Private Nal Hutta | Feeding on Wisps of Fury

[Malsifera]

​

Nal Hutta. Swamps.​

Shrouded by the fumes of Nal Hutta's swamplands, a Tuk'ata-class Interceptor landed on a rough, open patch of land surrounded by trees and mountains alike. Here, where most of civilisations dared not to venture thanks to the toxic gasses pervading the area, Allysari had build up her own little place. This was her domain. The former Nightsister of Dhatomir who was used to a lifestyle in the wild, encircled by the dangers of local nature, had found it an ideal spot to make her life when she was not scrounging Nar Shaddaa to enrich the influence and assets of the Empire. This far away from the Empire's zone of influence was not without risk, even for a sith such as herself, but she had found her solace. On this little piece of Nal Hutta, she was Queen of the Swamps.​

Once the starship had landed, Allysari turned to speak to Kin , whom she recently had accepted as her apprentice. Freed from Gromas, freed from the ignorance of the Kage, it would now be his time to rise up from the ashes which had covered his life and become a newborn warrior. One who would no longer be limited by those without the Force, nor by those who did not understand his gift. No, on these swamps, where survival was paramount, he would learn all Allysari herself knew about the Force before he walked his own path to carve his own path and find his own signature within the vast pool of possibilities that was the Force.​

"Your first lesson starts here, even before we set a single foot within the swamps.", she started rather ominous as she prepared herself to open the starship's entrance. "The Force is all around us. Within us. Close your eyes and reach out to it. Allow it to enrich your body and your lungs. For when you step outside this starship, apprentice, only death will await you. No mere human is capable of breathing the dense toxicity that lingers here without a rebreather. This will be your first test, apprentice. Embrace your gift. Feed it the unbridled rage you feel for your own weakness and the hatred you bear for those who would see you destroyed. Reach out to the Force and bend it to your will. You will then breathe the Force... or die a slow and painful death. "​

She had long since learned to use the Force in a variety of ways to deal with breathing or poison, up to a point where she might have taught herself to use the Force as a filter against noxious gasses such as these. While it didn't make her entirely immune against poisons of any sort, it was most often a poor choice to attempt an assassination on the Sith Witch. But such a precious gift didn't come without precious pain. It wasn't like she had simply mastered the art right off the bat. She had suffered, tethered on the verge of death the first time her body had breathed in noxious fumes. Later, she had often felt sick before she had figured out how to detoxify her body from poisons. But she had learned through hardship and suffering. She had used that self-loathing hatred for her own weakness, and had turned it into strength. A catalyst to draw upon the Force with.​

Cold eyes remained fixated on Kin as she saw him as a younger version of herself who was about to face similar trials as her own. She'd then tick the button that opened the starship, allowing the swamp's fumes to creep into slowly into the starship before she walked out and left Kin to himself.​

"Should you survive, you will seek me out in the woods where your next lesson in the Force will begin. Do not disappoint now, apprentice."​

 

[Kin]

It had been a short while since he had departed from Gromas and with it leaving the life he had known for well over a decade. In only a short time so much had changed. Now he was a Sith… or atleast one in training. Due to the Empire’s short business on Gromas that training had not begun just immediately, but the time lost was not one spent in stagnation. Free to explore the Empire’s flagship, Kin had spent a good amount of time learning about the force through holocrons and texts found amongst the open archives. He was ready for the training, much more so than he would have been had he began without the minor knowledge he now possessed.

And so the day had finally come.

Entering the atmosphere of Nal Hutta, the swamp nature of the planet would immediately make its presence known. As the ship lowered the temperature rose drastically, almost making the Kage second guess his new uniform. Kin hadn’t expected to begin his training so far from the territories of the Sith Empire, here the presence of death was ever looming. Death not just from the planet itself, but also from the people. They had entered hostile territories. The Outer Rim. Specifically it was Black Sun territory. While the Black Sun and the Sith Empire possessed a somewhat decent relationship, the same could not be said for Kin’s old mercenary group. Pranda’s Kage Warriors and the Black Sun were natural rivals. As assassins for hire commonly hired by shady organizations looking to oust the top dog, the Black Sun and its members were often targeted.

It was fortunate that he had entered the planet under the Sith Empire and much more fortunate that he had a new set of armor completely indistinguishable from his old Kage attire. Still— however— the pair of electro swords strapped on his back wouldn’t do him any favors of concealment, as did his natural appearance that would easily give away his Kage heritage.

As they landed his first lesson had begun. Out in the swamps only one thing would save him from certain death. He would have to rely on the force completely, let it coarse through him or die trying. Finally, after one last breath of clean air, the landing platform would lower and the noxious gasses of Null Hutta crept inside the starship. The Sith would leave him one final word to which he would respond. “Yes, master.” Words he would keep.

He would not disappoint.

Stepping into the unknown his trial had begun.

 

[Malsifera]

Leaving Kin to his own devices, Allysari disappeared into the nearby jungle. Making her way homewards. Leaving her student to discover the danger of this planet as much as the potential of the Force. She was aware of the seething rage he harboured. Sensed it. Seen it on Dromas. Now it was a matter of him focusing it in such a way it'd benefit him more than just throwing a burst of fury. Control over one's self, control over the Force. Those were the first steps. The rest could come later. As for herself, though considered a Knight when it came to Force power, she was in her own way just as much an apprentice. There were so many facets of the Force that she had yet to master. Facets that she had not touched in deliberate consideration of what she wanted to become, and some simply because she had yet to grasp the full mystery of the Force. Today, after careful preparations, she was about to take a step into a new direction - Sith Alchemy.​

Once she had found her private housing - a simple looking home made from wood and foliage, blending in well with the surroundings. It needed a whole lot of work still to make it something truly worth of a sith - she stepped into the elevator which brought her into the secret underground lab. The most advanced rooms of the whole building by far, and even that seemed rather basic in comparison to what available technology could give her. But for now, for the ideas she had in mind, it would do. Three bacta tanks stood aligned next to each other, not necessarily containing bacta at this point. One contained a giant lizard, almost humanoid in its form. Two others contained massives snakes with a spark of intelligence within their eyes. They were conscious, partially, capable of following the Witch pacing around as she verified the monitors and cables. The rest of the room looked rather cluttery, if not dangerous, the way it had been installed. Mechanics had never been her strong point, but she sure knew how to make a computer use the most with a minimum on resources.​

"Soon, my pretties. Soon we'll discover the mysteries behind Sith Alchemy. I'll turn you into something more. Something.... prettier than the battle hydra. Something... more ferocious. And utterly loyal, of course.", she whispered as her hand touched one of the bacta tanks with no particular attachment. She had dreams, too, and they would become the tools to turn them into reality. Madness given form into a lifeform that went beyond mere pets, yet were still nothing but pets in the mind of the Sith. In the arts of Sith Alchemy, they called them Sithspawn. A road within the Dark Side she had yet to explore, but one she believed she would be capable of. After all, who better than a Dhatomiri Witch, those who could craft ichor, kyber crystals and other items at a whim, would be fit for such an artistic road? But Allysari was no fool. She knew well that even among the mightiest of Sith, not everyone had what it takes to become a master of Sith Alchemy. She would have to study hard...​

Walking over to the command console, she allowed the first of tanks to run dry. The reptile would be her first experiment. Just a plaything for her to uncover the secrets of Sith Alchemy. Figure out its potential. The direction she'd go. As soon as the bacta tank ran empty and the prison of glass opened up, it regained proper consciousness and eyed the alien room it was in. Thinking of only one thing: escape. But the Witch would have none of that, her mind instantly dominating it and forcing it onto the operation table. Ready for her to analyse its compatibility with the Force itself.​

 

[Kin]

He kept his breath still. Holding it out until he could figure out how to control the force, how to bind it to his will. Ahead of him and clearly leagues above his level, his master had already walked the deadly path ahead showing him the way. All he had to do was follow her direction… All he had to do was walk. Flushing out each shred of fear that froze his body, the kage took his first step into the path of a Sith. Standing still he was sure he could hold his breath for hours, but moving? That was entirely different. He would be forced to breathe sooner or later, and by that time he would have needed to control the force or die trying. Strapped behind his back were the twin cortosis electro blades he had used for the majority of his career as an assassin, they would be the only two weapons he had ever needed and now— again— they would be his only weapons of choice for his survival.

Each step he took saw his energy slowly drained, eyes growing dimmer, mind slowly lapsing, craving for oxygen. An hour had passed since he had begun his trek, and in that short time he had not grown an inch closer to mastery of the force. Physically he was starting to falter, steps growing more uncoordinated by the second. There was no other choice. He needed to breath. He needed to use the force. Summoning whatever might he had, he urged himself to breathe. He harnessed the force to aid him, but there was no answer. Overwhelmed by weakness his anger had no use. It was too late. One deep breath. That was all it took for the poisonous gasses of Null Hutta to fill his body with death. Immediately Kin’s body forced to cough it all out in rejection. It was futile.

As sensing the prey he had become, a mysterious creature began to creep, stalking the off balanced kage out in the open. Without warning it emerged from the swamps, serpentlike and covered with green blisters all over its slender yet gigantic body. It shot out, fangs bared out to sink deep into Kin. Yet the force warned him. Instinctively he reached for the blades behind him and just barely moving them to block the dragonsnake’s mouth and force it open.

With one press of a button the blades activated their electric prowess, sending a jolt coursing throughout the creature’s body. Caught off guard it had flinched back. There was a clear opening to slash at its neck, yet the warrior had been paralyzed. Such rapid movements had forced him to breathe even more. That was all it took. The dragonsnake’s massive tail whipped his body, sending him flying across the area, back crashing into a boulder. The warrior fell to both his knees, right hand firmly clutching his heart over his chest as he struggled to grasp his breath. It had all fallen out of his control now, out of order. Rapid and panicked short breaths, each one entering more and more of the planet’s gas into his system. His vision grew darker. Just like that, it had all come to an end.

Finally he had fallen, cheek kissing the dirt of the foreign outer rim world that would now become his eternal resting place. It was over. He was a failure. He was weak. Slowly his golden eyes would fall, eyelids heavy with the burden of defeat. Just as he had always been, he would die as nothing. No one. Another speck of meaningless life drifting to the wind. A slave from birth, a slave in life, and now nothing more than an upstart wannabe Sith in death. That was as far as he was able to reach… that was his limit.

With that he would rest his eyes, body laid prone. Little by little the intervals between the beating of his hard began to increase, until they were half a minute apart. Finally his consciousness drifted into the netherworld. It was all over. Kin Cordum had died.

Darkness.​

He was surrounded by nothing but pitch black darkness. He was floating. Drifting, yet he did not know where to. There was only nothing… until a voice reached out to him. It was a woman’s voice. Weak, yet comforting it called out to him. “Kin.” It called his name. He could hear it from all directions, yet when he looked around there was still only darkness. “Why didn’t you save me?” And then suddenly everything became clear. Above him as he floated amidst nothing was the bloodied corpse of his mother in vivid and gruesome detail, exactly as last he had seen it. She reached her hand out and in desperation he did the same. “Mother!” The boy cried out. Fingertips only inches apart. Her blood trickled down, dripping down to his pale cheek. “Why didn’t you save me?” She repeated and he struggled to reach her.Wriggling his way through whatever unknown plane of darkness he was in, the distance would only grow. It was as if something was pulling them apart.

No matter what he did there was nothing he could do. She grew farther and farther away until she faded into the distance. “Weak.” Said another voice, this time of a man he had never heard before. Suddenly he was on solid ground. On foreign soil he had never before set foot in. A wasteland of a planet with no life anywhere in sight. Behind him was a sudden hiss. The hum of a lightsaber. He turned around rapidly and saw blue. A Jedi. “Father.” He said, almost surprising himself. The man’s face was hidden beneath a cloak of brown, yet Kin knew who it was, felt it through the force. “You failed her!” Kin shouted. The boy’s golden eyes widened, sparked with anger directed at the man before him. His two blades were clutch in his hands, that was all he ever needed. With a shriek of uncontrolled fury he charged head first, slicing through the lightsaber with his two cortosis blades and skewering the Jedi… only it wasn’t the jedi. It was his mother. Bloodied and mangled. Two blades pierced deep into her abdomen. Kin’s eyes stayed wide, though his anger had been replaced with disbelief. She struggled to reach out, this time reaching him, touching him. Her hand was warm on his cheek, but it was only there momentarily. As the life faded from her body her hand would fall, flailing lifelessly, only supported by the two electro swords that skewered her.

“You will always be weak.” The Jedi called. “It was you that failed her.” Despair filled him, and then hatred for the Jedi. His grief exited his body in the form of an incomprehensible scream of unbridled rage.

His heart once still began to beat once more. The dragonsnake launched itself once more fangs looking to dig into him. His two electro swords had been knocked away too far out of his reach. He did not need them. From the ground rising from his proned state, his right hand stretched out in the direction of the creature. It’s mouth gaped to swallow him whole, but mid-motion it was frozen still. Golden eyes opened. This time rings of red surrounded them. Hatred was his weapon. It filled him with power. His left hand began to rise along with his right, the dark side of the force surrounded him. The dragonsnake began to rise from the ground, helpless before him. It was nothing to his power. He looked at it, eyes scrunched in fury.

Die.​

Just like that it ripped apart above him, its blood scattering everywhere in an explosion, showering the boy in red. He took a deep breath, the poison of the gas entering his body once more. But it didn’t matter. Just as it killed him the dark side of the force would bring him back to life again and again. He would not die just yet. Not here. His near lifeless body began to limp, meekly marching forward with each weak step. He picked up the two sword and returned them to the straps on his back and kept forward. An hour? A day? He didn’t know how long it was, but he was where she had commanded. Deep into the dead forests.The woods.