Hail to the King

[Ellie Mors]

Hail to the King

Panatha

Too long had the Sith lord sat idly by as the Sith clashed against their own, struggling to squirm in the mud while the true adversary grew and flourished in their absence. Internal conflicts were the ugly scars of Sith history, occurring even before the first Empire's formation, and as long as they persisted the Sith remained weak and separate. Here, on this very planet, ruled a man that claimed to be the god-king of his people, the man who claimed to be the Dark Lord of the Sith to many of his foes in the past - and his 'allies' alike. But he had not united the Sith, he had not even delivered a blow to the heart of their enemy when he had the chance handed to him. When the rogue Sith upstarts clamored for their own brotherhood, screaming for a return to 'honor', it was not Vornskr that arrived to put down their insurrection, to keep the reputation of the Sith alive - and when the Jedi arrived to solve their conflict for them, it was not Carnifex that beat them to the punch.

He could claim a great many things, be as powerful as he wished, but he was no more the Dark Lord of the Sith than she was - and it was a title she had never wanted and never claimed.

This visit, among other things, served to remind him of that fact, to drag him down from the sky and smash his dense skull against the dirt to bring him back to down to earth. If she could have helped it, if she could have found a way to break his illusions of reality, Vitium would have never resolved to fight the Sith Lord, much less on his own turf. But she was here for unity because the survival of the Sith, and their vision for a greater galaxy, depended on pulling him out of that haze. She had no desire to slay the man, even if he insisted on it, but if push came to shove, or if he could not be reasoned with, then she would not hesitate to strike the necessary blow.

The two had been colleagues, once. Served the same master, fought the same war, but now that his arrogance had gotten the better of him it was an entirely different story.

Darth Vitium stood, waiting, atop a large plateau on the world of Panatha with two unlit lightsabers in either hand, clothed only in her form-fitting black robes.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Devil's Rejects

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

The morning's rain had faded several hours ago, and in their wake they left behind mass amounts of humidity and precipitation that manifested as rolling wreaths of fog that shrouded the soaked rainforests in a perpetual haze. The plateau that [member="Darth Vitium"] had chosen for their meeting jutted out of the vast jungle expanse nestled between two offshoots of the greater Iron Mountain range that ran the length of the entire continent like a spinal cord. A cacophony of sounds rose to greet Vitium as she waited, the sounds of nature unbound and untamed, birds, beasts, and a great many other things howled and chirped from the foggy gloom beneath her.

And then all sound suddenly ceased as another noise pierced the air, that of a ship's engines on approach to the plateau.

Bright spotlights bathed the rocky outcropping as an all black Delta-class JV-9 Imperial Shuttle descended from the sky to idly hover above the plateau. It pivoted in the air, slowly rotating as the angular wings folded up and the landing gear descended, until the cockpit was directly aligned with Vitium's position. The vessel landed with a dull thud of metal on stone, and the spotlights dimmed as a breath of hydraulic steam burst forth as the boarding ramp began its slow descent. A pair of Blackblade Guards draped in crimson shrouds and wielding Force pikes emerged from the shuttle's interior first, their movements precise and in complete synchronization with one another, to take up position on either side of the ramp.

The man that Vitium was waiting to see would descend next, his muscular frame swaddled in the traditional black cloak of the Sith. He hardly wore any armor, save for an ornate breastplate inscribed with various Sith runes, and the only mortal weapon he possessed was the curved lightsaber that dangled from his hip. His black mane had been pulled back and bound up in a ponytail that ran the length of his back, and his beard had been groomed and corralled. Dark sulfuric eyes fell on Vitium as he approached, and a coy smile parted his lips. "Ah, Vitium my good friend. I had wondered when you would finally come and visit me, albeit under less amiable circumstances."

 

[Ellie Mors]

Sound of Madness

Vitium's patience was rewarded with the arrival of her host, [member="Darth Carnifex"]. He had been Darth Vornskr to her, an animal that hungered for the blood of his enemies with as much fervor as she sought to lift up their order. Of course he had not come alone, perhaps out of habit - perhaps out of pride, or maybe even fear - but it only served to motivate her further. She had anticipated the man to arrive alone, to respect her with the same measure she'd taken for him, but instead he'd arrived with guards, men he didn't even need. At least, he wouldn't if he'd walked the road he'd shouted to the heavens of - the path of a ruler, a leader, as Dark Lord of the Sith.

But he had not, and would not - not until she'd returned some sense to the man so consumed by his vanity.

She was looking worse for wear, a side-effect of seizing control of a woman's body for resurrection rather than walking out of the abyss as Vornskr had during the days following the Netherworld, with amber eyes ringed by a darkness that spoke volumes of her corruption, though she supposed the man wouldn't care much of her appearance - considering he'd been burned alive and was in far worse shape than she. Vitium was not here for comparing scars, however, nor was she here to trade friendly words - she was here to enforce the natural order of things, to drag the Panathan king to his duty as Sith and away from his homely kingdom that he reigned as god in.

"Vornskr - or is it Carnifex now?" She began, pausing for a moment after her rhetorical question. "It matters little, I am not here for pleasantries. You have a duty to perform, one which you have bound yourself to until your death at the hands of your successor." Vitium said with a frown, showing clear disdain for the man in his current state. Perhaps he was stronger now, more powerful, and wise, but he had squandered it on a personal fortune and abandoned his order, he'd given up on that which did not serve him - rather than serve the order. "I am here to remind you of that - that you have the responsibility to be Dark Lord of the Sith." She explained. Her eyes flickered to the right and the left, eyeing his soldiers with a glare that could have pushed them from the plateau they stood on.

"If you do not relinquish your vanity then you will leave it to me to force you to return with me, either as the Dark Lord or as a reminder for the rest of the Sith as to the gravity of the consequences of forsaking our order."

"Make your decision now, or I will make it for you."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

A look of disappointment flashed over the Sith Lord's features, his smile fading to a deep frown as he crossed both hands over his chest. "And what Order would that be?" All trace of friendliness had evaporated from his tone, his syllables practically spat out as the tell-tale harshness of an autocrat crept into his voice.

"I won't deny it, the reclamation of the Caldera was a crowning achievement for the Sith. A monumental victory in the wake of our failure to secure the Core indefinitely even though we had an entire Empire supporting our every endeavor." He took a step closer, his stance more threatening than it had been since he arrived.

"But tell me, [member="Darth Vitium"]." Mockery lightly graced his addressal, "What has the Order done since then? Killed a few Jedi? Knocked down a couple temples? We were on the precipice of greatness yet we were unwilling to seize the opportunity. I left to see to the continuation of my people's magnificence while you festered in the squalor of your own inactivity, so don't presume to lecture me on my responsibilities."

His arms uncrossed themselves as he proceeded to gesture with purpose and emphasis, "My accomplishments have borne me kingship and divinity, what has your squandering wrought?"

 

[Ellie Mors]

No Jesus Christ

No sooner than she delivered her ultimatum had [member="Darth Carnifex"] allowed his pride to move him to his snide defense. It was clear, even before he questioned the vitality of the order, that he was too far consumed by narcissism and vanity to realize how blind he was. Rather than try to understand what was bigger than him, greater than he was, he stood by idly and denounced it as being something not worth his time - that his own importance was greater than the whole of the Sith, that he not ought to lead them from stagnation, as if 'his people' were worth his attention while the rest of the galaxy, and the Sith he'd learned from and leeched from, were not.

He spoke of divinity, of mortal rule on a world - a system - that he had taken through birth and force, of accomplishments that he perceived as greater than the whole of thousands of years of labor - as though he were above the conflict of light and dark, of Sith and Jedi. The Sith ignored the fact that he'd been too full of cowardice to show his face on Atrisia, that he'd ordered his own to flee the system when the battle showed to be more volatile than he'd been willing to handle. He ignored his weakness, refused to see it, to face it.

Refused to grow, to learn, from it.

He'd turned his back on the Sith, on their code, in order to selfishly guard what little meager pile of bones and slaves he had left. Vitium had thought he would understand, having ripped herself from death's cold grasp as he had, but he had not learned a single thing except how to worm his way out of even that. She didn't know his master, whomever it might have been, but it was clear that he had failed both the order and the man she was being lectured by. Ashamed, enraged, and above-all, frustrated, the Sith allowed her arms to fall down to her sides, palms resting against the base of her lightsaber hilts. "It is the fault of the shepherd that his flock is lost, not the fault of the sheep for having no guide." She hissed, her corrupted gaze narrowing with lethal intent.

She'd lowered the order to the intelligence of sheep, an insult cast on herself and others with the intention to play towards his pride, but it was as far as she was willing to go to put her point across, and it was clear that it would hardly matter - he was dead set in being independent of the order, something she could not allow.

"You have reached your decision, now you must face the consequences." Vitium explained, the lightsabers at her sides flying to her open hands and igniting simultaneously as two vibrant rays of red. "You're as pathetic a Sith lord as you are a father." She spat, taking a step towards the Panathan. "I am ashamed that I ever thought you could be the replacement for the Dark Lord."

"Show me your worth."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

"You're the fool, Vitium."

He reached down to pluck the lightsaber that hung loosely from his hip, his fingers wrapping around the curved hilt as he brought it to bear and activated its crimson blade. Once allies, now foes on opposite sides of the battlefield, Carnifex met Vitium's hateful stare with equal ferocity as he took a single pace forward. "I once threw away my potential on a delusion once before, I bound myself to a Dark Lord when in reality he was nothing more than an insane despot. Like a Vornskr I was leashed, subject to the whim of my master whenever he cracked the whip. But I am the Vornskr no longer, Vitium."

Now came the attack, a gust of power that flung the loose dirty from the ground in a thick sheen before the female Sith, covering Carnifex's unrelenting advance as he flung himself forward with the power of a freight car. His blade swung in from Vitium's left, a sweeping guillotine that sought to end her life in the same manner as one would fell a mighty oak. Despite his immense size and brutish demeanor he was nightmarishly quick when he pushed himself to be, the Dark Side of the Force flowing through him like a raging tidal wave, his being completely submerged in darkness. The full brunt of his malice and hate was now being corralled into powering every movement, every swing of his blade, and every exertion of his power.

"I am the butcher."

[member="Darth Vitium"]​

 

[Ellie Mors]

Fight

She'd had the decency to let the man reach for his lightsaber, to respond to her insult with words of his own, but she wasn't about to let the brute talk her into submission while he came sprinting towards her. In truth she'd been wary of the idea of a saber duel, his imposing strength truly standing out against any of the other opponents she'd had in the past. The self-proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith launched himself forward with both strength and mastery of the force, using it as his crutch to overcome the shortcomings of his natural limitations. It made him as much an apex predator on the battlefield as any true Sith lord ought to be. So much raw power funneled into his body and blade, quickly arriving at her position with a strike that strongly resembled a Sai tok or the falling avalanche of Djem So. She knew she couldn't outright contain or push back the brute strength carried by his blow, and she knew that she didn't have the time to think of a proper counter that Makashi required - and that Niman was unsuitable for such a direct, skilled, master of the lightsaber. Her hands moved into action, pulled on by the will the survive and the instinctual defense that came with it - uncaging the ferocity within her simultaneously.

Her left hand rose as her grip relaxed, allowing the curved-hilt lightsaber in her hand to rotate as she swept her blade up in a counter-clockwise motion, driving it not against the flow of her foe's blade, but with it - not only shunting it so that she was no longer in its trajectory, but also adding the necessary kinetic force to his blow so that it would have quickly traveled passed her while her right hand moved into action. Mirroring the sweeping motion of her left, the saber in her right hand - a curved-hilt blade as well - was swept up like an ax being lifted with one hand, traveling clockwise towards the Sith's face with the clear intent of striking at either his center mass or face. Though she moved with such primal, instinctive, strikes, Vitium's expression was far less showing of emotion as her saberplay might have suggested. The man might be a hulking brute with greater physical strength than she could muster when met blow-for-blow, but she was not going to allow that to contain the storm that he'd allow to brew within her.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

I Defy For I Am Free

​

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

[member="Darth Vitium"]'s blade raked across his face, slicing the flesh open on both cheeks a few centimeters below the eyes while simultaneously rending a great gash through the bridge of his nose. Yet that hardly seemed to perturb the Sith Lord despite the choking stench of his own burning flesh that filled his nostrils, and the smog of charred flesh that caused his eyes to water. Vitium may have negated his opening gambit, but she had made one irrevocable error in doing so.

She had allowed him to get close.

His stance tightened up as he yanked his lightsaber back towards his center of being, his style morphing to something more akin to Form II as he lashed out to strike at Vitium's arms and legs. Carnifex was known galaxy-wide as a brutish combatant that preferred to bash his enemies into submission over any other method of attack, and while that was all well and good it was only half of the truth. The self-proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith had spent decades studying and practicing almost every form of lightsaber combat there was, testing the limits of his own body with what worked in his favor and what meshed together the best. His labors have borne him a hybridized style that could effortlessly switch between each Form of lightsaber combat at a moment's notice, which he had used to great effect in disorienting his opponents.

Undoubtedly he would attempt to use such tactics against Vitium, whenever the opportunity arose.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Indestructible

The searing tear through Vornskr's face, the resistance it gave to the edge of Vitium's blade as it tore through his flesh, amplified the thrill of the fight - gave rise to her adrenaline. She'd entered the battle upset, frustrated, and led only by obligation and principle, but the Sith had succeeded not only in trespassing into her personal space, [member="Darth Carnifex"] had allowed the Sith Lord to rekindle the lust within her that had led to her domination of her master. Being so close, so deliciously within the reach of a wielder of Makashi, it was doubtless that the Panathan thought himself to have gained an upper hand which would surely lead him to certain victory.

A strike by the so-called Dark Lord grazed by her left arm, her shoulder pulling back to avoid the blow, while her left thigh could only have wished for such luck. Fortunately the difference in their height, combined with a quick step back with her left foot to pivot away from the Sith, spared her of losing a limb - the tip of his lightsaber instead cutting a shallow gash through her thigh. It stung, certainly, but it did not send her to her knees - doubtless to the frustration of the Sith. But Vitium was not pushed to the defensive, seeking an immediate reprisal of the man for the wound he had inflicted with a downward chop of her right saber, following through with the momentum she'd gathered when it had carved an ugly scar through the man's face and gathering the force within her blade, to follow his own lightsaber with fluid strike aimed at his hand and the hilt of his saber to inflict a telekinetic burst at the end of her saber's arc.

She could respect his ability to not become a slave to form, transitioning rather erratically from his brutish style to the elegance of Makashi, but he was not the only Sith Lord with skills that lie within multiple saber forms - switching immediately to the way of the Rancor with her combination of telekinesis and saberplay. It was a style she'd used to her advantage in many scenarios, and it existed to transition between styles of combat in a more seamless fashion. Assuming that she hadn't managed to remove his hand at the wrist, she figured the added telekinetic burst would at least hamper his ability to retaliate against the maneuver - already preparing to move in for another strike directly thereafter.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Heaviest Matter In The Universe

​

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

He took notice of his minute victories, but he did not relish in them for long. The battle was ever shifting, the tide ever rising and falling between the two individuals as they fought with every ounce of their fury and passion. The wound inflicted upon his visage continued to smolder with agony unparalleled, but that only served to fuel his drive to bring an end to this infuriating malcontent. There was, however, a mutual respect between the two for each others ability to trade blow after blow without one side caving in to the others, a situation that Carnifex desired in the wake of so many easy victories against the waning Jedi Order save for a scant few of their most powerful members.

She came at him again with her right blade seeking to execute a precise sun djem or cho mai, but the Dark Lord merely angled his blade to parry the blow away from his weapon and his hand. However; he did not suspect that Vitium would combine her attack with a telekinetic burst that yanked his arm back and caused him to stumble in that direction. He backpedaled several paces as Vitium moved in to deliver another volley of deadly strikes at his person. He swung his blade around in circular arcs to defend, catching one or both of her blades with his own and redirecting them away from his body as he purposefully continued to give more and more ground to the female Sith.

"What did you come here to achieve, Vitium? To kill me? You know better than most that I cannot stay dead for long."

He adopted a one-handed stance to deflect Vitium's attacks as power began to swell within his left hand, arcs of electricity sparking off of his flesh and robes to taint the air with the stench of ozone. At a crucial junction, whether that be a forced saberlock or a well-timed deflection, he would unleash the power that had been gathering in his hand. Gnarled fingertips would jut outward as crimson lightning materialized from his nails to snake through the air towards Vitium's body.

[member="Darth Vitium"]

 

[Ellie Mors]

Forty-Six and Two

The duel had progressed to its climax, starting with the push she needed to direct the entirety of her attention to a raw offense. Each interval between blows shortened, faster strikes, jabs, that were masterfully redirected or staved off by the Panathan king, the rush of adrenaline flooding her veins at sending her into a focus that was unlike any other - like the high of putting a saber through someone's chest, only more satisfying. If the two had an unending reservoir of stamina she would have kept this moment going if only for her own entertainment, but [member="Darth Carnifex"] signaled the end to this brief moment of exhilaration by speaking.

Both of her sabers, sweeping in parallel to the other, struck against the self-proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith's own saber, met with a resistance that pushed her back - the advantage of his brutish strength so very clear. The moment their sabers dislodged and she staggered back, however, Vitium was met with the biting pain of crimson lightning snaking around her form, burning her flesh, searing her hair, and knocking her lightsabers from her hand - both a short victory for the Panathan, but also a sore mistake to force the sorceress to rely on the force.

The force of the lightning had carried her back, staggering, from the man, as her expression hardened, the pain within her - the rage that boiled below - overwhelmed her and coursed through her like the adrenaline that had propelled her to a near victory just moments before. Their fight was like the tide in a storm, always shifting, rising, cresting, and then falling - and it was within this dissonance that the two masters of the force found their strength, the beauty in the duel not born out of symmetry and certainly not deprived by the lack of acrobatics.

Where Kaine had poured his strength into the tendrils of his force lightning, Vitium pulled in the dark side to her center, concentrating even while she was wracked by pain. It took a great strength of will to raise her right hand, even as her face was scarred by the lightning that amplified the corruption her body faced, and collected all of her anger, the pain coursing through her, and direct her attention to a singular target - a raw darkness that was completely absent of light emerging from the tips of her fingers, the air reeking of the stench of death as it curled around her hand, never touching her; although the skin on it cracked and split, bleeding slightly, as the corruption set in.

She spoke no words, devoting her focus to this one retaliation, and only breathed in as the darkness around her hand uncoiled and sought out its meal. Tendrils of darkness, which ate away the light and consumed everything that they touched, struck out not against the hand which directed his crimson rage but instead sought out the hand which firmly gripped his lightsaber. To simply stop the flow of his defiance would be too kind - to deprive him of his lightsaber and the hand that held it would show him both that he was dealing with a being that was, if not nearly, his equal and that his death was not her intent.

To talk, as boring as it might be, was her desire - and she would make him listen.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Lucifer

​

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

Darkness oozed from [member="Darth Vitium"] like blood from an open wound, the air growing husky with inky blackness as empyreal tendrils of shadow coiled through the air like devilish serpents towards him. The lightning only just began to dissipate from his fingers as the tendrils contorted themselves around his right hand, and in a single instant vaporized his lightsaber and the hand that held it. Unconsciousness threatened to take the Dark Lord as pain unimaginable spiked through his body, his legs nearly giving out as he stumbled forward with his face contorted in soundless agony.

The darkness receded to reveal the full extent of the damage wrought upon him by Vitium, and Carnifex gazed wordlessly down at the calcified stump where his right hand used to be before he turned his gaze back on the Sith Lady. If she had so desired she could have moved to end him right then and there, but she abstained.

The Dark Lord gave himself a moment or two to gather himself, his breathing deep as he wrapped his stump up in black linens torn from his own cloak. "It appears we are at an impasse" observed Carnifex, "You've not come to slay me, that much is clear. Will you again attempt to persuade me to join the Order? Or is there something more ambitious you've been concealing from me?" Despite the immense pain that still coursed through every fiber of his being, the Sith Lord's words were measured and commanding, yet there was evidence of the will that it took to keep it that way.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Schism

Even as the surge of hatred erupted from her hand and stripped the Sith Lord of his means of defense and his lightning faded, she staggered and maintained her composure only through sheer willpower and trained discipline. The pain the man felt, the atomizing of his flesh as the darkness consumed his hand and the lightsaber it held, and the numbing pulse of her blackened veins that thundered in her ears kept her standing, imposing as she ought to have been. They were, as he'd stated, at quite the impasse. He would not bow down and stoop to the table of an Order that was not held up by a proper hierarchy, and she would not kill him - she desired him alive, to serve the purpose she'd set aside for him.

In truth she'd came to try to salvage their order, to unite the Sith under a familiar banner, but it was clear they would need more than a feeble gathering to push them to their zenith. Too many conflicting views would hold them in stagnation, keep their feet sinking in the mud, and that was most certainly not the way of the Sith - the way of growth, of continued adaption and eternal evolution. It was in his words, whether intended by him or not, that the Sith found her way back on the true path of the dark side, the road that had been carved out for her to walk as its chalice.

"We have seen the same vision, Carnifex." She responded cryptically, her breathing normalizing as she lowered her atrophied right hand without giving it even the most meager of glances. "The Sith cannot rise by haphazardly gathering them in one room, hoping they work together out of choice." Vitium explained. She took a step towards him, though the distance was still great enough that there was still a gap between them. "Walk with me as fellow Dark Lord of the Sith and together we will mend what has been broken, forge again the Order that our enemies fled from in fear and fought fruitlessly to oppose." She said, hearkening to the days of yore - of Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, and the Sith that came before them.

"Let us rekindle the flame of the ancient Sith and take the galaxy by storm."

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Alas, Lord is Upon Me

​

// Outer Rim Territories \\​

The Pacanth Reach, Panatha System, Panatha​

​

"Ah, I see now."

There was a flash of power, and from the smoldering stump erupted brilliant flames of gold and silver as blood flowed freely from the wound. The blood began to coalesce, seared by the vibrant flames that burned as brightly as a supernova around the Dark Lord's stump of a hand, before finally solidifying into a familiar shape. In the span of but a moment or two the relentless light faded to reveal the creation of a new hand wrought through pain, blood, and dark magick. The black surface shone like glass, shiny and smooth, and was distinctly artificial and clashed against the natural flesh of the Sith Lord's wrist and forearm. He flexed each individual digit to test its flexibility, opening and closing his hand into a fist as he became more accustomed to the bizarre feeling of his new hand.

"You seek Imperium, the power and command of the Dark Lord of the Sith. That is a dangerous road to walk, Vitium, yet you also seek to ease that burden by sharing it with me. A dangerous gambit, most Sith would balk at the idea of splitting power and authority with others for the very idea hearkens back to the failings of the Brotherhood of Darkness. But I fear such measures must be taken to reforge the Sith from these squabbling warlords into a power worthy of galactic domination."

He extended his false hand out towards [member="Darth Vitium"] to indicate that she must clasp hands with him in a gesture of camaraderie, "I have long since accepted the mantle of Dark Lord, and now it is you who must accept that burden."