Private &nbsp; A Knight Among Sith

The heavy sensation around Revna shifted and dissolved, and in the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of thunder as the darkness around her moved and coiled into what appeared to be clouds at the edges of her vision. It seemed that the question Revna posed had been a good one to ask, and Ophidia echoed a sentiment that Revna agreed with wholeheartedly: too many just accepted what they were told and never questioned the why.

Revna huffed with dark mirth as thoughts and memories drifted through her mind, briefly. “...You should see the…disagreements…my Master and I get into, because I refuse to simply accept everything He says as fact or truth.” she said with a faint smirk that mirrored the dark humor that flitted through her, before she returned back to her observant silence, eager to hear if Ophidia would respond to that question she had asked. Her focus sharpened, her attention upon her Elder undivided.

She learned a little more about her late Grandmaster - that Ophidia had not originally been trained in the Rule of Two, but had come upon Bane’s teachings later on. Or rather, learned it the hard way - through experience and the pain that came with it, and by choosing to shed the lies she believed the Sith had been telling themselves for a hundred years by then. The little Marr noted just how tired Ophidia sounded as she continued to divulge more. She painted an image for Revna, one that the little woman picked apart and digested in her own way.

The mirror rippled as distant thunder rolled once more, and Revna noticed Ophidia’s eyes burn brighter.

"When I learned through death that premature immortality is a folly, I saw my own apprentice, your master, seek that same foolish pursuit. He had not even dared raise his blade against his master."

For a moment, there was a light of confusion that passed over Revna’s eyes, a faint crease of her brow as she tried to understand what the Pale Assassin was saying, what she was referring to.

And then it clicked a moment later: Was she referencing when Alisteri shed his mortality to become a Sangnir…? That was the only thing that Revna could even think of. Unless…there was something else that had transpired that He had hidden away from her. As much as she loved and was loyal, even devoted, to her Father, she did not put it past Him to hide things from her, or lie to her face.

He was a Sith, after all.

Disdain marked Ophidia’s pale features making it truly clear how she felt about that whole situation, even as she canted her head to one side as she regarded the smaller woman. "Why do you think I took another apprentice at such a time?"

Ophidia’s question brought Revna’s focus back upon her. Revna did not respond immediately - not because she didn’t believe she had an answer - but because she wanted to give the question posed to her a deep and thorough search. Truth be told, she felt perhaps that there were a variety of answers to that question, but one bubbled its way up from her heart and out her mouth.

“I am assuming you speak of when my Master became a Sangnir, and thus became immortal for all intents and purposes. My thought or answer is because he stopped being a worthy successor to you, to what you were trying to achieve or pass on, perhaps. He became a part of the problem, not the solution, if that is the case. And...I imagine because he failed, you had to find another who would replace him as a worthy heir of your knowledge and teachings."

Revna reflected the same head tilt that Ophidia gave to her, and her ember eyes narrowed slightly as her mind drifted into another question that had been floating around in her mind.

"But in the end, they both betrayed you...didn't they? Does that mean that neither Malum nor Alisteri are worthy to be your successor?"

Darth Ophidia · Aug 3, 2026

Revna Marr

The darkness cracked with flashing lightning, and thunder rolled steadily closer. The familiar pressure of the storm and the scent of fried ozone intruded on the still, cold space.

"Yes, his transformation into a Sagnir detached him from time, he thought he could simply wait and outlast his enemies." Her lips pressed thin "So I introduced a rival, one promising enough that Strosius had to make a choice: To grow or die."

Death, not only in its simple form. To submit, to kneel to an equal was the death of ambition, the death of power. She had knelt to many she thought was her superiors, only to see them fall short. This, she had cast aside when she created the Tsis'kaar.

"I have pondered this question, whether they were worthy, whether I made a mistake. I have never been beyond mistakes." She let her eyes glide from Revna and to the horizon "Strosius began the conflict that lead to our duel, and Malum told the other Lords how to find me. I failed to make them enemies, perhaps my power was not one they craved so much as their own survival."

Her eyes snapped to Revna again as lightning flashed once more, close enough to split the darkness in a flash of blinding white. When sight returned, there was no mirror image, but a coin falling, out of reach, yet so close she could see every detail: On one face, a skull placed on a bed of bones, like a sunburst; on the other, two serpents biting each other's tails, devouring one another. It tumbled down, down, down, yet moved nowhere.

"I was never the Sith'ari, I was never destined to lead the Sith or destroy the Jedi, but through the purity of our line shall She be born: She who will be above all others."

In the reflection of the coin, there was movement, as large and clear as if it happened right before Revna, yet far, and small at the same time.

A young girl, ten or twelve, thin and haggard, bald headed, fighting in bloodsports for survival, a single gold coin paid as her prize. The surface turned, the girl hides in the trench of a war zone, simple blaster in her hand. Another turn. The girl is perhaps fifteen, dark tattoos streak her body as she holds up a lightsaber. It turns again, a young woman kneeling as one of three.

Next revolution, the young woman strikes down a figure in front of a crowd, and is then is struck down by lightning, yet claws herself forward in the mud.

The next, she stands over the corpse of a master. It turns, another master, and a familiar epicanthix figure next to her. As it revolves once more, she brings the sword to bear against a score of other sith and burn down a rotten empire beset by beasts.

A green faced woman, for the barest moment, between the faces of the coin, as if hidden away.

The girl grows older and the wars grow fiercer, her distrust deepens until the coin is splattered in blood, surrounded, a hopeless fight. Hands reach out in the reflection, grasping and pulling, and the woman is born again. She takes on two apprentices, their blades turned against everything she had fought to uphold.

The coin clatters to the ground in front of Revna, the final flash being the woman pierced through by her two apprentices. Darth Ophidia is nowhere to be seen, though the shadows of what Revna has seen replays itself in the shadows, obscured in roiling smoke. The Pale Assassin's voice caresses the back of revna's ear in a whisper

"What does it mean to be Sith?"

Revna Marr · Aug 3, 2026

Direct Tag:

Darth Strosius
Final Tag:

The thunder had drawn closer, and now flashes of lightning could be seen as well. Slowly, the scent of ozone began to permeate the darkness which had surrounded both Revna and Ophidia. It was a sight and a scent that Revna knew all too well, and embraced.

Her Grandmaster confirmed that Alisteri’s transition from mortal to Sangnir had been the turning point in his apprenticeship with her. Malum had been introduced to be a rival, to push Alisteri to grow or die. But her attempt at setting them against one another had not exactly gone according to plan. Ophidia admitted that she had indeed pondered the question if either of them had been worthy, or if she had made a mistake.

It was strange to hear the once mighty Pale Assassin honestly say that she had never been above making mistakes. Not strange in the idea that Revna didn’t believe such a thing was possible, but because it almost…humanized her Grandmaster.

After gazing off into the horizon for a moment, Ophidia snapped her eyes back to Revna, those molten orbs seeming to burn through the smaller, younger Sith. Then, there came another flash of lighting, so bright that it momentarily blinded her. Revna blinked, and when she looked back, she didn’t the reflection of Ophidia anymore, but the sight of a golden coin that was just out of reach, turning over and over as it seemed to fall - but it never actually moved anywhere.

Ophidia’s voice echoed again, tugging at Revna’s curiosity even further: "I was never the Sith'ari, I was never destined to lead the Sith or destroy the Jedi, but through the purity of our line shall She be born: She who will be above all others."

Revna could see the details of the coin rather clearly, but it wasn’t this that caught her immediate attention - rather, the flickering of images in the reflective pool at her feet with each turn the coin made.

It showed a small girl child at first, haggard and thin, fighting in bloodsports - a small coin paid as her prize. The coin turned again, and another image was revealed to Revna, and it was at this moment she realized she was witnessing memories - memories of a woman who had lived, and died, before Revna had even known she existed.

Each image showed another step in her Grandmaster’s life, her journey into Sithdom. And Revna allowed each memory she saw to sear itself into her mind, to carry them forward into her own future.

For a brief moment, Revna allowed an honest thought and realization to roll through her mind: while she was incredibly thankful and, indeed fortunate, to have secured Darth Strosius as her own Master - there was a part her that wished she had found her way into the shadow of Darth Ophidia while the other had still been alive. She believed that it would have been a good match, as Mentor and pupil.

But Fate, or Destiny, or the Will of Bogan itself, had said otherwise, and all that had transpired in Revna’s life had led her right to the person that she had needed to bring her into the ways of the Sith.

Even if those ways made her a heretic, an outlier compared to the rest of them.

As each rotation revolved, Revna saw more and more, even familiar faces alongside that of Ophidia.

But one thing became more and more clear to Revna with each revolution, each memory presented to Revna: her Grandmaster’s growing distrust, perhaps paranoia, of those around her. The coin becomes bloodied, a sign of that ever increasing distrust and her blade, turned against everyone.

Another turn, and now she has two apprentices that Revna recognizes, whose blades are turned against what she had fought to uphold.

The coin clatters to the ground at Revna’s feet, the final image bearing the memory of her being struck down by both Malum and Alisteri.

A stillness falls across the space; the little Marr blinks, but her Grandmaster is nowhere to be seen, though the shadows seemed to replay those memories faintly in the background. Her eyes are drawn back to the coin at her feet, and almost as if drawn in by some unseen tether, she reached down and picked it up - gazing upon the image stamped on one side.

"...What does it mean to be Sith?..." Darth Ophidia whispered right behind Revna’s ears-

…And it was at that very moment that she gasped for air, her entire body feeling as though she had just been plunged straight into a bath of ice cold water. Her eyes flew open as she attempted to suck in deep lungfuls of air. Dazed and somewhat confused, Revna’s gaze flickered frantically around her as she was momentarily unaware of where she was or what had happened to her.

Or perhaps, it was because she was looking for someone else…

Her eyes then locked upon the masked and robed figure that was not too far away from her, her eyes wide and her chest still heaving. She blinked slowly at the figure, realizing that it was not the Pale Assassin, but still a familiar presence.

Her Master.

Groaning, Revna tried to roll over enough to sit up, though her muscles still protested with the lingering effects of the paralysis that had claimed her body. She was trembling violently, not entirely from the cold, but from the shock of the whole experience she had just undergone.

She still looked around herself in a somewhat dazed fashion, but her awareness and sensation was returning to her limbs and the rest of her body now. That was when she felt something cold and hard in one of her clenched fists. Revna glanced down at her hands and opened her palm…and revealed the same coin that she had seen in that shadowy realm, where she had met the great Pale Assassin face to face.

“...oh. So that really did happen…” she murmured, before she glanced up into the mask of Darth Strosius, and her own reflection glinting in His mask. Her pale face, and ember eyes...but they held the faintest hint of yellow.

Or was that just a trick of the light?

“Wait…this is real too? Did…did I make it? Or is this just another vision...?”

Darth Strosius · Aug 5, 2026

The moments passed like an eternity.

Moments spent waiting next to the unconscious form of His daughter as the wind stabbed at Him even through His heavy robes, knelt beside her while His hidden gaze watched for her breathing. Waiting for when it would pick back up and signal her awakening. Waiting for if there never was another breath that left her. If, not when. Darth Strosius was no stranger to patience, but these moments of silence clawed at Him more and more with each passing second.

The concoction wasn't meant to have any sort of antidote, there was no failsafe for a ritual after all. Yet even still He found Himself silently cursing at His own lack of preparedness in not brewing one. The poison was of a physical and mental sort and if it took hold then it would rot her inside and out, then the winds scouring the land would claim whatever was left of her in the aftermath. He recalled how He had awoken with His tattoos fresh and still cooling on His skin, a layer deeper than they should have been and sealed into place from His survival of the concoction.

Would that be the tell-tale sign that Revna had survived the ordeal? That she'd passed the trial? Would it be quicker to spot than waiting for her to breathe again? He wasn't certain. What transpired on a world such as this was hardly meant to spoken of beyond its bounds, all that He had to draw upon was His own experience here so He didn't know what to expect from the perspective of the master rather than the student. Perhaps this portion was meant to be a trial for Him as well? It wouldn't be surprising.

What was rather surprising though was a familiar voice. Too familiar. One that made His skin crawl and the pale "wings" flowing from His back to tense and pull taut against Him protectively. What was worse was the source of the voice. Revna spoke like His dead master, but only for a moment. The next moment she was gasping and He had leaned back to give her some space to breathe, gloved fingers digging through the dense threads of His robes as He clutched them to steady Himself.

In spite of Himself He said nothing as she glanced around frantically, silently watching as she quivered and attempted to move. Darth Strosius didn't raise a hand to help her however, His piercing golden stare visible even through the dark visor that shielded His eyes. A gaze that narrowed at the sight of the coin that had appeared within her grasp. When she finally did speak however, the tension fled His form in a moment as He loosed the breath that He'd been holding and finally blinked.

"This is no trick nor vision, my dear. You passed." He sat still for another long moment before reaching out an arm to wrap around her shoulders, heaving another relieved sigh as He closed His eyes. "The Force has blessed us this day." He whispered in a quiet prayer before rising to His feet and offering His daughter a hand to assist her as well. Though His hidden gaze kept flickering back to the coin, their golden glow seeming to pulse at the sight of it.

"How does it feel?"

Revna Marr · Aug 6, 2026

Tag:

Revna did not resist the arm that wrapped around her shoulders, steadying her. She heard the relieved sigh and the words that she had made it out alive, and a whispered prayer of thanksgiving. She still shook violently, and her stomach cramped and her mouth watered, making her feel as if she was going to be sick. She inhaled deep and slow breaths through her nose, trying to force off the nauseating feeling that suddenly came over her.

But now she was starting to feel something else - a cold type of pain that was sinking into her skin beneath her dark robes. As if the cold wind of the place had finally pierced through and was freezing parts of her flesh. That was what it felt like, anyway.

"How does it feel?" He asked her as He helped her rise up on her feet, still steadying her. Revna noticed the golden eyes of her Master flickering to the coin still in her hand, noticed the sharp tension that seemed to coil within and around Him. She glanced once more at it, at the symbol of a snake eating its own tail, and then closed her hand over it to hide it from sight, and slipped it into one of the pockets of her robe. She knew that seeing it must be deeply disturbing for Him, and she didn't wish to cause Him any more distress than she likely already had.

“H-how am I-I supposed to f-feel?” she asked, her teeth clattering together slightly as the muscles in her jaw clenched from the trembles. “I…hurt. Feel…s-sick. Skin…burns. I’m c-cold. I…th-think.”

As if from some deeply hidden childlike instinct that had been dormant or surpressed, Revna tried to shuffle a step closer to Strosius, seeking warmth, and perhaps some fatherly comfort. That whole experience had been …terrifying. And she now could feel that the Void Hunger within her was even stronger than before.

Maybe that was what was making her feel so cold.

“Ho…how long, w-was I...gone?” she inquired as she glanced back at Him, and at this distance He might see the inky blackness that rimmed her eyes, making them even more striking than they had been before. She was curious to hear just how long she'd been under the effect of the poison, how long her trial had truly lasted. It had felt like an eternity on her side of it. Then more thoughts popped into her mind as she continued her recovery. “H...l-long will-will this l-last? Wh…what hap-pens n-now?”

Darth Strosius · Aug 7, 2026

An amused hum, in spite of it all, escaped Him at her question and answer. Not out of mockery of course, the amusement was aimed more towards Himself if anything for being dull enough to bother asking. "That would be the concoction still working its way through your system. There is one more purpose that it serves after all, to mark your skin in recognition of your survival. Be glad in spite of your ailments my dear, if you felt nothing at all then you wouldn't be breathing still."

Darth Strosius didn't hesitate to allow Revna to draw closer to Him, although in truth He could hardly offer her any warmth beyond simply shielding her smaller form from the raging winds. They had picked up ever since she had awoken, debris and rubble shifting slightly as it was washed over with renewed gusts. Whether that was in disgust at the familial display or as a means to revere the completion of the ritual was unclear though.

"Long enough." There was a pregnant pause before He decided to give her a proper answer, she'd earned it after all. "Several minutes. Enough time for your markings to begin appearing no doubt. Mine were a bit quicker but that was likely a product of my biology, yours should be more gradual." He could only hum at her inquiry on how long until the concoction was fully worked out, or enough that she wasn't quite so ill at least. "Now that you've awakened it won't be long. Just rest and when you've improved we can continue. There is one final rite to be performed."

Revna Marr · Aug 7, 2026

Tags:

Markings.

He had said that the other purpose of the substance she had drank at the start of all of this would mark her skin with the evidence of her survival. A symbol of the completion of her trial. He told her too that, despite the pain and the sick feeling that still clenched her stomach, and the vertigo and disorientating sensation that still swam through her mind, that she should be glad for such things - because it meant she was still alive.

“Y-yes…I s-suppose.” She murmured in agreement. “I thought I’d…I’d never-r leave t-the dark-darkness.” she admitted quietly, mutely. That uncertainty, that fear, still lingered, but Revna pushed it aside. She was no longer trapped in that space of inky darkness. No longer trapped within that uncertain sensation of whether or not she would ever see the light of day again, see the faces of her loved ones.

For a long moment, Revna simply existed there once Alisteri allowed her to draw in close, allowing the remnants of the after effects of the concoction she had drunk to wear away gradually. Her skin still burned, the pain more of background noise than anything, flowing along pathways across her skin. Around them, the gusts of biting, icy cold wind seemed to grow more fierce - almost as if responding or reacting to their presence. Her Father’s taller, larger frame blocked the worst of the wind, and for that she was thankful.

There was a small part of her, a cynical voice in the back of her mind, that tried to make her feel ashamed for having this moment. He was her Master, a Sith Lord. She, a Sith in her own right, the Apprentice. She shouldn’t be hiding in the shadow of His robes, seeking comfort from Him. She should be following protocol, keeping distance between them. She should be seeking to overthrow Him, take His power base, put her blade through His back. Betray Him. She had crossed a line somewhere, and this was unnatural. What would others think??

A frown creased her brow. Where in the nine hells had those thoughts come from? What did it matter? Who cared if she had developed a familial bond with the man who had taken her under His wing those years prior? She didn’t give a chit about what others thought or felt about it. He was her Dad. She was not ashamed of that. She would never be ashamed of that. No matter how it painted her in the view of others, if they thought she was weak for it. And for all their disagreements and heated discussions - Revna was not one to stab someone she was loyal to in the back. That was a coward’s way, and she was not a coward.

If they ever fought with blades because they were angry with one another, it would be face to face. She respected Him enough to do that, at least.

"Now that you've awakened it won't be long. Just rest and when you've improved we can continue. There is one final rite to be performed."

Alisteri’s voice brought her thoughts back to the moment at hand, and she turned her focus inwards. She hadn’t noticed that over the last couple of minutes, her violent trembling had mostly ceased. She still shivered, but her teeth weren’t clattering anymore. The sick feeling in her stomach was background noise now - she at least didn’t feel like she was going to throw up everywhere, so that was an improvement. Still, she did as He asked of her and rested a little longer, happy to be shielded from the worst of the biting wind in this sacred place, at least for a little bit longer.

Soon enough, Revna felt mostly back to normal. The burn on her skin still persisted, and curiosity replaced the sick feeling and dizziness that had filled her mind and body a few minutes ago. She stepped back from her Father’s protective shadow and quietly pushed up the sleeve of her robe to expose one of her hands and the forearm it was attached to. There were deep markings there now, where there hadn’t been before. They interwove and interconnected with the brandings and sigils that had been marked into her skin on Dromund Kaas, the day that Darth Strosius had arrived to challenge Prazutis to take her back from their possession. Power flowed through her veins like a rushing torrent, as if a dam had been removed, and there was nothing holding back her potential. She hadn’t noticed that earlier when she had come out of her trial, but she sure noticed it now.

She idly wondered just how far these markings went - did it cover her entire body? She would have to give herself a closer examination, once she was back aboard her own ship, or perhaps in her own private quarters aboard her Father’s flagship.

Revna lowered her sleeve and glanced up at the mask Alisteri wore, locking eyes with the bright golden eyes behind the darkened visor. She suddenly felt as if they both were standing on a precipice now, the moment before something significant was to take place.

“You said there…was a last rite to be performed?” She asked, her voice steadier now, and clearly curious in tone. It would appear that she was, indeed, mostly recovered from that experience - minus faint after effects that still lingered, but were fading away with each passing second.

Darth Strosius · Aug 9, 2026

For a moment Darth Strosius opened His mouth to respond, yet after a thought He closed it and remained silent. If Revna was in a more composed state then perhaps He wouldn't have hesitated and changed His mind but at the moment it didn't seem appropriate to correct her. To tell her that she indeed hadn't left the darkness. She had passed the trial of course and was no longer a prisoner in her own mind, however now there was no real path back to who she was before she had imbibed the concoction.

There was a reason that this world in particular had been selected for this ritual for generations after all. The winds scoured the body and forced one to either shiver and cower or focus on remaining stalwart even before the actual trial itself began, already setting the stage for what was to come the moment that one stepped foot on the planet's surface. The world cultivated and coaxed the deepest parts of those that undertook the trial and laid them bare, forced the recipient to see who they were. Or who they could have, perhaps even should have, been.

Then they had to conquer those unwanted and even previously unseen aspects with nothing but sheer strength of will and mind lest their whole being be consumed in the process. There was no aid or help beyond what one could muster for themselves. Victory or death, as it were. Not an ultimatum but rather a decision and one that wasn't always clearly defined, though it did always cost something of one's self. Revna had indeed won of course but He knew well enough that she would hardly be the same afterwards.

Alisteri Haxim had arrived on this world long ago, but only Darth Strosius had left it.

At present however He chose not to concern Himself with such things and instead simply offered what stability and support He could given the circumstances, dismissing the worries that crept into the back of His mind with unbidden and unwanted paranoia. There was no place more sacred than one's own mind and He'd already suffered this world's intrusion upon His once before, He wouldn't bother entertaining it again a second time. Not even when His focus was elsewhere.

When she stepped back the masked Sith Lord didn't seek to keep her closer for any longer, knowing that she would need her space for what was to come. Revna pulled back her sleeve reveal her hand and arms as well as the new tattoos adorning them, mingling with the stains left on her flesh from her time in Kainate custody and earning a small hum from Him. "Fascinating, mine didn't reach to my hands until...later. My face and shoulders were the first of my marks." He mused aloud before rolling His shoulders and straightening His stance as their gazes met.

The time had come He supposed, no more delays. He wasn't certain whether to be anxious or relieved at that. "That there is." From His side, Darth Strosius drew His lightsaber from His robes. The crimson blade ignited with a hiss as He held it up between them, the blade perfectly centered and the tip running between where His golden gaze watched His daughter from behind the dark visor. "Kneel."

Revna Marr · Aug 9, 2026

Tag:

Revna was momentarily quiet when Strosius mused aloud how His own markings hadn’t reached His hands until later, that they had appeared on His face and shoulders first. She pondered on that for a moment, thoughtful. She couldn’t see her own face at the moment, but He could. And judging by His words and reaction, her face hadn’t received any of these black marks…not yet, anyway.

It only deepened her curiosity to know just how far they went across her skin. And clearly, based on His words, these markings would only grow over time. What would cause them to spread across her skin was only something she could speculate at the moment, though she had her suspicions already.

But…what if these were the only marks she ever received? What if they didn’t continue to grow or spread? Did that mean she was a failure? That thought, that word, sank deeper than she really wanted it to. It tugged at her mind, her heart, and for a moment she felt a glimmer of uncertainty, of…something she couldn’t quite name.

No, I am not a failure. If I was, I wouldn’t be breathing right now; she told herself firmly, banishing the twisted thoughts before they could worm their way deeper into her mind and taint this moment.

In that small moment after she revealed her markings and the musing her Father had made and before their conversation shifted to what was to come next, Revna closed her eyes and reasserted control over her own mind. She hardened the barriers that protected her inner thoughts, and fortified her will and self-confidence.

She was not about to allow such corrosive thoughts to bleed into her mind and make her doubt everything. Not after everything she had been through in her life, and what she had just undergone in the darkness of her mind. When was done, she opened her eyes and stepped back from Him to open up more space. The moment she had needed with Him had passed, and now it was time to move forward.

Darth Strosius had let her step back from Him, and she noted that He seemed to pull Himself a little straighter with a roll of His shoulders. Over the time she had spent around Him and in His presence, she had learned the cues He gave when He was preparing to step into the role He carried as a Sith Lord, as a leader, a figure of authority.

When their eyes met she saw it there too - the shift from Father to Lord, her superior. It was enough to make her set aside her familial emotions and straighten her spine just a touch, her attention sharp and focused. Now she was the Apprentice, the Disciple, not just His daughter.

Alisteri confirmed that there was one last rite to perform, and her coal-fire eyes flickered to watch His hand disappear inside His robes, only to reappear with the familiar hilt in His grip. Tension immediately coiled in her muscles, and as the saber ignited to bathe both of them in its crimson hue, she had to fight back the near overwhelming urge to reach for her own. Discipline, and trust, were the only things that held her still in that moment.

But it didn’t stop her from casting her gaze back to His mask, to the blazing amber eyes behind that visor as the blade was lifted before Him. The sight was ominous, and would have certainly appeared threatening, if she hadn’t known the man for years.

“Kneel.”

The little Marr blinked in surprise. Within her chest, her heart lurched almost violently and skipped a beat. For a brief moment, Revna hesitated, not out of disobedience or defiance, but because He had never given her such an order before. He had never made her bow or kneel or any of the plethora of other things a Sith Lord usually had their subordinates do when around them. But she understood that this moment in time was something…significant. And it was entwined in ritual, in tradition.

Perhaps a moment or two passed before she dipped her chin in compliance and sank down to not one, but both knees, sitting back on the heels of her feet as she did so, her hands coming to rest atop her thighs. She was silent now, listening only to the whistle of the wind and the crackling hum of her Master’s lightsaber, allowing the weight of the moment to settle not just over her, but over Him too.

Darth Strosius · Aug 9, 2026

Darth Strosius didn't rush His apprentice, didn't bother repeating the command nor even looking at her expectantly. He simply watched and waited for her to comply. He didn't ask such a thing lightly and as expected she hesitated, likely out of confusion and concern just as much as anything else. Nothing that she could be judged or held accountable for and certainly nothing that warranted Him hurrying her along. Even if her hesitation lasted a few moments longer than He'd anticipated.

With Revna knelt before Him His head tipped down to regard her properly, the crimson blade hissing right next to where His hood was whipping in the wind. "You were nothing when we first met. A lost soul amongst dozens of others, yet your arrival was already different. The Order of Wonosa pulls its souls from the downtrodden and misbegotten of the galaxy, offering a refuge from lives of strife and pain, yet you weren't pulled. You chose to abandon what life you could have lived out of your chains to follow our ways. To follow me."

His tone was steady and sure, there was no room for doubt now. She had already proven herself beyond measure after all. "From the very beginning you did not obey, you thrived like none other within our ranks. You sought ever more knowledge, ever more responsibility, ever more simply because you could. Because Revna Sharr hadn't lived her life as she'd wished for so long and now you intended to correct that. You didn't ever merely follow the Order of Wonosa, you walked right alongside it. Alongside me."

"And when you could no longer walk beside me, torn from me by the whims of our foes, you didn't falter. Even when you watched me perish before your very eyes you never forsook your path. You kept forwards, relentless and eager to ensure that you would not be bound by any tragedy just as you were unbound by your horrid past. You pursued those that I was long since convinced were already too far astray to be worth knowing, undeterred as ever. You became more than just my apprentice long ago. But now, you have become more than Revna of House Marr as well."

His gloved fingers tensed around the hilt of His lightsaber as it moved forward, careening down towards Revna only to stop and hover at her right shoulder. "I have borne witness to what you've become, and here on this day you've shed any lingering doubts of what you are. Of who you are." The blade lifted, moving up over her head to rest above her left shoulder. "This day you have stripped away your weakness and fear and emerged as something greater. This day Revna, Disciple of Faith, is no more."

The lightsaber moved up once more and hovered directly above her head, the crimson blade resting for a moment too long before it was pulled away and sheathed with a flourish. "Arise, Darth X'aviera, and never kneel again. For on this day you have proven yourself worthy of the title Sith. Worthy to carry our banner forwards into the unyielding galaxy, and make it your own. Let it be known henceforth that you have no superiors save the Force itself."

Revna Marr · Aug 9, 2026

Tag:

Thankfully, no reprimand or reproach fell over Revna at her hesitation. She hadn’t exactly expected a biting word from Him, though she was still relieved when none came. He knew her pause wasn’t meant out of spite or rebellion, and simply waited for her to do as He had bid.

Once she had taken her kneeling position, Darth Strosius began to speak, His tone holding weight and ceremony. Revna listened to Him intently, as she always did. His words evoked memories within her, and she relived those past moments in time, albeit briefly.

She remembered that fateful moment when she stepped off that ship on Formos, when she sat in that room and waited for the so-called ‘High Priest’ to make His appearance. She remembered the first time she had laid eyes on Darth Strosius - and those initial weeks and months living there within the Cathedral, under His watchful gaze, being guided forward down a path she had chosen for herself.

Her Master continued, mentioning how she had not only obeyed, but had thrived in her new environment, seeking more, growing more, pushing herself. A faint smile curled on her lips as she recalled various moments in her early days of training: the ache of her muscles, the frustration that clouded her mind when she couldn’t get something right, the eager hunger that burned through her to learn everything she could about the Force, the Dark Side, the Sith in general.

But more than that, she had found a home. A family - the Wonosans. A nuisance cult to the wider Order, an enigma amongst the rest, but it was something she belonged to.

When Darth Strosius mentioned the more relatively recent and tragic events that had occurred in her life - her capture by their shared enemies, and His death at the hands of her cousin in the Kaggath - a stab of pain spiked through her heart. Those memories were still awful for her to remember; they still forced her awake at night from nightmares. But despite that, those events had pushed her to keep moving forward, to step into what she was meant to be.

It was where she ultimately found herself, too.

Revna’s head bowed a little lower when her Father said with a steady voice, how she had become something more than His apprentice long before this moment, and had become something more than just Revna. The saber in His hands hummed as the crimson light flashed in an arc - but what would have been a fatal blow was pulled short to hover just over her right shoulder. At that distance, she could feel the heat of that lethal blade, and its vibrant red hue filled her vision.

Then the blade was lifted before it descended over her left shoulder, crackling ominously there for a brief moment. Revna’s breathing had gone shallow, almost non-existent, as her Master stated that there was no longer any doubt as to who and what she had become.

He announced that Revna, His Disciple of Faith, was no more - before bringing His crimson saber up and forward to hover over her head for a longer moment. She quietly, and darkly, mused that she was utterly at His mercy now. She would not be able to fend off that crackling blade if He so chose to end her life.

But Revna knew that this was not her Father’s intention. The hovering of the plasma blade was to allow the weight of the moment to truly settle over her, for her to grasp the significance of it.

That this was symbolic - the death of the Apprentice.

Then, it was pulled away and disengaged, disappearing with a flourish. "Arise, Darth X'aviera, and never kneel again. For on this day you have proven yourself worthy of the title Sith. Worthy to carry our banner forwards into the unyielding galaxy, and make it your own. Let it be known henceforth that you have no superiors save the Force itself."

Relief, and even disbelief, crashed through the little Marr. Her entire body crackled, tingled even, as Alisteri's words sank into her mind, her heart. Quietly, and with a growing grin of triumph forming on her face, Revna rose back up onto her feet. A couple of seconds passed as her gaze lingered on her Father’s chest, before she lifted her gaze to look Him in the face.

Not as His Apprentice anymore, but as His peer. As a Darth.

She had made it.

“‘ No superiors ’ huh? Does that mean I don’t have to listen to You when You tell me I’m grounded, anymore?” Darth X’aviera said, as her familiar, mischievous little smirk danced across her face before she slipped into a moment of reflective silence, simply gazing at the man in front of her. Nothing would be the same now, and she knew that deep in her heart. Who she had been was gone, who she was expected to be, had morphed. The Master and Apprentice bond that had defined their working relationship before the rest of the Order, was dissolved.

Revna lifted her chin and gave her Father a proud smile. Not pride in herself, but in Him. "Well done, Darth Strosius." She said quietly, using His own title instead of 'my Lord' or 'Master'. It was her way of showing, and telling, that she had embraced this moment to the fullest. "It was hard work, I'm sure. But we both made it in the end." She let that moment linger for longer, before she exhaled heavily and gave a slight shudder.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I can't feel my fingers anymore, or my toes. Or the rest of me for that matter. Shall I meet back up with You on Your flagship, so we can celebrate in proper? I'm sure the others would like to know one of their Sisters has ascended."

Darth Strosius · Aug 10, 2026

The question earned a scoff, one full of warmth and fondness which had been so absent earlier during the ceremony. "You say that as though you ever listened to begin with. Especially as of late." Darth Strosius had long since learned that if His daughter truly wished to do as she pleased then there was almost nothing that could stand in her way. For better or worse, mostly for the better thankfully. He hummed at her remark, a fanged grin spreading across His hidden features.

"Well done yourself, Darth X'aviera." It would take quite some time before He could adjust to calling her that properly in public. There was no time like the present to practice He supposed. "That it was, but that we did." The masked Sith Lord took a moment to retrieve the urn from the ground, capping it and tucking it under one arm while Revna shuddered. At her question though He couldn't help as His grin grew larger beneath the visage. "Oh they will undoubtedly be ecstatic, but I was thinking we could meet on your ship instead."

With His free hand He drew a datapad from His robes, offering it towards her even as He began to move past her. On it would be a list of names, a crew registry, as well as technical details in a separate section and a few blank text boxes in need of filling in for administrator codes. At the top of the screen when it was first handed over would be the ship's name, the Vindicator of Faith.

Revna Marr · Aug 11, 2026

Tags: