Private Return to the Fold

[Madelyn Lowe]

RETURN TO THE FOLD
The Lowe Family Estate, Castell
Darth Carnifex ​

-

Lowe Manor was dark and achingly silent. The only light came from a lamp in the second floor study.

Madelyn stood very still in the room’s centre, barefoot on the plush maroon carpet. Her black funerary garments lay on the floor at her feet where she had discarded them. Broken shards of pottery were scattered across the room, the remains of a fine vase hurled at the wall in helpless fury. Like her, the fragments were sharp and lifeless.

Her love was gone, and it was as if she'd been emptied of warmth and light. Madelyn sank to her knees and closed her eyes, wiping at her tear-stained face absent-mindedly. The darkened halls of the manor were cavernous and empty. Madelyn had dismissed her staff hours ago. There was no sound from within the estate save her own ragged breath. How she wished she would hear the voice of Yves, soft and even in her ear. What are you doing on the floor, dear? Why have you left the office in such a state? She screwed her eyes shut, pained by the thought.

And then, Madelyn did hear something. A voice, scarcely a whisper. Instantly she knew what it was. A sound that she had drowned out in wakeful hours with the bustle of work in the estate, which she had shut away years ago, which still crept into her dreams as she slept.

Madelyn stood up unsteadily, a slowly dawning feeling of dread replacing the hollow numbness that had consumed her since the funeral. She caught sight of the narrow mirror sitting atop a bureau by the door. Who was that frail figure, with a sunken, defeated face lined with age? Surely it could not be her. But she knew it was so. Madelyn could not escape time, and the years had caught up with her.

She heard the voice again. For the first time in an age, she heard it clearly, a wordless call that beckoned to her and her alone. This time, she heard its promise. Without hope to tether her, Madelyn knew she would answer. Her eyes fell upon a darkened corner of the office, where the entrance dressing room was half obscured by boxes of files and stationery.

"I hear you." Madelyn heard herself say. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "Finally, I am listening."

Madelyn moved towards the closet door. Pottery shards sliced into her feet but she paid them no mind. Her heart was racing, and she felt a growing feeling of sickly excitement. She shoved away the boxes that blocked her way, single-minded and stepped into the small, forgotten space.

Her hands tore away the closet's false backing, the thinly applied plaster coming away in chunks, revealing a cavity behind it. Madelyn stepped through dazedly, cool air blowing briskly over her tear-stained cheeks. At the centre of the space was a small glass sphere, its surface etched with wriggling, twisted symbols that twisted Madelyn's stomach. Grey smoke tinged with red swirled within the glass.

She touched the glass reverently and power coursed through her fingertips, and finally she understood that it was always going to come to this. Her Master was patient, and however Madelyn had resisted, there was always only one place she belonged.

"My Lord." Madelyn breathed. "I am here. I have been misguided, but I am here."

Madelyn shuddered. "Lord Carnifex, save me from this wretchedness, and I shall serve you evermore. I will not abandon my duty again."

​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

For a moment, nothing happened.

The silence stretched.

Doubt gnawed at her stomach, twisting it in knots.

But then the orb thrummed with a deep vibration, the resonance running up Madelyn's fingers, arms, and into her chest. The swirling smoke was cut through by flashes of lightning, a storm growing at the orb's center until the once placid façade was embroiled in turbulence. Slowly, the smoke parted aside, and red light shone out to fall upon Madelyn's visage; bathing her in a deep hellish glow.

"Madelyn," crooned a rumbling voice from the void. "Dear Madelyn, how you have suffered." Reason screamed at her to flee, to run, to turn back from the voice which called out to her from the darkness. It was wrong, it was unnatural, and it set alight all of her deepest primordial instincts of self-preservation. But the voice drew her in, for in it she found a warmth that, although ran contradictory to her every sense, was comforting. It was like a fond memory, blinding her to the danger that sparked up and down her spine.

An image began to take shape in the light, though it was indistinct. Oddly, she would nonetheless recognize the shape for what it was, that which she had once denied. "Oh, Madelyn, I have always been with you. In the heights of your joy, and in the depths of your sorrow. Never has my sight wavered. Though my heart aches for your loss, know that my arms spread to welcome thee home."

Madelyn Lowe ​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

RETURN TO THE FOLD
Malsheem
Darth Carnifex
​

Red light. Heat, the intense smell of burning, a terrible maelstrom of wind and unidentifiable howling. Madelyn’s back arched as pain wracked her body and still the burning rose in intensity, the ordeal seemed to go on and on, interminable. Her gaze fell upon the violently swirling surface of the orb and suddenly it was as if she was falling, plunging into its depths. The words of the Dark Lord of the Sith filled her brain, resonating through her bones and hurting her teeth.

"Oh, Madelyn, I have always been with you. In the heights of your joy, and in the depths of your sorrow. Never has my sight wavered. Though my heart aches for your loss, know that my arms spread to welcome thee home."

“Thank you, Lord Carnifex. Thank you. You will not be disappointed.”

Madelyn collapsed to her knees, hot tears stung her eyes, and her body shuddered with cold. She was saved, and yet she was condemned. With a terrible finality, she removed her hands from the sphere. Energy crackled and died in her fingertips, and the swirling stopped. The red light faded, as did the rushing sound. The sphere cracked and hissed, and the smoke dissipated. Then, all was still and silent, and Madelyn knelt in place, her eyes straining against the dark. Knees shaking, Madelyn stood and turned away from the cracked sphere, stepping nimbly out of the alcove and grabbing a heavy coat from the rack.

Moving into the hall, Madelyn grabbed a pair of plain black boots and pulled them on, lacing them up as slowly and methodically as she’d ever done. She knew everything she had to do, and so she moved about it as if she was in a dream. The pain of her loss seemed faraway now. Soon she would be Saved, but not yet, so she went about her preparations numbly.

She strode into the drawing room and keyed in the code to a heavy metal trunk in the corner, retrieving a smooth metallic device which she placed on the low table at the centre of the room. She depressed a button on the device’s centre and stepped away quickly as a tongue of flame leapt from the metal cylinder and set alight the heavy curtains at the window. Madelyn watched the dancing, spreading flames for a moment before she turned away again. She cast one last look at the manor, now strange and unnerving in the flickering light of the fire. At last, she opened the front door and stepped out, just as flames began to lick at the ceiling inside.

"Goodbye." Madelyn murmured quietly, turning away from the house.

A sleek black craft branded with a familiar red insignia was waiting for her at the end of the long lawn. The doors hissed open as Madelyn approached and she climbed inside. She sank into a simple, soft chair and closed her eyes. Soon, the ordeal would be over. She just had to endure.

-

Hours later, Madelyn’s eyes fluttered open. She looked out the viewport and recognised the familiar view immediately. Malsheem, worldcraft of the Kainate. The ship entered the worldcraft and silently navigated its twists and turns for what seemed like an age. Finally, it touched down lightly, and Madelyn disembarked. She stood in a large empty space, black metallic doors ahead of her, closed, imposing. Again she felt a flicker of fear, unsure what exactly was to come next. What a coward she had become. Madelyn swallowed her fear and stood straight, though she knew she must have looked very small. She waited, eyes fixed on the black doors ahead, awaiting whoever or whatever it was that would come to fetch her.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The door shuddered, rumbling open as mist spilled out and ran across the gray metallic floor. Two lines of three Crownguard, adorned in their black armor and robes, marched out from the darkness before splitting off to stand apart in a horizontal line perpendicular to where Madelyn was standing. Simultaneously, they tapped the pommel of their staffs against the floor, the sound ringing out through the hangar like the tolling of a great bell. Twice more they did this, three times in total, before they all fell silent and unmoving.

Then He emerged, tall and regal, from the corridor beyond. His muscular body was draped in the muted black and grays of the Sith, with only faint red piping and trimming adding splashes of color across an otherwise homogenous palette. A lightsaber hung freely from His hip, the cerakote hilt etched with runic symbols and weathered by both time and use. His black hair was unbound, but swept back behind the ears to keep it free from His face. Twin eyes, both seeped in darkness around halos of molten copper, stared down at Madelyn as He approached.

Each step was a thunderclap, ringing out in quick succession before finally stopping as He halted a few meters away. His arms reached out, spreading wide in a welcoming greeting. "My dearest Madelyn Lowe, how it warms the soul to gaze upon your countenance once more. It has been far too long since we last spoke, longer still since our last meeting. Accompany me to my parlor, and we will catch up for old time's sake."

His arms fell back down to His sides, save for one which was now extended for Madelyn to take.

Madelyn Lowe ​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

RETURN TO THE FOLD
Malsheem
Darth Carnifex

-

​

For a time, she and the Sith Emperor sat quietly in the parlour, sequestered away in the heart of the worldcraft Malsheem, itself hidden from the Galaxy’s prying eyes. It was nice, in a way, but equally strange and unnerving. Carnifex was in part a deific figure, in part paternal, in part an old friend. It could not last. Sitting on the rich plush chair and chatting, she felt a great dissonance. She had returned home, but she had not yet undergone the transformation that would allow her to belong here again.

She had to rid herself of it, the stink of the outside, the baggage of her failures and deficiencies. That was the promise. Madelyn Lowe would burn away the ailing husk that was her body. What was left would be a perfect being, and an undying servant.

So it was that after they had exchanged pleasantries, black-clad servants entered the room, leading Madelyn away by the hand to prepare for her Renewal. She cast one more look over her shoulder at Carnifex as the door slid shut behind her. The next time she saw him, it would be to destroy her, and create something new.

The faceless servants escorted her down, through a warren of twisting corridors and turbolifts that plunged into the bowls of Malsheem, far further below than Madelyn had ever traveled in all the time she had lived and worked on the station. She was taken to a small room with a sealed door on the far end, from under which seeped a dark red light. The servants stripped her clothes, bathed her, plaited her thin hair and dressed her in a black and dull red robe of fine silk. She was blessed, in a way, in the old Sith tongue. Words she did not know but nevertheless rattled her teeth and made her shiver. Finally, the servants retreated. The one at the front bowed reverently, before sweeping out of the room alongside the others, leaving Madelyn alone again.

The door opened slowly. Red light poured into the room. Madelyn shivered, knowing she would have to take the next step alone.

Her stomach dropped as she stepped across the threshold. She had entered a cavernous space, eerily lit from a red void far beneath the grilled metal floor. Around the room monolithic machines hummed and whirred, powered by heavy cables that snaked upwards and disappeared into the high ceiling. At the center of the room was a pool of bubbling hissing liquid, and radiating from it a miasma of energy that made Madelyn feel dizzy and weak.

Madelyn was terrified, knowing that whatever happened, the version self that stood there now would be broken. The power, her new form would be given to her, aided by the strength of spirit Madelyn carried with her, shaped by her iron will to be more.

She held her head up, though it took all her strength and courage she had left, and waited for the Emperor's arrival. Then, they would begin.

​

​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Contrary to what one might believe, the Dark Lord greatly enjoyed His time with Madelyn Lowe. They talked for awhile, discussing things both profound and mundane. How she had been, how had her life gone, and what she enjoyed about the time they had spent apart. For the most part, the Dark Lord interjected little and merely listened, His unblinking gaze never wavering from Madelyn's own. He would answer her questions candidly, regaling her with whatever she inquired of Him, and shared in her sorrow at lives lost and pasts now discarded.

But when her time came, the Dark Lord only smiled and bade her to heed His promise. "It will be alright, Madelyn, I shall be awaiting you." The faceless servants guided her away, and He watched as she glanced back to Him one last time before the door slipped shut. Carnifex sat in His chair for a moment longer, still as a statue as His mind parceled all that He had come to know and understand about His dear servant since she had left His world; permitted by His own authority to slip away to live a normal life.

But normality did not suit Madelyn Lowe.

She was destined for greater things, made for something more than a quiet life. The Dark Lord mourned for what she had lost, truly, but it mattered little in the face of what she stood to gain. He arose, moving quickly from the parlor and descending down through the depths. He moved quicker than Madelyn did, dark and unnatural means giving speed to His every movement. But then He was with her, down in that near lightless catacomb, where only the faint lights from the machines and the insidious glow from the bubbling pool gave illumination to their surroundings.

His clothing had shifted too, priestly vestments etched with arcane symbols clinging tightly to His muscular body. The symbols were sickening, inducing a sort of strange nausea when gazed at for too long, as though they were not meant to be viewed. The Dark Lord showed no discomfort, always the pinnacle of composure, and He smiled warmly as He approached.

"Here we witness the beginning of new life, a virgin existence wrought from the old. The pool before you represents that new life, Madelyn Lowe, for it is genesis; the beginning. Once you step into it's waters, you shall be remade." Carnifex held a hand up in warning, "But beware, for such renewal does not come without a price. You shall experience pain, greater than any you experienced in your past life, and your will shall be tested. Those of weak will shall be expunged, destroyed, for they were unworthy of such gifts. A strong will is required to survive, Madelyn Lowe, to seize that which is your destiny. If you are prepared to be remade, then take that final step."

He gestured towards the pool, which awaited Madelyn's decision.

Madelyn Lowe ​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

RETURN TO THE FOLD
Malsheem
Darth Carnifex

-

​

Madelyn stood with her head bowed, her eyes fixed on the pool of bubbling liquid in front of her. The numb ache of misery had returned. It had abated for a time after her arrival on Malsheem, beaten back by hope and fear in equal measure. But the hollow despair was back. Memories of grief, loss of her station, her purpose. All of it washed over her. Madelyn grit her teeth. All of that would pass soon. She would inherit a new life. All we needed was the strength to continue.

A rustle of cloth caused her to look up, away from the roiling pool. Carnifex stood before her. Towering and stalwart as always.

"Once you step into it's waters, you shall be remade."

"I have waited so long for this." Madelyn murmured, mostly to herself.

His presence comforted her. The authority, the power she felt within Him. Usually, she hated the feeling of not being in charge, but right now she was happy His hand would guide her, bestow upon her gifts she knew she could hardly yet comprehend. Madelyn shivered. Of course, she would have to serve. That was their barter, but it was hardly a price to pay in exchange for her Renewal. She knew that with Carnifex's help, she would rise to great new heights.

"But beware, for such renewal does not come without a price. You shall experience pain, greater than any you experienced in your past life, and your will shall be tested. Those of weak will shall be expunged, destroyed, for they were unworthy of such gifts. A strong will is required to survive, Madelyn Lowe, to seize that which is your destiny. If you are prepared to be remade, then take that final step."

Madelyn licked her lips. So it was. She knew she had the will to make it through, had the strength to survive the process. Still she wondered, how much of her would be left when she emerged?

"I'm ready. See you when it's done, then." Madelyn said gravely, unable to hide the slight tremble from her voice.

Shaking now, Madelyn disrobed and stepped towards the pool. It had steps leading into its depths, just like the ubiquitous bath houses back on Varonat. But this pool was angry, deep and dark with noxious fumes hanging over it. She grit her teeth and lowered one foot onto the first step, then the other.

For a moment, nothing happened, and then a debilitating pain struck and forced Madelyn to her knees on the step. With more of her body under the surface, the o
pain worsened and Madelyn shrieked, pitching forward, off the step and into the pool proper. In a flash, she was submerged.

The pain grew beyond anything Madelyn had ever felt, ever even imagined. Within seconds she was sure she would black out. The agony was great, but she was bound to consciousness, and her suffering grew with each passing moment. Surely this could not be what she’d thought. Carnifex must have designed this as some punishment for her disloyalty. Madelyn could feel her flesh writhing, the sensation that it must be sliding off her bones. Madelyn was sure she was dying, but on and on it went and still she struggled.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Carnifex watched as Madelyn disrobed, casting aside the meager cloak and walking bare into the bubbling pool. From the moment her skin touched the dark waters, the transformation had already begun. Pain, greater than any she would have experienced before, lanced up her legs and into her chest. She pitched forward and disappeared beneath the pool's surface, which began to churn and froth violently. Beneath, Madelyn would be experiencing the most torturous rapture, the most agonizing orgasmic rebirth, as all of her molecules were forcibly separated and put back together over and over again.

One might beg and pray for the release of consciousness, for their minds to separate from their terror and pain. But that was not the case for Madelyn Lowe, her mind would remain completely aware, acutely so, as she was torn apart molecularly again and again. She would be aware of every minute detail of her suffering, experiencing it in a way that was wholly new and alien. But this was the price one paid for such power, as the Dark Lord had warned her before.

As for Him, Carnifex loomed at the edge of the pool. He reached out with both hands, electricity dancing between the fingertips, before He allowed that energy to cascade down into the waters below. As He did, He began to recite ancient verses in a language utterly blasphemous to the ears. He decreed that Madelyn Lowe would be reborn, recast from shadow and sorrow, and reforged with clarity and purpose. The tendrils of His wicked energy seeped into the pool, the arcs of lightning finding Madelyn Lowe's ever-shifting body and setting it alight with newfound power.

The transformation would thus take on a new light, her body shifting to reflect what she willed it to be. Younger, more vibrant, with endless reserves of bounding energy; completely remade. But even though her body was crafted anew, her mind would always remain her own -- all her memories, experiences, loves, and losses still as succinct as they had been before.

Rejuvenated.

Reborn.

Carnifex allowed the lightning to dissipate slowly, stray arcs still crackling above the water's surface. Then, the whole pool began to drain, seeping away into reservoir tanks deep beneath the stone. All that would remain was Madelyn Lowe, wet with the lingering vestiges of the pool as though newly born.

"Arise," thundered the Dark Lord, "Arise, Madelyn Lowe, and behold your new existence."

Madelyn Lowe ​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

RETURN TO THE FOLD
Malsheem
Darth Carnifex ​

-

It was so hard to concentrate on anything except the pain, but still she tried, eking out thoughts over indeterminable seconds. She saw, or sensed, a red light above her, passing tremendous energy into the pool below. It seemed to sharpen her focus, and suddenly her mind was racing, even while her body was wracked in agony.

She had to hold on, she was sure she had to, or else the pool would kill her, dissolve the flesh off her bones and leave little behind. Madelyn couldn't have that, not yet.

Then she felt it. That thing which she had suppressed for years, the wild and ravenous will inside her that hungered for power, for control. Madelyn had felt it and tried to resist its pull all her life. It had bubbled up when she was a young public servant on Varonat supervising the execution of dissidents, again when she had overthrown the system's Governor, and when she had assumed the mantle of Grand Vizier in Carnifex's Sith Empire. Madelyn had always thought it improper, this vile urge to subjugate, so she had ignored it, pretended it wasn't there. Now, writhing in agony within the Genesis Pool, it was the only thing that would allow her to survive. She could no longer keep it down.

Madelyn understood now, how weak she had been, how foolish it was to defy her nature, how the moment she turned from her duty her life slipped into ruin.

And then Madelyn Lowe split in two. She felt part of herself resisting, and she tried to control it, to focus on what she needed, to survive this process and hold onto her strength. But, there was another voice, her conscience maybe, that told her to let it go. Told her to relax and sink, letting whatever would happen run its course, even if that meant death. Madelyn struggled to resist that urge, tried focus on her will to survive, to come out remade. For a moment, she felt herself flitting between the two desires, until the pain rose to an awful crescendo that outshone all other thoughts. Please. She thought, please let me get through this.

Then, just as suddenly, that voice in her head, that desire to give it all up in shame, it was gone. Left in its place was a terrible absence, a void, as if something had been cut away. Her thoughts were foggy, tracing around the parts of her mind that had been there moments ago, and were now empty.

Pity washed over her. How terrible, Madelyn thought, to have been the lesser half, excised like a tumour.

The roiling of the pool subsided, and with it so too did the pain. Madelyn sat up slowly, her head breaking the surface of the pool for the first time in minutes as the liquid drained away.

Madelyn coughed, emptying her lungs of the foul liquid of the pool, and sucked in a grateful gulp of air. She stood shakily, the mutagenic sludge running off her body in small rivulets. Carnifex stood above her, lowering His great hands as the last of the red bolts left His fingertips. The electricity crackled around her, but it did no harm.

"Arise," thundered the Dark Lord, "Arise, Madelyn Lowe, and behold your new existence."

"It's done then." Madelyn croaked. her voice was thick, strange-sounding. Her head was still clouded, still aching with absence.

Madelyn looked at her hands. Her skin was supple and smooth, without blemishes. In the mixed-up reflection in the pool, she could make out that her hair was no longer silver and brittle, but instead the brilliant blonde of her youth. Her figure too, she realised, was renewed. The ravages of age had been superseded by youthful flesh. For the first time in a long while, Madelyn smiled.

Slowly Madelyn climbed the steps out of the pool. Her muscles were strong, and she was energized in spite of the ordeal. Only her mind felt out of order, reeling from the transformation, the tearing apart of her psyche. At the top of the stairs she stepped out of the pool, finally free of its grip, and donned the thin robe again. Her gaze moved up to Carnifex. Her heart full of gratitude. At that moment she felt it, a flicker of the great power that had been bestowed inside her. Something far more valuable even than her renewal: a fragment of His power for her own.

"Lord Carnifex." Madelyn said evenly, bowing low to the Lord as she did so. "I graciously receive your gifts, and once again I swear fealty to you. I will do what you require if me, and I will not disappoint you."

​

​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Aged eyes beheld the new flesh, flush with energy and vigor. Where others had stumbled and fallen, Madelyn Lowe had excelled and surpassed all expectation. Lightning danced beneath her skin, tightly coiled power circulating through every inch of her invigorated form. She had not only survived her encounter with the pool, but had used it as a stepping stone to reach heights hitherto unbelievable. The Dark Lord always knew that she was strong, stronger than she herself gave credit, and He was most pleased to see that she had arisen reborn; moved beyond all barriers.

"As I had promised, dearest Madelyn Lowe, so have you been given new life. Your mind is sharp, your body is able, and your spirit shall never diminish. That which has been bestowed to you grants thee life everlasting, for you shall not age as you had in your previous existence. Your years shall be numbered in centuries should untimely circumstance not befall you, and your mind shall never be clouded with inadequacy. From henceforth, you shall accomplish all that you seek and more. Such is the gift I have given."

The thin robe she adorned left little to ponderance, and was wholly unsuitable for one of her privileged station. "Come with me, and we shall adorn you in greater finery. All that I can bestow shall be yours to have, for those who stand tall in my company shall never want for anything." He would lead her back up through the station, returning to the more familiar white-gray Imperial walls and adjourning rooms. The servants they passed would not only show the Dark Lord deference, but her as well, for something about her very existence had been elevated and they could intrinsically sense it.

Another chamber awaited, but this one was quite sparse with a large machine placed at it's center. It was a state-of-the-art garment fabricator, one that could read the exact measurements of a being's body and immediately create clothing for them out of any known fabric. The Dark Lord used many such types of these fabricators, most of them were industrial grade and part of the endless assembly lines found in the industrial sectors of the Malsheem. This one was far more elegant and advanced, meant for the grandest of garments with the most luxurious of fabrics.

And it was Madelyn's to use as she pleased.

Madelyn Lowe ​