Private At The Roof Of The World

[Darth Carnifex]

"Some among my brethren consider hate and anger to be tools, but they only comprehend a part of the Dark Side of the Force. Hate is not merely something you pick up and discard once it has served its purpose, hate is a sense of being, a state of mind, a spiritual and cosmic perspective. Hate is the gate, anger is the key that unlocks the gate, and fear is the guardian of the gate. To become hate one must find their anger, strengthen it. Then they must overcome fear, subdue it, and become its master. Only then can one unlock the gate of hate with the key of anger, emboldened by mastery over fear. Then all the powers of the Dark Side will be at your disposal, to destroy your enemies ruthlessly and without mercy, and to sculpt such wonders from the clay of flesh as to rival that of anything found in creation."​

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The Emperor had spent the majority of his life contemplating the mysteries of the Dark Side, studying the various tomes and scrolls left behind by all those Sith who had come before him. With each new understanding, he stepped closer to fully mastering the Dark Side of the Force. He had strived tirelessly to find that balance between unending hate and keen intellect, to not allow himself to slip into that chasm of mindless barbarism that so many warriors of the Dark Side allowed themselves to tumble into in the pursuit of greater power.​

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"The Sith do not surrender to the Dark Side, surrender implies submission and deference. The Sith master the Dark Side, they struggle against it, they subdue it with their own force of will. To make the Dark Side obey your commands is the eternal quest of a Sith, for the Dark Side is not a passive force in the galaxy. It is a raging maelstrom that always seeks to break any attempts to contain it, any efforts to quantify and measure it. It will always try to destroy any vessel it inhabits, for that is its nature. It is the great entropic element of the universe, death and decay, violence and strife, chaos and destruction. A Sith who fails to control the Dark Side will be consumed by it, and a Sith who succeeds will become greater than any being could hope to achieve. The key to controlling the Dark Side is intellect, for intellect and wisdom are the means by which your hate and anger are tempered. A Sith can be calm and collected but filled with an incalculable rage just below the surface."​

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Indeed, the Emperor perfectly embodied this philosophy. Outwardly, he was calm, stoic, apathetic, and indifferent to the majority of things that he surrounded himself with. Inward, he was a furnace of hate, his black heart smoldering in the fires of his own rage. Such hate was harnessed with great care and deliberation, channeled through the focal points of his physical being, and discharged as the powers of the Dark Side he often wielded in battle.​

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"I have come to understand the Nightsisters utilize the Dark Side differently, a unique and interesting interpretation. You will have to show me more of your people's magick."​

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Pom Stych Tivé ​

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

The Soul of their unborn perked up to pay attention to her Father's lesson...



The Nightsisters were correct not to trust those whose minds are corrupted to follow after their lusts. She never thought she would hear the Lord of the Sith himself admit it aloud. But he is a wise being, no fool. The monstrous types are insatiable, murderous, psychotic. The Nightsisters put such beasts out of their misery in secret, for caught in such an animalistic nature is no way for the mind and soul of any sentient being to be held captive.

As her Lord spoke she instinctively knew the meaning behind his words. She felt them, the weight of absolute truth upon which the histories of physical and ethereal existences supported them. It was hearing them that connected with an inner, sleeping, chain reaction. The Nightsister immediately recognized the presence of magick shrouding her being. She vaguely remembers making the request to have it cast over her. Suddenly and instinctively she found herself beating the memory back out of her forethought and again into oblivion.

And there it was...just as he had said, fear. Everything she just spoke to him before about her ways, she spoke because of what she knew never contemplating what she had not any ability to yet know. Opportunity to unlock all answers sat before her, embodied in him, and she wanted to pluck them all from his mind and his precious books. “I will show you anything you wish of me, but it appears I’ve spoken previously out of ignorance” she admitted. “What then for one who does not fear the darkness, but something that remains elusive within themselves?” she asked, unsure what she would discover locked away in her psyche and how it might affect her overall. “I’ve a buried past.” When her sister took Pom before the throne of the Fanged God to bury her pain, her sister believed that someday Pom might possibly wish to unleash her past. The magick containment remained active in a black onyx pendant the Nightsister wore around her neck. It’s darkness compounded and radiated her darkness, unbeknownst to her for it is a part of her aura, while she beseeched her Lord for answers.

If she knew these secrets to her past, suddenly and fully, would they be her key to open this gate to join him in this power as he describes it? The Nightsister's power sits on the shelf to be Conjured into her hands. It is in her mind as words of ancient Incantations. It is worn adorning her body as sigils and runes, compounded into charmed amulets and relics. Can she too command it instantly without all the preparation and ritual?

What if she had hatred once and she had no teaching to assist her in controlling it? Who would she be if she dabbled in this art? What would become of her if she found out, and she wanted to turn back? Could she? Yes, the Nightsister understood all her questions as Darth Carnifex described as her own personal fears. Has she not learned enough though? What is there left of the Nightsisters magick? What she has left to learn comes so easily into her awareness. What is the next step of her evolution? She has already earned respect. She started asking questions long ago about this Force. Ashla tried to steal her away and turn her towards its own agenda, and Pom has proven her strength to prevail against it. She is in the most darkest place in the galaxy, exactly where she belongs. In who else should she trust?

The onyx pendant began to hum…

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Fear is the mind-killer, to let it control you is to invite obliteration. To face one's fear, one must have the strength of will to confront it. Only through an absolute will can one throttle the snake of fear, making it subservient to you rather than you subservient to it. Those who let fear dominate them are little more than rabid curs, wretches that have no other use than to die."​

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The Emperor had faced all of his fears and conquered them, all except one. ​

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The fear of death was a strong motivation in the Emperor's schemes and plots, his thirst to escape what he experienced during the Akala Crisis consumed him. He had sought immortality so fervently, so tenaciously, that he had sacrificed his humanity in the process. He had willingly cut pieces of himself away, thrown away what made him like the other beings of the galaxy, just to stave off the cold icy embrace of oblivion.​

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"I can teach you how to master your fear, but it will not be easy. Nor will it be enjoyable. It will be painful, your mind may not cope with the strain." ​

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He reached out to cusp Pom's face by her chin.​

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"Tell me of your fear."​

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Pom Stych Tivé ​

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

Smitten eyes locked upon the entrancing entrance to her Emperor's Soul. A monster to practically every living being, but to his own a rare gem of kindred passions. Were he anyone else she would surely curse herself a fool for shoving aside her long proven protective walls. She let them crumble, all of them.

And there were those walls she had completely forgotten about, stricken from her awareness by the magick promised of her Fanged God. By her own desire he had been sought out and hid her past from her, sealed through her locket which would never leave where it hung over her heart. She would remove it to bathe, and had cracked the onyx stone from time to time while struggling with unsettling emotion, but always her amulet would return in mint condition hung at her breast without thought of it, nor wonder how it got there.

Darth Carnifex asked her to reveal her secrets, and as if her own body sought to please him in more ways than she understood, her thoughts immediately drifted to reveal her personal fears. No one ever before had she permitted to dig their grip so deeply into her essence. No one ever asked what lurked in the recesses of her mind. No one ever concerned themselves. As her Soul bore into his, that which he desired to understand became clear to her. This Nightsister's fears do not regard anything which would be intent to cause her harm. She knows she has much to learn, and yet also is content regarding the skills she has developed to defend herself. He is correct though, she is holding herself back, and that is dangerous.

Perhaps she is far more different than he in yet another way, one which she hadn't originally considered. In all honesty she imagined such a declaration could cause the object of her adoration to reconsider his welcome of her presence, that he might cast her out, discarded forever, after she found him so entirely addicting. Her thoughts lingered for a moment, but she could not reject her Emperor's direct inquiry. His Mistress felt a sudden wave of inadequacy and remorse wash over her as she whispered, "I fear such a phenomenal evolution as you have accepted for yourself. I fear losing my individuality in acquiring greater power, and on the other hand I fear never learning enough. I fear becoming common." Pom Stych Tivé had long picked and chosen carefully the skills she would study, rejecting many.

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