So, i was afraid this would happen, but my beta has still not responded, and I can only assume he still lacks power, so I will post now, and when I get contact with him again, if... I will repost the edited/expanded chapters over the old ones, and make mention of it during newer chapters and/or ANs. so keep an eye out for that... So... you've waited, you've wondered, and you've argued. but here is the next chapter! Review!
Chapter Five
Dark Side Rising
Severus winced as he staggered away from the forbidden corridor. He had come up here while Albus and the other teachers were scrambling around the dungeons looking for the supposed troll, leaving the way to the stone unguarded. Severus, ever the suspicious one, decided to head off whomever, he and Albus suspected Quirrell, had released it in the case of it being a distraction.
Sadly for him, he was the first to arrive, and stepped too far into the room with the Cerberus, and the vile creature's teeth had sunken deeply into his calf, although thankfully not severing anything vital. Quirrell arrived just as Severus had escaped, and gave a pathetic excuse of him and Severus having the same thought about the troll being a distraction, but they were interrupted as Minerva, quickly followed by Albus had charged past, and they followed.
The chase led them to a girls bathroom near the forbidden corridor, and the sight within paused even Severus' stone cold heart. The troll was there, smashed against the far wall, so deep that a hole had been punched into the enchanted stone, as well as three first years; Draco, Potter, and the Ravenclaw Granger.
"Oh my goodness," Minerva gasped, stepping back at the sight of the clearly dead troll. Its head hung and the skin of the face was bluish, instead of the natural grey. The beast seemed to have suffocated, but that lead to many more questions. Potter was kneeling on the floor, also injured, with Draco supporting the boy from collapsing, and the Ravenclaw girl was unconscious.
"Explain yourselves, please." Albus said calmly, and Severus almost saw the blasted twinkling in the old man's eyes that suggested that he was pleased at a plan succeeding.
"Troll… Hermione… Didn't …Know…" Potter gasped, struggling to speak around his increasingly haggard breathing. Severus registered that several ribs had been broken, and he swooped down on the two Slytherin first years, pushing Draco toward the Headmaster to answer the man's questions as he tended to Potter. Pulling out a pain relief potion, Severus uncorked the stopper and held it to the boy's lips, holding his back to keep the boy sitting upright.
To his great annoyance, Potter turned away from the potion after one sniff, gritting his teeth as he moved the broken bones. "You will take the potion, Potter, or I will put you to sleep. You are in far too much pain to be stubborn…" Severus said irritably.
"Don't… want… dullness…" Potter gasped out.
"Well, then you'll have to get used to your current threshold of pain, and the trip to the hospital wing is a long one. Now take the potion or I will make you."
Potter glared at him for a moment, and Severus almost dropped the boy as he saw the irises of the boy's normally green eyes flash orange. He blinked, and the horrid sight was gone. Cursing the mental strain his own pain was giving him, Severus again offered the vial, and Potter finally took it, swallowing the liquid and closing his eyes as the potion took effect.
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Albus listened intently as Draco Malfoy gave his impression of what transpired after he and Harry entered the bathroom in pursuit of Hermione Granger and the troll. The boy was stammering, and wouldn't meet the old wizard's eyes, with silently annoyed Albus, as he was therefore unable to simply use legilimency and discern the truth without having to trust the word of the son of Lucius Malfoy.
"…and then… Harry leapt in and cast this spell, uh, gashing the troll all over with small cuts… but since it was a troll it really didn't do much… finally he just used a blasting curse on it, and it shot into the wall…" the boy was saying, hesitating every few seconds and constantly looking back at Harry and Severus, who apparently was trying to get the boy to take a pain relief potion.
"Alright Mr. Malfoy, I think that's all we need to know…" Albus said, ushering the boy over to Minerva as he went to inspect the troll closer. The head of Gryffindor had already summoned Madam Pomfrey and taken away Miss Granger, who had not regained consciousness, as was currently leading away young Draco as well. Severus conjured a stretcher and also took Harry away. Quirrell had simply left early on.
Albus was not worried, the man's attempt on the stone had been foiled for now, and that was all that mattered. Approaching the rank carcass, Albus noticed immediately that the large creature had been throttled to death. Shaking his head in wonder, Albus tried to wrap his brilliant mind at how an eleven year old managed to suffocate a fully grown mountain troll until it died. It just didn't add up. Even the many smaller wounds littering the troll's body were just as confusing as the method of its demise. They were clearly burns, not cuts. Young Malfoy's story didn't agree with the hard evidence, and neither Harry nor Miss Granger was in any condition to back up or deny the tale.
Albus sighed. The puzzle was beyond his ability to solve, at least for now, and Albus decided to postpone solving it until a later time. The positive part that came out of this was that Albus was confirmed at Harry's innate goodness despite being in Slytherin. The boy had gone out of his way to rescue another student, even to the endangerment of his own life. This told Albus that even with the slight deviations in his plan for the boy, he was still on course to defeat Voldemort, and that Albus didn't need to resort to other means to push the boy along.
It was not ideal, but Albus would take it, especially when the alternative was Voldemort returning to power and destroying everything the aged wizard held dear.
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Veneficus grunted angrily as he awoke surrounded by the sickly white of the infirmary. Frowning, the young Sith Lord sat up into a meditative position and used the Force to take an inventory of his injuries. Broken ribs mended, ankle good as new, concussion gone, it all checked out. Veneficus made a mental note to learn medical magic as fast as possible. Powerful though the Dark Side was, it lacked the ability to heal the user, without causing collateral damage to a victim, and most of the time finding someone to drain the life from was just not possible.
The ward matron bustled in just them, pausing as the Sith Apprentice returned to lying down, and ran her wand over his prone body. It made Veneficus uncomfortable to have the tool and weapon so close to him in another's hand, but the woman soon removed it, declared him fully healed, and released him to the school at large.
It was about noon, Harry found as he cast a quick time charm they learned early on in the school year, and most of the other students would be in the Great Hall having lunch. Veneficus was almost to the entrance hall when he was forced to duck behind a statue. The Weasley twins were covering the stairs with some sort of potion, probably to enchant the next person who used them with some prank. Veneficus watched the two pranksters as they prepped there pointless trick, until one of the boys pulled a strange looking piece of parchment out of his pocket and muttered over it with his wand. The Gryffindor's eyes grew wide and he called to his twin. Quickly they collected their things and started to sprint for the far corridor. Haphazardly the one twin tucked the parchment back into his pocket, but not far enough.
Acting quickly, Veneficus pulled with the Force as the twins rounded the far corner, drawing the parchment out of the boy's pocket and back through the air toward him. The folded parchment entered the shadowy nook he was hidden in just as Filch arrived on the scene, storming up the stairs and triggering the prank. Clouds of sparkling mist exploding around the old caretaker, glowing many different colours and lingering as the man swore loudly and charged up the stairs, passing behind a tapestry and out of sight.
Veneficus smirked slightly before turning his attention to the captured piece of parchment. Unfolding it gently, the young Sith's eyes gleamed with glee as he saw a well drawn map of Hogwarts school and the surrounding area. There were even dots representing every individual inside the boundaries of the school's grounds. 'This will be most useful,' Veneficus thought, tracing a route around the main staircase to the Great Hall. It would even help him avoid Draco until he formulated how best to convert him fully to the cause of the Sith, now that the boy knew of his powers. Tucking his newfound map into his own pocket, Veneficus continued to the Great Hall, taking a newfound secret passage to avoid the trapped staircase.
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Draco didn't know what to believe anymore. He had seen Harry's face as he battled with the troll, contorted with pure rage and eyes blazing with orange fire. To say it shocked Draco to his core was an understatement. And now same said boy was avoiding him like the plague, just when Draco was expecting answers. It was just… all those signs and powers that Harry had expressed, they had to be the marks of a powerful dark wizard…
But even if Harry Potter was Dark, Draco would want to be his friend, and more than likely most of Slytherin would still flock around him, as they were less biased against Dark vs. Light wizards. Unfortunately, Draco had to find Harry and explain it first.
Thankfully, classes were somewhere would Draco couldn't be avoided. Sitting down in his usual spot next to Harry in Transfiguration, which they had with the Hufflepuffs, Draco noticed the spare piece of parchment that Harry was hunched over, and widened his eyes at the detailed and clearly enchanted map. "What the…" he said quietly, but a hard look from Harry silenced him.
"Harry, we need to talk, soon…" Draco said after Professor McGonagall set them to change a matchbox to the size of a music box.
"Yes…" Harry replied as McGonagall passed them, nodding at their progress, "We certainly do…" Draco wasn't sure if he liked the tone of Harry's voice as he said it in retrospect.
That evening, locked in the first year's dormitory while the others still mingling or studying in the common room, Draco finally got to ask Harry the burning question. "Harry, what the bloody hell happened when you attacked that troll?!"
Harry raised a single eyebrow, but didn't respond as Draco continued to rant, "I mean, first you come off all cold and uncaring, but then we go charging off after Granger when she's not even a Slytherin, and then, you go all Dark Wizard on that troll, firing freaking lightning from your hands. And what was with that sword you tried before SNAPPING ITS NECK WITHOUT TOUCHING IT!? I MEAN WHAT ARE YOU!?"
Draco was shouting by the end of it, and Harry casually flicked his wand at the door, muttering a silencing ward to keep the noise in the room. Heaving his fury, Draco seethed, and noticed his senses focusing as his anger rose. Harry seemed to notice as well, because he smirked. "Do you honestly think, that after seeing what I did to a fully grown mountain troll, that yelling at me is a good idea?"
Draco paused for a moment, worried. "If that was the case, you wouldn't have let me go on as long as I did…" he said slowly, calculating the situation.
Harry chuckled, slow and cold, "Yes, that's true. If you had no use to me whatsoever, you would have been disposed of long ago."
Standing from his desk chair, Harry strode slowly to the open space in front of the door. Complete with the wide grin on his face, Draco was suddenly very afraid of the boy.
"What am I you ask…?" Harry repeated slowly, and Draco's eyes widened as an unnatural wind kicked up around his legs. "That's a rather complicated question you know… I am human, naturally… but I am also so much MORE!" Harry said, reaching both hands up and letting loose crackling blue electricity that sparked and danced around the air above him.
The show of pure power set Draco's hair on end, and deep down, sparked a craving to perform such feats himself.
"I am not merely some pathetic Dark Wizard like your Lord Voldemort…" Harry continued, voice increasing as the strange power swirled around them, "I am Sith, born and bred to wield the unlimited powers of the Force, the energy that binds the universe together, and with it, bury all who oppose me under my feet."
Draco's legs gave out. Sinking to his knees, his mind registered the awe inspiring visage before him. Harry's eyes burned like miniature suns, red orange gleaming through the gloom of night and his face was cast into eerie light from the dancing bolts of lightning. And suddenly, the power vanished, and Draco felt, if anything, weaker in its absence then when it came.
Draco looked up to see Harry standing over him, lamp like eyes boring down into him, "And you, Draco Malfoy. You have the same potential to wield the Force. It was your gift at birth, both a wizard and a Force sensitive. Join me, and we will carve our own destinies from this world, and… beyond it."
Draco felt a deep yearning swell inside him. He wanted nothing more than to become as powerful as Harry had just shown himself to be. Then, his Father would truly be proud of him. "I will do anything you ask…" Draco paused, before affixing a title worthy of the power Harry possessed, "My Lord."
"Swear it…" Harry said, and the words had a sickly feel to it as Draco heard them.
"I swear, upon my life and my magic, to obey and serve you…" Draco said, before pausing. Swearing to the name of Harry Potter seemed wrong, like that wasn't the boy standing over him.
"Lord Veneficus, Dark Lord of the Sith…" the Sith supplied for him.
"…Lord Veneficus, Dark Lord of the Sith, for the entirety of my life, in return for the learning of your power of the Force. So mote it be…" Draco finished. Magic swirled, binding the oath in Draco's very bones. If he were to break it now, his entire skeleton would shatter, killing him instantly.
"Good…" Lord Veneficus said, bidding Draco to rise. "Rise my Acolyte, and receive a new name. One the world will learn to fear for all time. Henceforth you will be known as… Lord Anguis, Sith Acolyte…"
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Veneficus smiled as his new Dark Jedi Acolyte, Lord Anguis, join his side as they left the next day to explore again for a place for the Sith apprentice to train. It was a weekend, and they were free for the entire day. Most other students were feverishly working on homework or other pursuits and that left them without anyone to distract them from the task of searching the castle.
Veneficus would uphold his word to his newest disciple, and would indeed train him in the ways of the Dark Side. Was he an apprentice, and therefore making Veneficus in violation of the Rule of Two? If his master was any other Sith Lord, then probably yes. However, Darth Millennial was his master, and the three eyed mutant had serious misgivings for the common interpretation of Bane's Rule, mainly about only two beings existing who learned the nature of the Dark Side, and therefore he took control, as Master of the Dark Side, and reinterpreted it, allowing for many Dark Side users, but only one true Sith Master, and one true Sith Apprentice under said Master. All others were to be weaker Acolytes or Dark Jedi, pawns in the grand game against the Jedi and the Republic that supported them.
Nevertheless, Veneficus had no intentions on teaching more than the boy needed to know, keeping him well beyond the power required to overthrow his new masters. But there was plenty of time for that later on, as they must first find a secluded place to practice the techniques and abilities of the Dark Side without intrusion.
Veneficus sidestepped as a pair of other first years sprinted past him and Anguis, laughing as they played some childish game. The Sith apprentice frowned momentarily, before recovering himself. It was indeed tiring to be surrounded by such weakness every day, and grating on his wearing patience. If an outlet wasn't found soon, Veneficus wasn't sure how long the annoyance could build before it flooded over as pure hatred and he did something that would not be so easily ignored.
The troll had probably been too much as it was, but mercifully the esteemed fool of a Headmaster had seemed to overlook or outright ignore the glaring evidence of something being out of place. Hopefully it was the old man going senile, but Veneficus suspected that the aged Headmaster was playing a much longer game, holding onto his cards until the last possible moment.
The irony of the Sith-like attitude of this world's 'leader of the light' was amusing, but Veneficus was more focused on using his newfound map to explore every inch of the castle for somewhere, anywhere secluded.
Hours later, Veneficus and Anguis ended their search in a long corridor on the seventh floor. Every spot on the map they checked, and nothing, nothing had been good enough. Veneficus was starting to lose patience with this. Even just heading into the forest would have been easier, and he was a fool for not going with that plan instead. Pausing in front of a hideous tapestry, he seethed for a minute, pacing side to side in front of it as he thought about where he could train in total secrecy, in or out of the castle.
Suddenly, a quiet grinding sound behind the two young Force users' attracted their attention. They turned, and their eyes widened, Anguis' in shock and Veneficus' in cold calculation. A door had appeared behind them, across the hall from the tapestry of dancing trolls in pink tutus. "What do you think?" Anguis said, indicating the door?
In answer, Veneficus strode over and pushed the door open, stepping into a long room lit with the same old torches as the rest of the castle. Lining the wall were shelves of books and other things that even the young Sith Lord didn't recognize. But what truly attracted his attention were the three stone figures in the middle of the long room. Each was roughly the size of a man, clutching metal swords in their hands and seemingly standing at attention, waiting for some sort of trigger or command.
As his Acolyte entered behind him and the door shut, Veneficus felt the magic of the castle sink around the door. He knew instinctively that the castle had hidden the door completely, and that no one but himself and those he showed it to would be able to find it again. Magic, it seemed, was very unparticular about those it helped. 'This will prove most engaging,' Veneficus thought as he activated his lightsaber and finally let the pent up fury surge through him, leaping at the nearest golem and attacking it.
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On the outlying planet of Zygerrian near the boarders of Wild Space, the Dark Jedi Zhar Quelmok lounged casually in one of the small and dirty cantinas of the Royal Capital. A race of catlike near humans, the Zygerrians were predators by nature, and the streets of their capital was a dangerous place for those they considered beneath them, or prey. Zhar was not worried about attacks from the locals, no he was more concerned with was the Jedi Order following him to the remote world in pursuit of their so called justice.
The human ex Jedi had abandoned the Order after a disastrous trip to Korriban, in direct defiance of his old Master's orders. Deep in the vile tombs Zhar had been confronted by a specter of the long dead Sith Lord Ludo Kressh. The things that the young Jedi had seen, the power he had felt, convinced him of the error of all Jedi, and the pure power that existed in the Dark Side. He had tried to convince his wayward Master when the Cerean came to the planet to 'rescue' him.
The battle that ensued between Zhar and Master Ta-Ras-Min then had ended in a stalemate, with Zhar fleeing from the planet and taking a random hyperspace route to throw off anyone from his trail. Now he was here on this far flung planet with nowhere to go and nothing to keep himself occupied except drinking various local drinks and occasionally stealing from the wealthier of the Zygerrians to keep a steady supply of credits under his name. It wasn't the life that Zhar had envisioned, but he felt that waiting here was the right thing to do until fortune turned his way again. Or until the Jedi found him again, whichever came first.
'And speaking of Jedi,' Zhar thought as he glanced at the door to the cantina. A female Twi'lek had just entered, and he could sense the Force around her. The Twi'lek paid no attention to him as she walked calmly to the bar and ordered herself a drink, sitting in a far corner of the cantina and watching the rest of the room. Zhar knew better, as he could feel her examining every occupant in the building with the Force, and he needed to leave before she figured out who he was.
Standing with an exaggerated stretch, he made his way to the door, casually dropping off his empty glass and several small credit chips with the bartender before ducking outside. He didn't make it far, before he felt the Twi'lek following him. Turning down a long alleyway, Zhar hoped to outpace the woman and get away, but no such luck. The Twi'lek was doggedly following his presence like a bloodhound. Finally he whirled on her, leaping into the air and igniting his saber, the orange blade singing as he swung at her head. He wouldn't be taken by the Jedi, and would kill her if he needed to.
The alien woman reacted swiftly, her own crimson blade igniting to block. Zhar was taken aback. Red colored blades were banned from the Jedi Order, and the Sith were supposedly extinct. The woman took no time in capitalizing on Zhar's moment of surprise, snap kicking him in the gut, then slapping his saber away with her own weapon. He back away on the ground from her advancing blade, until he was stopped by the wall of a building. The deadly energy beam was inches away from his face as the mysterious woman hissed, "Stay where you are, Jedi, or I'll strike you dead…"
Zhar laughed slightly, frightened slightly by the intimidating presence before him. Now that he was in close proximity, he could feel the Dark Side coming from the Twi'lek. "I'm no Jedi woman, you should know that if you'd…" he interrupted himself by reaching out with the Force to try and strangle the red skinned woman.
At first it seemed to work, and the Twi'lek started to gasp for air, but Zhar couldn't maintain his concentration. His command of the Force attack weakened, and his attacker was able to throw him sideways with a violent push of Force energy. He collided heavily with some durasteel crates, sending him spiraling into the center of the ally. Quickly regaining his feet, Zhar summoned his lightsaber, but stopped before activating it. The Twi'lek hadn't moved since she threw him away from her. She just stood there, looking at Zhar with a curious expression.
"You're no Jedi…" she said slowly, more to herself than to Zhar.
"Oh, Really? What was your first clue?" Zhar replied, still on edge from the recent combat.
"If you're no friend to the Jedi Order, you may well just be the being I need to help me…" she continued, looking thoughtful.
"Err… What?" Zhar said, totally lost now, "Look lady, I haven't a clue what you're talking about."
She looked at him, as if suddenly remembering that he was there. Deactivating her saber, she turned and walked slowly away, "Well, if you want to know, you'd have better come along now."
Zhar watched the woman saunter away, still completely confused. "What in the…" he muttered, before curiosity got the better of him, "Hey wait!" he called, running to catch her. "How do I even know I can trust you? I don't even know your name?"
"Nor I yours," she replied icily, "and you don't know, at least not yet. But I have some things you may be interested in that will buy your trust for now, and a ship to allow you and I to leave this remote world and seek greater power through the Dark Side."
Zhar's eyes widened. Promises of power battled shortly with misgivings for the female that had so easily beaten him, "And you are?" he hinted.
"If you must know, my name is Melina Eris, not that it's important, I simply need another Dark Side user to help me claim some old Sith artifacts."
"Sith artifacts?" Zhar said, disbelieving.
"Shh! Not so loud you fool, or we'll be up to our ears in Jedi before we can leave the system." Melina said scathingly.
Zhar was silent for the rest of the short trip to Melina's ship, docked in a secure part of the local spaceport. It looked like a beat up old freighter, but as long as it got him off the planet, Zhar couldn't have cared less what it looked like. The idea of long forgotten Sith artifacts peaked his interest to the point of putting the recent fight past him.
One inside, he tried to breach the subject again, "So what is this about Sith artifacts?"
Rolling her eyes, Melina sighed from the pilot's chair, "I have the location of an old Sith Temple on the planet Ziost, untouched by the Jedi crack-down of anything related to the Dark Side, but, both the planet and the temple in particular are very dangerous, so I was searching for some means of getting past the powerful Dark Side protections surrounding the temple, and I found you…"
Zhar, nodded, but some things still didn't add up for him, "So, you just want to use me to get past the traps in the temple, but what will I get out of it? Fifty percent, or a lightsaber in the back?"
The Twi'lek glared at him for a moment as they launched into hyperspace. "Yes you will receive half the loot we find, if we survive… but two powerful Force users like ourselves, we shouldn't have too bad of a problem."
Zhar still didn't like the idea, but decided to simply strike at her the first opening when they had something of worth, and take not only whatever artifact they may have found, but her ship as well.
"Fine then" Zhar responded, mind turning over the woman's battle prowess as he settled back for the duration of their journey to the planet Ziost.
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Darth Millennial, along with the three Neophytes of the newly reformed Sith Order, gazed down at the, once glorious, Sith Citadel built by original order of the Sith Lords long ago. The planet had once been covered by great dark forests, which had at the time housed many different beasts and places of the Dark Side that made perfect places to train their apprentices. But no more, the planet Ziost had become a graveyard, much like its cousin Korriban. Where the latter was a desert wasteland, Ziost had been covered by a permanent frost, making the once green world a frozen wilderness.
The only features recognizable were the many Sith monuments that still littered the large continents, and if not for the dark powers still radiating from them, Millennial wouldn't have bothered coming at all. Thankfully he had had very good information from Supreme Prophet Dass'in, and therefore knew that the Jedi had never set foot on the frozen planet, thus leaving untold amount of Sith artifacts and knowledge for the taking.
The ruins of the great building were not dissimilar to the temple on Dromund Kaas, Millennial noticed as his Infiltrator landed in a partially collapsed hanger bay. Clearly Sith architecture had not changed for many hundreds of years, just as the Sith Order itself had not changed until Darth Bane had forced the complete destruction of all previous Sith ideology. Darth Millennial was pulled from his musings by the voice of Neophyte Jenah, one of the two female humans.
"My Lord, sensors are picking up another ship and two sentient life signs inside the citadel."
Millennial eyed the young woman before answering. Both Jenah and the other female, Srilis, were highly proficient lightsaber combatants, each implementing exotic styles of Lightsaber combat, while the only remaining male Neophyte, Kelrek, had devoted the majority of his training in delving into the study of the Force, making him the scholar to their blades. Together the three made a powerful team, explaining greatly their ability to have actually found a Sith Holocron, let alone retrieving it safely.
Extending his senses, Millennial searched the building for the sentient life forms that his ship had found. They weren't deep inside yet, and were apparently working their way deeper still. 'Jedi? Or treasure hunters, searching for Dark Side trinkets for the black market?' regardless, Millennial would deal with them with little effort. The Sith Lord was confident that here, on a planet that was so entrenched in the Dark Side, that he was as close to invincible as one could come. 'We shall deal with them. Come with me Neophytes…" he replied, standing and summoning his weapons.
The three humans followed in the Sith Lord's wake as he led them into the bowels of the citadel, and Millennial could sense their eagerness for battle and excitement at the idea of seeing their leader's powers. They would not be too disappointed, Millennial mused, as they past several disarmed traps of the ancient Sith Empire, apparently sprung and avoided by their prey. With the unhindered progress they were making, they would intercept the two Force Sensitives long before the two beings reached the vaults of the ancient structure.
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Jedi Knight Sorin Kress held high in orbit over the ice planet of Ziost, long lost capital of the Sith Lords, deep in concentration. He had been charged the Jedi High Council to track down and bring the fallen Jedi Zhar Quelmok back to the temple, so that he may be brought to trial for his crimes against the Order, as well as hopefully, his redemption to the Light Side of the Force.
But, during the course of his hunt for the rogue Jedi, Knight Sorin had found something very troubling. Less than a standard hour after he had followed Quelmok to the planet, the Jedi had felt a small tremor in the Force, and an impending darkness enter orbit of the planet, before another ship had descended in the same vector as the ship Quelmok had been aboard had taken. If not for Sorins own ship's cloaking system, and his ability to mask his presence in the Force, the Jedi Knight may have been in trouble.
However, he had gone unnoticed, and waited for the outcome of whatever was going on down on the planet's surface to happen. Normally, Sorin would have gone planetside and scouted the situation himself, but Ziost, along with Korriban and all other of the main worlds the Sith had populated, were strictly off limits to all Jedi. Such mandates were placed purely for their own protection, and Sorin was aware that many Dark Jedi had become what they were over the years, Quelmok included, for failing to heed the council's guidance about these Dark Side infested planets.
So, unless the fallen Jedi was planning to live on the inhospitable planet for the rest of his life, which suited Sorin just fine if he did but he was more realistic, then the other human would eventually leave, allowing Sorin to follow him to his next destination and confront him there.
This other presence, however, was definitely something unexpected, and Sorin activated the communications systems of his Jedi starfighter, hailing the Master that he was to report his mission to, Crego Oprec. The male Thisspiasian was the Temple's current Battle Master, teaching the seven forms of lightsaber combat to the newer generations of Jedi.
"Knight Sorin," the deep voice of the Jedi Battle Master rumbled, "What news do you have to report?"
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Veneficus panted as he shut down his lightsaber. He had spent several hours battling with the magical golems and mentally reviewing several recent events. What he had noticed, along with things he remembered that hadn't been important in the heat of battle, was that his Lightsaber didn't score very deep or lasting blows on the living statues, just as it had with the troll on Halloween.
Luckily, the room that he and Anguis had found supplied a helpful book about such creatures, and within the tome Veneficus read that trolls had extraordinary thick and magically reinforced skin, as well as powerful regenerative abilities. Adding that with his, less than ideal style of combating them, it was clear why he hadn't been able to slay the beast with his weapon. The Lightsaber form of Ataru, the style that Veneficus was most proficient with, due to his lack of physical strength and smaller than average size, focused more on mobility and raining multiple light blows on an enemy, herding a foe to a place more advantageous to the attacker and battering away at their defenses until an opening presented itself.
The drawbacks, however, were that one never put their complete strength into any single swing, and even with the Force amplifying their strength, Veneficus could only draw so much at one time, and then split it between his strength and reflexes, it increased the number of attacks he could make, but lowered the individual power behind each one. Highly useful against a lightsaber wielder or some other foe, but in the case of the troll, or now with these golems, it wasn't the appropriate strategy to utilize.
The same held true for Veneficus' applications of Force Lightning, but in another way. The young Sith had simply not trained in the ability enough to handle an opponent such as a troll yet, and there was just more for the Sith apprentice to learn to become a powerful and capable Force wielder.
Finally putting the book, as well as his thoughts of a new personal training regiment, Veneficus glanced over at his newest disciple. Anguis was quietly working on some essay or another at a small desk. The boy had waited through a good deal of Veneficus' venting battle, but had clearly inevitable lost interest and put his efforts to something productive. As the Sith Lord approached now, however, the blond boy snapped to attention, standing and turning to face his new master.
"Now that I've had a chance to warm up…" Veneficus said, "we can now focus on starting you with the basics of any Force user."
The boy brightened at the thought of starting his instruction, and quickly packed away the book and parchment he had been using into his bag, before joining Veneficus in the center of the room. The three training golems moved to the far side of the room, clearing the way for both Sith and Acolyte to sit upon the stone floor.
"Previously we discussed something about meditation," Anguis said as he sat across from Veneficus, "about focusing on emotion."
The Sith apprentice nodded, "Indeed, that is the first step. Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. I want you to delve into your subconscious mind, allow your thoughts to envelope you, and focus intently on those powerful emotions that drive you, fear, anger, hatred, even… love."
Anguis closed his eyes, and Veneficus could feel the small amounts of the Force the boy could control start to swirl around him, striving to create a deeper connection with the bring that could touch its infinite power.
"I can feel them, and there's… something there, but every time I try to take it, it slips away…" the Acolyte said, frowning slightly as he tried to focus.
"Don't force it, not yet anyway, let it come slowly, and reach out for it, but let it make the first connection to you." Veneficus urged, himself sinking into a relaxed sort of meditation. Something about instructing the boy before him was both soothing and energizing at the same time.
They sat there for a while, Veneficus using calm words and encouragement to nudge the fledgling Force user to make the first cognitive connection with the great powers, just as Millennial had done for Veneficus years ago. It hadn't taken long for him, as Veneficus had been unconsciously using both the Force and magic for most of his life, surviving as he had to with his original caretakers.
But after a short time, Veneficus felt the small spark of power from his Acolyte, and the smile that broke the blond boy's face betrayed the pleasure deep with as the boy met for the first time, the grandeur of the Dark Side.
It would take time to shape and mold him, but Veneficus knew that in the end, he had created his first loyal follower.