Maul was confused as to where he was. The last thing he could remember was Arya shattering the stones in his training cave to dust, and then…nothing.

"Maul." An eerie voice whispered in Maul's mind.

He knew that voice, but he couldn't place it. He looked around and realized that he was in the very hut where he spent his first years on Dathomir with his real mother. But how could that be? This hut was on the other side of the planet from his training cave.

"Maul." The voice repeated. It was a raspy, evil sounding voice, and this time it wasn't in his mind. It came from directly behind him.

It finally clicked for Maul who that voice belonged to, and he trembled as he turned around to face the voice's owner. Mother Talzin.

"Mother Talzin?" Maul said with doubt in his voice. This was not possible. She was dead. General Grievous had seen to that personally.

"Are you so surprised to see me, boy?" Talzin said. "My connection to our planet's magic is strong and my spirit still remains."

"Is this real?" Maul asked, gesturing to the hut they were standing in.

"No, this is all in your mind." Talzin replied. "But my spirit is very much real and communicating with you now. Tell me, what brought you back to this place?"

"I wanted to train in my old training cave away from everyone and everything." Maul said.

"That is a lie." Mother Talzin scolded. "You think I could not sense the other force user you have brought with you to this planet?"

"I…I have a new apprentice." Maul finally admitted. "I figured it would be a safe place to train her. When your coven was wiped out, the Sith's interest in Dathomir dwindled, so I figured it would be an unlikely place for anyone to find us."

Talzin sighed. "Ah yes, your new apprentice. She presents somewhat of problem. But tell me, do you know of her strength?"

"Yes Mother." Maul said. "I have felt the power she has with the force. I've seen her do things that most force users would consider to be…unnatural."

"Yet still you train her?" Talzin asked. "It will be a matter of weeks until you are far beneath her in skill and strength. How do you plan to control her?"

"I have begun to tell her tales of the Jedi and the Sith and their constant plans and politics. Her connection with the force is strong, but her mind can be manipulated. She has had a traumatic upbringing and trusts no one. She prefers freedom and seeks power to crush her enemies. This I will give her. To truly discover her power, she will need to work with me and help me with my own agenda." Maul said.

"And that is?" Talzin inquired.

"I have informants still living from my days with Shadow Collective. These informants are masters at blending into their surroundings and obtaining information. They have revealed to me the locations of several Sith holocrons from previous Sith Lords. My apprentice and I will recover these holocrons, and with the information gained from them I will train the girl to be the ultimate assasin. Once I deem her ready, I will send her to destroy my enemies…OUR enemies. Darth Sidious is the most powerful dark side force user alive, but hopefully when the girl's training is complete, she will be able to kill him."

"And if you train her all of this, and she refuses?" Talzin raised an eyebrow at Maul.

"I have not gotten that far yet." Maul admitted. "But I will keep the promise of more power dangling in front of her. To obtain it, she will need to work with me."

"Fool!" Talzin bellowed. "Do you not see the folly of your actions. Your relationship with this girl is predicated on trust. Yet you send her down the path of the dark side and expect her to remain loyal to you? If the history of the Sith has taught us anything, it is that once the apprentice becomes powerful enough, they usually find little use for the master. What makes you think she will care about your endeavors, or better yet, follow your orders once she is stronger than you? You think you are training an assassin to kill your enemies, but really you are training the assassin who will take your own life."

"Five days ago, I didn't even know that this girl existed!" Maul yelled back. "Her disturbance in the force was so powerful that if I had not taken her, the Jedi or Sidious would have found her. I needed to move quickly."

"Very well." Talzin said. "But you're wrong about one thing. Sidious is not the most powerful dark force user alive right now. Your apprentice is…"

Maul looked up at Talzin with surprise. He knew she was insanely powerful, and could possibly become more powerful than Sidiou, but more powerful than him already?

"Yes." She continued. "I have felt Sidious's presence before, and your girl's is far more potent. Your plan is good save one flaw. The girl will eventually fail to be controlled, and you will have no way to stop her…but I might have a way."

Maul looked at Talzin inquisitively.

"Tell me." She said. "Have you ever heard of the Dagger of Mortis?"

"No." Maul said. "How will a simple dagger help us control one of the most powerful force users ever known?"

Because, Talzin's mouth turned into a sly smile. "If death has done one thing for me, it has put me into contact with some of the most powerful spirits in the Galaxy. One of those happens to be the Father."

"Whose father?" Maul asked.

"No. THE Father." Talzin corrected Maul. "He was once a living entity residing in the outer most reaches of galaxy. He was ever watchful over his children who he simply called the Son and the Daughter. There was a recent dispute between them. A dispute that coincidentally enough involved the same Obi Wan Kenobi who cut you in half." Maul growled as he heard the name Obi Wan Kenobi causing Mother Talzin to pause. "Your obsession with Kenobi will only result in your own downfall. But never mind that, it is beside the point."

"Which is?" Maul asked.

"The point is that, in this altercation between the Father, Son, and Daughter, the dagger of Mortis was used to kill the Daughter, and the Father used it to kill himself to make his evil Son vulnerable. Why this dagger is special is because the Father himself was made of nearly pure force energy, with his daughter being a pure personification of the light side of the force, and his son being a pure personification of the dark side. These three were literally the force incarnate, and the Father was able to control his children with this dagger. And when things got out of hand, it was able to kill them. So, our path is simple. Retrieve the dagger and gain control of your apprentice. If the girl cannot be controlled, then she must be killed." Talzin remained silent for a time to let Maul process all that she had told him.

"Where is this dagger located?" Maul asked.

"I do not know yet. I am still communing with the Father to find that out. Do what you have to do with the girl, go where you need to go. But return here within several months, and I may have more answers for you." With that, Mother Talzin faded away and Maul's dream left him.

Maul woke up with a start. Mother Talzin's face faded from his mind. He quickly grabbed for his lightsaber and when he felt it at his waist he instantly relaxed. He went to sit up, but found his entire body riddled with bruises. A sharp pain in his side caused him to yelp and lay back down. He gritted his teeth and tried one more time, finally being able to prop himself up on his elbow. He took stock of his surroundings. He was still in his training cave and there was a roaring bonfire next to him. He was laid out on a sleeping mat and there was a canteen of water next to his pillow. There was no sign of the girl and he couldn't feel her presence.

"How do you feel?" a voice from behind Maul asked causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. Maul turned over quickly and activated his lightsaber holding it up defensively. Arya's face looked ominous in the red light. She had been right behind him watching him…and he had not felt her presence.

"You learned to hide your presence without trying so hard, impressive." He said as his lightsaber blade retracted with a hiss. "As far as my physical well-being is concerned, there is a pain in my side that may need further attention." He groaned as he fully sat up.

"You have three broken ribs, and something called a concussion." Arya said. "I could sense the broken ribs after you were knocked out from whatever it was that I did. I thought you were dead, but I could still sense life in you, so I carried you back to your ship which told me you needed to seek attention from a medical droid. I searched your ship and found the droid. It told me what ailments you had and that it would treat you. I left you with the droid and once it was done with you, I carried you back here."

"Why?" Maul asked.

"Why what?" Arya rebutted.

"Why bring me back out here? Why not leave me in the ship?" Maul said with general curiosity in his voice.

"I don't like being cooped up in that ship. I like the fresh air and freedom that being on an actual planet can provide. But, I also did not want to be alone out here. I'm unfamiliar with your planet and don't know what kind of creatures there are out there." Arya sounded embarrassed as she said the last part, "Also, I needed to keep an eye on you in case something happened."

Maul felt a touch of affection at that, quickly realized it and then flooded with anger. "The droid could have kept watch over me." He snapped. "And bringing me out here in this vulnerable state could have easily proved fatal if something had actually happened. Now, how long was I unconscious?"

Arya looked down dismayed. "Four days." Maul calculated everything in his mind.

"And what have you been up to these four days?" he asked.

"Taking care of you and focusing on my training." She said in a somewhat hurt tone. "I also replaced the rocks and boulders I destroyed."

Maul looked behind her and saw that it was true. His face softened a little, but not much.

"What have you accomplished in your training in these four days?" he asked.

"Besides being able to mask my presence without thinking about it, I learned to control my manipulation and destruction of objects." Without turning around to look, she lifted up her hand with an open palm and a boulder behind her lifted off the ground. She quickly made a fist and the boulder cracked perfectly in two. She let both halves float for a second before gently setting them down on the ground.

Maul was pleased at his apprentice's apparent ability to train on her own, as well as her resourcefulness, but he was also somewhat disturbed. What Arya just did was a show of raw power so carefully precise and focused, that Master Jedi and Sith Lords alike would be impressed. The disturbing part was that she did it so casually and nonchalantly that one could tell it took very little effort for her. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about what Mother Talzin had said to him in his dream. If he could convince her to stay loyal to him, then he would be the bow, and she would be the arrow sent to destroy. If not, well…hopefully this Dagger of Mortis existed.

"You have done well." He said. "I apologize for being brash with you just before. It is a common trait for a Sith, or in my case an ex-Sith to not let any emotion show besides anger."

They both sat in silence for a time. Suddenly Arya spoke.

"Do you know who Mother Talzin is?"

Maul's stomach dropped. How could the child know of Mother Talzin? There were strange forces at work here.

"Yes, I know of her. She was the leader of the Nightsisters here on Dathomir. And she was also my mother. The real question is, how do you know of her?" Maul asked.

"Her spirit came to me in a dream, the night after I turned all your stones to dust." Arya said.

"Really?" Maul inquired. "That IS interesting."

"Why?"

"Because, Mother Talzin visited me in a dream as well." He said. "Tell me, what did she say to you?"

Arya hesitated, and then recounted her dream to Maul.

"She told me that she was a powerful witch, and that should could teach me all sorts of things that were beyond your power to show me yourself. She told me I only had to journey to the location of her old coven. When I refused, she got angry. She told me that I would have made a poor vessel for her spirit anyways. I used the force to push her out of my mind. I think I scared her."

Maul contemplated this. Well, that would explain why Talzin came to him in a dream and spoke of a need to control the girl. But control the girl for his own gain, or hers? He couldn't deny there was truth in Talzin's words, but was she looking to help him, or use him. Only time would tell. Until then, he would keep the possibility of the Dagger in the back of his mind.

"You were right not to venture to her old lair. She would have possessed your body in an attempt to reenter the corporeal plain again. My mother is dead, and I have accepted that. Also, you are too valuable to allow her to possess you. So, do not worry. This cave lies thousands of miles from where the Nightsisters used to reside. We should be fine if we remain in this portion of the planet."

"What did Mother Talzin tell you?" Arya asked.

"She sensed our presence on this planet and inquired about you. I told her that you were my apprentice and that you were extremely powerful. She told me something I had only guessed at until this point. She said that you were the most powerful force sensitive being to set foot on this planet. Which means that she seems to think you are already more powerful than my former master, Sidious." Maul looked at Arya to gauge her reaction.

Arya seemed surprised at this. "I knew I was powerful, but I didn't know I was that powerful. I still feel like there is much for me to learn."

"There is." Maul said. "You may have the raw power, but power without direction and control is wasted. Talzin also asked me what my plan was regarding you."

"What is your plan, anyways?" Arya asked. "You took me off my own planet and promised me power beyond my wildest dreams, but never told me what we would actually be doing."

"My plan…" Maul hesitated and then continued, "My plan is to turn you into the deadliest assassin this galaxy has ever known. You mentioned you had a list. Well I have one too. Sidious, Tyrannus, Grevious, Skywalker, and Kenobi among others. Some of these I can fight on my own, some I cannot. Something changed in me when I was defeated by Kenobi all those years ago. In my arrogance I felt I could defeat any foe that I came across. I learned to accept my limitations and use other means to achieve my goals. I did not have those other means until I found you. I will teach you as best I can how to harness and control the power within yourself, and then I will unleash you upon my enemies and together we can complete my list as well as yours."

Arya mulled all of this over in her mind. "So, where do we go from here?" she asked.

Maul smiled his sinister smile once again. "We start by finishing your lightsaber training and having you learn a few more abilities with the force. Once you are ready, I have a mission for us."

"What kind of mission?" Arya looked excited again.

"The Sith and the Jedi have been around for thousands of years, and during those years there have been individuals of note who, through exhaustive research, learned how to obtain power and abilities that allowed them to do seemingly impossible things. All are dead now, but their research lives on in the form of holocrons." Maul explained.

"What is a holocron?" Arya asked, intrigued.

"A holocron is a device that can only be activated using the force and is able to store immense amounts of knowledge. Imagine every book that could possibly exist on your planet." Maul said.

Ayra thought of the Citidel and it's supposed ancient and enormous libraries.

"Now," he continued, "imagine taking all the information in those books and storing it on a device that can fit in the palm of your hand. That is what these past Sith Lords have done with their secrets and knowledge. That means that out there, there are holocrons for that taking that are loaded with long lost secrets of powerful force abilities. And I have managed to track some of them down. We will recover these and learn from them what we can. Once you are powerful enough, we will track down those names on my list and eliminate them." Maul smiled. His plan could work, and if it didn't, they would still cause an immense amount of destruction for both the Sith and the Jedi.

"So where do we need to go?" Arya asked.

"Coruscant." Maul said. "It is a planet that houses one of the largest libraries in the galaxy as well as one of the most secure. The Library of the Republic and the Jedi Archives. We will infiltrate those libraries and obtain the holocrons I have found. But we cannot do this until I heal, and until you are more fully trained. Since I am physically disposed at the moment, perhaps we focus on the force part of your training. Tell me, is there anything I have done with the force that you want to learn?" he asked.

Arya hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "When I was trying to split that boulder in two, you forced a vision inside my head. A horrible vision of my dead brother." Arya paused for a moment, and then regrouped. "How did you do that?"

"Using the force, one is able to implant a vision into another's mind. It is tricky to master, but you yourself learn quickly and are extremely powerful, so I see no reason why you should have a problem mastering this." Maul said.

"How far away can the person you send these visions be?" Arya asked in a hopeful tone.

"If you are strong enough, and you my apprentice most definitely are, then you could send these visions almost anywhere in the galaxy. Why? Do you want to try and contact an ally on your home planet?"

This time it was Arya's face that broke out into a sinister smile. "I'm not really sure who my allies are at the moment. Besides, I had someone else in mind."

"Who?" Maul asked, surprised that he was actually curious.

"The number one person on my list." Arya said.

Maul smiled along with Arya. He knew what she wanted to do. For once, they were on the same page. "Very well. Let's begin."

END OF PART ONE