The Old Masters had many things to say.
The holocrons gathered around him, each of them placed perfectly along the backdrop of stars just outside of the bridge, groaned and whispered the secrets of ages past. A thousand truths and just as many lies, cobbled together and bounding off of one another. Each of them speaking for their own interpretation of the Sith code. The various ways one should fall their enemies, the true purpose of the Dark Side, and how to feed off of baser emotions to fuel yourself. There was something that never seemed too exactly right to Gatlin. Their masters always sounded wrong, as if they had blinded themselves in their own quests for glory. Rarely, oh so rarely did he find any true knowledge in these long forgotten devices. They screeched and begged for Gatlin’s attention, for their willingness to learn. They pounded off of bone, off of skull, and scratched at the edges of Gatlin’s concept of sanity. Each voice echoed into the endless black before wandering through the valley of shadows. It was as of the sands of Moraband had done more damage to their own studies than assist it, again and again he felt disillusioned with the proclaimed teachings of the Old Guard. Of the Dark Lords that had come before him, they melded together and bled, despite how different each of them proclaimed themselves to be from the others. The Reclamation, strife, the Civil Wars and desecration, they had fallen so far, Gatlin’s kin and kith, since the original schisim. He wondered if the ancient Jen'jidai had any clue that their fledgling Order, despite the hold it contained over the Galaxy, still failed to honestly grasp the understanding of the Dark Side. Gatlin blamed the teachings of the Sith Empire, they blamed the peace, they blame the quiet, they blamed the ignorance in victory.
Perhaps with the New Imperial Order, things could change.
That thought was dashed moments after it came to him.
Searing hot flashes, burning like rods of molten iron, began to peak across Gatlin’s body. Underneath the plating. Burning to life and vanishing a moment later, scattering across flesh in random patterns, nerves feeling as if they were drawn through their flesh and flayed upon the wrack. Limbs suddenly would cease working, sending Gatlin onto one knee, and then when their hand went to support them, that would suddenly collapse as well. A scream, they weren’t sure if it belonged to them, the holocrons, or the dredges clawing at the door of the bridge upon hearing the shouts of their master. Fingers buried into the durasteel floor, twisted and turning the metal, sending cracks through it’s construction. Fist slammed into the steel, sending burns of electrical pulses, in fading shades of purple, red, green, and blue. Frying the electrical systems through the hull. The chanting from the holocrons grew louder, louder yet, as if the pain he was endearing was the single most entertaining thing they had ever been accustomed to.
Gatlin lifted from the floor, their back snapping backwards harshly, wrenching against the armor plating. Ringing through the empty room. Nearly threatening to rend Gatlin’s back in two.
They were betrayed.
They screamed again, and the entire bridge shook as their lungs threatened to give out. The windows cracked, shattered, threatening to steal away not only Gatlin but the holocrons. Bulkheads slammed shut and secluded Gatlin in darkness. Lightning crawled from their mouth, down their chest, shoulders, and exploded again from their fingers.
He collapsed.
The door slid open, and among the murmurs and whispers of those long driven mad from his presence, came the calm and collected footfalls of his most faithful.
“My Sith'ari…” The servant asked.
Heavy breathing was the response.
“My Lord Gatlin…”
“We have been betrayed. The Sith Empire will still stand. We have no home with the New Imperials…”
“What would you have your Qorit’taral do?”
“... call the grotthukut of the Qo’krataa. Terror will free us.”
“Terror shall free us.”
And with that, the Qorit’taral left his master, alone with their voices.
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