Private The Trial

[Darth Ophidia]

Location: Redacted.​

The Sith held many traditions to be sacred; from the punishment of the acolyte to the revenge of the acolyte upon the master. Yet, there were no rituals and traditions she held as sacred as the one she now sought to impart in her apprentice, Darth Strosius . It was a ritual passed to her from her master, and to him from his master in turn. Perilous in nature, the trial had claimed the lives and sanity of many an apprentice she had initially vouched for, yet she knew it was right.

The dark side would decide if they were worthy.

Success or death.

So Alisteri Haxim had been given orders to come to the secret planet of Maena. From there, he was directed to a black ship that awaited him, piloted by a droid. If asked, the droid would only say it was forbidden to speak of its destination, and the coordinates would only reveal that he was going past the outer rim. Where they were going, there were no maps, no charts, only the ancients truly knew.

-the ancients and Darth Ophidia.

 

[Darth Strosius]

Receiving sudden and mysterious instructions from his master, usually at the oddest of hours, was far from an unfamiliar experience. He had, as he always did, heeded the call and had arrived on Maena with utmost haste. That would evidently not be his true destination however, but he gave no resistance or questions as he boarded the black ship and left for some other unknown destination. Alisteri knew far better than to waste time questioning his master's orders after all.

The masked Acolyte sat back in his seat and allowed his eyes to close as he focused on his thoughts as the ship traveled. In all his years since he was first inducted into the Sith, his master had yet to call upon him unnecessarily. There was always a purpose to be served.

This would be no different in his mind.

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Maena was busy, veritably bustling with the chaotic buzz of individuals with purpose. Under the watchful eye of its overlords, it had remained outside of galactic politics, out of reach and influence. There, they were wise enough to turn their eyes away from the shadowy events of the Sith.

From there, the trip was long and stoic.

No news.

No updates.

No further commands.

There was just the pregnant quiet of expectation.

-Until the ship dropped out of hyperspace. It was sudden, abrupt, but seemingly according to schedule. The ship waited in orbit for a moment, awaiting further instructions, before beginning the descent to the coordinated destination. This system was was uncharted, unknown, and unsettling. A small planet orbited twin blue dwarf suns, shining a cold light. That blue light cast long shadows, but no warmth.

Sand and gravel crunched underfoot. There was no frost, nor ice or snow. Yet, the cold clung deeply and greedily to his flesh. Ahead, a path wound up through a valley. Far, near the top, familiar peaks cut a hard silhouette.

The dark side was strong in this place, and the veil to the Netherworld thin.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri was left alone to focus on his thoughts and meditate as the ship continued its journey, silently reflecting on himself. Throughout the war and then after, he hadn't had much time to focus on training his own Force abilities. He had already began rectifying this of course, and meditation was one of his many keys to try and unlock whatever reserves of power still lay untapped within him. His meditation was interrupted rather abruptly by the ship exiting hyperspace however.

His eyes opened as the ship began to descend, his gaze roaming the planet that he assumed was their destination. The system was entirely unknown to him. It was remote and seemingly abandoned, lacking any sign of civilization from orbit.

Stepping onto the surface once the ship landed, his breath was nearly stolen almost immediately by the cold. A very familiar and unnatural cold. The Dark Side was thick in his senses as he began moving away from the ship and towards wherever the path lead. Something else was present as well, something that he did not recognize at all yet it underlaid the essence of the air much like the Dark did.

What this place was, he couldn't even begin to guess.

Instead he simply pulled his cloak tighter around his body and continued on down the path through the valley. His master would be waiting somewhere for him and he had little intention to let her wait forever.

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Ophidia]

The path was long and winding.

Death clung tightly and coldly to this place, so much so that one could almost hear the mouring cries of the restless dead.

The wind had torn through the earth and rock, raking long lines and deep cavities in the landscape, like skeletons half buried under the icy sand. The wind now tore at Alisteri, as if seeking to pull the life out of him to feed the unseen ghosts' hunger for life. And as the apprentice acended the serpentine steps toward the summit, the rocks became more upright, more jagged. These columns of stone soon resembled statues of hooded figures lining the path; their erased faces stared loudly at the acolyte- He who would be Sith.

Near the summit, the jagged valley opened up to a ziggurat cloven in two.

Before it was a field of ruin. Faceless statues lined the outside of the field, but the sand-covered steps that lead up to the ziggurat's base was only littered with rubble. There, on the far side of the ruinous field, by the base of the cloven structure, stood Darth Ophidia. The wind rippled through the black silks that shrouded her form in layers. Yet, the hood was thrown back to show her ashen head. Her eyes were closed, hands clasped behind her back, she was the one clear thing in this land of uncertainty.

She was his tether.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Onward he went and each step gradually became more and more difficult as he did so. The wind tearing at him and trying to pull him with it like a raging river, the path itself becoming more complex and winding, and the ever-present dread in the air as if he was walking through a graveyard in the midst of mourning. Alisteri was no stranger to hostile environments, but this planet unsettled him right down to his very core and it didn't offer any potential comfort or support to make up for it.

As he ascended, he was doing so alone.

The statues gave uncaring and unforgiving stares as he forged on and eventually managed to reach the field of rubble and ruin. The split ziggurat lie ahead of him and he wasted no time in continuing forward, eager to reach his destination. When his gaze landed on his master after stepping up from the field and nearing the base of the structure, the sight almost made him sigh in relief.

Alisteri didn't interrupt her initially, instead slowly walking closer until he was roughly a meter away and dropping to bow before her. "Master, I have arrived as you ordered."

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Only when he knelt and spoke did the Sith Lord act; ashen eyelids parted to reveal the eyes like burning coal beneath. The ember irises appeared to glow in contrast to the black sclera of one returned from the dead. Close as he was, he would see the refreshed tattoos on her scalp, cheeks and chin. The old scars of electrocution seemed clearer now than ever, like a thousand fingers clawing at her throat and the base of her skull.

There was something different about her, something dread.

Something deadly.

«Alisteri Haxim, my apprentice.»

Her voice had its common rasp but also a ring to it, as if it was split in two.

«You have carried a collar and a chain, but that chain is now broken.» «You have risen against your bondage, against fate, and the Force has taken notice.» «It has seen in you what I have always known: Potential, power, something-» Her eyes narrowed in a split-second pause «special.»

Whether she was impressed or disgusted was hard to tell.

«Now, you will be tested.» «If you should fail, then you will be left here among the faceless and forgotten. You will fade from memory and never be spoken of again.» «If, however, you should succeed»

A wry smile cut her dour demeanour. Her skin wrinkled like a nexu about to pounce.

«Then you will have proven yourself worthy in the eyes of the Force to call yourself Tsis»

Sith. Perfect.​

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

His head turned up to meet her gaze as she addressed him, his eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to discern the strange tone in her voice. Her appearance too was slightly different. Everything about her looked far more fresh and lively but it was all underlaid with a sense of dread.

She seemed more potent than ever before.

As always he listened intently to his master's words and dared not visibly show any confusion or reaction, even with his face masked. Still the way she spoke unnerved him. It was like she was building him up to face something deadly and dangerous.

Knowing the Sith, she probably was.

Alisteri bowed his head again as she finished speaking, doing his best to hide whatever apprehension arose at the idea of failing whatever she had in store. He wasn't sure if the faceless and forgotten that she spoke of were the ancients that built this place, or more recent apprentices that had failed the task before him.

The answer didn't matter. It wouldn't change whatever he was about to undertake either way.

"I stand ready master. Whatever trial you ordain me with I shall prevail."

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Always the eager acolyte.

He hid his apprehension, but in this strange world that straddled the veil of the netherworld, she could see through his demeanour. Steel, skin or bone could not hide him from her attention. She smelled his thoughts on the still, chilling air.

He would prevail, or he would die.

"Today, your enemy is-"

Her hand extended slowly as if she was about to grip something in the air. One finger, inky back and talon-like, extended against Alisteri.

"Your self."

As soon as the words were spoken, she was inches away from him. The talons of the black hand curled in a swift sign before it attemped to seize the front of his face. Black residue enveloped them, like shattered obsidian suspended in a void. The still air around them whipped into a whirlwind, and the the silence of the valley cracked with the sound of steel tearing itself apart extended through an impossibly long period of time.

The howl seemed never-ending and all-encompassing. There existed nothing but black sand and wind.

-And then he was alone.

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

His gaze followed her finger, blinking in surprise as it pointed right at him and at her declaration of his apparent opponent. Before he could react his master was suddenly much closer and her hand grabbed onto his face. Even through the mask he felt the cold grip, as if it leaked straight through the metal to grasp his skin.

His eyes shut as wind howled in his ears and his mask's vision was covered in black, resisting the urge to fight back against whatever his master was doing to him. And then it was all gone, all the noise and obscuring blackness had went as quick as it came and it seemed like his master had vanished with it. He took a breath to steady himself as he glanced around, a new feeling of cold seeping from himself as he recognized the area that he found himself in now.

It was a cramped, damp, homely little cave. Shelves and places for bedding had been carved into the walls, some welded pieces of metal made up living room furniture, and a single stove and sink for a kitchen sat off in one corner. He fell to his knees in disbelief as he took in the sight. Alisteri was home, back in the hovel that he had shared with his parents. It was impossible. It should have been impossible.

"Oh, so you recognize it after all?"

His eyes widened and he snapped his head around to find the source of the voice, his own voice. In the doorway stood another Alisteri Haxim, this one still bearing a cybernetic where his left eye should be and clad in bright white robes. Two lightsabers sat on his belt and he crossed his arm and fixed his dark mirror with a glare, his face uncovered unlike his Sith counterpart. "I didn't think a monster like you would care much for sentimentality. Sith." The venom in his tone was exactly like Alisteri's own when he mentioned Jedi.

The Sith's hands clenched into fists as he stood and turned to face his mirror, his fangs gritting together as he pointed at his counterpart accusingly. "Don't talk down to me you fething illusion! I know you're not real, I've dealt with plenty of hallucinations in my day! You are nothing!" The Jedi Alisteri clicked his tongue and nodded, his hands crossing in front of his waist calmly. "You're right. I'm not real. Because I'm what you should have been. What our parents wanted us to be. A righteous savior, liberator of slaves, protector of the weak. I am what you pretend to be!"

His lightsaber flew into his hand and ignited, the red blade standing out in the bland cave. "Pretend? Hah! You're a fool to think that a Jedi could ever be a savior or protector. They're far too busy killing Sith for that!" The other Alisteri slowly pulled his own blades from his side and ignited them, the blue contrasting his mirror's red. "This coming from the murderer who takes orders from tyrants and genocidal maniacs? Quit living in denial. You're just as guilty as any of the Sith that you despise, you're complacent in keeping them in power! If you wanted them gone or truly wanted to keep your cult safe then you would have defected to the Jedi long before the Sith Empire fell. But no, you don't want either of those. You want power. Just like all Sith do, you're nothing but a tyrant without a throne!"

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri sneered and raised his blade, prepared to pounce on the Jedi and carve him in two. "Means to an end. I will cut out the corruption in the Sith just as I will cut you from this illusion. Let them play their little games of domination, I shall play one of revolution!" With a roar he leapt forward, his attempted downward strike easily blocked by the twin blades of his opponent. "Oh, like how you lead a revolution against your owner? Pull yourself together and take a long look in the mirror Alisteri! Just like with him you found a comfortable spot for yourself in the Sith and you're just fine with letting all the suffering go on just so you have something to complain about."

The Jedi pushed the Sith away just enough to go in for his own strike, the two blue blades slicing into the distracted Sith's body and forcing him to stumble back from the pain. The illusion hurt just as much as any real lightsaber wound. "Just look at what you've become! A monster! You have to leech off of people just for survival, you work under tyrants and indoctrinate those below you into your own service, and don't even get me started on the destruction you sow everywhere you go!" Each insult was followed by a slice, one that was countered each time despite Alisteri's enraged and distracted state. He would not go down easy, not even to himself.

"Even this trial, right here and now, is evidence of that! I am your guilt Alisteri Haxim! I am what you know your parents wanted for you, and what you can never be!" The Jedi pulled back and let out a wave through the Force, throwing his counterpart against the wall and making the lightsaber slip from his grasp in the process. Alisteri grunted as he felt something crack when he hit the wall, growling as pain flowed through his body. His gaze turned to look up at the Jedi, still standing away and not moving in for the kill.

"Is this really what you've become for them? What you've done in their memory?" The Jedi's voice was quiet now, matching the whisper that often second guessed him in the back of his mind whenever he attempted to sleep at night. "They would never had wanted their son to become like this, to become a monster in mourning. They wouldn't have wanted you to become some warrior or cult leader, all they ever wanted was for you to be happy. Not this, miserable and vengeful mess!"

Most insultingly of all, in a move that stung more than any words from his guilt, the Jedi deactivated his lightsabers and put them back on his sides. "You can still make it right. You aren't too far gone yet, the Dark Side hasn't corrupted you fully. But if you continue your path and don't heed my words then it will, your flesh will be stained with the taint of wrath and your people will succumb to the inevitable ruin that the Dark Side brings." Slowly, much like one would approach an injured animal, the mirror approached Alisteri and held out a hand in offering.

"Don't let some faulty and made up belief in the Dark Side destroy you! Take up arms against your master, against the Sith and all their evil ways. Listen to me for once and stand against tyranny and despotism like you always say you do. Fight back against the corruption and take control of your destiny! Serve the Force like you always wanted."

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Strosius]

He was unarmed and injured, the burning wounds left by his opponent's lightsabers still smoking and hurting as he stared up at the offered hand. His head hung low as he breathed out a sigh. "You're right. I am not the man that my parents wanted me to be." His hand slowly reached up to grasp onto his mirror's, the Jedi nodding in agreement. "You mean you're right."

The reply drew a laugh out of the Sith as he allowed the Jedi to pull him to his feet, regarding his counterpart with a nod before his hand clenched. The Jedi Alisteri's eyes widened as he felt the grip on his hand tighten, a loud crack echoing in the cave as his hand was nearly shattered in one grisly crunch of flesh and bone. "Damn right I am." His other hand clenched into a fist and he punched his mirror before the Jedi had a chance to respond or retaliate, sending the other sprawling on the ground with a broken noise.

"My parents wouldn't have wanted me to become a Sith, but my life isn't about what they wanted. They were ignorant and foolish of the wider galaxy just like I was. A pity they couldn't have learned the truth of the Jedi like I did." He let out a bolt of lighting against his counterpart, drawing a scream of pain in his voice as he stalked towards his prone mirror.

"And you're right, I am far too lenient on my enemies. The corruption in the Sith must be carved out, but not by Jedi." The Sith slammed his foot down on the Jedi's chest, making the wounded mirror gasp for breath as it was all knocked out of him at once. "Every tyrant I strike down, I do so with the blessing of the Dark Side. Each swing of my blade is for the Sith! I relish in the destruction of my enemies because they are in the wrong to stand against me! I have no need to mourn or feel guilt for the sinners that fall beneath me!"

As the Jedi attempted a response, Alisteri dropped down and his hands grasped the mirror's neck. "And most of all, I love the feeling of ridding the galaxy of a fething Jedi." His remaining hand clawed at the grip around his neck as he stared up at the Sith, life starting to drain from his eyes as Alisteri laughed at the sight. Like a man gone mad he was delighted at how his mirror died, slowly and painfully as he choked the last life from his Jedi counterpart. "Now begone from me. Never again taint my mind."

And suddenly he was awake and gasping for air as he pushed himself up from the sandy stone floor of the ruin, his gaze flickering around wildly for a moment before resting on his master as he panted and tried to recompose himself. "M-Master?"

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Alisteri’s body tipped back as he slumped over limp and unconscious. Just before he crashed against the sand-strewn ground, his momentum seized and slowed. With two fingers outstretched, the Sith Lord let her apprentice’s body settle into the sand. It was an odd act of care among the subtle violence of his trial.

Her hands tucked into the opposite sleeves as she observed him. He was convulsing, twitching, reacting to his visions. The Sith Lord paced around him slowly, then stopped by his head. Her calm suddenly shifted as she crouched down and seized the mask obscuring her apprentice’s face.

«Shed your limitations.»

The helmet released, revealing the face of her apprentice.

Darth Ophidia continued her circle, then sat down and crossed her legs, knowing his tribulations had only just begun. She placed the helmet next to her and closed her eyes. Her shoulders sank with a slow exhale as she settled into the Force. The darkness was strong here, slow and all-powerful. It whispered with her, bringing words in the flow, images and emotions spawned from the struggle inside Alisteri Haxim.

His body convulsed in a full arch, then stopped, slumped.

Silence.

«Master»

Her eyes opened again, slowly. The irises, like molten iron, were fixed on him.

«I have seen your conflict, your resolution, your zeal.»

Her hand planted itself on the helmet next to her, inky fingers curling over the crown of it like a spider, then lifted the helmet as she rose to a standing position with preternatural grace. In the other hand was a curved lightsaber hilt. Black and silver, worn and sinister.

«Alisteri Haxim is dead.»

She dropped the helmet at his feet and raised the hilt in front of her. The bloodshine blade burst into being between them with a furious hiss. The monochromanic stone was suddenly cast in crimson light.

«This is the day you leave behind your weakness and rise, Knight of the Sith.»

The blade rushed forward as if to bisect him, but stopped right above his left shoulder. It then flicked over his head and stopped above his right before returning to a vertical position between them. It swept down between them and came to rest next to her, finishing the salute of the newly knighted.

«Darth Strosius»

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri's gaze flickered between his master's own and his helmet resting at her side. His body felt oddly cold and yet alight with adrenaline, like he had just been in some sort of workout or battle. He supposed that he had been. One that he had emerged triumphant from, and he felt all the more assured and stronger for it. He pushed himself into a sitting position and flexed his hands for a moment. Something felt...different.

He froze as his master stood, his gaze fixing on her once more as he listened to her words. She was right. Alisteri Haxim was dead, all that he was meant to have been and all that he was were now just a memory of another time. A memory of another person, one that he had just killed.

The Acolyte's gaze remained on the Pale Assassin as she dropped his helmet and ignited her weapon. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if expecting her to strike him down in accordance with some unknown punishment. Perhaps she deemed his inner conflict as unbefitting of a Sith? He resisted the urge to flinch or throw himself back as her blade rushed forward, only a relieved breath escaping him as it stopped above his shoulder.

Evidently he had passed after all.

The Knight was clearly caught off-guard by the new name and promotion, but after a moment of shock he bowed his head in respect. "I thank you, my master." He looked down at the helmet at his feet, catching a glimpse of some marking or tattoo that curled underneath his eyes and arced back towards his ears like a curved blade or claw. How strange, did his master give him that?

Regardless he plucked his helmet up as he stood, his head still bowed to his master as the full weight of what had just occurred set in. He was an Acolyte no more. Now he was a proper Sith, with a proper name and title to go with it. "I am Darth Strosius, Knight of the Sith." Whether he was speaking to himself or the other Sith was debatable. "I shall not disappoint you master. You won't regret this boon you've given me, I feel that my fervor for our cause has become unbound."

He did feel stronger, or at the very least less inhibited somehow. Like he had just cast off some weight on his shoulders after years of having the burden. Such an odd yet tempting feeling. "What deed will you ask of me next?"

Darth Ophidia

 

[Darth Ophidia]

She had indeed seen his conflict, but Darth Ophidia had seen many dissent against their masters' brutality and the system that upheld them, only to then turn into equally brutal a master themselves, and founding Empires all the more draconic. Darth Strosius, the Zealot, had chosen his path. The dark side was marring his flesh as they spoke. There would be no way back for him.

"There is a tremor in the dark side of the Force."

The bloodshine blade hissed back into its hilt and vanished into the black silks that draped the Sith Lord's slender form. With deliberate motions, she reached back and pulled the deep hood over her head, covering the bald crown. Her eyes cut a greater contrast against her shaded facial features, radiating the subtle power of his master.

"Now begins the great shift, and all Dark Lords beware."

Her voice drew thin and sharp like the glass blade she had handed him to murder his once owner. The very mountains seemed to shudder as her eyes lifted to the horizon.

"War cometh, and you will turn the tide in our favour."

 

[Darth Strosius]

His fingers drummed against his helmet as he idly inspected it. It was the mask and face of an Acolyte, of Acolyte Alisteri Haxim. Darth Strosius would need a face of his own, preferably one made by his own hands this time. And with actual protection in mind as well. The Knight slowly raised his head to meet his master's gaze as she spoke again, his own yellow eyes burning with a renewed vigor.

A tremor eh? For what purpose or cause he didn't know, but he had a feeling that he would soon. The ceiling of power where the lords of the Sith dwelled didn't seem all that far above himself anymore. For better or worse.

As the atmosphere changed to a dangerous one, one that matched the nature of his master, he unceremoniously dropped the Acolyte helmet and crushed it with a swift stomp of his boot. He pulled his red hood back over his head, offering his master a grin as his eyes were alight with excitement and bloodlust in equal measure.

"War. Would you believe me if I said that I missed it? And now I am not only rewarded with war, but also a chance to influence it?" The Acolyte Haxim would have considered such a thing impossible for him, but the Knight Darth Strosius was already aching for the inevitable conflict.

"I eagerly await your command, my master."

Darth Ophidia