-training chambers, Kadath Station-
''Bring the test subject here.'' Snoke ordered and two sith sorcerers brought forth a chained Yuuzhan Vong warrior. ''Couldn't have been a better way to channel your force powers, my apprentice.''
''How did you capture a Yuuzhan Vong?'' I asked.
''The Eternal has been at war with the various hostile states in the Unknown Regions for centuries, my apprentice.'' Snoke explained. ''The Krillik, the Ssi Ruu, the Grysk and more. Only the Chiss Ascendancy is the Sith Eternal's ally. For the past few decades, I have sent legions of sith to face the Yuuzhan Vong to gauge them and delay their invasion. Sidious' aid has been most valuable in helping my forces but that can be further elaborated. You faced the Vong, my apprentice. I know how much you loathe them. They killed your friend afterall. Channel that hatred through you and unleash it as force lightning. Do it.''
I put my left hand out and tried to channel my hate for the Vong. I remembered how my best friend died and so did the good men at Belkadan. ''Focus, apprentice, and you can succeed. Channel the hate and let it burst forth as lightning.'' Snoke said and small sparkles came to my hand. Within a few short moments, a burst of weak, dark blue force lightning came out of my left hand but I retracted it in shock. Snoke was displeased with this. ''You pulled it back.''
''I was just taken off guard.'' I defended myself but no use. Snoke would not accept it.
''No. You retracted it in a moment of weakness and hesitation. Only the strong survive and the weak perish or serve. That is the rule of the sith and the universe. You must not show any weakness, apprentice. Once more, and this time, no hesitation. Kill the Vong using your hate.''
I channeled my hatred and called upon the dark side. Sparkles came to my fingers and a stronger lightning burst forth from my hand. The Vong warrior howled in pain as he was being electrocuted and I recoiled my hand back out of tiredness.
Snoke clapped his hands at the display. ''Not bad for a beginner, my apprentice.'' he complimented. ''Not bad at all. In time, you will learn to use force lightning as any true sith lord can. Come. I will show you the main base of operations in the Kadath star system, apprentice. The fortress world of Angmar.'' Snoke said and walked away.
I followed him back to the shuttle just as the sith sorcerers killed the Vong warrior. Once we boarded the ship, we flew to Angmar.
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-fortress world of Angmar, Kadath-
Angmar was a dark planet covered entirely by one city similar to Coruscant. However, Angmar was deep in the dark side and there were only three levels. In short, Angmar was like a gigantic industrial city for production and cultic center. The Sith Eternal commanded the millions of lowly labour that called Angmar home. Great hounds and other beasts corrupted by sith alchemy patrolled the walls, guarding the 'work-masters' who told the populous to labour. It was also in Angmar that the last of the original, red-skinned sith, many of them from the messassi caste, could be found.
(A/N: the palace of Angband)
''Form 5 would best suit you as your main lightsaber style, apprentice.'' Snoke adviced. ''You show great aptitude for all seven forms but form 5 fits best with you. Maybe, if your skills are good enough, you can complete form 9.''
''Form 9 was developed by Tulak Hord but knowledge regarding it had been lost save a few fragments and instructions.'' I said and Snoke was pleased at my knowledge from reading the books. ''Similar to the form 7 variant of vaapad but capable of taking in the opponent's force power, light or dark.''
''Yes. Vaapad was the lightsaber form that made the jedi Mace Windu so powerful. He was a dark side weilder's worst opponent as no matter how skilled you may be with a blade, he can use your power against you. That was how he managed to defeat Sidious in a duel. However, force abilities are a different story.''
''When the emperor ordered me to go to Kar Delba, I theorized that perhaps he might be a sith. You proved it to me and now, I understand quite a lot. However, the rule of two sith as created by Darth Bane would not allow rival sith to come. Why would the emperor, Darth Sidious, tolerate me or you or the Eternal?''
''Sidious considers the rule of two to have outlived it's usefulness as did his master, Darth Plagueis, and so did Darth Tenebrous, the master of Plagueis. Sidious tolerates us only for the fact that we do not pose a threat. By that, actively seek to overthrow him. The Eternal has knowledge, my apprentice. Knowledge that Sidious wants to gain even more power. And, in the event that should he die or the galaxy collapse, Kadath and it's planets will serve as a staging point for his resurrection and return.''
''So the Eternal is just puppets to him?''
''Or so he believes and desires it so. The Galactic Empire's military is created to not just fit the infamous Tarkin Doctrine that you so despised, my apprentice, but to safeguard peace. Once peace is secured and the galaxy is loyal to him, Sidious will create a Dark Empire. One that is run not by technology but by the dark side itself. The Sith Eternal is the key to that along with an army of loyal sith. But, that is just his wishful thinking.''
''How so?''
''Sidious is too powerful an opponent to be bested in combat even by me. But, in the future, you can defeat him. I have recieved visions of the future where Sidious will fall. He doesn't know it but I do and I have kept it hidden from him. When he shall fall, you will take the galaxy for yourself. By then, your training will be complete but for now, you learn.''
''So the emperor wants Kadath to serve as a factory for building his 'Dark Empire'.'' I muttered. ''I want to design the vehicles and ships.'' I told Snoke. ''All of Kadath and it's resources would soon be one day mine to command, is it not? I will make the designs for them and they will be unlike anything the galaxy has ever seen.''
''As I expected. You will be granted the authority to design them as you like, my apprentice.''
''Snoke, what sets the Eternal apart from other sith sects of the past and present? It's been described as a 'dark purple' variant and I know a purple kyber indicates balance. I wish to understand what type of philosophy the Eternal has as it's guide.''
''Because it is a different type of sith sect that attempts at a different approach, my apprentice.'' Snoke then got to the full explanation of the Sith Eternal. ''This new sith sect tries to balance the dark and light but in truth, it is to use the dark side with help from the light so as to not be consumed by it. Do not think that me telling you to use pain, hatred and anger as fuel think of this a hypocrisy. The Eternal is still part of the sith, not jedi. To use the negative feelings is how sith acquire their power but they become consumed by it. They call themselves master of the dark side but only serve the dark side as Revan once said. The Eternal hopes to use the dark but not be consumed by it as too the light. A balance slightly tipped in favour of the dark but not losing the light.''
''I understand.'' I replied and decided to share a dream I had. ''You told me that for a kyber crystal to work with it's user, the user must reach out to it. I did and though my crystal responded, it started having problems. Then, when I slept, I recieved dreams of a new design. And a sword, old and powerful on a red sand place, and several red crystals as well. What does it mean?''
''The force perhaps may reveal to you your true lightsaber. When I deem you good enough, you'll forge this new saber yourself. Old sword on a red sand place huh? It might be an ancient sith war-sword on Korriban. Whatever the case may be, in time, you will do this yourself. The force shall be your guide. Now, train, my apprentice.'' Snoke told me and walked away.
(in my bed chambers later that night)
I was preparing myself to get ready to sleep when the doors to my room opened. In came Snoke along with Anastasia, my death trooper guard captain. ''Anastasia!'' I said her name and without much thought, hugged her because I was relieved to see her well-being in person. ''I'm happy to see that you're fine.''
''As am I, sir.'' Anastasia replied and returned the embrace. A little bit weird as she was much taller than me.
''Why aren't you wearing your armor?'' I asked her and it was Snoke who answered.
''Because the sith sorcerers and cultists are crafting better armor for them, my apprentice.'' Snoke answered. ''Plastoid armor polished with black and only that. No. They will have armor made of pure proto-adarite and equipped with the best available technology and weapons.''
''Then I suppose thanks are in order, Snoke. But why have you brought Anastasia here?''
''That is something you have to figure out for yourselves. And because it's better I save space on this palace and do share the bed.'' Snoke then left my chambers, leaving me and Anastasia behind.
The floor was not suitable and there were no sofas in my room. Seeing no choice but to take Snoke's suggestion, I told Anastasia to sleep with me. The bed was very big afterall.
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-planet of Sheol in the Kadath system-
''Now, you will go to Sheol, another of Kadath's world and survive there.'' Snoke told me. ''The world is not as it may seem, my apprentice. It's locations are the breakers to any weak minded fool. Tread carefully in the lands of Mnar and the plateau of Leng and meet up with me in dread Carcosa.'' Snoke instructed and I exited the ship and set out on my own.
I walked through the swampy and lush green fields and tried to get up north to the fearsome plateau of Leng. Here, between the desert and the nomad lands, was the land of Mnar. From the texts describing the various geographies of Kadath, this was home to Sarnath, a great and mighty city. And indeed, it was a massive city but ruined and has been for several millenia, maybe more. I looked at the destroyed but still impressive buildings and works of architecture in Sarnath and was amazed by them. I sensed something and quickly ignited my lightsaber as a dark green, fishy humanoid attacked me.
They came, surrounding me like a horde, and I stood my ground. I cut down those that approached me but there were too many of them. At that moment, I remembered Snoke's words about the force being one's most powerful ally and I called upon it. I shot a stream of force lightning to send them back and I tried to dominate them with the force. It seemed to work until a large, water lizard like beast came out from the river behind me. ''You have got to be kidding me.'' I muttered just as it used it's massive claws to try to strike me. I dodged the attack by jumping and retaliated with a lightsaber swing but it only made the beast angrier. The beast came and I dodged again. I changed my strategy and used dark blue fire and force lightning on the beast.
The water-lizard wobbled back a bit and I used my grappling hook to get on top of it's head. I electrocuted it at the head and tried to dominate the beast. The water-lizard shook terribly, trying to get me off of him but I latched on still. In time, I managed to make the beast submit to my will and the fishy humanoids knelt down. ''Good. Now show me the best way out of Mnar.'' I ordered them and the giant monster moved. Minutes passed as I went up the rivers and marshy lands and stopped at the desert. ''You can't enter the desert huh? I understand. Go back and await for when I may need you.'' I ordered them and they went back to Sarnath's ruin.
The nomad lands was where I currently was. Tribes of wild men who rode horse-like creatures into battle could be found here. I had no time to deal with them and I continued my journey. I saw the safest road and took it. There, I encountered a scout and mind tricked him into giving me a free ride to the north. We rode for hours till the cold, grey waste of the north was reached and I released the scout from my power.
(plateau of Leng)
The dreaded plateau was as cold as Vandor but there was an atmosphere of eerie silence that made Leng a far worse place to be. The natives of the plateau were called Lengii and they were beautiful and long legged, accustomed to the harsh cold and they could reach heights of eight feet tall. The Lengii were rumored to have ice magic and rode giant spiders of pure ice to battle. The texts said that the Lengii were all female with skin and hair pale like snow and eyes like bright sapphires. Apparently they must been shy as I encountered not a single Lengii.
When I got atop the plateau, I walked to what looked like a religious structure and I immediately fell down. It seemed to have been a trap all this time. I took my lightsaber and struck it at the walls to break my fall. I landed and saw numerous chambers in the walls. It seems the Lengii built an underground city in the plateau. I saw a Lengii riding an ice spider go into one chamber and I followed. It was a long way through but I reached the end of the tunnel. It turned out to be a large room built like a stadium for numerous Lengii were watching me. They chanted a name and out from the shadows came a large sith wyrm; an ancient sith war-beast created from alchemy.
I channeled force lightning to my hands, concentrating it and not allowing it to burst out. As the sith wyrm came to attack me, I unleashed it in a terrible burst of lightning, disintegrating the wyrm to ashes. The Lengii who watched this were taken completely by surprise for they viewed the wyrm like a deity and thought it near unbeatable. The Lengii came down before me and knelt down in fear, respect and in praise. One of them, presumably their chief, came forward and kissed my boot and they offered to ferry me across the sea to where my target was.
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-strange, unknown ruined city-
Time was a funny thing in Kadath but in Sheol, it seemed inconsistent with the rest of the galaxy. It was very hard to tell when minutes, hours or days passed. I did not know how long I've been here to begin with, honestly. The Lengii helped me get across the sea and I was in some strange, unknown ruined city in the middle of the jungle. I sensed dark sorcery at play here and quickly enough, the dead rose. I could sense a hooded figure hiding in the trees and from the mysterious figure's hands came a breeze of ice that turned into weapons.
The undead warriors came to attack me but I made short work of them. The hooded figure, a very tall female, possibly a Lengii sith, came to attack me personally with her unique violet cokoured dual lightsabers. I used form 5 and the enhanced strength granted to me by the force to counter her. When she saw that I was the stronger lightsaber duelist, she kicked my saber away and she punched me hard across the field. ''That was no ordinary punch. So, she knows how to use shatterpoint. I remember Snoke telling me of how jedi master Mace Windu destroyed thousands of battle droids with that technique.'' I muttered and awaited for her to attack.
As she came at me, I shot balls of dark blue fire at her and then used force lightning on the Lengii sith. However, her body turned to shadow and she flew away. ''Shadow walking.'' I concluded. ''Snoke. You should've taught me that beforehand.'' I muttered and there was a sudden ring of fire surrounding me. I turned around to see another hooded sith, this time, a female Chiss. ''Who are you?'' I asked and the reply I got was the female Chiss sith taking out her lightsaber, igniting it and splitting it to make dual blades.
Her speed was unbelievably fast and I just managed to block her attack in time. I could tell her main forms were form 4 and form 6 and coupled with her speed and acrobatic skills, a very deadly combo. My heavy swings weren't much help as she was strong enough to withstand it. We dueled fiercely in the forest and ruined buildings of the city; our lightsabers echoing and sparkling like blaster bolts. She force pushed me to a tree and came for the attack. I got out just in time and changed my form to form 3 soresu for defense. Once I was confident enough, I switched to form 2 makashi. I returned the favour by force pushing the Chiss sith away and firing a barrage of dark blue force fire at her. She used her speed to get away and she threw boulders at me. I cut the boulders up and she came to attack me once again. With a heavy form 5 stance swing, I knocked out one of her lightsabers. She faced me with one blade only and proved to be quite capable. She got her other blade back, joined it with the one she held and used it as a double bladed lightsaber.
We dueled again but after two minutes, she jumped up to the dense tree tops. I pursued her and as I stood on the canopy, she used the force to send me fall down. I used my built-in grappling hook to get a hold on the trees and then started using it as a rope. The female Chiss sith followed me and we dueled it out in the tree tops. We jumped from tree trunk to tree trunk, slashing and trying to gain an advantage over the other. She landed near the temple complex of the city and I pursued. 'She's too skilled with a blade. Perhaps I can call upon the force to give me an advantage.' I thought and threw various boulders at her. She sliced them all up pretty nicely and force pushed me. It was strong but I managed to tank it and in retaliation, I shot dark blue fire at her. She used her force powers to create a shield, preventing any damage to her and I then shot my force lightning.
She returned the favour with her own red force lightning. Our respective lightning clashed for dominance. Her's was the stronger variant but I had more energy. She grabbed her lightsaber and then leapt to attack me. We dueled again in a fierce stalemate and she fled again. I gave chase and followed her to the top of the temple like structure and was greeted with a terrible sight. Anastasia, my other death troopers, Hans and Gunther were all tied up and at the mercy of the sith cultists who held knives at them.
I saw Snoke and I became furious. ''Snoke! What is the meaning of this?'' I demanded.
''You have a choice, apprentice. You can only spare one of them. Who shall it be? One of the pilots or a member of your guard? Maybe the pretty girl might be the one you want spared.'' Snoke said and laughed darkly. ''Choose. Only you have the power to save one or all! You have blamed yourself for things beyond your control or power for too long! Let go of your guilt, of your depression and reach your full potential!''
Snoke was right. I couldn't let the deaths of my parents, Captain Gary or others continue to chain me. 'The force shall set me free' I thought and I called to the force to release my chains and set my wings free. ''Let... them... GO!'' I ordered and a powerful wind swept across the area. Day turned to night and a cold winter like air replaced the humid atmosphere. The cultists were lifted up by force chokes and then released, only to be pushed back and I drew out the sith warriors who were hiding. ''Now... you will bow down... to your new king!'' I told them as lightning danced on my hands and it also roared loudly and angrily in the sky.
The sith warriors and cultists did so as told. They bowed down before me and I gave into my exhaustion. The last thing I saw was Anastasia coming to my side before I lost consciousness.
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-my personal chambers in Angband-
When I woke up, I was back in my bed chambers at Angband. ''Ugh... my head hurts. What happened?'' As I got up from my bed, I was greeted immediately with Anastasis's hug. ''Anastasia?''
''It's good to have you back, sir. I was worried that something worse could've happened to you.'' she said just as Snoke entered the room.
''Snoke. You thought it was a good idea to try and kill them in front of me? Your methods know no limits, do they?'' I asked him as I stood up from my bed.
''It was necessary to have done it. Now, we reap the benefits of it because you are closer to reaching your full potential. I have lived to see what every master wanted. In you, I saw raw, untamed power and immense in strength. I saw perhaps the chance to re-build the sith following Korriban's tradition unlike the rule of two sith.'' Snoke said, dismissing my previous accusation. ''Now, I am certain of it. You may have the chance to become like the sith emperor Vitiate.''
''That's a bold statement, especially given Vitiate's immense power.''
''Yes. But, you have the potential to reach his level of power one day. When your training is complete, you may be as powerful as him.'' Snoke then clapped his hands and in came three female sith. Two I recognized: the Chiss and Lengii; but the third, a woman similar to a succubus, I did not recognize. ''Every king needs wives and concubines do they not? These three are the best warriors in the Eternal and they are your's.''
''You spoil me.'' I replied. ''What are their names?''
''I never bothered with names.'' Snoke replied. He considered it too little a matter for him. ''The Chiss before you is the bastard daughter of a sith assassin who forced himself upon a Chiss female officer. A Chiss ship was damaged and the Eternal took the survivors from the battle. The daughter, strong in the dark side, had immense power and at age 14, she snapped her father's neck using the force.'' Snoke gave a brief overview of each of their lives to me. ''The Lengii, the daughter of a jedi survivor of Outbound Flight. When it was destroyed, the jedi fled the destruction but he was found by my forces and I had him imprisoned in ice on Leng. A Lengii then later impreganated herself to give birth to the one you see today. The last one is a product of sith alchemy and nightsister magick along with being the offspring of sith and nightsister. She's the best sorceror in the Eternal.''
'Outbound Flight? So the mission turned out to go up in flames afterall.' I thought after hearing Snoke's explanation. ''If you won't give them names, then I will give them a name each. No one truly deserves to be called by just codes and numbers.''
''Do as you wish, apprentice.''
''To the Chiss, her name will be... Roxanna. The Lengii will be called Selene and to the sorcerer, her name will be... Nymeria.'' I gave each of them their names.
(A/N: sith marshal Roxanna)
(A/N: Selene)
(A/N: and finally, Nymeria)
''The one you named as Roxanna is the best fighter in the Eternal. She's my second in command and leads the sith armies to battle against the many enemies of the Sith Eternal.'' Snoke explained to me her role.
''Then give her the rank of 'tartan'. It means field marshal in Akkadian.''
''Do as you like, apprentice.'' Snoke could really care less about these things at the moment. All he cared for was the training of his apprentice and heir. ''Do not make too much noises, all five of you, and when you're ready, they'll accompany you in your quest to make your brand new lightsaber.'' Snoke said and left, leaving me behind in a room full of women.
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