"We have to pick up the pace," they told me, as we continued on our humiliating scamper through the thick foliage. "The Jedi will catch us."
By the time we reached the clearing, most of the meditation spheres were long gone. More of the golden, bat-winged ships were rising with every passing moment, though many of them were cut down trying to exit the atmosphere.
I collapsed before my own vessel, too exhausted to climb the ramp and still clutching the wound in my side.
However, the living machine soon lent its strength to me, nourishing me with the pool of swirling hatred that coursed through its circuitry.
Another of the Sith came toward me, holding a needle of kolto. "Your wounds need attention."
"I need nothing!" I screamed, raising my fists in the air. "My anger shall restore me. What I must have is the head of the padawan that snuck up behind me. They shall all pay!"
I turned to see that the other Sith was already climbing into their own vehicle, leaving me behind. I was the last survivor.
From far away, I could feel the cold determination of the Jedi coming to kill me, but I couldn't leave just yet. Leaving Wah-nan, breadbasket of the Kantic Sector, in the hands of the Republic would be a victory that they did not deserve.
"May my hatred be a blight on this planet," I called out, ripping the crystal from my remaining lightsaber. I squeezed the red gem in my hands and saw it glow brighter than it ever had, as I focused every ounce of my dark rage through it. "May this world forever be marked."
The crystal was plunged into the dirt with my last ounce of strength, and as it struck the earth I could feel the power within it begin to spread. Just a few millimeters around the tiny crystal, the grass began to die and the fertile soil was corrupted, until all that was left was dry dust. Soon, I hoped, it would spread to the entire planet.
I managed to haul myself onto the floor of the meditation sphere, which closed its door and began to gently drift off the ground.
Still clutching my wound and feeling my eyelids grow heavy, I raised my fist once more. "You have won nothing, Jedi. You have won nothing."
The dark figure stood on the catwalk, staring out into the yellow abyss where the meditation sphere now drifted, and wondered if that kolto might have made a difference.
"My anger fuels me," it said to itself, repeating the mantra that had kept it alive for millenia.
Slowly, it reached out across the planet, touching the minds of the soldiers bearing down on Nordic, the defenders in Davn and across the stars to the ambassadors on foreign worlds.
"This shall be mine. This shall be mine."
