Thanks to those who've been reviewed previous chapters! things are going strong with this third book of the trilogy, and I hope that you've all enjoyed it so far, as much as I've enjoyed writing it! please, R&R, and enjoy! ~F
Chapter Seven
Aggressive Advances
Diábolis ducked, avoiding another strike from the black saber wielding foes that he and Fury had uncovered in the first temple on Yavin's moon. Crimson twinblade saber whirling in response, he clashed heavily with the Sith hybrid's blade, the flashes and sputters of the magnetic fields throwing sparks in all directions.
"Surely you do not think you can defeat us?" the figure, who had named himself Yihdâ taunted, trying to spurn Diábolis into an unbridled rage, and failing.
"I'd like to think we're full of surprises," the Devaronian Sith shot back, spinning out of the way and lashing out with the Dark Side, bolts of lightning ricocheting off surfaces and striking the other masked foe that stood with Yihdâ, blasting the hapless fool backward and well out of the way as Diábolis leapt back into the fray, allowing his blades to do all the speaking he needed.
The pair of twinblade wielders danced, attacking countering and blocking each other in an almost imperceptible duel within their minds, even without the urgency of their blade work.
Diábolis had no fear that Fury would pull through his combat with the others, as the Marauder had been chosen for his impressive powers over the blade, even if he still had a long route of progress to be a true master, but all the same he was dangerous enough that it allowed the Sith Lord to focus on the most power of their foes, trading blow for blow with the hybrid so swiftly that the black and crimson weapons seemed to be wheels of destruction in their hands.
It seemed as though their fight would simply persist on, until at last Fury dispatched the last of his opponents, and rushed to the aid of Diábolis, at which point Yihdâ seemed to consider his venture here a loss. Leaping back and away from the Devaronian's seeking blades, he snarled at the pair of them. "You both are far more trouble than you're worth… We'll meet again, you can count on it!" he spat, before vanishing in a plume of black smoke, and utilized a technique that until now Diábolis only referred to his own master as possessing, vanishing from the location without a trace.
"He's escaped my Lord," Fury said, already trying to locate their opponent through the Force.
"Likely running back to his master with his tail between his legs," Diábolis stated, before turning back to the entrance, "whatever they sought, it wasn't here, we need to keep looking to make sure that they are all driven from the tombs of this world, as well as finding the true tomb of Naga Sadow…" he commanded, and the pair made their way swiftly back to the entrance, where Calamity, the massive troll Dark Adept, stood down at their arrival.
"I see your creature is as loyal as you claimed," Diábolis stated, taking his first real account of what the beast might be capable of. The troll stood tall, clearly understanding the praise for what it was, and Diábolis had to reform his opinion of the Marauder's pet project.
Hardly waiting for any response, the Sith Lord moved on toward their tactical team, quickly inquiring if any others had escaped the ruin before them.
"No, my Lord; we've been here guarding this entrance as you instructed." The commander responded sharply, offering a datapad that showed several more locations through the nearby area. "We've detected many more ruins and tombs throughout the area that may be worth investigating, my Lord, at your discretion."
Accepting the datapad, Diábolis considered it carefully, seeking the real waking world with the Force even as he gazed at the various locations across the mapped surface. He could sense many of the smaller ruins were deserted, or had only the lingering flicker of Dark Side energy, meaning that they had been searched and abandoned.
Most of these clearly were passed over as unimportant and worthless to the black saber wielders, but that played right into what the Sith Lord desired. If they were doing the searching for Sadow's tomb for them, then it would be all the easier for them to ambush them once they discovered which tomb held their interest the most.
And based upon these current findings, they weren't even close to finding the Tomb yet, so patience was their weapon and tool. "We need to move elsewhere. The prize we seek is not in this immediate area. Come," Diábolis ordered.
"Yes, my Lord," the troopers acknowledged, even as the others started quickly picking up what effects had been spread out as they waited. Within minutes they were prepared to move out, and Diábolis boarded the covered speeder that was waiting for him. "Go to these coordinates," he ordered the driver, gesturing with his datapad, and sitting back as the speeder took off toward another section of the raw jungle for them to investigate.
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Supreme Prophet Feyd strode slowly through the Imperial Palace of Dromund Kaas, idly brewing over the most recent developments. He may not have had all access to the secret of the Dark Side as possessed by the Emperor, but he was still a powerful wielder of the Dark Side in his own right, and could sense things from afar as well, perhaps even things that his Majesty did not pay attention to in his pursuit of immortality.
The Supreme Prophet could sense the growing battle lines, both within and without the Empire, and it amused him greatly. To see the stirring conflict that would engulf the Galaxy, so soon after their advent to power, was paramount to participating himself in both joy and sadistic pleasure.
But he was not nearly foolish enough to set his will against the Emperor as others were willing to. The Dark Council, and through them the Prophets of the Dark Side were to live on, even through the ages, the eternal legacy of the Sith, even if they were merely an offspring and not the same thing.
He had his own plans, separate from the Sith and their power play; and he would form a new order, modeled under that which his master, Supreme Prophet Dass'in, that would act independently from the Sith Lords, although they would be united by their devotion to the Dark Side of the Force.
Nevertheless, until that blessed time, he was intertwined with Darth Veneficus, and his choices and rule. Arriving at the now empty chamber that the High Council met in, Feyd was unsurprised to find the hologram of the Emperor waiting for him, looking out across the capital city of the Empire.
"Your Majesty…" Feyd said, moving to stand near to the projection of his Emperor.
"There is a great disturbance in the Force," the Eternal Emperor stated, "Our enemies are gathering their power, even as the rebels muster their forces to add destruction to my people. I need more time to achieve my goals. So it comes down to you, one of my closest allies, to hinder these foes that dare to marshal their forces against my Empire."
"I will follow whatsoever command you give, my Emperor." Feyd said, knowing that it was the only answer possible.
"They have already entered the system, prepare yourselves…" the Emperor stated, even as Feyd felt the blast of the Force and an emergency alarm flared through the Palace.
"Supreme Prophet, ships have come out of Hyperspace and are attacking the sacred capital!" an officer said hastily over the communication, "What are your orders?"
"Raise the planetary shield, recall the defensive fleets, and call all availably Imperial forces to come to our aid!" Feyd demanded, dashing from the room, his robes whipping around him, "This is the Capital world of the Neo-Sith Empire, we shall not fall to some petty usurpers!" he declared.
Even as he arrived in the war room of the Palace, generals and admirals and other Dark Adepts were already assembling, standard orders put in place long ago by Darth Veneficus in the event they were attacked here already going into place, on top of what Feyd himself had commanded.
"How many?" the Supreme Prophet demanded, turning to the officers controlling the sensor arrays.
"Over three dozen ships, my Lord," the Imperial officer replied.
"Scramble all available pilots; we will give them a battle the likes of which these fools have never seen before." Feyd demanded, watching as swarms of fighters launched from bays and hangars all across New Kaas City, even as the defensive fleet moved into position.
"On screen!" Feyd commanded, watching the holographic display blaze to life, revealing the ancient-style ships as they slowly approached the defensive barricade protecting their capital.
Feyd smirked. The utter fools thought that their outdated technology would be enough to constitute a threat to the Empire here, at the heart of their power.
The space battle began in earnest, yet even as he watched their fighters tear through the ranks of their opposition, something didn't sit right with Feyd. There was no possible way that their enemies could believe that their marshal strength would triumph in orbit, then what possible other reason was there for them engaging the Empire so?
There was only one option that the Supreme Prophet could think of. Their enemies were already within the planetary barrier, and wanted to make this planet a deathtrap by having them be sealed in with the others.
"Alert our ground forces, the enemy are already on planet, I want them found and eliminated!" Feyd commanded, the others in the command room scrambling to see that his message was relayed across the planet.
Even still, alarms blared out within the Palace itself. "We are under attack, Supreme Prophet!" one of the officers declared, watching the internal feeds as their foes appeared from within their own ranks.
"How did they manage this so quickly?" Feyd asked himself, even as he turned, "We must defend the Palace, summon the guards. I will lead them into battle myself."
The crimson guard appeared, a far cry from the Royal Arcanamach that guarded the Emperor, but still powerful Dark Adepts nonetheless, and Feyd nodded to their masked forms, drawing his saber and charging from the room.
They had witnessed that their enemies were converging on the mail hall of the Palace, trying to partition off those trapped in the side chambers and especially the upper levels. "Have all available Dark Adepts converge on the Palace," Feyd demanded into his comlink. He and the imperial guard would hold the line until reinforcements arrived to dive the invaders from the palace, and then together they would purge the city of all their foes.
Together, the force of Veneficus' Imperium leapt from the upper levels, directly into the mass of black saber wielding foes, landing with a crash that shattered the stone beneath their feet. Feyd surged forward, carried by the power of the Dark Side, batting aside the ebony blades that turned toward him, and launching himself at the nearest foe of rank, a Sith Hybrid that seemed to be giving all the orders.
The female creature danced backward from his lashing blade, and more of the masked figures leapt in his way. "Protect Lady Srenmivu!" they cried, eager to engage with the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, and he willingly gave battle to them. Leaping over a low strike, Feyd kicked hard at the faceplate of a mask, knocking the being flying, even as his blade worked swiftly to deflect and counterattack another pair of combatants.
"Level the entire building; I was every leader on this world dead!" Srenmivu commanded, even as she allowed more of her warriors to charge to the front, herself falling back to the rear lines.
Such cowardice was unbecoming of a Sith, Feyd thought scornfully, even as the Imperial Guard appeared, sabers cutting through the masses of their enemies pawns.
The sudden push from the side of the Empire was enough to relieve some of the focus on Feyd himself, and he threw his saber, impaling one of the many fools in the head, even as lightning came to his fingertips, blasting those that remained in his way and throwing them from before the leader of the Dark Council.
Summoning his blade back to his hand, Feyd strode forward toward the hybrid, "your offense here shall not go unpunished," he said coldly, "you will die, and we will find and eliminate your cowardly master as well."
That was the trigger he sought, as the woman yelled, black blade rising to meet his crimson, even as the Sith Hybrid engaged him, using techniques that Feyd had long studied, outdated and classical even as they were.
Adopting a more modern style; that of Djem-So, Feyd slammed his blade against hers, hammering his way back onto the attack, forcing Srenmivu onto the defensive; to switch from the fencer's style to Soresu for the sake of her own life.
"You technique is as archaic as your fleet," Feyd taunted, "face it, you and your master are far out of your scope of power, in an age where none of your technology or technique are of any relevance any longer."
"We shall see…" the female hissed back, switching and mirroring Feyd's attacks with her own countered, revealing that she had intentionally been playing the part of the fool, luring him away from the Imperial Guard and into the ranks of her own forces.
"Slay them all in the name of Lord Skarok-Nur!" she yelled, even as the opposing Force users suddenly changed, their aura in the Force growing deeper and more devoid of any light whatsoever than Feyd had ever sensed before.
Several even changed physically, shifting from the forms of humanoids to that of gargantuan beasts, roaring in defiance and gripping their weapons in massive claws.
Throwing Feyd back, Srenmivu smirked in triumph, raising her black weapon overhead in a classical pose of Djem-So, "you have underestimated us for the last time, fool!" she declared, leaping forward and turning the tables in their personal duel, and the entire battle as a whole in one go.
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Yoda looked out at the elongated star lines of Hyperspace, still sensing strangeness in the Force far off from them, but it was something unrelated to any trace of the Light, so he did not fear for his former Padawan, now Jedi Knight.
However, in these days and times, one couldn't afford to block out even the subtle shifts in the Dark Side of the Force, and Yoda felt drawn to understanding just what had occurred. Unfortunate for him, they were heading in the opposite direction of the source of the surge of Force energy, off to meet with their secret allies throughout the southern Outer Rim to spread the news of a new base that was open for all on Bakura, as well as acquire supplies and raw materials for the fabrication of said base, as well as whatever else they could afford to take with them.
Their first stop was the planet Utapau, where the rebellion had allies within the native Pau'ans who traded ore to them in exchange for services and protection of their neutrality in the fight against the Empire.
Opening a communication with their contact, a high ranking member of the planet's government named Kul Nelm, Yoda watched as Admiral Weasley made contact. "Ah, greeting Admiral," Minister Nelm said, bowing slightly at the neck and shoulder in greeting.
"Minister," Weasley replied, executing a more formal military bow in response, "We've come to discuss some matters of urgency, and see if we are able to procure more ore to use in the construction of ships and buildings."
"It is safe at the time for you to come down to the planet," the minister replied, "The Empire have not come by Utapau for a long while as of yet, and we have news that may interest you as well. My private residence will be opened to you and those guests that you decide to bring with you."
"Our thanks, Minister, we will depart for the planet shortly," Weasley said, ending the connection quickly and turning to Master Yoda.
"Pleased to see us, Minister Nelm was…" Yoda commented, watching the red haired man's reaction closely.
"Yes, while typically he is rather cheerful, for their people, it still strikes me as somewhat odd for this sudden bout of generosity." Weasley replied, thinking hard, "Keep the ship in high orbit, and prepare for the jump to our next destination, we will take a small number down to see what we can discuss with the dear minister, and return quickly." He ordered the officers on the bridge, "If even a single Imperial ship appeared, leave without us and return in three standard hours."
"Yes sir!" the deck officer replied, saluting Weasley as the Admiral turned to join Yoda in exited the bridge.
Taking only a small number, less than half a dozen, including only Yoda as the sole Jedi representative, they soon were soaring through the atmosphere toward the large sinkhole wherein the government sector of the planet resided, descending slowly through the congested airspace, thick with flying creatures as well as interplanetary ships toward a rather elaborate covered building on the upper levels of the hole.
Several of the stubby Utai scrambled toward their shuttle as they landed, dragging a fuel line with them and proceeded to hook it to the vessel, which Yoda saw as a polite gesture on the part of their host. Fuel was hard to come by, and any that was gifted to the rebellion was seen as a great gift.
"Admiral," the tall Minister said as he strode toward their party, accompanied by a few other representatives of his port administration. "I had expected the commander to be with you, but I presume he has other business in another part of the Galaxy?"
"You would be correct in that assumption, Minister," Weasley said cheerily, and the group of five followed their host into the building, where a long dining hall awaited them with various fruit and small delicacies from the planet were set out for them to partake.
"Please, sit, we have much to discuss and I felt that a good meal would do everyone well as we talked." Minister Nelm said, gesturing at the various seats around the table, far more than they had bodies to fill, and Yoda caught Weasley grinning at the clear hospitality that they were being showed.
"Generous, this is Minister, grateful for the consideration we are." Yoda said, taking a seat on the Ministers left side, while the Admiral took the one opposite the goblin Jedi Master, so that they were closest to their host and could discuss matters freely.
"Ah, Master Jedi, an honor it is to see one of the famous Order still alive," the Minister said, smiling widely, the sharp teeth of his species showing. "Yes, you will be more than pleased to know of what we have learned as well, or perhaps, at least forewarned." He added, sobering from his overly cheery attitude.
"Oh?" Weasley said, already laying a napkin in his lap as servants filled the plate before him with several selections of the appetizers before them.
"Yes," Minister Nelm said, after he bit into a slice of fruit, some green looking piece that seemed to be filled with a sweet smelling juice. "It seems that the High Inquisitor had been summoned back to Coruscant on a matter of some urgency," he added, his voice lowering slightly as he leaned forward conspiratorially.
"It is said that the man has received the Emperor's favor in hunting all members of the Rebellion, and is gaining several legions of troops under his command, as well as the presence of the Arcanamach at his disposal."
They all grew silent at the pronouncement, knowing both how powerful the Royal Guards were, and the status symbol that their presence implied to the rest of the Imperial forces. "So the Emperor finally considers us a threat worthy of his attention…" Weasley stated, wiping his mouth with the napkin, his eyes serious.
"It would seem so," the Minister replied, turning from Yoda to Weasley and back again, "Whatever you are all up to, I advice extreme caution, as there is no telling what the High Inquisitor will start to do in order to find any leads regarding your whereabouts."
"That makes our news all the more important to share only with those you absolutely trust," the Admiral said, and Minister Nelm nodded, waving his hands at the servants, who all bowed and left the room swiftly, "The rebellion is building a new base on the planet Bakura," Weasley said quickly, much to the surprise of the Pau'an. "We need ore to build new buildings there and make the place ready to receive allies from across the Galaxy."
"I will see that the right people bring what you need to this place as soon as we can manage it," the Minister stated, "but I urge you to extreme caution. If there was to be a betrayal within your ranks, now would be the time that it happens, with the eyes of the Emperor finally directed at you fully."
"Extreme care, we will take, to make sure that the information into only the right hands it makes." Yoda assured the Minister, even as the Pau'an clapped his hands to resummon his servants, bringing with them trays of main dishes.
"Excellent, but we ought not let the food grow any colder before it is eaten," Minister Nelm said, his jovial nature returning as he eagerly watched them all partake of the Utapau delicacies.
Only when they were filled to their capacity, and carrying several large containers of surplus with them back to the ship for the rest of the crew and officers to enjoy did the Minister allow them to depart, waving as their shuttle lifted off from the landing port.
"Fine fellow, Minister Nelm," Admiral Weasley said, smiling down at the rapidly retreating figure as they took to orbit once more, "a bit odd perhaps, but more than helpful to us in whatsoever we've needed."
"The others we have to visit, hopefully of the same mindset they will be." Yoda said, smirking up at the grimace that crossed Weasley's face. The officer was keenly aware of something unpleasant that was along their route, and while Yoda help no concern to the prospect of unpleasant people for them to deal with, it still carried with it a hint of possible danger in these days.
"Well," Weasley said, facing forward and breathing slowly, "We'll deal with those matters when we get there, and thankfully no sooner," he added in an undertone.
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Zhar ducked to the left, avoiding the whirling black saber once more as their female opponent lashed out wildly. Her guards were already slain through the efforts of the High Prophet and his apprentice, leaving this last opponent between them and the forgotten bones of Ludo Kreesh.
Unfortunately, this one seemed to be far more skilled than the others, and was not willing to go down nearly as easily, even with the pair of powerful Dark Side users attacking her in tandem, Zhar taking the heavier brunt of the unknown figure's attacks, as the greater threat.
Nevertheless, utilizing every skill that he possessed, Zhar attacked, his blade hammering upon her defenses again and again as the powerful technique of Djem-So to unleash all his physical strength, coupled with his mastery of the Dark Side.
From the other side, Euka was transforming into a blur of motion, executing acts of Ataru that defied logic and sometime the law of physics through her creative and powerful use of the Force to heighten her speed and reflexes.
However, their opponent seemed to easily fall into the defensive form of Soresu, even if it seemed to be an archaic and outdated application of the form, it still managed to allow the wiry female to doge out of the way of their attacks, and even buy her time to form her own counterattacks, although they were bat aside by the larger and more power-heavy swings of either Imperial Dark Adept.
Even as the being started to move toward the exit, as though thinking she might escape the planet that Zhar ruled, he had enough of their little game. Reaching out with the Force, Zhar crushed the supports to the doorway, caving in the passage to their chamber, and sealing off any exit for the three of them.
"There is no escape for you now…" he said slowly, stepping back and allowing himself a moment to breathe, even if he did not lower his guard.
"You have only sealed yourselves to your fate, fools!" the woman cried, her weapon vanishing as black lightning leapt from her hands, the jet black bolts slamming into Zhar and Euka's blades and throwing the pair of adepts across the chamber. Zhar collided heavily with the stone sarcophagus, rolling over its surface and landing heavily on the other side.
The force behind the lightning was something of a surprise, and he wondered how strong these beings truly were with the Dark Side to have such devastating attacks. Even as the pair of Dark Adepts rose, the Sith hybrid approached, black lightning still crackling between her fingers.
Zhar retaliated in kind, blue-white bolts flying from his fingers even as Euka threw out a blast of telekinesis, the pair of them catching the sith full force, and slamming her into the wall of rubble between the two attacks.
Leaping swiftly to close the distance, Zhar brought his saber down, crashing into her hastily raised defenses, the red and black blades inching closer to the sith's face with every moment that they stayed locked in their power struggle.
The sith altered the angle, allowing Zhar's weapon to slide to the side, but as she started to counter, Euka arrived, driving the point of her staff into the sith female's gut the black blade's strike went wide, and Zhar was able to deflect it away, knocking the weapon from her grip entirely, and leaving the mortally wounded hybrid to stumble and fall to the ground.
Even still, she was laughing to herself as she slowly died, the trauma to chest and stomach regions causing massive organ failure. "You've doomed yourselves just to put me down…" she said, gritting her teeth through the pain of dying slowly, "And for what? My master will crush you all in the end, and will reestablish the Empire as it would have been, so long ago if Sadow hadn't won his duel with Lord Kreesh…"
Unwilling to listen any further to the woman's prattle, Zhar made a fist with his free hand, snuffing the life from the dying ancient sith hybrid with only a handful of short gasps emerging from her closed windpipe.
"That's enough of that, then…" Euka said, turning her attention from their adversaries to the collapsed passage.
"Luckily they forgot the creative architecture of the tomb," Zhar said, gesturing at the pile of rubble, which pulled, one large stone after another, into the tomb itself and well out of the way, rapidly clearing the passage and exposing the solid ceiling that lay just beyond the sculpted blocks that formed the passage, "a true apostate like Kreesh wouldn't have had time for a formal tomb that was build stone upon stone," Zhar explained as he worked through the Force to clear their path completely, "this fabrication was built within the cave network, shaped only to appear as though it was of the same grandeur as those in the Valley proper… a charlatan to the end it seems…" he commented at last, relaxing as the final set of boulders were simply shunted to the side, leaving the passage out of the chamber clear for their use.
"Nevertheless, our archeologists will want to study this tomb," Euka commented as they departed, running her hand gingerly along the carvings and sith hieroglyphics that coated the passage, "the amount we could learn, even if it's false information is worth the effort."
"I agree," Zhar said, shielding his eyes as they made it back to the sunlight outside. The others of their enemies had scattered when the fighting broke out, vacating even the caves from the explosion of Force energy that occurred deep within, likely attributing it to some manner of vision or specter of their long forsaken master.
"They're still on planet," Euka said, looking around and spotting several vehicles still laying abandoned near the cave's entrance.
"We'll find them in due time," Zhar said, already walking back to where their ship had landed, "without their mistress I doubt that many of them have the will to oppose us even if they wanted to…"
To their surprise however, when they returned to their shuttle there was a platoon of imperial soldiers waiting for them. "My Lord!" the officer in charge said, running to them, "Urgent news from the Supreme Prophet! Dromund Kaas is under attack, and all nearby forces are commanded to lend their aid, what are your orders?"
Zhar and Euka shared a glance, "and her I though this mess would settle down as quickly as it started," the apprentice said, sighing dramatically, even as Zhar's eyes hardened at the news.
"Prepare my fleet," Zhar commanded the officer, "we will depart immediately upon my arrival, have all upper tier Dark Adepts report to the Basilisk immediately, we will show the Supreme Prophet that he has the might of Korriban behind him in this fight."
"Yes, my Lord!" the man said, turning and running back to his squad, beginning the process of spreading the news across the planet.
"Your work is never done in the Empire," Zhar added, approaching the shuttle once more, intent on departing with Euka directly for the cruiser.
"And what of the others of our foes left here?" Euka asked, accompanying him.
"While I doubt that the little conflict over the capital will take long," Zhar answered, starting the engine and angling their ship toward the orbiting fleet, "they will not have enough resources to contend with even the instructors of the academy, not without their leader present…"
While he did believe that, Zhar could tell that it had not convinced his apprentice, "if the others cannot contend with even the weakest of our foes, then they are not worthy of joining our ranks," he added, smirking at her grimace of annoyance. She had at one point had fallen into the category, as far as Zhar had been concerned, and the sting of near rejection still burned deep.
"So long as we return swiftly and deal with the rest of them," she said with a huff, "I don't like loose ends."
"A good policy to live by, in the long run," Zhar agreed, as they exited the atmosphere, "but not always possible in every circumstance, my apprentice."
Punching in the clearance codes for the fleet, Zhar sped through the vacuum of space toward his private hangar on the massive cruiser, those aboard recognizing his unique identification and granting him passage onto the ship without question.
"Admiral, set course for Dromund Kaas, and prepare the Gaze Squadron for launch at a moment's notice," Zhar ordered across his communicator, "we will launch as soon as the last shuttle from the planet arrives."
"As you command, my Lord," came the reply.
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Zychre enjoyed the praise that his master had given to him for preventing the treasures from being taken, even if some were removed despite the massive ruby cobra's best efforts. Already, the massive guardian circled through the underground tunnels and canals that were laid out far beneath the nest that his master's new home.
The ruby cobra behemoth loved these dark passages, with their cool damp texture and the smooth tubing that he could easily fit through to get from one part of the nest to another. While typically Zychre would be found down in the depths here, this particular time there was a specific reason.
Prey had ventured into the master's nest, trying to sting them with pathetic tools and weapons, and Zychre was more than eager to devour all those who opposed master Veneficus.
Stalking through the underground network, the massive serpent was able to taste the strange beings in the air, as well as sense their presence through the strange energy that he was gifted by his master. There were several of them, but Zychre had never bother to learn human numbers in order to quantify them specifically, as it did not matter to him the exact number of them. They were there, threatening his and Master Veneficus' nest, and they would die until there were no more.
Sinking deeply into a large underground pool of water, Zychre waited for the prey to venture closer, ignoring their tittering languages as they spoke among themselves. What they had to say was irrelevant to the snake, he hungered and they were foolish to come so close to his hunting grounds.
Patience prevailed however, and Zychre held perfectly still until one of the fools stepped to the very edge of the water, and then he struck. With a massive splash of displaced water, the ruby cobra shot straight from the water, jaws bared and fangs glistening as he bite down on the creature that had draw too close. The others cried out in abject terror, fleeing in all direction as the one Zychre attacked was swallowed whole into the gullet of the hulking serpent.
The fear of the others was more powerful even than their scent for the cobra to follow, and eagerly he slithered after the smaller group, sneaking through several passages and tubes that would wind around and cut off the retreat of the fools that dared to come to this place.
Even as he leapt out in their path however, the serpent was mildly surprised when they lashed back with weapons, their energy bolts and small explosions rocketing off the crimson scales and causing only minimal damage to the powerful creature.
Open his jaws wide, Zychre caused his venom glands to contract, projecting pure toxic liquid out onto the attackers. They screamed in pain, even as the compound started to burn and dissolve them completely, but Zychre was already on the move one more, circling around the labyrinth of tunnels, systematically eliminating and consuming those who had run other directions.
This sort of hunt had been an ongoing sport for the ruby cobra for many years, and had contributed to him having gained the size and power that he had. Many generations of prey had come to these tunnels, intruding where they didn't belong and by design falling before Zychre as the serpent sought them out and slew them.
The tunnels were designed, and modified further by Zychre himself, to be as confusing as possible to those without the scent and skills that the cobra possessed, which gave an advantage to the hunter over the hunted. But the moral concept of a fair hunt was not something that the snake was interested. Hunger drove him to do his, as he was not given food from his master any longer, having far outgrown any possible sustenance short of a full living being that could satisfy.
And many came. Zychre didn't question how or why they flocked to this place, although occasionally it was clear that the prey thought themselves the predator and were hunting for the ruby cobra specifically, although nothing in the end result changed, expect that the prey tended to have larger weapons that actually harmed Zychre if they had the time to use them.
That was rare however, as the serpent was cunning, and had had many hunts to prepare for every scenario, and knew the layout of his lair much better than those who intruded, where to hide for ambush and where to pursue or flee as needed.
The terror was about as tantalizing as the blood and flesh of the beings that Zychre devoured, and he paused for a few moments as the last being quailed under the him, savoring the fear before ending the creature's life forever.
There was little time for Zychre to relish the successful hunt however, as soon afterward there was a blossom of power from the central area of his lair, where Zychre would rest under the powerful energy radiating downward from his master's nest.
There was only one possible explanation for such a surge of that energy. Master Veneficus had come down to Zychre's lair, and that meant that he wanted something of the loyal serpent.
Taking the swiftest route therefore, the ruby cobra dove into the waters that connected the core of his lair to the network of tunnels, surfacing gracefully and approaching the place where the powerful dark master waited, next to the vertical tunnel that was far too small for Zychre to enter, but led itself up to the rest of the master's nest.
"Zychre…" Veneficus said coolly, touching the snout of the massive serpent as Zychre came to rest beside him, "I sense that you've been hard at work keeping intruders from the underbelly of the Temple."
Zychre crooned under the praise of his master once more. Hearing the speaker talk to him in the tongue of serpents was the most wonderful thing to hear, as it reminded Zychre that he was not alone. "Soon you will have better prey then these fools and exiles…" the human said, looking off across the central lair. Often the dark one would journey down here and speak, partially to himself and half to Zychre, and the serpent would serve as the silent ear for his master.