So It Begins [Nemene Talith]

[Sheff Zee]

​

The beasts had sniffed at him and invaded his privacy at first, but once he had proven to them that he wasn't meant to be trifled with, they had eventually left him alone. But it had taken a lot, he had nearly died upon his first night upon Rattatak, and he could only imagine the look of disgust upon his Master's face if she had found his corpse in the beast's pen.

It was the next day right after his second trial with [member="Nemene Talith"] and he awoke with a start. The Sirens were there to get him again, and he stood up to be escorted back to the courtyard. He wondered if it was early in the morning or midday, he was still a little drowsy, but he still functioned perfectly.

Now all he had to do was wait in the courtyard.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene stepped into the palace's courtyard with slow but sure steps. Her stride ever confidence and the click of her heels resounding in the great open space. On her back was slung a single long blade, a dueling sword, the rest of her was covered in a silver and green cloak wrapped tightly against the billowing wind and sand. Her lightsaber pike rang out each time it struck the ground, the phrik metal ringing slightly as she made her way into the center of the courtyard, there finding her apprentice ready and waiting.

She smirked slightly, seeing the condition he was in. It seemed the beast pits had treated him none too well.

The Queen of Rattatak stopped half a dozen meters away from the boy, lifting her lightsaber pike into the air and stabbing it into the ground as hard as she could. The phrik rang out again, and held itself fast into the ground between neat limestone bricks.

As soon as the pike was secure she grasped the hilt of the sword on her back, drawing the blade in one fluid motion and tossing it at the apprentices feet. The blade rang out, singing.

“Kill me.” She commanded, waving at the blade.

 

[Sheff Zee]

It was a trap certainly, he knew that if he picked up the blade she was going to strike at him with the lightsaber pike. Or maybe that was the twist, she would let him pick up the blade, and before he was even ready she would strike at him. Whatever happened, he knew there would be a trick, there was a trap somewhere in this situation, but he still reached down to pick up the blade and he straightened up when he had it.

He pointed it at her, he watched the pike, and then he turned his form so that it was his side that faced her, and he advanced with caution.

He knew the pike had a further range than the sword, and then he did a half-hearted lunge, knowing full well what could happen.

[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Surprisingly, or to the apprentice anyway Nemene did not bother going for the lightsaber pike. She didn't need to.

While Nemene was not overly strong in the force, she was a master in one particular area. The enhancement of her own body. Part of this lay with her own skills in healing. Any wound that was dealt to her, cut, burn, stab wound, etc... would heal in an instant as long as she had the energy to do so. The other part of this skill in self enhancement was quite simple, strength, and speed.

In the blink of an eye Nemene disappeared from in front of Aeon, her lithe figure reappearing behind the apprentice within a nano-second.

As soon as she appeared behind the boy her arm was raised. A massive burst of Force lightning sprang from her fingertips, purple sparks jumped and bounded towards the man as Nemene's sultry tone wafted through the air. “I said, Kill me.”

 

[Sheff Zee]

He was struck in the back with the lightning. There was no way he could have avoided it and he just slid across the floor with a scorching back and burning sensation coming from behind him. It didn't help that he was sore from the previous night.

He stood up as fast as he could, which would have been significantly slower compared to her own speed, and dragged the sword with him. He was shaking on his feet, shaking in pain and anger at what she had done. But it was mostly from the pain and the burns upon his back that made him mad now.

"Then fight me and stop running." He bit out after a few moments of just shaking in his position.

[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene smirked.

“Sith don't fight fair.” Nemene said as she blinked out of existence again. This time she did not appear behind him, but instead to the side of him. Her legs swept out, to catch his by the shin. Hopefully sweeping his legs out from beneath him before he could even react. “We do what is necessary to win.”

This was an important lesson. Growing up a noble Aeon had probably been taught to stand his ground, to fight with honor and respect. That would never work. Fighting was about who could do the most damage the fastest. Honor had no place in a fight, that was the first thing that her father had taught her.

When one faced an opponent, you gave it your all, including your cheapest, dirtiest tricks.

 

[Sheff Zee]

He grunted in response when he collapsed again, this time onto his front and he remained there for an unnecessary few seconds. He himself had never fought clean, he had always fought with the dirtiest tricks that he could have thought up, but being met with an opponent who would do the same had never really occurred to him until he had been at the doorstep of the Sith Lords, and even then he hadn't really thought of it.

Obviously he had been quite wrong.

He didn't roll back onto his feet, he didn't want to roll on his back, this time he stood up, pushing from his knees until his back was straight and he levelled the blade at her. He leapt forwards at her going in for an overhead strike before twisting his wrist with a practiced flick, and coming in for an underhand attack instead.

[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene let the blade slash across her ribs, she didn't flinch of budge an inch as the cold steel dug into her flesh and cut apart her dress, she simply smiled. There was no pain of course, Nemene Talith had long outgrown and outreached pain, with the help of her sister of course.

She smirked as a bring purple spark jumped from one end of the cut to the other, and only seconds after the sword sliced into her the wound quickly began to heal itself. Skin stitched back together, muscle repaired itself, and in an instant the wound was gone. Nemene only grinned, and dashed forward, a blur.

Like a viper her hand moved forward, grasping for the mans wrist while her knee came up to smash him in the stomach.

 

[Sheff Zee]

Already preparing to bring the sword around to stab her instead of a slash this time, she caught his wrist and a knee found it's way into his stomach and he folded over her knee as his teeth bit into his tongue and drew blood. He would show her he was worthy, and even if she continued to hold his wrist, he spun his leg around both of her knees in an attempt to bring her down to the ground with him.

The pain in his arm only increased and the whites of his eyes must've showed as he strove to keep his mouth closed, and keep the determined look upon his face present. She wasn't going to get any screams of pain if he had anything to say about it.

[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

As his legs swung for her knee's the woman grinned, she spun her hand forward, twisting his wrist and forcing the blade from her had. As soon as she heard the ring of the sword Nemne moved again, releasing his wrist and jumping up into the air. Heeled boots swung barely an inch above Aeon's knee's, barely avoiding her. She sailed in the air for but a moment before landing on the ground with a clack.

She stood over her apprentice with a smile.

“Enough.” Her voice intoned command, and her eyes flashed down to the man laying on the floor. Her smile was real, she was pleased with her apprentice, pleased with his skill of the blade. An attendant ran over to her as she turned away from Aeon, holding a wet towel and dabbing at the blood over her freshly sealed skin.

“So you know your way around a blade.” Her voice was a drawl “What else do you know?”

 

[Sheff Zee]

He felt the pain in his wrist, it was near breaking point he was sure, and he cringed as he groaned underneath the pressure, and then it was gone as suddenly as his wrist had become strained.

What else do I know? I don't know, I came here to learn!

He cradled his wrist underneath his body as he rose to his feet, but then once he was stable upon his feet, he released his wrist and clenched it repeatedly to flex it. His hate for her only manifested itself even more in those few moments, and he imagined her head on a pike in front of whatever she called a Throne in that Castle of hers.

"I know how to kill people." He said, as his eyes scanned her back from the bottom to the top.

[member="Nemene Talith"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

(I'm going to timeksip us forward a few weeks to a point where Aeon has learned more stuff)
Nemene smirked, her lips parting slightly as she let out a near giggle. Good. Her apprentice would learn. He would grow strong, and he would kill. There would be no end to the killing for him. She would drive him into becoming a monster, a murderer, a Sith beyond all comparison. She took a few steps towards him, the haft of her spear clacking against the limestone tiles.

“And kill you shall.” More of the identical women surrounded the two of them. The women all brandished weapons of some sort, vibroblades, blasters, and even a spear similar to Nemene's. The women all smiled, and took a step towards Aeon.

Their weapons flurried.


Several weeks later Nemene found herself sitting on her throne, her legs were crossed and her foot idly tapped the air. The length of her lightsaber pike ran along the back of the throne, ready to be used at a moments notice. There was a smile on her face, the past few weeks had been successful, more successful than she had expected truthfully.

Her apprentice had made leaps and bounds.

Aeon had come far in his training, and he was quickly proving himself to be an excellent tool. Most of his weekends were spent in the gladiator pits, honing himself against the greatest fighters of Rattatak. His weekdays were spent training with Nemene, and his nights were spent among the beasts, barely itching out survival. This schedule was of course often interrupted. Nemene would often take the boy at random times and have him beaten or sliced into it.

He was tortured regularly and she ensured that his will remained strong through pain.

All in all, the boy had survived, and that pleased Nemene. He was growing stronger with each passing day, and now Nemene had a task for him, the first time he would be able to leave Rattatak since he had first come here. He was ready.

 

[Sheff Zee]

Everyday he went to sleep with fresh new cuts and bruises, everyday he grew stronger, and everyday his want to kill Nemene Talith grew. He wanted to kill her, and he let that urge keep him alive, and because he felt as if he had a point to prove. And he made it a point to be a few minutes late. He didn't think his Master was expecting him within her Throne Room, but he wasn't going to be heading straight towards her. That would've been a mistake.

Not to mention that he had yet to make any attempts at killing her. Her wounds healed extremely fast, and if he wanted to kill her, the strike would have to be a killing stroke. Some nights in the beast pen, he had even had dreams of Nemene. He had dreams of splitting her in half and her two forms just reattached themselves, and got back up again. It was truly disturbing, and that's why he decided the only way to kill her would be to eviscerate her, and to turn her brain into mush at the same time.


He walked into the throne room and saw [member="Nemene Talith"] lounging upon her Throne. He walked straight up to it until he was at the base of it, then he stepped onto the first step and didn't mean to step any further. She would torture him at random times in the night, send him back to his slumber, and then torture him an hour later. He wanted to kill her.

"Master."

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene twitched her foot several times more, the heel bounced around near her leg until finally she stopped, as though it were some sort of strange stop watch. A smirk crossed her face and her eyes shifted down to her Apprentice.

“I have a gift for you, apprentice.” She said almost inaudibly as she regarded a woman on the far end of the room.

One of the Sirens stood there with a small box. The woman regarded her Queen, then once she received a nod moved forward. Careful steps took her near Aeon, stopping only a few short steps before the young man. The woman held out the box, then slowly slid open the lid, revealing a knife. The hilt was ornately carved from some sort of wood, snakes running throughout it. The blade itself was jet black durasteel, the edge seemed to have wavering red lines running through the edge of it.

“I wouldn't touch the blade.” Nemene said with a smile. The knife contained Devaronian blood poison within the blade, a single touch would leave one writhing in agony...if they actually felt pain. “You will use this blade in a task I have for you.”

She smiled, waiting for the man to take the blade.

 

[Sheff Zee]

When he first set his eyes upon the blade he wanted to grab it and thrust it straight into [member="Nemene Talith"]'s figure. But he didn't, he wanted to know what she had to teach him before he killed her. What this next lesson was, but when she said to not touch it by the blade, he didn't even reach for it. He hadn't even made a move yet.

But with her warning in mind, he grasped at the hilt and pulled it out of the box unhindered and hefted it, as if he was testing the balance.

She's going to make me strike myself.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

“No. You won't be cutting yourself.” Nemene said the words almost teasingly.

That would have been too obvious, and she didn't like being obvious. Instead she smiled, and then thought back to what Aeon had told her about his parents. An important task lay ahead of him, one that she herself had never completed, and likely would never have completed. She had adored her father, her own Master, killing him had always been out of the question.

Her eyes fluttered back to meet Aeons.

“You will take a pair of Sirens, and visit your family home.” The Sirens were going as much as to help, as to ensure that he completed the task. “You are to kill your parents, servants, and anyone else that is alive. When it is done, claim what is rightfully yours.”

Every Sith needed a base of power, and Nemene would help Aeon build his...albeit only to use it as a tool for herself. It helped that he himself was royalty.

 

[Sheff Zee]

His hand clenched around the knife and he tilted his head to the side. "No." It was probably what she wasn't expecting, and he prepared to defend himself.

"Not yet. My training has only just begun, I planned to kill my parents when I become a Sith Lord myself. For a true rise to power, not to simply defy you." He explained, but his grip never relaxed. He meant to kill them, he meant to end their lives on his own agenda.

[member="Nemene Talith"]