Descent into Darkness

[Taeli Raaf]

Planet Lorrd

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli sighed as she lifted a large container of supplies onto her repulsorlift. Packing for her trip was taking more than she expected, and longer, but she was just thankful that Lorrd City, and her parents, had just about everything she needed. Walking up the boarding ramp with her lift, she deposited the supplies into the neat pile of containers already in the cargo bay and went over her check list for what felt like the twentieth time.

"Blast, I forgot to purchase additional datapads," she groaned to herself, going back down the ramp and closing the ship up. Looking up into the Lorrdian sky she sighed, "Guess i'll just have to go back into the city."

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

This world was dangerous to be on, Balaya was moving quickly under the guise of the Purifier's League with her men scouting for darksiders. Their work and efforts to cleanse in the name of the council and in the name of their leader perfect. They brought her all the lovely darksiders and artifacts they found of value or worth to be judged. Only her most loyal knowing who she was or at least what she was while she sat in the speeder and watched. "Scour the planet but avoid the Leventhines we do not want to deal with them just yet." The men gave a nod of their head to her with that and slowly Balaya watched all of it while she tapped a finger to her chin. "And prepare for the real fun to begin with judgement."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Thanks for the datapads," Taeli smiled, dropping the last credcoin onto the counter of the small shop she had stopped at in the city.

"Now problem, dear," the Epicantrix shopkeeper said, scooping the coins off the counter. "Always a pleasure, just be careful outside. There have been some boys causing trouble for young girls wandering alone."

"I'll be fine, I can take care of myself," Taeli replied, causally waving her hand unconcernedly. Leaving the shop with the small package of datapads, she began making her way back towards her shuttle. Cutting through a small alley as a shortcut that she had used multiple times in the past, she was stopped by two boys blocking the end of the alley. They were dressed like students from the university.

"Excuse me, you're in the way," she said, trying to push them.

'If you want to pass, you gotta pay a toll," one boy, a Kiffar judging by the tattoo on his face, smugly said.

"What's the toll?" she sighed.

"A kiss for each of us," the other boy, a normal Lorrdian leered.

"How about you both get out of my way and I don't hurt you?" Taeli replied sweetly, but her fists were clenched and she could feel her annoyance bubbling up inside.

"Then we'll just take the toll," the Kiffar boy laughed, making a hand gesture.

Confused by the gesture, she took a defensive stance her mother taught her, dropping the package of datapads at her feet as she did. That was when two large arms wrapped around shoulders, holding her back and stopping her from fighting.

"Let me go!" she yelled, panic and anger making her voice higher.

"Not a chance," a voice growled in her ear and by straining her neck, she could see the person holding her was a Mandalorian boy that she had bested in a fencing duel. "You owe me something for that humiliating defeat. You stripped me of some honor, and now my friends and I will strip you of yours."

The other two boys came forward and she could feel them running their hands along her body. Her panic, shame, and anger were revolving inside of her and it was making her lose control.

"No! Stop! Please!" she yelled, hoping someone might hear her predicament from the street, but there was no one nearby.

"This is what you get," the Mandalorian boy growled, roughly kissing her ear and biting it. His companions began to try and slip their hands under clothes. She continued to struggled even more, her panic blazing ever brighter and her anger and hate of the boys kept growing and growing. Like a dam breaking inside of her, the rage she felt unleashed itself.

The two boys in front of her were thrown backwards by an unseen force, landing heavily on their backs. The boy holding her also was blasted backwards, but he recovered his footing and looked at Taeli in shock. Before he could say anything, Taeli instinctively raised her hand and threw him on top of his two friends. Her eyes were blazing as she advanced on her would-be rapists. The three boys scrambled to their feet, trying to get away from the enraged girl, but Taeli would not allow them to escape without punishment.

Again, through instinct, she reached out and gripped each boy by the throat with the same unseen force, lifting and choking them. The boys started making gurgling sounds as their eyes pleaded for mercy, but they would find none as she increased the pressure on their throats.

"You're an or'dinii," the Mandalorian boy was able to gasp out.

Knowing exactly what she had just been called, Taeli's eyes blazed with anger as she completely let herself go. Twisting her hand, she heard the satisfying pop of the Lorrdian and Kiffar's necks breaking and she dropped their bodies to alley floor. Walking directly up to the still struggling Mandalorian, she removed the beskade from his belt.

A few minutes later, Taeli was blinking rapidly as her bloodlust dissipated and she took in the sight in front of her. Two of the boys were on the ground their necks at odd angles, their eyes unseeing. It was what had happened to the third boy that made her recoil against the wall and stare at her bloody hands and the bloody saber clenched in them. The Mandalorian boy had his nose, ears, hands, and feet removed and scatted around his torso. Small cuts were across his body and had finished with a long slash across his throat.

"What have I done?" Taeli whispered. "What have I done? What have I done?" She kept repeating this mantra over and over again, staring at the bodies and unable to look away

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

Balaya perked her head up, the feelings in the area shifted as she sat in the speeder and opened the window. Her hand letting a familiar go into the air while she was moving her eyes back and forth. "Seek." She didn't need to speak more then that while the speeder moved taking her around. Someone was here, someone was sparking her interest at least a little and slowly as she moved about Balaya tapped her finger watching through the eyes of her familiar. She could see the dead bodies as the familiar honed in on the girl perching and looking with golden eyes. Her presence in the darkside emanating from the bird before she spoke the words coming out of the birds mouth. "Such a curiousone, did you enjoy killing them child? Did you enjoy taking their lives?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli whipped her head up, expecting to see a woman standing in the alley but there was no one there.

'I'm going insane,' she thought, but decided to answer the question aloud anyways.

"I . . . I'm not sure . . . they deserved some punishment, but . . ." her voice trailed off.

She had to admit, the power she had wielded, even though she couldn't control it, had felt good.

"It felt . . . good . . . to use that power . . . but . . . I can't control it . . . and I don't want to kill someone without being in control . . ." she muttered.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

"Control is power, I have power child. The Sith have power and we welcome all who seek it. Assuming you're strong enough. There are things you will have to do and it is not for the weak. Are you strong enough to handle the dangers that come from serving the will of the dark lord and rising through the ranks of those who control the galaxy?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Still not seeing where the voice was coming from, Taeli shakily got to her feet to reply.

"I . . . I want that power . . . I want . . . the knowledge . . . I want the control . . . I want it all and I'll . . . do anything to gain it"

She didn't care that it was a Sith offering the chance, part of her had always known she was drawn towards something darker.

"What must I do . . . my lord? Taeli asked, looking up finally and noticing some shadowy shape perched above her

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

"Well then come to me." Balaya let the familiar squawk and fly away as she sat there in the speeder and the window slid up. She let her presence in the darkside pulse and radiate outwards for the girl to feel or she could flowly the familiar who was making a path for her. She wanted to see her face to face and see her reaction to the danger of it all. "COme to me my sweet."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Deciding to keep the bloodied beskade as a token of what had occurred here and what it represented, Taeli followed the shadowy bird familiar. As she did, she could feel a chill building in the air around her as she kept going towards the edge of city. She knew it was the Sith causing the chill and she could almost feel the power that was absolutely radiating out towards her now. Spotting a single speeder, she made her way to it and dropped to one knee

"I have come . . . my lord," she muttered.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

Balaya looked at the girl as the doors opened to get inside, the familiar flying in and to her hand as the large sith master spoke. "Rise and get in." She was all the way out here on Lorrd a world the One Sith didn't need yet... there was plenty going on that they could do sure but they had the deep core and core worlds. They had kicked the republic off Coruscant and demolished the temple. Slowly as Balaya waited and motioned the driver. "Return us to the ship, we will be returning to the Iron Citadel and Coruscant." The smile crept onto her face with that. "Now tell me your name and what you are doing out here. There are so many more interesting places sith hopefuls can show up."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Getting into the speeder, she shifted a little under the scrutiny of the Zeltron Sith, but answered her questions anyways

"My name is Taeli Rae. I was born here on Lorrd to my Lorrdian father and a Mandalorian mother, but I always felt I needed to explore. I graduated near the top of my class from the university here, and was planning on going to somewhere to learn more about well . . . anything and everything about the Force."

She waited to see what the Sith would say, watching uneasily as the speeder began moving off.

Uncomfortable, she asked quietly, "What do I call you, my lord?"

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

Balaya watched her with her purple eyes while she continued to sit there and grinned a little. She was a mandaloian that made she somewhat special as it were and slowly tapping her fingers against the arm of her seat she spoke. "I see, you may call me Darth Praelior I am one of the voices of the Dark Lord the Ruler of the One Sith." Now she was just keeping her gaze on her while the familiar moved coming to her finger. "THat is a good girl, yes you found a good one. There are not many out here in the old siths space, most have moved to the core and deep core where we now have our temples. That is where you are headed so ensure you have everything you want to take."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"I had packed most of my belongings on my family's shuttle, but they hold no real value to me," Taeli replied. "The only things from my ship I would want are my books and datapads, I do not desire anything else there."

Now the initial shock had worn off, she was more in awe of the powerful Sith than anything else. Here was someone that could show her so many things, help her become more powerful. She had never been beyond Lorrd, so the prospect of traveling to the Core Worlds was exciting to her, and to actually see the galactic capital would be amazing. There was a nagging question in her mind though.

"Master . . . I have a feeling I am not the only apprentice of yours, am I correct?" she asked.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

"The sith are not like the jedi, we train many in the ways of the darkside and allow the weak among you to be culled. There are not many who impress me or know what they are doing so until you prove yourself the strongest I will train your replacement." Balaya locked her eyes on her while sending the message to the driver. "Tell them where your ship is and we shall go there first. Then we will be heading back to the ship and to Coruscant."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"It's in the residential sector," Taeli replied and the driver, obeying the Sith Lord's orders, drove the speeder there. The entire time, Taeli sat in silence, both in awe of her new teacher, she hoped, and intimidated by the Zeltron. As they stopped at her shuttle, she rushed out of the speeder, but she could still feel the chill and power of her master radiating outwards.

'Okay, I only need this one, oh and this one, maybe this . . . no, never mind,' she thought, shifting through her books and datapads, grabbing some and leaving others. Just as she was about to go back down the boarding ramp, she stopped and grabbed her leather jacket then left the shuttle behind as she climbed back into the speeder.

"I'm ready to go . . ." Taeli muttered.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

Good. Balaya looked at her and as the apprentice went about she waited only checking the familiars she had created. Bound to her and one was with a project. Corvus had been so decent and she wanted to tear her down, make her beg for death or to turn. Either one would work for the sith but it would come in time. Elara hopefully had done well in her task at getting other padawans to question and come down. Slowly Balaya watched as this new one climbed into the speeder again and she was motioning for them to leave. They were going towards the large alchemist ship that was able to handle the real fun of it all. Balaya saw to it the ship was loaded up as they set off towards Coruscant and the iron Citadel the Dark Lord controlled. As voice she had a room there now a grander one at that. "Good then we shall be there soon, show me what skills you have apprentice."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"In what way would I be tested, Master?" Taeli asked. She knew from reputation and the brief histories she had read that Sith were well known for their unorthodox training methods and harsh treatment of pupils as they learned about those who sought their power.

 

[Balaya Praelior Zambrano]

[member="Taeli Rae"]

Balaya just laughed at that and began to move about the ship, exiting the speeder and looking at the blackblades while she walked through it. "Oh when you are tested it shall be in ways I was tested. Though leaving you on a planet for a few months might not serve as great a purpose there is a war and that can forge you into a weapon when used properly." Balaya looked at it all while she moved into a large room with several of her sithspawn pets and handlers. "Here is one of your first tests, we shall see how you o befriending these beasts."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"How exactly?" Taeli asked, eyeing one rather large beasts with spikes on its body. Its handler didn't seem to want to get close to it, but the beast was still doing what he commanded. She assumed it had to be some Force technique, or these handlers were very good at controlling incredibly dangerous creatures.

"Is it some sort of Force technique, Master?" she asked, half expecting a response, and half expecting to be thrown to monsters and figuring it out at that moment.