Assurance of Darkness

[Samka Derith]

In spite of it all she smirked. Trust him? He was one of the most hated men in the galaxy. Civilisations were left to ashes in his wake. His mere existence was a rallying cry to many to take up arms against him. How many people had been tortured, betrayed and murdered because of him? Yet after all of this, somehow she trusted him.

She nodded, unflinching at the Sith Lord's touch. She didn't say another word. She didn't need to.

----

It was hours later aboard the Emperor's shuttle when Carnifex summoned her again. She wasn't certain where in the galaxy they were but that wasn't important now. She stood at his side, gazing out towards a teeming, beautiful world. Closing her eyes, the Ren felt the Force reaching out from the planet. She felt life from the grass, the trees, the animals of predator and prey alike working in perfect tandem to create a sustainable world.

Her eyes remained closed as Carnifex spoke, so she could fully concentrate on what he was speaking of. It was true, the Light was strong here. Even from this far, it was clear. Where once the Light had disgusted her in any intensity such as this, now she was neutral on it. It was a bad omen. Too much time spent with them.

Sam opened her eyes, feeling the intensity of the Dark Lord looking down upon her, and turned to meet his cruelty with curiosity. "How?" She merely asked.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Let me show you."

The shuttle descended into the atmosphere, but without guidance beacons or control towers the ship had to orient itself through the thick cloud cover by visual scanning alone. But the Emperor's pilots, hand-picked from among the best of the Empire's starfighter corps, easily maneuvered the large ship down to the planet's surface. Large creatures listed through the air, warbling in annoyance as they were displaced by the artificial monstrosity pushing them aside for a landing.

Boarding ramp lowered, the two Masters of the Dark Side emerged into a clearing teeming with the Force. Life was strong here, powerfully so. It was almost intoxicating to their senses as the Emperor led the Master of Ren to the edge of the clearing, turning back only once to watch his ship take off and return to the safety of outer space.

"They will return for us once beckoned, but this journey is for you and me alone."

Deeper into the alien forest they trekked, the Emperor leading the way the entire time as the air grew cold and inhospitable, the native plant life turning darker and sinister the closer they neared one of the last remaining fonts of Dark Side energy left on a world almost completely consumed by the Light. Up ahead was a massive tree, gnarled and charred as if struck by lightning. The Emperor placed a gloved hand on the tree, feeling the diminishing energies flow up through his arm and nestle in his beating black heart.

"Though this world is almost completely consumed by the Light, it is through conduits such as this focal point by which the world shall be darkened. Feel the tree, sense the energies waiting to be unleashed. Together you and I will eradicate all traces of the Light."

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

"They will return for us once beckoned, but this journey is for you and me alone."

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" She beamed at the Dark Lord and gave a small wave with her fingers up at the retreating starship. She'd stood on a tree root by the clearing's edge to look up at the ship, delicately balancing by shifting her weight between the sides of her feet making the young girl wobble slightly.

The Emperor had begun to trek deeper without a word so Samka hopped off and set a pace following. The behemoth's large steps seemed to be worth almost two of hers, something she noted with chagrin as she skipped and hopped after him. However one positive was that Carnifex's size cleared a pathway for her through the virgin jungle's dense vegetation.

She could feel something up ahead. It was faint, smothered as it was by both the light of this world and the darkness of Carnifex. But there was something colder, darker than the rest of this place. It was comforting.

"A decrepit tree?" She looked the blackened trunk up and down as the Dark Lord placed his palm upon it. "You take me to the nicest of places."

She reached outwards, feeling an unusual build up of strength building through her finger tips as her hand outstretched but there it stopped, just inches from the charred bark. She hesitated and cast an upwards glance at the Sith Emperor.

"I thought you were going to do it? Besides I'd hardly consider myself strong enough to devastate a planet."

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I had thought you would wish to partake in the ritual with me, my friend."

Removing his hand from the tree, the Emperor cast off his cloak, unfastened the buttons of his tunic, and slipped both gloves off of either hand. With both discarded to the forest floor, the Emperor now stood fully bare-chested in front of the smaller Master of the Knights of Ren. Innumerable scars cut across his muscular flesh, creating a labyrinthine network over still visible black Sith tattoos. Each one had been earned in a harrowing battle, several across the same battlefield dating back to the twilight years of the One Sith.

"But if you desire to only observe, then bear witness."

Bare fingertips now touched the charred and desiccated bark, again connecting the Dark Lord of the Sith with the waning Dark Side energies present in the environment. Though the tree was fading, its roots still ran deep in the ground beneath their feet. Via this connection, the Dark Lord could reach out into the planet's biosphere and directly enact his will upon the environment. Power flared within the Emperor's body, manifesting as visible discharges of electricity in the air around him while the tree seemed to undulate in response.

The atmosphere grew darker, storm clouds gathering around them as with closed eyes the Emperor began to repeat an incantation in the ancient language of the Sith. Lightning began to strike all across the forest as the Dark Side was channeled through the tree and dispersed out through the roots, souring the soil in every direction as the balance of the world was flung into opposite disarray. Where once there had been an imbalance of Light suffocating the world, the scales now began to dip in the other direction. Darkness began to cover the world as the Emperor worked without interruption, no Jedi to stop his foul acts as he imparted his iron will upon the Force exuding from the planet itself.

Animals went mad, turning on one another in a frenzy of violence and cannibalistic hunger as the Emperor's hatred infected them to their very core. Only Samka was immune from the havoc being wrought on the planet, purposefully willed by the Emperor so that she could look on his works fully cognizant of his grand designs.

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

No for the time being, she would only watch. Her soul was not yet ready for such a deed. Too long had she spent cut off from the Dark Side, cut off from the Force in general. If she took part, any doubts that she still had, any weaknesses, they would be exposed to him. That was something which simply could not happen.

He, however, clearly had no such reservations about exposing himself. Samka averted her gaze as the Emperor's upper clothing fell to the forest floor. She considered challenging him on the necessity of it but the Sith had his rituals and she didn't wish to seem rude.

The creeping influence of the Dark Side brought her attention back, however. All around them the Light dimmed. It began underneath her feet, a growing coldness which caused the plants around them to shiver. Then the rest came in a sudden burst. Electricity flared around the Sith Emperor and the sky itself darkened. The winds began to blow her hair and dress but she paid it little mind as she held her hands in front of her and observed the rapid decay of everything around her. Lightning crackled, fires were caught, plants withered from the soil and the cries of deranged animals she had barely noticed now carried on the winds.

Samka closed her eyes and filtered out the sound from her mind. She didn't need to see or hear the destruction around her, it was a mere distraction from the true sense the Force had granted her. All across the planet she could feel the Light fade in a sudden eclipse of death and madness and now she could feed off of it. Urges which had been muted before suddenly erupted, sadism which had almost been erased in favour of practicality reared again. As a fog of darkness swept over this world, her mind felt clear again.

A sinister smile crept onto the young woman's face.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Pulsating waves of Dark Side energy cascaded over the planet. The once green and vibrant foliage wilted as the dark energy coursed through them, the pigmentation gradually turning a dark shade of purple and black as the ritual continued unabated. It could even be seen from orbit, a tidal wave of shadows speeding around the globe from a single point on the planet's surface. Yet it was the epicenter of the ritual that was subjected to the most dramatic changes.

The dark tree, once dying and desiccated, now undulated with renewed vigor. The bark blackened and grew, renewal racing along every branch as they reached new heights above the pair of Dark Force masters. By the time the transformative energies had encircled the world, the tree now rose many hundreds of meters into the air. Its roots had torn up the earth around the Sith Lord and Master of Ren, but both were protected from any harm as the ground beneath their foot rose up like a platform in response to the shifting environment.

When it was all said and done, the Light had been nearly eradicated from the world's ecosystem. In its place was a paradise, a dark shadow pulsating in the void of space with promising whispers of power and glory. The Emperor lifted his hand from the bark, the symbol of the Dark Side forever etched into the tree's bark.

He looked around, marveling at the wonders he had performed. "It's quite a paradise, don't you think?"

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

"Paradise." She repeated, glancing around at what was once a teeming jungle of life. Now it was a void of anything but death. "That could be a term for it."

Sam took a few steps toward a large root from the tree the Dark Lord had used as a conduit and wrapped her hand around it. She could feel the latent energy still flowing through it, creating a buzz felt all the way down her arm.

"So much destruction," she tutted then turned back to regard Darth Carnifex. The man had just devastated a planet. For her? On a whim? "I'd have been satisfied with light vandalism," a curve of a smile reached the edge of the young Ren's lips. "Tell me, if you will, how did you acquire this power?"

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Though intense communion with the Dark Side, naturally." Said the Emperor of the Sith with a smirk, though he was not far from the truth. He had spent years, decades even, improving upon his connection to the Dark Side of the Force, diving deep into the esoteric lore of the ancient Red Sith to learn all of its secrets. "When you feel anger in every connection to the Force then you have discovered the Dark Side, Samka. Hatred drives me, hatred of a galaxy who has for too long squandered its chances at greatness, and hatred at the Jedi for allowing it to stagnate and decay."

A part of him strove to better the galaxy by bringing it under the yoke of the strong, stripping it of weakness and unnecessary refuse, but another aspect of his being simply wished to conquer the galaxy just for the power. Those two sides of him warred with each other endlessly, but he was the master of his own being.

He was in control of his destiny.

"We are not so different, the Sith and the Ren. Different methods, the same end goal." He reached out and caresses a rapidly blooming flower that had sprung up from the corruption of the world, its petals were pitch black and its stamen was blood red. "To remake all worlds in our image."

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

"Naturally." She repeated, her eyes never leaving his as she studied the man intensely.

"Anger and stress can take such a toll on one's appearance," Samka sighed. "True power comes with atrociously dry skin." She'd avoided the worst physical tolls the Dark Side brought thus far but who knows how she may look within a few decades. While she joked now, the thought was off-putting for the vain young woman.

"Hm," the Ren gave a noncommittal noise to the Sith's assertions of similarity. But her attention was suddenly caught by the blossoming rose. With wide, curious eyes, Samka took a hop and a skip closer for a better look. "Life among it all," she spoke softly, almost too soft for the Sith Emperor to hear. "It's a rather beautiful little thing. May I?" She extended her palm.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Emperor snapped the flower off near the base, delicately handing it over to Samka as more dark flowers began to blossom and bloom around them. "Light and Darkness are fundamental forces of the universe, my friend. Though contradictory, they both live in a certain balance. They say that one cannot exist without the other." Many knew and understood this, such a phenomenon had been observed and documented for untold centuries. The Emperor, though agreeing with most findings, did digress on one important point.

"But when you strip away the light, what else is left but darkness?"

There was darkness beyond the edge of the galaxy so encompassing and absolute that no light could possibly hope to pierce its gloom. It was the sea by which the other galaxies of the universe were isolated from one another, perpetually divided. Few have ever made such a journey and lived, the Yuuzhan Vong being the most successful. Though at times blasphemous to his own beliefs, the Emperor found that he had much to learn from the Yuuzhan Vong that could extend his rule beyond just the borders of this galaxy.

For if the Yuuzhan Vong could achieve intergalactic flight, then why not him?

"This is the destiny I have foreseen for the galaxy, Samka. Stripped of Light, stripped of weakness, stripped of the Jedi. With every day the darkness grows stronger and our hold upon the galaxy tightens." He paused, a quick breath as his eyes narrowed in thought. "Yet, there is an ancient adage. One you may be familiar with. When darkness rises, the light will meet it. As our power over darkness strengthens, so too will our equal in the light stand to challenge us. We must prepare for this paragon."

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

She reached out, taking the sensitive plant from the giant of a man and held it to her nose. The scent was potent and intoxicating. It wrapped around her senses in a cold yet comforting embrace.

She held the strange plant there as she looked up at Carnifex, listening to his grandiose speech, gently nodding along when necessary.

She agreed with the principle of what the Dark Lord was saying but the probability of achievement was something else entirely. The Light looked weaker than it had in years. There was no great power rising in their name. Rump Jedi, Republic and smuggler states were all that remained. Yet their total extermination looked to her to be a distant dream at the current pace. Short of a grand plot or super weapon, this meandering invasion of a few worlds in a few years would earn them nothing resembling total victory and extermination of the enemy.

"I'm familiar," Samka replied once the Sith Emperor had stopped speaking. "It often takes the form of a single warrior who rallies enough of the galaxy to strike a critical blow. You foresee this... soon?" She continued to hold the ebony petal flower close, holding the blood red stem with both hands. "The light's greatest strength is its unpredictability, this makes counter measures difficult... I can only assume you're trying to recruit me for... something?" She raised a brow quizzically at Carnifex.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Nothing yet, my friend. I just desire your confidence." He couldn't reveal it to her yet, not at this current stage. There were reports from the edges of the galaxy, something was brewing beyond the purview of the interstellar powers that could spell calamity. Not willing to solely trust his servants mired in the realm of flesh and blood, the Emperor had turned to the Mystics of Voss for divinations of the future. For ten days and ten nights, he sat in ritual with them, waiting patiently as they peered into the webways of the Force.

What they told him was disconcerting.

A tide of scale and claw, a red fist emerging from a broken halo of black thorns. There were other premonitions as well, all of them to be heralded by a shooting star so incandescent that it would humble those who suffered it.

"I sense that something monumental will reshape the galaxy, Samka. One that will test our faith, and we must be prepared."

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

Samka maintained eye contact with the giant before her as she attempted to gauge his thoughts but his expression was unreadable. Carnifex's epicanthax traits prevented any probing of the mind which she may have done otherwise. As such, the intricacies of the Dark Lord's mind remained a mystery.

"So be it." The Ren girl spoke softly after a pause. "You'll have my skills should you require them. Since you've been so nice today," a soft smirk crept onto her lips which Samka swiftly hid behind the corrupted flower.

"I'm prepared," the mirth in her crimson eyes drained away, replaced with a firm determination. "I've been prepared for a while. I'll be ready for anything the galaxy swings at us. I'm a survivor now and nothing will stand in my way."

Samka lowered the flower and took another scan of the planet, somehow blooming in twisted beauty arising from the destruction of what once was. "Shall we depart, my Lord?"

[member="Darth Carnifex"]​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He smiled, "I don't think there's a singular force in the galaxy that could stand against you, Samka."

Pressing a button on his wrist-communicator, a signal was dispatched to his shuttle in orbit and within a few moments, the sight of the black-plated ship descended through the darkening clouds. Hydraulic steam billowed out from vents located around the landing gear as it settled down into a newly formed clearing close to the base of the tree. The disembarkation ramp lowered to the ground with a dull thud, brilliant white lights illuminating the passage into the shuttle.

"But yes, let us depart this world, my friend. Let the dark energies suffuse the planet in our absence." He offered his hand to her, willing to guide her into the shuttle if she would allow it.

The Emperor, after all, was the perfect gentleman.

[member="Samka Derith"]​

 

[Samka Derith]

"Flatterer." The young woman smirked beneath her flower. "But I'm still far off your abilities for the time being."

Taking a final glance around as the Emperor's shuttle descended, Samka took in the sights, the senses. Overwhelming darkness. It was as she had wanted to see. Beyond what she had expected but since when did Darth Carnifex do things small? With her request to watch something beautiful shatter, she'd been expecting the torture of a Jedi or destruction of a city. She had gotten an entire world. An entire world gone. Merely on her whim. She couldn't decide what to make of the Dark Lord's action.

A callous act. A unique life form here may have held significant use for medicine or weaponry...

Yet a total measure done for her. A display of such raw power on her behalf. It excited her. What else could they do together?

Seeing Carnifex extend his hand she took it with a smile as pleasant as one could imagine and politely dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Your attention to etiquette is appreciated, my Lord." With that she let the giant lead her to the shuttle.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]​