My dear Rosh, I have a task for you. There seems to be a planet that has eluded me; one that wasn't mentioned in Skywalker's database, but in Bast Castle's archives of tomes and data chips we recovered.

The former heart of the Sith Empire, Ziost. It's a world very much like Vjun, overrun by the Dark Side and twisted to show its own image. I know you have been vying for a means to redeem yourself from your defeat at the hands of Jaden Korr.

I'll hold onto the scepter while you secure the area for my arrival. Don't fail me this time.

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Temptations

Chapter 20

Masters of the Dark

One month.

It's been that long since Rosh had been defeated by Jaden. The fear still haunted him at night. Every day he awoke in a sheen of sweat, shaking and panting. He swore everyone else could hear his cries in the night, but none in the cult said anything of it.

But his master knew.

It showed, given the laboring he had to do since that encounter on Vjun. He was alone in his tasks, no longer given companions to aid in his endeavors. The troubles he experienced made him painfully aware of how much he relied on the strength of others.

Such as the time he worked with Jaden, and Kyle.

Shaking his head, he pushed away those memories. He didn't want to dwell on anything that could falter his confidence. It was already difficult to summon the Dark Side like he did on Vjun.

Yet, he wasn't supposed to. He had been informed that the nexus of the Force from corruption after ages of experimentation and ruin gave anyone skilled in use of the Dark Side. Anywhere else he had to rely on is teachings, and his own anger and fear.

The latter of which is something he became reliant on more and more these days.

Currently, the young man found himself touching down on an old world that was mentioned in Vader's personal archive of tomes and datachips. Not even Luke visited this place and his old master never spoke of it. When he brought it up to Tapion, he was told it would be a good place to test himself.

Either breaking him, or making him stronger.

Landing his modified TIE Interceptor on the top of a half demolished pyramid, its brickwork decayed and mottled with purplish weeds and bramble that is the result of centuries of overgrowth. Surrounded in a forest of blackish and violet flora, Rosh felt a wave of miasma enter his lungs as he exited the craft.

He felt like doubling over, staggering forward and nearly falling from the top of the flat precipice. Heaving, he clutched his chest, trying to steady his breathing by calling upon the Force.

Gradually, his torso lightened and his muscles relaxed. Inhaling in and out of his nostrils, the robed man stood tall and took in the scenery.

This pyramid lay among a collection, each one a mausoleum to ancient Sith who died millennia ago. He didn't know if this place is the one his former master visited, but it definitely had a Nexus of Force energy necessary for Tavion's ambitions.

My ambitions, too, he mused for a moment. His anger against Jaden fluctuated for a time, but now he knew what had to be done. In order to bring himself the strength and credit that is deserved of him, he will defeat the teacher's pet that she is.

Scaling the side of the massive complex, he dropped through an opening into the darkness within. Despite the warm humidity outside the interior held not a speck of warmth nor light.

Igniting his blade with a hiss of green, he held it up in a brandishing motion. The wall in front of him is a macabre dull rust color with etchings of black letters and symbols so old he couldn't tell what it meant. Looking down the right, he could see a corner that rounded down to another hallway.

Swallowing, he pushed forward, turning on his heels to the next hall.

Bodies. Dozens of them, bisected and left across from each other with old signs of a struggle here. Some were crushed by debris from the wall and ceiling, as if ripped out by hand or some invisible force.

Gritting his teeth he stepped around the corpses, eyeing his surroundings warily. It looked as if they died long ago, as even their clothes were in dusty shreds as well as some kinds of rusty armor that once covered their chests and limbs.

Whatever did this likely did so long ago, he surmised, carefully stepping over and around the cadavers.

Either a large creature did this or a Force wielder. He didn't see claw or teeth marks of any kind, so it couldn't be a predator.

It had to be a Jedi or Sith, then.

"Hello?" He asked, his voice called out experimentally. It carried the sound in an echo, with not a single sound returned back to him.

Swallowing hard, he continues on, trying to do his best to keep his nerves sharp.

Reaching out with the Force into the swirling nexus, he could feel the icy chill waft over his skin while heating up his blood inside of his veins. His eyes glowed amber, sensing out a fiery conflagration of energy that endowed the structure all around him. Even the corpses themselves ebbed a small aurora of energy, as if still clinging to life beyond death.

"Ahhh, a visitor," Came a voice from behind.

Rosh let out a cry, swinging his lightsaber about in an arc.

It had come a meter shy, revealing an elderly man wrapped in a patchwork black robe, his face concealed by a hood. The man didn't flinch, as if he had expected Rosh's flail and that he wouldn't have been hit.

A wrinkled pasty mouth curled into an amused smile at Rosh, illuminated by the pale green light shine over his face

"And a Jedi," He rasped out with a laugh. "It's been ages since I laid eyes on one. Come closer so I may get a better look at you."

"I'm…no Jedi," Rosh spat after some hesitation. "How did you get behind me? I didn't hear you, nor did I sense you."

"Not a Jedi?" The hooded man asked with a tilt of his head. "Then, what are you, if I may be permitted to ask?"

"I am Rosh Penin," He declared, sticking his blade up with both hands in a guarded stance. "And I am a member of the Order of Ragnos."

The withered man gave a chuckle, visibly smirking with amusement.

"Marka Ragnos. I haven't heard that name mentioned in quite a long time," He said, raising a thin hand up to stroke his bald sharp chin. "Then you are a slave to a Sith. Whom do you call Master, then, slave?"

"I am no one's slave!" Rosh snapped.

"Well, you're no Master," The man replied snidely. "I can smell the fear off you, like stench off a scared child."

Snarling, Rosh lashes out in an instant, throwing out a hand to drive a burst of Force Push into the the man. The figure skid back, lurching forward to regain his footing, dividing the bodies about him.

"Your anger is ripe, like a seared slab of meat scorched from shame," He said with a grin. Raising either hand a sudden chill filled the room, frosting the walls and casting vapor around the pair within the corridor.

"Let's see just how potent that rage is!"

As he shouted, the bodies surrounding him quivered, stirring to life as mouths groaned open and bones clacked noisily. Standing upwards in a circle around the mysterious robed man, Rosh felt himself geared for the coming battle.

The corpses themselves seemed to adopt more of a weightless stance, as if puppeteered by the the man's will.

The first one ahead soared at Rosh, swinging a rusty sword down at him.

A fierce snap of green severed the blade and the corpse's head in twain, the rest of its body tumbling behind the young acolyte. Three more leaped up in the air, arcing down to slam old weapons upon his head.

He throttled them with a Force Push, crushing them into pieces against the ceiling.

And in doing so, left him open for another corpse to tackle him into the floor. Falling to the floor, the saber deactivating as it slipped out of his grasp.

Grunting out in pain, he rasped out a breath cold hands grasped his throat and squeezed with a durasteel grip.

"Get…off…me!" Rosh strained with a snark, thrusting a fist up into the cadaver's chest-

KOOM!

-exploding the dead body in an upward shower of black ooze and flotsam.

Coughing as he tried to get his breath back, he saw six more corpses all flinging themselves at him. Gritting his teeth he dug deep into his pain, fueling the rage burning within.

And released it.

"HAAAAA!" He howled out in a torrent of Force Push, bludgeoning the six bodies and throwing them back with a visible rolling wave of energy. Crashing into the other bodies like missiles, the totality of their numbers quelled as they're sent sailing at the robed man.

That is, if he had been where he last saw him. The hail of corpses slammed into the corner of the corridor he came from, smashing them into grotesque chunks with a thundering impact.

"Coward," Rosh spat, reaching for his saber with a telekinetic pull.

Yet, it was held fast, in the clutches of another.

"What a nicely designed weapon," The man said, holding it upright up to his face. Draping fingers to brush along it he gave a grin up at Rosh's enraged visage. "You have talent, slave. I can sense it."

"Give it," Rosh began to say, energy coiling around his arms; then shooting out in a torrent of electrical power at the man, "BACK!"

Igniting the weapon with a hiss, the old man is pushed back across the floor. Energy siphoned into the blade of light, yet the additional Force pushing him across the floor took him aback.

A burst of Speed, and Rosh appeared beside the elder man. Swiping a blade from the floor, Rosh slashed at the man's neck, forcing him to raise the blade in defense.

KRAK!

Grunting out in pain, Rosh slammed a boot hard into the man's side. Grasping the blade in the stranger's grasp, Rosh used his other hand to strike his neck with a vicious jab.

Choking from the blow to his throat, Rosh pulled the blade out of the man's grasp and pulled it back to cut him down.

Frozen.

Rosh felt himself frozen in place, as if a vice was clenching every part of him. He couldn't move, barely breathe yet he couldn't muster up the strength to break free.

"That's enough," The man rasps out, standing upright and placing his hands behind his own back. "I have seen all I needed to. If you wish to secure this place, another would come stronger than you to finish the task left unfinished by you. I have no use for it as I've learned all I can from this tomb."

Turning on his heels, he began to walk, his feet barely making a sound as he did.

"If you wish to break the shackles binding you, slave, seek me out in Korriban. I feel our paths will cross there," He said, looking over his shoulder, a smile playing on his wrinkled face. "My name is Darth Nox. You merely need to speak my name at Korriban and I will appear."

All of a sudden, Rosh slashes like he has intended to, whiffing the air as he stumbles forward. Turning around for the man, he was nowhere to be found.

Was he testing me? Rosh wondered, given how easily he had been ensnared just then. Yet he was undeniable in power and wielded techniques he's never seen any Force user perform.

Not even Tavion.

Reaching for his comm, he called in for the all-clear.

All the while thinking about this proposition the man who he fought offered to him.

A/N: Apologies for the hiatus. I had to take care of some life things and I finally found the drive to return to this passion project of mine. Although this Chapter is short I hope you enjoy me giving some limelight to Rosh.

Much as I initially razzed him, I grew attached to the man as much as Jaden did. Let me know if I should do more with Rosh as I write out Jaden's next chapter