Rathari looked over the assembled thirty-five Acolytes that he would be instructing today. They were half a year into their training and so far the progress they had made was subpar in comparison to the rates at which were common in the Empire. If a child was found with the Force they would be shipped off to the Academy and drilled relentlessly, unless that person was of the Sith nobility then it was all private tutors until they reached puberty. But now Rathari had to deal with a range of ages and all of the children either hadn't even known they had powers or shunned them. Both a bad start to developing Force talent.
"Today you will be learning the basics of sensing the world around you with the Force." He said while walking between groups of five, all randomly split apart. Or at least that's what they had been told, in truth each of the seven groups had within them one child that Darth Nagash thought would become an exceptional Sith. The rest were average, rank and file that would become the backbone of the Order but at the same time not the leaders. "You already know how to access the Force, able to lift a stone to your height is the first step. Now you must be able to feel the Force, understand the flows of it and use it to better understand your surroundings." Rathari then nodded to one of the nearby servants who then began handing out blindfolds to the groups.
"Why are we going to be blindfolded?" Thoren Smallwood asked, he was one of the particular Acolytes that the Sith were interested in. The five in this room that were going to be given extra attention were getting it based on Jaesa's reports on their true selves and their Midi-Chlorian count, which had been taken in secret given the feudal nature of this world. With these two sets of information, Darth Nagash and Rathari were able to determine who had the most likely potential for development.
Among those in the room was Thoren Smallwood, Nathar Sand, Miana Snow, and two low born younglings by the names of Nira and Jarger. These weren't the only possible super stars in the Rule of Three Sith but they were the first that they would be testing. Thoren was prideful and Jaesa's report detailed him as a boy that sought to be at the very top only to lord it over his lesser, but at the same time would fight to protect that spot ruthlessly including making sure that he had those under him. Meaning that he would do his job and protect the weak… even if it was to rub it in their face that he had power and they didn't. Rathari knew that they would have to nurture him in a specific way in order for him to achieve Balance.
Nathar Sand was a completely different beast but at the same time ego and pride still dominated him. The unusual pride he took in his last name was what drove this one. Rathari had learned a great deal of Westeros culture and bastards that liked being bastards were rare. Granted he was Dornish and given the much more laxed opinion they had of bastards helped with that. But even then Bastards still dreamed of ditching their last names and taking up one of their noble sire. Nathar was of the opposite opinion, wanting nothing but his last name to be Sand and then to make that name known throughout the world.
Then there was Miana Snow, an older girl that had at first confused Jaesa. Rathari had read the report on the girl just as he had done with them all and could say that Jaesa had given the least amount of information possible with this one. There was barely any meaningful insight into who this girl really was despite being the oldest and having the most time to form a more complete personality. This in itself was notable and when combined with her high Midi-Chlorian count gave the Sith the impression she might have some odd power like Jaesa.
But of the five in the room the one that most concerned Rathari the most was the shy introverted low born girl named Nira. She kept to the back of her group and hid away at anyone looking at her, scared of her own shadow was a good way of describing her. But then one took a look at what Jaesa and her all seeing eyes had to say about her and you quickly decided to have this one watched at all times. Jaesa detailed that this little girl was a ticking time bomb of bloodshed and carnage. Even at the young age of six, she had thoughts of blood and tearing people limb from limb. However these thoughts seemed to be focused at the back of her mind and because of her young age it scared her more conscious mind as these horrible thoughts popped in and out.
A more comforting and simple case was the last one on their list in the room. Jarger was a farm boy from the Reach and from all accounts was a naïve and excited boy thinking he was in a fairy tale. That he had been whisked away to a magical school where he would learn how to become a powerful wizard ready to make the world a better place. Rathari much preferred this to the others as it was a easy matter to crush these shallow dreams and rebuild him as a competent man able to look for the good in people while still understanding that the world was more complex than the stories said it was.
"One person from each group will now blindfold themselves." Rathari said ignoring Thoren's question as he turned to face all of them. They stood out in the courtyard they used often as the main spot of more hands on Force training. Small dents in the woodwork and stone walls were all signs of their previous task of moving small stones, often flung across the courtyard in victory once they had gotten it above their heads. A small and innocent tradition that was forming. "Then the rest of the group will at random directions, and one at a time, begin tossing stones at the one blindfolded."
"What?!" Several of the Acolytes shouted, mostly those that had the blindfolds in hand. Rathari rolled his eyes, they lacked the training lightsabers and the training droids that were most often used at this point in Force User's training. So they had to make do with a different method.
"This is designed to force you into seeing without your eyes. And with training you can eventually manage great feats with this." Using the Force he took one of the blindfolds form the children and wrapped it around his eyes. "Now." He said and out of nowhere Jaesa jumped with her dagger drawn. She began madly slashing at Rathari only for him to effortlessly dodge and move out of the way of her attacks. Granted she wasn't actually trying to hit him, or at least she wasn't giving real combat effort, but none of those watching knew this. They just saw a blinded man moving away from each deadly strike as if it was nothing.
"Okay enough showing off for the kiddies, I have better shit to do." Jaesa complained as she finished her five minutes of giving a crap about teaching the future Sith and skipped off to find something interesting to do. Rathari took off the blindfold, looking forward to the day when he no longer had to be the one to teach these children and waste his time with pointless displays of the Force.
"Now that you all understand the point of all of this, we shall begin." He floated the blindfold back to the child and then coordinated them all into circles around the chosen victims of the training. He watched over as the Acolytes started pelting their peers with stones, following his instructions as they had long since learned not to test his orders. As expected, none of the children were able to dodge the thrown stones and were more hurt than learned. But this was just part of a long process made worse by the lack of already established teaching methods. "Oh how I even those fucking Jedi right now." Rathari thought bitterly as he sighed when he saw one of the Acolytes fall over after a stone hit their knee.
Lyanna watched as her brother was smothered by their mother, enjoying the sight greatly. The trip from Witnerfell to the Vale of Arryn had been long but this moment would be one of the ones that made it worth it to Lyanna. Seeing Ned being crushed by the giant bosom of their mother was too funny, and both she and Brandon were barely holding back their chuckles but were quickly shushed by Josey, their mother's southern handmaid. Both of the Stark children did as she said, as in the months that she had shown up they had come to see her as a pseudo second mother. Lyanna had at first had not been worn to the woman but then she caught her out drinking many of her father's guards… nice and polite ladies did not do things like that.
"Be careful lady Stark, I have come to see Eddard as family and I would hate to see him taken by the Stranger at such a young age." Jon Arryn chuckled warmly as he stood nearby with his wife, Lyanna had heard rumors that the woman was a frail and sickly woman but apparently she was perfectly healthy. Lyanna saw her smiling down at the sight of mother and son reuniting as she held her own baby girl in her arms.
"Just a little bit more… there." Lyarra squeezed one last time before finally letting her precious boy go, letting him gasp for air. Lyanna couldn't help it and snorted a bit more at it all. Getting hugged like that by their mother was a test of the gods of how long you could hold your breath. As Lyanna was starting to grow into womanhood she dearly hoped that she wouldn't get as big in the chest as her mother, it would make riding so much harder and she could do without all the staring that men gave to her mother's chest. "Oh you've grown so much since I last saw you. I'm so sorry my Ned, I should have come to visit you sooner."
"It's fine mother, you had important business in the capital and then had to keep home safe while father was on his trips." Eddard said crisply as the good soldier that he was. Lyanna dearly hoped that Ned would take a page from Brandon, just one page though and not the whole book. Both her older brothers needed a little bit from each other, Brandon needed some of Eddard's seriousness and Eddard needed to loosen a bit up like Brandon.
"Such a good son." Lyarra gave one last quick hug before schooling her features and addressed the Lord and Lady of the keep they stood in. Lyanna was amazed when they were coming up to the Eyrie. She had always been told that Winterfell was one the greatest castles to ever be built but it was always just home to her. Seeing the mountain tall keep that was the seat of power for the Vale was something entirely else than just riding up to Winterfell. "I must thank you Lord Arryn for taking my son into your home and raising him as your own. The letters I have read for my Ned have been nothing but glowing… in his own way." Lyarra chuckled warmly as she looked down to her son.
All of the Stark children had noticed a keen difference in their mother in the last year. She was smiling more and just overall felt warmer. She was still at times had the Stark chillness but that was a rare sight for the younger Starks as their mother was always brightened by their presence. But now they noticed that she was happier even when she didn't know they were around. They also noticed a change between her and their father, there was less distance between them but at the same time they spent less time around each other. It was strange but everyone seemed to be less stressed and more relaxed around each other now so they didn't question it much.
"It has been my pleasure Lady Stark, Eddard is a dutiful and bright boy that I have no doubt will grow to be a fine man one day. One I hope I might be able to call my son more properly." Lyanna started to tune out the more serious talks of marriage and noble ties as such things were boring and slightly scary to her. She knew that she currently wasn't set to wed anyone… yet. She expected maybe a Umber or some other close family to the Starks, maybe even the Bolton heir to help that relationship. She didn't care, because she didn't want to get married. Benjen was so lucky, women could become Sith and not marry but she didn't have the Force and so she couldn't be a Sith. But as she drifted in and out of reality she felt a small tap to her shoulder. Lyanna looked up and saw Josey standing behind her not actually looking at her but it was clear that she was the one getting her attention.
"If you promise that you'll stay nearby the Eyrie and don't go deep into the mountains, I'm sure that no one will miss a young lady on a horse riding out." Josey said and Lyanna's eyes sparkled with excitement to get out of here and do something fun. She then slowly stepped back and further back until she was out of the room and running down the hall. All the guards were focused on the current meeting between the Lady Stark and their lord, so Lyanna had a clear shout to the stables outside. But as she carefully crept into the stables she found that she wasn't alone.
"Hehe… good on you Ned, keeping the old goat distracted." Lyanna heard someone say as she approached one of the horses that were kept in the stable. She quietly sneaked up behind the boy getting the horse ready for a ride, he had said her brother's nickname so she assumed he knew him well enough to be friends. Which was weird as beyond his siblings Ned didn't; have any friends.
"What are you doing?" Lyanna asked, scaring the black haired boy to his butt. The horse seemed to find this more amusing than scary and just clopped back a bit. The boy looked to be around her age and as he scrambled to get back up Lyanna couldn't help but notice the Stag emboldened on his shirt. She then recalled one of the letters that Ned had sent back home. "You're Robert Baratheon aren't you?"
"Y-yes I am!" Robert said as he stood up, finally getting his bearings. "And just who are you to sneak up on the future Lord of Storm's End?" He said with a genuine proud smile that was very different than the smug and superior smirk that Lyanna had seen on most other noble born heirs. And as the daughter of a Great House she had seen plenty.
"Lyanna Stark." She said with a successful smile at disarming the boy, he certainly wasn't expecting to see her here. "Thank you for getting my horse ready for me, a shining knight to come to a lady's need." She said with a mock grace and feigned ladylike submission she expected out of noble ladies. Even if his smile was different from other heirs, he was still a southerner and thus likely expected her to be some weak little girl that would cower before him.
"Ey, this is my horse. If you want one there's one already over there" He growled slightly as he stepped between her and the horse. But Lyanna wasn't at all concerned with the mild rudeness that he was giving her, instead she was focused on the fact he wasn't stopping her from getting on a horse at all.
"Uh… thanks." She said unevenly while Robert just grunted a small nod and confirmation as he got on his own horse. She walked over to the horse that he had nodded to and she indeed found it all ready for riding. She was so happy that she had begged her mother to let her dress today in trousers instead of a silly dress. She had noticed the looks and sneers that some of the noble ladies of the Eyrie had given her but she didn't care. Now she was able to ride without having to get changed.
"Ned told me that you're a pretty good rider, but how about when you got a spear in your hand?" She perked up even more when she heard this. Lyanna looked over to Robert who hand in his hand two hunting spears. "Glad you showed up when you did, always more fun hunting with someone than doin' it alone." He chuckled as he quickly tossed over the spear to her like it was the most normal thing in the world. Riding was one thing but going out on a hunt was something that even her father never let her do.
"You're seriously going to let me, a woman, go on a hunt with you?" She asked with a mix of disbelief and hidden hope. This was going to be the best day ever!
"Aye, why wouldn't I. You're no weak little doll like the rest of those ladies back at court. You're a wolf like Ned!" Robert laughed and Lyanna couldn't help but feel a little red flush her cheeks as he did. He was like no other boy that she had ever met, he was actually happy that she was not so lady-like. "Now come on, I want to be eating a fat boar. I killed myself tonight!" he shouted in glee before his horse charged out of the stables, Lyanna not too far behind.
"Master, why are we in the Vale of Arryn?" Jaesa asked as she and her master hopped off his speeder bike. They had traveled from Harrenhal to the caging mountain range that protected the isolated kingdom. There wasn't anyone for leagues around them and she doubted that they would be discovered accidentally. It honestly freaked her out a little, it was the perfect place for him to dispose of her. But he wouldn't, she was far too useful to him. That she knew.
"Because I want to experiment a little with my favorite apprentice, no pun intended. There was something I had used in my fight with the Starweirds, I'm hoping to replicate it." He said casually as he looked out of a small ridge line. Beyond you could see the foothills and at the edge grassy plains. Jaesa raised an eyebrow at what he said, Starweirds were rare and he just said he fought more than one, she assumed this happened in his little trip and felt a ping of sadness that she hadn't been brought along for such an interesting fight. "I was able to fire off a beam of energy, granted I was at half my total power and then some thanks to my full release state of my Tsân. Speaking of which…" He said before turning back to her.
"I haven't been able to find what I'm supposed to look for. Is this the part where you almost kill me?" Jaesa asked as she leaned back on his speeder, she wasn't about to be killed just so she could possibly get a power that she didn't feel she needed. Her eyes gave her enough special power and these Tsân were beginning to irritate her. Midwan was fun in bed but an absolute brat and teased outside of it. And both Saarai and Shâsot were nothing but rude and dismissive to her.
"No, I felt horrible doing that to Rathari, a man I consider only a friend and not even a close one. I could never attempt to kill someone like you, Jaesa." Jaesa narrowed her eyes, he very rarely just called her by her name. Always a pet name or something like that, he was acting strange. But then again, ever since he returned he had been acting very strangely. He avoided her at almost every chance and didn't bring her into his bed. The fact that those five little sluts he brought back got more time with him individually pissed her off.
And Jaesa knew for a fact that all of this had to do with the Tsân. The two women that her master claimed were his swords made into reality and above all else were the manifestation of his connection with the Force. For Jaesa they were making it harder and harder to ignore something she had been for a long time. But she would, she overlooked everything because it was just the Dark Side playing tricks on her to betray her master. Like so many other Sith, the Dark Side sought to undermine them and tempt them into further madness. Just like her master had always taught her.
She watched the man she loved above everything else raise his hand, aiming it down into the wide open slope of the mountainside. She watched as he just stood there for several minutes before suddenly several arcs of Force Lightning, large ropes of energy blasted down and ripped apart the landscape. He clenched his fist and ended the attack with an irritable sigh.
"Not what you wanted?" She asked in disbelief, that was an insane amount of power that he unleashed there. Force Lightning was usually done at closer ranges and always it was a mess of lightning, thin and snapping electricity. Not the thick ropes of molten energy that her master just fired off.
"Close, I couldn't actually control it. Wild and untamed, but it had the destructive power I wanted… or maybe too much?" He said before opening his hand again and trying it again. This time less powerful but still far above the normal Force Lightning that Sith used so often. "You've been meaning to speak with me Jaesa, tell me what you discovered while I was gone." Her master said out of the blue as he snapped his hand shut after what she assumed was another failed test. This was very out of character for Naraiz, she wasn't used to this manner of speaking. It was… too casual and not the flowing regal suave he normally had.
"I uh… you've been mad at me for not wanting to achieve Balance." He didn't turn back to face her, instead he just continued to test out whatever power he wanted. But she knew that was listening to her. He might be acting strange but he was still her master and she knew that he would always listen to her when she had something important to say. Even if it looked like he didn't care. So with that in mind she collected her thoughts and took a breath. What was to come, she had been preparing herself for months. "I'm not sorry." Flipping back over the speeder bike, landing back on her best defensive posture, her double sided lightsaber flaring up into life as she prepared for his first attack… that never came.
"Bad Jaesa… don't fall to the Dark Side. Don't turn evil, you'd look horrible with a goatee." He said blandly as he fired off a new set of Force Lightning, this time an uncountable amount of tiny arcs of light that did little but set the tips of trees on fire. Then he looked back with an expecting bored look on his face. "I already gave you the set up for the Rule of Three, I account for those that will never be able to achieve Balance."
"Yeah but I'm your apprentice. Won't you like… hold me to a higher standard or something. And you went ballistic every other time I showed signs of not getting there!" Jaesa yelled as her mind went back to the most recent time, the slip up that got her into the doghouse in the first place. He didn't seem very happy or even okay with her then.
"You won't always be my only apprentice, I plan on keeping up with the three thing and will take on an apprentice that is light centered and one that is Balanced. You're perfect just the way you are and I'd change nothing about you my dear." Jaesa couldn't believe what she was hearing. This hurt, more than any punishment that he ever gave her and what made it worse was the matter-of-fact way about it he was using. Just like this was all expected and perfectly normal. It was not, she was his apprentice and he didn't need anymore. She had this whole speech laid out to give once she wore him down a little, a little steam blown off and she would convince him why it was fine that she was just inline with the Dark Side. So she did the only thing she could think of…
In a matter of seconds she and her master were tumbling down the mountain, she beat down on her master and him, not really trying too hard to stop her. He was mostly just trying to steer their tumbling away from the big rocks and the places that were currently a raging inferno. Wailing into him as he rolled down the slope, Jaesa was trying to beat some sense of the pain she was feeling at him just abandoning her.
Letting these savages walk all over them, giving the people on this world more than a second thought while forgetting that she exists at times, being intimate with some nobody feudal world noble woman with his real form when she's never even kissed him when he was like that! Casting her off to play around with foolish mortal nobles that he could just crush with just the power of his finger, sending her around on meaningless errands while continuing to become closer with a plaything. Then leaving her to go on a cruise around the world, picking up new women and changing further beyond what she knew. Jaesa couldn't take it anymore, he was her master and she wasn't going to let him escape that fact.
The two eventually hit a outcropping of rocks in the mountainside and slammed to a stop. Naraiz took the full brunt to his back but they had built up enough momentum behind them for Jaesa to have the air knocked from her. When her mind finally caught back up to reality found herself stuck to the ground by her master's power, she struggled to push against it but found it to be a futile waste of time. She slumped back and felt as she gave into the force pushing down on her it vanished.
"What were you thinking, you could have gotten hurt back there?" Was it real? Why would he care about her safety now when he had clearly not cared about how she felt and rage that had been building inside her.
"Like you actually are concerned about whether or not I'm okay. Oh wait… you wouldn't want your precious human lie detector to be damaged would you?" She sneered back at him. That's all she was to him now. Just a power and tool that he could use when needed. As she pouted, she felt herself slammed forward, rolled over and pushed into the ground and then flipped back. "Hey!"
"Don't give me that, you're smarter than that." This was his annoyed voice that he always used when she did something bratty. It felt nice to hear something so familiar, but she ignored that as she didn't want to forgive him. Especially if he didn't even know what he did wrong. He usually figured that part out pretty quickly but this was taking him some time, another little jab to the gnawing worries in her mind. He walked over to her and crouched down but she still refused to look at him. "Jaesa, I'm happy that you've finally accepted that you are never going to find Balance. That you've gotten over your worship of me enough to the point where you're able to discover what you want for yourself. And not what I want for you."
"Wait… what?" She blinked as his words filtered into her mind. "You mean this whole time that you've been ignoring me was so that I could figure some shitty lesson out!" Jaesa lashed out as she turned her head and then quickly spun around to kick her master in the knees. He groaned in pain as she got back up and turned away from him. Anger slowly being replaced by thankfulness as she felt this reconfirmed her truth all along. Even when her master was being cruel to her he was still her master and looking out for her best interest. But the worries that had begun to stick themselves out didn't go away like she hoped. They lingered and the two of them were all alone. In the now slowly burning forested mountainside there would be no way for anyone to ever hear them.
"Yes, I didn't want you coming on the trip with me so that you get a better perspective on yourself." She froze as he said this. That meant it was only that time of him distancing himself from her that was done for this purpose. Before and after were still left up in the air. Jaesa stood deathly still in place once again and as a nearby tree fell over burning she turned back around slowly. She then did something she didn't do often, she looked at her master with her sixth sense. It was something she did rarely simply because she had long grown bored of seeing something that never changed.
Her master was a man driven by pride, lust and wrath, in that order. He was egotistical and self absorbed, and he was very aware of that fact. It was a rare sense of self understanding that allowed a person to be hyper aware of their own actions. But Just because he knew this about himself didn't mean he stifulled it. Instead he sought to prove his own superiority at every turn, working hard and diligently to attain that perfection he saw in himself. As well as keeping himself grounded in undeniable truths, hard facts, and uncompromising ideology. The quest to achieve Balance and later spread it among the Force users was what kept him in check in many ways. Jaesa knew this because she saw it in him. But she also saw it drive him to even greater heights. His pride and ambition were what brought him to be the most fearsome fighter in the empire and arguably most powerful Sith.
And while she loved that about him, she also loved the fact his lust was at times unending. Where in the battlefields and the halls of power his wrath and pride were at work, everywhere else he was a man that had a hunger that fueled her own carnal appetites. The Empire's Wrath was well known among the nobility and general populace of the Empire as a man that loved his women and very rarely heard a refusal from them. This was partially to feed his ego but Jaesa was able to see deeper than that, There was a deep need down in her master's soul for companionship. Something she supposed the Dark Side twisted into lust and Naraiz just never noted the difference by the time he achieved Balance. But Jaesa eyes' could see the deeper meaning of it, that it came from the isolation of his upbringing. A past that she only had pieces of given her master's reluctance to speak of it. A childhood that gave a start to his lust and wrath.
The controlled inferno of rage that was her master on the battlefield was art, pure art in her eyes. Seeing him utterly destroy Republic troops by the battalion was glorious. With an acrobatic dance of flashing light and screams of death she sometimes caught herself just staring at her master during a fight. Seeing him paint across a battle in a show of finely controlled rage was a sight she could never get enough of. She admired his ability to keep all those dark emotions focused and never fall into the berserker-like state that many other Sith relied on. Every movement that her master made was deliberate and perfectly placed. All while channeling a burning anger against those that opposed him and his plans. Annoyances that dared to threaten to hinder his works.
She knew her master inside and out. She knew his flaws and his sins, strengths and virtues. She knew his soul and took it as a constant in her life. The one thing that would always be there for her. Where her family and the Jedi lied and tried to trick her, he wouldn't ever and she would always trust him.
"Who are you, what did you do with my master?" There was a small hint of uncomfortable hesitation before Naraiz responded.
"That's funny Jaesa. I'm all for a good joke but that's a little harsh." He said but even as he did he slowly reached out. Within seconds both Jaesa and Naraiz were armed with their weapons, the Force pulling them back to their users, and were locked with each other. Jaesa screamed as she tried to push with all her strength against the two Force Blades, desperately wishing that her lightsaber would just cut through them and end this here and now. What would she do after killing this man she didn't know, she knew she couldn't charade her way into tricking Vette into letting her fly off this rock with her once the ship was fixed. But that didn't matter as right now she just felt like killing this man that she didn't recognize.
Milliseconds before he parried her, she backed off and flowed under his attempted parry. Slipping under his swords and using her superior flexibility she got in close and kicked upward, landing on his chest and sending him off the ground. However, the master of Ataru he was, it was a trivial matter to correct himself mid-air. She could sense he was about to attempt to talk his way out of this but she never give him the chance. Arcs of Force Lightning crossed her finger tips and flayed out, angry and snapping as they crossed the distance between them. Only to be harmlessly absorbed into a tightly confined ball of Force Energy at the tip of one of his swords. An annoyed growl escaped her and she quickly sprinted to charge another attack only to watch with desperation as the man held up his hand, stuck a finger out and motioned it down. A massive weight slammed down on her, forcing her to the ground then to add to it she felt the dirt underneath begin to push up against her. Clearly this man had been experimenting with more than Force Lightning.
Looking up at the man, her eyes widened as something in reality glitched. Where the man stood one second another existed around him. A tall robed figure, she recognized the clothing it wore. It was from Alderaan, a type of religious monk garb that was very heavy. Long sleeves and several layers wrapped around the body. All colored in flowery designs with dull gray trimming. The oversized hood that covered the figure's head didn't overshadow a stark white mask covering its face, a simple open smile and half U shaped eyes was all that the mask was. The figure's arms were at first crossed over its chest but then as the glitching of reality continued it snapped back in and out of view. Each time, its arms opened and sometimes it would be reaching to the man's neck and other times it would just be opening its sleeves. Though Jaesa could never see what was in them as the darkness obscured what type of limbs was in there.
"So you finally decided to give a nice long look at me. I knew this would happen and denial was a bad move… I admit that." He said and the strange robe figure cocked its masked head to the side before looking right at Jaesa. Then she watched in mixed confusion and fear as it started flickering toward her. Eventually standing above her, just staring silently at her and nothing she could do could give her insight on it. Her eyes said nothing to her, it was like it wasn't even there.
"Are you?" Jaesa mumbled as it clicked in her head. It then looked back at the man and when it turned back its mask had changed, still just a stark white but now was an angry snarl over its face. Jaesa didn't need words to understand its intentions. "Yes… do it!" The man looked confused as she shouted this but she didn't care. She just wanted this fake to be gone. The figure then turned and held up both its arms, and shouted several centipede-like growths that entangled the man. He clearly didn't see it coming as before he even was able to make a defense he was wrapped completely in the insect-like limbs.
As the man struggled, Jaesa felt the Force ease up on her and soon enough she was standing again. The man pulled and struggled against the fading in centipedes that ensnared him. His eyes widened as he finally was able to see his captor. Jaesa walked past her new friend and with a gleam in her eyes looked up at the man posing as her master. She felt so powerful, that she had him in her grasp and he was powerless to stop her was fan-fucking-tastic. Behind her, just beyond her vision, the one actually keeping a control on Naraiz was beginning to change. Out from the bottom of the robes came more and more insect like tendrils, lifting the robes up and into the air. The now smiling mask was also extended out from under the robes and caressed by more centipedes holding it out and away from the main body of the spirit.
"Uh Jaesa… you might want to-gh!" Naraiz's mouth was quickly gagged by a squirming centipede. Jaesa just continued to smirk in glee as she watched as a man with all the power of the one she loved fall so utterly to her. But then she heard a dreadful screech come from behind her and then the grasping tendrils get cut to pieces. Jaesa blinked and then saw both of the man's Tsân with their swords drawn in front of her. The man that called himself Naraiz was cut free and frantically getting all the creepy-crawlies off of him. "Oh god fuck that's nasty. Fuck-fuck-fuck that's… I'm having nightmares for weeks now."
"Tsk, you two had to come along and spoil my fun." Jaesa felt anger and rage build up inside her just seeing those two whores. But now she had her own spectral friend to deal with them while she dealt with the man. Behind her, the horror-inducing spirit hung over Jaesa menacingly, more and more limbs extending out of its robe to replace the ones lost to the Tsân sisters.
"Jaesa, you need to get a hold of yourself." He said and Jaesa just ignored whatever came out of his mouth. Why should she care what he had to say? He wasn't her master, whatever happened to the man she loved she didn't know but he wasn't standing in front of her. She could see clearly and she only saw a stranger. "All you're doing is feeding your darker impulses and right now the person in the most danger here is you!" He shouted but Jaesa just scowled at the foolish attempt to get her to drop her guard.
"Shut-up-shut-up-shut-up! I don't need to listen to you anymore. How long have you been pretending to be him?! Ever since you achieved Balance, is that why you started to try and get me to stop using the Dark Side. To turn me like you turned my master!" Jaesa screamed as she felt her rage just boil and fester as she continued to stare madly at the man daring to wear her beloved master's face. She was going to rip and tear that thing off. He didn't deserve it, no one did but her.
"It's too late master, she's starting to fall." Midwan quipped with her normal mischievous jolly tune. Jaesa just responded by willing the spirit behind her to send down a swarm of tendrils, but the impact never came as the woman's sister came in and cut the attack in half. Jaesa in her frenzied and maddened state didn't take note of the fact Midwan didn't use her own rotting and corrosive power. Instead the limbs of Jaesa forming Tsân were dusted into nothing instead of turning into festering wounds that would travel back to the rest of the body.
"You're not helping here Mi-Chan, though you're not wrong." Saarai said and the judgment in her voice was only barely hidden.
"Both of you be quiet." The man ordered and the women followed suit. With a sigh of annoyance that Jaesa recognized anywhere, it was one he gave to foolish Jedi, incompetent officers, dumbass criminals, and her whenever she made a mistake. She then looked up and the Mask he wore was dropped. There she could see into his real eyes, she could see his real face. A face that she had only seen a few times. One he hid from everyone but those closest to him.
"Is this the part where you make some impassioned speech about how much you love me, how no matter what I'll know who you really are, or that even if you're different I still love you or any other nonsense?" Jaesa laughed at the absurdity of it all. He was afraid of her now and was just trying to stall time to pull some last gambit. She knew his tricks, as long as she could keep him from unlocking his true power she could win. But when he didn't flinch and just kept looking at her like she was the biggest disappointment in the galaxy she faltered a bit. Those eyes she had seen so few times and they only ever held love and fondness for her, seeing them now hold some sadness and pity hurt more than anything.
"What was your very first lesson, my apprentice?" He asked the question and nothing else. They both just stood there, she was waiting for the rest of it. Some appeal to her about their history and love for each other but it never came. Just that question.
"If I fall… you'll kill me." She answered, unaware of the spirit behind her lowering itself to stand just directly behind her.
"Am I going to kill you today, my apprentice?" He asked this, blunt and without any reservation about carrying through with that threat. She stared at him and could see nothing but a resolve of steel that would never break. Whatever or whoever this was, he had the unquestionable will of her master. He would kill her, it would hurt him like nothing else could but he would do it.
"I… I can't…"
"F̴͈̦̣̞̿̄̆͜Ȩ̴͓̳̲̳̲͒͒̌̈́̿̌͑Ę̴̛̗̟̞̹͖̇̿̄́̎́͑D̷̻̤̮̟̎̊!" Before Jaesa could say more, she was dragged back and into the ensnaring grip of her own developing Tsân. Thousands of spindly centipede tendrils all poured out of every seam of the robes that contained the monster and grabbed a hold of Jaesa. "F̴͕͎̓̐E̴̡̛̩̾́͂̐͜͠E̸͎͙̺̾͠Ḓ̷̡̙͊͋̅̒̇, Ṁ̷̨̛̦͓͚͔̬̟͔͑̉̽̀̀̀͑̋͜U̸̬̜͕̲̞̰̥͖͆̔͑Ṣ̴͔̾͜T̴͔̭̓̇͒̇͒ ̴͚̘̱̮̟̲́̿̉̏̅̕͘Ḟ̵͓̙͖͖̦͓̦͉̕͠Ę̵̛̲͚̤͒̔̓̾̎̌E̴̡̖͚̱̼̭̥͊̇́Ḑ̴͚̣̩̲̳͓͖̙́̓̎͒̇̓͝͝͝͝!" The voice of a billion tiny voices echoed out from darkness that covered the insides of the robe. The snarling mask wormed its way through the air and faced Jessa. "Hate, Truth-Bad. Truth-Hurt. Destroy it and hate more!"
"Looks like a Dark Side Tsân takes what you value most and twists it into something monstrous. The initial and basic form of your Tsân is that of an Alderaanian Monk, a very honest and pure symbol. But underneath it is a twisting hive of lies and deceit." Naraiz mused aloud as Jaesa struggled with all her might against her own Tsân. "Like with all things with the Dark Side, you must fight it and beat it into submission." Jaesa watched with pleading eyes as the man walked back, far enough away where he could be of no help but at the same time close enough to watch. As much as she wanted to fault him for this she knew what he said was right, her master had taught her that facing the Dark Side was something that you needed to do on your own. You could be advised and guided but the actual act must be your own or it was meaningless.
"Abandon, shunned, f̶̜̪̟̮̠͐̅̎̀o̵̖̥̚ͅr̷̢̭̙̰̹̻̎g̸̬͑̈́o̶̩͓̱̬̟̥̹͐͆̑͊̕t̵͙̫̦̞̬͛̽̕͜t̶̨̫̝̫̬̗̒̈́͝ĕ̸̆ͅṉ̴͕͍̼͋͛̌̆͝͝! Hate him, hate him!" The being started repeating this and similar things over and over again. All while it squeezed Jaesa tighter, the feeling of the tiny legs of each band that constricted around her was one of the most disgusting things she had ever experienced. She had dipped into the Dark Side more than she should before, but never did she physically feel it have its grip around her, just edging, choking the life out of her.
But she wasn't going to fall to the Dark Side just because it could actually hurt her now. Hell, under better circumstances she would be begging for a little choking. Just because that man wasn't her master didn't change her master's number one lesson. So with that in her head, she bit down hard on the gross and nasty bug that had slithered across her mouth. She snapped it in two and felt the rest of them squirm in pain. Using this she pulsed with the Force and freed herself from her own Tsân's grasp. The Sith Assassin rolled away from the twisting mess of swarming limbs and turned back with her arms raised, blasting the central point of the robes with all the Force Lightning that she could pull out of herself. The thing screamed loudly as Jaesa slowly began pushing it back and forcing it down.
A step forward and then another, all while keeping up the arcs of energy. She began to pace toward the large stone that had broken her and that man's tumble. Sweat began to build up as the effort to keep up the Force Lightning started to strain her body. The struggling Tsân sensed this and lashed out only for Jaesa to up the power in the flanks that it tried to make a move on. She kept this up, her breathing getting more and more labored as she slowly began to corner the flailing beast back. Eventually Jaesa was able to push it back until its back was at the boulder.
"Submit! You are mine and you will listen to me! I don't give a shit if you're hungry for a bit of my emotional bullshit, it's my bullshit and I don't need you to take care of it!" Jaesa roared as gave one last flare to the Force Lighting. Creating a large scorch mark next to the Tsân's head. A silence drifted between the two as the whipping tendrils all stopped. This quiet was broken by a sudden whipping noise as all of the centipedes that extended out of the monk robes shot back into the figure in one swift move. It then stood up, where before the mask it had been using all throughout its tantrum was a snarl it was now back to an open smile.
"Yeah, that's never not going to be creepy." Jaesa then kicked back a nearby rock toward the man that had just talked as he approached. It missed as he knocked his head away from the incoming projectile but she wished he hadn't. "If you're done then can you please let me actually talk, you know… the thing that usually solves things better than just hitting a problem." His speech pattern had changed a good deal, the air of slight smugness and nobility was lessened and replaced by brash bluntness and sarcasm.
"Talk then." She said knowing that her anger was perfectly rational, it was just how she went about taking it out that was wrong before. Emotions were fine but giving into them was what posed a danger.
"It is true that I am not the man you once knew, however it is a bit more complicated than saying that he is completely gone." He said as he glanced back up to her Tsân that was just standing by doing nothing. Given that it was trying to kill the two of them a moment ago and it was clearly slanted toward the Dark Side, the concern was shared by Jaesa. "Before we get into that, name it and force it back into its dagger." He said clearly giving an order like her master would, but she could sense that wasn't a ploy on his part, it was just a habit. Which actually relaxed her somewhat.
"Give it a name… I'm not as familiar with the Sith language as you are ma…" She stopped herself but then refocused back on the tall robed figure in front of her. "Let's see… nope… no… no… not that…" Jaesa began thinking about nearly every word in the Sith tongue that she knew and then stopped as she picked one out. "Macha, it means Beneath… like beneath the surface."
"There are lots of other names I would use for that thing but sure. It's your Tsân." He said with snark but Jaesa found it fitting. And given the still smiling mask the now named Macha had on it seemed it agreed. With Macha named, Jaesa pulled out from her boot the Force Dagger that it came from, she focused on it and found it pretty easy now to feel an emptiness in the blade and like a switch refill it. When she looked up Macha was gone. "Good, now let's talk. Ask away." He said and Jaesa was surprised that he was letting her have total control over this conversation just like that.
"Who are you really?" She said knowing that she could tell if he was lying. He just stood in front of her, hands placed behind his back and his two swords sheathed into the earth away from his reach. Clearly a show of peace but she knew it was a meaningless gesture, the fucking swords themselves could come out of nowhere and use themselves in battle.
"Just some dude that God killed by accident." He shrugged and Jaesa couldn't sense any deceit in him. She couldn't see him lie or sense in his emotional state a sudden spike or change.
"Uh… I need some more details." Even if he wasn't lying, it still bewildered her that that was his answer.
"Short answer, the Body is Naraiz, the Mind is not and the Soul is both. Everything about the body is as you know, nothing about it has changed in the slightest." He motioned to his body and yes, Jaesa could confirm that the body was just as she remembered it. But then the man taped the side of his head and got to where she was most concerned. "Up here… different story."
"Then who's the mind then?"
"Told you, some dude that God killed."
"B-but I need more than that, can you give me a name."
"No." He said with the most uncaring gives no fucks shrug that Jaesa had ever seen in her life. Clearly that wasn't ever going to be answered so she decided to skip that part.
"Then can you explain the God part? I've heard you say there are no gods and that the Force is the closest thing to Divine but not actually." She was the most confused she had ever been and yet she would power through the headache that was forming in her head. Her master had been one of the most divine hating Sith she had ever seen. Even by Imperial standards, and they were well known in the galaxy to disdain spirituality not relating to the Force in the extreme.
"That's true… here. But not where I'm from. Imagine living as a agnostic most of your life, getting struck by lightning on a clear sunny day and then opening your eyes to sitting down with man who looks like a famous actor while having tea." He said and again, she had to double check to see if he was trying to lie to her. Was he crazy? He couldn't be as all the history of the last year denied that heavily. "To put it in the simplest terms possible, I was killed by God and then reincarnated into this reality as Naraiz Rhyhall. A man who would have died without the Divine Intervention of a god from another reality and in exchange for you know… not dying, he now has to give up his body and fuse his soul to some guy who gets a cosmic do-over."
"Wait, what do you mean would have died?" Jaesa asked and then started piecing together a timeline and figure it out. "The crash." She whispered and the man calling himself Naraiz gave a kind of gesture.
"More like the trip that caused the crash. You and the rest of the crew would have been space dust, the hyperdrive would have been totally destroyed and you would have been at the tender mercy of the Republic's big ass guns." He said and Jaesa suddenly felt her stomach drop quite a bit. "But that didn't happen and now, here we are." He said with his arms open as he motioned to the world around them.
"But, you said it's the master's body, your mind… but…"
"The two Souls did fuse together. It hasn't been perfect. Lots of traumatic bullshit going on. But I guess you could say that this has caused my mind to take on traits of the old Naraiz. I also have all his memories, though only the strongest actually feel real while the rest are just information." He said and Jaesa could sense a ping of sadness at this fact. She could feel in him a longing toward those memories and felt comforted by that fact a little for some unknowable reason. Jaesa then looked down to the ground as she thought about the craziness of what she just had been told. The anger that had been fueling her before had died down quite a bit. She was a little pissed that it took her forcing it out of him for this to come to light but she supposed that this was something that would be pretty hard to explain just out of the blue. And she knew that she would have reacted the same way regardless if he had approached her or not. "You gonna go batshit again?"
"No… well… maybe later. But not now." She said with a weak chuckle, her eyes not leaving the slightly burnt ground. The forest was still burning around then but the winds created by the fight they had before had muffled a good deal of it. "But where does this leave us?"
"Well, I see a few ways this could go down." He started and Jaesa had to assume had put a good deal of thought to this moment. It's what her master would have done and this man was at least partly him. "You could deny all of this, try to pretend everything is fine and try to act like you did before. Slowly the reality of it all would gnaw at you and eventually you would snap and Macha would either have another crack at you or you would just go nuts and fall to the Dark Side."
"Um… no thank you." She said trying to sound like she was finding all of this funny but it was too hard right now to be lighthearted.
"Or, you can walk away." He said and Jaesa away, more hurt than she expected she would be at him suggesting this. "In one year the ship will be fixed and once it is, me and Vette will be going out into the Galaxy to start working on my plans for the revival of the Empire. If you want, when that comes I can drop you off on any world you want and you can do as you please. I won't ever come after you, so long as you don't interfere with me, the Sith, or the Empire. You will be cut from me forever and won't have to look back." He said and it was a great offer, one she knew he would honor. And it was appealing after learning all she had. This man was somewhere between a complete stranger and a messed up version of an old lover you hadn't seen in years. The same but different. All the history with her master wasn't totally gone but it did feel further than it should.
"You mean Nar Shadda, where else would I go?" They both chuckled at that funny truth but soon enough he continued.
"Then there's coexisting. You would join my new order as a Sith, not my apprentice but just another Sith. Use your gifts only to further either the Sith Order or the Empire. Not my own personal plots and plans but only for the good of the groups I just said. I would still be Darth Nagash and you would serve me but no longer directly. You would be the first permanent member of the Sect of Morgoth, but not lead them. You don't have the traits needed for that."
"Or the desire to." She snorted but found the two options drawing her in different ways. But then he continued.
"And lastly, we could start over." He said surprising her.
"Start over?" She looked back up to him with a mix of hope and naïve joy, but that was soon crushed by her years of experience at her master's side. That was too easy, too childish.
"Yes, you become my apprentice. The one that will always be shrouded in the Darkness." He said as he started walking toward her. She felt the urge to step back but didn't. He still had his mask dropped and she longed to be close to that form. That hadn't gone away. "You would become important to me again, for real. No longer me committing to a memory but for the chance for new love to bloom once again. You could give me the chance to show you that I'm still just as worthy to be both your master and the love of your life." He said as he stood in front of her and cupped the side of her face. She leaned into his touch, feeling echoes of the times when he had done this before but always with his Mask up. But then he pulled away before she had a chance to when she remembered this wasn't her master. "I won't ask you to choose now, once Vette gets the ship fixed I will ask you what you want. But once the choice is made it can't be changed."
With that he started walking away and Jaesa felt both the need to stab him and hug him. Just to be close… that's all. But she didn't and just stood in the charred mess of the forest. She watched him pick up his swords and start his trek back up the mountain, she had no idea what the future between them would hold.
She could cut her ties and just leave. Dropped off at some scummy world and rule as a pirate queen. Or maybe as the leader of some Sith cult… nah… with how the Republic was now the former idea would be better. She would have to kneel before a Hutt at some point but if she picked the territory right she could find one that would just try to make her eye candy. The idea of having her own crew and a small fleet of pirate raiders was very appealing. She wouldn't have to deal with the political drama that she would be pulled into on the basis of her powers and she could do whatever she wanted.
But Jeasa knew that with the Empire being firmly set in the future, she couldn't live like that forever. Eventually the Empire and Republic would be at war and she would have to choose sides. Even if he promised he wouldn't force her into anything his empire would without his direct input. And sticking around, just being one of the many Sith of this new Order was a terrible fate. She could live like she used to once the Empire was back, having fun and holding all the power as a Sith in the Empire. Every night would be a party and every day could be filled with fighting republic scum.
And then there was his last offer. A fresh start. Out of the three that one was the most scary to her. It was less certain, she didn't know this new being that had her master's face. She could think of the year they had spent on this world and his actions and words. They were very much like her master, if a bit different. Her master would have taken Brandon Stark hostage and forced the Starks to submit to his rule and then spend the rest of the time conquering the Seven Kingdoms as a means to further establish a means to safeguard the ship and provide all the resources to fix it. And when he learned about the Force oddities of this world he would ramp up his conquest. None of this playing with the local nobles and playing things safe. But the way that he did go about this was still very much like her master, the dark intrigue, the wife stealing, the veiled mockery of the foolish men and women that thought themselves powerful. That was very much like what her master did in the Empire.
However that did not give her the true insight that she wanted. When she looked into his soul she indeed saw a lot of her old master but also a lot of new things. Curiosity and excitement, cynicism and paranoia, and an unrelenting drive to explore everything around him. Those were the things she had seen before she looked away, too hurt by the confirmation that he wasn't her master. And she didn't want to look again. Because if she did want to start over with him she wanted to do it like everyone else. Go in blind and be surprised by him. Just like how she was surprised by her master. She looked back up and as he was climbing up the mountain side this all drifted to the back of her mind as she realized something very important.
"Hold up… I'm not walking back!" Jaesa yelled and then watched as Naraiz jumped into a Force sprint laughing. A small smile crept across her face as she chased after him, intent on leaving him behind to walk all the way back to the Riverlands and his keep. Knowing what was true and what was false made her feel safe, but it never gave her the chance to connect to anything. Naraiz Rhyhall had been the first one to shatter that, she was hoping he could do it again.
over that time period. Yes I did do some things very quickly early on but that was because Naraiz is a SI and he wants to do things really quickly just because its cool and he's excited by the new world he's now in. The pace slows down considerably now as you can see and things will settled down to a pace I think you might like a bit more. Thank you for your time.