Eternal Father
Darkness had descended upon Elrood without warning.
The first signs were the blackouts, communication was systematically dismantled across the entire planet within a matter of hours. Electrical grids failed, the lights which normally lit up the night sky from orbit blinking out one by one. Those in possession of independent generators could illuminate their surroundings without difficulty, but those without such luxuries found themselves cast into a world consumed by absolute shadow.
That's when they emerged.
In the darkness, the minions of evil made themselves known. They announced no intentions and brokered no peace, they shambled through the darkened city streets looking for victims. Those who were unlucky enough to cross their path met a messy end, their bodies meticulously dismantled for use in grisly ceremonies whose howling chants could be heard in the night.
When dawn's first light finally broke, the inhabitants of Elrood found their cities marred by the ghastly crimes of the previous night. Those who had perpetrated such atrocities had disappeared altogether, leaving no trace of where they had come from or where they had gone. What they left behind were the remnants of their rituals, which were regarded with horror and revulsion.
The inhabitants of Elrood attempted to reestablish a connection with the outside galaxy but found their effort stymied by sabotage. Those who boarded starships bound for neighboring systems never returned, nor did any help arrive any day after.
For weeks, darkness ruled Elrood. Trapped in an umbral nightmare, the people were subjected to horror after horror every night. The fiends which arose when the sun dipped below the horizon were seemingly unstoppable, no force could challenge their unorthodox methods or bar their path. They possessed intimate knowledge of every city as if they had lived in those cities all their lives. They knew who people were, how to infiltrate their homes, and how to lure them out into the darkness.
As dawn broke on the third week, and the sun began to creep over the horizon. A new sight greeted the weary and traumatized people of Elrood.
Ships in the sky.
Ships as far as the eye could see.
At first, they rejoiced for it seemed as if help had come at last to liberate them from this waking terror. That hope turned to ash in their mouths as the ships drew nearer, great terrible pyramidal monoliths which pulsated with wicked intent. These terrible vessels slammed into the earth in and around the cities of Elrood, burying themselves almost completely underground in the span of a few hours. More ships descended from the skies to join them, landing on top of these buried vessels to now jut from the earth as edifices of horror and depravity.
And from within those ships emerged...
Death.
Soldiers in dark armor now walked the streets of every city on Elrood, faceless masked creatures who snatched children from their mother's arms and dragged whole families back towards the black monoliths. Those that were taken never returned. Those that did were unrecognizable, every aspect of their being stripped away and replaced by cold emotionless subservience. They were little more than slaves even if they wore no collars.
Eventually, their insidious master arrived from the skies. He stood many heads taller than any of the warriors or slaves who served him, his entire being radiating power and authority. A mask in the shape of a skull obscured his identity, though the weapon which hung at his hip belied his status as a wielder of the Force.
For as long as those ships remained burrowed in the earth and his soldiers moved uncontested across the planet, the masked man was the master of Elrood without restraint.
That is until the first sign of aid from the outside galaxy began to appear.
The Jedi had come.
But had they come too late?
Ash rained down upon the city streets as the dark sky churned angrily above, thrown up by the innumerable pyres which stretched from one corner of the city to the other. The soldiers of the Dark Master moved tirelessly through every block, their masked faces sweeping back and forth to search for any survivors. Sleek starfighters screamed through the air above them in formations that resembled squat chevrons, unmanned drones painted black and gold with droid minds programmed for death and destruction.
Those that were found were rounded up and brought to high-ranking minions of the Dark Master. There they were quickly evaluated into two categories.
Those that were decided to serve well as labor were subjected to the Derriphan, unnatural creatures resembling a black star bristling with crackling purple electricity. The Derriphan consumed the thoughts and memories of their victims, erasing them completely to leave only an empty shell behind. These shells were sent back to the pyramid ships that dotted the land, enslaved to the insidious will of the Dark Master.
The rest were herded into large groups to await the arrival of the Dark Master. When he arrived, he drained the entire group of their essence and consumed it. Nothing remained but the clothes they had been wearing, their bodies whittled away into dust.
"Tsisaridardi," spoke one of the Dark Master's followers, "Our scanners have detected multiple vessels emerging from hyperspace."
The Dark Master turned to regard the subordinate, who was a Sith Pureblood dressed in the finery befitting an officer of substantial rank. Those in the vicinity were the dark-plated soldiers loyal to the Dark Master, their weapons held at rest though they hungered for battle. At the farthest edge were the cultists of the Eclipse, the lowest of the low. They had paved the way for his arrival on Elrood, subverting the population from within to make the world easier to devastate.
The Eclipse cultists were easy to manipulate and quick to violence, a perfect instrument to carry out the Dark Master's twisted orders.
"Good, they have finally arrived," spoke Darth Carnifex, former Dark Lord of the Sith, "Let them come to me, I will consume their essence."
