Rebirth Through Chaos

[Darth Abyss]

"What do you need?"

It was a serious question, as Abyss had many things to offer. Assassins that could infiltrate the home of the silver jedi without being seen, an army created out of the population of midvinter with his trademark skill of brainwashing, money to buy whatever he could ever need and the alliance of the most dangerous and most influential criminal organisation in the whole galaxy.

"If you do this for me, I will make sure to mention it to whoever will sit on the throne. There will be respect and fear for you once they learn that your deception had played a part in all this. For now, simply state what you need to have, or what you need done and I will make sure it happens."

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

What did he need?

Where to begin.

Connor scoffed a little, part amusement and embarrassment. May as well get all cards on the table.

"Alright, since you asked, I need a new lightsaber. I need a place to call home instead of sleeping my ship like a hermit, and in that respect I need a new craft. Mine was from the Silvers, and it’s a large freighter. I only need a small two man craft to get from A to B. And I need to learn Dark Side powers. Anything, even if I can go away and learn and study – I just need re-building and fast if I am going both survive the Sith and also to slay the Silvers. I need purpose. I need...to be needed again.”

He gave a little shrug.

"In short, not much.”

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"That is it? I expect something a little more complex."

Abyss chuckled lightly. It was almost disappointing how little the former jedi master desired at the moment, bit if it was his wish to earn only what he had asked for so be it. He wouldn't complain about making the deal of his life time. With his left he made a subtle sign, aimed st seemingly no one, calling in transport to take him and Connor to another place on Malachor.

"I can get you any ship that can be brought on the black market, I will give you a list once we reach my academy. As for a home, there are also choices. Nar Shaddaa or here on Malachor would be the most obvious choices, but I also own property on Salucemi and a few other worlds. Concerning your new saber, I have a few spares in store from which you can pick one that suits you."

Seemingly without Abyss intervention, a small gilder landed besides the two, one pilot waiting for the commands of his master. It was part of the image he meant to project that it had to look like everything happened in his will, like he had planned it all along. Abyss stepped on the glider, looking at [member="Connor Harrison"], his right reaching for the former jedi.

"Come."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor didn’t react, but it was true. He wasn’t a materialistic man and needed the basics to get by. He looked up as the glider came over the roofing, blowing up the loose cloth and paper around them.

"I told you, I don’t need much. I don’t want to peak too soon.”

He boarded the glider, nodding to Abyss as he stood beside him.

"Give me your best shot.”

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The ride on the gilder was silent, as Abyss sat besides the former jedi with his eyes closed, his mind focused on the connection with the crown that was hidden under his robe. With it he played through the conversation he just had with Connor, making sure that he didn't slipped out information he intended to keep obscured, as well as closely observing the reaction of the former jedi to be sure that he didn't had to erase any memories of this encounter from his mind.

The gilder stopped a few steps away from Abyss Academy, which seemed almost deserted from the outside, with no one venturing in or out at the moment. His acolytes were a secretive bunch, exactly like he had taught them, and so they kept to themselves most of the time. Slowly the headmaster stepped into the structure, and was meet by one of his men right after he entered.

"Bring a list of every building I own down into the armory. And a list of ships that can be brought on the black market right now."

The man nodded and was gone, while Abyss made his way down into the armory, to show [member="Connor Harrison"] the sabers he could choose from. When they arrived, the sith Lord pushed in a code on a console, and suddenly a table in the armory jumped open, showing a collection of numerous hilts that had been hidden under it. Some belonged to jedi or sith he had killed in battle, some to acolytes that didn't survived the academy. A small fracture had even been simply found by him when he ventured through old ruins. Most of them were simple, straight one bladed weapons in a wide range of different colours, but also a few saberstaffs with two blades, or curved hilts could be found there.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Feeling a little overwhelmed with how things were progressing, Connor respected the silence in the flight across the planet. Rocking gently as the ship arrived at their destination and descended, he spent the flight simply looking at his hand that had been repaired by the First Order doctor, Irajah Ven. Flexing it gently, it seemed to be healing perfectly.

Following the Sith out, he said nothing and simply observed and took in the academy.

He was soon in the armoury and felt the warmth around him from their surroundings. Connor looked at Abyss as he displayed his lightsaber collection, and nodded at the history behind some of them.

He was a simple man, always had been, and so need something basic until he could forge his own with the Dark Side as an ally. For now, he lifted an ordinary black and silver hilt and held it up.

Spoiler

"This will be fine, if that’s alright? Any history behind it?”

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Abyss took a look on the hilt, examining the weapon closely to jumpstart his memory. His collection had grown large in the years since he started it, and he had lost the overview to some degree.

"I think I took from a corpse of some acolyte in the battle of Kuat, back in my time with the One Sith. Nothing special, should have a synthetic red crystal and a dual phase emitter if I remember right."

As he spoke the man that had greeted him when they entered the academy appeared besides the two, a datapad in his hand. With a nod Abyss took the small device from the man, and skipped through the list that had been composed for him.

"Looks like there has been a shipment of Starvipers recently, leftovers from the Zann Consortium. I fly one of those myself, they are quick, small and armed with a few trick weapons for mediocre pilots like me."

He continued to skip through the list, looking for ships that fitted Connors needs.

"X-Wings, Y-Wings, Stealth-X and some Tie models that have been outfitted with hyperdrives. Also a royal Naboo starfighter from the time of the old Republic, still functional. That is what I can get you today, if you want something more exotic I will need more time to find the right vendor."

With a few quick movements of his hand, the list switched to his property, showing him several buildings that belonged to him, excluding those he needed himself.

"I have two abandoned penthouses on Nar Shaddaa. Normally I use them to hide, but I do not need them right now. Also there are rooms here in the academy, if you are looking for something simple."

The search continued, as he scrolled through the list, marking another set of places he could offer.

"A penthouse on Salucemi. Fairly luxurious, but in Silver space. Small flat on Coruscant. And countless homes, house and flats here on malachor."

[member="Connor Harrison"] would probably realise by now that Abyss had stacked a lot of wealth to fund his operations, and while money alone wasn't power, it was a very important factor.

 

[Connor Harrison]

The hilt was alien in his hand. It wasn't his. It was a start. With a frustrated nod, he fumbled and clipped it onto his brown belt, happy at least to have something there. Could he use it? That was another question.

As the aide came in, Connor walked over and stood with Abyss to look at the ships. He nodded, they all seemed pretty decent, but rather conspicuous. Glancing at the specs for the Stealth-X, he wasn't totally sure.

"Ok, keep me updated if any ships come in, and apartments, for now....”

He glanced at Coruscant, but knew it was under Galactic Alliance hold and he wasn't ready to tango with those morons yet. Salucemi he knew well, but it was too close to the Silvers. He wasn't sure on this either.

"Leave those with me, I'll have a look and consider it. How did you get on Salucemi anyway?”

With a small smirk, he shook his head. The Silver stations probably weren't that effective after all. If needed, he would hide-out there under their noses.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"When the Korriban Massacre happend, silver space was chaotic. It was fairly easy to find those troubled with what their "rulers" had done and turn them into slaves of to my mind."

Good times. The Korriban event had been a opportunity he had picked up on the second it became clear that it was there. A bit of brainwashing, a bit of work in the shadows and in only a few days the children of Korriban had began to live under the surface of Salucemi, unseen as what they were from the outside.

"Slaves to my mind is a good keyword. You said that you want to advance over the dark arts. I have a final gift for you."

For the first time Abyss allowed his aura to show fully. There was no sense in hiding it completely in the company of someone who was aware that he was a lord of the sith, but it was still always shrouded under a layer of deception and misdirection. It was still clearly impressive, but it made him seem like a dwarf compared to the other lords that roamed the galaxy. The intention behind all this was to make his enemies believe that it was mainly his intelligence they had to watch out for, not his might.

"I could teach you many things, but there is only one in which I truly posses mastery in, the art of stealing, manipulating or replacing memories. Is that something you would like to learn?"

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

A smile rippled across his lips, and he nodded slowly.

"Ah yes. Korriban. The straw that broke my fragile back. I'm just glad they continue to re-build and thrive after the bombing. It was disgusting. A shambles, and I wasted so much time trying to clean up after their lunatic fleeter. Felt good when I snapped her neck.”

Then he looked over at Abyss, and noted the drastic change in his aura which he felt. Physically and mentally, the Sith seemed to increase in strength but also change before him, as if it were an illusion.

He stepped forward, taking the Sith Lord in as he tempted him with the lure of such power.

"I...yes, I would. Memories can be such fragile things, but also such strong walls. I'd love to be able to finally play with them...if you can teach me anything.”

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"The manipulation of memories is a complex art, and it takes years to reach mastery in it, but then there are no limits besides your own creativity."

Abyss began to pace around Connor, a smile on his face that for once didn't faded away right after it appeared. He enjoyed teaching, he alway had, that was one of the main reasons why even build himself an Academy. That didn't meant that he was a nice teacher, especially not when training someone that aspired to become a sith. Suffering was part of the path [member="Connor Harrison"] had picked and so Abyss wouldn't go easy on him even if he considered the jedi as somewhat akin to a friend.

"The simplest technique is ripping out information from anothers mind. Not very subtle, but still useful in the right situation. With a bit of training you can even force them to relive certain memories while taking them away. But I think a demonstration works far better than any words I could come up with."

His left rose lightly, as Abyss summoned the power around his mind, and created a mental bulletstorm aimed at Connor. To get into someone's head, it was important to get into someone's head first. Abyss understood Connors passion for his plan to kill the jedi, his bitterness over the wasted time as a jedi and his strong feelings for Aria. All of that was part of the assault.

Mental barriers had to be broken before entering a mind, and each metaphorical bullet aimed for these weak points. Fear for Aria, the feeling of being robbed of all power and the possibility of a rather soon death due to old age hammered at Connors mind, and while they couldn't break through instantly, Abyss had little doubt that he could breach into the fallen jedis mind if he kept the assault up for a bit. It wasn't very tiresome for him to do something like this, and he hoped that in the case that Connor knew how to build barriers that didn't involved the force, he would be able to simply overcome the barriers by endurance, if his might alone wouldn't be enough.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor watched and turned with Abyss as he spoke. Mentalism and the power of the mind was something he was very aware of, having been victim to Matsu Xiangu many times and also seeing the effects of others. Standing where he was, he turned around to follow the Sith as he explained.

It was something Connor was eager to learn.

But then the bullet came and it seemed to drag through his mind from front to back in slow-motion. He winced and pulled his head in, hand going up to the temple as a dull ache bloomed.

"No no no...”

Aria was there and the Voss temple, but Connor fought as hard as he could, facing Abyss and pushing him back as best he could, trying to ignore those memories and cast them aside, but they were bleeding into his mind's eye.

"You know of them...I told you....prove you can go deeper. Pull something out I haven't mentioned...other wise this is too easy to manipulate a memory already known...”

The ache seemed to move around his head, and he winced again and pushed harder against the temple.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Then so be it."

Now Connor would learn why exactly Abyss had earned himself the title of Mindeater. Yaomo was probably a little bit better when it came to more surgical attacks on the mind, but Abyss own power was build upon the same force that his cities on malachor: Chaos. The fingers of his left formed a claw, like he wanted to physically rip out the thoughts out of Connors head. In the same moment his mind was freed, unchained and then released at that of the former jedi. Random memories, from Connors childhood to his day would start to resurface, chaotic and out of order, and with them Connor would slowly lose the sense of who or what he was, as his whole life was broken into shambles, without any logical connections between singular thoughts and ideas that rested in his head.

It was a painful and confusing attack, and those with a weak will often weren't able to find themselves again once the chaos had faded. Sometimes even the strong needed days or weaks to clear their head entirely and reestablish some resemblance of order to their memories. Now Connor had gotten a look into the metaphorical abyss that gave him his name, a hunger that formed a maelstrom of darkness that only served to eat the minds of others.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor glanced at the claw of Abyss's hand and winced, and then gasped and recoiled as it felt like that very claw was digging right through the skull.

Falling from the Rhen Var cliffs...

...kissing Chastity Lunelle for the first time....and seeing Corvus Raaf's ship crashing through Voss's atmosphere...

Balance didn't matter for Connor, as he didn't grasp if he was standing or falling, it was sickeningly disorientating seeing a flurry of memories race to his mind as he forced his eyes closed to stem the pain in his head, but making it near impossible to close off.

Talking to the Jedi in the Voss Academy...

...laughing with Seraphina and Setzi....fighting Sage Bane, and the face of Corvus again, and his E-wing crashing into the Jakku sand...his fingers bleeding from the effects of a fight....

Connor crashed forward into a pillar and span around to the floor.

"My head...it really hurts....” came his panicked response.

He rolled onto his front and held his head with both hands, but threw his hand out to stop Abyss coming closer or getting in there again.

"Stop, STOP! Please...that was awful. I didn't know where I was...I can't....I can't see her...Corvus, I can't...I can't picture her face, what have you done?!”

The memory of a face who kept him hopeful for the future was faded, and he couldn't picture her.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

While the memories flashed through Connors mind, Abyss devoured them, watching and feeling what the former jedi had experienced, working through the information in unnaturally rapid speed. The man had lived a long life, a good one even for some periods of time. When he cried out to Abyss to stop, the sith lord released one last blast of mental energy, but then allowed his claw to fade from the mans mind.

"See this as a test, my friend. If you are strong, your memories will return, they will find their order again. But ..."

[member="Connor Harrison"] wished to become sith, and Abyss enjoyed helping him with that. Eating away a mind like this always gave a him a rush of euphoria, as it satisfied a dark, almost animalistic desire that lived deep below the surface of his mind. A smile sneaked on his face.

"But should you be weak, and therefore unfit to call yourself sith, your mind will stay crippled. Now to the real lesson."

With a few pushes of his comm, a signal was send, and only a few moments later a man in black robe stepped in, behind him a young girl, hands and feet in chains. She dropped to her knees before the two.

"Break her mind."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Rubbing his head and standing, he took in the advice given. He was strong enough, but that was a scary experience.

As Abyss brought in a robed figure, and the clinking of chains signified another. A girl, not old at all. Connor looked at her, and then at Abyss as he gave the test.

The girl must be in her teenage years.

He walked forward to stand before her, seeing that there was fear in her face but also vacancy, as if she had given up. There was little resistance from her.

"Who is she?”

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Why does it matter?"

She was just some slave girl, brought like many for the academy as resource to experiment with alchemy or magic that required some kind of test object or sacrifice. Abyss wondered why Connor asked. Was it so that he could use that knowledge in a assault against her mind, or did he still had some morals left?

"Do as I say, or suffer the consequences."

Abyss pointed his left at [member="Connor Harrison"], the same hand he normally used when channeling his mental power. If the fallen jedi was foolish enough to still hold on to a moral code, it was Abyss duty to punish him, or at least threaten him enough to forget them. Mercy and real empathy had no place within the sith, not even towards those innocent. There was nothing a sith wouldn't do in the name of power, and if Connor wanted to be one he had to shatter the mind of the girl into little pieces.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor looked to the girl, no eye contact from her. He then looked at Abyss, holding his gaze at yet another threat. Connor wanted to learn, but he wasn't going to be treated as if this was totally new to him.

With a shake of the head, he looked back to the slave.

"Don't expect much...” he muttered, holding his hand out to her head, fingers spread.

And with that, with as much as he could muster from the depths of his soul, Connor channeled what Force he had to surround the girl's head, flowing from his fingers to mould with her own aura and grip it.

He bore through her skull with his eyes, narrowing them to focus on what was inside, and he began to aim for the brain-stem, assaulting it with all he had.

The memories were broken - he didn't know what to look for, or how to pull them - was he supposed to force her memories on her again and blur reality with the past, or the present with a future.

His brow furrowed a little, and he shifted position.

"Do I pull memories out of her head to make her question her sanity, or simply aim to create a pain she can't tolerate?”

The girl was groaning slightly, but not really showing signs of trouble. That annoyed Connor quietly.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

"A mental blast can be painful by itself, but only if you pull out her memories, if you blur, deform and disorganise them, then you can leave lasting damage."

It was an ability he had brought to perfection in his time as a sith lord, mental Chaos that could break almost anyone. Connor was one of very few that had been allowed insight in the way it worked. Abyss path was plastered with numerous empty shells, mindless bodies that were dead besides their ability to breath. It was a fate worse than death.

Slowly the girl would start to cry silently. Even the untrained could feel someone inside their mind, at least if it was a direct attack like this. And the slaves of the academy talked, they knew what it meant to be called for a lesson. A tear was running down her face, as she looked at [member="Connor Harrison"] with sadness and innocence, her mouth forming the word "please" without saying it out loud.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor had his hand out, and his dark eyes slowly looked from Abyss to the girl.

He saw the tears, and the silent plea.

His stomach turned a little.

The dark eyes went back to Abyss, a minute shake of the head.

Then, back to the girl.

"The pain will set you free my child.”

His hand lunged forward and gripped the side of the girl's head, and he bore through her with his eyes to see the panic in her eyes.

There, he pushed as hard as he could with the Force inside his soul to find the memories of the abuse, the rape, the broken home.

The memories of happy time with her family, and another young boy. There was screaming and laughter, and he brought the noise, scent and sight flooding the forefront of her mind's eye, applying a vice like grip to her skull.

Connor didn't take his eyes of her and used her scream to amplify the memories that caused her pain and he maintained the mental assault of her memories.

He tore through the few happy ones and made sure the violent ones stayed at the front, spliced with the faces of her past to embed a fear of touch and female voices with the fear of the abuse and the torture. The memories started to blur and to appear non-stop.

With a gasp, he pulled his hand away form the girl half-way through a memory to make it a sharp exit rather than a peaceful one. And, like that, he shot his hand out again and wrapped the Force around her throat, eyes narrowing and grip as tight as he could. The skin on her throat bubbled slightly, and he squoze hard before letting go.

The ex-Jedi span away and seethed, feeling a darkness in him that he wanted to release more of; to hurt and to inflict pain on those weaker than him. It felt glorious, but it felt untamed.

[member="Darth Abyss"]