It was not the Emperor who entered his rooms first, which was likely expected. Instead, a trio of Sith in great juggernaut plates entered, two wearing helmets, but the third letting her blonde hair trickle in her face while the rest was held in a tight bun. It was her face exclusively
Tydeus of Tion
could see, a great scar running from her ear to her chin, carving a great canyon of a wound long healed across her face. Yellow eyes studied the man as she approached him.
There was a disgusted sneer on her face as she inspected him. Studying the way he had tied his belly band, how the creases of his pants lined themselves up, and the way his tunic fell over the underlayers. She scoffed after making a full circle, then gripped his jaw in a heavy handed, painful grip. She twisted his head left and right to check his shave, or what little he seemed to be able to shave, then sniffed at him, only to make a disgusted wretch of a noise.
"The stench of death sticks to you like maggots.", she exclaimed, now looking at him more like refuse than anything else.
"I should strip you, douse you in lye, and start all over again. Barbarians like you haven't learned how to bathe properly.", she spit.
"But we're running late. Birn, Lorski, correct his uniform."
With her command, she took a step back. The two masked Sith moved on him, each reaching for different parts of his clothes. They redid the creasing of his pants, retied his belly band in the ceremonial fashion, and corrected his collar to sit exactly where it was supposed to. For all the Sith were known to be sanctified butchers and killers, there was oft the forgotten reality that they were a hyper religious and ritualistic people.
Some had forgotten those roots, but there upon the Mors Mon the classical ideas of Sithdom had taken hold. If Tydeus was to stand before the Dark Lord, he would stand before him in proper regularity. When they were done, the Sith motioned him forward, now careful not to manhandle the boy in fear of ruining the work they had just done. The woman, soon to be known as Nunia Partari, led the procession towards a different part of the Ship, along transit lines and secondary infrastructure.
"You didn't really think the Emperor would come to meet you, did you?", Nunia had asked him.
"You come to the Emperor. That is how power shows itself in a cultured society.", he droned on.
So large the ship was, it took them nigh on an hour to find their location. In that span, Tydeus was given little time to talk himself - only spoken down to, and 'educated' on the superiority of Sith culture. She never mentioned Tion, never mentioned anything personal of Tydeus beyond his name. It had become clear she was not informed of who, or what he was there upon the ship - so she treated him like all outsiders. As the uneducated philistine that he was, forever at odds with the Goals of the sith through ignorance.
Eventually, as the transits came to an end, they entered a grand hall cordoned off by massive doors larger than many buildings. Each were lined with busts of Sith in history, and Sith from modern eras. Some faces were recognizable, including the hated
Darth Carnifex
there upon the wall lined alongside his Uncle and family. Others were unknown to even most Sith - but there visage looked down upon him none the less. On each side of the Door, great statues holding Sith Swords kept watch.
Within their empty stone gaze seemed some amount of life, as though they could come alive at any second in defense of their Emperor. Perhaps, they could, by the claims the Sith had made of his power. Perhaps they just oversold him, or bought too much into the Eternalist Doctrine pushed within their Empire. Whatever the case, the doors smaller auxillary opening gave them entrance, so that the great large doors never needed to be opened, were they even capable.
Within was more halls, but at the end of this first was stood a great throne of Red Kyber, yet empty. Through the Force, one could feel its darkness, as though it were the Epicenter of this great behemoth's presence in the galaxy. It called to Tydeus even then, demanding he move for it - to sit upon it. As though to be there would answer his questions of power, that it was all he would ever need. Sit upon the throne, rule the Sith, and find the power to kill that which could not be killed.
And yet that dark ambition, whispered into his mind by shadows, left as soon as he looked away and was ushered into smaller side passages. There, within winding passages and offices and rooms filled with aged Priests and dreaded Sith Lords, came the eventual room of the Emperor. There within he sat reading on a large chair of black marble, the room strewn with books and tomes of unknown age or origin.
As the four entered, Empyrean looked up from his studies and offered them nothing but apathy.
"As you requested, my Emperor.", Nunia said as she fell. In turn both Birn and Lorski dropped to their knees as well. Only Nunia would glance back up to Tydeus would he not have followed immediately, motioning for him to fall to his knee in supplication.
Empyrean didn't care for such things now, however. He knew the boy was properly aware of how different they were in strength. Prostrating himself before the Emperor would serve no purpose - Tydeus lacked the teachings of the Sith, lacked the ambition and false confidence. He yet had no reason to disrespect that which so greatly overwhelmed him. But in time, Empyrean may change that tune.
"You are late. Leave the boy here. Report to the Sepulchral.", the Emperor said flatly. Each of them abided him with a quick affirmation, then departed without a second glance. When they had been gone for a few seconds, and the door sealed behind them, Empyrean lifted his book once more and began to read.
"Have you recovered your strength? How has your stay been thus far, Tydeus?"
Darth Empyrean
