Chapter 5- Trayus Core
It was time. I had never felt so free in my entire life. There was also a sense of horror, I was suffering from lack of killing. I know, sad right? It had been, like, 48 hours since I drained the blood of an innocent. I could feel myself starting to shake.
As I awoke from my slumber I peered over to Drayven's bunk. It was empty. I hadn't seen him the night before and in this late stage of training you couldn't be sure who had or hadn't survived. From the three thousand students, only about a hundred of us were left. And I knew only about ten of them. After last night, I've got no idea how many survived. Rumor has it half of them were ordered to go up against the Den Mother Storm Beast in the Trayus Arena. Drayven Khar amongst them. Last time they went up against her, only two hundred of five hundred survived. Even then, the monster survived and the Jedi Hunters were forced to retreat.
I sat up in the bunk. By now I was used to the hard bunk, I almost enjoyed it. It was just another think in life I learned to love. I learned to hate it, so sleep fueled my strength. I approached the Plasteel Container beside the bed and opened it up. Inside I saw for the first time in a week my Ribbed Jacket. I hadn't worn it for ages. It symbolized a part of me I burned years ago. Only a fortnight ago I gave up on using my blaster pistols in battle. I've been using by beauty lately.
Ever held a lightsaber? It's heavier than you think, at least until you activate it. Somehow, once activated it seems lighter than previously. Is that even possible? During training I had equipped myself with a green single bladed saber. After an incident with an instructor rebellion I ended up losing my saber down a crevice. That's the thing about the Sith, the Sith instantaneously replace your lightsaber before you can say "damn, I lost my light-" and it happened just like that. With the Republic if you lost your lightsaber they'd exile you or something. Revan approached me the following morning and awarded me with a double bladed blue crystal lightsaber, it was his thanks for helping in stopping the rebellion.
Today was the day of my initiation. Today was the day of the apprentices initiation. Upon arrival to the initiation you were allowed to enter the chasm tunnels. Revan predicted only fifteen of the remaining hundred would survive the trials. I had arrived bearing my dark blue tinted Sith robes and my new lightsaber.
I arrived to see the three final surviving instructors waiting at the entrance. The rest had all been slaughtered either in training, or the uprising, or by their tormented students. I specifically recall being told about one trainer who had his throat slit in his sleep by his student. Anyway, one of the instructors stared at me before pointing me towards the webby looking entrance. It was old and had a weird smell and I expected all kinds of horrors to meet me. I was told the Dark Lord Revan would be waiting at the other end. I was told that come sunset the trial chambers will fill with the hottest flame, a flame that was incinerate any person still trying to navigate the chambers. There was only one rule for the trial, you can only enter when the sun rises on the Academy. Through the fog it was often hard to tell whether or not the sun was shining on Malachor. I had a feeling most of the apprentices would've pulled an all-nighter in the hopes that they could be the first to enter.
But it sucks to be them. The second they all rush in, they'd have slaughtered each other in a brutal mass killing. Shame I missed it. In saying that, it also sucks to be those who still sleep in. Those who haven't entered by nightfall are knocked unconscious and fed to the beast of the Arena. Now that'd be a sight to see…assuming I'd survive the trial first.
I took a leap of faith and entered the ghostly tunnels. I was greeted by a sudden frozen breeze. It chilled. I soon discovered through the Force that this trial chamber was filled with thousands of corpses. I could hear screams, screams of the fallen, screams of the desperate souls. They were victims, victims of the Madalorian Wars – I knew, I could feel it. This was no mere burial ground nor tomb, but a catacomb to house the victims of warfare. They may have been killed by clans of pillaging Mandalorians, but truly they were victims of the Republic. A Republic who swore to protect but only ended up betraying.
I was deeper in then I believed. Now not only had fog blocked off the passage forward, but behind also. Anyone too clumsy would lose their way. I was not clumsy. A headed forward at a leisurely pace and half expected something to get the jump on me. Something was going to jump out and kill me. No, it would merely injure. I would win – training had taught me that I could win, I should win and that I would win. I would always win.
My pace was interrupted by the soft sounds of running feet and panting breath. I looked the way I had come, I could see nothing to suggest I was being chased. However, the sounds were dissimilar to those of the fallen. The ghosts tried to comfort and to warn, these sounds did neither. They were human. The person, in here, would surely enough try to kill me. By the frantic breathing it was safe to assume he'd been spooked. He was running, he'd be tired whereas I had only walked the distance. The best course of action would be to kill, but the opponent might not have been necessarily formidable. So I ran. I ran away. To this day I don't regret it, there was no reason to. I ran for minutes and minutes. I began falling tired when I noticed the sounds hadn't changed volume despite me outrunning the person. Also, I had not made any progress in this tunnel and was beginning to wonder where it would lead.
The answer was simple. The noises, not existent. The tunnels, leading me nowhere. I had made not a single bit of progress. I had a feeling I had fallen victim to a Sith mind game. So I began to backtrack. Still the noises of the follower stayed the same in degree. It sounded as though the person, a female, was now running away from me. Soon enough the fog began to fade.
The fog ceased and was replaced by the complete run of the tunnel. In fifteen meters I would meet the end of the tunnel and what appeared, at this stage, to be a long drop down. The brick architecture was now replaced with rocky cave walls.
I reached the end of the hallway and discovered a shocking revelation. Below me was a maze. A massive maze with only one exit on the other side of the massive chamber. Below me there were the other students all navigating their way. Many others were engaged in battles with other students. They were all fighting to the death, they all wanted to make their way out.
It seems so silly now, why not team up and cooperate in finding an exit? Of course, back then, I was eager to kill.
Behind me more voices forged. Their was a clash of lightsabers and a distant flash from the impact. This time, there really were students following me. In front of me there was a giant ladder that led into the maze below. But heck, we were Sith, rules only slowed us down. So I used the force to impact the ground below my feet and as I leapt the Force threw me across the maze and landed me in a small passage. I collapsed upon hitting the ground. I fad flown far further than intended and lost my skill to…well…land. What I found most amusing was of course the tunnel. Behind me it had collapsed and any new students who were to approach the maze would find their entrance blocked. They were doomed – unless one of them was actually smart enough to launch some kind of Force Repulse and blow up the mountain side, but that hadn't had that ability in centuries.
Which way? Always go left. No. Always go right. How did it go? I couldn't be to sure. Also, there was no left or right when you were in the middle of a straight passage way and the only ways to move was forwards or back. Still, better to move on forward. I took a few steps forward before I witnessed a student's body flung at the other end where the passage met a corner. Nope, turning the other way. I ran, better to go back. Yep. Better…back. Yep- yep- yep. Anyone who says to go forward, dead, or stupid, or both.
I spent at least another hour searching for a way out. None had come across me and survived. Though, I'd only crossed Rocco. But Rocco was dead now, I sliced him down centre from head to toe. He bled. He bled red, red is rage, rage fuels anger, anger is power, anger fueled power, and power is strength. His death made me crave more killings. So I searched, I searched for another victim. Everyone knew that it'd be more likely for one to reach the exit if one wasn't actually looking for it. It was time for a hunt. Throughout the hour I had had plenty of close encounters with enemies, battles that had happened over the walls of the maze. It was something about this room, there was an aurora that reduced and pained the use of Force powers. After my leap earlier I was exhausted.
And it wasn't before too long that I reached an exit. Okay, that's a lie. It seemed like another hour or two before I'd found the exit.
Once I had, however, about seven other Sith apprentices had been brutally slaughtered and all by me. They died a slow and painful death, just as they deserved.
I think I might actually be able to skip ahead a bit in my story. Overall I murdered, faced off against Garm too. The bastard lived, but I assured him that I'd have his head sooner or later. After all this time I thought he'd died in training. No, I was wrong. I was actually more concerned with a confrontation with Khar, my old friend and latest bunkmate. If I came across him I would have no choice but to gut him like a Firaxan Shark. We were friends, but friends ensured a weakness against the enemy. If he had died then I would have been sad, yes, but I would have been relieved that I was practically invincible.
The exit was not dissimilar to the other tunnel that led into the large, open, labyrinth. It appeared to be glowing red with anger and darkness. However, quite peculiarly, the red wasn't actually visible by sight but only by the Force. So, figuring this the exit, I entered. The ghosts of the Sith students I soon discovered. The ran at me from both angles wielding their lightsaberes and charging in fury.
I unsheathed my lightsabre, it glowed a fluorescent green. I had wished it blue to resemble my Dark Jedi Assassin Robes. I initiated a flurry of strikes forward to wipe out the three ghosts coming at me from the front. From behind another six charged but where easily dissipated with a strong Force Push. When I tried to Force Choke a tenth ghost it slipped between my grasp and swung it's transparent blade at me. It struck the flesh. I bled. I couldn't quite comprehend that – how could a ghost cause harm? Regardless. I removed the threat with a dose of Force Lightning.
As the tunnel ended another sixty metres further it led into an open chamber much like the entrance. The surviving Sith trainees lined the walls and down four steps from the tunnel was a small fire lit in a dark grated ritual pan sat centered in the chamber. A cloaked, dark robed man was facing away from me and toward the fire. As I approached the man turned. It was Master Revan.
"You have made it. Made it to the end. Welcome." He bowed and signaled me over by turning back towards the fire. I approached and stared into the glowing embers. "Are the trials over, master?" Revan was silent. He knew something. Was he going to attack? He better, because if he tried I would be responsible for the murder of the Dark Lord of the Sith. His apprentice, Darth Malak, would take over – now wouldn't that be something. Behind me the sound of a lightsabre activating and deactivating was heard over and over again. What?
I turned while simultaneously removing my lightsaber from my belt and activating it. The result, a blue lightsaber hit mine and bounced off landing on the floor. Before it's owner could retrieve it with the Force I picked it up and wielded it in my right hand. Behind me I found Garm and one of his posse. I'd assumed the others that once followed him were dead. Good. But bad, I wanted a challenge. Garm was angrier than he had ever been before. He punched his follower in the stomach and stole his yellow bladed lightsabre. He activated it and as his friend doubled over in pain Garm spun the blade around ever so fluidly and in doing so removed the poor boy's head.
"I am here, master. I am the one who has made it through, this man, this… Jaq, he is the pretender." He said grunting when he finished. "Pretender?" I shouted. "Who are you calling a pretender? You are nothing but a crying little Bith with no one to call your friend."
Garm dove at me. I dive rolled forwards and he ended up going over me. I let go over my green lightsabre and he barely had enough time to react and he landed right into the lightsabre as the device slowly deactivated. I finished my roll and had no time to see what damage I had caused. When I did turn around it was throw Garm's own weapon back at him. The boy jumped in a back flip and the lightsabre chopped off his right leg. The left one was also chopped off and I had no idea whether or not it was from either my first or second attack. Who cared? But there was blood.
I pushed out my hand and grabbed him mid-flip with the Force. I caught him with his head towards the ground. As I held him up with my left hand I used the Force to summon Garm's lightsaber with my right. Using similar powers Garm summoned the yellow blade and tossed it at me but I swung my weapon at it effortlessly and sliced the handle in two. The boy's eyes widened, at first I believed him scared then I realised that I had begun tightening my grip. The pressure was building up in his head and in a few short minutes his eyes would have spilled out in a pool of whitish pink blood all over his robes. Slowly I walked him closer to Revan who sidestepped out of our way. Then I proceeded to dunk him…into the fire. Bit by bit I lowered the Shyrack into the ashes until there was nothing left to him but his stumps of legs. By then I released him and allowed his ashen corps to burn. Garm was dead. And the last thing he called me… Jaq.
"Your initiation is complete." Stated Revan.
I looked up from the ground, Garm's blue crystal lightsaber in my right hand. I didn't know where the other was. However, I did realise that I was no longer in the ritual chamber but on a stage with the other Sith masters, teachers and assassins. There were seven of us, Drayven Khar included. We had won. I was the last of the initiates. Revan began his speech.
"We have our seventh assassin. The seventh marks the final. The final marks the deaths to the rest. As we speak the cries of a hundred Dark Jedi Assassin Apprentices drown out the labyrinth that the seven of you proceeded to navigate. Well done. We have transported ourselves and yourself to this chamber, the real ritual chamber. There is no one left to transport any remaining initiates out of the maze. The entrance cave has been closed off and four unintelligible souls are still moving forward in order to continue. They have been covered in rock, the remaining competitors will starve over time. The training we have provided here at the Malachor V Trayus Academy has readied you for this final task of survival. And you have completed it, you are no longer expendable nor a mere rookie. You are Dark Assassins- My Dark Assassins. And I will see you destroyed before you fall to the Light Side of the Force.
"Now, step forward initiate seven." He concluded. I stepped forward. "You are ready, bow before me." I did so. Revan activated his lightsabre and for the first time in my five or six or ten years of training I felt trust. He knighted me. I was of the Sith. I was of Revan. And it felt good.
"Rise Assassin. Atton Rand, your ship and equipment is ready for you. You are welcome to train here as long as you like and you will now be assigned missions by the Sith Council here on Malachor V to assassinate Republic Elites as part of the Revanarchist initiative. Congratulations. Are there any final requests before you commence?"
"Yes." I began.
"Atton Rand is dead. Call me Jaq."