Private New Beginning

[Shasill Kaarte]

"How dare you!" Shasill bellowed.

The man before him laughed in a modulated voice, waving his crimson lightsaber around malevolently. "Poor boy, lost his growzer pup!" The menace gestured at the split corpse of a growzer on the carpet, previously white, now stained red. "I'm shaking in my-"

Shasill screamed. As if he was on autopilot, he extended a hand. Through his teared-up vision, he could see the Sith go flying back into the dining table, knocking it over with a crash. But it was more about what he felt. For the first time in his life, Shasill had felt power. And it felt good. He noticed the Sith's lightsaber deactivated on the carpet. He walked forward, sparing his dead growzer a glance, and picked up the cylindrical weapon. He twirled around for a second, and found the activation button.

Shasill advanced on the Sith, a Bith now that the hood had flown off, and ignited the saber. "I HATE YOU!!!" he roared. His tear-streaked face was bathed in the crimson light. It looked good on him. He raised the saber high above his head. No. He wouldn't give this Sith the mercy of a quick death. He would chop them up into individual pieces and make sure they felt the pain. He started with the Bith's right hand. A yell pierced the air, and Shasill rejoiced in the Sith's fear. "Keep screaming..."

Shasill moved on to the left hand, cutting off individual fingers. Through agonized screams, the Bith said, "You...made a terrible...mistake. The Sith will...come after you...and kill...you."

The boy didn't respond and sliced off the Sith's left arm. More screams. Shasill hated them. Hated them with a passion. The Bith's screams would forever be ingrained in his mind. As he was about to cut off the Sith's right leg, something moved in his peripheral vision. He turned around to find another black-clad figure in the doorway.

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

Nwul had heard about a particularly interesting Bith among the order who had been mucking about in this part of space not long ago. The man was something of a scholar though he had a penchant for violence, that scholarly background had drawn the sith priests curiosity and eventually brought him to this world. Now that he was here, he was not impressed. Apparently word had gotten out that the sith was a bit of a bully and a sadist of the most boring proportions. It was a shame had such knowledge locked in his skull. Well, Nwul thought with amusement, not for long.

He tracked the bith for a while before finding his latest destination, an apartment building. There he entered with his daughters, Yjome and Darya following behind as always. He didn't bother wasting time with negotiating with the man at the front desk of the building. Something was off. He could feel the ebb of the dark side warning him to move quickly. Instead he bent the man's mind and got what he needed to know. He followed the path and up the elevator to the thirty sixth floor.

There was a scream of pain just as he opened the door. Then a cascade of rage that bubbled through the air, popping and searing breath and burning bone. Nwul's expression thinned, that was a bit too much rage for a mind to handle without succumbing. The dark side was here. He gestured to his daughters who nodded and took up positions on either side of the elevator, their lightsabers drawn and ready to activate. He slipped his arms behind his back and casually walked down the hall to the end where a wrecked door waited for him.

He smelled ozone and burned flesh. His smile widened even as his eyes narrowed in disgust. His golden eyes, untouched by the red coloring of sith rage, gleamed in the doorway.

"Holy shit you made a mess!" Nwul laughed, stepping through and inside. He stood up straight and cracked a wide smile, his pretty and unblemished face radiating a cocky demeanor. His aura, though, was an explosion of color. Emotions across the spectrum pressed down like an iron vice on the space around him, daring anyone to question the truth of his existance. He glanced down at the writhing body of the nearly paraplegic Bith, and the corpse of a growzer, really? He killed the guy's pet? "Well, you're a disappointment, no class at all."

Shasill Kaarte

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

Shasill looked up and at the doorway, where a single man strode in. He had an air of confidence about him, but there was also something darker underneath his award-winning smile.

Shasill gave the dying Bith one last glare as he turned the lightsaber on the newcomer. "I'll make a mess of you too if you don't tell me who you are!" he shouted, his voice choked by tears. No longer tears of grief for his family, but hot tears of anger and hatred. He could sense many emotions coming from the man before him. There were so many that he couldn't specify them all. But he could see that this man was very confident for just entering a room and seeing a teenager standing over a dead body, lightsaber in hand. He wasn't just the average citizen, that was for sure. So who was he?

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

Nwul cocked his head at the bereaved man, his golden eyes gleaming with amusement and curiosity. "You think you can back up that threat? Put that away," He asked, ice in his otherwise jolly voice. He reached up and drew the force around his hand, tutaminis, the art of energy manipulation. A skill mastered by Jedi primarily who had attained high levels of accomplishment. A power he had consumed from the minds of jedi victims. A skill used in a situation of extreme need, not something to be used to brush a lightsaber aside with bare skin, as he did.

He walked past the weapon as sparks flew from the back of his palm at the point of invisible contact. His eyes still locked with the young mans. The message was clear, you are very much out of your league.

Nwul stopped next to the bith and knelt down, "I came here to invite you to become an apprentice," He said to the Bith, "I suppose you'll make a good meal at least," He snapped his hand out and grasped the man by the head, a terrible smell rising from the points of contact with his fingertips. Burning flesh mixed with the ozone of force lightning. The energy traveled up Nwul's arm as he ripped the neural synapses from the dying sith's brain. The screaming stopped after only a few seconds, brain death settling in.

Nwul got to his feet and brushed his hands off, "Now what am I going to do with you?" He murmured, finally fixing the young man with a direct look.

Shasill Kaarte

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

Shasill clenched his teeth tightly as the man walked towards him. He certainly has a death wish then… Shasill thought.

You think you can back up that threat? Put that away,

“Yes! I think I—“

Shasill interrupted himself as his eyes flew wide open, mouth agape. What was happening before him… it couldn’t be!

The man touched the crimson plasma blade with his bare hand! In shock, the boy dropped the lightsaber, and it deactivated with a vwoosh! before it hit the ground.

"I came here to invite you to become an apprentice,"

“Apprentice… are you a Jedi?”

Then, the man grabbed the Bith by the head, and a smell of ozone filled the air. He was… frying the Sith. Shasill looked at his arm. The few hairs that were there started to rise. Lightning? Or just a coincidence? Probably lightning.

“Hey… isn’t lightning a Sith thing?” He asked. Then he stopped himself. Why would a Sith kill another Sith? The stranger had to be a Jedi…

Shasill was taken aback by the dying alien’s screams, but they subsided after a moment. The Force-user dusted off his hands and looked at him with a piercing gaze.

Now what am I going to do with you?

Shasill looked around and took in the devastation in his home. His parents bodies still sitting at the dinner table, their food still sitting warm in front of them. Burnt holes through their chests.

There was nothing for him here. Shasill had never really made friends at school, in fact, he’d made more enemies. Then again, this situation screamed “stranger danger” in his ear.

But maybe this man could teach him how to destroy the Sith. “You could… teach me,” Shasill offered weakly. He forced himself to return the piercing gaze, but he couldn’t quite pull off the piercing part of it. Instead, he looked like a nek cub getting a scolding.

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

Nwul flicked his hand and the lightsaber on the ground leaped into it. He tilted his head a little and looked the young man square in the eyes. "Do I look like a Jedi to you?" He asked, searching the boy's face. He snorted and stepped back, "No, I am Sith, proper sith, unlike this idiot," he kicked the slowly dying body of the now brain-dead bith. Nwul turned away and walked towards the bodies of the young man's family, their still warm corpses laying there at the table.

"Teach you?" He laughed, "Look at your face! You don't have the stomach for it."

He gestured to his family, "How does this scene make you feel?" He asked. "Lie to me and I'll know. You're to raw right now to hide anything from me," Nwul said. From there he stepped away from the bodies and leaned against the wall, staring deadpan at the young man who'd just lost everything. He didn't show him any sort of sympathy. Yet. That could come later, or not, depending on how this went. Either way, if this young person wanted to learn the Dark Side from the Steward of the Dark Side. It would take more than just hate and rage to draw Nwul's interest.

Shasill Kaarte

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

Shasill watched, frozen, as the Sith walked over and leaned against the wall.

"How does this scene make you feel?" He asked. "Lie to me and I'll know. You're to raw right now to hide anything from me,"

The boy opened his mouth to answer...then closed it. How did he feel? Anger at the dying body by his side, grief at his family's murder...but also a quiet joy. Joy that he might get the chance to explore the galaxy, albeit with this stranger before him. But of course, the Sith said he was different than the alien that had destroyed his family.

"I...there's nothing left for me here, and more than anything, I'm curious. A stranger shows up to my house and murders my family. I awaken superpowers and end him. Then another stranger shows up," Shasill said, gesturing towards the Sith, "and doesn't kill me for killing one of his own...religion? And these powers that I have...the Force, right? I want to know so much more about it."

And maybe then he'd destroy the Sith. Who knew? Maybe he'd grow powerful enough one day. But that all depended on what the man had to say next. Shasill wiped the tears off his face and did his best to look tough. And this time, he believed he had pulled it off.

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

Nwul's frown steadily increased after the boy opened his mouth. Boy? He wondered what the age difference was in ordinary years. Probably not much if he was being honest. But Nwul had consumed the minds of hundreds, his accumulated memories were the equivalent of hundreds if not over a thousand years of different lives, different perspectives. Nwul's lips thinned and his eyes fixed on the young man's face. He could feel the anger, the grief, the twisted joy, the coiling emotions that hid beneath the surface.

Even then, even after Nwul had reminded him of his rawness, his untrained mind, he had not expressed his emotions plainly. Instead...

Nwul canted his head to the right, "Are you trying to look cool for me now?" Nwul asked, his eyes open wide, the golden colored irises shrinking in a moment of madness, "Are you stupid? I asked you a question and you answered it with another question. Superpowers? Religion? The Force? What do any of those words have to do with your emotions here and now?"

Nwul stepped away from the wall and strode towards him, he looked him square in the eyes, the wrongness behind the golden sheets in his head twisting and curling. The madness that had been reigned in and forced into a mockery of sanity. Nwul let his presence batter down on the young man, his unrepressed, unhidden emotions like a tidalwave. Anger, annoyance, disgust, frustration, impatience, they were like a wave of icewater. "Answer the question, your emotions betrayed you as you looked on them, so I know the answer, but I want to hear you say it yourself," He demanded, "Face your feelings, boy, right now, or I will make you face them. The moment you asked me to teach you, your old life ended..."

He raised his head up a bit higher, "There is no escape."

Shasill Kaarte

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

The man didn't take his answer. He stepped closer, and his piercing look somehow got even sharper. His pupils constricted, as if he were insane.

"Answer the question, your emotions betrayed you as you looked on them, so I know the answer, but I want to hear you say it yourself," He demanded, "Face your feelings, boy, right now, or I will make you face them. The moment you asked me to teach you, your old life ended..."

He hadn't given a precise answer. So, Shasill supposed, he would list them. Immediately, disgust rose into the boy's mind. Talking about his emotions with a stranger in a room with dead family? Strange.

"Fine. I'll tell you that I'm disgusted, angry, and curious. Are you happy now?" Shasill asked.

He probably should have minded his tone talking to someone so powerful, but at the moment, that wasn't where his mind was. In fact, the Sith's questions had got him thinking. Did the man truly know how Shasill felt? If so, then maybe he would accept the answer as truth? Or just decide he wasn't worth the effort to train and leave him here as a corpse with his family members. But probably not.

He would see shortly.

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

Nwul's expression went from cold to delighted in less than a second, the young man's words coming out clipped and clear. Thats what he wanted, that was all he wanted. Nwul stepped back and nodded easily, "Very! Good! All I needed to hear, honesty," Nwul said with a grin, "That's what's on the surface, but there's more there too, emotions that you are afraid to face, that's where we want to go, but your honesty was enough for the moment," Nwul said with a smirk and stepped away from the young man.

He turned with an almost silly level of calm, crossing his arms behind his back, he gestured at his daughters who nodded and keyed something onto their wristbands before walking away. He walked out the door as well, "This place will be gone, soon, come along." Nwul added as he stepped out the door. Somewhere in the skies above them, a Warden Class Heavy Superiority Drone had left it's lauch bay on the Aftermath, racing towards their location at high speed with one intention. To burn this whole section of the building to cinders.

"This is not the place to induct you, train you, or test you, we'll go somewhere else for that," Nwul said and glanced back at him, "Leave your old life behind, or die here, you have only two choices."

The twins glared at the young man as they walked away, distrustful of the stranger that their father had taken an interest in.

Shasill Kaarte

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

Shasill felt an invisible pressure release its hold on him when the man smiled. It was because he had forgotten to breathe. He sighed, then took in a deep breath. He had passed the first test. But he had no doubt there would be many more ahead. Probably concerning the hidden emotions that he had, deep down inside that he didn't even know he had. Or that he was just scared to accept.

Then, the stranger walked away, towards where the door used to be. The boy began to follow.

"This place will be gone, soon, come along."

Shasill stopped midstride. He knew better than to doubt the Sith. If he said the building would be gone, it would be. Whether from a bombardment from space, or just disappearing into thin air, one way or another his old life would cease to exist. Yet the boy continued walking only after a second of thought. He held his head high, stepping past the (still-smoking) Bith, and out the door. He didn't look back. Because there was nothing there.

Nothing that concerned him. Just a slain family, still in their seats at the dinner table. It happened in this galaxy, probably every day. And this was just the next family on the chopping block.

"This is not the place to induct you, train you, or test you, we'll go somewhere else for that," Nwul said and glanced back at him, "Leave your old life behind, or die here, you have only two choices."

Shasill didn't answer verbally, but instead continued to follow the Sith. His actions were what mattered, nothing that he said.

And then he noticed two girls with the same face, glaring at him with distrust. He didn't jump in surprise, or recoil in fear, but raised an eyebrow. Were they the Sith's...business partners? Or family? Perhaps he would find out later. But this man he was following didn't really seem like the type to give out unnecessary information to a person he'd just met. Or maybe he just wouldn't give truthful information. But nevertheless, he made a mental note to ask him later, preferably when they had good relations.

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

Nwul appreciated the silent consent, but he knew that the man had thoughts in his mind. That was fine. If he didn't think for himself then Nwul would have been disappointed. He strode down the hall and out the building without so much as breaking stride, from there he made it almost four blocks before there was a terrible sound somewhere behind them, an explosion that ripped through the building where Shasill had once lived. Nwul paid it no mind, his daughters, used to his antics, did not bat an eyelash as he began to hum to himself a pop song he'd heard a few days ago.

When they came to a stop they were outside an alley. It was only then that Nwul checked to see if the young man had continued to follow him.

"I have a stop to make," He said with a smirk and strode down the alley.

The twins stepped forward to guard the alley, both of them giving the young man intense stares. They were rattataki, white skinned and bald, their expressions the only way to differ them. On the left the young woman seemed a bit more demure, soft in the face. The girl on the right, though, pinned him with an expression of disgust. Her lips pursing, "Father has taken in another stray," The girl said, looking him up and down before letting out a sigh, "Stay here, stray, and be of use to Father when he returns."

The more demure girl looked at her sister in horror, "Sister! Father has offered to teach him, be nice! You know how father gets when you bully his students!"

The angry girl snorted, "Only when he catches me, you need to learn from what father doesn't say, sister, there's implicit permission," The angry girl sighed, "But you're probably right in this case," She fixed the young man with a stare, "An actual apprentice rather than an acolyte, it sounds like, father must think highly of your potential. Do you have a name?"

Shasill Kaarte

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

Shasill hadn't been walking for very long when there was the sound of an explosion behind him. He winced. So that was what the Sith meant when he said the building would be gone. He continued on, though, without an obvious break in stride. Finally, the group stopped, and the man checked behind him to make sure the teenager had followed.

Shasill met his gaze for the second time. It was getting easier, but it still wasn't pleasant.

"I have a stop to make," He said with a smirk and strode down the alley.

The last survivor of the Kaarte family watched him vanish into the darkness of the alley, and found himself facing his two...associates? That question was cleared up when one of the twins (the more unfriendly one) glared at him and spoke.

"Father has taken in another stray," The girl said, looking him up and down before letting out a sigh, "Stay here, stray, and be of use to Father when he returns."

Shasill merely scowled, not bothering to respond to her derogatory remarks. Alas, he had discovered their relationship. Father and daughter. The teenager had never before seen a loving and caring father bring his daughters to a situation that could be even remotely dangerous. Then again, they were Sith, so they constantly defied the norms. Then, the nicer girl stepped in.

"Sister! Father has offered to teach him, be nice! You know how father gets when you bully his students!"

Students. Another piece of information that Shasill appreciated. Sure, it might not have been the most interesting, but at this point, he was scrounging and desperate for answers. And, another comforting fact: this angry twin bullied all of her father's students. Shasill was in the same boat as the rest of them.

He then met the stare of the unfriendly girl. For some reason, her eyes made him awfully uncomfortable, but before today, he would have been staring into the distance rather than at her. Already he was becoming more...manly? "My name is Shasill Kaarte. I infer that an apprentice is different, and more prestigious, than an acolyte?" he said. If the Sith thought of him so highly as to make him an apprentice before he was an acolyte, that spoke to the teenager's ability and potential. Though in what...Shasill didn't quite understand completely. Power? Probably.

That thought alone excited him.

Darth Nwul

 

[Darth Nwul]

The Twins eyed him carefully, both of them not speaking for a moment. The nicer of the two eventually broke into a easy smile and inclined her head, "Yes, Father has yet to accept a direct apprentice, he is the first of his kind among the Sith," Darya said with a soft voice, smiling at him graciously. She glanced at her sister, Yjome, who frowned but nodded regardless, keeping her mouth shut. "Father does not choose students lightly, though it may seem like it at times. He is proud to spread his teachings so that they find as many roots as possible. But his secrets..." Darya trailed off.

Yjome smiled, "That's the real treasure..."

Just as she said that, the humidity increased and the temperature rose, Nwul strode out of the alley with a contented look on his face and a small datapad in his hand. He was reading something with those eerie molten eyes of his before he glanced up, confused for a moment, before realizing who Shasill Kaarte was. He broke into an even brighter smile. "You're still here! Good!"

He raised his eyebrows, "A question for you. A contact has proved useful for quite some time, and loyal, but for the forseeable future their usefulness has ended. What would you do with this person if you had the power to choose?" Nwul asked, curious what the young man's thoughts on waste were. Was it a waste to maintain the contact or a waste to destroy a potential resource?

 

[Shasill Kaarte]

Shasill raised an eyebrow at the twins' response. "Really. I must be quite promisi-"

He stopped talking. Heat was building up around him, like anticipation was rising. The ultimate climax was the father's appearance, coming out of the darkness of the alley with a datapad in hand. Shasill listened to his question, and his gaze turned upward in thought.

A contact that was no longer useful but had been before. On top of that, they were loyal. Interesting question. Shasill supposed that if the contact was expensive to maintain, they should be cast from service. They were a drain on their employer's bank account. However, the forseeable future was not the full future, and the contact might prove useful again. It would be a terrible waste to cut ties with a useful, loyal servant. In fact, if that servant was very useful, they might be versatile too.

"I would keep them. Someone that is a handy and devoted contact for you could also be versatile. You could possibly give them another task while this one has ended? Even if they're not able to adapt to a new job, if they were useful in the past, they will likely be useful later. And in case the forseeable future changes, and this contact is needed again, you will have them," Shasill said, still gazing thoughfully at the sky.

Darth Nwul