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"Peace is a lie." Speech.
'There is only Passion' Force Ghost/Flashback/Alien Language/Droid.
"█▄██▄▄█▄▄█▄" Inarticulate/Creature Roar/s.
"With Passion I gain strength!" Holo-communication Speech.
XxxXxxXxxX
Previously:
"B-but I don't want to die." Harry pointed out, sad and with a growing tremor in his voice.
"Then don't." Bane said dismissively with a wave of his hand. At the boy's confused and teary expression he stood up and approached the boy, crouching down to look at him closely. "It is possible to survive on this toxic world. This place eats and corrupts The Force until it is nothing more than a Miasma of cancerous pain and death. But it can be staved off. I am here, now as nothing more than a manifestation of pure Force energy. By all rights the planet should have destroyed my very spirit. But I am able to endure because while my body may have died, my spirit and power endures. Even in death I can still use The Force in such a way as to stave off Earth's Miasma. It is what I did to you to give you the strength to leave your cage beneath the stairs."
"If you wish to live, then you will listen to what I have to say. You will learn what I have to teach and you will obey what orders I have to give." Bane rose to his full height, stretching his arms out wide. "Here within The Legacy I will teach you how to live. And when you leave here, you will teach yourself how to be Great."
XxxXxxXxxX
It had been a fortnight since his first awakening within the ship known as the Legacy. Two weeks since his now mentor Bane had revealed to him the death that awaited him if he did not take steps to avoid it; that the reason he was so weak, that his muscles burned and bones ached was because the planet itself was infected with some form of disease that was choking and killing The Force and any unfortunate enough to be connected to it.
Bane himself had not been seen since that day in the Legacy's storage hold. The Force Ghost had faded away and left his new student in the care of the small compliment of Ship Droids.
Mad-Med; the ships medic-droid whom Harry still found highly amusing in its desire to be a combat droid and often requests to 'terminate him' for the sake of medical science.
Taskmaster; a training droid that had been inserted into the ships crew for the specific purpose of training him in the physical aspects of his future education that as Ghost; Bane could not.
Pilot was, well the pilot. Currently inactive due to the current grounded state of the ship, the aptly named Droid was motionless and functionless in its seat within the ship cockpit.
There were a couple of Engineering Droids that Harry only saw in passing; going about their duties in silence and independently. They didn't interact with him and according to Mad-Med, they didn't even speak any language beyond Binary; the base language of droids.
It had been Mad-Med and Taskmaster that had seen to Harry's physical recovery. The medical regime that the Medic Droid had him on proved a wonder in restoring a semblance of physical vitality to the boy while Taskmaster designed a work out routine for Harry to follow in order to ensure that the six year old developed a strong constitution and stamina required for when his real training began.
Harry himself had wondered about the Legacy and the cave formation it was parked within. He was still on Earth; beneath Glastonbury Tor by his understanding, and yet, the suffering the world imposed upon him all his life seemed muted here. Distant and lessened to an incredible degree. When he had asked Mad-Med this; the Droid had pointed out the answer to be something beyond the Droid's capability of completely understanding. All it had been able to provide Harry with was;
'The Great Master has erected a shielding. The conditions within the cave and the Legacy are unique to that beyond. Effecting a form of quarantine.'
Currently Harry was in the process of his morning workout regime. A number of laps around the perimeter of the cave that housed the Legacy. As was what Harry had quickly come to accept as the norm; Taskmaster was chasing after him with what he understood to be a Sith Training Saber. If the sadistic droid caught up to him, well, getting hit by this particular Saber was not a pleasant experience given the minor burns and paralysis the 'blade' caused.
Mad-Med was waiting by the loading ramp to the large Freighter that was The Legacy; holding a tray of Harry's next assortment of Stims in order to continue his recovery.
"Faster Monkey!" Taskmaster shouted, swiping its Saber and clipping Harry's right shoulder.
Harry's right arm dropped, the toxins filled barbs of the training weapon deadening the arm from the contact point at his shoulder down to his fingertips. He ignored the sting of the burn from where the Saber had hit him, focusing instead on increasing his speed to evade Taskmaster's follow up swing.
On his first day of training he had been terrified of the training droid with its training sword. The first time Taskmaster had chased after him while he had been made to do laps of the cave the droid had been able to hit him a number of times. The burns hurt quite a lot and had nearly sent the poor boy into a panic with visions of the beatings his uncle had visited upon him frequently back at Privet Drive. When that first training session had come to its conclusions, Taskmaster had sat him down to explain its actions and the necessity of providing the kind of incentive and discipline that it did. It was not about making him afraid or inflicting senseless pain. It was about urging him forward beyond his limits. To go stronger and faster so that when the future came when it was his life on the line, Harry would be able to outrun death.
Since then Harry said nothing of Taskmaster's harsh training behaviours or the burns he collected whenever the Droid managed to catch up to him.
Taskmaster managed to get him again by the end of his laps, numbing his back from a quick thrust that had hit him in the small of his back, but overall the Droid had expressed its acknowledgement toward Harry's improvement and steady progress.
Mad-Med looked to the approaching child, finally tearing its optical sensors from the Training Saber and shelving its desire to wield it itself. Personal Training was concluded and the its patient was due for the next round of treatment.
"You managed to avoid a notable number of Taskmaster's, attentions, today." The Droid commented as the child finally reached its position. "How unfortunate. Perhaps later you and I could convince Taskmaster to allow me to participate in your next session? I have a number of scalpels that could be quite useful for such an occasion."
Harry smiled widely and let out a quiet laugh. "Maybe next time Mad-Med."
The Medical Droid let out a burst of static in an approximation of a resigned sigh. "You have made such a claim several times before Little Patient. I find the odds continuing to slip away from me in my wish to engage in violence with every passing day."
Harry shrugged impishly in response.
"Well then if I am to be denied violence then I must perform my programmed duties as your medical provider Little Patient." Mad-Med lashed out with an arm, quicker than Harry could track, and stabbed a needle into the side of his neck, pushing down on the dispenser to inject the Stim into the boy's bloodstream.
Harry flinched slightly, able to contain a full response with the understanding and experience that when it came to Mad-Med, 'permission' and 'consent' were nothing more than fancy words of fantasy to the Droid.
As quick as the Stim Injector was removed from his neck Mad-Med's arm snapped out again, this time stabbing two more needles into the middle of Harry's chest; right into his heart.
"This will be the last of your Bacta injections." Mad-Med informed as it returned the last two needles to a metal tray to be returned to the Medbay. "Your recovery is progressing quickly. At your current state you will need to take only Stims every second day and a health checkup every third day to ensure there are no, unfortunate, deviations."
Harry nodded in understanding. Truth was he felt better now than he had ever in his entire, admittedly short, life. Even with the dull sting of the burns from Taskmaster and the uncomfortable numb feeling of the paralysis in different parts of his body.
A part of him recognised the fact that it was a combination of both the regime that Mad-Med had him on with the quarantine shielding that protected the cave and the Legacy from the outside world and that he might very well feel notably worse when he left its protection, but for now, he felt great.
A glowing light, emanating from the top of the loading ramp and the airlock into the Legacy brought Harry's attention from the Medical Droid who was now, disturbingly enough, crooning at a scalpel; clearly having already decided it was finished with Harry for today and therefore written him off as 'unimportant.'
Seeing Bane standing there, Harry could not help but brighten up. It had nothing to do with any form of affection he had for the Ghost. Harry had not known Bane nearly long enough to form any kind of attachment.
No it was the opportunity that Bane's presence represented that Harry was happy with. Just that initial discussion regarding the cosmic power that Bane had labelled 'The Force' had Harry's attention and interest. A power that spanned an entire galaxy and held limitation only in the minds of those who could use it. The fact that, by implication from the Force Ghost, this power held the key to saving his life and preventing his premature death was no small part of his keen interest as well.
Ascending the ramp to the waiting Ghost, Harry followed after Bane whom had simply turned to enter the Freighter without word of greeting or comment to the child.
Harry followed the spirit to the Cargo Hold of the ship. It seemed that Bane had designated it as potentially the site for any and all future instruction regarding The Force.
Believing that Bane would seat himself back atop the storage crates like last time, Harry moved himself to a position in front of them and eased himself down on the ground, seating himself cross legged and using his left arm to position the still numbed and paralysed right arm comfortably.
Bane, having watched from the corner of his eye as the six year old sat down and prepared for whatever he had for him, nodded to himself in approval. It seemed he had found a good student. There was no ego to speak of from the human of Earth. No demand for specific instruction or desire to chose his own path and instruction regarding The Force. He liked this, the patience, understanding regarding the students own ignorance and the trust in the Master to rectify that.
Perching himself atop the pile of storage crates, as Harry had anticipated, Bane peered down at the boy, resting his cloaked arms atop his knees as he sat akin to an emperor on his throne.
XxxX
When Last we spoke I explained, in admittedly little detail, the subject of The Force. Do you recall I made mention of the various groups and organisations that had established schools of thought and learning around it?
Throughout the storied history of this Galaxy, there have been a countless number of groups, all of which came to learn and manipulate The Force, that have risen to prominence and fallen to obscurity. Primitive cultures that regarded it with the term 'Magic' or even 'The Power' as you first considered it. But none have had more impact over the galaxy and its occupants on a whole as the Je'daii Order.
Well over twenty five thousand years ago, on a planet very much like this one, called Tython. The populace of the planet were comprised of an incredible number of Force Sensitives. These people organised to form what the Je'daii Order. Founded upon the belief and desire to learn of The Force; this organisation was focused on the ideal of 'Balance'. Stemming in part from the twin moons that orbited the planet; Ashla and Bogan.
These moons were considered to be physical representations of what they had come to consider as the Light and the Dark. It was also where they would banish members of their own order if any individual fell from the Balance toward any one side. If a Je'daii fell to much to what they considered the Light Side of The Force they were banished to Ashla and made to meditate on Bogan. Similarly if a Je'daii fell to far to the Dark Side, they were banished to Bogan to meditate on Ashla.
Eventually there came a schism of ideals. While there were outside mitigating factors that did spark this schism, at the heart of the issue was the fact that a divide had emerged from within the Je'daii. A belief that forever more tore the Je'daii apart into two separate Orders.
The belief was simple; one faction believed strongly in the strength and power of the Dark Side, while the other believed in the protection and guidance of the Light.
The conflict, while largely forgotten in this modern age, was known as The Force Wars. While ultimately the Bogan Faction lost this war and the survivors reorganised into the Jedi Order; a group that survives to this day, the core conflict of ideals did not die with the Bogan Faction.
The Great Schism was the name given to the true divide of the Jedi as well as the origins for the Order I myself originated from.
You see the Jedi Order believe in a single school of thought that my Order came to consider abhorrent and ultimately foolish; that is the denial and eradication of all emotional connection.
The Jedi hold to a code; a set of rules that they use to govern their behavior.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is The Force.
The very first line of their code that the Jedi follow holds to a denial of all attachment and emotional connection to their surroundings. They choose to enslave themselves to The Force and to act only when they feel that The Force wishes it.
Those that became labelled as 'Dark Jedi' and fought against their Jedi brethren in this Great Schism were more passionate. They felt that to deny a part of ourselves, to cast away all thought of emotion and attachment was to die.
This conflict lasted a century to result in the Jedi Order emerging once more the victor and casting these 'Dark Jedi' out and into exile.
It was in exile that the Dark Jedi; lead by a powerful man by the name of Ajunta Pall found an isolated people called Sith.
The Sith were everything that the Dark Jedi had desired to be. Creatures of passion and powerful in The Force as a result. Ajunta Pall lead his fellow exiles and in time conquered these people; bringing the Sith under their rule and taking the name as their own. It was the true birth of what came to be known as the Sith Order.
To be a Sith was nothing like being a Jedi. Just as the Jedi had a Code to follow one of the former Exiles turned Sith; Sorzus Syn made a Code for the Sith to follow as well.
A mantra that highlighted and reinforced the core beliefs of this new Sith Order.
Peace is a lie, there is only Passion.
Through Passion, I gain Strength.
Through Strength, I gain Victory.
Through Victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall set me free.
XxxX
"The Sith, the proper Sith, they were conquered?" Harry spoke up. "Why did the exiles conquer them if the Sith were what they wanted to be? Why not just join them?"
Bane shrugged. "Often times when someone tastes power, real power, they change. Sometimes for better, more times for worse. The Force, especially when used with emotion, inspires a change in us all. It takes the darkest parts of you, the pieces that you hide in the deepest recesses of your soul, and brings it to the surface. In some it may bring forth a powerful drive to protect another regardless of consequence, in others, a hunger to stand above all others."
"Wouldn't that mean that the Jedi were right? That it's dangerous to use emotion through The Force?"
Bane thought for a moment, considering the question. "To be alive, truly and properly alive, is to experience uncertainty. A man can never truly know who he is, what he is capable of until he first tastes real power. The Jedi hide from this. They shy from power and influence out of fear for what they might find. Yes it is true that after tasting power a man might find a monster residing in his darkness. But what if instead he finds a savior? What is more dangerous; to remain ignorant of who you truly are? Or to know with certainty if you are man or monster?"
"I would want to know." Harry replied with certainty. "I don't think I'm a monster. I don't want to be a monster. But I would like to find out for sure."
"And if you were a monster deep within your heart?" Bane pressed, leaning forward. "What if you gained power and from within your darkness you found only the beast?"
"I would unleash it upon only those I choose."
"You would not deny it? Attempt to destroy or return it to its cage?"
Harry shook his head. "Why would I try to cage or destroy myself? If there is a monster within me, it does not change the fact that it is me. And I trust myself to know that I would still be able to keep control."
Bane nodded with a broad smile on his face. Feeling no small measure of pleasure and pride in the statement of this, his newest apprentice. So wise beyond his years and experience. Truly there was a wisdom to be found in the mind of a child.
"Tell me then, Young One." Bane asked, still glazing intently at the child. "Which path speaks more keenly to your heart. Would you strive to be a Jedi? One who would hide from their darkness out of fear? Or would you be Sith? One who seeks out the truth of themselves, perhaps even foolishly so regardless of the danger it could present to those around them?"
Harry, to Bane's approval, did not respond immediately. No, he hesitated. Considering the question and the gravity of the decision. The left path, or the right? Up or down? Light or Dark? Jedi or Sith?
"If being afraid and unsure were things that stopped me, I think I wouldn't have been able to get away from the Dursleys." Harry started slowly, considering his words carefully. "When I was at the Dursley's home. I tried to not feel. I endured the hate and anger of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. It didn't feel like I was living. Not really. I want to live. I want to see the stars that I looked up to every night at Privat Drive. I want to see this galaxy and meet the people that live there. I want, I want more."
"The Jedi would tell you that what you want is a very Sith-like line of thought."
"Then that's what I'll be." Harry said with a resolute nod. "I'll be Sith."
XxxXxxXxxX
A/N:
another relatively short chapter really. Harry is going through a training arc and there is quite a bit of info dumping going on that we really don't want to skip through as it is displaying not only a different perspective and line of thought that we want to show regarding concepts like The Force and the difference between the Light Side and The Dark Side, but also we want to show Harry's own reactions and responses to what he is learning, while he is learning it, not show it in hindsight.
You kind of miss out if you show it in flashback summary.
We are day two into a four day weekend so hopefully we will have more from Legacy of Darkness over the next two days.
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