Success or Death.
It had been a long time since the last time she had taught a larger class, as opposed to private tuition of her personal apprentices. Now, she was about to teach a class of strangers, the uninitiated, the seeds of miscellaneous origin coming together to grow a proverbial forest of future Sith. Now, as always, the future of the Sith Order was her priority.
Now, she was about to share one of her secrets.
It was no small secret either.
Force Stealth had been her greatest weapon ever since she was an acolyte. Even those who did not follow her path, the path of the Sith Assassin, would have much benefit of the skill to remain unseen.
That was why she had come to the Sith Academy on the Imperial capital planet of Bastion. As usual, she had not announced her name, and she was disguised with the Nyashnitwa, changing her features just so much that she would not be recognised on facial metrics.
As the students filtered in, Darth Ophidia stood with her back turned, hands clasped behind the small of her back. Her slender figure was draped in layers of black and grey robes. The outermost layer was tattered, riddled with holes and burn marks. The inner layers, however, were fresh and new. Her pale face showed distinct signs of age; crows nests by her eyes, deep frown-lines on her stern face, and a certain curvature of her back. But her eyes, they burned like freshly lit embers.
The hall to which the students were summoned was a simple, oblong, rectangular space, fairly tall and with dimmed lights. The students were ushered through a double door on the southern short wall, Ophidia stood near the northern short wall, and there were with two doors on either of the long walls, currently closed.
As the room filled, she turned and looked over the gathered students.
"What I am about to teach will save your life."
She looked at their reactions, picking out the cocky ones and storing their faces in her mind.
"It is not a skill easily mastered, but I will show you where to start your journey."
Her voice was dry, rasped, as if it clawed its way into one's ear and burrowed into the mind. While she was easily heard by everyone stepping into the room, she did not use volume. Rather, it felt as if she stood right before one.
Her eyes travelled over the group again, unblinking, unwavering, hungry.