New life in the dark

[Seth Harkness]

Malia was still getting use to her new name, but she enjoyed it. much better than the one she once had before she joined [member="Darth Vornskr"]. It had only been a few days or more since she had been found on Nar Shaddaa and she was already adapting better to her new life then she had back in the Jedi. Stepped out of her room in the early morning, not someone to sleep to a normal time always awake before the sun. For now she stood at a Window her teal eyes watching the sky for the first signs of sunlight to strike the sky with red's and orange of sunrise.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

​

Vain Hallow, the mighty citadel of the ruling house of Panatha and it's servants built high in the Ilavkouk Mountains of Naldholvruvk, a symbol of oppression upon the Epicanthix homeworld. From there the Emperor of Panatha ruled, it's walls high and mighty, and an army of vile minions ready to spill forth to crush all that oppose their lord's will. The castle saw the early sunrise long before the city far down in the valley below ever did, and often the castle cast a long shadow across the center of the city as the sun rose into the sky, a grim reminder of their Dark Lord. Emperor Kaine was up earlier than most, as he hardly slept at all, but rather fell into a meditative trance to reinvigorate himself for each day. Kaine strode out onto the veranda from his bed-chambers, leaving his beautiful wife, [member="Invicta Gaultier"], to snooze quietly while he surveyed the kingdom spread out below him.

All along the path down to the city in the valley below were fortresses constructed in large crevices, the keeps of his ancestors now turned into armored checkpoints leading up to the main gate of his castle. Originally his forefathers had lived in the valley alongside the commoners and other noble houses, but gradually disconnected themselves from society and ventured up into the mountains over the course of many generations. Each keep had been build by different generations as they progressed farther and farther into the Ilavkouk Mountains until they were forced from Panatha nearly five decades ago. Kaine's keep was the highest yet, and encompassed most of the mountain peak, and was the largest by far. A true testament to the glory of the Zambranos, rightful rulers of Panatha and it's holdings.

Sighed, Kaine returned to his bed chambers and quickly changed into a doublet, a leather belt, breeches, and a pair of leather boots. The coloration of his doublet was dark maroon bordered by golden trim, and his breeches was made of lush ebony silk. Kaine gently picked up his lightsaber, and attached it to his belt on the left hip side. With a confident swagger, Emperor Zambrano left his bed chambers and made his way down to the dining hall, where his servants would no doubt be preparing a hearty meal for their Lord to break his fast upon.

[member="Malia"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

The smell of food drove Malia to the dinning hall " Something smells good " She spoke as she stepped into the room glancing around with her teal eyes. the large room never ceased to amaze her. But she did not move to the table out of respect she waited to be invited to site before she would.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]
(( cool picture ))

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The cooks had prepared the Emperor a meal consisting of delicious space bacon burnt black, assorted fruits, some space eggs, and a goblet of his favored dark wine to wash it all down. The Emperor proceeded to take a seat at the table, and begin to break his fast with the delicious food arrayed before him when his newest apprentice appeared. Kaine waved her to join him at the table with his free hand, while his other delivered one of the pieces of bacon to his mouth with a satisfied crunch. He chewed his food, took a drink from his goblet, and then spoke out to Malia. "Good morning, apprentice. Partake of the breakfast my servants have made for us, you'll need it."

Ominous words were ominous.

[member="Malia"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

Milia walked over to the table and sat down looking over the food " looks good" She said taking a bit of each before munching on the bacon and licked her lips remaining quite for a bit as she ate "what is planed for the day? she asked looking at him with her teal eyes.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Training." That's all the Dark Lord said before he continued to munch on the delicious breakfast arrayed before him, the two of them being the only individuals seated at the table and eating. The servants who served them the food were patiently waiting at the edges of the room, ready at the drop of a hat to fulfill their Lord and his apprentice's needs, whatever they may be. As time passed the castle would quickly become a hive of activity as more of the servants and guards awoke as the sun rose higher and higher into the sky. Soon, breakfast would be finished, and Kaine would be ready for Malia's training, but would Malia be ready?

[member="Malia"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

Milia finished up her food before she licked her lips again " that was good, much better than half the crap i use to get to eat" she said with a small laugh. She looked around the room again brushing her long hair out of her teal eyes.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine finished the last of his food, before pushing his chair away from the table and rising to stand. "Come now, we shall begin your training." Kaine turned and would lead Malia out from the dining hall and out into the yard, where many members of Kaine's Blackblade Guard would be practicing swordfighting, hand-to-hand combat, and basic firearms training. Across the yard was the fighting pit, where two combatants would enter after their training had been completed and fight to the death, with the winner becoming an official member of the Blackblade Guard. The loser's corpse would be fed to the Vornskrs that prowled the grounds, held tightly on leashes by their cruel handlers. Those that taught these new trainees were hardened veterans who had been alongside Kaine during the Imperial-Mandalorian skirmish, and they were almost as ruthless as their master on the training ground and on the battlefield.

"We will start with the basics." Kaine said as he removed his upper layer of clothing and tossed it to the wayside, and gently removed the lightsaber at his side and activated it's crimson blade before Malia. "The first form of lightsaber combat, Shii-Cho, was modeled much after traditional archaic swordfighting, and is one that all students of mine learn." Luckily for Malia, Kaine was not going to use his weapon against her, but rather he deactivated the blade and handed it over to the young apprentice. Along with his blade, he gifted the young Malia a blindfold, "What you are going to do is expand your knowledge and proficiency in Form I, place the blindfold over your eyes, and reach out with your feelings in the Force to your surroundings." At that moment, once Malia had done what he had asked, Kaine activated a console behind him which would release a single training remote, which would in turn fire on Malia with a single shot at random intervals.

It was up to her to intercept these attacks and deflect them with the lightsaber, or suffer the pain that came along with being struck by the remote's attack.

[member="Malia"]

 

[Grimm]

Grimm had gone on his own missions, issuses and self-training. Much had to do with the fact that he was usually alone and his Assassin mentality.

Despite it he had a master that fit the bill, unlike like his last few that were simple minded. His current master was one of the strongest in the universe and has many different ways of achieving results.

One was harsh training and punishments from the first time that he had met him. Today he was seeking his master guidance, as there is only so much a person can do alone to prove himself.

He walked into the courtyard as he watched the black blades training to become the strongest like the Spartans. The ones that fell were killed off, but it was simply natural selection.

Gazing from behind his mask, he noticed his master and a girl on the other side. He only hoped that she wouldn't become like the last girl that he trained, but he only watched from a safe distance, before he would speak his master.


[member="Darth Vornskr"]

[member="Malia"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Malia pulled the blindfold on as she had been told and ignited the light saber, She took a deep breath and waited. Once she sinced the first attack from the training remote she spun the blade in the way blocking the attack, She continued as it did blocking some, dodging a few and a few did manage to hit her. that only got her annoyed to where she tried harder to block the attacks.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Concentrate on your surroundings, apprentice. Feel with the Force, anticipate the attacks, and react." Like the most loving of Masters, Kaine purposefully increased the power of the remote's blasts, but other than that they remained the same in regards to the pattern of which they fired at Malia. Kaine noticed the arrival of another of his apprentices, Grimm, and motioned for the young man to stand next to him while they watched Malia train.

[member="Grimm"] [member="Malia"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Malia nodded and took another deep breath as she focused harder on what she was doing, This time doing better than she had before. Moving quickly to block the attacks from the remote. She blocked most and a few zipped past her as she had moved to the side.

 

[Grimm]

Grimm simply followed his masters order and waited patiently at his side. Not saying a word, so that the new apprentice can train, of course getting her hurt seemed like a fun idea.

[member="Malia"]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Kaine watched silently as his apprentice continued to evade, block, or get hit by the bolts the remotes were firing at her. Pain would ultimately be the great motivator during her training, with every failure being awarded with varying degrees of agony depending on the severity of the failure, and they would only get worse as her training progressed. The worst punishments he had to offer were the sensory deprivation chamber and the embrace of pain, both on opposite sides of the torture spectrum, but equally gruesome and vile in practice. Kaine glanced at Grimm for a moment, "Report, apprentice."

[member="Malia"] [member="Grimm"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

Malia continued to work blocking or not blocking the attacks, she was starting to get very annoyed. Thought she continued this way blocking most getting hit by some and dodging others. Thought every time she missed she got even more frustrated.

[member="Darth Vornskr"], [member="Grimm"]

 

[Grimm]

He was a little fazed by his masters words. He wanted him to report? He didn't know what about but he would just to tell him a few details.

"I've been training myself while I was away. A few assassination contracts, fought two Jedi but they managed to get away. Robbed a bank with the Black sun, and caused mass destruction. Now I'm back to learn from you, my Master."

Hopefully that would be enough or what he wanted to hear.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

[member="Malia"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I sense that you are growing stronger, my apprentice. That is good, but you are far from becoming a true Sith, there are still many trials and tribulations that you must endure before you can claim that title." He said to Grimm while his eyes were still locked onto Malia, who was slowly growing more and more agitated as the remotes continued to pound away at her with their attacks. Kaine could sense her growing frustration and he called out to her, "Focus your anger, Malia. Refine it into a weapon, and let it guide you against your foes." After a few more minutes of this, Kaine would decide to use Grimm's timely arrival to start Malia on the next section of her daily training once she was ready.

[member="Malia"] [member="Grimm"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Malia growled slightly after another bolt hit her in the shoulder, that was it she had lost it. stepping forward and spinning the blade at the remote she cut it in half and growled once more as she stood there panting, her teal eyes were not so bright any longer.

 

[Grimm]

He only smirked behind his mask, it was the first words of praise out of his masters mouth. He was right that Grimm wasn't near a true sith level, but he was going to change that soon enough.

"Thank you for your humble words, Master. I will try to pass your standards further."

He would bow to master, before he would return to watching the girl. She finally got angry, or what looked like a dog that wanted some table scraps. Despite his calm demeanor, he chuckled darkly at her.

"It seems this one has yet to adjust to her new life.Did you pluck her from the streets like some lost puppy? Or just another one wanting to prove itself?"

He said rather harshly, but was weary of the two...mostly his master. Grimm wanted to see a reaction from the girl, as he didn't like another to get in his way like before.

[member="Malia"]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He paid Grimm's question no mind as he had one of his servants retrieve a pair of matching blades, both laced with Devaronian Blood-Poison, and gifted each to both Grimm and Malia. "During my training when I was but an apprentice, my master made me practice what he called 'velocities', which are sequences of attacks and parries done over and over again in such a fashion that it eventually becomes second nature in your mind." Kaine himself was given such a weapon, and held it out in a defensive stance at Grimm. "Apprentice Grimm will demonstrate a simple vertical strike at me, and I will demonstrate the appropriate parry. He will repeat the same attack again and again, and I will parry the same way again and again. Do you understand?"

[member="Grimm"] [member="Malia"]