Abyssus abyssum invocat

[Darth Abyss]

Mygeeto, Pleasure Tower

The edge of the sun had already touched the horizon, shrouding the city below in the vibrant red of its rise. To stay on top of the intergalactic market any relevant city on any relevant planet never truly slept, but a large chunk of the common people still aligned their live to the course of their respective light and heat spending star. Speeders and shuttles rose like the sun, connecting the countless citizens and business.

The being that had entered the Pleasure Tower was not one of them. Darth Abyss had nothing in common with the little insects that crawled through the dirt, he had long ago become more than just a man with a little bit of power. The last time he had been here the structure had still been under construction, only hinting at the oppressive presence it now unleashed upon the city below. It was clear that the tower's owner knew what she was doing, she had learned from the best after all.

Darth Mara, or rather [member="Natalie LaForte"] as she called herself now, had done well for herself, without the insight and influence of her old master. There had been a time when Abyss would've been outraged by one of his own shedding the mantle of the sith, but the years and wars of the past had taught him that power could take on countess different forms, each with their own drawbacks and advantages.

Yet even without the calling of the sith, without the fear of death on both sides, they still were Master and apprentice. As such it was not only his interest but his duty to watch and guide her growth, push her to rise further, to always want more. Other than most sith the Mindeater did not train exclusively servants. Instead he understood his apprentices as projects that could give birth to future allies, and Natalie was living proof that he was right to do so.

Obviously the strange metal husk had not made his presence known. Firstly to not taint her operation by showing his wretched, twisted figure open to be seen by the public eye, and secondly because he enjoyed a bit of theatrics. The Prophet of Malachor simply wasn't the type to call the reception to ask for an appointment.

Instead the monstrosity formed from cursed metal already had waited inside the tower since nightfall, his shape and presence hidden below shadows and deception. Once business slowed down he slipped into the chief office, waiting for Natalie to return to work in the morning. While he still remained shrouded from sight he at least had placed a note on the office table, the two blood red words on it written in an elegant, yet clear handwriting:

"Behind you."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Carrying a hot pink file she walked into her office with an eerie air surrounding herself. Usually, everything was filled with the peaceful air, partnered keyboards clicking and fingers tapping in anticipation waiting to discover if she had been made bankrupt by the very artificial intelligence that she had created. Alas, it was not one of those days, Natalie had sighed with relief at finding that out. Others included the fear of constantly being attacked by former allies, such as Blonde and her former companions in the Ascendancy, though she really was doubting that they would even dare to attack her in her own company's headquarters where everyday thousands of droids are pumped out of the metallic foundries below the ground.

Instead, she was more concerned with the fact that something that looked like a ransom note had been laid on her desk, with a cryptic scribbling of "Behind you" on it. She was prone to receiving these, being a communist-capitalist breed of narcissistic and authoritarian, but one that actually seemed to be written in blood was even far-fetched for her, most of these people had the temporary anger of post-pubescent children infused in their blood, but the anger accompanied with this message was much more... permanent.

It had been a while since she had even practiced the force, something her master, [member="Darth Abyss"], would be scornful of now that she thought of it. It was probably because of this she couldn't sense the mindeater behind her, she even thought for a second that this anger was directed towards her as she laughed it off before walking closer towards the desk and reading the two works inscribed onto it. She was right.

Taken aback by the wording of the document before looking behind her, she smiled while her lip quivered slightly, her eyes squinting trying to actually make a visible image of him.

"We really do need to stop meeting like this. If I was any less rusty, I could have mistook you for somebody I dislike."

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Am I so easily mistaken, apprentice?"

The words seemed to bounce of the office walls, despite the fact that Abyss had summoned no sound to go along with them. He found some enjoyment in letting his unholy voice fill the air, but within a insect infected cooperate tower it simply wasn't wise to make his presence known unintentionally. Instead the words were merely echoes in the force, horrific and unsettling but no more real in the physical realm than a thought.

Before the voice had fully faded, a hollow laugh followed it, a distorted symphony of broken noise. At the same time the shadows began to shift and shape, until the husk that he had become snapped back into existence. Little had changed about his appearance since their last meeting, only that his metal had claimed more marks of rust and decay, while parts of his deformed limbs were wrapped in dirty rags to hide their near broken state.

"When I entered this facility I felt some sense of admiration for your accomplishments, Lady LaForte."

Abyss voice left no doubt that this was not the case anymore. It wasn't the violent, ethereal shrieking of hate and anger, but rather a cold, judging echo of displeasure and disappointment. Yet despite these emotions [member="Natalie LaForte"]'s master offered her the courtesy of using the name she had chosen, and not the one given to her by the sith.

"Now I see that you have failed to avoid the pitfalls that come with wealth and luxury. That you sacrificed your most sacred gift, and my teachings, in favour of the meaningless matters of the material world."

Many among the sith would've been provoked to punish the shortcomings of their creations with death. Abyss was not like them. Only the strong were worthy to survive, but constant failure was merely another part of the puzzle that in its completion would grant true greatness. Instead he would make sure to guide his apprentice back on the right path.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie shuddered as the echoes filled the room, before fluttering her eyes and attempting to pass it off with false confidence.

"Perhaps we have conflicting ideas then. I do hope you wouldn't hold it against me but I could not stand it any longer with the Ascendancy, and the Commenor Systems Alliance has been more than willing to bend to my... needs, not to mention I've had more than an ample opportunity to practice your teachings on the unsuspecting."

In comparison, Natalie's own voice was meek; though she was unsure if she wanted to have the physical body of [member="Darth Abyss"], though what she would give for his intellectual capacity... that was a different question. Looking back on his words and reflecting, she actually realized how far she had come, for better or for worst... becoming a vampire, abandoning the Sith way of beliefs, leaving Malachor V, setting up operations on Mygeeto, she couldn't tell if he was genuinely disappointed or discreetly pleased with her for forging her own path.

Though Natalie doubted he felt anything other than hate these days. That was one of the reasons why she semi-converted-but-not-really to being a Dark Jedi, but a more appropriate term would have been light Sith though the title didn't really stick with her. She was more obsessed with the title than anything else.

"Speaking of which, I really only did this for your benefit. Is there not a Sith tradition that for me to become stronger I have to kill you?"

 

[Darth Abyss]

"I thought you knew me better. Has our time as master and apprentice not taught you that I could care no less about the empires of the sith?"

The disappointment in Abyss voice only had grown. In the months they had spend together as sith he had done his best to pass on not only his knowledge, but his wisdom. Unlike the true servants of the empire the Mindeater only followed the dark lord out of necessity, the eternal conquest of the sith offering a opportunity like no other to feast upon great minds. He knew loyalty towards two things: The dark side of the force, and himself.

"This is not about your current alliances, not even about your rejection of the sith code."

In all honesty Abyss couldn't care much less where [member="Natalie LaForte"]'s loyalty rested, as long as she remembered what part he had played in her creation. What truly annoyed him wasn't her rejection of the sith teachings, but her lack of trust in the dark side as something more than a simple tool, as more than a deadly weapon to wield in combat.

"To your servants you are a leader, but to me you are merely a child stumbling blindly through the galaxy. I have come to open your eyes, to show you things that are beyond anything this world has to offer, as it is my duty as your Master."

What Natalie would do with his teachings would once again be up to her. Maybe she would understand why a man turned himself into a hollow suit of armor held together by eldritch alchemy when she herself got a taste of the insight he had gained. Maybe she would simply use it to continue on her path, only now with a touch of greatness upon her.

"I only ask for one thing in return: Kneel before me."

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"Perhaps our time as master and apprentice was too short? Perhaps I had a taste for independence too soon before you let me out into the galaxy. After all, it was only a few months after you set me loose that I became... this." Flashing her teeth and showing the pointed fangs.

"That's because I am still a child. The closest thing I've had to a functioning family structure up until being proposed to is you and Blonde, yet the only affection I got was being chased down by two maniacal droids, having a bounty placed on my head, having to legally revert to my official name change my entire appearance, and you essentially saying I should tough it out on my own, fully well knowing that was a death sentence for a 16 year old; was it part of your plan or did you ever, really care about me? Am I just another puppet in your grand scheme?"

The amount of passion in Natalie's voice was probably the most he was going to hear during this entire catch up session. She shrugged her shoulders before bowing down on one knee, looking down to the floor.

"And yet I bow here like the fool I am because the most love a person could ever show me is in the most blatantly hateful way possible -- by treating 20-something year old me like a child by forcing me to bow on a knee and look down at the ground in my own corporate office with my staff working just meters below this floor."

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"If we were family, then I would remind you how ungrateful your words are. I bestowed wisdom upon you unknown to all but my innermost circle, and yet I still allowed you to be free instead of forcing you to be my servant. So ask yourself, and not me, if you are a mere pawn, or your own player in this endless game."

The husk straightened his figure, and the hollow metal came eerily close to the woman bowing before him. Now the disappointment in his voice had been replaced with anger, and [member="Natalie LaForte"] would be able to see his talons twitch, and hear the high pitched noise of metal grinding over metal as his sharp teeth scrapped over each other. He had done his best to forge her, to make her see and yet see seemed to understand nothing.

"My affection does not mean love or care, apprentice, it means to ensure your survival no matter the cost."

Darth Abyss was not like his kind, but love or care still were no part of his training. Not in the common sense at least. If she was searching for a family, then she had to look somewhere else. Still his voice lost some of its sharp undertones, making clear that his anger would not lead to the end of her existence.

"I did not ask you to kneel out of a petty desire to stand above you, but to prepare you for my gift. More than a few have lost their footing, and their mind, when receiving it."

Slowly Abyss raised his broken left, the claw hovering above his apprentice. Only once he had used his power to bestowed a gift upon another, in any other case it had been an assault on worthless minds to lead them to certain madness. Mortal men couldn't resist the endless insight his mind had to offer, breaking into a million little pieces once their eyes were opened. Only those with great potential could survive his reality unsacred, even if the fallout right afterwards would still be crippling and corrupting.

Then the dark tendrils of his thoughts rose to wrap around Natalie's mind, not to break it but to grant her the right to see the galaxy through his hollow eyes. The art of seeing future and past was one normally learned through years of training and patience, but he meant to kickstart this process by ripping open her third eye from one second to another.

Instead of the walls of the office she would see something else, should she allow Abyss mind to bestow his vision upon her. The countless strings of time, twisted and intertwined, always changing and shifting to create even more possible paths that the galaxy could take. Her mind would be flooded by short glimpses of what could come, violent impressions of hundreds of possible futures. He could gift her the sight to see, but the ability to understand her newfound vision was something she had to learn herself.

 

[Natalie LaForte]

Natalie didn't even attempt to respond once the Lord had put his tendrils into her mind; and she immediately had flashbacks to being anointed as a Knight years ago, when she was still but a teenager with fluorescent pink hair. Times were simpler back then, back when she only had to care about herself and her sister. Back when she could kill people without a second thought, now she had morality. The words sounded slightly softer than before, though were still charged with anger.

Willingly, she sat as the husk gave her the knowledge of infinity, giving seizure lack flashes of the future. She remembered back when she was at the command of a Lucrehulk and was about to be attacked by some malevolent force, or the vision of her mother and father creepily waking her up into a nightmare. These ones seemed much more... relaxed, in the sense that they didn't all portray her about to be blown out of her very being by energy.

Despite her 'third eye' being opened, she couldn't see any clearer. Everything was a blur of motion and images, and she couldn't make sense of anything at first; though over time things slowed down, ever so slightly and by just enough for her to be able to understand what was actually happening and to make sense of the whole situation, though they were always too far away for her to ever see the bigger picture. One showed a battle droid, one her sister, one her wife and the final one a maleficent figure wearing a cloak, those were the ones she could make out, each probably foretelling some of the opportunities available, and surrounding it millions upon millions of other paths lit up with swirls of purple pink and white, resembling a galaxy.

During this, Natalie remained silent with her eyes simply rolled into the back of her head.

[member="Darth Abyss"] (Forgot to tag)

 

[Darth Abyss]

The left of the sith lord lowered, the mental grip on [member="Natalie LaForte"]'s thoughts fading until only a glimpse of it remained, little more than static born from the oppressing presence that always shrouded him. His voice had lost all anger, and instead the somewhat calm, and slightly mocking, tone of the teacher had made a return. This was just a infinitely small step on an endless journey, but one day she would understand that he had just handed her the opportunity to shape her own fate.

"Your eyes are open now, but only time and training will teach you how to see."

His lowered left rose a slight bit again, offering it to her to raise herself up to her feet. Like his gift it was a clear sign that he no longer saw her as a easily replaced pawn in his game, but as a woman on the path to to become a worthy and capable ally to the Prophet in the future. He also offered it to test her reaction. What he had done was in no way a pleasant experience, and some negative after effects were more then likely to come with it.

"In due time, if you dedicate yourself to the force be it light or dark, my gift will make you stand above those that oppose you. You will learn your enemies past mistakes, their future struggles. You will know their plans before they even know them."

For another time his voice changed, a strange whisper followed by an almost curious echo. He had done what he could to once more offer his apprentice the wisdom of the force, and he truly wished that she would understand what it meant to use its full potential.

"Do you understand now why I said that you are a wasting your gift, do you now see the powers that go far beyond anything money could buy you?"

 

[Natalie LaForte]

"If I may interject, my ability to manipulate the force has severely weakened since we last spoke. Whether that be simply me forgetting or a sign I need to progress further, I do not know. However, I would appreciate it if you... were to take me under your wing again, in a much more reduced capacity, to say I would like you to continue advancing my learning, there's not exactly a phone book to find dark side force teachers."

Natalie was unsure of what she was saying as she reconciled herself and stood up, trying to not look as childish as she sounded. To herself, it was just a request for more teaching and learning new force abilities with someone who was a seasoned professional, and given she wasn't really willing to reveal her nature to the force sensitives she was usually around, those being the CSA it seemed appropriate to request now.

"You were a great teacher, my lord. I've grown up, learned from my mistakes and I'm more than willing to be taught by you again, even if that means temporarily."

She remembered that day when he had found her... bringing her to some abandoned warehouse and forcing her to face him with naught but that silly minigun she used to carry, but now she was mature enough to put up some sort of resistance against him.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

For a few moments the husk remained silent, the mind within it considering [member="Natalie LaForte"]'s request. In theory he had given her all the tools to continue her training by herself, but he was aware that the path of the force was one far more easily walked with a guide. Even he himself had relied heavily on the wisdom of his master long after being named a knight of the order, despite being quite a bit more studious on his own then his apprentice.

"I will grant your wish under one condition."

The truth was that Abyss had been in need for such an opportunity for quite a while now. Natalie's control of the force had grown weak, but she was still an exceptionally capable individual, exactly the kind he needed for his own ventures. As his apprentice she had served him well, and as a knight she would likely do so again.

"If I am to share more of my secrets with you apprentice, then I will require you to return into my service. You will still be allowed to tend to your own business here and elsewhere, but I expect you to follow my call at any given time."

From his robe the strange monstrosity reached for a datapad, typing in a set of coordinates while his metal claws left a unpleasant sound whenever they touched the device. Once finished he dropped the datapad on the office table, before speaking once more.

"Should you agree to these conditions, find me at the given coordinates. The ways of the force can be barley explored within a cage like this. Another place should remind you what it means to be dedicated to the darkness."