiting, what is the Force? You tell me?"
The younger girl sighed.
"It is a power that makes a person great. It is how the Sith masters intimidate their rivals, shoot lightning from their hands, and lift and pull objects with the mind."
Avaryss sneered at her response.
"Wrong," she hissed, "Where did you hear such drivel from?"
Talitha's eyes narrowed.
"Mother taught me. Why you were flying around the plains on your swoop bike, I was at home, not just fixing droids, but learning at mother's feet, she showed me much about the Force."
Talitha reached out with the Force and snatched the holocron from Avaryss' hands.
She grinned coldly.
You are not the only one who knows how to use its power."
Avaryss frowned.
Mother had been training Talitha in secret.
She shouldn't have been surprised, still…
"Why you?" the Sith Lord demanded.
"What do you mean?"
"Why you Talitha, why did she train you, I was there too, I was older, why did mother never share any of this with me?"
"Isn't it obvious," her little sister asked, "Father."
"Father?" Avaryss said with a blink.
"You were always daddy's little girl, Keera. You were his sweet little blossom. It was he that you wanted to please above all others."
Her little sister sighed.
"You were always running around, trying to please him, you spent almost no time at home, not after you started working in the fields, it was father that you opened up, you rarely spent any time with mother, or Pamir, or Anj."
The younger girl shook her head.
"Mother never got the chance to see what you could do. You hid it from her, either on accident or on purpose, you hid, had she known what you were, she would have helped you, like she helped me."
Both Avaryss and Keera considered this.
"The dark lord sighed.
"If mother knew what you were, she should have given you to the mission," she said.
Talitha laughed at that.
"You think she wanted to let those foolish old priests decide my future? Where do you think it would have led if she had?"
"The answer to that question is sitting in front of you," Avaryss replied.
She smiled coldly.
"I am a Darth, a Dark Lord of the Sith! I am apprentice to one of the members of the dark council, one of the most powerful Darth's in the Sith Empire, and I will be so much more soon enough!"
Her younger sister sneered at her.
"Yes," she said, "You will be brain dead, or so crazed that you will not be able to tell the difference between what is real and what isn't."
Tali shook her head.
"You are sick, Keera. You are dying. Your only future is the grave."
Avaryss's fingers curled into fists.
"How DARE you?!"
For that one brief moment, there was blood in the air; Talitha continued to sneer at her older sister, while both Avaryss and Keera were tempted to lash out at her.
She understands so little, Keera thought.
If Talitha truly understood what she was, she would not be so quick to dismiss my plans.
In that moment, it was only the fact that they shared a mother and father that kept the Sith Lord from lashing out, kept her from destroying the girl.
Keera looked down at her hands, she felt…angry…and lost.
The sad fact of the matter was…that Talitha was not wrong.
I've given everything to the Empire, the dark lord thought, fought for it, because I've believed in it, and what has my reward been? How have I profited from my place within it?
My body has been scarred, maimed, and diseased. My master had me sterilized like I was some lowly cur in his service. The people that I loved were ripped from my life, and if they do return, it is as an enemy."
Fehl, Beric, and now Talitha and mother, they had ALL betrayed her! They had all left her alone!
She had given everything to the Empire. She had given all that she was, and what she might have been, and in return, it had given her nothing.
Nothing.
A single tear ran down her cheek.
I'm nothing, she realized. Despite my title and my power, my life is a joke!
I'm filth!
I'm nothing!
She shuddered.
No hope, she thought.
I have…no hope left.
I have nothing.
It is all a bad joke.
I'm a bad joke!
That thought should have broken her, but it didn't, if anything…it made her realize the truth.
It was a truth that she had been hiding from all these years.
She had been so blind, but now…she could see clearly.
She smiled slightly.
It had been hope, she realized, hope to have love, to have a family, and a future, that had held her back all this time.
For a Dark Lord of the Sith, hope was a poison!
Now that it was gone, she felt…empty, scoured clean.
She now understood the truth, why her master had chosen her all those years ago, why Feer had taught her the way he had.
Feer had no hope for the future; he manipulated her because when you had nothing, you had nothing to lose.
She felt…liberated, and in that moment she understood.
The entire galaxy was against her.
The Galaxy itself was her enemy.
She hated them
She HATED everything!
There was only one answer.
I will be a blight upon this treacherous galaxy, she thought.
All life will wither and die.
In that moment she felt the dark side flow into her like it never had before, it washed away everything, making her strong.
She felt her realization take shape, forming a new body for herself, a new…personality.
She found herself staring at Keera and Avy, the two sides of herself; she was no longer a part of them, but something grander, something more!
"What are you," Keera gasped.
"You aren't real," Avy hissed, raising her hands.
"I am the future," the shadow said, its smile cold and merciless.
The shadow reached out and seized the two halves of her soul, the soul she no longer needed.
She didn't need a soul, all she needed was power.
All she needed was power, and her new mission.
Jedi, Sith, Republic, Empire, it did not matter.
She would destroy them all. She would build an Empire of bones; the galaxy would be one massive graveyard. The few survivors she spared would live in terror of her, and she would take everything from them, they would toil in darkness to feed her desires.
They owed her everything, and she would see that they gave her all!
She was more than a mere Sith now. She was the Lady of Greed. She was the Maiden of Forbidden Desire. She was the Mother of Horrors!
She was now truly…DARTH Avaryss, Dark Lord of the Sith, and Avaryss demanded a sacrifice.
She would offer up her weakness, her past selves, she would cast aside her own soul; she would kill it with her own hands.
She wrapped her fingers around them, the dark reflection of her; the two pieces of her soul and began to squeeze their throats. Avaryss the Sith Apprentice died first, she had been more fiction than actual person.
Darth Avaryss no longer had any use for her, so she died, her red eyes popped as the Dark Lord crushed her, and her spirit form turned to ash.
Keera Lylos lasted a bit longer, she struggled, trying to draw on the rage and loss she had suffered, tried to draw on her connection to others to save herself. She reached out through the Force tried to reach Fenn Shadowstone, to summon the Jedi to aid her.
Darth Avaryss broke her neck, Keera crumbled to dust, finally gone, the Force rippled outward, somewhere, Fenn Shadowstone; Keera's dream friend awoke from a nightmare, knowing that something he cared about had just died.
Darth Avaryss smiled.
At long last, she was free!
At long last, she was TRULY a Sith Master!
Only one thing remained…
Feer, she thought, the time had finally come.
She would challenge Darth Feer!
She would crush him utterly.
"Sister?"
Darth Avaryss opened her eyes, only a few seconds had passed since Tali's cruel comment, but it had been just what the Sith Lord had needed.
She smiled.
Tali had set her free.
I should reward her for this, the now united Avaryss thought, but how.
I know, she realized.
Talitha would die first.
The thought excited the dark lord, but she held that excitement in check.
Wait, the darkness whispered in her ear, you must destroy every member of Talitha's foul cabal; none must escape to threaten your rule.
Yes, she realized.
She would need to destroy them all.
There would be no survivors.
She looked at Tali, seeing her for what she was, another stumbling block on the path to power.
She would enjoy sweeping it aside.
Hopelessness had made Darth Avaryss whole, whole and strong.
She would kill an entire galaxy, and rule over the ashes.
"You have a harsh tongue, sister," Darth Avaryss said, "But you are also foolish and naïve."
"You think you're better than me, don't you, Keera?"
I know I'm better, the dark lord thought.
"Oh my, have I insulted you? She purred.
Talitha did not respond, perhaps she sensed on some level that something had changed in the young woman sitting before her.
Darth Avaryss shook her head.
Such weakness, she thought, and in my own bloodline too.
The House of Lylos is full of traitors.
She would enjoy purging it.
"You do not need me to insult you," she told Keera's younger sister, "You need a TEACHER!"
Talitha smiled.
"That is why you are here, Keera," the girl replied, "If you are feeling up to it, the others are waiting, mother is waiting."
"I'm up to it," Darth Avaryss said with a slight smile.
You are not the only one that I'm going to teach today, little sister, little traitor, she thought.
All will learn my lesson; it is the simplest thing in the world.
She almost laughed.
I'm going to teach you all how to die.
Talitha handed her a robe, she wrapped herself in it, her belly still hurt, but the pain was nothing.
There was no pain where the power lies.
"This way, sister," Talitha said guiding her.
Darth Avaryss slipped her holocron into her robe.
"I'm coming, dear sister," she promised.
She giggled.
Death was coming.
