Chapter 60: No Hope

I feel…

Avaryss looked down upon the body. It was…different…

Thinking about the act, and dealings with the consequences was two entirely different things. As she looked down on the body, she felt…so many different things.

I feel…

She remembered Talitha as an infant, nursing while little Keera Lylos played with her toys in the corner. She remembered her little sister at five, taking apart their cleaning droid; curious how it worked.

The Dark Lord's eyes narrowed.

She thought about their final night, the last time that Keera had seen her years ago, threatening to take away her nine-year-old sister's tools if she didn't go to bed.

So many memories, and so many feelings…

She felt pain, disbelief, and guilt. She had known what she was doing, and yet…she still felt pain.

I…I feel…

It was in that moment, as she looked down into her sister's vacant eyes, that she felt something else, something far grander that she could have possibly imagined.

The pain remained, but the guilt passed away.

Hate.

Avaryss' hands curled into fists.

She felt pure white hate!

They had made this possible, the rebels, Bael and Mya Lylos! They had put her on this path. They had turned Talitha into a threat to her rule. They had made her a rival!

The dark side rushed in, filling her not only with new strength, but visions of what would have been.

The Dark Lord saw herself ascending to the Sith Throne, with Talitha at her side, but that was not all. No matter what she tried, her ascension would always end the same…she would die at her sister's hands.

Talitha betrayed her, in every vision. She stole Avaryss' power, and usurped her throne. The dark lord was not an Empress in her little sister's eyes, only a font of wisdom, a stepping stone to the throne for her and Bael, and their children.

She saw, in her mind's eye, the faces of those children, how they laughed at how foolish their aunt had been, how she had served her purpose and been discarded, a joke that amused their father and mother.

I'm no joke, Avaryss thought to herself.

I…am death!

As the hate burned inside of her, any guilt or remorse faded, and was replaced by power, it…was a heady sensation, it was intoxicating!

Power, she thought...

…So much power!

Distantly, she could hear the words of a hero, a legend of the Empire.

Kill what you love, do it slowly, and intimately, and you will achieve a power beyond your wildest dreams!

You will be…Sith!

She took a shuddering breath.

He was right, she realized.

Darth Malgus was right!

At the time she had thought the man a monster, but now she understood!

Love was a chain! Talitha would have used her sister's love to drag her down, it would have been her undoing! Love had almost killed her once already, Beric had shot her, she would have died!

The rebels had saved her, that was their mistake.

Avaryss smiled.

It was…their doom!

She smiled, and began to laugh. She laughed at Mya Lylos' grand plan, at the future she had hoped for Talitha.

Avaryss had ended that hope with single stroke of her lightsaber!

All the ghost's planning had been for nothing!

Her mere existence was a bad joke!

Bad…but hilarious!

Avaryss found herself back in the throne room, looking down at Keera's sister's body. She was laughing, tears of mirth ran down her cheeks.

So foolish, she thought.

Poor little fool, only in the end…did she understand.

Bael Feer looked upon her with horror, she had never seen him look like that, he looked down at the body of his girlfriend and up at Avaryss.

The Dark Lord chuckled.

"Oh…what is the matter, young master? I…thought you liked watching me kill?"

She broke into giggles.

She couldn't help it.

The look on his face!

It was priceless!

"What have you done?" he demanded.

His eyes turned cold and angry.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Her mother's shade came down from the throne, it swirled around her, shock morphing into panic and disbelief!

"Keera!" she gasped, "She was…I don't…"

Darth Avaryss sneered at them.

They understood so little.

They were about to learn.

"You had so many great hopes didn't you," she snarled, "Both of you? You saw me as a path to power. You thought I would just accept the fact that I was to be a place holder, that I was merely a door for you to gain what you wanted?! You thought I would simply accept my death, and let you pick my bones clean, that you would grow fat and happy off of my successes?"

Avaryss growled with barely contained fury!

"YOU PATHETIC FOOLS! THERE IS NO HOPE! THERE IS ONLY POWER! MY POWER! You all exist to serve me! My will is all! I will cheat death and then I will arise more powerful than ever! I WILL give this wretched galaxy, this wretched Empire the ruler it deserves."

She sensed Bleez coming up behind her, the wounded war master radiated only loyalty and a healthy dose of fear.

She at least understood the truth about the universe.

There was nothing beyond what her master said.

Avaryss almost smiled at the thought.

Avaryss was all!

She looked at the swirling spirit and the angry young man before her.

She glared at them. She felt only contempt, but they still did have value…

She would see if they were smart enough not to throw that value away.

"You both have one choice. Fall to your knees, and embrace me as your Empress! Your power will be used for one goal, the assurance of my continued existence. If you serve well, I will reward you in the new era. Resist now, and I will destroy you both!"

Avaryss laughed.

"Your plan was a joke, but it might still serve the future. Now, kneel before me, or die."

Bael's face twisted into a mask of rage, Avaryss could feel him gathering the dark side to him.

The fool, she thought.

It seems the apprentice needs one final lesson.

"You think that I would ever serve you?" he snarled.

"Not really, no," she replied dryly.

Bael was almost shaking, the dark side swirled around him. It was an interesting display, but it didn't intimidate the Dark Lord.

Her mother's ghost however…that was a bit different.

Mya's golden eyes blazed red.

"KEERA! YOU'RE A FOOL! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"That I'm not Keera," she replied, "Keera was a dream, and now…I'm finally awake."

The spirit snarled, its twisting shadowy tendrils becoming more blade-like by the second.

"You aren't strong enough to cheat death, you pathetic child!" Mya spat, "You have destroyed the one chance we had to preserve the Empire! We were going to save our family, and the dynasty!"

Avaryss shook her head dismissively.

"The Emperor is dead, mother. What you are feeling isn't you, it is that last shard of him inside your soul, the one thing that preserved you, when you should have faded away."

Avaryss held out her hand.

The Children of the Emperor failed. The Emperor, himself, has failed. It is time for new ideas and new leadership. Yet, that piece of the Emperor, the power within it, not his will, still has value."

She smirked.

"You will surrender it to me, and you will finally go into the madness beyond death where you belong. You are nothing, merely a vessel that has brought me the final piece to the puzzle that is my ascension. The future belongs to the living, mother. You…are no longer relevant."

Avaryss sensed the change in the air, the tremor in the Force.

She almost shook her head.

So, it was to be war then?

Fine.

She was tired of talking anyway, her throat was a little dry.

Bael ignited his lightsaber, his eyes having gone the golden of the Sith. The spirit rose higher, its very being rippling with rage.

Let's do this then, Avaryss thought.

I have things to do.

Let us get on with it.

Mya Lylos threw back her head and wailed.

A wave of pure dark side energy exploded from her, an all-annihilating pulse of pure fury.

Avaryss didn't even try to run.

She was of the dark side now, truly, she was no longer trying to run from its power. She was merely a stone on the bottom of the ocean.

A stone didn't fear the wave that washed over it. She didn't panic, and try to resist, she simply let the power flow through her.

She was rewarded for her knowledge, the energy flowed through her, strengthening her even more. It was child's play to keep Bleez from being swept away. The Warmaster was her one true ally in this.

She would help the dark lord hold off the rabble, while she remained free to do what was needed to be done.

Bael Feer lunged at her, his heart boiling with the desire for revenge, he brought his lightsaber down again and again, and hit only air.

Avaryss smirked as she danced around him, her speed buffered by the energy she had just absorbed from Mya's attack. She pirouetted away from each of his strikes. The fool boy might as well have been unarmed.

"Oh, you will never avenge her that way," She mocked him, "you never did have good command of your blade."

She laughed.

"You must have been so disappointing to my dear sister, in both battle and…everywhere else."

Bael roared.

"DROIDS! GUARDS! KILL THE WITCH!"

"Bleez," Avaryss shouted.

"I'm with you, my lord."

Avaryss reached out with the Force and pulled one of the dead royal guard's blasters to her ally. As soon as Bleez had it in hand, she started firing. The droid who had been a royal guard a few moments ago exploded in a hail of sparks. Seeing an opportunity, Avaryss lifted the machine up, pulling it apart with her will.

The chamber door open, revealing more guards and Moritza style droids, more people that Talitha had tested her powers on.

Avaryss sent the debris shooting towards them. The remaining royal guards were smart enough to get out of the way, but at least three of the droids were shredded.

Bleez opened fire as she ran for cover, the war master scooped up a fallen force pike while on the run, using it to deal with one of the guards. The old men were skilled, but Bleez was young and in her prime.

They were no match for her.

Avaryss laughed.

She felt invincible, the dark side was truly with her.

None of these fools were a match for her now.

Bael continued to swing at her with that ridiculous curved lightsaber of his. His knowledge of Makashi was a joke. Even during her student years, she could have handled him easily.

She thought of Synestra Feer, she had given her word to try and save the boy.

She didn't see that happening now. Considering that she impaled his one chance to be more than a footnote in his family history, she doubted that he would accept any role in her new world.

Oh well, plenty more fools rattling around the Empire.

She still had not drawn her blade, she hadn't needed it.

She cuffed the back of his head.

"Pathetic," she hissed, "Try again."

He lunged at her, trying to impale her through the heart.

She side-stepped and slapped him across the face.

"To slow," she mocked, "Try again."

He wailed with tears in his eyes as he spun around and tried to blast her with Force lightning, his grief gave it some substance at least.

She merely raised her hand and absorbed it. She had always had a talent for energy manipulation.

She could have used it to end the fight right there, but noticed that two of the royal guards had Bleez boxed in, the Warmaster was fighting well, but…

She unleashed the energy she absorbed in a pure blast of dark energy.

It cut the two guards in half, as their bodies fell, Bleez leapt away, using her blaster to clear away any droids in her path.

Avaryss grinned.

So far, so good.

"YOOOOOU!"

The spirit had finally decided to intervene. It tried to stab her with its long-bladed tendrils, again Avaryss proved too fast. She backflipped out of reach of those tendrils. Bael pursued her, no longer thinking, just a raging animal too caught up in its own fury to be any true threat.

She sneered.

She was starting to get bored with all this. Maybe she should end it now, she…

"ENOUGH BAEL!"

The spirit encircled the screaming boy, he tried to resist as it poured itself down his throat, but was unable to do anything but gurgle pathetically.

Darth Avaryss narrowed her eyes, and ignited her blade.

This…might just be a challenge!

The spirit vanished; it had flowed entirely into the boy's body. Bael Feer shook his head, and met her gaze, his eyes now glowing like stars.

"The boy is mine, Keera," her mother said with his voice, "He has the skill to beat you, just not the direction."

The Bael/Mya thing laughed.

"Let us see how you fare now, peasant!"

Again, Bael lunged, but this time, it was not some mad dash, it was a precision attack!

Avaryss blocked it, falling into the rhythm of Soresu. Bael's lightsaber whirled faster than most could see.

The Dark Lord blocked his blows, but she could feel the power radiating from the boy now. The spirit was bolstering him, guiding his hand.

She glared at her master's son.

No fair, she thought, but at the same time, it made what was about to happen that much more enjoyable.

There was no reward without risk.

A disturbance in the Force made her whirl around, slicing through a droid head that had been launched at her. Soon she was caught in a whirlwind of debris, droid parts, lost weapons and loose rocks from the temple floor struck her bruising, and cutting into her flesh.

Armor would have been nice right now, but the pain didn't slow her.

Pain was an old friend, she could endure.

Bael brought his sword down, trying to force his way through her guard, the two Sith stood before each other, their blades locked.

She glared into the boy's eyes, they flared with a power that was not his own, she could feel her mother's presence, and the shard of the Emperor's will that had given her, her power.

"You could have been the Empire's greatest hero," Bael snarled, his voice overlayed with both Mother's and the Emperor's.

"Now you will die a villain, the greatest fool the Empire has ever known!"

Bael laughed at her.

"I do hope you are satisfied?"

She grinned back at him.

Villain, hero, savior, enemy, good, or evil, it doesn't matter to me what I'm called, you rodent. I'm Sith! I stand above such pathetic judgments. The galaxy doesn't define me."

She pushed him back and switched to Makashi. The duelist's style gave her a brief edge, despite the various cuts and bruises her anger continued to fuel her, her hatred.

She glared into the eyes of the thing that had been Bael Feer.

"You FAILED us!" she roared, "The empire needed its Emperor, and the Emperor chose to hide like a coward. We have come so close to defeat; our people need direction…and guidance."

She grinned.

"I will bring that guidance. I will destroy the Jedi and bring the Republic to its knees. I will bring order to the galaxy! I don't need your aid mother, or you…Your Highness."

She laughed coldly.

"Step aside grandfather," she sneered.

"The Empire has a new goddess, a Mother of Horrors! This Galaxy…its torment is just beginning!"

"You are delusional child," the Emperor's voice echoed from Bael's throat, "You are dying! Your body maimed and sterilized, all you will do is fall!"

"It is all a matter of will," she replied, "How far are you willing to go to survive?"

She raised her blade, bathing her skin in the scarlet light.

"I'm willing to do what is necessary. I'm willing to betray the universe itself to make my dreams a reality. How about you?"

Bleez opened fire on Bael, the dark side warned him, and he spun to meet the attack. Avaryss closed the distance and tried to take advantage.

The boy managed to parry the bolts, but had not been able to send them back at the Warmaster. He was forced to turn again, to try and meet the attack from Avaryss. He blocked her lightsaber, and they locked blades again.

He snarled in her face.

"You will pay for what you did to Talitha! I will, UGH!"

Bael pushed her back, his strength overwhelming her sending her to the ground; she rolled out of the way, and was on her feet again before he could follow up his attack.

She held her blade before her, her smile wide and hungry.

"Gotcha!" she laughed.

"Bang! Your dead!"

Bael looked down, a small cut ran across his upper chest, right over where his armor had protected him.

He sneered at her.

"It is just a scratch," he hissed, "You think I can't…can't…URRRRM!"

Bael Feer fell to knees and vomited, as Avaryss watched he emptied his stomach.

She grinned.

"Just a scratch," she taunted, "Right."

Bael looked up at her, his eyes wide the veins in his neck standing out. He was also starting to froth at the mouth.

"What? What did you…?"

She smiled and held up the dagger in her left hand, his blood stained the blade, that, and something else. She remembered Ro Wilkes warning, the danger of Kuba venom.

Not a pleasant way to go.

She chuckled.

"I got this during the Battle over Pholis. The poison on this blade is quite energetic. One scratch is enough to cause brain death in a matter of minutes."

She giggled.

"Who knew you had a brain to kill, Bael? I certainly didn't."

The boy gulped air, trying to stay upright. Avaryss felt the Force roar inside of him, trying to burn away the poison, the spirit of Mya Lylos might have been able to save him.

Avaryss didn't give it that chance.

She used the Force to yank Bael Feer forward, he flew towards her; like a target waiting to be shot.

She whirled around and drove her blade forward!

Bael Feer gasped as the lightsaber pierced his chest, its tip driven through his heart, and burning its way out his back.

He stared at her in horror.

She leaned in close and kissed his cheek.

"Heal that, mother," she cackled.

She pulled her blade out, and dropped into a new Soresu guard.

She didn't think for one moment that this fight was over.

Bael Feer staggered forward, his eyes pleading the glow of her mother's power was gone. He held up his hands, as if to beg for aid, for mercy.

She sneered.

There was no mercy.

Andur Lylos had received none, and now…neither did the son of Darth Feer.

Bael Feer took two more steps and then…fell forward his eyes rolling up into his head, blood and pink froth stained his mouth.

A shiver of delight ran down Avaryss' spine, she had wanted to do this for so long!

And then, she thought, there was one.

Bleez rose from cover and started towards her, but Avaryss stopped her with raised hand.

They weren't done, not yet.

The shadows around her darkened as an inky blackness flowed out of the body of the fallen boy.

It stood before her, flickering between the shape of Mya Lylos and a Sith pure blood.

The Emperor and his child, or what was left of them.

Avaryss shook her head.

You could say what you wanted about the Emperor.

He didn't know when to lay down and die.

"You have won nothing, child," the spirit growled.

"You are nothing!"

She held her blade at the ready.

"Let history be my judge. The future is mine."

The spirit laughed.

"You have no future."

She fired Force lightning at the spirit, but it passed harmlessly through it.

The Force screamed out.

Darth Avaryss was thrown against the wall behind her, hard.

Her Force shield held, but the attack was not over.

The Emperor reached out again.

The Dark Lord spun through air as she bounced from the ground to the wall, and back again.

It took all her strength not to break every bone in her body. Avaryss cocooned herself within the Force.

I can do this, she thought.

I can endure.

Finally, the shadow swarmed over her, its tendrils reaching out, snaring her arms and legs, pulling her upright. She tried to cut herself free with her lightsaber but the Force yanked it from her hand.

It struck the wall nearby, hit with such a force that it shattered, the weapon's component rained down, the crystals inside still flickering red.

Avaryss struggled, trying to free herself. She…

AHHHHHHH!

She cried out in pain, she looked down at her right hand. As she watched the flesh began to wither and rot, her fingernails fell away.

She howled, and tried to call on the Force to resist.

The spirit's face appeared before her, once again wearing the visage of Mya Lylos.

She shook her head sadly.

"I misjudged you daughter. It is a mistake that has extracted a heavy toll."

The spirit's brow furrowed with thought.

"All is not lost though, Beric still lives. He is a weak-willed fool, but with the proper guidance, he might just help us salvage some of our plan. It will take time, but…I will try to be patient.

Avaryss only partially heard her, her body continued to wither, her eyes dried out, and her vision faded.

A rasping cry escaped her throat.

She was quite literally being mummified alive.

She called out to the dark side, it was still with her, even as her life force was being drained.

Even though she had been left blind, she could still see, the spirit's face hovered only a few inches from hers.

"Such a disappointment, Keera, your father would be ashamed of you."

It took almost all her remaining strength, and her rage, but it worked.

She managed to tear her mechanical arm free of the spirit.

She reached up, and tried to grab the spirit, to take it by the throat.

Mya Lylos didn't try to back up, why would she. She was a spirit, and a spirit could not be affected by the living.

The crimson gem within Avaryss' palm glowed brightly, the stone that Necris had brought her, the gem that had once belonged to Exar Kun. It was glowing, awakened by the well spring of dark side power before it, drawn to the spirit.

The eyes of the spirit widened, two great glowing pools in a face of shadows.

Avaryss hissed in delight.

The spirit gasped, Avaryss had it right by the throat, or rather where the throat would have been had it been alive.

She had it, and she began to squeeze.

The gem of Exar Kun began to drink, to feast on the dark side energy.

Though her body was horribly withered Avaryss could still think, her tongue was useless, but she didn't need it, she called on her powers, casting a spell.

It was not life drain, but similar, Necris had tried to teach her how to feed off of death, and though Avaryss had never been really successful, in that moment she found a well spring of power that was almost pure dark side death energy.

The stone drank greedily, feeding its mistress with its power. Avaryss was blind, but she could see, her tongue was withered but could still speak through the Force. Her ears were a withered husk, but she could still hear…barely.

The death energy flowed into her, her cells drinking it up. It was a heady sensation, almost as painful as the draining of her life energy had been, but it was helping.

Avaryss could feel it, the dark power supercharging her cells. She could almost feel her body starting to regenerate.

It was an amazing sensation.

For the spirit, not so much.

It lashed out at her, but could not break her grip, Avaryss dug her crystal fingernails into the spirit, seeking to increase the draining.

Her body was starting to regenerate, she could feel it.

"Release me," the spirit howled, its face twisting back and forth between Mya Lylos and the Emperor.

"Unhand me, you little wretch!"

"No," Avaryss hissed through her mummified lips.

"I don't think so."

Through the Force, she could see the spirit starting to weaken, its tendrils shrinking and breaking away. Its very being was starting to shrink.

And still, she fed, the darkness within the ghost was a heady treat to be sure.

She continued to feed.

I must have it all, she thought to herself.

I must be…ALL!"

"Keera," the ghost wailed, "Let me go!"

She didn't dignify its demand with an answer.

She would not stop now.

"PLEASE DAUGHTER!"

"HAVE MERCY!"

Mercy, Avaryss thought, mercy?

She laughed, a strange wheezing sound thanks to the destruction of her body.

There was no mercy, she wanted to say.

No mercy, and…

no hope.

She could see herself in the Force, what the spirit had done to her.

It wasn't a pretty sight.

Her hair was gone except for a few grey wisps. Her red rimmed eyes looked like dried grapes in her eye sockets. Her rotted fingers now were able to grasp the dying ghost, aid in the stone in the robotic hand, adding more power to the spell.

Nearly dead, she thought, but not near enough.

Again, she let out another rasping laugh.

It was just a test of wills now, who was stronger.

She was pretty sure she knew what the outcome would be.

As the spirit raged, she got a sense of its past, what had come to be since Mya Lylos had been resurrected in this form. She could sense how far it had been drawn out into the galaxy, how it had tried, not only to influence her, but the galaxy as a whole.

And…she came to realize.

There was something more, something she had not seen when she had saw Talitha's survival the night that Darth Feer had burned their home.

She saw Mya Lylos, she saw her mother sealed in her room with little Anj in her arms.

Avaryss could feel her mother's panic, even as she tried to quiet the crying babe.

As she watched, she sensed the change come over her mother, the look in her eye, it was something totally different than anything she had seen before.

Mother had made a decision.

In that moment, it was the only choice she could have made, or at least, she thought it was.

She whispered in the tongue of the old Sith, whispering words that had not been uttered in almost a century.

She was casting a spell, Avaryss realized, she recognized some of the words and phrases.

She…

As Avaryss watched, her mother did something horrible, something unforgivable.

She put her hands around her child's neck, and began to squeeze. Anj's cries became frightened gurgles, she…she didn't understand what was going on.

But Avaryss understood.

Yes, she understood…very well.

Only death could pay for life.

Mya Lylos had made her choice, or perhaps the piece of the Emperor inside of her had made it.

She had chosen to live, but life required a sacrifice.

Her baby daughter was the price.

Avaryss hissed, if she had had the ability to spit, she would have done so, right in the eye of the ghost.

Anj was just a baby!

Mya had been her mother!

How could she?!

As a Sith, she understood, the life of a mundane meant little when it came to power, but…as a woman. A woman that couldn't have children.

Burn spirit, she thought to herself.

Burn in the torments beyond death!

Finally, Mya Lylos found herself on her knees, her shadowy form small and insignificant. Avaryss could feel the shard of the Emperor, the piece of his consciousness he had bound to his child's.

As she had told Mya, she didn't want the shard, only the power it possessed. Whatever was left of the Emperor could go to hell with his daughter.

Only his power was needed.

It was that that she would take.

"Unhand me," it squawked weakly, "I'm…I'm your Emperor! Your god!"

"No," Avaryss wheezed through mummified lips.

"There is a new god, now!"

"Keera," her mother's spirit whimpered, "Please!"

The withered dark lord leaned in closer. She wanted her mother to hear this, for this to be the last thing she ever heard.

The dark lord hissed with contempt.

"Go to hell," she rasped.

She reached down and into the spirit, she pulled out its dark nexus, its heart if you will.

She crushed it in her right hand, destroying the piece of the Emperor that had sustained Mya Lylos.

Her mother's face faded, the shadows slid away, and for the briefest of moments she saw the Emperor's face again, a face that also faded and was replaced with a skeleton made of shadow.

The skeleton collapsed, turning into black ash.

The dark side let out one final scream, and then fell silent.

The body of Darth Avaryss slumped to the ground, wheezing sounds emerging through her mummified nose and mouth.

Done, she thought.

It is done.

She wheezed, the closest thing to a laugh she could manage at that moment.

I win.

She could barely move; her muscles were all but destroyed. Her eyes were blind withered husks, but she could feel the power, inside her, what she had taken from the spirit was now hers. It was working on her body, regenerating her, healing her.

In time she would be whole again, in time…

PAIN!

She arched her back and let out a gurgling cry.

She lay on the ground, shaking, she couldn't move.

The part of her mind that occupied the Force remained distant, she looked down upon her own body and was…horrified.

A seizure, she realized, I'm having a seizure!

Bleez stumbled over to her, the Warmaster, held her, trying to keep her still, even forcing the hilt of a knife into her mouth, so she didn't choke on her own ruined tongue.

Avaryss suddenly felt…very light, like she was drifting away.

No, she thought.

NOOO!

IT CANNOT END THIS WAY!

She struggled to stay in that moment, to hold onto her shell.

She needed to hang on.

She still needed time.

She called out into the Force, looking for help.

And then…she slipped down into the darkness.

She slipped down…and then…

…nothing.