Private Now You Will Fall

[Darth Solipsis]

"Good."

The Sith Master stood against the simmering heat as ash fell around them, his eyes burned with the intensity of the many rivers of lava as he set his sights on his apprentice. His dread gaze lingered on her as she left for the Sith Cave, and by extension Fortress Vader before her. To reach the cave she would have to enter the Fortress that had been built over the cave and find the chasm below that led to the Corvax Sanctum and the Sith Cave itself.

A dark grin emerged on the face of the Elder, his wicked glare broke from the student and moved to the expanse beyond. He had a spectacular view of the hellspace before him, his eyes scanned the horizon and watched as a lone vessel approached, the same vessel which had attacked the group of pirates led by Alejandro Vizcaya here planetside not long ago in an attempt to seize Cedric Grayson . Solipsis watched the vessel approach with a newly formed scowl on his face. Soon. Soon he would reveal to his apprentice his scheme, his plot and grand ambitions for the galaxy at large. First, he would make her a proper Sith, and then a Warlord in her own right over the darkest of beings, a horde waiting to be unleashed. Directed onto their enemies, utilized to bring about a blank slate from which to correct the great error of the current Sith Orders and bring about a wave of death for the next step in his long game.

Extermination with purpose.

His attention faltered and drifted away as his apprentice traversed into the black spire. Wracked with debris and ruined from misuse, the empty halls ominously stretched on in silence.


Maestus

 

[Maestus]

She stepped off, then paused. She too heard the ship. No one would willingly come to Mustafar without purpose. So, who are they and what do they want? She glanced at her master for a brief moment. Whatever it was, he was aware. She knew him well enough to know, that little happened in his presence unless he wished it.

She gave a slight nod, then returned to her task. Step after step, the pain eventually returned in her leg. With the terrain treacherous and uneven, keeping upright and balanced required both legs to work properly. Finally, growing irritated by the weakness, she stopped walking and closed her eyes. Bending down on one knee, she placed both palms on the ground. It was hot, stinging the flesh on her hands, but she was unbothered. Once more, she began pulling from the Dark Side of the Force. She commanded the raw Force to strengthen her once more. To She drew it within in, allowed it course through every fiber of her being.

Standing, she stepped off. There was no more wiggle in her step. No more shakiness to her legs. Fully healed? Not at all. But reinforced by the Force. She was not going to give up. It just was not in her to fail anymore.

As she stood less then 10 feet away from the front of Fortress Vader, she basked in the radiating energy. It whipped and cut into her spirit, so heavy and dominating it was. This was pain she relished, however. From the pain came strength. A new understanding. Limits met and surpassed. Yes, the Dark Side was here.

She allowed a smirk to cross her face. She felt nigh invincible, so thick was the Dark Side. Careful, she warned herself. Arrogance is not confidence. Arrogance can get you destroyed. She refocused her thoughts and motivation to the task at hand, and stepped within the spire.

Darth Solipsis

 

[Darth Solipsis]

The empty halls of Fortress Vader remained silent and ominous as Maestus traversed the threshold into the ruinous hold of the once great Dark Lord of the Sith. Tapestries hung against imposing walls that eclipsed her form as she walked, ripped and burned they lingered in memory of the previous occupants. It had been sometime since the mighty fortress had found use, not since the fall of the Knights of Ren. As the apprentice progressed deeper, she would feel the malignant touch of the Dark Side well up within her. The sinister miasma of dark memories lingering in an echo left behind in the Force, corrupting this foul monument further.

The path was a long one, through the broken halls and empty chambers left in ruin. There was no signs of life or intrusion anywhere to be seen, yet always had there been a sense of something just wrong. It was if there was something in the dark watching her, following her with eyes unseen. Something that whispered in an inaudible tone, wishing to be heard without the capability to convey it's words. It drew on her senses, it drew on her curiosity. Words could not describe the feeling, or pull she felt as Maestus pressed on. The feeling intensified, built upon itself as if an immense pressure had suddenly came upon her, and within mere moments it subsided into nothing.

She had entered Vader's audience chamber, decrepit and broken, only the large viewpoint remained untouched, still looking out over the vast wasteland of Mustafar. Maestus, Sith Apprentice and heir apparent to Darth Solipsis, stood now in the same place as the mighty Lord Vader, gazing out at the same sights he once had so many centuries ago.

A brief glimpse of steam would catch her eye within her peripheral vision, a glance back and she would see the room had changed, restored to it's former glory. Rolling steam from below the walkway stemmed forth from the chasm into the air. Ligtened dials and markers illuminated in the backdrop as a red ominous glow would cover the now darkened chamber and Sith alike.

A thunderous sound of metal groaning under its own weight filled the chamber as the large blast door at the end of the walkway, opposite side of the audience chamber, lifted. Bright light breached forth across the room as the door opened, smoke rolled forth from the threshold spilling onto the walkway and in the midst of it all, a single dark figure approached the would-be explorer.

The air became cold, freezing and filled with utter dread and despair.

Maestus

 

[Maestus]

She could feel the energy. The pulsating power. The wrongness. It was enough to cause her head to spin. Never before had she been in the presence of such.....Power. And hate. She felt that acutely.

The deeper she went into the fortress, the more the skin on the back of her neck rose, standing tall away from her flesh. Raven black hair hung, sweat drenched and plastered to her head. She wiped the hair back from her eyes as she stared out Lord Vader's viewpoint. As she surveyed Mustafar, a thought began to stir within her. A desire. Could she? How?

Her eyes shifted to over her shoulder steam appeared. Her breath quickened. Her heart beat harder. Pulse raced. The hairs all over her body were standing straight and tall.

No, she was no simpering whelp. This will not do at all. She breathed deep, a feeble attempt to steady her nerves. Eyes closed, she centered herself. When she opened them, there was the figure. She had been raised on stories, myth and legend. She knew who he was. His conquests and victories legendary.

Very well. If this was to be her fate, then so be it. She would face this as everything else. As a Sith.

She spread her fingers, lifting both arms out to her sides. She drew the Dark Side into her, augmenting her innate, natural abilities. To bolster her strength of body and mind.

Then she waited.

Darth Solipsis​

 

[Darth Solipsis]

The heavy footed steps and labored breathing from the figure filled the chamber with a sense of impending dread and utter despair. The imposing form of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, emerged from the thick steam rolling from beneath the walkway and from out of the large light filled doorway. As his dark mask came into view the glow of a crimson lightsaber reflected off the surface of his visor with a sharp hiss.

"Now you die."

Raising his lightsaber overhead he swung down with a powerful Djem-So downward thrust onto the Lethan who opened herself to the Dark Side of the Force and her fate. The saber came crashing down and upon impact, the Twi'lek would awaken on the floor of the decrepit audience chamber looking at the ruins and debris around her. There was no sign of the Dark Lord or any steam or light from the scene that unfolded just moments prior. Her eyes glowed a bright piercing blood red, raw energy flowed through her body, crackling in her veins, ready to be unleashed.

The door ahead from where the Dark Lord had came, it was destroyed as before. Had that been simply a hallucination? A trick of the mind by the power of the Dark Side nexus? The path before her laid open, rejuvenated and empowered she would have little trouble pressing onward into the Dark Lord's personal sanctum.


Maestus

 

[Maestus]

As the Dark Lord entered, she held her ground and waited. She would not run and hide. There was no retreat. This was yet another test. And she was resolved to be victorious or die in the trying. She would give her all, as she truly had no desire to die. She had unfinished learning to discover. Plans to see to fruition. However, should the Dark Side of the Forcde wish her to become one with it, she was not going meekly.

Her body strengthened by the Dark Side, she flexed her fingers as the Dark Lord approached. Absolute dread filled her, body and mind. She was reeling before such power. Yes, Darth Solipsis was powerful. She would ask him when she returned to him how he felt he stacked up next to Lord Vader. For now, she had more pressing matters to attend to.

She attempted to sidestep away from his lightsaber, but the fear would not be shaken in time. As the crimson blade came whizzing towards her, her will reasserted itself too late, and she crumpled to the ground, eyes clamped shut, preparing to meet her end.

She waited for what seemed an eternity. Tired of waiting, she opened her eyes.

What the.....

She jumped to her feet, left hand reaching instinctively for the saber on her hip. She let her gaze study the room, turning a slow circle. A hallucination, it had to have been. The Dark Lord died centuries ago. She must have entered a nexus. It would tempt, test and tease her, she was well aware. And this test, she had failed.

She let those thoughts ruminate for a moment. As she thought of her failure, the anger began to rise. It bubbled wildly within her, soon to give way to red hot rage. She straightened her body, standing tall and proud once more. She closed her eyes, and focused on the rage. She called to it, commanding it to build to a massive crescendo. Then she held it there, enforcing her will to control the rage, rather than let it consume her. She used the rage to fortify her will and shake off the vestiges of fear that remained.

Shoulders square, chin firm, she began walking towards the long forgotten sanctum of the Dark Lord, Vader.

Darth Solipsis

 

[Darth Solipsis]

The Dark Lord's private sanctum was bleak and empty, ruinous and left vacant from the previous occupants. It was here where the great Darth Vader would heal his wounds and rest. There were still remnants of his bacta tank and equipment amidst the left behind rummage from the Knights of Ren, this had more than likely been the personal sanctum of the Master of the Knights of Ren when he had set up a last stand against the Outer Planet Alliance. The same last stand her master Solipsis had informed her about, the evidence of the struggle was all around her, the ruins a testament to the lasting legacy of the Dark Lord and those that followed him.

"Yes. There." A voice crawled into the back of her head, sinister and cold it wormed it's way into her thoughts without any sign of warning. "Behind the wreckage, behind the broken sanctum wall. A lift, one built by the Knights of Ren, it will take you deep into the bowels of the fortress. Beware, there are many dangers ahead that you must face." The disembodied voice of her master faded, drifting into the void from whence it came as the image of the hidden turbolift came into view, covered in debris. The lift would take her down into the cavernous chasm from which she would enter a massive cavern system that stretched out unbelievably into the distance, in this great cave was a singular large structure built by Lady Corvax herself. Her master had warned her of traversing too far into the depths, of searching the structure that laid below, especially with what came next to her eyes.

Along the rockface wall of the cavern system was what seemed to be an dimly illuminated cave tunnel, it glowed an orangish red in the distance and was saturated in the Dark Side. The Sith Cave, it was there within her grasp, whatever lied in this cave her master wished her to see and conquer was within her grasp at last. As the turbolift continued going down, a pair of strange orange bloated insects covered in what seemed to be magma, flew to the side of the lift and began attempting to attack the Lethan Twi'lek as she descended. Lava fleas, of all Mustafar's wretched creatures, these would of course be the first to trouble her when she was so close to reaching the cave.

The apprentice would soon find that when the two fleas were dealt with, it would not stop the lift from continuing downward as several others flew to her location. They swarmed the area like an infestation, ready to strike at her with their heat covered bodies in an effort to kill her.

Maestus

 

[Maestus]

One foot in front of the other, the apprentice stepped into the inner sanctum of the Dread Lord. She paused, allowing her eyes to scour the room. Eyes the color of roiling lava drank every detail in.

She moved closer to the remnants of the bacta tank. She placed a hand on a jagged piece of metal. How cold it was to her. She couldn't help but wonder though. What were the Dark Lord's thoughts when he was in here? What did he dream of? What visions were laid bare before him?

She turned her attention away from the tank. And winced despite her best effort not to. Her Master's voice invaded her every thought process. He was not gentle either. Then again, she would despise his weakness were he to treat her gently. No, through pain she learns. Always. This lesson taught her she was still not strong enough mentally. Then again, she was stronger than most at her rank. Thus far, Solipsis is the only one able to pierce her mental barrier.

She looked where his voice led. She began flicking a finger, clearing any debris that barred her pass to the turbolift. She stepped on, planting herself in the center, feed shoulder width apart. Knees relaxed. She rolled her shoulders and flexed her hands. And then...

Bugs?! She really disliked bugs, yet saw their utilitarian uses. However, now is not one of the times she saw any use for them. She could always return and gather them if she had need. For now, she had to dispatch the nasty orange pests. The first two were dealt with easily enough. It was little bother to flick her fingers, sending the bugs smashing into the wall of the lift.

Maestus allowed herself a brief moment to inspect the remnants of the bugs. Even dead, they still radiated heat. Very very interesting. She touched one of the squishes, and yanked her finger back quickly. Hot enough to burn when dead, just imagine what they were like alive. What damage they could do, and how quickly. Pity she had no jars or flasks on her, She would dearly like to take samples to study.

She stepped back and squared herself in the center of the lift. Thinking the rest of the ride down will be uneventful. After all, what could happen in a turbo lift, right?

Wrong.

2 of the orange bugs were easily remedied. But now, it sounded and felt like an entire swarm was en route. She would have much rather taken this time to mentally fortify herself for what lay at the bottom, in the caverns. The incoming horde left no time for that, unfortunately.

As the pests made their way into the lift, she was all fingers of fury, flicking bugs this way and that with both hands. Sweat began to bead on her face from the exertion she was enduring. The lava fleas were quickly arriving and invading faster than she could kill them.

As fleas kept coming, she started feeling stings now. All over her body, as he robes were burnt, tattered and torn to shreds, they gave no protection. She started flailing madly, losing herself to blind anger and pain. The fleas were relentless, and soon she had stings all over her. The pain was insane, her mind raced. Fear was ebbing away, and rage was taking its place. Hate was gurgling. Her body, slick with sweat and dirty with ash and soot, sported hundreds of stings.

And just when she thought the pain reached her breaking point....She let out a violent, ear shattering scream. She unleashed the Force within her and it EXPLODED in wave after wave after wave. Such pure hate and rage coupled with the raw Dark Side power filling the lift as it hit the bottom was nothing short of immense. The lava fleas were utterly annihilated.

She let out all the pain she had suppressed from her broken leg. The humiliation at being weak before the ghost of Lord Vader. Allowing hubris to cloud her judgement and relax, even for a second. She screamed for the pain she felt now, as if a thousand suns were searing her very flesh from bones. Such was her scream, it echoed in Solipsis mind, He could feel the raw unfettered emotion in his apprentice.

When the turbolift came to a stop at the bottom, one very exhausted Lethan stepped off. She needed to rest. Her body needed to heal. That time was not now. She had shown too much weakness already. She would kill whatever vestige of weakness remained in her, in this cave.

So took a deep breath. Outstretched her arms, and closed her eyes. The very Force she had just unleashed, she now drew back to her. This was a true battle. The exhausted and drained Sith versus the Force. Oh but she would fight. For her very life depended on it. And when one wants to live, the reserves of strength and will that one can pull from are strong.

As so Maestus engaged in a battle with the Force. She was not content to control the Dark Side, oh no. True power was in mastering the Force Itself, in all its facets. And while she had no illusion that she was a Master of the Sith, she was a master of herself. Was that not her name?!

With an low growl, she dug into the reserves of her strength and will. Dug in deep with a vice like mental grip. She grappled with the Force internally. The only outward sign was the shaking her body was wracked with. Hands at the ends of outstretched arms curled into fists to tight, her knuckles were all white. Her breathing was short, hard and ragged. She ground her teeth together, and then gnashed at the wind.

Then she suddenly falls limp and crumples to the ground. Her head bounces against a rock, cutting it deep on her forehead above her right eye. She lays motionless for a moment, then her body begins to stir. First a hand, then a foot. Little by little, she pushes herself to her knees.

And smiles. A wicked, demented smile. And her eyes, they were frightening to behold. They were black, rimmed and outlined in red flames. And very alive. And very powerful. Clearly, she overpowered the Force, and was now strengthened immeasurably. As she pushed to her feet, she felt so alive.

Rolling and then squaring her shoulders, she gazed around her. Prepared to face the next test.

Darth Solipsis
​

 

[Darth Solipsis]

The path against the rock was long and hard, the subterranean chasm held many structures that once were tied to the supports of Fortress Vader. Now decrepit and abandoned, these structures were shadows of their former selves with only the glory of the Corvax Sanctum and the entrance to the Sith Cave left in some semblance of their past glories. Climbing upon rock and broken trail, the Sith apprentice would struggle. The culmination of all her training on Mustafar would come to play here in the midst of this dark place.

Reaching the mouth of the Sith Cave the disembodied voice of Solipsis returned, crawling back in from the dark recesses of her mind.

Maestus

 

[Maestus]

Struggle was not the right word. Not nearly potent enough to describe the mental and physical anguish she was enduring. Th toll this was placing on her body, mind and soul. She was barely hanging on at this point. Were it not for her strong connection to the Dark Side of the Force, she would have fallen long ago. Well, the Force and her own will. That had not been broken. So onward she ventured. Curious and nervous.

Her robes by this point were more a hindrance than anything. Shredded and dirty, they cling to her, impeding her movement. So she ripped them the rest of the wall. It wasn't just for utilitarian purposes. It was moreso wholly symbolic. She would finish her trial as she was. Naked and vulnerable. It was the only way she would be reborn. Reborn as a Lord of the Sith. In her own mind, at least. Whether or not her Master, Darth Solipsis agreed was another story. She put those thoughts from her mind, and pressed on.

As she entered the Cave, she could feel it. The energy, the power, the history. She wondered what had come before her. What horrors awaited. She laid a hand on the cave wall, and relished thee hard, unforgiving surface. She trailed her eyes over every inch, then flinched as her Master's voice invaded her mind once more. Her breath caught in her throat as he spoke of those who had indeed come before. She was in powerful shadows.

No way would she allow herself to fail now. Drawing on her inner strength and the Dark Side, she steeled herself for what was to come.

 

[Darth Solipsis]

The runic carvings that lined the cave walls glowed with a red hue as the Sith Apprentice approached the altar made of stone. Several flat edifices stood around the altar, broken with the same carvings engraved amongst them. The presence of the Dark Side was at it's zenith here amidst this dark cave, a small stream of lava rolled along the far right side into a small earthen vent to who knew where.

"Stand before the altar. Hold the kyber crystal in the palm of your hand and squeeze." The Sith Master's voice echoed within her mind, "Pour your hatred, your pain, all the darkness you carried on that wasteland of a homeworld. Abandon Via here, once and for all." The etchings began to glow as the pressure of the darkness weighted down on her, "Squeeze. Make it bleeeeddd."




Maestus

 

[Maestus]

Maestus observed the altar for a moment. Again, the history of what had occurred here washed over her, overwhelming her to the point where it knocked her breath away. She reached a hand and gripped the altar, as her vision was on the verge of going dark. Slow and steady breaths, and her vision returned.

She moved towards the small lava river, pausing to study it for a moment or two. She squatted down, bare naked and leaned her head over the roiling red lava. She closed her eyes once more, and outstretched her hand holding the crystal. She wanted it to be fueled not just by her hate and rage. But also by heat. By fire. That was where she felt alive. The heat washed over her, and it was not long before her hand was burning. The lava bubbled on occasion. Once such bubble popped under her hand. She hissed as the scorching liquid landed on the outside of her fingers. But she did not let go.

She was letting the pain fuel her. It gave rise to the rage within her. She considered this small reaction to the pain a failure. She would conquer fire and heat. She was on the right path, by drawing strength from it. She would continue for all her days.

Her Master's voice echoed in her mind. She knew the rudimentary basics of bleeding a crystal. Practical application was another story. When Darth Solipsis mentioned Via, Maestus blood went from hot to enraged. Via was weak. A disgrace. Via was a failure. Truth be told, Maestus viewed her homeworld as a ripe market for flesh. And her own pecies the prime targets to be enslaved.

Properly fueled by rage and hate, and the crystal scorching hot from the lava, she stood and made her way to the altar. She held out the crystal in her hand, and glared at it. She did not close her eyes, no. She wanted to force the Dark Side to her will. She would command the Force into the crystal. And she would bind and fuel it all by her hate, rage and heat.

Breathing steady at first, her hand began to tighten. She could feel the sharp edges of the crystal biting into the tender palm flesh. She paid the pain no mind. What she did focus her mind on, was Via. She did not channel and ask nicely. No, she commanded and force the rage and hate into the stone. The more she squeezed, the faster her breathe became. Her naked shoulders began to shake from the sheer will force she was exerting. She felt the Dark Side resist, futilely. Maestus was not to be denied.

She gathered all her strength. All her willpower. She used that power and mystically grabbed hold of the Dark Side. She demanded and commanded it into the crystal. Her whole body shook now. Blood poured from her hand, she was holding the crystal so hard.

And then she felt it. The Dark Side was beaten. Maestus pulled and pushed it, forcing it into the crystal. As she shoved the Force into the crystal, it began to glow. A deep, dark crimson. Barely visible at first, then growing in its intensity. She squeezed even harder, as if sheer physical strength would make it bleed.

No, she knew what she must do. She grabbed the crystal with both fists now. Squeezing with all her might. Arms shaking, breath rapid and ragged. She threw her head back as she felt the Dark Side pour into the crystal. And she let out a blood curdling roar. A roar of triumph. A celebratory roar of the strength of her will.

Out of breath and mentally shaken, she opened her eyes and opened her hands. There sat the crystal, glowing intensely now a dark and intense crimson color.

And it was bleeding tears of its own.

She exhaled sharply. Truth be told, she hadn't been sure what to expect fully. She brought the crystal up to examine it. A wicked smirk crossed her lips, and she nodded.

Gripping the crystal, she turned and made her way out of the alter cave. Making her way through and eventually out of the cave, she came before her Masters. Naked, cut up, bleeding and scorched, not to mention the broken left leg. She held out her hand, opened it and displayed the bleeding crystal. Not only was the crystal bleeding, but her hand as well. She paid it no attention.

I have bled the crystal, Master. Via is well and truly dead. I feel liberated, and strong.

 

[Darth Solipsis]

"You have done well my apprentice."

His eyes gazed upon her with a faint smile filled with a strange mix fake gentleness and sincere praise. It didn't last, his lip curled and a scowl took shape in it's wake. Immediately, the Sith Master began walking away, their training here on this world was over.

"Now we must move forward, you are ready to begin your role in the Grand Scheme. The long game has begun, with it a new order, a FINAL ORDER will rise from the ashes of the galaxy." He halted and spun around to face her intently, "In my youth, I found something in the depths of the Unknown Regions. A tool for which I have assumed prophetic power over as their deities' mouthpiece."

"The weapon we will wield, the unstoppable horde that will lay the foundations of a new day. The Brotherhood of the Maw."


Maestus