A.N

All right, five chapters in and I'm not stopping anytime soon. Now, we come back to Kayden and see what he's up to after his conversation with Vaylin.

Chapter 5: Snake Hunting, Kayden 2

As soon as Kayden finished talking to Vaylin, he immediately approached Captain Atrus. 'It was so simple, yet I didn't even consider it until Vaylin said something. I really hope inviting her down here to kill some heralds will be a good gift to her.'

Kayden would rather his sister didn't kill anyone but, after her torture on Nathema, he knew his twin had a lot more darkness in her heart and, while he was trying to help her with that, he knew that if he tried to stop her from killing completely that it would likely end very badly. 'At least she is getting better and not just killing knights on a whim or for no reason anymore… mostly.'

Kayden had been shocked the first time Vaylin killed one of their own knights in front of him. The knight had just come to give him an update on the situation in the Old World while he and Vaylin were talking. He didn't mind the interruption, but clearly Vaylin did since she used the force to snap the knight's neck before he could say more than two words.

He'd actually been so shocked that he snapped at his twin sister and shouted her name in anger, an act which had clearly surprised both of them at the time. It had been even worse to find out that this wasn't the first time Vaylin had killed one of their knights. 'At least she is getting better about it. She's still killing way too much, but at least now it's criminals more than our loyal knights.'

He puts his thoughts on Vaylin to the side when the Captain salutes him. "Your Highness, was there something else I can help you with?" The knight questions.

"Yes Captain, tell me, are the heralds still kidnapping people near the entrance to Breaktown?" Kayden asked. It was something he'd been trying very hard to stop since he first found out the heralds were forcing people to convert to their ways or die, but now it could actually prove to be useful in tearing them down.

Kayden can sense the Captain is clearly both angry and uncomfortable with the question, but still keeps his calm on the outside when he answers. "Yes Your Highness, we just received another kidnapping report yesterday. Though I would like to mention that the kidnappings have decreased significantly in the last month."

Kayden knows the Captain added the last part because he was worried his answer would displease him. Vaylin's reputation for killing on a whim had already become rather well known. Fortunately, Kayden was hoping for such an answer. "I have a plan to weaken the heralds, but I'll need your help Captain, and the help of your newest knight."

The Captain is clearly confused. "Forgive me but I don't understand my Prince, why would you want the help of my least experienced knight?"

Truthfully, Kayden would have preferred using a more experienced knight for this mission, but it would be more likely to cause the plan to fail. "The heralds have several force users among them and, if my plan is to work, we need someone who they'll sense has little experience or training."

The Captain is still visibly confused so Kayden decides to explain. "The heralds kidnap and force people to join their cult, if they were to kidnap a young, inexperienced force user who we had a way of tracking…"

"It would lead us right to them." The Captain finished with a look of realization on his face.

"Exactly. So, did you have any knights that would be able help accomplish this?" Kayden asks with the Captain giving a slight nod and then turning to face one of his knights.

"Knight Nilrann! Front and center!" The Captain yells, causing one of the knights to rush over and stand at attention.

"Sir, Knight Dasch Nilrann reporting as ordered." Knight Nilrann says in that same serious tone Kayden is used to hearing from the knights. 'He's the least experienced? He's either been trained very well or he's extremely dedicated. Probably the latter.'

"Knight Nilrann." Kayden says, addressing the knight and getting his attention. "I have a plan to weaken the heralds of Zildrog's influence but I'll need your help. Remove your helmet."

The knight hesitates only a moment before removing his helmet and showing a man with brown eyes, black hair, and light skin with no stand out features. 'He'll do.'

Kayden then takes a few minutes to go over the details of his plan with the Captain and the knight and by the time he's finished, both knights have agreed to the plan and will attempt to carry it out in a few days time.

Three Days Later…

Kayden was in the library going over several different force techniques when his holo started beeping. Activating the projector, Kayden was greeted by Captain Atrus who quickly explained that Knight Nilrann had been captured as planned and the tracking device had led them to a large abandoned warehouse at the edge of Breaktown and requested permission to take several knights to attack.

Kayden denied the request and ordered the Captain to wait until he and his sister arrived to assist them. At the mention of his sister, Kayden sensed the Captain's fear rising and he didn't need him to explain why.

Vaylin's random killings of their knights had obviously become known among many of the knights and, while they were still capable of being in her presence and following her orders, Kayden knew the knights would much rather report to someone else.

Kayden assured the Captain that Vaylin would only be coming along to help take out the heralds but this did little to help the Captain's fear who simply replied with "Yes Your Highness." Before Kayden shook his head and deactivated his holo. 'I really need to work harder on dealing with Vaylin's darkness.'

For now, he enters his twin's frequency and only needs to wait a moment before Vaylin's projection appears. "Kayden, I'm in the middle of training, can this wait?"

Kayden can't help but chuckle. After getting back from the Old World a few days ago, he'd kept his word and had really pushed himself and Vaylin in the training ring. It had gone well, but Vaylin would probably argue that he'd just enjoyed knocking her to the ground over and over again. 'She can complain all she wants, but she keeps showing up for our training sessions even though she doesn't have to.'

Vaylin's power in the force was even greater than Arcann's abilities, but he still surpassed her when it came to lightsaber dueling. She just didn't have the same patience for learning the techniques like Arcann and Thexan did since she tended to fall back on the force to deal with any problems she had. 'Another bad habit she needs to break.'

"No this can't wait." Kayden says, getting his sister's full attention. "Remember I asked you a few days ago if you wanted to help me wipe out some of the heralds of Zildrog when the time was right?"

Vaylin catches on quick and smiles. "It's time?"

"It's time." Kayden confirms. "I was going to head down to the Old World shortly, still care to join me?"

Vaylin's smile gets a little bit bigger. "I'll be right there." She answers before her image vanishes.

Kayden sighs. He'd found out quickly that while Vaylin had no problem killing their knights, she could be convinced to spare them in exchange for being able to kill someone else. 'And I know that she's been killing prisoners in the dungeons rather than simply killing the nearest person to her when she's frustrated. Not exactly good, but it's still better then she was when she first returned to Nathema.'

He knew that everyone else looked at his twin sister like she was a monster, but Kayden refused to blame Vaylin for the things she did. In his mind, the only reason she did what she did was because of the pain and darkness that their father had forced into her when she was taken away. 'Father is the only one to blame for Vaylin's behavior. He did this to her and I'll do everything I can to undo it.'

He would find a way to save his sister no matter what but, for now, there were other things that needed to be done. So Kayden started making his way towards the landing pad, this time without a knight escort since he knows the Captain will have several knights already prepared by the time he and Vaylin arrive.

Speaking of whom, Kayden reaches the landing pad and notices Vaylin is already there waiting for him. She has a dark smile on her face when he arrives but, when she sees him, it becomes smaller and kinder. This makes Kayden smile at her in return since he loves seeing his sister happy without the dark side influencing her.

"Brother." She says in a seemingly sad tone. "Don't you know it's rude to keep your sister waiting?" She asks teasingly. 'She loves her jokes, but she'll regret that one.'

Kayden smiles in a way that it makes Vaylin slightly nervous. "You're so right sister, it's always rude to keep a Princess waiting." Kayden says, making Vaylin's eye twitch and her smile drop instantly.

Kayden knew if he was anyone else, Vaylin would have killed him on the spot for using that title. She never did say why she hated being called a Princess, but Kayden could clearly see how much the title annoyed and angered her. So he didn't mind using it on occasion to mess with her, it worked even better since Vaylin could call him a Prince and she knew he didn't even blink at the title.

Kayden decides to lessen his twin's embarrassment. "Admit it, you knew you were asking for that one." He says jokingly.

Vaylin sighs and is still clearly annoyed but is still able to answer. "I suppose I should have." She then looks at him in curiosity. "So, can we go kill some snakes now?" She asks in her usual cheerful tone.

Kayden actually chuckles at that. "Yeah, let's go kill some snakes." He says while getting into the shuttle with his sister following right behind him before the shuttle lifts off and heads down into the Old World.

It doesn't take the twins long to reach the Old World. As soon as they step off the shuttle, Captain Atrus stands at attention with a half dozen knights behind him. "Welcome back Your Highness… and welcome Lady Vaylin." The Captain hesitates briefly when addressing Vaylin.

Vaylin is clearly enjoying the Captain's unease, but Kayden considers it better than her cutting him down. "You have the location of the heralds Captain?"

The Captain nods and motions for them to follow, which both Kayden and Vaylin do. "As far as we can tell, there are at least two dozen heralds inside the warehouse and they also have at least half that many people that they've kidnapped trapped inside, including our knight who discovered the location."

"One of our knights was captured by the heralds?" Vaylin questioned. "If a knight was captured alive, then they were either weak or were cowardly enough to surrender." Vaylin says in a slightly disgusted tone, making the Captain's anger rise slightly though it was well concealed.

Kayden decides to stop this line of thought immediately. "I ordered the knight to allow himself to be captured so we could follow him back to the herald's base of operations. It was you who gave me the idea to use some form of bait to draw them out, thank you for that sister."

Kayden's comment draws a surprised look from Vaylin before it changes to a pleased look with no small amount of smugness behind it. "So, you're saying it was my idea that helped you find the snakes brother? Then can I keep one as a pet? I promise I'll take real good care of him." She says with the most innocent fake look on her face that she can manage.

"No pets Vaylin." Kayden says and Vaylin actually pouts at him before he adds. "That being said, if you want to capture one or two of the heralds for interrogation later, I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem." 'Not for us anyway, but for the heralds… well that's a different story.'

Kayden's words clearly do the trick as he doesn't even need to look to sense the joy coming from his sister.

"This is it." The Captain says as they and the half dozen knights with them notice the rather large and somewhat rundown warehouse in front of them. "What's the plan sir?"

Kayden looks at Vaylin who looks back at him. The twins give each other a small nod and Kayden turns back to the Captain. "Captain, you and the rest of your knights set up a perimeter around the warehouse to make sure none of the heralds escape. Me and my sister will take care of the heralds inside."

The Captain looks like he wants to object before his face goes back to being expressionless. "Yes sir!"

Kayden knew the look was out of concern more than anything, but Vaylin took it differently. "Think we're too weak to deal with a few heralds Captain?" She says in a cheerful but dark tone.

"N-no, Lady Vaylin." The Captain says fearfully.

"I thought not. Now shoo, me and my brother have snakes to kill." She says in her cheerful tone again with the Captain wisely not saying anything and just giving a slight nod before quickly moving away.

Kayden just lets out a sigh. "Do you have to make the knights tremble every time they speak?" Kayden asks in a tired voice to which Vaylin only shrugs.

"They look funnier when their trembling. Don't you think so?" She asks seriously and Kayden resists the urge to slap his forehead. 'Curse you father.'

"You know what? Let's kill these snakes, they've lived too long already and I need to vent a little." Kayden says with his frustration rising along with Vaylin's joy.

"See brother, there are benefits to killing." She says with her dark smile before grabbing and activating her yellow lightsaber.

A thought then comes to Kayden and he feels the need to voice it. "Just remember that we're only here to kill the heralds. The people they've captured we want to set free."

Vaylin looks at him like he's grown a second head. "What? Why? If they got captured it just means they're weak and not worth saving."

Kayden looks at his sister in such a way that she almost takes a step back. "Those are our people in there Vaylin, all of them. The heralds are traitors to Zakuul and the Eternal Empire, so they've earned their deaths. But those people who've been captured are innocent of any crimes and one is even the knight that led us to these snakes in the first place, which he did on my orders. So are you really going to tell me that those people deserve to die simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Vaylin doesn't look at him, but still manages to mutter a quiet "no" before she lifts her head up again. "Fine, I won't kill the weaklings. But I am going to kill as many of those snakes as I can." She says to which Kayden nods.

"That's fine. I said it before, the heralds are traitors to Zakuul so they've earned their fates." Kayden says before an idea pops into his head. "How about we make this a little more interesting?" Kayden says with a slight grin on his face.

Vaylin knows her twin well enough to know that he just got an idea that she'll like. "Go on."

Kayden look at the warehouse and reaches out with the force. "I can sense twenty-five heralds inside the warehouse, an odd number. Good, that will make this easier."

Vaylin gives a slight frown. "I hate odd numbers."

Kayden chuckles. "I know. But if you manage to kill more heralds than me, I'll let you skip practice with me in the ring for a week."

Vaylin's eyes widen and a huge smile appears on her face. "Brother, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Before Kayden can answer, Vaylin uses a huge force push on the warehouse's door. It goes flying inward and crushes two heralds and causing the ones remaining to jump into action while Vaylin goes charging inside. 'I should have seen that coming.' Kayden thinks with a grin before activating his own yellow saber and charging in as well.

It's almost sad how outmatched the heralds are. They have so many people, yet none can even come close to comparing to one of the Immortal Emperor's children, let alone two. The ones with the blasters fall the quickest, but the ones with the lightsabers do hang on a little bit longer, but none can truly compare to the young twins.

A few minutes later, the battle is all but over with twenty-four of the heralds dead and the final one is facing off with Kayden and Vaylin, both of whom haven't even broken a sweat.

The final herald is clearly the one who was in charge of the kidnapping operation since he'd tried giving orders to some of the other heralds once the battle had started. 'Not that it saved any of them.'

Both Kayden and Vaylin were tied with a dozen kills each, so the leader would be the tiebreaker. All three were waiting for one of the others to make the first move, but none have to wait for long.

"Feel the power of Zildrog's claws!" The herald leader shouts before charging at Vaylin with his saber. 'Well, it looks like she's getting out of practice this week.' Kayden thinks while shaking his head at the herald's stupidity.

Vaylin was clearly glad the herald had decided to go for her since she knew it meant she'd won their contest. It also meant she was feeling generous enough to end the herald's life quickly by reaching out with the force and freezing the herald in place before stepping forward with her lightsaber.

"Brother..." She says before using her saber to remove the herald's head. "…I win."

Kayden deactivates his lightsaber and reattaches it to his belt before giving his sister a small smile. "You win." He acknowledges before saying. "No practice with me in the ring for a week."

She smiles and is clearly about to start gloating before Kayden adds. "But I will be watching next weeks sessions from the balcony to make sure you actually practice your saber forms and don't rely completely on the force. I might not be in the ring, but I will be making sure you practice properly."

Vaylin's smile disappears and is replaced by an annoyed look, but Kayden can still sense the relief that he will still be keeping his word and staying out of the ring. 'Not surprising, her potential in the force is incredible but she still doesn't have the patience for learning the different lightsaber forms.'

The Captain and his knights enter the warehouse and get a good look at what they consider to be a slaughter. The heralds are all clearly dead and, for some of them, it doesn't look like they'd died well.

The Captain approaches Kayden and stands at attention, unknowingly annoying the young prince before he speaks. "Orders sir?"

Kayden points to the cells around the warehouse, which were basically just big metal boxes, and spoke. "Take the rest of your knights and start releasing everyone who's locked up here. After that, get them all identified and returned to their families if they have any. If they don't, send them to the palace and I'll find some work for them a little later."

The Captain nods his head and goes to carry out his orders while Vaylin approaches him with a disbelieving look on her face. "You'd actually let these people serve at the palace? They're just street trash!"

Kayden glares at his twin sister and her anger is quickly replaced with guilt and embarrassment. Kayden had been trying very hard to get rid of the darkness his father had forced into her, but progress was slow. 'But at least she is making progress. Before, she wouldn't even hesitate to kill knights or servants, now I hear she's killing prisoners rather than our loyal servants. It may not be much yet, but it's still something.'

Actually, the situation reminded Kayden of when he'd been training Vaylin to control her force abilities when the two were younger and, just like then, progress was slow but they were making progress. "We can't ever have enough hands helping around the palace Vaylin, especially in the kitchens with how quickly Head Chef Foss kicks our other cooks out."

Vaylin gives a slight chuckle at that. "She does seem to get rid of them as fast as we can find them." She says in an amused tone and Kayden can't disagree with her.

She would never admit it, but Kayden knew if there was one person Vaylin liked that wasn't him, it was Head Chef Areta Foss. The best chef on Zakuul and also the most terrifying by far.

Chef Foss had been Kayden's and his siblings chef for as long as they'd been alive so he knew quite well how demanding the woman was in the kitchen. She had a simple system, you gave her perfection and if you didn't, you weren't good enough for her kitchen. 'I actually remember once sending a specialized cooking droid down to help her out. She scrapped it in less than a day.'

She was usually the head chef for Kayden and his siblings in their personal living palace, but she'd also acted as the head chef for the Palace of the Eternal Dragon when father hosted parties and special events. They didn't happen often but they were always boring for Kayden and his siblings.

Until they discovered how much fun it was to sneak down to the kitchen and listen to Chef Foss curse out whatever poor souls had been unfortunate enough to end up down there. They'd seen more than a few chefs run out of the kitchen in tears. 'I'll admit, she scared me when I was younger. I think she might have scared the others to, but neither Arcann or Vaylin would ever admit that.'

Putting thoughts of the chef to the side, Kayden starts to slowly walk and glance around the warehouse. It's falling apart, but it's clear that the heralds have done just enough repairs to make sure it wouldn't come crashing down on their heads and, aside from the crude containment cells, the warehouse is mostly empty.

Mostly.

Off to the side of the warehouse, there's a holoterminal. it's in poor condition but still appears to be in working order. Kayden is walking over to it when Vaylin calls to him from behind.

"Um, brother, the party's over. Why are we still here?" Vaylin asks, clearly confused that they weren't leaving the rest to the knights.

"You're wrong Vaylin." Kayden says with a grin as he activates the holoterminal, having a good idea who will appear. "The party's not over yet."

It only takes a moment for a figure to appear on the holoterminal. The man has long hair and thorn like tattoos over the right side of his face. "I'm busy-" He shouts before he sees who he's talking to. "You." He says in a menacing tone.

Kayden gives a smirk to the figure. "Hello Exalted, I'm sorry to tell you this but I'm afraid your kidnapping operation has been shut down. Permanently."

The Exalted was clearly not happy to hear this based on the angry look that he gave Kayden. "We were showing those people the glory of Zildrog! Now they've lost their chance to bathe in the Serpent's fire! How dare you steal such a gift from them!" The madman rants.

"Gift? More like a curse if they have to serve someone as insane as you." Kayden says. He'd spoken to the Exalted by holo twice before already and had already grown used to the psycho's anger.

"Damn brat! You may be the Immortal Emperor's son, but don't meddle where you don't belong boy. You've already interfered in the Old World far too much, you are not part of the prophecy and have no place here!" The Exalted shouts with Kayden just rolling his eyes.

He'd heard about their so called prophecy many times now from several of the heralds and he didn't need long to come to a conclusion. The prophecy was fake, likely made up by the heralds themselves at some point. 'I know for a fact that there's no real prophecy about Zildrog. Even the oldest records I've found mention nothing about Zildrog returning and I know that if I can't find information about such a prophecy with the resources I have available, there's no way scum like this could have learned about it.'

"Exalted, I'm really starting to get sick of listening to you talk." Kayden says with the Exalted growling and Vaylin chuckling behind him. "Stop hiding in Breaktown and turn yourself over to me, I promise you this, if you do, I'll send you to meet your 'great serpent' much more quickly." Kayden threatens.

The Exalted just shakes his head. "Never, we will bring about Zildrog's great return, and you will not stop us." He says before his image vanishes and the holoterminal goes dark. 'As charming as ever.'

"Huh, not quite a party but definitely entertaining." Vaylin says as Kayden turns to face her.

"The Exalted is living on borrowed time. His heralds are getting weaker and, without this operation, it'll be much more difficult for them to find new members. Only problem now is that the rest of the heralds will go underground for a while until they think things have settled down." Kayden explains, though Vaylin appears to only be half listening.

"If you say so brother. Can we go back now?" She says in a tone that says she's had her fun, but now she wants to go home.

Kayden just chuckles as he answers. "Yes Vaylin, we can head back now."

Kayden and Vaylin start walking out of the warehouse together while the knights around them are still releasing the captives and doing their best to shield their eyes from the bloodshed that had just taken place.

…

An hour later and Kayden is back in the place that he feels the most comfortable, their home's private library. 'Though I suppose it might as well be my private library at this point since Arcann and Vaylin only come in here when they're looking for me.'

He knew no one in his family understood his desire for knowledge, but he knew that knowledge wasn't just power, it was far more than that.

To Kayden, knowledge was easily the most valuable thing in the entire galaxy. Not credits, not physical possessions, not status, not even the force itself. Knowledge wasn't just power, it was everything.

He'd tried to explain it to his mother once, but she clearly hadn't understood. 'She did at least try to listen to me, but I think I was too young for her to take me seriously and really try to understand at the time. Would she understand now?'

Kayden shook himself out of his thoughts. He didn't like thinking of his mother, memories of her were always painful regardless of whether they were good or bad. He knew in his heart that his mother wasn't a bad person, but he still couldn't forgive her for the things she'd done to them, to Vaylin especially.

He'd told her once that she could only get his forgiveness if he earned Vaylin's back as well, but that seemed to be an impossibility now with the comments Vaylin had made about her. 'Not that she made things any better when she left us.'

Aside from Vaylin being taken to Nathema, that was easily the worst day of Kayden's life. Deep down, he'd been hoping that when mother had called them altogether it was an attempt to try and bring them all closer and apologize to Vaylin for not helping her. Instead, she wanted them to run from father and didn't at any point show any signs of asking for forgiveness.

Kayden could admit that he understood the desire to be as far away from father as possible, but that would have meant leaving his siblings, something he'd never even consider doing, as the people of Zakuul who, he felt, needed to be protected from father's influence as much as possible.

The real insult was that she didn't even think about any of their feelings at all. If she had, she would have known that Arcann and Thexan would never turn their backs on father, Vaylin wouldn't follow her because she hadn't forgiven her, and Kayden himself would never follow since it would mean leaving Vaylin. 'She never learned anything. She just assumed that she was right, what she was doing was right, and didn't even consider that she could be wrong, just like always.'

Kayden liked to consider himself calm, patient, and happy most of the time. But he'd felt nothing but rage at the last words their mother had spoken to them. "We need to go."

Thexan, Arcann, and Vaylin had all laughed like it was some sort of sick joke. Kayden considered it the biggest insult their mother could have given them. She was willing to run away from her home, her duties, and even her own family because of her fear for father. 'I might be terrified of father, but I would never turn my back on them because of it.'

He'd allowed all his rage, fury, and frustrations to flow out of him in that moment and, when he knew he had mother's full attention on him, he just told her to go. He couldn't bring himself to look at her after that and had immediately left after saying the words.

He tried not to think about how he'd cried himself to sleep that night when he heard she'd truly left.

Kayden sighed and put the holobook he was studying off to the side. He was getting tired, it had been a long day already after dealing with the heralds and now unwelcome memories were starting to appear, so it was probably a good time to turn in. 'It doesn't matter anymore. She's off somewhere on the edge of the empire and has completely given up on seeking any form of forgiveness.'

A small part of him wondered if she might return once father was dead, but a larger part of him told himself that he didn't care.

A.N.

Not too much fighting with the heralds since, let's face it, Kayden and Vaylin were way too powerful for them. We also see that Kayden still thinks about Senya from time to time but it's clear that he's not happy about it. Well, that's all I've got, see you soon!