Conversing with a Legend.

[Shaddi]

Location: Personal Quarters of Darth Erebos aboard the starship, The Doppelgangers Lament. Galactic Location: Unknown, deep space.

Pacing back and forth around a pedestal in the middle of his training room, on top of the pedestal rested a holocron. Raising his hand up and letting loose a torrent of force lighting, on the wall behind him a wall was illuminated with a shadow in it's middle. "OPEN DAMN YOU!" Was screamed out into the sound of lighting hitting the holocron and the holocron absorbed it. There wasn't a scratch on it, infuriating Erebos to no end, so much so that he called upon his tonka amulet to empower his lighting to as high a point as he could bring it and unleashed it upon the Holocron.
It had been like this for a few weeks and Erebos's frustration was at a boiling point. With him trying everything he could think of to open the holocron and never getting anywhere with it. Now he wasn't going to give up, either he'd open the damned thing or obliterate his ship trying. With one hand he brought forth a bright red flame and with the other he brought his red force lighting, then he shoot out a veritable flood of power that combined into an electrical flame thrower in a sense as it all was concentrated on the holocron. To say it took a lot out of Erebos was an understatement.
He was bent over, supporting himself with his hands against his knees, wheezing as he focused on the force to try and replenish himself when he heard a distinct sound. It was the holocron powering up and suddenly the top of it opened, revealing under it's pyramid shape a crystal which began to project a light upwards. It had finally worked and a smile crept across his lips as he saw the distinct image of Karness Muur appear before him, the legendary sith lord and in a way one of the progenitors of the sith.

 

[Shaddi]

"Tisk, tisk young one. What is the rush?" The first words out of the gatekeeper made Erebos want to fling the holocron out the airlock then and there but He knew as well as the gatekeeper himself knew, He needed the holocron. "My Rush?! I've been trying to open you for the past three months! Yet you've stayed closed off for all this time." Erebos shouted at the gatekeeper, no at Karness Muur himself. Muur seemed just content with himself as he looked Erebos over. "You've grown stronger since last time we spoke, have you graduated from your paltry orders acolyte stage?" He asked, a sickening smirk across his face as he seemed to be mocking Erebos with his very tone or that Erebos was a mockery of what Kanress Muur had sought to build so long, long ago.
"Yes I have, My name is Darth Erebos now." Erebos said almost through clenched teeth. "HA! an ant donning the title of Darth?! please do not sully the memory of the sith any further, I just might pop a circuit." Muur responded, almost too quickly for Erebos's taste, his tone was now an outright insult and it was clear on is face that he intended it just as it sounded. "Really so I'm simply an acolyte in your eyes am I? Then why not teach me and elevate me to the same standard of dark lord as you hold yourself to?" Erebos said, hoping his bate would work on the arrogant sith lord. Muur however simply sighed. "What would be the point? You are already sullied by your so called one sith order and as such I have nothing to teach a sith who will not be master of his own fate." Murr responded but there was something there, something that gave Erebos a semblance of a plan to use against the ancient lord.
"I simply use them to further my own power, their dogmas are... Incompetent at best. I seek power beyond anyone of them, the very same power that you helped shape and create in the first place. Help me build it up once more to perfect it beyond a shadow of a doubt... Any Doubt." Erebos's words were impasioned and it was what he wanted out of the holocron, to learn it's secretes and to further those abilities he could learn from Muur to perfection.
The sickening smile returned to Muur's lips as he leaned forwards and seemed to be looking at Erebos in a new light. "Oh so you wish to become the apex of the sith in this day and age?" He asked but seemed surprised when Erebos replied with a flat out "No" However what Erebps said next made the same smile return. "I wish to become the apex of power in the galaxy itself, beyond even the jedi or the sith combined."
"It seems you are worth teaching after all.... T'zanith Zebron."

 

[Shaddi]

"So you intent to use my old name... Muur?" Erebos asked the gatekeeper as he crossed his hands. "Of course I will call you by your original name until I see it fit to call you as a sith lord, until then get used to the sound of your own name." Muur replied with a near devious smirk on his lips. Oh How Erebos hated this holocron but he had dissected and reassembled that emotion so many times he understood it as much as he understood that he needed air to live and simply let it add it's fuel to the fire that was his power without even touching his mind, but there were times it did touch his mind.
Muur seemed puzzled for a bit before something seemed to dawn on him. "You're using cold rage to fuel your powers aren't you? You remind me of Sorzus Syn, she too I believe used Cold rage as he foundation for power. She too desired power and knowledge above all else." Muur almost seemed impressed by this finding as he looked over Erebos, then he had to open his mouth again. "But compared to her you are but a pup."
"Are you going to keep insulting me or train me in the ways of the true sith, Muur! I grow tired of these insults you seem to take such delight in throwing at me but I have yet to get anything out of you other than a force lighting variant no one has seen in millennium! Is that your only trick because if so I can just as well blast you out the airlock on a path to a neutron star!" Erebos shouted at the hologram, he had, had enough of Muur's incessant insults and deflections. In his anger he didn't realize he had conjured forth fire serpents behind him, Their hisses snapped him back to his rational mind and he looked behind him, only to make them disappear with a wave of his hand.
Muur however seemed dumbstruck for a moment, a glorious moment of silence from Erebos's perspective. "I will teach you T'zanith but If I do, you must commit yourself to learning everything I have to offer And i do mean everything. There will be no short cuts but your power will rival the lords of old of that I can promise you. I wish to ask you one thing in return for teaching you." Muur then said as he raised himself high in an almost regal posture. "Find Sorzus Syn's holocron and the book she wrote, it will further your training beyond anything this era has ever seen." Muur then finished with a smile, this one however wasn't sickening to Erebos instead it was oddly reassuring for what was to come.
"Then begin my training and see how I compare once I've mastered what you can teach me."

 

[Shaddi]

Muur seemed exceptionally pleased to hear how eager Erebos was t learn and grow in power, in fact he began to laugh a little to himself. "You certainly remind me of Sorzus Syn, you have her fire for knowledge and power. Power might be needed but when you cannot focus to use the force what is it that you will have to rely on?" Muur then asked almost in an eager tone, whatever T'zanith had said to him had him stirred with excitement, something one didn't see very often with holocron gatekeepers.
T'zanith didn't have to ponder very long about the question, with one hand raised towards the corner of the room his lightsaber came flying into his hand and he turned it on, giving it a little flourish for flare. "One's lightsaber would be the obvious choice." He said while turning his head towards Muur, who nodded to the answer. "That is correct, Your lightsaber would be the most logical choice but you can also use your own fists, your armor can have weapons incorporated and if in a real pinch you can use blasters or even your own enemies weapon against them." Muur then said as he brought up a lightsaber in his own palm. "I will teach you now Shii-cho which is the gateway into the other five Lightsaber form."
At that T'zanith had to chuckle a little. "There are fourteen forms in total now and I'm already an expert in Shii-cho." This he said with a smirk as he looked up at the ancient lord who was now frowning quite a bit. "Oh well then I shall teach you to master it and then you will stay silent about this after wards." T'zanith knew he had just struck a nerve with the old sith lord but then again during his time there were only six forms.
Muur was now visibly angry for a second before he calmed down, raising his saber up in parallel to his midsection he then moved onto a stance. "Then I shall complete your training in Shii-cho." T'zanith had practiced this with is father a technique he called shadow dueling where both combatant's wouldn't even touch at all through out the duel but they would combat each other in a slow manner while still reacting as if they were dueling normally. Turning his own saber into the same salute they then took different starting postures and began their slow duel.

 

[Shaddi]

Using the force to speed up how he perceived time so that it still seamed to him like they were dueling in normal speed, but going so slowly also made each strike feel like he had to put every ounce of his strength and agility into his arms to even move them. The strain he felt was immense but he was also maintaining it against himself with the force so that he moved at the same speeds as Muur even when he was capable of moving so much faster in reality, he wanted to learn from Muur not cheat to win.
Muur's movements were flawless and elegant, he flowed from strike to parry to counter without any effort at all. T'zanith barely had time to marvel at Muur's skill with the blade as he defended against his strikes and tried his own counters against him, even though he was an expert at the form he wasn't as artful with it as Muur was but with time and practice that would change. T'zanith kept going for as long as he could in that state, it felt like hours had passed when they stopped, it ended with Muur's victory though it was close due to T'zanith's own skills with the form.
Dropping to one knee, he panted as sweat beads leaked down from his forehead making small drops on the floor below him. "You are quite the inventive fighter, T'zanith." Muur's voice cut into the air, burning exhaustion like a flame through flesh. Taking a deep breath in he stood back up and wiped his forehead with his forearm. "Thank you, coming from such a skilled duelist means a lot to me." T'zanith replied with a smile and to his surprise Muur was smiling right back at him.
"What?" He asked and Muur simply shook his head. "It's been a long time since I shadow dueled is all. That and that I've found a worthy enough student to teach anything to." He said before his smile turned back into the sickening sneer T'zanith hated. "Not that you've proven to be worthy yet that is." He didn't get a chance to speak again as T'zanith waved his hand and turned the holocron off forcefully.
"She'buy'ce!" T'zanith shouted at him and then walked out of the room, he needed time to rest and cool his head. It was oddly stressing dealing with Muur to him, he had spent time with much more obnoxious lords for sure but something about Muur always got under his skin. "It might be because he's one of my heroes..." He mused to himself as he moved to his personal quarters and sat on top of his bed, then he let himself fall backwards and the worlds turned dark.

 

[Shaddi]

He awoke up to a smell lingering in the air, rising up in time to see his Tuk'ata enter the room. The males, Khanath the larger and Grarad the smaller, were carrying a tray with food between them and the female, Dylsia, was balancing a closed cup of liquid on top of her head. The trio moved to a table and slit the tray and cup on top of it and then looked towards their master, who had to chuckle a little to himself after seeming the display.
"Well at least the three of you aren't trouble or headaches to me." He said with a smile as he stood up and moved to them, scratching Dylsia behind her head before he sat down at the table. After he had eaten his breakfast and taken a shower to get yesterday's grime and sweat off of his body he moved back into his private library were the holocron was were he had left it. Taking a deep breath in he waved his hand and activated the holocron again. Muur appeared almost instantaneously and had that annoying sneer on his lips. "I hope I didn't strike a nerve before." That was just what he needed, a hologram with a sarcastic sense of humor.
"You did, if you want to teach me then why are you trying to provoke me?" T'zanith replied but he was surprised when all of his Tuk'ata, who he hadn't noticed coming in with him, began to growl at Muur. Muur, who seemed to take a step back before he looked at T'zanith with curiosity. "It's my only source of entertainment..." His gaze became fized on the Tuk'ata. "You've trained them to obey you? Tuk'ata?! They are notoriously hard to tame and even control how did you manage this?!" Muur demanded much to T'zanith's surprise but he had to smile as he got an idea. "If you help me master Shii-cho then I shall tell you how about that?" He said and felt joy when Muur's face contorted into annoyance.
"Fine!" Muur said as he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Your a lot craftier than you appear to be T'zanith... It's annoying." He then finished. T'zanith only smirked at that and then with a click of his tongue the Tuk'ata left, T'zanith then pressed a button in his wrist to get his wrist com online. "Pelarious please make sure that the trio are fed." With an acknowledgement from the captain He smiled and looked back towards Muur. "So then shall we begin Once more?"
For two day's that was the routine, shadow dueling with Muur and then conversing about his life when they took breaks and allowed T'zanith to drink and eat every so often. Then it was done, T'zanith had mastered Shii-cho, a rush of accomplishment ran through him as he turned his saber off and stretched while the pressure of his own force power dissipated from his body. "Now tell me how you managed to train those Tuk'ata." Muur demanded, Muur had been surprisingly accommodating during those two day's which had made them a pleasant pair of days in his presence. "It was simple I killed their mother and took them as my own when they were born, I've raised them as their alpha ever since."
Muur showed his surprise at that. "So they see you as their father in a sense then?" To this T'zanith nodded and then took up a towel to wipe his face with.

 

[Shaddi]

Erebos took a seat next to the table were Muur's holocron rested on top of. "T'zanith, you didn't get brought to your sith order when you were young were you?" Muur asked as his hologram sat down in an indian sitting position, over the two day's of training Muur seemed to have developed an interest in T'zanith's life and experiences. To T'zanith it seemed Muur was simply trying to get a gauge of his experiences to structure later Training sessions.
"No I was brought into it when I was in my late teens." T'zanith replied as he began to wonder exactly Muur's objective was with this line of questioning. "Hmm but the way you act and how disciplined you are, you must have had prior training before joining the sith order?" "My father was an assassin and he deiced to train me in the same skills as he knew, though his force knowledge was very lacking but it also allowed me to hone my own body for what was to come when I joined the one sith." T'zanith then replied as he stared a little at Muur. "What is it your trying to learn through this questioning?" "I'm simply curious that is all, knowing how you began to learn is often the start of were you will end up growing into or out of." Muur replied while he rubbed his chin a little.
T'zanith simply chuckled and stood up. "I think your finally going senile Muur, I'm going to rest for today, we can continue training in the morning." With that he left the room but something about how Muur acted made him wonder what exactly the old sith lord was thinking.

 

[Shaddi]

When he awoke the next day his entire body was sore and weak, for the first hour he stretched and meditated. His Tuk'ata moved into his room with his breakfast and then gathered around him while he went through his morning exercises and meditation. After this hour he stood and got himself some breakfast before he left the room, stroking the top of Dylsia's head as he moved into the library. He was surprised when he came up to an impatient Muur that was pacing along the floor, raising his head up when T'zanith entered. "About time you woke up, I've been meaning to ask if you managed to perfect the sith barrage ability that I taught you the first time yet?"
T'zanith was caught off guard from that, to see Muur in such a state was.... weird, it felt off somehow. "I have yes.... why?" He answered with a raised eyebrow. "Show me... NOW!" Muur shouted, startling T'zanith quite a bit. He did however comply and with a lazy wave of his hand Lightning erupted from the ground, it was red and powerful. Muur stared for a moment and then smiled. "Good you've taken to that lesson well. I would like to further your education in force lightning now, I think it's time to teach you how to chain and eventually manipulate where and who your lightning will strike." Muur said this with a cocky smirk as he opened his arms in a gesture of willingness to teach.
T'zanith was now a little weary of Muur, if there was one thing he knew about the old sith holocron's it was that they often tried to teach things much more advanced than the student could handle. With sith barrage Muur had done that but when Erebos lessened the power Muur asked him to use and that had saved him, but know he was much more powerful and advanced in his training.
"All right then, how do we begin?" T'zanith then asked as he raised one hand and brought Muur's holocron to his hand and moved into the training room. In the training room he placed the holocron down and moved a few practice dummies around so that they formed a line with equal spacing between them. "Now you focus on building an electric charge between your hands and then pour your own power into them, use telekinesis in tandem with force lighting and then guide the lightning to were you want it to go, the stronger the lightning the farther you will be able to take it and the more targets you'll be able to hit." With that Erebos began to try it out.
The theory was sound and all but putting it practice would be the tricky part.

 

[Shaddi]

Gathering the force lightning in between his hands and focusing telekinesis around the force lighting. Then letting it loose he saw as he tried to aim the lightning from one practice dummy to the next, ending in a loop from one practice dummy, bouncing off that one and then going right back at it. With a slight tinge of annoyance he tried again, this time the lighting dissipated half way between the first two dummies. T'zanith's annoyance grew then even larger and he poured most of his energy into two parts, one for the lightning and the other for telekinesis, then he could see as the lighting forked and hit the first two dummies and then converged on the third one. Staring at the fried dummy as whisps of smoke came off it he began to smile. "So that's how it's done, split the power in equal parts between telekinesis and lighting until they both become seamlessly combined."
Karness Muur seemed to only stare a little at T'zanith before he smiled a little, though he hid it as soon as T'zanith looked over to him. The exercise had taken around two hours in total with multiple tries to learn the skill but for some reason it had all blended into three attempts in T'zanith's memory. "So is that acceptable?" T'zanith asked Muur then as he smiled in triumph. "Not bad, yes... Acceptable." Muur simply replied as he then turned the holocron off and disappeared.
With a slight look of Confusion T'zanith moved the holocron back on the table in the library and took the rest of the day off. He hadn't had a free day off in a while after Muur had suddenly become so conversational, that very aspect had T'zanith mulling over if Muur had simply stayed silent to annoy him or that it was something else entirely.

 

[Shaddi]

The rest of the day was spent in meditation and the usual reading of simple sith philosophy and lore that he had amassed over the year. The next day however Muur was already waiting for him when he entered the library, something that T'zanith probably would never get used to. "Good your here, I have mulled it over and I've decided to teach you how to create a being with alchemy." This came as quite the surprise to T'zanith, he had been trying to learn the biological element of Alchemy and to be taught by Muur one of the creators of the Leviathans of old, was, well a dream come true.
Without hesitation though Muur demanded to be taken to T'zanith's alchemical tools which he did. "Hmm adequate for now... Let's Begin shall we." Muur then said with a smile as he then interlocked his fingers and cracked them together which sent a shiver down T'zanith's spin. "And how will we begin? Or rather what do we need to begin?" T'zanith then asked as he looked Muur over, having simply made the holocron move into the room and placed it on top of a table in the room. "It is simple, bring me a human corpse." At that answer from Muur T'zanith realized why he had gotten that shiver down his spine. It wasn't the fact that he felt bad about killing someone but rather there wasn't anyone expendable on board the ship. "Captain Pelarious, could you chart a course to a prison facility? I have a need of a an expendable being." T'zanith said into his comlink as he then looked at Muur. "How about we go through the basics while we wait for a subject?"

 

[Shaddi]

Muur seemed delighted to speak about it with T'zanith. "Why of course. Alchemy is of course as you know is using the Force to effect change on the physical. To study Alchemy one must strip away the it's rhyming phrases and realize that what you are working with isn't some special creature but a resource. None of the sith spawn arise from nature, they are bred for their extreme forms. However breeding has it's limits, It takes generations whereas Alchemy is immediate.... and forever. Sith alchemy is applied to both the living and the nonliving. Each is a distinct discipline of study, with the latter being better suited for new apprentices such as yourself, do not think I've forgotten how careful you are in your advancement." He said with a smirk, but T'zanith could have sworn that he had a tint of admiration or respect in the gatekeepers eye.
Muur only paused for a short moment before he began once more. "Alchemy on the nonliving is far simpler because there are no living cells to resist you while you work. This is usually used to create amulets, armors or to enhance weapons. Any object touched with alchemy will become force-sensitive itself, forever retaining an imprint of it's maker or forger. I can see you've already begun your training in this art so I will not teach it to you at this time unless you wish to master it completely." Muur said as he pointed at the tonke amulet around T'zanith's neck and his ring as well.
"Alchemy on the living is suited mostly or only for masters. The subject's own force energy will fight you every step of the way as you twist and shape the host to your will and machinations. By recasting the shape again and again, you will get a Leviathan but you aren't ready to begin such work at this time." He said as he finished his explanation it seemed for now.
T'zanith had listened intently the entire time and had began mulling everything over in his head while he stared at the alchemical altar in the room. "So if we have a prisoner I could twist him or her into whatever I wish?" He asked as he looked towards Muur who only smiled in response, T'zanith took it as a definitive yes.
At that he got a ping from Captain Pelarious stating that they had reached the prison planet and he ordered the captain to bring up at least 6 test subjects for him, three males and three females.

 

[Shaddi]

T'zanith had only worn simple sith robes to meet Muur and it was enough as one of the prisoners, a male human, was brought into the room. T'zanith didn't much care for how other sith seemed to love to inflict fear on others but T'zanith had learned to feed off of the fear of those around him and this mans fear was like when one is jolted awake. "Excellent he should be sufficient for now. Place him on the altar and make sure he can't escape or struggle too much." Muur commanded at once and reluctantly T'zanith did as the ancient sith lord asked. Once the man was placed and bound tightly enough on the altar T'zanith stood back and took out a few tools to help in this en devour.
"No, No, No you don't need tools for this line of alchemy. You use your own power, craft tendrils and tools out of the force itself and use them on the subject." Muur half shouted emphatically at T'zanith who almost dropped the tools as he was startled a little by how suddenly Muur had spoken out. Placing the tools back he moved up to the prisoner and placed his hands on his chest. "All right now what." He asked as he didn't turn his head as he had shut off his force sight to have every drop of his power at his disposal for the task ahead. "Good now focus your own power into the man and grip his cells into your hands, hold his very being in your hands and twist him to your will. Don't stop until you are satisfied with what you have made out of him and never think of him as anything else other than a simple canvas for you to work with, a clay waiting to be molded by you." This was easy to T'zanith as he usually viewed everyone like that to begin with.
Pushing his power down into the mans body he sent what he felt like millions of tiny force tendrils into the mans body, who immediately began to scream out in pain and horror. Opening his eyes in the force he had made an error in judgement to shut his eyes off while he worked but now he could see it so clearly, his hands were a little above the man but he held another body above it that T'zanith could manipulate as he willed it. He tried it as he bent the arm of the phantom body the wrong way and a sickening crack could be heard resonate inside the room and the scream that followed was silenced almost in it's infancy as T'zanith began to mold the mans head first but only in minute ways as he moved down the body and then up once more again and again.
He didn't stop until the man was almost skeletal in appearance and his screams and sobs had turned into hisses and gurgled growls. T'zanith stumbled back as he felt the power it required was immense, he had barely begun and he already felt like sitting down. "How do you minimize your own power expenditure so that you can work for longer periods of time?" He then asked Muur as he wiped away the sweat that had accumulated on his brow. "That is up to you but I know that making a Leviathan takes a long time to achieve it just right." Muur explained and T'zanith began to realize that Alchemy on the living wasn't as fast as it was on the nonliving, this actually took time and great effort to achieve. "I'm going to get something to eat and refresh myself before I continue."

 

[Shaddi]

When he returned he had been away for an hour and a half, time spent eating and meditating. "All right then, let's continue." He said as he walked towards the former man who had begun to whimper in the time he had left, the mind would have to be shaped later. He didn't even hesitate now as he dove in and thrust his power as deep into the core of the man's being as he could and soon cracks and snaps could be heard as he changed the man's body as well as he could until his shape was what he desired. Standing back he felt a little proud but then he began to think on it a little and began to cast the form once more over the man, the cracks and snaps had stooped mostly but occasionally they could be heard.
T'zanith continued to work on the man until his appearance was fully skeletal and his eyes had been removed, a carapace chitin had grown over the man's body as well and he had stopped any sound of protest instead just lay there. "Interesting design for a first creature but I think you've killed him..." Muur said as he looked the being over. "No." T'zanith said as he placed his hand on the man's chest and sent a force lightning shock into his body forcing a loud coughing wheeze out of the new being as it began to hiss and growl into the air, almost seeming to stare at T'zanith. "You took it's eyes and gave it force sight instead? Very interesting, what is it supposed to do for you?" Muur asked, sounding impressed at T'zanith's work. "Oh that is simple this will be a shock trooper..." He began before he fell down to one knee and began to cough uncontrollably as the backlash rocked over his body with such force that he felt his body almost spasm with it.
He felt like he had coughed up a lung when the coughing fit finally stopped and he felt exhausted as he looked towards Muur who had a wide smirk on his face. "I did forget to mention the backlash of hurrying though the creation of a sith spawn." If the man was still alive, T'zanith would have killed him then and there.

 

[Shaddi]

T'zanith had retired to his quarters after that and didn't try again until the nest morning, this time on a female prisoner. He took his time with her, gently manipulating her body to suit his purposes as he cast her into the same form as the man from before but this time the changes came gradually over time and he spent most of the day changing her instead of the initial six hours that he had done on the man and this time the backlash was must less severe.
The next four days were spent in such a manner with the guidance of Muur to help him, he cast all six prisoners into the form of the first one but they were separated into three males and three females. Once that was done he had them all confined in a storage room on board as they shipped them to another site. "Muur turn off, I'm tired and I wish to rest and meditate for now. When I require your teachings once more I will call upon you to teach me." T'zanith then said and as Muur was about to say something in protest he moved the holocron into his library and left him there as he half stumbled into his quarters and let himself fall into the bed. The sweet embrace of sleep began to creep into his mind as he was closing his eyes in the force, the last few day's had been exhausting but he had learned a lot in that time as well and in his mind that was a win.