Chapter XXXXI

The large chunk of rubble from the Jedi Temple levitates into the air, and the light of day casts down onto Darth Titus. The Sith cover's his white eyes with his bionic arm, he can hear the slam of the lifted piece of rubble hitting the ground nearby. He can feel the presence of a Force wielder standing over him.

"I suspected a mutiny from you, my Apprentice, but never to this high of a scale."

Titus recognizes that deep and calm voice.

"Master." he weakly mutters.

"A Rebellion?!" Titus's Master says in anger, "Did you really think, that I wouldn't discover your plot to destroy me?"

Titus wheezes, "No, Lord Maul. I trusted however you wouldn't discover it, until it was too late to save yourself."

"On the contrary, I've known for some time of your treachery. Did you think I was foolish enough to believe Lady Tano would actually join us? As my assassin?" Maul laughs before returning to his serious tone. "No, I know of her noble heart and resilience to the temptation of the Dark Side. I knew she would refuse your offer, and that she is clever enough to defeat you. In which case I can see she made use of the Empire, and the one they call Darth Vader."

Titus shakes his head, "So you plotted my defeat from the start. All the while you used me to find Malachor, so you can take the Sith holocron within the Sith Temple for yourself."

The red faced Zabrak smiles, pleased in hearing the reveal of his plot, "Precisely, my Apprentice."

Titus groans, "And do you believe you will be able to enter the Temple by yourself? In the rules set by Darth Bane, there can only be two, and it will take two to enter the Temple. No more, no less."

"I am aware. I have no further use of you, and soon I will have a far stronger apprentice." Maul closes his golden eyes and smiles sinisterly. "There has been a disturbance in the Force, haven't you felt it? The Force has shown me a sign of him in my visions, a white Loth-Wolf on a planet covered by savannah and rock. A sign, possibly, of the Chosen One."

Titus laughs, "You're a fool. You know nothing of the Chosen One, you're premonitions are false. Falsely led by your blind ambitions to find Obi-Wan Kenobi, instead of seeking power as a true Sith."

Maul glares down at Titus, "Regardless, be it true or not that he is the Chosen One. The boy revealed by the Force, is real, and fate will bring him to me. I will go to Malachor on my own, where I will wait for him to come."

"Then you will die under a false hope."

Maul shakes his head, "No, my Apprentice. Now you will die."

In two swift moves and without hesitation, Maul opens his red lightsaber blade, and strikes Titus with a deadly jab through the heart.

Titus's body withers into a lifeless shell, as the robes of Darth Nihilus drain what remains of Titus's living Force into its cursed fabric. The cold hands of those whose lust for power compelled them to wear the robes, only to fall victim to the overwhelming power of Nihilus, reach out to pull Titus's soul into a dark oblivion. The power Titus craved in the robes, and he alone - aside from the Lord of Hunger himself - was able to control, consumes him; thus being the fate of Darth Titus.

Maul retracts his lightsaber and hooks it back to his belt. Maul laughs in his throat as he returns to the Nightbrother, Maul's modified Kom'rk-class fighter and a token from his days of ruling Mandalore.

As he pre-sets the coordinates for his homeworld of Dathomir, he powers up the ships signature scrambler in order to once again sneak past the Imperial fleet virtually invisible.

Maul cunningly smiles as he says to himself, "The journey, has only just begun."