Chapter 11 -Act I- Goodbyes
Once landed, she quickly pulled herself up to faced her attacker, her hand resting where her lightsaber was hidden. Quickly, Louise began to scan his face, trying to recognise her attacker; a white human with short red hair -oddly reminiscent of her Jedi acquaintance-, blue eyes and a strange cross-shaped scar that started under his right eye and spread across his face. He was dressed in the usual acolyte uniform, which briefly confused the pinkette, once she recognised the face, her confusion only grew.
"… Vemrin?" Louise questioned, her eyes briefly shifting to the crimson lightsaber held carelessly by his side, "Why did you attack me?"
"I'm glad my reputation precedes me," the acolyte replied, "And to answer your question, your Overseer sent me to-"
"Harkun!" Louise spat, "… why would he choose you?"
"Apparently, the other two he chose were too scared to fight you. But their weakness has given me a chance. So, I should really be thanking you for this chance. Well, enough talk."
With that, he charged forwards with a flurry, trying to strike Louise down quickly and efficiently. However, instead of striking cloth and flesh like he had hoped, he hit the glowing amber blade of another lightsaber.
"Where did you get that!?"
"Where did you get yours?" Louise re-joined, breaking the saber lock and kicking him in the gut with as much strength the runes allowed, sending him skidding back a few meters back.
"Quite a good kick, maybe Harkun was wrong when he said you were weak."
"Harkun's wrong about a lot of things." She replied tersely, "How are you going to explain murdering another Acolyte inside the Academy, Vemrin? Is Harkun going to bail you out?"
"Already considered that. Harkun had booked out the entire room for the next hour or so." He replied haughtily.
Again, lightsabers hacked at each other, flashing with each hit. Louise knew that she had already won the duel before it had begun; while his footwork was of a high standard, his skill with a lightsaber was sub par at best, though it was understandable considering he had trained more with the weighty warblades than lightsabers. Another point was that it seemed he had been banking on her being armed with only a training blade, thinking he did not need skill with a lightsaber to kill a practically unarmed foe. Unluckily for him, she had a lightsaber and as a bonus, the Gandalfr runes, otherwise known as cheating.
Soon enough, Louise broke through his defences, quickly disarming him… literally. His screams resonated in the enclosed chamber until the pinkette followed up her attack with a vicious strike to the neck, separating head from the body.
Vemrin fell to the ground limp, his head rolling a few feet away before coming to a stop. Quickly, Louise slipped her lightsaber back into her pouch, not taking her anger-filled eyes off the motionless head. She did not want to kill him, he, like her, was once a slave. But he gave me no other choice.
Suddenly, Louise felt… something change in the room. Said something quickly made itself known when it, or rather he, spoke "It's not going to burst into flames if you do that." Startled by the voice, the pinkette summoned Vemrin's lightsaber to hand, igniting the crimson blade and pointing it at the interloper; a middle-aged Sith Pureblood dressed in a suit of grey infantry armour, however, the distinguishing thing about him was both the robes he wore above and the twin archaic lightsabers by his side.
She was pointing a lightsaber at a Sith Lord. She was pointing a lightsaber at a Sith Lord as she stood near a dead acolyte which she had just killed. "I… um… Hello." She said intelligently, shutting off the saber. I am so screwed, I am so, so, so very scre-
"Peace." The Sith Lord said with a hint of mirth, "I mean you no harm. Just admiring your handiwork. You needn't worry about getting in trouble, I watched the entire thing; that Acolyte was tasked with assassinating you, and you defended yourself. I see no problems with what you did."
"Thank you, my lord," Louise replied, letting out a small sigh of relief, "Uh… If you don't mind me asking, who are you? Where did you come from?"
"I am Lord Umbris," he introduced, "the battlemaster and instructor of the Sith Academy. As for where I came from? I was always here, inside the room. There are many techniques to hide one's signature in the Force as well as technology that can cloak those who wish to hide. And before you asked, no I would not have helped you in your fight. It was yours alone, and if you failed then our business would have been concluded, if you succeeded, it will better help me understand you as a fighter. Though, I assume your mind is elsewhere at the moment, perhaps thinking about a certain Overseer?"
"He tried to assassinate me," Louise said, her expression darkening.
The Battlemaster look thoughtful for a moment before replying, "You must have provoked his anger if he went to such an extreme."
The Pinkette scoffed "He's been trying to get me killed since day one."
"That is troubling." Umbris said frowning, "If you wish to see him, you may go."
Louise nodded, smiling thankfully before it twisted into a cruel smile as she summoned the decapitated head to her hands. Soon, she was out of the room, marching towards Harkun's office, receiving several strange looks along the way. Upon entering the office, she made herself known by stomping her foot down on the metal floor, startling the Overseer from his work. However, before he could even get a word in, the pinkette had thrown Vemrin's severed head onto the table.
Harkun eyes shifted from the head to the petite acolyte in front of him, a look of outrage on his face, "How dare you!? You kil-"
"Overseer Harkun," Lord Umbris called from the entryway, behind Louise. The pinkette hid a shudder. I didn't even know he was following me. "how disappointing it is to see you."
"Lord Umbris?" The Overseer asked in surprise.
The Instructor ignored his comment, choosing instead to continue speaking, "Though, I guess I should thank your stupidity. If you hadn't tried to have this acolyte here killed, I wouldn't be able to see her in a real fight to see how she fares. But the point still stands, Harkun. You, an Overseer, tried to have an acolyte assassinated, something that is expressly against the rules."
"It is none of yo-"
"Expressly. Against. The. Rules!" The Sith hissed, pinning Harkun to his chair with just a look, "Assassinating acolytes based on your preference will destroy the Order, particularly if your personal preference comes before merit. The only reason I am not reporting you is because your foolish move was beneficial to me. I should also note, that she has passed her trial with flying colours," Louise felt her pride swell at the compliment, something Umbris must have noticed as he continued, "but that doesn't mean that you'll get off that easy. Come, we still have training, Acolyte."
Together they left Harkun to seethe in his office as they returned to the training room. Entering, Louise found that Vemrin's corpse was not where it was before, nor in the room at all. She was about to question the suspiciously missing body, when Umbris beat her to the punch, "On our way to Harkun's office, I asked someone to take care of the body. Now, before we begin, may I ask you where you got your lightsaber from?"
Louise paused at the sudden question she had not been expecting. Should I tell him? Deciding to throw caution to the wind, she answered his question truthfully, "It was a gift from Lord Zash."
The Sith Lord gazed intently at her, and suddenly the pinkette felt like she was bacteria under a microscope, "When I saw you fight with it, it felt like you were resisting it. Fighting two battles at once is extremely foolish." He chided.
"I'm sorry, my lord. It's just that it feels… off in my hands." Louise explained.
"Why is that?" Umbris asked, "Anyone can see plain as day that you and the lightsaber are bonded."
"Bonded, my lord?"
Lord Umbris gave the pinkette an unimpressed look, "You do study, don't you?"
"Yes, I do, but I don't understand how the lightsaber could have bonded to me."
"Pass it here." Louise obeyed the order, removing the saber from its pouch and passing it to the Sith Lord, "Now, I don't mean to be an expert on lightsabers and their crystals, but I know enough." As he said this, the used the Force to deconstruct the saber, revealing the intricate technology and an amber crystal in the centre, "The lightsaber was built for someone else, someone much bigger than you, someone with a different fighting style and personality. The crystal, however… I don't know. On Dromund Kaas, there is a Sith by the name of Darth Eda. If you manage to complete your trial, I would go see her."
"Thank you, my lord."
"Don't thank me yet." He replied, "Now, on to more important business. As I watched your scuffle with the other Acolyte, I noticed you seemed to favour Ataru, is this correct?"
"Yes, my lord."
"And where did you learn it?" the Sith asked.
"Besides a few sparring matches with my roommate and watching other Sith Lords spar, I am self-trained," Louise informed.
He seemed to consider her for a moment, "And how long ago did you start your training?"
"I started when I arrived here early this year."
"Interesting… self-trained, and only for a year." He said more to himself that to Louise, "I would have thought you had been trained since birth had it not been for your previous occupation as a slave. You seem to favour Ataru, do you not?"
"I thought it would be the best, considering," Louise answered quietly.
"Yes, I can tell how you would have thought that, but perhaps try to shake it up a bit." Explained Umbris, "Staying with one style is always dangerous as it makes it easier to predict your attacks and defences. As a main, however, I would recommend Niman… with Ataru as a supplement. However, to learn Niman, you would need to master from one to five and learn the basic principles of it. Another option could be Juyo, a very aggressive style, though its weaknesses come from a lack of defence, it would also require a mastery of all forms before it to truly utilise its potential."
"I will look into it, my lord." She replied, thinking hard about what he had said. Really, she only knew the forms, she had no skill nor any expertise in the subject. She decided to ask Lyira about it later.
"Yes… for the moment then, I wish to go through all of the lightsaber forms, just to get a feel of what level you are on. After that, we will test your skill with hand to hand combat. Now, get into the Shii-cho stance…"
...
It was a few hours after training that she was eventually dismissed, something she was immensely grateful for. Training with the Instructor was hard, unlike sparing with Lyira, he was not giving her any leeway. He was pleased with her skill in the lightsaber forms, but he could tell she was struggling with the forms that needed mental discipline, struggling badly. At one point, he even asked if she had learned them by watching a holovid and just copying the moves down, which Louise adamantly denied.
Soon, however, they moved on to her martial training. The Pinkette quickly discovered that, while she was at least competent with her fists, she had a tremendously long way to go, not even her lessons with Lyira helped. Her roommate was much more skilled than herself, but the instructor was on a completely different plane of existence with his finesse and skill. After being beaten down to the ground for the fortieth time, Lord Umbris told her she was 'getting better' but ultimately sent her on her way, saying she would not be able to learn much if she was battered, bruised and tired.
She had just exited the cafeteria having gorged herself on food -Louise had more than once noted how her meal portions were growing considerably, though was none too fussed about it. After all, she was not putting on weight- and now was limping off to her room. Her body ached, and she wanted to sleep, but more importantly, she wanted to inform Lyira of her rival's death… oh, and threatening Harkun… again. She would love to hear about that. Louise thought sarcastically.
Upon entering the room, she was greeted by the sight of her partially dressed roommate collapsed on her bed. If the smell of perspiration was anything to go by, it was probably due to exhaustion and overexertion. Funnily enough, the Pureblood did not stink like some of the people did when they got all sweaty, either that, or Louise had gotten used to the smell.
After removing her boots, socks, weapons and other such accessories, the small acolyte walked over to the downed acolyte, nudging her roommate awake, but no matter what she tried, the Sith would not budge, only groan in annoyance, "Lou? Wha'd you wan?" she slurred tiredly.
"Well, at first, I wanted you off my bed, but now…" She answered, "I want to know what in the name of the Emperor happened to you."
The raven-haired girl moaned tiredly before replying, "… Baras' fault"
"What did he do?"
"Ugh… first, he had me go to… one of the tombs to… find some texts relating to philosophy." Lyira explained, stretching as she did, "Then made me do advanced meditation. It was tiring… and my body hurts. How's your day?"
"Painful and annoying." Replied the pinkette bitterly.
"What happened?"
"Well…" Louise hesitated, "I kind of threatened Harkun again."
"Again...?" The Pureblood asked, sounding far too tired to convey what she truly felt, "Do I even want to know why?"
"He tried to have me assassinated."
"Did it work?" Asked Lyira, to which her petite roommate just started until realisation struck, "Wh- oh… oh, no… I made a mistake."
"How did you get this tired? I mean, I know you sometimes get up earlier than me, but really?"
"I… have no idea why maybe the veritable army that was chasing me around the tomb?" The Sith replied, "I suck at stealth. Anyway, who was the assassin?"
"Vemrin," Louise answered.
That had not been the response she had been expecting, "… what."
"Harkun sent Vemrin to kill me." The pinkette explained, "I have no idea why he chose Vemrin, though."
"Oh… so he's dead now. Saves me the eventual trouble."
"Yeah."
Both girls lapsed into a tired silence, one on the verge of collapsing into a coma and the other slowly being lulled into a drowsy state.
"…. Lyira? Could you get off my bed?" Louise asked, shifting into a more comfortable position on her bed.
"Mmm…"
"Could you move over?" Another groan later, and Lyira had rolled over a bit, giving Louise some room to get comfortable before falling asleep.
'Alif – Thank you'
'Acolyte Louise,
I apologise for not sending you this earlier. You might have saved my life, but my new master wanted to 'get me up to snuff' on my training. Can't have an apprentice who doesn't know their way around a lightsaber. Still, at least she now begrudgingly accepts me, I didn't really get the warmest welcome.
If you survive your trials, I wouldn't mind buying you a drink on Dromund Kaas. The Empire needs more Sith like you.
Oh, did you hear the news? That apprentice you saved me from, he and his master both died! I couldn't believe it when I heard it. No longer do I have to hide my face when entering any Sith complexes.
Anyway, thank you again for giving me this chance. I will, hopefully, see you later.
May the Force serve you well.
Apprentice Alif'
"Louise, today we are going to be trying something different," Umbris informed. Standing amongst a small group of training Sith Lords and apprentices. It had been little over a week since the attempt on her life, and Louise could honestly say it had been quite an exhausting time. She had crawled out of her shell enough that her studies had picked back up and she was enjoying the holocron lectures about battle strategy and other such subjects. Beyond that was her main focus, her continued trial with the Sith Lord Umbris, more often than not, she would arrive back to her room after a long day of training, sparring and what not with quite a few bruises.
"What will that be, my lord?" she asked cordially.
"We shall spar."
Louise nodded, though slightly confused as to what they were doing differently. We've sparred more than once before… can't hardly classify that as 'different'. Nevertheless, she pulled her lightsaber from its pouch igniting it as the Sith Lord in front of her did the same. After a silent three second countdown, they initiated the duel.
Lightsaber clashed with lightsabers as she tried to both parry the two sabers and attack the aged man. It was moments like this that she was pleased she had the Gandalfr runes as she shifted to the more defensive Soresu form, had she been without them, this duel would have already ended. After a short battle of Umbris' unrelenting attack hacking into Louise's defences, they broke apart.
That was when the duel turned sour.
Louise was about to take a strike at the Sith Lord, but. "Is that the best you can do, Slave?" Umbris taunted.
The words, particularly the last one caused her to hesitate, leaving her open for a counter attack. Only her rune-enhanced reflexes helped dodge what would have been a lethal blow -of course, it would not actually kill her, for both the sabers had been outfitted specifically for practice duels.
That word caused her to hesitate, only allowing her to quickly move out the way of an incoming strike. Quickly, she retreated, an odd expression marring her face. Never once had Umbris ever showed any inclination to judge her for her previous occupation. The fact that he was now, caused a feeling of betrayal to well up in her.
"Hesitation can cost you the battle, though from what I've seen, slaves are prone to hesitate when doing anything other than serving."
Once again, their blades clashing, though this time her attacks were uncertain. Louise had no idea on how to react. Unlike Harkun, who could only try and send assassins and kill her off in a trial, Umbris however, she truly feared.
"Stop," she asked with a hint of pleading.
Yet her attempt, pathetic as it was, did nothing to dissuaded the Sith, in fact, it encouraged the other Sith around the room, including the instructor, to simply laugh. "Such a disappointment. I had waited a year to see if you would be different than the other slaves, but it appears that I was sorely wrong. You are truly one of the worst students I have ever trained."
Just as the blades kept swinging in a morbid dance of red and orange, the insults, jeers, and belittlements did as well. However, instead of her uncertainty, her anger began to rise. She began to feel her blood boil the more he spoke, and soon, he stepped over the line. "Your sister would be so disgusted with you."
Louise had no idea how he knew about any family relations, considering she was fairly evasive about it, but she did not care. The flash of Cattleya's dead eyes in her mind was more than enough to push her over the edge. "Shut up!" she roared, continuing to hack and slash at the Instructor with her lightsaber. No longer did she care that he was a Sith Lord, and she, a lowly acolyte; She wanted him dead.
She shot out her hand, using the Force to summon one of the nearby Lords or apprentices -she really did not care- lightsaber to hand, specifically a double ended saber. With that ignited, Louise returned to hacking at Lord Umbris with renewed vigour, three deadly lightsaber blades swung in a tornado of movement, one that surprised most everyone in the room. Even the unlucky Sith who had his lightsaber taken away could not argue the apparent skill she fought with. And had Louise been in a different mood, she would have agreed with them. It was quite unorthodox to duel wield a double ended saber in one hand and any other of weapon in the other hand.
However, this power high she felt quickly disappeared when she felt a pressurised wave smash into her body, flinging her into the back wall and effectively disarming her of her two weapons. Before she could grab them again, to restart her attacks, they were summoned out of reach; the double-bladed saber going back to its original owner, and her own lightsaber into the waiting hands of Umbris. "Like I said, Zero. You will forever be a failure, never to amount to anything. Your parents, your sisters will be so disappointed in you."
"Shut up! Just shut up!" She shouted back, pulling herself back up to her feet, her wrath and hatred acting as a wonderful anaesthetic, "I am not a Zero!"
Shooting her hands forwards, she dug up every last ounce of emotion from her being and pushed it forwards in a lethal display of lightening which would have fell any normal man, whether acolyte or apprentice. Unfortunately, Louise was dealing with a Sith Lord who had dedicated his entire life to learning the art of battle; with the two lightsabers in hand, he blocked the bolts of pure hatred, absorbing them into himself, nullifying the effects.
Again, Louise summoned up a storm of lightning, but not only shot that at the Sith, but a torrent of fire towards him. Unable to block both attacks with a simple Force shield, he dodged out the way.
Louise continued to use the Force, against her opponent, while also keeping far enough back so he was unable to harm her with his lightsaber. At this moment of time, she only felt hate for the Instructor, as well as those around her, and used that to further strengthen her connection to the Dark Side. She sent blasts of telekinetic energy that dented the metal walls, blasts of fire that caused more than a few Sith to back off in fear of being burned, and bolts of purple hatred that arched uncontrollably in roughly the direction she wanted it.
She wanted the man dead, less so than Harkun, but dead nonetheless. She would prove that she was strong, stronger than him, and she would see that he begged for mercy.
However, her thoughts of vindictive revenge were put to a halt the second she felt her body seize up. Her eyes shifting around, she found that two Sith in the room were currently holding their hands out towards her. The second she saw this, she knew what had happened; a Force bind. Quite similar to telekinesis, but instead of moving something with one's mind, it was used to stop things from moving. This did not mean that she did not try to resist with all her might.
"I think that's quite enough!" Shouted Umbris, his tone more of an order than a suggestion. She could feel the Force bind she was stuck in slowly constrict around her until she stopped fighting it. "You managed to destroy some of the room with your reckless attacks, but you did well."
"What are you talking about!?" Louise hissed, struggling to break free to strangle the life out of the Battlemaster.
"The only reason I am not scolding you for that disrespect is because I was in the same way when my master trained me." he warned.
"What?" she bit out.
"This was a training exercise. And much like I did, and quite a few others who I have tried it with, you passed. Now, if I let you go, will you not try and kill me?"
Louise did not respond, only glaring hatefully at the man.
"Louise…" He said threateningly, staring down at her.
"…Fine." She hissed.
"Good." And with that, the pressure bearing down on her dispersed and she could move, catching herself before she fell ungracefully to the ground. Looking back at the Sith Lord, the urge just to strike him down flared, but she stayed her blade, "Leave us." With that command, the rest of the Sith filed out of the room, leaving only her and the Battlemaster in the room, "Now, I want you to recite the Sith Code."
The pinkette, unsure on how to proceed, obeyed the command, "Peace is a Lie, there is only Passion. Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength I gain Power, Through Power, I gain Victory, Through Victory, my chains are broken, the Force will set me free."
"Now do you understand why I did what I did?" He asked,
"No…"
Lord Umbris let out a discontent sigh, "Your passions are what gave you strength." He explained, "Unlike the Jedi, we use what we are born with, our emotions. We use what we were given to make us stronger, better than we once were. That is what I am trying to teach you. When you fought that Acolyte, you were angry, but you did not direct it! Use your emotions, even if they are not directed at anyone in particular, use them. It doesn't matter if you don't particularly care for the person you want dead, use all your emotions."
"Yes..." she replied, a tone of resentment still lingering.
The Sith looked at the young girl for a moment, appraising her appearance, "You're still quite squishy… then again, most of your caste are. I am pleased that it was obvious enough that you weren't under the Overseers who specialise in the Warrior caste." Umbris paused in thought, "Louise, do you happen to know about Force Healing?"
"No."
"Well, I don't blame you. Force healing is an odd branch of the Force, able to mend bones, repair flesh, cure some illnesses and do so much more…"
Despite her current feelings, Louise felt her spirit lighten, forcing her to ask, "… Could it heal a scar?"
"I wouldn't know." He began, "This power could only be learned by Jedi. However, we have our own version, not nearly as effective, but unlike the Light Side, it could keep you alive even if you should be dead… though it's not permanent. You need powerful emotions to access this power, anger and hate is the quickest and easiest to use. Before we, the True Sith Empire, made ourselves known, there was a so-called Sith Lord by the name of Darth Sion; he had a mastery of this power which allowed him to continue living despite the mortal wounds he suffered. Though I will tell you now, a life like his wasn't worth living. Anyway, the reason I am telling you this is because, while it cannot truly heal, it can help fix your bruises with constant application, allowing them to heal naturally without them causing problems. I would search the library for information."
The first month came kicking and screaming till the end. If she were to put it into words, Louise would have said that the last three months were the worst months she had during her tenure at the Academy. After the fateful sparring session, she, still resentful, began to dive headfirst into researching Dark Side Healing techniques; she needed to know firsthand if the techniques would help. The results were unforgiving. In all recorded history, the Dark Side has never once healed scars. It could hide them with a ritual, an advanced ritual that Louise could not hope to learn for quite a few years, but permanent healing was nigh impossible. Her other option was skin graphing, but that was expensive and from the holovids, she had seen, they made her sick.
The revelation was like a slap in the face, one her mind could not ignore. It was almost as if she had been branded once again; she could still remember waking up in the middle of the night crying after the horrible nightmares. Louise was just happy she had Lyira to comfort her. However, it was not only the nightmares that continued to plague her. Like an illness, it spread, infecting her training and studies, so much so that Lord Umbris told her to take a break from her trial.
It was an hour passed noon and Louise was meditating. Well, not really meditating, more like passing the time until her roommate returned. She had some questions for the Pureblood. She had woken up early because Darth Baras requested Lyira's presence. Why so early in the morning? Louise did not know, but even when her red roommate left, she had found sleep hard to come by. So instead, she occupied her time by wandering the valley. That is when Louise saw them.
Lyira and a female blue Twi'lek heading off to one of the tombs. At first, she was confused. Louise could not remember a blue Twi'lek training in the Academy. A red one, sure, but a blue one? She wanted to go up and confront her roommate about it, but something inside her caused her to hesitate. Eventually, they disappeared into the tomb and Louise decided to wait. So, here she was, meditating on the Force, waiting for her roommate to return.
The mechanical hiss heralded someone's arrival, shocking Louise out of her trance. Without even looking towards whoever had opened the door, Louise called upon the Force to enhance her speed before diving under her bed sheets.
"Oh, sorry!" came the familiar voice of her roommate, confusing and flustering Louise for a moment. Only on rare occasions did Lyira forget to knock. Something must be bothering her… "I'll wait out here for you."
The door hissed shut once more and the pinkette pulled the blanket off her head, pouting in a way that Lyira would have called 'cute'. Flinging the rest of the blanket off, Louise quickly began dressing herself, chucking on a pair of panties, pants and one of her loose long-sleeved shirts, having discarded her bras once the tightness in her chest became an annoyance.
Once dressed and sure the bandages on her left arm were still wrapped, she opened the door, finding a distracted Pureblood waiting just outside. "You can come in."
"Thanks. Uh… you don't have to worry. Didn't see much." Lyira replied semi-awkwardly.
"It's okay." The pinkette blurted, "I actually thought you were someone else."
Lyira smirked, "Ah, so you were waiting for someone, were you?"
"No!" Louise said quickly, her cheeks turning a similar shade to her hair, "I just didn't want a Sith Lord to see me naked!"
"So, only I can see you all exposed?" The Sith asked.
"Pervert!" Louise replied, her now face furiously red. After a small pause, she frowned, shooting back, "Anyway, I thought you were into blue Twi'leks."
"No, I pref- wait… have you been stalking me?"
"What? No! I couldn't get to sleep after you woke me up!" Louise vehemently denied, her crimson blush stubbornly staying put, "I went outside and saw you and this blue Twi'lek. Other than that, I've been in the Academy!"
"Sure, sure." Lyira said, giving Louise a look that told her the Pureblood was holding her word with a grain of salt, "Well, you don't have to worry." She continued "Her name's Vette and she was only helping me with my final trial. No need to get jealous."
"Oh… that's understanda-" Louise replied, only to pause when realisation struck, "wait… final trial!?"
The Pureblood grimaced before explaining, "Yeah, Darth Baras wants an apprentice pronto, and seeing as you killed Vemrin, he gave me my trial early. I'm… I'm leaving tonight."
Both girls sat in silence for a moment, one contemplating what was said, and the other being content in the presence of her friend. "What are we supposed to do now?" Louise asked, looking the raven-haired girl in her eyes, almost pleadingly.
"Well, I need to pack, but besides that, I can do whatever I want." Lyira answered solemnly, "Though, I have to be on the shuttle out of here by night. We could walk around a bit, have a picnic up in your hidey-hole or something... I would need to message Vette, but other than that…"
"I would like that."
...
Truly, it did not take much time for Lyira to get packed, as the most she had were a few pairs of the acolyte uniform, two robes, some undergarments, her weapons and utilities. She had also forsaken her uniform in place of a pragmatic close fitting dark robe that she had seen a few Sith wear, displaying her newly acquired lightsaber -which she had acquired, weirdly enough, in a tomb- proudly on her hip. When Louise saw her all dressed up, she had thought her roommate… her former roommate looked more like a Sith than she had ever seen.
Once she had packed most everything into a duffle bag, she slung it over her shoulder and motioned for Louise to follow her out the door. First, they entered the cafeteria to grab some food for later, this also in a bag of its own, then they headed off towards the exit.
Aside from a few awkward attempts at small talk, they walked in silence. Louise could not remember the last time she had trouble talking with the red woman, they always had something to say, and when they did not, they were comfortable enough in each other's presence that it did not matter. As of right now, the pinkette felt like a pressure was bearing down on her heart; so much to say to her one and only friend, yet nothing. The simple thought of Lyira leaving her was jarring, she did not want to be alone again, with Harkun and Ffon, with the nightmares.
She could just imagine it, the tossing and turning, the fearful whimpers as she spoke to mere phantoms that haunt her dreams, the mute screams as she relived that moment every night with no comforting touch to sooth her mind. And the part that made it worse... If I hadn't killed Vemrin, she would still be an acolyte.
Louise never realised how much she had depended on her red friend. Without her, she would have gone insane and did something she would have regretted, if she had time to regret her actions, that is. How her life would have been different if another acolyte had taken Lyira's place, whether it be a blood purist, a slave hater or any other such acolyte the Sith train.
Soon, the duo had exited the Academy complex, veering off to the right to where Louise knew the 'hidey-hole' was. That was when Lyira decided to break the silence. "So, what are your thoughts on the Academy?"
"And what prompted this line of questioning?" Louise asked.
The Pureblood simply shrugged at the query, "I was just curious."
"Well, you're the one leaving, you should go first."
"Eh, okay." Lyira said, "Well, I do enjoy the bedrooms and the comfortable beds, though the fear of being eaten alive whenever we journey beyond the Academy grounds. Overseer Tremel was nice enough, sadly Darth Baras wasn't of the same opinion of me."
Louise did not have the same opinion of the dark-skinned Overseer. She thought he was very much like Harkun, exactly like Harkun. Vemrin was practically in the same boat she was, though he went about it in a different, and ultimately fatal way. Ffon and Lyira had the same similarities as being the Overseers favoured… and being Pureblood Sith, not that she held it against her former roommate.
"The weather is certainly better than Dromund Kaas," The Sith continued, "though not much competition there. And of course…"
Louise waited for an answer from the suddenly nervous Lyira, but when none came she repeated, "Of course?"
"…You."
Louise honestly had no idea how to react to the answer, though her body though blushing would be a good answer. But as she thought of it, Lyira was also the better part of the Academy. "Well, you're certainly one of the better parts of the Academy as well… both of the academies."
They both trailed off into a comfortable silence that was much less depressing than before. Louise had also found Lyira's arm wrapped around her for the remainder of the trip. Eventually, they arrived at the hideout, quickly setting up a small area for the picnic. Various foodstuffs had been arrayed on a sheet they had taken from Lyira's bed. It was not an enormous amount, but enough to satiate the two girls. Once done, they sat back down together, the low hanging sun off to the side of their vision.
"What was your academy like? I mean, I know it was a pretty rough time for you, but what were the differences between the academies?"
"Why would you want to know that? I won't be seeing it, nor will you."
"I know that, but I still want to know about it"
"Well, it's certainly different than Korriban." Louise began, "It wasn't built on a holy burial, not even a valley, just an open plain with a nearby forest. The actual grounds is built like a fortress with five towers forming a pentagram around the centre, largest tower. One of the biggest differences is the curriculum; the Sith Academy has more of a self-study, whereas my old one was more class based and instead of focusing on… well Sith stuff, its' more of a focus on general things like learning new abilities or how to be nobility. There's three set years, first, second, and third years, and once you pass your third year your schooling's over. Another difference is the fact that people getting hurt… well, nobles getting hurt is considered a bad thing. The teachers are supposed to protect the students from all types of harm… supposed being the key word." She added bitterly, "Apparently, someone like me isn't afforded the same protection."
Lyira merely pulled the pinkette into a half hug, silently comforting Louise. As time went on, their talks varied from thing to thing, what Lyira would be doing as an Apprentice, thoughts on Baras and Zash and so on and so forth. Then, somehow, they managed to get onto the topic of love.
"Where you in a relationship before you came to the Empire?" Lyira asked, looking off into space.
"Why would you want to know that?" Louise asked, "I thought Sith frowned upon relationships… something about them being a weakness"
"It's a stupid thing, and I was just curious." The Apprentice brushed off.
Louise shrugged casually, deciding to answer the question honestly, "Well, there's my betrothed, Jean-Jacques."
"…do you like him?"
"He… he was always nice to me when I was a girl; as any betrothed should." Louise replied, "I think I was enamoured with the idea of a knight in shining armour. He could be quite suave when he wanted to. I… I don't know if I ever did actually love him. Maybe a bit, he was quite attractive, even with grey hair."
"Grey hair? At your age? Wh-"
"Oh, no, no, no, no. He's in his late twenties." The Pinkette clarified.
"That's around a decade difference!" cried the Pureblood, shocking Louise; she had never thought she would here Lyira sound scandalised in her life.
"It was an arranged marriage." Louise pouted, "Didn't really have a choice in the matter. But now, if he were here… I would probably call it all off."
"Not that I'm complaining, but why?"
"I will not have who I love dictated to me by others, even if it is my mother and father." Louise said resolutely, "I chose, a slave obeys."
Lyira nodded along in agreement, before asking, "So… you've always been interested in boys?"
"I haven't had many boyfriends if that's what you're asking. Not many guys into failures with flat chests." The petite girl said, the pout returning to her lips.
"No, I was asking if you've ever been interested in girls."
Louise paused. Previously, had anyone asked that she would have denied with vehement, but that would have been her prudishness showing, and considering it was Lyira's last day, she would be serious in her answer, "I never focused on that aspect of my life. Usually, I would be hitting the tomes, trying to find a way to fix whatever was wrong with me." Then something crossed her mind, a distant memory, one of a young Henrietta and the small pangs of jealousy she would feel whenever Prince Wales was around. Did I have a crush on the Princess? The more she thought about it, the more memories came up, despite their age, and with them, feelings that had long been forgotten. I always did hold her to such a high regard, even despite her title…
Ultimately, Louise did not voice her thoughts, mostly because she was not one-hundred percent sure, but another was because the simple thought of her and the Princess brought a blush to her face. Lyira accepted the answer given, but a smirk grew on her face when she noticed the blushing girl suitably try to hide her face.
After a moment pause, the Pinkette asked, "What about you?"
"Me?"
"You got anyone you're interested in?" She asked again.
This time it was Lyira's turn to get a bit flustered at the questioning, though it was harder to tell if the Sith was blushing or not, "Uh… yeah… kind of." She replied awkwardly.
While Louise knew almost immediately that there was, she still asked, "What'd you mean?"
"Well…" The Pureblood said awkwardly, "I don't know if they like me or not."
Louise frowned at the answer, "Why don't you tell them?"
"I would, but they're pretty oblivious." Replied the Apprentice, her lips halfway between a knowing smirk and an awkward grimace, "I could be talking to them right now and they wouldn't know." She added, the smirk growing.
"Wow. Pretty thick if they can't see it." The Acolyte replied.
At that, Lyira actually laughed, "You have no idea."
Once again, a silence fell upon the two, who were content to just eat and watch the sun as it made its voyage across the sky. Soon, the sky had turned a crimson red that heralded the setting sun and the rising moons. It was quite beautiful in Louise's humble opinion, much more magical than her homeworld, even without taking into account that the world was practically seeping in this galaxies version of magic.
It was as Louise was enjoying the last few minutes of sunlight that Lyira spoke up. "We should take a picture." It was less than a suggestion and more of a proclamation.
"What?"
"A picture, to commemorate this moment." The Sith explained, "Our final moments before I go on to become an apprentice."
"Okay." The two squished closer, sitting in such a way that the sun would light them both up. Louise had snuggled her head into the nook of the Pureblood's neck, while she rested hers atop the Pinkette's. Lyira, having longer arms, turned her datapad towards the two once she set up the camera.
"On the count of three." Said Lyira.
"one, two, three."
The sound of a snap being made -the by-product of a long, long since redundant piece of technology- alerted them that the image had been taken. Pulling the pad closer, they both examined the picture: Two smiling faces stared back at them, both lit with a scarlet hue. At a glance, they looked happy, but look closer, and you could see tears form in their eyes.
Quickly, Lyira sent the image to her soon-to-be former roommate in a small message, before her eyes darted to the time. A sigh left her lips as she saw it was getting a bit late, "I've got to go now."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Please don't leave me…"
"I have to," Lyira replied, despite the desires, she felt, "I'm an apprentice now. If I don't leave, Baras will have my hide."
"Please, at least let me escort you to the shuttle," Louise asked hopefully.
"Of course you can," Lyira replied, hugging the pinkette tightly. And so, they began to descend from the valley wall, and head off to the valley in a melancholic silence.
There were two shuttle pads in the valley of the Dark Lords, one was for the hopefuls, and the other was for commercial use. During her yearlong study at the academy, she had visited both a number of times, just to familiarise herself with the lay of the land. The Hopefuls landing pad was at the mouth of the valley, built so those who wish to become acolytes must travel from the pad to the Academy proper. The commercial pad was built on the right side of the Valley -if you were looking out from the entrance of the academy- quite close to the main building for convenience; it was also where the skycars were located.
As luck would have it, her hideaway was also on the same side of the Valley, between the Academy and the landing pads. So, it did not take too long to descend the valley wall and arrive at the shuttle pad, despite how slow they had both walked. When they arrived, they found an odd sight as two shuttle guards were arguing with a familiar blue Twi'lek.
While Louise did not pay much attention to the shuttle guards, she did pay attention to Vette. Dressed in a tight brown outfit, far cry from the robes and armours of the Empire, it was a practical casual in her opinion. The Twi'lek, on the other hand, was very much the same as every other female she had seen of the species with the cone ears and the twin lekku. However, the thing that drew her attention the most was the familiar contraption attached to the back of the alien's neck; a shock collar.
While she very much doubted that Lyira was the cause of the collar, it was very suspicious and put her on edge.
"Hey, Vette!" Lyira greeted, drawing the trio's attention to herself and Louise. "There isn't a problem, is there?"
Vette smirk victoriously, waving back before turning to the two, now nervous, guards, "See, I told you two!"
"A-apologies, my lord. We-" One of the guards spoke, bowing deeply.
Lyira put up a hand to stall his apologies, "It doesn't matter, what matters is that me and Vette here, need to take this shuttle to the Korriban Station under orders of Darth Baras." She informed.
"Yes, ma'am." The guard said, taking on a more business-like tone, "Head inside and the shuttle with direct you to the station."
"Vette, go on ahead, I'll be with you in a second," Lyira said to the twi'lek who nodded along cheerily, continuing to smirk at the guards before hopping aboard the ship. "So... that was Vette. Don't worry about the shock collar, I didn't put it on, and will be taking it off soon anyway."
"Good," Louise said, disliking the idea of the collar staying on for any amount of time, though she knew her heart was not with her conviction.
"So, I guess the is goodbye, for now."
"Please, don't leave." Louise pleaded, grasping each of the Purebloods hands, her pink eyes searching the vivid green of her friends for anything she could use to keep the Sith on Korriban.
"Lou, I have to. Baras will have my hide." The Pureblood said, pausing only to grimace at the pout on her former roommate's lips, "Louise. I wanted to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I don't know how to put it, but… you've been a great friend. I never really had someone like you before." Lyira said, smiling sadly, but there was also a hint of nervousness behind her eyes, "I just wanted to say…"
"Yes?" the petite acolyte prompted, curious to know what was getting the Sith so worked up.
"I… I… I think I… kriff it!" Before Louise could even respond to the odd choice of words, Lyira had pulled the pinkette close and smashed their lips together. Louise felt body seized up and her mind went blank, only the most basic of thought processes were working as it furiously tried to understand what was happening. Strong and firm hands had wrapped themselves around her lithe body, pulling her into an embrace as the Pureblood pushed deeper into the kiss.
Her senses were overwhelmed by the odd flavour and texture of Lyira's mouth and tongue as emotions both familiar and foreign filled her head, causing her heart to start beating furiously; confusion, longing, sadness, love, shock, awkwardness, and fear all mixing together in an explosive cocktail that overloaded her mind. Some, she knew to be hers, but others were not. Once her mind had fully recognised that yes, she was being kissed, that yes, her first kiss was being stolen away by her first true friend, she began to panic.
Louise had no idea how to react other than stand there wide-eyed as her best friend awkwardly, yet passionately kissed her. Her body, on the other hand, felt like it was increasing several degrees in temperature, causing sweat to clammy her hands.
Before she could even think of a reaction, the kiss was broken. Lyira pulled away, looking down at the pinkette, her cheeks a flamed with what Louise assumed to be a blush. For a second, an unreadable expression flashed across her face before the Sith turned and sped towards the shuttle.
Her mind dazed after the kiss, it took a moment before she caught up with what was happening. Once she did, Louise began to sprint over to the ship, however, it was too late. The shuttle's door slid shut and the engines began to fire up, launching it far into the air.
Louise stared up at the fleeting ship as it exited the atmosphere, becoming little more than a black dot in her eyes.
Her breath began to quicken as emotion soon took hold, particularly anger, but another emotion stopped her before she did something she would regret: Awkwardness.
The awkwardness the shuttle guards were feeling was almost palpable as one shifted their stance enviously, trying their best not to look in her direction.
Turning around, Louise tried her best not to sprint back to her room, instead forcing herself into a brisk pace. Her face was set in stone, dull and lifeless, and her eyes unfocused. Any onlooker who gave her less than a passing glance would see nothing out of the ordinary, and that was what anyone truly saw.
Once inside the safety of her room, she let down her walls. Though, instead of exploding into a ball of rage like she felt she would, tears began to fall. Frustration was one of the main things she was feeling at that moment. Too many emotions were running through her to properly react; she wanted to scream and shout and curse the heavens, she wanted to curl up and cry, to beg and plead who, or what, ever was out there to make sense of the world, she wanted to break something… hurt someone. But, Louise could not bring herself to do any of those things.
She just stood there. Tears clouding her vision. Breathing in and out. Trying to make sense of the world.
The same question was playing on repeat in her mind: Why? Why did Lyira have to leave? Why did she leave? Why… why did she have to kiss me?
Two days later, and Louise finally managed to pull herself from her bed, if only not to earn the wrath of Umbris. However, this proved to be a fortuitous choice, at least according to the instructor who praised the pinkette on her aggressive turn their sparring matches took on.
Louise did not know what gave her the idea to meditate on the runes, though she did have a few theories; loneliness, boredom, curiosity, the need for something different. So, at the beginning of the seventh week of the second month, the pinkette locked herself in her room, stripped down, and began to meditate, using the lightsaber as a focus instead of her training blade.
Unlike last time, the entire ritual happened much faster. Soon the uncomfortable itch disappeared along with the Force, and the cold metal floor was replaced with the tickling feeling of grass blades.
Opening her eyes, she found herself, not in the same place as before. Instead, she was sitting in a wide clearing. From her position, she could see a town far off by the tree line and a crowd of people standing in a semi-circle. Away from the circle, she could see several animals ranging from snakes and rabbits to a griffon and a very large purple dragon. Pulling herself up, she began to walk closer to the group. Much like the last time she was here, she was not noticed by anyone, something she was still thankful for due to her current state of undress.
She could recognise only two people, them being Brimir and Sasha, an older Brimir and Sasha, who were both standing over a stone table. Brimir looked to be writing things down reverently. Standing to the right of Brimir, was a sandy-haired man dressed in an amalgamation of leather and plate armour with an odd dark cloak, he was armed with a bow and a tribalistic staff with a large purple crystal atop it. On the other side of the table, was a tall and lanky elf dressed in a deep green tunic with a leaf motif.
The rest of the crowd were comprised of men and women of varying ages, somewhere mages, if the wands and staffs were any indication, but there was a small minority that could possibly be commoners -a brief spell of uncomfortableness washed over Louise. Once she drew near, she could begin to hear a conversation between Brimir and his compatriots.
"Come on, Brim." The bowman said, pulling both Brimir's and Louise's attention to him, "The people are starting to get restless. If you continue to write your revisions, you'll never be ready."
The Founder sighed, rubbing his forehead with hand, "I know, Eric, but what if it messes up again. I mean, I took yo-"
"Hey," 'Eric' cut in, putting a firm comforting hand onto Brimir's shoulder. "I would be dead if it weren't for you. Stop beating yourself up."
"Yeah, stop saying you're sorry already." Sasha added, "It'll work this time."
"Okay." Brimir said, and with that, he turned, taking several pieces of parchment in hand, and began to address the gathered crowd, "I am happy for you all to join us on this, hopefully, momentous occasion." As he said this, people began to stretch, becoming more alert of what was being said and cheered, "As you all know, I have been working tirelessly to try and innovate a certain spell that is important to all of the Markey. You all know the dangers, and those who have written their name down to test have agreed to take the risk. Now, eh…" the blond messiah shuffled the texts in hand, before reading, "Korl?"
At the utterance of the name, one of the children standing in the semi-circle, a young boy roughly in his early teenage years, stepped forwards nervously, "Yes, Chief?"
"You're first up, come here." The blond beckoned. After a moment's hesitation, the child obeyed, walking right up to Brimir, "Now, once you summon your familiar, use this spell and seal the contract. No engraving required."
"It sounds so simple." Said Korl nervously, taking the parchment in hand. Though, the Pinkette, on the other hand, was staring wide-eyed at the Founder, realising that she was about to witness a familiar summoning in the presence of the Founder himself.
"That's the point," Brimir said, sending off the child to the centre of the semi-circle. From where she was standing, Louise could just barely make out the etching of a large pentagram that had been neatly cut into the ground.
"Okay." The child cleared his throat before beginning, drawing a wand from his waist, "I, Korl Thordson, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar!" with that he flourished his wand.
The Pinkette on with a hint of surprise and resentment as the boy flawlessly summoned a great green portal that soon deposited a great grey wolf. Said wolf looked around in confusion, sniffing the air before growling at all around it causing Korl to step back in fright.
"Okay, so far so good… okay, now. Korl, could you please turn over the parchment, there's another incantation. Say it, then kiss its snout." Brimir informed.
"Kiss it!?" Korl asked understandably shocked.
"Yes. Don't worry, I improved the spell. The Familiar should not be able to move."
The child, scared to the core, hesitantly walked closer to the grey beast, his wand raised in a defensive position with a spell on his lips. Once Korl was in touching distance of the wolf, he stuttered out the next words, "P-pentagon of the Five E-elemental Powers, grant your b-blessings upon this creature and binds it as my f-familiar." Once said, he quickly tapped the creature with his wand, kissed its snout and retreated from the grey wolf as quickly as his little legs could.
The effects of the ritual, however, did not wait up for Korl, and soon the wolfs right shoulder began to glow as the beast whimpered in apparent pain. Soon the glowing stopped, and the grey wolf lowered its head in submission, moving closer to its new master. The master, however, was still frightened of his summons, scooting back as the creature advanced.
Everyone else, on the other hand, had different reactions.
"Yes!" Brimir cheered enthusiastically, before noticing the startled looks of those closer to him, though the looks soon turned to praises and cheers as well, however, tamed compared to the Founders. Sasha the elf even ended up hugging the blond mage.
"I told you, Brim!" Eric said, clapping the Founder on his shoulder.
"It worked, it worked!" Korl exclaimed hugging the massive beast who seemed to nuzzle him back in return.
Brimir walked over patting him on the back and praising him before looking back at the piece of parchment. "Now, next summoner…", What followed was an event that brought much nostalgia, resentment and some small modicum of longing to Louise's heart. Several children, all looking around thirteen years old, had stepped up to summon their familiars. Cats, dogs, birds, snakes, and magical creatures of varying types were all called forth from the same green oval, each creature bound flawlessly to their masters. While it was a routine summoning in Louise's mind, she could see from the looks on everyone around hers faces, Brimir's especially, that it was a grand display of magic, especially the contract spell. Whenever one of the children went to bind, majority looked on with bated breaths, though it quickly turned to cheers as the creature was bound.
Soon, every child who looked of age had summoned their familiars, each one grinning ear to ear despite how mundane or majestic their familiars might be; from frogs to the rare fire serpent. Brimir especially seemed pleased with what was happening, until Eric clapped him on the back.
"Is that enough proof, Brimir?" He said, "Confidant to try it yourself now?"
Immediately the Founder's expression soured, "I guess."
"Oh, come on, Brimir." The Elf, Sasha said, grabbing the blond's hand, "Eric was a one-time thing, you got to try again."
Conflict ruled as he seemed to be fighting with the idea of summoning something, but eventually, he resigned, "Okay, okay. I'll try." The Founder of Magic stepped forwards into the centre of the semi-circle admitted the cheers of those around him, each telling him that it would work this time.
His wand flicking into his hand, he closed his eyes in concentration before reciting the same summoning spell used by all the children. The look of anticipation on everyone's faces was infectious to Louise. She was going to see the Founder summon a familiar, and despite no longer following the doctrine, she was feeling slightly excited.
His wand flicking into his hand, he closed his eyes in concentration before reciting the same summoning spell used by all the children. The look of anticipation on everyone's faces was infectious to Louise. She was going to see the Founder summon a familiar, and despite no longer following the doctrine, she was feeling slightly excited.
With a flourish of his wand, he ended the incantation. After a beat, a small cloud of light blue smoke started to seep from the ground, gradually growing in size. Everyone watched on in confusion as the cloud began to swirl around at increasingly fast speeds, only to jump back in surprise as purple electricity discharged like a storm cloud. In the centre of the miniature hurricane, Louise could make out a two-meter-tall green oval flashing into being, only marginally obscured by the blue smoke.
Briefly, Louise's mind conjured the thought that the Founder had somehow summoned a hurricane as a familiar, but all thoughts stopped as she felt her connection to the Force restore. A jarring experience no matter how dull and off it felt. She was not the only one who could feel it, however. It seemed everyone knew something strange was going on, blue smoke notwithstanding. The familiars especially felt the effects of the Force, specifically the Dark Side. Some tried desperately to drag their masters away, and some of the bigger ones managed to do just that, others growled at the strange sight and a small percentage fled without their masters. Even the dragon reacted, moving with surprising speed to protect Brimir, Eric and Sasha with its body.
Suddenly, the centre of the miniature hurricane darkened like a shadow before the entire thing exploded spectacularly.
Louise, for her part, was wholly unaffected by the blast, whereas quite a few others were kicked off their feet, but some, such as Brimir, managed to stand their ground. Soon, the air was cleared with a quick application of wind magic revealing a large crater where the summoning circle once was.
Quickly, Brimir sent out orders, telling some of the older people to take the children back to the village, while he and a small group of people encroached on the crater. Louise, however, stood stock still, too stunned to even move.
While she had only been in this… land? Plane? She did not know what to call it. But whatever it was, she had only visited it once, and even then, she had no idea what to expect. But from what she had gotten from that experience was that the Force had no place in it. At all. The first time, and even the second up until this point, it was void of the Force both literally and figuratively. Now she could suddenly feel it, well, it felt like a dull memory, but she could still sense its familiar presence. The cool embrace of the Dark Side.
With trepidation, Louise began moving towards the crater. She could hear panicked and confused shouting from the group as they fussed around with, from what she could hear, a person.
Soon she was at the mouth of the crater, where she briefly stumbled upon looking at what they were referring to. A woman, if the figure was anything to go by, whose long dishevelled strawberry blonde hair lay messily around her head, and whose skin was pale, so much so, she could have passed for dead. However, the thing that surprised the pinkette the most, was her attire; A loose grey tunic, pants and a long breechcloth that reached just below her calves. Over that was a dark breastplate with armoured boots to protect her feet and braces for her arms.
Many months of spelunking in tombs had made her quite accustom to the various designs of the Old Sith Empire, and the armour and robes the unconscious woman wore was definitely of Sith decent in both decals and make. Whoever the woman was, she was important.
A bright light drew her from her stupor. Turning, she saw Eric moving his hand over the Sith's body, muttering in a foreign tongue. The light, however, seemed to be emanating from the man's palm, not that she could see the true source. Louise was only minutely surprised by that development, as the sight of a Sith in Halkeginia was more deserving of her shock.
Beside the bowman mage, Brimir and Sasha were heatedly discussing the prospect of binding the unconscious Sith. Louise had enough experience to know that the Founder was right to have reservations about binding the Sith; if anyone tried to bind her, she would probably stab them with their own wand. Repeatedly. Though, it soon became apparent that Sasha had one the debate.
"Fine, I'll bind her!" He shouted heatedly before calming himself down a bit, "But if this comes and bites me, I'll bring you down with me." Brimir readied his wand and began to incant the more archaic Familiar Contract spell before quickly pecking her on the lips. After a few seconds, the effect became clear, her body began to tense and her teeth gritted together, then her forehead lit up as she hissed in pain as ten runes began to etch themselves into her skin. Suddenly, as if awoken by the pain, the blonde's hazel eyes flashed open, her body convulsing.
The scene began to blur, and Louise became acutely aware of a headache threatening to split her head. She stumbled back from the gathered crowd trying her hardest to mute or at least ignore the pain, but any technique she tried bore fruitless. Her vision continued to blur, flashing darkly before she found herself face down in her room.
The headache began to diminish, soon becoming barely noticeable allowing the Pinkette pulled herself up from the floor and onto her bed, flopping down tiredly.
"A Sith." Louise said monotonously, rubbing her temples to try and alleviate another headache she could feel coming, "A Sith. in Halkeginia. Summoned by the Founder." An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she summoned her datapad from the desk. Flipping it on, she found that it was only an hour past noon. "It is too early to deal with this!"
And so, instead of meditating on the thoughts of a Sith in Halkeginia, or practising the various things Louise had been taught by Umbris, she decided to check out the HoloNet; something she had neglected to do for various reasons. During her search, she found quite a few interesting things, such as a HoloTube account belonging to a Dark Council member, a HoloSite entirely dedicated to cute pictures of Gizka -she bookmarked that one, feeling that she would need it later- quite a few 'How To' sites -she also bookmarked- and one peculiar HoloSite which caused what was left of her innocence to die before her very eyes. All in all, she was both in awe and completely disgusted by what she had seen. She would be visiting the HoloNet. A lot.
Louise awoke with a metaphorical frown on her face. It was the day her trial ended and she loathed the thought of being in the presence of her Overseer. She knew, that he would be unable to even lay a finger on her, but he would not put it pass him. However, her trial was not the only thing on her mind as she went about her day, both the vision and the kiss she had gotten had higher priority in her mind. One, a source of angst, and the other, a source of mystery and intrigue; The fact -because she fully believed that the visions were true- that a Sith Lord had somehow arrived on her homeworld during the Founders time was one that caused headaches if thought about too much. Louise would have thought that the news of a Sith walking with the Founder, as a familiar from what she saw, would have been in any number of the history books during her time on Halkeginia, but she could not remember hearing that word anywhere. Though, I supposed it did make sense. She thought. Our governments, while less... Sith... are very similar.
Though, those thoughts quickly ended as she walked down the halls to Harkun's office. A monstrous scowl etched on her face. Louise just hoped that it would be an uneventful meeting, she swore she was going to stab Harkun if he tried anything.
Upon entering, she found Harkun sitting down at his desk. At first, the pinkette assumed she was early when she noticed Ffon's absence, but Louise knew this to be incorrect. then the bitter-sweet thought entered her mind; perhaps Ffon had gone and gotten himself killed. Bitter, because she was not there to see the life leave his eyes. Sweet, because he was finally dead.
Noticing her presence, Harkun looked up at her, his neutral expression turning to an infuriating smirk. "Well, well, well, look who finally showed up." He said smugly, "Ffon has already left by the way. Your final trial will be to retrieve an ancient map from the innermost chamber of Naga Sadow's tomb; a chamber that has never been breached in thousands of years. But to get the map, you will have to awaken a Dashade. You cannot get the map without it."
The Acolyte nodded absently, absorbing the information before reviewing it. She had visited Naga Sadow's tomb a few times, though she was loathed to venture far because of the unearth shrieking that would assault her ears. She really did not want to meet whatever creature it was. Though, to be honest, hearing she would have to meet a Dashade both terrified her and piqued her interest; A supposed race of biologically immortal monstrosities that ate Force-users and, worser still, were resistant to Force based attaks. Louise hoped that the Dashade would be amiable.
"Oh, and one more thing." Harkun continued, pulling Louise from her musings, "You'll be competing with Ffon for this map. Whoever brings it back will be Lord Zash's apprentice. The other will die. Ffon's already started. So, my advice? Run, slave, run."
For a second, Louise stood there, looking like a startled deer. Then, her hand shot to where her lightsaber was hidden. Nobody would believe that a simple Acolyte could kill a full-fledged Sith Lord, even if it was just an overseer. Heck, the only people who knew she had a lightsaber was Lyira, Zash and Lord Umbris. One was far away and the other two did not like Harkun, at least from what she had seen. If she did the deed quickly and quietly, she could leave and get started on her last trial and nobody would be the wiser. But, sadly, before she could make a move, a third party joined their group.
"Ahem, one moment, please." The familiar voice of Lord Zash called, stopping the pinkette from committing first-degree murder.
"Lord Zash? What are you doing here?" Harkun asked shocked.
"Overseer." She began, her tone condescending as it was accusing, "Are you implying that I -a lord of the Sith- don't have the right to go where I please within the Academy of the Sith."
"No, of course not, my Lord." The Overseer denied.
"Good." Zash said pleasantly, "I saw the last acolyte arrive, I wanted to see the hopefuls off on their final trial. Where's… um… what's his name… the red one, Ffon?"
Harkun looked marginally put out by the Zash's obvious faux-forgetfulness, but answered her question, "He arrived early, so I sent him on his way, rather than keep him waiting for-"
"Pity," She cut in, "I just finished translating the wonderful texts he brought me. It's most illuminating. I don't know if the map could be retrieved without it."
"It's too late. Ffon's already left. You can't just-"
"Give one acolyte an unfair advantage over the other?" Lord Zash interjected, "Overseer when has being Sith ever been about being fair?"
"I didn't know you were one for fairness, Harkun." Louise jabbed quickly, glaring at her Overseer with thinly veiled contempt, "Perhaps you should send someone to assassinate him as well?"
"Oh, yes, I heard about that. Quite impressive, Acolyte." The blonde Sith said knowledgeably, before turning fully to the Pinkette, "Now, to free the Dashade, you must collect several rods scattered throughout the tomb. These rods are the keys to unlock the chamber where the ancient assassin is imprisoned. I don't know the exact reason, but it is clear you will not retrieve the map without the Dashade." She informed, pulling a datacard from her belt, "This card will give you the rest of the information needed. I shouldn't need to tell you how dangerous the Dashade is, but I will warn you: Be careful, this Dashade has killed many Force-Sensitives, do not underestimate it." Seemingly content with the information she had given, she turned to Harkun, fixing him with a piercing glare, "You will not do anything further to affect the outcome of this trial. Understood?"
"Yes, my Lord." He replied quietly.
"Good." She said before turning back to Louise, "May the Force serve you well."