Third Time Lucky

[Lief]

[Kobe Seren]

He had hitchhiked across space for quite some time in search of the Butcher King of Panatha. His name had been on the lips of many within the Order Kobe had once been apart of, mostly uttered in conjunction with his mother. For a while now he had brooded on that name, that location, that unholy act, but thoughts only got one so far. Even with his childish brain Kobe knew that actions spoke volumes.

Finding a vessel on its way to Panatha had been difficult, it seemed that most sane people avoided the region without good reason. Getting onboard, however, was another difficulty in and of itself. They were not taking passengers from the looks of them, and their cargo hold seemed tiny. But then again, for an Epicanthix Kobe was pretty darn small too. When their backs were turned he slipped onboard and hid amongst the crates.

He didn't bother to check what they contained.

The holocron was stashed away within his pocket at this point, pulsating the Force through him steadily. It was all that kept him calm and patient enough to wait out the long journey in silence. After all, the cockpit was so frightfully close by. And even when they did finally land, he was unable to leave right away. When they seemed to have wholly vacated the area Kobe wandered down the ramp, but it seemed as though he had made a great mistake underestimating the pilot.

Waiting for him at the base of the ramp were two Officers. They looked the boy up and down, muttered something about a stowaway, and immediately reached out toward him. Having none of it, Kobe dove between their arms and began to flee into the City and out of the Spaceport, towards the largest building he could see. He had no idea that it happened to be the Palace, all he thought about was getting lost within its halls.

So it was that the only known member of the Seren Bloodline that remained in the Galaxy stumbled into the home of the greatest slayer of his kind.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The capital city stretched for miles across the bank of the bay, extending even farther back across the hills further inland. Towering walls and spires surrounded the city on all sides save for the sea, and within the walls were domed citadels an structures packed in tightly across the stacked tiers leading from the high hills down to the docks. Trees and other foliage were commonplace throughout the city, oftentimes stone was melded with wood to create a unique blend of artificial and natural architecture. The only structures that had no natural building components were the towering temples dedicated to the worship of the Epicanthix War Pantheon, and the War District (which was built entirely out of black durasteel) where thick pillars of smoke rose up from the forgeries as smiths worked endlessly to craft all sorts of weapons for the Panathan military. The largest structure, however; was the Royal Palace which was situated at the highest point in the city.

Its domed ceilings were only dwarfed by the towering spires that jutted up obscenely towards the dark sky, which rumbled with thunder as the light drizzle that had begun to fall only moments earlier quickly turned into a horrendous downpour to pelt the city. The residents quickly fled for shelter, none of them quite keen on being soaked to the bone by the frequent storms that rolled in almost daily, and only the guards were left to suffer the rain. However; they had prepared for such a downpour, and instead of patrolling the empty streets on foot they took to a hooded hovercraft mounted with repeating blaster rifles. The hum of the vehicle's engine could be heard for a distance, and soon enough the city was a roar of thunder, rain, and rumbling engines.

Within the palace the cobalt-plated guards of the King rummaged through the halls, a blaster grafted with a vibro-bayonet held loosely in their arms as they marched around in a bore. No one on Panatha was daft enough to stroll into the King's palace without an invitation, and so the guards had become lax in their duties because of it. Their minds were so focused on other affairs that they didn't even notice the small form of a child sneak just past the edge of their vision. Despite their fatal obliviousness to the intruder, there was one who had become aware of the child the moment they stepped foot into the confines of the Imperial Palace, and he watched through the metaphyical eye of the Force with curiosity.

A voice, dark and dismal, resounded through the Force to reverberate against the impenetrable walls of his mind (his Epicanthix birthright); "Are you lost, little boy?"

[member="Snowflake"]

 

[Lief]

He was breathless by the time he reached the foreboding towers of the Palace. Its domed ceilings were shrouded from his view by the sheer height of its walls when he clutched at his sides, gave himself a second to catch his breath, and glanced over his shoulder. Perhaps he had lost them in the crowd? A ruckus on the horizon begged to differ. Forcing himself onward the child slowed to a crawl and nervously entered the structure, the dark aura surrounding and seeping into it was suffocating to the young boy who had known only the life of a Jedi.

Stalking the halls he carefully navigated his way around the guards, small and light footed enough to draw no attention from the slacking men in the Butcher King's service. Of course, Kobe did not notice the lack of guards; in his naivety he simply wandered with his gaze drawn to all manner of things, sights lost in the vast crevices and high vaulted ceilings. His hand slipped into the left pocket of his trousers, fingers curling around all that remained of his Mother. When he was able to unlock it he knew he would hear her soothing voice once again, and that brought him more anguish than comfort. Alas nothing he had tried would pry the data from it, no holographic image of Asha appeared before him.

So lost was he in his thoughts that the somber voice which echoed in his hearing forced him to jump; startled he turned full circle, wide eyed and alert. Even if he had kept his saber it would have been no use - he was mostly untrained and the weapon had been set to stun at any rate. Kobe was defenseless, however his determination to find his Mother's killer was enough to force him back on his path. He walked onward, doing his best to keep a look out for whomever had said the words. He refused to speak, as he had since mother and brother had been snuffed out of existence. There would be no response if that is what the questioner had been hoping for.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Tread lightly, little one. Before you stands the gates of the apocalypse, and the darkness that seethes hungrily within." Indeed that no matter which way the child took through the twisting turns of the Palace's interior, each way seemed to lead to a massive set of door carved out of harsh black stone. A pair of statues stood silent on each side of the door, and depicted the hooded visage of armored knights with swords firmly grasped in their hands with the tip of the blade pointing down towards the floor. Despite the overwhelming sense of foreboding and doom that would be assaulting the young boy, he would no doubt feel compelled to brave past the threshold to see what horrors lay beyond those infernal doors.

Suddenly, and without warning; the two doors swung open slowly, black smoke billowing forth across the floor to reveal the gloom beyond. The faint outline of pillars could be seen lining both sides of the chamber, and from their marble surfaces hung ornate braziers that smoldered a hellish blaze that added some illumination to the room. Still, despite all of that the room was perpetually drenched in darkness prohibiting one from seeing past several feet. A haunting voice wafted from the darkness:

"The answers you seek lie within the shroud, but are you brave enough to seek them?"

[member="Snowflake"]

 

[Lief]

Still no response from the child.

Instead he walked through the labyrinth of winding hallways and soon became quite lost. Whenever he felt as though he might be drawing near he would hit a dead end, with naught save a large foreboding door in his sight. Of course, he felt no urge what so ever to enter. Something didn't feel so right about it, and so he would retrace his steps and find another route. But they all seemed to lead to that self same door.

Just when he was about to give in and enter, the door swung open. Inside the atmosphere was eerie, with a thick dense darkness enveloping most of the room. With a shiver the boy began to creep closer, his confidence waning. But he had to, because only by doing so would he find a way to avenge those he had lost. Not that a child of his age would be able to do much. Perhaps this would prove to be his Dagobah moment.

And so the child stepped into the darkness, which began to engulf him and his senses with each step he took. His mind became somewhat shrouded, and the only thing which kept him on the straight and narrow was the holocron which glowed within his pocket. Asha give him strength.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The door slammed behind the child, leaving him in the all-encompassing darkness that seemed to creep in closer and closer with each further step into the unknown. The shadows seemed to coalesce before the child, giving off an unnatural illumination that was neither bright nor dark, but was something completely otherworldly and entrancing. From the swirling shadows formed a solid entity, dark flowing robes billowing forward to drape across the floor like the clutching fingers of the dead. A wide hood concealed any distinguishable features, yet the pin-pricks of the irises could be seen through the blackness, and they burned with a hellish fire as their gaze swung downward to stare at the child alone in the dark. A gloved hand extended from the mass of cloaked darkness, the palm face up as if the entity was reaching for the child to take his hand in reassurance. However; there was nothing reassuring about the entity in any way, shape or form.

Only hate seeped from it.

"You are brave, boy. Brave or foolish, but that is neither here or there. You've taken the plunge into the dark, and now you are at it's mercy." For a fleeting moment the gloved hand took on the form of a clawed talon with draconic skin, yet as quick as it was there it melded away into the darkness to leave the dark leather behind. "Do you feel it? The demons..." As if on cue a barely audible chorus of whispers both benign and angry wafted through the darkness, "They're calling for you... but I can protect you from them. Just take my hand, son." The hand seemed to become more urgent in its grasping motion now, edging ever closer to the boy as the being's form seemed to distort as his arm elongated to compensate for the distance, the blurring of light and shadow becoming nearly overwhelming.

Sensations overstimulating...

"Quickly!"

[member="Snowflake"]

 

[Lief]

The little boy shoved his hand into his pocket and held onto the holocron as the darkness consumed the air around him and the light which came from beyond the door was snuffed out in an instance. He tensed up, trying to peer through the murk to no avail. His eyes were not sensitive like an Umbarans, nor was he really trained for it. Instead he took a few staggered steps forward and then halted. There was no point in going further!

Suddenly a shrouded figure came into view. He could see little through the fog save the fiery pinpricks which had him take one slight step back, his own eyes were widened in response. In turn a hand reached toward him, and a voice began to speak. Uncertain of everything he was seeing or hearing the boy was frozen in spot, the ghostly hand which turned into a clawed talon before his eyes spooking him.

Naturally he said nothing in response, but as the urgency clawed at him Kobe did the only thing a child of his age could. He quickly grasped for the man, taking his hand in his own. He had no choice.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Suddenly the darkness bled away like if someone had turned on a light to brighten up a shadowed room, and every illusion that the man had weaved shattered the moment Kobe's hand grasped his own. In it's place was left a rather vacant hall adorned with various regal aesthetics such as tapestries, marble busts, and ornate statues depicting great Epicanthix heroes of both history and folk legend. At the farthest corner of the room was a great towering throne built out of jagged black iron embedded with precious gems. The man that now stood before Kobe could be considered ugly, his face was cruel and marked by scars and burn marks that turned what could've been a handsome visage into something right out of a horror holo. He wore finely sewed black and purple silk vestments trimmed at the edges with gold, a pendant hung from his muscular neck and a crown of dark silver studded with rubies was perched atop his bare and scarred scalp. He smiled down at the young boy, his movement of such twisting his face into an image of hate and pain.

"Ahh, young master. I have been waiting for you for a very, very long time. I'm glad we could finally meet." He released his firm grip on the boy's hand, took a single step back, and bowed generously with a flourish of his right hand brought across his broad chest.

"I assume you know who I am, considering you took such a great risk to break into my palace and sneak past my guards."

[member="Kobe Seren"]

 

[Lief]

There was something oddly reassuring when the darkness was diminished at the simple touch of a hand; the man had promised that much and had seen to his word. Was he someone to trust? However, with the light came the grim visage of the towering Epicanthix, and Kobe could not help but shy back at the sight of him. It was him, he knew in that instance. The monster who had taken his brother and his mommy from him.

Yet instead of actual fear or even hatred the small child felt only curiosity. He could not help but wonder the reasons why this man had plagued his family, been the bane of his legacy. Why had he targeted Asha and her son? The little boy screwed up his face a little as he pondered this, before realising he was being spoken to. He had been waiting for him? But why? Did he intend on fully destroying the Seren line?

Instinct bade him to reach for the training hilt, only his hand clutched air where the weapon had once been. Dang, he forgot he had left that back with the Jedi. Instead the soothing pulse of his mother's holocron kept him in place. He was not afraid. His mother hadn't been afraid when she left to find this man. He owed it to her to be brave.

Still not speaking he instead hazarded a slight nod in response to Vornskr's rhetorical question and clenched his hand around the holocron. Force give him strength.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Hrmmm, interesting. You know who I am, and willingly sought me out in my own home." Vornskr purred with obvious amusement, his smirk widening to split his features even more horrendously. He spoke with words dripping with honey, his tone somewhat soft and sweet compared to his standard threatening boom which curdled the blood of so many men and women. But despite his words and friendly demeanor, there was nothing he could do to conceal the pure hate that boiled within his eyes, that sulfuric hell that burned through Kobe's very soul with it's intensity. "But, if you must know who I am, then you must know what I have done, hrm? Do you seek vengeance, retribution? Or do you seek answers... Your heritage blocks me from finding out for myself, but I am no fool and I can discern much with digging through your mind, little one. You have her looks, you have his boldness... and even after what happened to your mother and brother you charge brazenly into the dragon's lair..."

He took a step closer, a movement that was a tad more threatening that it looked, and weight behind it was enough to crush his windpipe if the towering titan decided to take his boot to Kobe's throat. "Do you want to know why they died? Hrm? Is that it? They died because they were weak, little one, never forget that and don't let anyone else persuade you otherwise. I had taken your brother under my wing when your mother and father drove him away with their rigid dogma, I housed him, clothed him, fed him and taught him everything about the Ways of the Sith and warned him about the wickedness of the Jedi Order. At first he took heed of my word and he became strong, his future was bright and filled with glories yet unclaimed. But he threw it all away!" He clenched his fist with emphasis to his words, shaking it angrily in front of Kobe as he continued.

"He turned his back on my hospitality, chewed my trust and spat it back in my face. Such things could not go unpunished, and by the right I had over his life I took away everything I had given him, and reaped my justice from his body. Your mother, foolish as she was, abandoned you to willingly throw down her life against me in combat to avenge the life of her son that she herself drove away." His expression softened ever so slightly, and he attempted to lay a sympathetic hand on Kobe's tiny shoulder as he continued in a more somber tone. "They all abandoned you, didn't they? Your mother... Your father... You have no one left, and that is why you have come all this way. You must understand that their demise was solely their own fault, and they are the only ones to hold accountable. Don't walk down that path to annihilation, take my hand and I will bring you deliverance."

[member="Kobe Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Kobe simply stared, but the more that [member="Darth Vornskr"] spoke the darker his eyes became until his mood was as black as could be. His fists began to curl, his nose scrunching up ever so slightly, and soon he was glaring. The Force began to swirl around him, tainted despite the glowing cube of light within one of his hands. When Kaine stepped closer Kobe stood his ground, fury pulsing through his veins. He wanted to kill the man then and there for his words, but he wasn't foolish. He had no way to, he was a child and the man was very powerful. That much he knew.

Midway through Kaine's ramblings the child snapped. "You may have destroyed my brother" he said, speaking for the first time since Asha's death - his voice hoarse yet his words a careful whisper laced with malice - "and killed mommy, but I won't break." The final three words were emphasized and as he said them the child took one firm step closer to the monster he had come to find. But then he spoke of Kobe's abandonment and the boy seemed to lose all of that anger in a heartbeat. He fell silent and broody once again and as Kaine settled his hand to the boy's shoulder he even shied back a little.

He did not want to think about that. He whimpered slightly, because what the man said was true. He had been abandoned, by his Mother and his Father, even the Jedi had barely been there for him. They hadn't tried to find him and bring him back, they probably hadn't even realised that he was missing. The boy stared down at his feet, mulling it over, seeped in all that he had experienced in such a short space of time. Finally he released a small sigh; he said nothing, still, but he looked up at Kaine and set his gaze directly upon the mans. There was something different in his eyes now, a certain desire to fight. But not Kaine. Simply to prove his worth, to remain alive, and to make something of himself when others had given up on him.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Hehehehe" he chortled derisively, "Oh, fight if you must, Seren. It is no matter, in the end you will serve." He waved his hand somewhat dismissively and turned his back to the young child, wholly arrogant and sure in the knowledge that the little boy could not harm him in the slightest. He seemed to fall into a bout of deep contemplation in that moment, his brow furrowing slightly as his eyes closed while his mind drifted to the future. With the last scion of Seren in his clutches her lineage was all but eradicated to the best of his knowledge, and now he could work to mold the young Kobe into an extension of his diabolical will. He sensed that he would have to forego the artificial aging process he inflicted on the elder brother, Cassus, as such methods have proven to be unreliable in the long term. He was sure he had perfected the process, eliminated the fatal madness that had run rampant through his earlier experiments, but alas Cassus' condition was subtle and did not fully manifest till long after he had been altered by the Sith Lord.

A naturally grown ward would progress nicely, albeit at a slower pace. The Sith Lord opened his eyes and smiled deceptively, turning around again to face the young lad as a pair of guards wearing the standard cobalt armor of the Palace watchmen burst into the room and strode to loom behind Kobe. "You've chosen this path for yourself, and should you fail there will be no second chances... No respites, no leniency... If you fail you die by my hand." He waved him away, and the two guards moved to aggressively hold the child by both arms and hold him painfully. "Show him to his room, and Kobe..." His smile melted and his expression became hard and deathly serious:

"Prove yourself stronger than those who have failed you and I." And with that they proceeded to drag him away.

[member="Kobe Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Kobe remained silent after his outburst, glaring upward at Kaine. And when firm hands clamped down upon him to drag him away the little boy began to squirm and fight against the guards. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He clenched his jaw in frustration and careened forward with all his might, but their grips held strong and all that the boy was rewarded with was sore shoulders.

So he was to be a prisoner of his own devising. How foolish he had been. Kaine threw threats at him, the promise of death for failure, but Kobe had already failed. What exactly had he hoped to accomplish by coming here? The boy did not even know.

Dragged from the throne room, Kobe kept his glare on Kaine until the large doors were firmly shut behind him. He kicked and screamed through the halls, trying to get the men to let him go, but they were loyal to their Lord and nothing Kobe could do would change that. And when they came to the room which was to be his prison for Force knew how long the boy was unceremoniously dumped inside and left with his own fuming anger and thoughts.

He beat his fist against the door once they were gone and then slumped to the ground. Pulling out the holocron he'd kept hidden in his pocket he held it close and began to mutter, hoping that somehow his mother could hear through the Force. How unhappy she would be with him right now!

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine watched as Kobe was dragged away, the young man's eyes firmly affixed on the Sith with such disdain it was almost humorous to the Sith Lord. When the doors closed behind the boy's departure he allowed his shoulders to slump slightly, and turned to walk and sit upon his throne as his mind wandered into deep contemplation. From the darkened corners of the throne room came another who's limping gait caused an uneven sound as he waddled across the marble floor to stand sheepishly before his master. Kaine, despite his closed eyes, could feel his servant's anxious gaze and nervous muttering and slowly opened his eyes to gaze upon him with mild annoyance. "What is it, Christof? You know how I abhor your presence."

The rattish man bowed so low to the point he was practically throwing himself onto the ground, and spoke with his head pressed against the cool floor. "Milord, forgive my impudence, but why do you suffer the boy to live? If he is of her lineage, will he not always seeks to destroy you?" Kaine seemed to give his servant's words consideration, and after a time he merely smiled and replied so calmly. "The boy's hatred of me will give him strength and drive, that is true, but it will also be the crucible upon which I forge my greatest champion. By coming here he has sealed his own destiny, and the quicker he gives himself to the hate the deeper he falls into my darkness. His mother can no longer help him, the Light is all but extinguished in my realm. There is only the Dark, and when he cannot find solace in the Light he will quickly resort to the shadows... He has already proven this once before when I tested him."

The King clenched his fist and his face contorted with hate, "The lineage of Asha Seren is undone, and I shall remake it in my image... Starting with the boy!"

[member="Kobe Seren"]