Private A Knight Among Sith

[Darth Strosius]

Even through His heavy robes, Darth Strosius still felt the cold that permeated across the planet. An unnatural chill to be sure as there was no real weather nor signs of it on the dismal little world, aside from a breeze. The true cause lay within something that couldn’t be seen but which even the most unperceptive of beings could sense the moment that they set foot on the planet’s surface, the Dark Side. It blanketed the nameless world, existing as the sole force of nature it seemed. It was what steered the wind to cut into the landscape, slicing gashes into the stubborn stone and churning the weaker rocks into gravel and sand that sometimes blew about in the particularly strong gusts.

Down in the valley where He stood now it seemed particularly cutting, flowing down from jagged peaks and past weathered statues that were once hooded figures looking down into the central courtyard where the winds pooled and clawed at Him. A courtyard that served as the base of an ancient stone ziggurat, one that had been cleaved in two by some unknowable force long ago. The winds that whipped through the gap in the structure were the most chilling, seeming to pierce straight through robes and into His skin directly.

Around the statues and ziggurat were little more than ruins. Rubble and sand mingled in manners that made it difficult to determine what had been a building or structure before and what was now simply where the stoneworks had landed and decayed. The only other relatively intact signs of civilization would be the stone path leading up to the ziggurat, occasionally adorned with more looming windswept statues in various states of crumbling, winding down through the valley in the form of a long road and steps. At the end of which was the mouth of the valley itself, where a landing beacon idly blinked and flickered in the otherwise still and silent world.

This was the marker that He had left for His apprentice to find.

The message that had been sent inviting her to this nameless world had been vague, little more than a set of coordinates far off any maps or charts that mattered and ended with the simple instruction to come alone and be prepared. But what Revna had to prepare for had been left unsaid of course. She would know soon enough once she arrived and made the trek through the valley to meet Him at the ziggurat. Just as He had done before. A literal lifetime ago, and He certainly felt every day of it as He looked into the cleaved structure before Him.

Darth Strosius felt His “wings” sway with the wind, another sign that the breeze was far from just physical. The tendrils had long since been coaxed to their full length, pale light shining amidst the otherwise dark and colorless landscape. He glanced down at the urn in His grasp, the pottery itself as black as the sky above the world but painted with crimson markings and inscribed with runes that let out a subtle scarlet glow of their own. He still wasn’t fully certain if He was entirely prepared Himself, but the time had come. Perhaps it had come long before now and He’d just been putting it off, but He’d ignore it no longer all the same. And so He waited, His back to the path as He stared at the cloven stone and felt the wind gnaw at His exposed soul.

Revna Marr

 

[Revna Marr]

​

Darth Strosius’s message had found her while she’d been attending to some tasks on Korriban. The message had been cryptic, and instantly roused her suspicions: she was to go to a set of coordinates, and come prepared, and to come alone.

But what she was to come prepared for, her Master did not say.

Furthermore, the coordinates He had sent her were not on any known starcharts or maps. It was a hidden location, a secret place, that only He seemed aware of and, up until He had sent her those directions, she had been unaware of.

Of course, Revna did not dally any longer than what was necessary. She recognized this to be a summons not from her Father, but from her Sith Master. That was not something she could, or should, brush aside. So she finished what she needed to upon Korriban, before she found her personal vessel and left the ancient planet’s atmosphere and orbit.

When the darkness of space enveloped her, she set the coordinates into the navigation system, and let her ship slip into hypertravel. As requested, she was alone, and she was prepared in the only way she knew how to be: dressed in her armor, with simple black robes sitting atop of such, and her lightsaber - tucked into the folds but well within reach should she need it.

She had plenty of time to think, to ponder, and to allow her suspicions to roll through her mind. At first, she thought that perhaps Darth Strosius was taking her to a hidden location that contained items stashed away by his own Master, Darth Ophidia, before her demise. Perhaps it was a hideout holding what was left of the remnant Tsis’Kaar or Sith assassins still loyal to their fallen Lord - but she wasn’t too certain about that.

The other thought seemed as likely as it was uncertain: perhaps…this was a test for her. What sort of test, she wasn’t entirely sure. Darth Strosius, for as upfront and bold as He usually was, could be rather secretive and cryptic at times. Lessons He imparted to her would not always be so obvious - sometimes they were hidden in plain sight.

When she dropped out of hyperspace, Revna found herself surrounded by the black void of space. There was no star, no planet, in her view - yet she had followed the coordinates as directed.

Now her suspicions were roused even further. Why would her Master bring her out here, to a place of nothingness? No…that wasn’t quite right, these were not faulty coordinates. They had been sent on purpose, for a purpose.

Following her gut instinct, Revna closed her eyes and slipped into the weave of the Force that flowed everywhere. Just because she could not see something with her own eyes, did not mean the path was not there for her to find. If this was a test, which she felt certain it was by this point, then she would need to fall back on her knowledge and the experience she had gained up until this moment.

And thus, it did not take long for her to feel the beacon, and with it - a familiar presence, though it lingered just on the edges of her awareness. She used that, and the Force, as her guide - until her ship picked up on the physical beacon’s call.

It led her to a nameless planet, and the closer she came, the more she sensed the Dark Side pulsating and radiating from it. She set her ship down not far from where the strongest signal was from the beacon - but now she had to continue on foot.

The planet’s biting, bone seeping chill hit her the moment she set foot upon its surface. Revna did not move forward immediately; instead, she simply felt the place for what it was, the biting wind and cold that seemed amplified by the Dark itself.

It was so strong here, that she could barely make out the distinct presence of her own Master - as if it was hiding Him within its shroud. But she knew He was here - and whether His presence was being hidden or masked or not, she knew she could find Him. Such was their bond, forged through unlikely circumstances. Through shared triumphs and sacrifices, losses and victories.

Quietly, Revna put one foot in front of the other, and let the current of the Darkness guide her onward. It brought her into a sort of valley, in the mouth of which she found the beacon Darth Strosius had left behind for her.

The valley seemed to beckon her forward, to enter its maw - and she did so without trepidation. The deeper she went into its depths, the colder the biting wind seemed to become - piercing through even her armor to seep into her very skin. It was unnatural, and yet familiar all at the same time.

She had always enjoyed the touch of the Dark Side. She had enjoyed it in the Cathedral on Formos, within the depths of the Valley of the Dark Lords on Holy Korriban, and now even here. It resonated with the well of dark power that coiled within her, and flowed through her veins. Her eyes, usually like smoldering embers, brightened further into hot coals of fire. But even with the power that swam in her own veins - the Darkness here almost smothered her presence too.

In silence, Revna continued her way forward - not fighting against the cutting edge of the wind, but flowing with it in a way. The deeper and further she went, the more she sensed Darth Strosius ahead of her, somewhere. And eventually, she came into view of not only the Sith Lord - but of a place lost to time. An ancient ziggurat, cleaved in two by some force or power long ago - seemingly dead and inert.

Around the ziggurat were silent statues, and rubble and ruins of something that once upon a time would have been magnificent to behold. Now, it was decayed, the land broken - though alive in a way that would strike primal fear in the heart of any mortal being. It made Revna aware, and wary. Not of her Master - but of the reason behind why He would have summoned her here.

A part of her already knew, though she almost didn’t want to believe it. This was certainly the place for a trial, but not for any regular trial He would have put her through.

Revna knew this was going to be the place of her final test - the moment where dross was stripped away and she either fell as the apprentice, lost to time like the ruins of this ancient place…or rose beyond as something more.

She inhaled a deep breath, and stepped closer still towards her Master, eyeing how His golden wings seemed fuller, larger, and brighter here. Now that she was close, she could feel His presence. He may not have been the strongest Sith she had crossed paths with - but His aura held a power all of its own that was distinct and filled her with wary awe.

Revna drew to a halt, side by side with Darth Strosius - the only sign of her respect was the dipping of her chin towards her chest. Her fiery eyes shifted from the sundered ziggurat in front of them, to the robed Sith Lord standing beside her.

“This place was not easy to find, Master.” Revna said softly after a moment of silence. “Even with the beacon You left for me.” Now, she turned her pale face more directly towards Him, eyes settling upon the sides of His familiar mask.

“...You summoned me here for a reason…didn’t You?” ​

Darth Strosius
​

 

[Darth Strosius]

Even through the interference of the planet's own presence and the distracting chill seeping into His bones, the masked man could still tell the moment that His daughter arrived and made landfall. Not only due to sensing a hint of her familiar signature within the Force but also with how the environment itself seemed to react to her arrival. The wind that had washed over Darth Strosius wasted little time in seeking out Revna in turn, leaving Him with some brief respite from its grasp.

It flooded through the valley all the way up to greet her at her vessel and draw her along the ruined stone pathway, already probing at her in such a subtle way as though to provide a more difficult obstacle before she even reached the test to come. The path from the mouth of the valley into its depths offered no comfort nor solace from the wind, no distraction from the Dark Side's presence, littered with the ruins of those that had come long before and succumbed to the very same power which tugged at her now.

Darth Strosius found Himself idly wondering how much of the sand that encased the path and the ruins were from the weathering of stone or of those that had failed the trial at hand before them. How many lives the statues had watched snuffed out either along the path or failing at the final obstacle and being rendered punishment for it. It was a fleeting curiosity and one that could only be entertained for a moment before the simple uncertainty bid it away.

What He did know was that Revna was making her way along that very same path and that knowledge served as the only really stable thing in this place of ruination and husks. The only feature of this planet which hadn't been worn down and shaped to fit the wind's grasp. So far at least. Yet in spite of that thought He didn't permit Himself to glance behind or spread out His senses at all until He finally heard the sound of her footsteps firsthand.

Only then did He sigh in relief. Only then did He steel His nerves.

"Nothing worth finding is ever easy." Darth Strosius responded simply, unable to apologize for the difficulty that He had presented her with as He might have done any other time. At the question His head finally cocked at an angle to regard His apprentice from out of the corner of His visor, the golden glow of His eye just barely visible in the periphery of the dark glass. "But of course my dear, one does not journey to a place such as this for anything less than a great purpose."

His tone was as warm and inviting as one could expect, but not enough to dull the chill around them nor the unseen scrutiny that it carried with it. He inclined His head and looked around at the ruins that encompassed their surroundings, not to observe them Himself but rather to gesture at them. "The history of the Sith is a long and storied one. They have lost and forgotten far more than we will ever come to know. Places. Glories. Relics. Peoples. Names. Erased by time and memory yet still present in some places. Waiting to be found. Waiting to be remembered."

Darth Strosius allowed His gaze to drift back to where Revna stood at His side. "Do you recall long ago when you were still learning what 'Sith' meant? That to count yourself amongst their number was to garb yourself in a legacy that stretches thousands of years and which has undeniably changed the very galaxy itself on more than one occasion? That to be Sith is to be an inheritor, the next member of a lineage that has done so much yet has achieved so little?"

The question wasn't meant to be responded to properly of course, He continued on far too quickly for that. "The worlds which our presence has touched are uncountable. The wars and conflicts that we've partaken in innumerably vast and spanning across the galaxy from one end to the other. And yet here we stand now in ruins that tell the end of our inheritance." His golden gaze flickered to the cloven stone and the weathered ziggurat that it comprised.

"This is the Sith, Revna. Our past. Our present. And our future, the one that those who claim leadership amongst our ranks steer us towards even now as we speak. This is what will become of the Sith Order as it is now, as was intended when it was formed decades ago." He then looked back at His apprentice with a gaze that pierced even the thick glass of the visor. "What does this sight inspire in you? What do you feel when you look upon the fate that awaits the Sith?"

Revna Marr

 

[Revna Marr]

Revna hummed in agreement to her Father’s statement that nothing worth finding is ever easy, and one did not journey to such a place like this for anything less than a great purpose. He spoke warmly to her - as warmly as one could in such a frigid place where the Dark Side pulled at one’s very soul with every breath. She remained quiet and reflective, her eyes upon the ruins before them both, as Darth Strosius recounted just a brief moment of the history of the Sith to her, what it actually meant to call one’s self a ‘Sith’.

It was to be a part of a legacy that spanned thousands of years into the past, filled with victories and defeats - wars won and lost. A select group of individuals who had, on numerous occasions, changed the very course of the galaxy itself.

And yet, for all that the Sith did - and for how great they were - the history of the Sith, that legacy, ended up like the ruins laid out before their eyes. The end to that great inheritance, that Sith lineage that both she and Darth Strosius were a part of.

As they always did, His words made her reflect further, deeper. She pondered on what He had said to her, the wisdom in it, the inspiration and the warning.

The cold hard truth of the matter, really.

"This is the Sith, Revna. Our past. Our present. And our future, the one that those who claim leadership amongst our ranks steer us towards even now as we speak. This is what will become of the Sith Order as it is now, as was intended when it was formed decades ago."

He turned His head and looked at her more properly then, His golden eyes piercing through the shadowed visor with an intensity that even she could see.

"What does this sight inspire in you? What do you feel when you look upon the fate that awaits the Sith?"

Now that was a question she knew she was to answer. For a moment, she did not respond to Him. She kept her eyes upon the shattered remnants of Sith power from long ago, feeling the cold wind bite through into her very marrow it seemed.

After several long moments of silence, being deep in thought, Revna spoke - her voice barely above that of the whistle of the wind through the valley itself.

“It is a reminder that, no matter what we do, the wars, the empires we build, for all the greatness we achieve, even our failures - in the end…it will crumble into dust and memory.” Another pause and at this point, she tilted her head to one side as her eyes narrowed slightly towards the ruins.

“And yet - this sight does not inspire despair in me. I see it simply as what is to come, something that cannot be avoided or escaped. That the Sith Empire that I am a part of, perhaps even one that I build myself - will one day crumble too. But it also does not change my ambitions, the desires and goals I strive to achieve in my lifetime…whatever those may be, for however long I remain breathing.”

A gust of wind whipped her black robes around her, sending an icy chill rippling across her skin. “But…despite what Time and fate would try to do - erase us - the fact that You and I are standing here and seeing the skeleton of a Sith age long since gone tells me that our immortality is not found in rituals or alchemy or magic…but in knowledge - passed from mentor to student, Master to apprentice.”

Revna turned her face towards her Master, her eyes settling upon His own. “This inspires me to continue that legacy. Power and galactic wide dominion are things for today, but the tomorrow rests upon the lessons, the wisdom, and the knowledge of thousands of years - passed from one and to another.”

​

Darth Strosius ​

 

[Darth Strosius]

Darth Strosius didn't rush her for an answer, didn't silently expect or urge on any quick response at all. In a place like this there was almost nothing but time itself after all. Revna was free to think on the question for as long as she needed, with only the shifting of the wind and whatever they carried serving as any indication of the moments even passing by at all. The planet's twin suns in the sky above certainly never seemed to move, or at least He hadn't noticed them doing so during His earlier wait nor since His previous visit which seemed so long ago now.

This place was one of stasis and decay in equal measure, ruination and preservation interwoven into one. A testament to the Dark Side itself in a way even if it was so clearly a monument to the Sith over all. When His answer did come it was similarly unhurried yet poised all the same. She saw an inevitability, a strict truth in the bones of the galaxy itself yet one that inspired contentment rather than hopelessness. Their existence was evidence enough that continuation did still occur.

That even after countless attempts at snuffing out the Sith from both within and without there would always be perseverance somewhere. That physical monuments were nothing in the face of an everlasting knowledge, handed down from one to the next again and again as He had done with her and her to her own apprentices. He clicked His tongue at the answer, inclining His head in a thoughtful nod. "Well said my dear, wise words indeed."

And then He hummed. "But there is a reason that contentment isn't a virtue found within the Sith code." Darth Strosius looked back at the cloven structure, golden gaze narrowing slightly at the sight. "This is the fate of the Sith as it has been since our inception, as it will be should those within power now stay in their high positions. However, I find no contentment of my own in this sight. I see in this the exact same notion I have seen in every slaver's den, in every pirate's greedy eye, in every Coreworlder's unspoken contempt and scorn, every time that I look upon those that dare call themselves 'Sith' yet who lead our Order astray."

His wings flared anew, the ends growing to spearpoints as His gaze raised from the cleaved ziggurat to the faceless statues looming over them. "That we deserve better. Better than forgotten places which tear themselves apart with time. Better than the Core feeding on the rest of the galaxy like a parasite. Better than the scum of the galaxy reveling in the misery of the common people. Better than being led by the same wretches that failed the Sith before in the Tenth Empire."

His gaze trailed back to His daughter, visibly impassioned even through the dark visor. "The Dark Side lifted us from our lifetimes spent in chains to do more than make monuments which would rot and decay away, to do more than serve tyrants and cowards while the galaxy's people suffer and forget that they can hope for a better life. We are not agents of contentment Revna, we are the Force's Will made manifest and our purpose is to bring the galaxy to kneel before it as it always should have done."

He stepped from her side to stand before her, between the cloven ziggurat which His tendrils came to frame in their pale glow. "But to do that we need to be more than who we were. More than the slaves we were born as. More than the mindless servants of pitiless tyrants. More than simple adherents to the awful status quo. To do that, we must become Sith. As I have, as you will." The urn in His grasp pulsed with its crimson carvings as He held it up, away from His chest but not quite out for her to take yet.

"This concoction will do just that. It will uplift you as the Force has done already through blessing you. It will fill your body and root out whatever holds you back from your full potential, from becoming the Sith that I have already seen you growing into. The last obstacle is yourself, my dear. And this will rid you of it." Finally He held out the urn in offering, removing the cap to reveal the pitch black liquid within. "Will you do it, Revna Sharr of House Marr? Will you become Sith and break the cycles that have been thrust upon you?"

Revna Marr

 

[Revna Marr]

Revna wasn’t entirely sure if what she had said had adequately answered the question posed to her by her Father, but when she had finished giving her response, He seemed pleased with it.

But then He hummed and she knew she was about to hear a different sort of response - perhaps the one He’d been looking for all along. Truthfully, there was no right or wrong answer to His question - just differences of view or opinion. Revna was dutifully quiet; she knew that this was not the place, nor the time, for an intellectual debate with her Master - especially as her eyes drifted from His dark visor and to the black urn He held near to His chest, one that pulsed with red Sith runes. Something told her that whatever reason He had brought her out here would involve that urn, somehow. She would learn the truth of it soon enough, she supposed.

Darth Strosius moved forward, saying why there was a reason that contentment had never been a ‘virtue’ of the Sith - and that the sight before them had been the fate of the Sith since their inception, and it would remain this way for as long as the Sith in power continued to remain in such lofty positions. She knew where He was going with this and she had wisely learned to keep her personal thoughts or opinions about that to herself. Whether she agreed with Him or not - it was not worth the argument she knew it would dissolve into.

So she continued to listen as her Father told her He had no contentment in the sight before Him - but rather the same notion in every slaver’s den, every pirate’s greedy sight, in the Coreworlders unspoken contempt, and of course in every so called Sith who led their Order astray. Though Revna was quiet, her eyes narrowed slightly. She was trying to figure out where the term contentment had come from…for not once had she mentioned it or suggested such a thing in what she had said to Him a moment prior.

He was right - contentment was not a trait of a Sith. They were too ambitious, too focused on that which would progress their personal goals or desires, to truly find themselves in such a place. Those that embraced the path of the Sith were restless souls, never happy with one thing or another. It was what drove them ever onward, and it was no different for Revna.

It was no different for her Father either. Whether He wanted to admit it or not, He was just as ambitious as the rest of them. His intentions and desires and goals looked different from the other Sith of the Order - but it was still, at its very core, ambition.

She remained contemplative and reflective as His continued, His golden ethereal wings flaring with His passion on the topic, the matter in which He so firmly believed. In this, she mused that He truly embraced what His Sith name meant - Zealous.

"The Dark Side lifted us from our lifetimes spent in chains to do more than make monuments which would rot and decay away, to do more than serve tyrants and cowards while the galaxy's people suffer and forget that they can hope for a better life. We are not agents of contentment Revna, we are the Force's Will made manifest and our purpose is to bring the galaxy to kneel before it as it always should have done." Darth Strosius continued, passing an impassioned glance towards her through the smoky tint of His helm’s visor. His words filled with such conviction that they had moved the masses before, and convinced others to join with Him, join their cause. Join Wonosa.

Though Revna’s personal beliefs and views had shifted over time, she had never truly lost the core of who she was - the reason why she still remained with Darth Stroisus, still considered the Order of Wonosa to be her people, her heart. As the Sith Lord shifted to turn and stand in front of her, she met His golden gaze through the visor with her own.

“No…we are not agents of contentment. No Sith should be.” she replied in a soft voice that was almost carried away by the whistling wind.

If there was ever one thing she would absolutely agree on with her zealot minded Master, it was their shared goal, their ambition, to bring the galaxy to kneel before the Dark Side.

"But to do that we need to be more than who we were. More than the slaves we were born as. More than the mindless servants of pitiless tyrants. More than simple adherents to the awful status quo. To do that, we must become Sith. As I have, as you will."

Revna’s eyes once more drifted from His face to the urn in His gloved grasp, to the way the runes pulsated. She was becoming more and more certain as to the reason behind why she was here, of all places - but still she waited for her Master to confirm her growing suspicions.

"This concoction will do just that. It will uplift you as the Force has done already through blessing you. It will fill your body and root out whatever holds you back from your full potential, from becoming the Sith that I have already seen you growing into. The last obstacle is yourself, my dear. And this will rid you of it." Darth Strosius said as He finally extended the urn more towards her, removing its cap so she could see the inky black liquid substance within.

It was confirmation to her that her time had come; after the years of learning and lessons and fights and campaigns and all the small things in between, Darth Strosius had finally decided it was time to begin her rite into Knighthood.

But this was no ordinary testing or trial, that much she knew. The inky depths of the urn was both death and rebirth; if she failed…then everything He had poured into her over their time together would be for naught.

If she completed this…and came through to the other side…then she would never be the same.

"Will you do it, Revna Sharr of House Marr? Will you become Sith and break the cycles that have been thrust upon you?"

For a long moment, she did not respond. Her ember eyes remained fixated upon that urn, before she slowly lifted them back to His helm. Her answer was already seen within the hardness of her expression, the certainty of it, the determination that she was known for.

“I will do it.” she replied, her voice steady and certain. “...What must I do now?” she inquired further, though her gut told her she needed to drink this substance. But, if this was something to be done a certain way, better to follow the guidance than assume and pay a heavy price for it. ​

Darth Strosius ​

 

[Darth Strosius]

Darth Strosius didn't prod any farther for a response beyond asking the question itself, unlike the wind which seemed to grow ever more persistent and gnawing with each silent moment that passed between master and apprentice. He knew that Revna wouldn't shirk this duty, not now after everything else that she had already endured, but that didn't mean that she wasn't still pondering it. Even with His vague answers and requests the fact that He'd called her to a place like this at all signified that something of great consequence was being laid at her feet.

A consequence that could prove decidedly fatal and dire, but He wasn't too concerned at that. Darth Strosius hadn't been a quarter of the Sith that He was now when He took the same test and she had already experienced and seen almost as much in her relatively shorter time as an Acolyte than He had during the course of the Tenth Empire's fall. And unlike Himself she never appeared to be nearly as haunted by what she had witnessed as He had been. As He was.

Revna was stronger and more capable in will, mind, and body than He was when He undertook this same ritual all those years ago. He hadn't failed it then, not when His pitiless master gave Him the very same task and struggle, and He knew that she wouldn't fail it now. The lingering doubts and concerns in the back of His mind were those of a father, not those of a master. For this day though He had to separate the two roles in His mind, for her sake and His own.

If He didn't then He wasn't certain that He could stand giving her the challenge at all. And to withhold it would be nothing less than an insult and a needless limitation upon Revna all for His own peace of mind. Peace was a lie after all, the eternal struggle was all that there was until the Sith achieved their final victory. With her eventual response, her acceptance of the task set before her, that final victory was soon to gain another member for its cause at long last.

"Imbibe the urn's contents," Darth Strosius spoke in a grave tone, dour yet resolved. ", drink until your throat becomes numb from the cold. Then I would recommend laying down. Once the darkness begins to cloud the edges of your vision and your limbs no longer respond to your control, the trial will begin. You will face what binds you directly. Whatever vice, whatever compulsion, whatever hesitance, whatever form it takes matters little. You must conquer it, else it will conquer you. And it will show no mercy if it gets the chance, so you must not spare it either."

The dark visor reflected Revna's expression as His head tilted downwards slightly. "You will purge yourself of the last chain, one that has sat so deep within you that you've never even felt its tug or its restraint. But once it is gone you will know true freedom, you will know what it means to be Sith. Then you will wake and I shall greet you as an equal, as a peer, instead of a student." He didn't speak of what would happen if she didn't awaken. He hadn't even considered that possibility, for better or worse.

Revna Marr

 

[Revna Marr]

As the moments passed by, measured by heartbeats, Revna felt more and more as if she were standing on the cliff’s edge to destiny. As she felt this, she pondered just how many times she’d been on a precipice, facing the dark unknown, and weighing the risks of taking that plunge, that leap.

She kept her gaze on the mask of Darth Strosius, on the amber shine behind them, as she took hold of the urn that pulsed with the red sigils, as He told her that she was to imbibe the inky liquid within, His voice firm but noticeably grave.

Revna was not naive - nothing was simple or easy with the Sith, especially when it came to their rituals. The risk of death was always there, and she sensed it even now as her eyes lowered to the urn and the liquid within, and she listened as her Master gave her the instructions on how to proceed.

Drink until her throat became numb from the cold, laying down soon thereafter, and not to fight the darkness and the weakness that would cloud her vision and come over her limbs. The trial would begin, and she would endure. She would face whatever bound her directly, and she would destroy it, break that chain - something that bound her so closely she was not even aware of its presence. She should show no mercy to whatever she was to face - for none would be given to her.

She would triumph.

Or she would die.

There was no middle ground, and her Master, her Father - could do nothing to save her from this.

Revna was silent for a long moment after Darth Strosius had finished speaking. She hesitated, and at first it might have appeared out of uncertainty or fear, but there was no such thing within her. She was simply thoughtful, understanding the weight and the gravity of the moment.

All the hard work she had done, all that she had suffered, all that she had triumphed through, had led her to this moment.

Revna folded herself down to the ground with elegance, her dark robes pooling around her as she did so. She cast one last look up at her Father and gave Him a small smile.

“See You soon.” she said, before she tipped the urn against her lips and let the liquid within flow past and down her throat.

At first, every part of her wanted to reject that vile liquid; she wanted to gag, she wanted to throw it as far from herself as possible - but she pushed through that temptation and continued to drink, ignoring all the warning signs her mind was screaming at her. Only when the coldness began to numb her from within, did she set the urn aside. It happened quicker than she expected it would, the feeling of icy coldness dragging her into the darkness. Revna shook her head slightly, feeling disorientated, the world spinning around her.

Inky tendrils of darkness began to bleed into her sight, from the edges of her vision. Feeling the strange sensation of being both weightless and heavy, she fell back to the cold ground. She felt her heart racing, then stuttering within her chest, and then she felt nothing at all as the darkness consumed her. ​

Darth Strosius ​

 

[Darth Strosius]

As before Darth Strosius didn't rush nor prod His apprentice for any response in the wake of Him laying the trial bare before her. There was simply no sense in hurrying such a risky thing, not in His mind at least. Revna was more than capable of facing whatever it was that was soon to be leveled against her in the most physical sense possible and He knew that she wouldn't deny herself the chance to do so. Certainly not when such a chance was presented like this.

He of course wasn't in any real rush to watch His daughter drink poison in front of Him either, especially one that He'd prepared Himself. It wasn't quite as instantly potent as the one that He'd been given by His own master, that one called for a type of nerve toxin that He couldn't have gotten ahold of even if He had wanted to. This concoction would be a tad slower to act as a result but the effects would still be the same as the rest of the ingredients had been found or synthesized without too much hassle.

First the drink would rob Revna of her consciousness and motor function within the span of a few moments, plunging her mind into a susceptible state as the more mystical aspects of the concoction were brought to bear. Visions weren't at all uncommon for those blessed with the Force, or so He was told at least as He'd always had quite a bit of trouble and difficulty gaining any, however the one induced by the concoction when in a place such as this world was quite specific.

Less a targeted dreamscape and more like a mental state all of its own, only accessible through this manner. Within she would confront herself in some sense either literal or figurative, a part of her which would have been keeping her from her full potential all along. For Alisteri Haxim it was a mirror image of a man that he had once thought he should have been. He strangled the imposter. He broke the mirror. And Darth Strosius awoke from that slumber with a renewed purpose the likes of which was only surpassed by His resurrection.

He still didn't choose to entertain the thought of what would happen should she fail, but He knew the threat all too well when He had undergone the ritual. The creeping chill in His veins would have never receded, instead it would have spread all throughout Him until His final moments were nothing more than a gasp that He couldn't even make. Was He doing her a disservice by not warning her of that fate? He didn't believe so, it wouldn't come to pass regardless. It couldn't.

As such when His apprentice moved to the ground the only moment that He felt any hesitation or had reservations bloom in the back of His mind was when she smiled at Him. But of course the concoction was imbibed before any such things could be made apparent or relevant, keeping them where they remained in the periphery of His thoughts as He dutifully collected and resealed the urn once she had laid back. The expressionless visor loomed over her placid and motionless form and behind it sat two creased brows above golden eyes.

" ...buti ichimch, buti viekis, nuyak dukra. "


Revna Marr

 

[Revna Marr]

​

Within the darkness, Revna drifted.

At some point, she had lost awareness of herself in near totality; loss of sensation, of her surroundings, the biting chill of the wind, the familiar presence of her Father - even the feeling of her own pulse, or the breath in her lungs. The only thing she didn’t lose track of was her mind - that was still sharp and aware, her thoughts on the verge of being too loud. The darkness persisted, time meaningless…

For one heart stopping moment, Revna thought that maybe something had gone wrong. That she was dead, separated from the world - from her Father. From all that she loved, all that she fought for. A surge of raw fear knifed its way into her awareness, and threatened to fill her mind and consume it.

Revna studied that emotion, its rawness, its intensity. How often had she felt fear like that over the course of her life? And what had happened at the end of that fear?

She found that she still remained, scarred but still alive. Stronger, wiser. Fear, which once had held control of her, had been turned into a weapon in her grasp. How often had she turned it upon others, now that she was on her path into the Dark? Fear had not only become a weapon in her hand, but a tool.

The fear of the unknown of her present situation shifted then, and lost its bite. And when it did, the darkness suddenly snapped away, as if someone had flipped on a light switch.

Revna was standing in a garden, the familiar sound of a water fountain reaching her ears. She felt a sensation on her skin - warmth, wind…a gentle breeze that carried the scent of flowers to her. She recognized this place, or at least she recognized the garden and its fountain.

Her most sacred place within her mind - where she often retreated to in order to find the strength to overcome the challenges that awaited her. But she didn’t understand how or why she had come here now, of all times. Normally, she had to meditate and find this place within herself.

She’d done no such thing, and yet here she was.

Cautiously, she turned around in a small circle, looking around herself. The place seemed empty…and yet, she felt as if something, or someone, was watching her.

Then she heard humming, a sweet and melodic sound that drew her attention behind her. There, she saw a figure kneeling on the ground, tending to a garden bed. A female figure, judging by the shape of the body, though their back was turned to her.

I had just been looking at that spot…how did I not see them there?

“Hello?” Revna heard herself say to the other person. They didn’t seem to hear her, or if they had - didn’t care that she had said anything at all. So she approached the figure who was working in the garden, the scent of turned earth reaching her senses as she drew closer. “Uh, hello? Can you hear me?”

“Of course I can. You are not exactly quiet, you know.” the other figure said, and Revna frowned. That voice sounded eerily…familiar.

“Oh, uh…sorry for disturbing you. It was not my intention.”

“Wasn’t it? Everywhere you go, you disturb me.”

“Excuse me?”

The figure paused in their work, then rose up on their feet. Revna watched them do so, a frown forming on her face.

That turned to utter shock when the figure turned around to face her.

It was…her.

Except, it wasn’t. Eyes like the stormy sea stared back at her; pale skin, full of life. A face that had smile lines. A face that was decidedly older, and yet younger, at the same time.

“I know you…” Revna murmured.

“I should hope so. I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me - perhaps you already have. Come, sit with me by the water fountain, and we will find out together.”

Revna followed the other figure almost unconsciously, as if drawn towards the seating place against her own accord. She sat down, somewhat facing the other woman. Herself.

Dara.

“Why are you here?” Dara asked her after a moment, and Revna blinked at her for a moment.

“I was hoping you could tell me…I didn’t meditate to get here, to this place.”

“Strange that you would still come here. This is a place of peace, of serenity, of hope and life. You come here to escape your emotions, you know. To hide away from all that haunts you.” Dara said, her voice soft. She met Revna’s eyes briefly, before turning to look at the beautiful garden.

Revna felt her brow crease again. “No, that is not right. I do not come here to escape anything. I come here to find strength to face what comes my way.”

“You come here to find strength in peace, in serenity. In hope.” Dara said, repeating the same themes as before, a smile curling across her face as she turned to regard Revna once more. “You still hold on to these things. That the struggles in your life will get better. That the galaxy, the world around you, will come to find its rightful place in your reality.” Dara then leaned forward towards Revna just a touch, as if to share a secret. “You still serve that ideal. Everything you do, every breath you take, is to make that happen. Don’t you see, Revna? This is who you are, at your core. The very heart of your being. Not what you parade yourself as out there.”

Revna stared long and hard at the figure before her, but as much as she wanted to deny it - she knew that Dara was right.

“Now you see…don’t you? You separated us, Revna. We were never meant to be separated. We are one and the same, we are perfect together. Whole, healed. That is what you want, isn’t it? To be healed? Cutting me out didn’t set you free, it broke you. You have a chance to repair that now - in this place. At this point in time. I miss you. I miss us. Come back - let us be made whole again.”

“How?”

Dara smiled and reached out to take Revna’s hand in her own. The warmth that Revna felt flowing from Dara and into her was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It made her ache. The warmth chased the coldness away, like the dawning of the sun’s light chased the chill of night from one’s bones.

“You have to let go, Revna. Let go of your pain. You’ve held onto it for so long, and for what? What did your pain ever give you in return, but more of the same?”

“And what happens if I let it go?”

Dara smiled wider, radiant, gentle. Kind. Motherly, almost. “That which you still chase will no longer be hidden. You will know peace, you will have your serenity. You will touch life, and it will bloom. Like this garden did so long ago.”

“How do I…let go?”

Dara eyed her in silence for a moment, a serious expression coming over her features. “You have to turn your back on yourself, on who you are right now. Leave the Darkness behind, and embrace me. When you do that, we will be reunited, and you will be made whole again.”

Revna sat very still on the duracrete seat by the water fountain, the sound of its trickling and the faint singing of birds the only sound that reached her ears. She felt a tug on her soul, a longing.

No…

A chain.

A tether that bound her that she hadn’t even known existed. It was revealed with such sharp clarity that it almost stole her breath away…

Her lips parted slightly, as if she was about to say something - but no words escaped her. Dara’s eyes stared into her own, their blue depths swirling like the storm turned sea. “Our Mother wouldn’t have wanted us separated -”

“Our mother is dead, she can’t feel or want anything.” Revna replied, her voice sharp. She pulled her hand away from Dara’s and slowly rose to her feet.

“Revna…what is wrong?”

“What is wrong… What is wrong indeed…?”

She turned away from Dara, from herself, and looked at the garden around her. This sacred space she had created for herself. Its beauty, its safety. The place that the part of her she had thought dead, had survived all along. Chaining her to her past, to that which had been lost.

Chaining her to herself.

She suddenly realized what she needed to do - and she shut her eyes for a moment, feeling tears drip down her cheeks. Agony bloomed in Revna’s core. A pain so deep, so pure, that it felt like death.

Dara felt it too, and when she spoke, Revna could hear the raw edge of fear in her voice.

“Revna…? What are you doing? Stop-”

“Thank you, Dara, for showing me the truth about myself. You are right all along.” Revna replied, her voice soft but edged with something dangerous. She turned slowly to face that part of herself, and saw desperation within those blue depths.

“Whatever it is you are thinking…don’t do it, please I am begging you. Let us become whole again, Revna. I need you. I need us.”

“I don’t need you Dara. I haven’t for years, and I certainly don’t need you now. You were a part of me that I cast aside, and yet you still linger at the edges, like a leech.”

“If you kill me, you will die. Do you understand? There will be no coming back from that.”

Killing Dara was a sorely tempting thought, Revna realized. But no…she had something else in mind. This place was where Dara had hid herself all along, right under her nose. Keeping those things alive within Revna’s soul that belonged in a Jedi, not a Sith.

Not a Sith.

"Perhaps we were always meant to die, Dara. Or...you were. I am stronger than you ever were. Though I must thank you - you gave me clarity, and now I know what I must do. So really - this is your doing." Revna scoffed softly, and felt the words that she had memorized and committed to her heart, well up without hesitation. “Peace is a lie, there is only passion.”

A loud CRACK! resounded through the garden, and part of the water fountain split off and fell into the water, crumbling into dust. Dara, in a fit of desperation, scrambled to her feet and rush at her, grabbing at her arm to try and break her train of thought. “NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO US!” Dara shrieked, and Revna only smiled as she turned her back on the part of herself that still lingered, still held on.

“Through passion, I gain strength.”

The rest of the water fountain melted, turning into dust that turned the water in the basin a murky gray color that bled out across the garden garden, seeping into the garden beds themselves. Within Revna, her pain multiplied - as if a part of her was truly dying. She embraced that pain, and Dara’s scream ripped through her mind, threatening to sunder her apart.

“Noooo! Revna pleeeeease!”

Revna shrugged Dara off of her and stepped away, watching coldly how that version of herself crumbled to the ground and began to crawl towards her. How pitiful.

“Through strength, I gain power.”

Black ichor began to rise up through the cracks that were forming in the garden, slipping over the ground like a poisoned wellspring.

“Have mercy! Don’t do this, please! PLEASE! Revna! Would you kill a slave?!” Dara wailed, tears flowing down her cheeks now as she reached for Revna. “What would He think if He knew?!”

That made Revna tilt her head to one side, as she tended to do when something piqued her interest. She knew Dara’s tactic, however; trying to appeal to her sense of morality. She was tempted to respond to Dara, to correct her, but she knew that if she broke the ritual she had commenced, she would do far more harm to herself in the process. She resisted that urge to bite back - and forged ahead.

“...through power, I gain victory.”

The sky above Revna’s head darkened, the sun in the sky being eclipsed by a dark void. Warmth, and light, were drained away, and flowing in to replace it was the chill that Revna had come to know so well. She watched mournfully as the life in the garden, peace and the serenity and the sacred place that she had cultivated, withered before her very eyes.

For a moment, that pain she felt became too much. The growing hollowness of Dara, who was now gasping for air as the black ichor began to rise up over her, made Revna pause for the briefest of moments. She was witnessing her own death, and she knew it in her heart. Dara seemed to notice that moment of hesitation, and tried one last attempt to stop her from sundering this part of herself.

“Revna…it’s not too late…I feel it in you. Your pain. You can…still stop this. I beg you. Please. I am not your chain, I am your freedom. Don’t you understand? The Darkness lies to you. It is all a lie! It will destroy you in the end. It will destroy everything…You will destroy everything in the end!”

“Through victory…my chains are broken.” Revna said, her voice oddly steady, despite the devastation that was occurring around her. She felt her tears well up and run down her cheeks once more, dripping into the blackness that had since come to surround her as well now too.

Her garden…her place of peace, of mental rest. It was disintegrating before her very eyes. Her last tether to a part of her that no longer had a place in her life. Not if she was to move forward on her journey. But even as she whispered the words that with her victory, her chains were broken - she felt only deep loss.

She returned her gaze to Dara, who had been drained and was now an emaciated husk - but a spark of light, of life, still remained in her eyes. A part of her past self, of who she had been, still holding on.

“The Force shall free me.”

With that last utterance, Revna felt her pain reach its peak and she sank down to her knees amidst the ruin that surrounded her. Dara crumbled away in front of her into dust, the black ichor consuming what remained - until all that was left was darkness. And in that darkness, all that Revna could feel was an eternal chill - the emptiness left behind when something precious was lost forever.

​

Darth Strosius // Darth Ophidia ​

 

[Darth Ophidia]

In the all-consuming blackness, a whisper rippled through nothingness. It was soft, barely audible, the sort of sound that lured one to lean closer, as if you could hear it with your skin. It drifted into nothingness, then like the endless tides of the ocean, drifted in once more, louder, almost clear. One more time, a female voice, echoed, distant, closer. One more time, like a lover’s whisper upon the ear.

The black ichor forming cold lips against Revna’s ear

«Pain is truth»

They intoned intimately

«Heed its lessons well»

A heartbeat resounded inside the acolyte, one alien and outside of her own vascular system. A sensation of nausea followed, as though something had grown within her and was climbing its way up inside her. Then suffocation, like the panicked sensation of food stuck in one’s windpipe. Something welled out from within whether Revna allowed it or not. Hands reached out from her esophagus; Nails clawing and tearing at her from the inside, positing the question: Will you vomit, or will you burst?

Neither would dispel what had begun, neither would rip her from this pit or what she had allowed to touch her soul. Whether by oral expulsion or a gory burst, a scream from beyond this realm heralded a form of ashen flesh.

The Queen of Shadows rose from the tangle of blood and severed limbs that birthed her into this liminal space, untouched by their filth. Her body wascovered, head to toe in sacred designs of the sith. The interlacing network of jagged ink accented every gaunt curve, only cut by a lightning scar that spread from her spine, and two, still smouldering holes in her torso where Alisteri Haxim and Malum Marr had pierced her.

Splaying her long, thin fingers and sinewy arms, she draped the very darkness around herself as though it was made of silken cloth, and she turned to Revna with a regal languidity, though her eyes carried none of the dull comfort and morbid curiosity of nobility. No, her eyes were those of a predator, of a killer, of one who knew what it meant to struggle. Her eyes were rings of molten iron against her ashen face, unblinking, unwavering. They wrinkled at the corners as a smile drew over her lips, but they did not lose their edge.

Her motions were fluid like those of a serpent, measured, careful, as if she could change direction and momentum at any time, as if every motion was a quiet threat.

«You are the apprentice of my apprentice, and you walk the path that so many of our Line have walked before.»

She said the words as though they were just revealed to her, as though her eyes captured the information from Revna’s face like writing upon a datapad. Her impassable face turned grave as she rose up to her full heigh, drawing herself into a thin line of ash against the darkness around them. The lines of age that creased her face smoothed out as she looked down upon the apprentice.

«When I was but a child, I was brought here by my master. And upon this dead world I met Pain and learned its first lesson: There is only one choice; success or death.»

Her hands slipped out of the darkness in a position one who had trained with her apprentices might know had she been holding a sabre in her hands; one hand extended forward toward Revna, the other remained in front of her abdomen as she turned her body sideways to present a more narrow target. It was her jar’kai makashi, though bladeless.

«I brought my own apprentices here in turn, and I saw some succeed and others die. Now your master believes you be ready to take on the mantle of Sith.»

Her voice cut the air like a blade, dry as desert sand, dripping with venom.

«Let me teach you the lessons of Pain»