Pain Is A Weapon

[Ryiah Tenriem]

Fresia, Temple of Pain, ​

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A cloaked and masked feminine figure, the fact that she was a Togruta obvious from the two raised points in the cloak, slowly walked around the perimeter of one of the many training rooms within the Temple of Pain, a building raised of black stone by the Sith after their conquest of the planet Fresia, a building dedicated to the study of Sorcery and Alchemy that cast a Dark and bleak miasma of twisting pain within the Force. Near to the Temple itself was one of the largest Alchemical Basins currently existing within the Galaxy, further spreading and stregnthing the Dark aura that was cast over the planet, adding to the atmosphere the storms that raged overhead created.

Beneath the robes and elaborately decorated silver mask was Ryiah Tenriem, a woman who had only recently been collected from her home planet, where she had taken residency after freeing herself from the grasp of a cartel based on Nar Shaddaa, to be accepted into the fold of the ever expanding empire of the Sith. It was now that she awaited the man that had become her Master, to see if she possessed the strength to survive the Dark and twisted lifestyle of the Sith or if she would be torn apart by it, cast out and left for dead.

Sighing in boredom, Ryiah lowered herself to the stone flooring and folded her legs beneath her so that she was kneeling, gathering her robe across her lap as she did so. With her robes pulled forward, the dust covered and bared soles of her feet were revealed. Her practice of foregoing footwear was grounded in the same reason as to why, behind her robes, Ryiah wore only a few scraps of cloth covering her groin and breasts, so that she could bare her body to Nature, believing that, like most Togruta did, that by clothing herself she hid herself from the sight and touch of Nature, a formless Deity that existed above even the Force.

Bowing her head, Ryiah let herself fall into a meditative trance, her Presence expanding far beyond her body to mix with the flows of Force, allowing her to sense and feel beyond her immediate surrounds and into the greater world. Diving deeper and deeper, her past in spending an entire day surrounded by Nature whilst basking in the sounds and scents of the world around her allowing her to easily slip into the proper mindset.

The deeper she sank within the Force, the stiller her body became until the only sign of life was the minute raising and falling of her chest. Their she remained for however long it was, kneeling on the hard stone floor, waiting for Darth Ferus to arrive.


[member="Darth Ferus"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

Fresia. Perhaps the only place in the whole galaxy where life was gone because of the actions of Darth Ferus. The Galaxies largest basin, made from those who once resided here. Now, only the Temple of Pain remains filled with living souls, none of which once belonged to the planet. No, the Sith ruled now.

Once more the Sith Lord came here to this desolate world, and this time to meet another potential. Another apprentice. A Torgruta by the name of [member="Ryiah Tenriem"] , once slave now Sith. It was a similar story to another more successful apprentice, and perhaps that was a foreshadowing of what was to come.

Ferus stepped into the room where the girl was, dressed as he always was. In red and black. Glowing red eyes stared down at the prone figure with his lips just a line across his face. Anger filled the room, anger from the ex slave. Good. ​"I see you've made it. Rise, we begin immediately."

 

[Ryiah Tenriem]

Grunting softly, Ryiah pushed herself to her feet with an ease that spoke of the grace associated with a hunter, borne from the time between her achieving her freedom and becoming a Sith where she had secluded herself in isolation on Shilli, spending her time rotating between sleeping, meditating as she struggled to keep control of her steadily fracturing mind and hunting down Akuls. As she raised herself to her full height of 5.84 feet, a height in the upper range for the average height of her species, the front of her robes fell open slightly, exposing her neck along with the brown leather strap that ran around it. Attached along the length of the leather strap were the teeth of the Akul that Ryiah had slain, proof of her skills and proof of her hunts.

Reaching up with a single hand, Ryiah pulled the cowl of her robes down, exposing the two white with blue accents montrals that adorned the top of her head, each nearly equal in size to her face. With the same hand, she then removed the elaborately designed mask from her face, letting it hang by her hip as she dropped her raised hand.

Removing her mask revealed Ryiah's pigment covered face and glaring red eyes. A white circle was set dead center of her forehead while a small stripe ran vertically down the middle of her chin. The main pigment covered the upper half of her face, curving around the circle, before reaching across both sides, dropping down until it stopped an inch beneath her eyes, where a two circles were set at the base of both arms each. Wrapped round the base of her montrals and the middle of her head was a primitive and simple leather headdress.

Running her crimson gaze over the form of Darth Ferus as the man stood silent before her, taking in his appearance, or at least, what of it she could see from underneath his red and black robes. Bowing slowly at her waist, eyes never leaving the shadow veiled face of the man who was to be her Master, Ryiah spoke her greeting slowly and softly in her heavily accented voice, an odd sound to the majority of the galaxy.

"Darth Ferus."

No other words were spoken as Ryiah straightened herself, waiting for Ferus to fill the steadily growing silence that settled between them.


[member="Darth Ferus"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"You're formal. Stiff. Life as a slave I take it? Beaten, broken, but never giving up on freedom. That's what brings you here, isn't it. Sith are the embodiment of freedom. Choice." A speech. To some, pointless. More often than not Ferus wouldn't waste his time with it. But some apprentices needed to be taught differently. [member="Ryiah Tenriem"] had lived a life of rules and control, and that was her ultimate challenge to overcome. Her hurdle.

"You would be wrong. At first, at least. You are a hopeful, an aspirant. You want to become Sith, but you are not yet. And you will have to sit and obey until you are named Sith. You will have to study, and do the tasks any Sith give you. You hate, you will be angry, and this will strengthen you. Once you become strong enough, you will break your own chains.

Peace is a lie, there is only Passion.​

Through Passion, I gain Strength.​

Through Strength, Power.​

Through Power, Victory.​

Through Victory my chains are broken.​

The Force will set me free.​

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Take this words to heart, and don't die. Survive, and you will become great. Free."

 

[Ryiah Tenriem]

As Ferus spoke, his voice echoing softly off of the near completely empty walls of the training room, each word woven with the seductive promise of power if Ryiah took the words to heart and carved them onto her mind. The speech of the Sith Lord held a hypnotic hold over the Togruta, causing her to freeze in place as she absorbed and analysed the small nuggets of wisdom within the speech, her blood red eyes glinting with an inner fire fueled by a lust for power, a lust for freedom and the smoldering embers of anger and rage that she held bottled up within her mind where it swirled in a maelstrom of inky blackness, steeped in the Dark.

Peace Is A Lie, There Is Only Passion.
Through Passion, I Gain Strength.
Through Strength, Victory.

Ryiah would henceforth refuse to rest, refuse to settle, instead she would hold onto passion in any and all forms, clasp it close to her and use it to drive herself forwards, diving into the chaos that would help her grow into a freer being that refused to let stagnation claim her.

Through Victory My Chains Are Broken.
The Force Will Set Me Free.

Through her drive, her refusal to accept and be chained down, Ryiah would achieve her freedom, she would shatter the chains that tied her down and forge reality in which none could steal her freedom from her again. Even if in the meantime she would have to bow to another, follow another's orders and whims, she had done so previously and the only thing that was different was the circumstances. She would bide her time, keep her silence and bite her tongue until the time to act.

With a determined hardness in her eyes, Ryiah fixed her gaze to that of Darth Ferus's, ignoring the shock of cold fear that ran down her spine in doings so, a feeling not so dissimilar to staring down an Alpha beast of Shili. When she spoke, her accented voice held no tremble of free nor hesitance, only pure grit and drive to succeed. "When and how do we begin, Master?"


[member="Darth Ferus"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"When is now. As for how." The Sith Lord smiled then. A quick wave of his hand extinguished the lights of the room. Darkness would engulf all, save for the red orbs that were Ferus's eyes. "Sit, kneel, what have you. But close your eyes, and meditate on those words. Use them, channel them. Feel the Force, feel all around you. Feel me. When you can, we will continue."

[member="Ryiah Tenriem"]

 

[Ryiah Tenriem]

As the lights of the room were extinguished with a nonchalant gesture of Darth Ferus's hand, spots appeared in Ryiah's vision as the sharp and sudden change in the room's illumination level and dramatic decrease in the level of lux caused the pupils in her blood red eyes (which were, currently, the only sign of corruption the Dark Side had inflicted upon her body) to contract sharply. However, even as her vision was momentarily robbed from her as he vision slowly began to adjust to the pitch black darkness that now filled the room, the possible meaning behind such an event sending a shiver of anticipation and fear down her spine, she continued to keep her eyes fixed on the last location she had seen Ferus standing as her talent in echolocation, a talent that all of her species held, told her that the Sith Lord had not moved from where he had previously been stood.

Lowering herself slowly to the ground, settling herself onto her knees as she knelt just as the Sith she hoped would become her Master had directed her to do so, Ryiah resumed the position she had held when Ferus had entered the room. Head bowed slightly, her eyes half lidded, Ryiah delve into the Force. Such an event was easy for her, someone who had spent hours upon hours, and sometimes even days, sat in meditation in the middle of a forest clearing, connecting herself with the deity of Nature and transcending her body to be able to feel the forest around her. Unknown to Ryiah, what she believed to be Communion with her deity was in fact her being able to sense the world around her through the Force, broadening her connection to it.

As reality suddenly exploded into being around her, her senses extending out past what her mortal shell was able to perceive, Ryiah brushed her mid against the Presence Darth Ferus exuded into the Force, attempting to alert him to the fact that she had achieved the goal that he had set for her and, as such, was now awaiting for him to tell her what to do next.


[member="Darth Ferus"]