New Alliance
Land of the Asuras, Hindu realm
Vishnu killed two more invaders with a yellow energy blast. "They just keep on coming! How many members did Cao Cao recruit?"
"I'm not sure," Shiva replied while running his trishula through an enemy. "Keep the pressure on them, this looks like the last platoon."
The invaders are members of the Order of Bane. A cult created by leader Cao Cao and co-leader Georg, the organization consists of supernatural beings from various mythologies, from devils and fallen angels to Asgardians and Egyptians, who were very fond of Darth Bane and Darth Zannah and came to worship them as the ultimate gods of the world. Not too long after Bane and Zannah departed, the Hero Faction left the Khaos Brigade and formed their own cult that honored the Sith. The Order of Bane is governed by the Sacred Gear humans themselves and aided by the strongest supernatural beings that defected from their mythological factions.
The cult was named after Bane since he was the ruling Dark Lord of the Sith and Zannah's Master. The Order of Bane gained new members at such a rapid rate over the past few years that they now outpopulate the Khaos Brigade. Ever since the mass rumors of the return of the Sith reached the ears of the order, Cao Cao instructed his members to intervene any abnormal military activity in the Underworld because he knew that the mythologies would try to hunt down the Sith. The cult members hindered the search progress of several military forces and, at the order of Cao Cao, invaded some of the mythological realms through secret entrance points.
Dozens of invaders swarmed from all directions in front of the two Hindu gods. Hundreds have already fallen to the power of Shiva and Vishnu, but the cult members are very determined to strike down their opponents. The Trimurti gods admitted that the invaders are well trained, with some of them being far more powerful and competent then they expected; the Order of Bane holds a decent amount of strong beings that can give gods a good fight when working together.
Vishnu deflected attacks and launched his own magic assaults while Shiva charged up the power of his trishula. The trident glowed at its tip with such brightness that it attracted the attention of everyone on the battlefield. Then, Shiva tilted his trident forward to unleash a continuous yellow beam of destruction that ravaged everything in its path. The Hindu god moved the beam around the whole area, decimating more and more invaders at it passed by. Moments later, all the invaders were finally destroyed with no additional reinforcements in sight.
Vishnu used his magical power to fly over the dead enemies and land next to his brother.
"Great work!" Vishnu congratulated. "I'm starting to become envious over your upgraded trishula."
Shiva rubbed the middle blade with his hand. "I'll need to make sure that I don't go too overboard with this weapon. It could easily lead to tunnel vision."
Vishnu spawned a magic circle on the ground that displayed the silhouette of a Hindu priest.
"Milord," the high priest said with a bow, "how did your mission go?"
"It carried out a little longer than expected, but we got the job done without any issues," Vishnu reported.
"That's great news!" the priest replied.
Shiva halted next to his Trimurti brother and studied the figure of the priest in the magic circle. Despite the man's happy remark, something was on the priest's mind, evident by the worried look in his eyes.
"What's troubling you, father?" Shiva asked.
The high priest let his guard down and expressed his inner feelings. "The weather phenomena in the Underworld is building up again, milord. Our scout teams found thousands of devils attempting to return to their homes, believing that the disasters were over."
"Are the devils alright?" asked Shiva.
"Some of them are," the priest responded, "but many of them were caught in snow whiteouts and hurricane-grade storms. Our teams don't know if they are still alive…"
Shiva and Vishnu exchanged concerned looks.
"Have the disasters gotten any worse than before?" Vishnu questioned.
The priest shook his head. "So far, no."
Shiva thought for a moment, then said, "I think it may be time for us to join the scout teams. Tell Brahma and Indra that Vishnu and I will be spending some time in the Underworld. We will contact you again sometime soon."
"As you say, milord," the priest bowed. "Be careful out there."
The silhouette disappeared when the magic circle deactivated. Vishnu turned towards Shiva while scratching his head.
"What are we going to do exactly?" Vishnu asked. "We don't have any sort of plan."
"I have something in mind," Shiva assured. "I'm confident that it will work."
Starship 'Mundane', Underworld
Tenebrous and Plagueis were laying down on the floor of the cockpit upgrading the ship's electric wiring and power conduits. Each Sith Lord had their head and arms through hatches at the bottom of the piloting consoles that gave them access to the Mundane's electrical framework. They were near the end of their upgrade procedure.
"Rotate the red anterior cable laterally by twenty degrees," Tenebrous instructed.
Plagueis carried out his Master's order. He then grabbed his tools and bolted the wire in place.
"What's next?" the Muun asked.
Tenebrous said while handling his own tools, "Insert inferior cables 2 and 4 to 'Power Conduit 6', then charge up 'Power Conduit 7' to 50 kilowatts."
Plagueis grabbed a different set of tools and did as he was told. This is a challenging task for Plagueis since he has little knowledge about starship construction. He is well-versed in starship operation and basic starship maintenance, but working on starship circuitry and wiring is certainly not Plagueis's forte. He wished to have instead been dealing with a business or economics task, but for now he must put up with Tenebrous's engineering task.
Once the seventh power conduit was at full charge, Tenebrous flipped a few switches on the main circuit box to reactivate the cockpit consoles and return power to the front half of the ship. The Sith Lords then crawled out from their hatches and closed the hatch doors shut. Tenebrous tapped on two different console screens to assess the changes he and Plagueis made to the ship's electrical grid.
"The adjustment process was successful," said the Bith. "The ship's power distribution has been improved by 6.3%."
Plagueis had a hard time understanding why his Master wanted to make such insignificant changes to the Mundane, especially when Tenebrous had already upgraded the ship to death over the years, but few people will ever understand what goes on inside an engineer's head. Tenebrous is a genius even by Bith standards, and his engineering reputation as Rugess Nome is legendary.
Plagueis, on the other hand, is a different type of genius: one with profound knowledge and experience in finance and economics. In his public guise as Hego Damask II, Plagueis is legendary for his work in the InterGalactic Banking Clan and his management of Damask Holdings. As such, Plagueis accumulated far more wealth and commercial power than Tenebrous ever would.
But Tenebrous's nitpickiness over his starship is only one thing; Plagueis also wondered why his Master seems so laid-back and unruffled. At the start of their time in the Underworld, Tenebrous was stressed out and he spent much of his time pondering over things, but now he's cool and collected. It's of course good to be calm and focused in any situation, but Plagueis found that his Master is too calm, almost as though the Bith had discovered or achieved something of such importance that nothing worried him anymore. Plagueis wondered what that thing might be.
"I'm going to the cargo hold to meditate," Plagueis announced.
Tenebrous nodded, then the Muun walked out of the cockpit. Tenebrous sat down in the left pilot chair and pondered while fiddling with the ship's systems. Ever since he revised the calculations about his future, Tenebrous behaved with such focus that he believed his connection to the dark side had increased. Whether his dark side powers had actually grown or not, Tenebrous couldn't help but feel virtually invincible, as though nothing could ever harm him…not even Plagueis's potential schemes.
"Foolish Plagueis," he thought.
Plagueis had no idea that his Master could calculate the future with such precision that Tenebrous could plan for his own death years in advance, nor did he know that the Bith has the unprecedented Force/science invention of maxi-chlorians. Tenebrous believed with utmost certainty that his prophesied death will be Plagueis's undoing, and he wondered if the Muun had the guts to challenge him at all.
[…]
In the cargo hold of the Mundane, Plagueis sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. In his meditation trance, he thought about the things he had learned so far in the Underworld, especially from the devil texts. He and his Master had read all the important material required for them to understand the place they are in and the culture of its inhabitants. There was also a difference between each Sith Lord's inquisition on the strange world: Tenebrous lost interest after reading the major aspects of each subject, he believed he knew enough already and felt that reading any further would have been a waste of time and energy; Plagueis, however, wanted to read every text down to the last word.
Four hours ago, Plagueis had read a fascinating section from one of the biology texts, and he was now meditating on that acquired knowledge. That section was about mythological aging and lifespan. The excerpt claimed that the lifespan of a devil is approximately 10,000 years, and that the lifespan of other supernatural beings ranges from 8,000 to 12,000 years depending on which mythological faction they belonged to. Plagueis was very skeptical about those numbers mainly because no supernatural being from any mythology had even lived that long yet.
Plagueis recalled that Catholicism is a little over 2,000 years old and that the religion's "Old Testament" is about 3,200 years old. The Muun had no clue why they would think that devils and other Catholic/Christian beings could live for 10,000 years when many of their oldest members have already grown old, frail and weak. What Plagueis found laughable is that their society itself hasn't lived anywhere close to 10,000 years yet, and they still claim that absurd lifespan number to be true without any empirical evidence backing it up.
Plagueis also recalled that the world's oldest religion, Hinduism, is a little over 4,000 years old. And the chief god of Asgard Odin, despite Norse paganism being only 1,200 years old, has already grown old and weak compared to his younger self, with perhaps a few centuries of life left in him. What Plagueis found amusing was that Odin also had a father (Borr) and a grandfather (Buri) who both died long ago within the 1,200-year timeframe of Norse existence, so Odin's chronological age is far shorter than most would assume.
Based on who had lived and died in different factions throughout the mythological ages, Plagueis theorized that a devil's maximum lifespan could range anywhere from 500 to 2,500 years, no where close to 10,000 years proposed in the biology textbook. The Muun found that a potential 1-2 millennia-long lifespan is still very impressive, and he believed there may be some things he could learn from studying a devil's body first-hand, but there are already some sentient species back in his home galaxy that can live for millennia. Some long-living species that Plagueis studied are the Hutts (1,000 years), the Neti (5,000+ years), and the Gen'Dai (4,000 to 7,000 years).
One thing that Plagueis had a hard time comprehending was the aging process of devils. Devils, fallen angels and pure angels physically mature at the same rate as humans up until about two decades old, then their aging process slows down to a near halt. This means that a devil can appear to be in their 20s, 30s or 40s for centuries. Plagueis noted that devils, especially females, tend to utilize magic to appear much younger than their physical age would suggest, but there is a biological factor to it. Some of the oldest male devils in the Underworld who never used magic to alter their appearances, not even once in their lives, looked to be in their 60s at the most. With such abnormal biological development, Plagueis thought that there may be something valuable to learn about their bodies after all.
Plagueis has now finished meditating and carried out with his post-trance thoughts. He delved into his own plans for future mastery over midi-chlorians which, hopefully, will grant the Muun corporal immortality and unlimited power. Plagueis processed how the knowledge from the mythological texts could somehow help him in his quest for midi-chlorian manipulation, and he scoffed at his Master's stupidity for not doing any in-depth study on the books.
"Foolish Tenebrous," he thought.
[…]
The Sith Lords sensed Herman's arrival just outside the starship. Tenebrous hit a button that descended the ventral ramp and opened the airlock door. It had been a few days since they sent Herman on an intel mission, and the Sith were waiting to hear about the details. Tenebrous had planted a telepathic suggestion in Herman's mind beforehand that would dissuade the devil from telling information about him and Plagueis to the wrong people.
Herman walked through the airlock and stepped into the cockpit.
"I'm back," the devil said.
"Did you find anything?" Tenebrous asked.
Herman nodded. "I met with a rogue fallen angel who's apart of this semi-secret organization out in the uninhabited Gloom territory near the south pole of the Underworld. It's called the Order of Bane."
"Order of Bane? Tell us more about it," Plagueis said with interest.
"The fallen angel said that he and the other members idolize Darths Bane and Zannah and live a way of life that encourages personal growth and power. Their order is run by the former members of the Hero Faction, and their leader is the wielder of the True Longinus. He also said that the Sacred Gear humans had fought alongside Bane against the gods beneath the Dark Lord's fortress," Herman explained. "I don't know anything else beyond that."
"Did you reveal our existence to this fallen angel?" Tenebrous questioned.
"I did just like you said—reveal your existence to the right people," Herman nodded. "I didn't tell him your names though…in case if things didn't go well. He said that the whole order had a strong feeling about the return of the Sith, especially due to the weather disasters."
Plagueis scratched his chin in thought, then asked, "Did this person tell you exactly where you could meet his cult?"
Herman reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "He gave me the coordinates for a secret meeting place at the northern border of the Gloom territory. He requested that we meet him there at 17:30 hours standard time."
Plagueis grabbed the sheet of paper from the devil's hand and momentarily studied the coordinate numbers. He then briefly walked over towards the co-pilot seat and sat down to enter the coordinates into the navigation console. The computer then confirmed the location of the written coordinates.
"The coordinates are valid," Plagueis told his Master.
"Prep the engines," Tenebrous replied. "I'm interested to see what this 'Order of Bane' is all about."
Gloom territory, Underworld
Georg gazed out at the horizon in all directions, waiting in anticipation for Herman to arrive.
"You're sure that this 'Herman' person is a servant of the Sith Lords?" Georg asked the fallen angel Brexan.
"I'm not a hundred percent certain, but I believe he was telling the truth," Brexan responded. "He not only gave a description of what they look like, but he also explained their mode of transportation. That's far beyond anything the mythologies currently know."
Several feet off to the side stood Leonardo and two high-ranking members of the Order of Bane. They were scouting the land with their binoculars for any signs of Herman and the Sith Lords. A few moments later, Leonardo saw a flying object materialize out of thin air; he was unable to comprehend the Mundane's cloaking system.
"Aircraft spotted in the northwest," Leonardo called out.
"Spacecraft, sir," Brexan corrected.
The two groups of cult guards tasked with escorting the order's officers jogged back to their leaders at the sound of Leonardo's voice. All thirty guards positioned themselves evenly on both sides of their superiors just as the Mundane flew high above their heads. The starship circled the area once, then slowed and descended towards the flat ground at the bottom of the snowy hill. The ship extended its landing gear and gracefully landed in the snow.
A ramp lowered from the underside of the fifty-meter long starship, and a moment later Herman was spotted walking down the ramp. The devil then hustled up the hill to meet with the cult members.
"The Darths will be out in a minute," said Herman. "They're just shutting down some of the ship's systems."
Georg gazed at the advanced starship, then returned his attention back to Herman. "I never knew that a spacecraft of that caliber was a possibility. What's it like to ride inside?"
Herman recalled his recent experiences inside the Mundane. "It's…hard to describe."
Just as Herman finished his sentence, Tenebrous and Plagueis walked down the ship's ramp and stepped foot in the thick snow. Many of the cult members were mystified as they watched the two aliens approach them at a slow but firm pace.
"Holy hell they're ugly," Brexan muttered under his breath.
The two Sith stopped a few feet behind Herman and looked around at the cult members.
"May I introduce you all to Darth Tenebrous and Darth Plagueis," Herman addressed.
Georg bowed and said, "It is an honor to meet you both. Darth Bane had once explained to me about the existence of several alien species in his home galaxy. Tell me milords…what species are you?"
"I am a Bith, and my apprentice here is a Muun," Tenebrous replied.
"A Bith and a Muun…" Brexan repeated to himself.
Georg then asked, "I'm assuming you're Bane and Zannah's successors?"
"Indeed we are," Plagueis responded. "Nearly a thousand years has past since Bane's era, and we are the most powerful descendants yet."
Leonardo's jaw dropped. "A thousand years? But Bane and Zannah only left the Underworld five years ago!"
Tenebrous shrugged. "We do not know the cause of the time discrepancy, but in spite of that, thirty generations of Banite Sith have lived in a millennium."
Every single cult member was in shock. Herman had already been told that information before being sent on his intel mission, but hearing it again still made him ponder in awe. The cult members' collective demeanor had changed from one of respect to one of submission; none of them had ever imagined meeting Sith several generations after Bane and Zannah, let alone a millennium. The amount of power these two Dark Lords possess is likely inconceivable.
"I-If thirty generations of Sith have grown stronger over the centuries, then I'd love to know your power, Mighty Ones," Georg expressed.
Herman shook his hands. "No, no, no…you don't want to know."
Plagueis chuckled. "Perhaps you will someday see it for yourself."
Dark Base, Underworld
Cao Cao waited for Georg and the others to return to their base. They contacted him over the magic comm saying that they will be arriving soon with the new Sith Lords, so the True Longinus wielder gathered his cult members at the front gates of the base.
The Dark Base is the main hub of the Order of Bane, acting as part town and part fortress. The base is located deep within the Underworld's Gloom territory, very close to the south pole where daylight only lasts for four hours per day. This section of the Underworld is named for its lack of daylight, evident by the major absence of trees/vegetation and the freezing climate. The cult members get their food from either ice fishing, hunting or imports from secret clients.
Cao Cao and the other Hero Faction members chose to establish their cult in these frozen lands mainly because it is uninhabited—making it more difficult for outsiders to discover them. They wanted to be so hidden that even the Khaos Brigade would have a tough time tracking them down, and it paid off by letting them grow in numbers with virtually no outside disturbance. Cao Cao was often annoyed by the constant night and boring landscape, but the seclusion was necessary. As an organization that praises globally-hated figureheads, he and his followers had to stick to the shadows as much as possible.
When Tenebrous and Plagueis's ambient auras threw the global environment into disarray, the Gloom territory was arguably the least affected place in the Underworld. The cult members merely witnessed a moderate increase in their daily snowfall and winds, but they did have a few brief earthquakes that rocked the entire landscape. But as Cao Cao waited for his search team to return, the landscape seemed to have grown eerier than ever before.
At last, several magic circles appeared outside the base and then spawned several figures. Small circles were used to teleport Tenebrous, Plagueis and everyone else while a huge circle was used to teleport the Mundane. The Sith Lords and their escorts walked through the strong sub-zero winds and approached the front gates that slowly opened upon their arrival. After passing through the threshold, a few cult members met with the search team.
"Cao Cao is waiting for you inside the dining hall," said the junior officer. "What shall we do with that plane of yours?"
"Leave it where it is," Plagueis responded. "It can handle far worse environments than this."
The officer and his three soldiers stepped aside as Georg and Leonardo led the group towards the meal hall. They couldn't see Tenebrous and Plagueis all that clearly due to the darkness and winds, but they could easily see their dark side eyes that glowed bright like jack-o'-lanterns.
The group soon reached the dining hall and entered through the building's main doors. After turning a few corners, the group stepped into the meal hall itself. Several rows of long tables lined the two halves of the chamber and a large kitchen and pantry made up the back side of the room. Standing in the chamber's central aisle were Cao Cao, Jeanne and eight high-ranking cult members, and along the sides of the chamber stood the chefs and janitors.
When the Sith Lords entered the room, several gasps and whispers went around from person to person. Jeanne was shocked despite having learned about the existence of aliens from Darth Bane years ago, and contrary to everyone else, Cao Cao stood nearly unfazed. He had a strong feeling that the returning Sith Lords would be beings that pushed the limits of humanoid appearance, so he wasn't overly surprised to see their repulsive faces.
"Well done Team 3, you have accomplished an honorable mission for the Order," Cao Cao congratulated. "Brexan, take your men to over to the food line to eat, I'm sure they're quite hungry by now."
Cao Cao then said loudly, "Staff, return to your tasks at once!"
The chefs and janitors returned to their duties while Brexan and his men went to eat. Georg and Leonardo stayed with the Sith Lords in the central aisle.
Cao Cao, Jeanne and the eight officers behind them bowed to the Dark Lords.
"Greetings, milords. I am Cao Cao, leader of the Order of Bane," Cao Cao welcomed. "I apologize for greeting you in an informal location, but the guest lounge is under repair at the moment."
"Formality is of little importance to us," Tenebrous stated. "My apprentice and I were just getting hungry ourselves."
"Splendid!" Cao Cao smiled. "Georg told me over the magic comm that your names are Darth Tenebrous and Darth Plagueis."
"That is correct," Plagueis assured.
Cao Cao continued, "I don't want to keep your stomachs hungry for too long, Lords Tenebrous and Plagueis, so I'll let you eat now and we can discuss later. If you need anything, our staff will be more than happy to provide any service you desire."
"Thank you," Plagueis responded.
Tenebrous and Plagueis walked towards the back of the chamber where the food line is located.
"Milords," a voice called out to the side, "let us serve you."
The dining hall manager and four chefs stood at a luxurious dining table that they just brought out. The table is designed for two guests, but the dimensions allow it to fit a huge amount of stuff on top. They also brought out two stylish chairs made with all the bells and whistles.
"We just got here, and they already act as our servants," Tenebrous said quietly to his apprentice while they walked over to the table.
At the other side of the dining hall, Brexan approached Jeanne from behind.
"Lady Jeanne," Brexan said.
Jeanne caught a fright and quickly turned around.
"Sorry, milady," Brexan apologized. "I just came to ask if you're alright. Ever since we arrived, you looked as white as a ghost."
"I'm just a little stressed," Jeanne replied. "Our guests are Bane and Zannah's successors after all…"
Brexan then asked, "Is part of that stress also from their appearance?"
Jeanne hesitated, then answered, "Yes. I knew there was a chance of them not being human, but they're beyond what I was expecting."
The Underworld is filled with beings that aren't exactly human, from devils with elf-like ears to sentient dragons that can talk. There are also some beings that are human up above and beast down below, but even they don't compare to the Bith and the Muun eating at the table. All mythological beings are, whether by size or appearance, human- or beast-looking with virtually no mix in between. Even Hades is a human-shaped skeleton that just so happens to be alive, but Tenebrous and Plagueis are the first ones to combine both ends of the spectrum…the first ones to break the biological tendency.
Tenebrous and Plagueis are a confusing combination of human shape/proportions and not even beast-like appearance, but alien appearance. Their non-human features and skin are evolved from those of wild beasts, they are ones that come from other solar systems. They are the epitome of foreignness, and that is what frightens Jeanne and many of the other cult members.
"Yeah, they look like they came straight out of a sci-fi movie," Brexan mentioned.
[…]
A few hours later, Tenebrous and Plagueis were inside the base's main auditorium, a different and larger building than the dining hall. They sat in two grand chairs that were attached to an elevated platform that looked over the huge crowd gathered before them. Thousands of cult members were on their knees in a sort of prayer position, all of them dead silent. Whatever members of the Order that were not on guard duty or gone on missions were on the floor below the Sith Lords.
At each side of the platform stood two large statues that were ten meters tall. The one off to Tenebrous's left side was a statue of Darth Bane while the one off to Plagueis's right side was a statue of Darth Zannah. Each pillar of carved stone were the predecessor Dark Lords wearing cloaks that blankly stared out at the audience. On the platform between the two statues, Tenebrous and Plagueis gazed out at the crowd from one side to the other, flattered that these lesser beings have come here to honor them as gods.
"All rise before the Dark Lords of the Sith!" Cao Cao shouted from another platform.
Thousands of cult members stood up simultaneously in perfect synchronization. Their sync surprised Tenebrous and Plagueis; they thought that the Order of Bane would have been somewhat amateur in discipline, but that is obviously not the case. The two aliens stood from their grand seats and rose to their full height. They quickly recalled the things Cao Cao told them after they ate, things that are likely the key to returning to their galaxy.
"On this cold and dreary night, two beings with supreme power have arrived from a galaxy far, far away," Tenebrous said loudly. "I, Darth Tenebrous, and my apprentice, Darth Plagueis, are those ultimate beings. We are the descendants of Darth Bane and Darth Zannah, the end of the thousand-year-long Banite lineage. Just like our predecessors, we have found ourselves in this strange world of yours through unknown causes. As many of you could guess, we intend to return to our galaxy to continue the schemes of the Grand Plan."
Plagueis then shouted, "Bane and Zannah found a way back to their galaxy, the same one in which my Master and I belong. Your leader, Cao Cao, had once witnessed a powerful ritual that Bane and Zannah used return to our home galaxy, a ritual that made use of a central box with incredible magical power…the power of the deceased Great Red. That container, and others like it, have fallen in the hands of the mythologies."
Tenebrous added, "From what we know, the containers were scattered across various realms and hidden from everyone. We will find these boxes and identify the one that contains the power of Great Red."
Plagueis then yelled, "Your task will be to aid us in our quest for this power: gather every word of intel possible and dispose of any enemies that get in our way. There will be no room for mercy or compassion, the Sith imperative demands it!"
[…]
Plagueis was inside the Mundane downloading the Underworld map from the navigation console. Tenebrous ordered him to upload a copy of it to their datapad so they can show it to Cao Cao and the others. The humans have their own map of the Underworld, but it's not nearly as detailed and precise as the one found on the nav computer.
As soon as the map was finished downloading, Plagueis detached the datapad from the nav computer. But before leaving the Mundane, Plagueis sat down in his co-pilot chair and opened one of the mythology texts. He flipped through several chapters until he reached the section about magical potions. When he read it for the first time a few days ago, Plagueis immediately grew fascinated in Phoenix Tears created from the Phenex clan. Currently, the section on Phoenix Tears was the set of pages he had open on his lap.
The Muun is very intrigued by the potion's phenomenal healing abilities. According to the book, Phoenix Tears can instantly heal injuries and reattach severed limbs but cannot restore blood loss or organ loss. Plagueis regretted not searching through the Phenex Castle more extensively when he and Tenebrous stole the texts that one night, but maybe that would work more in his favor. He would prefer that Tenebrous remains clueless about the potion, and even if the Bith knew about its existence, Tenebrous would likely be so arrogantly preoccupied with his Bith science that he might completely disregard the potion altogether.
Plagueis stood up and put the book away. While walking towards the airlock, he wondered when he would get the chance to get some Phoenix Tears for himself.
Plagueis thought, "There is much to do over the next while, but someday soon I will make a second visit to the Phenex Castle."