That which you seek, inside, you will find…

[Darth Zilti]

Qixoni crystals. The fact that they were exceeding rare was irrelevant. What mattered was that you couldn’t simply walk into a store and buy them. And Maja found synthetic crystals functional but somehow bland.

There was a strong rumour that the crystals had an impact on the user’s strength through the Force and also the blade had superior cutting power. These were positive reasons to bring Remy here.

Their rarity was because they were created when a star in the Qixoni system went supernova and consumed a planet. Only usable by those that used the Dark-side of the Force, she’d managed to find out there was a crystal mine on Dagobah. In, it seems, a famed Dark-Side Cave.

So they sat on a shuttle that was making its way to the planet's surface. A squad of 'Sitherhood' troopers accompanied them – the planet was home to some particularly nasty creatures. And given even the small shuttle they were on couldn’t land that close to the cave – given the dense canopy of the swamp – they would have to travel a couple of kilometres on foot to reach their destination.

She glanced around the shuttle. Besides her apprentice were the nine troopers, elite and hand-picked. She suspected she’d know a lot more about her charge before the mission was over – and she’d know a lot more about herself – given what the place was reportedly capable of. Strong in the Dark-side, inside it Force-Users would typically face whatever fear they took into it – often an answer to a question they sought. Invariably you left a different person to the one that entered.

But then they were Sith. They thrived on fear - so what could possibly go wrong?

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Remy was surprised when she really got a chance to see how large the galaxy were, she even found her homeworld.... On a map but the worlds her people had lived on and colonized on the other side of the galaxy, the world of the lost tribe on Kesh, Korriban, Ziost, Dromuund Kaas and the ancient sith empire. Worlds she had never known about while she was trying to better learn how to communicate. Her master might not have ordered it but as Remy left out a breath her chest heaved and she pulled herself up in the ship. The elite troopers in their armor around and one at least was there giving her the spotter she needed while her knees were slightly pulled towards her chest.

Blades on a seat and her old clothing traded in for some slightly newer looking clothing she had torn and made to look like hr old stuff. Only these cloths were made to form and fit on you instead of needing belts and strings taken from animal guts. She let out a breath as the woman counted her with the sweat beading and dripping from her face tendrils while they twitched. "Two hundred" The words came out and Remy dropped down lifting herself up again as her muscles were tense with veins raised above the surface of her skin. The thicker hair on her head in a tight ponytail that pulled at her scalp before she could feel the coolness of the shuttle n her feet.

SHe stood there breathing in and out with her feet tapping against the metal before she was sliding them int her boots that could be clipped and tightened to stay secured. They were going to a swamp where her master sought to test her and she was more then ready for anything... just because she was a force user and they could throw things... well all of them could. It helped to have the strength to smack someone around who relied on the force near exclusively, that was how she handled the sith priests on her homeworld. They couldn't get into the thick of things and she picked up her blades ready to head out and do as her master decreed.

 

[Darth Zilti]

At the ten minute warning, the troopers checked and re-checked their gear before standing and although braced for the touchdown, were equally ready to disembark the moment they could lower the ramp.

As light and, to be honest, odours flooded the ship, the Sitherhood troopers fanned out and formed a semi-circle perimeter around the ramp that was now fully lowered. Maja stood up and wondered if her cloak was going to be too warm - but decided to keep it on anyway.

All of the senses were assailed. The canopy was thinnest here, allowing light to show them the dark and creepy landscape of a swamp in front of them. The smells were of rotting vegetation and no doubt creatures too - and there was a faintly sulphuric smell in the air too.

The sounds were constant, like a symphony where at first listening it was simply a cacophony but over time you were able to pin-point individual noises. And Darth Ziltis was no doubt sure that texturally the planet was rich in feedback too, but looking around, decided to give this sense the miss.

And there was a wonderful foreboding that came only from the delicious Dark-side. She checked her bearings and pointed. "Two kilometres that way," she said and indicated a direction directly into the darkest part of the swamp - where the canopy allowed precious little light in. "You lead the way, we'll follow." She indicated the troops to fall in around her. Who knew what her Apprentice would meet first? Hopefully she'd been reading the journal she'd shared and had a few tricks to practice - for she'd surely need them.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

The scent of the world was the first thing to come to her as Remy turned towards the opening and it reminded her of things... She wasn't certain how to explain it. There was rot and death but it was moist? Wet? She wasn't certain what word to apply to it compared to many things. The scents were slowly becoming manageable while she stepped out and her boots sank into the muck and dirt a little. Muddy squelches came while she was moving around to get acclimated. Her hand touching one of the trees and the moss on the tree she picked at for a moment before hearing which way to go and she was off. Thoughts on sensing what was out there and the feeling behind her eyes was back, she used it as a guide while walking and where the troopers seemed coordinated she was moving on the lighter parts of the swamp so she didn't leave prints and could grab branches or trunks to keep out of the water. Her eyes tracking something there just below the surface that was moving. It left Remy focused and she crouched down moving in silence while a small pile was in the muck. Gleaming white bones under the mud that were cleaned almost before she was leaping across a gap of water as below there was splashing out the corner of her eye but no monsters came up to eat her. She kept moving forward and listened to the sounds in the large swamp.

 

[Darth Zilti]

The senses were overloaded in this place. First there was the combination of heat and humidity which were distracting enough. Then the sounds kept you constantly alert – here it appeared to be a long food chain of carnivores – many of which would see them as low down in the order.

She spotted many of the less ferocious wildlife, nudj were aplenty and hard to see until you went to put your hand on a trunk to realise they were camouflaged and attached to the tree. And she spotted a sleen, but it moved away, perhaps intimidated by their sheer numbers.

And Maja kept pace with her apprentice, who seemed to be using every inch of the terrain to her advantage and they were making excellent progress it seemed. Then she spotted it. Some way ahead in a tree, it was unmistakeably a Dagobah python, clearly intent on dropping on the first meal to walk under the overhanging branch it was draped on. Maja didn’t break stride as she didn’t want to warn her charge. If she were to become a worthy Sith, a test like this should be easy for her to deal with.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Remy felt something on the trunk of the tree as she touched it, getting her attention while she was looking at something and then moving off away with the hair on her neck standing on end. Her attention was looking at several of the things they had to contend with and she breathed in the scents while her eyes closed. The stride not breaking but she was listening slowly to the sounds of something in the trees around her. Moving silently except for the weight on the branches, she knew that well... You could cloak, you could climb and move quietly but your weight was still a problem. She moved when the sound stopped above her and the blades came around as her blood rushed to her ears, the sound of something coming while the pounding was louder and it seemed to be coming down in slow motion. Remy's blade was in one hand while she rolled forward turning around and with the sound of something plopping on the ground she spun around with the feeling of resistance... then the wet shlick of the blade going through in a cleave while Remy was looking at the body writhing and head with a mouth gaping. Her knuckles were white from her grip but the blade was there a little chipped from the long time use giving plenty of wear and tear.

 

[Darth Zilti]

A small smile played across Maja's lips. She'd chosen her acolyte well. She had a hunter's natural abilities and if Maja could add her own knowledge of the ancient art of Sith Magic to those skills, she would have a formidable Sith on her hands. The irony of Zannah's first apprentice was not lost on her.

Maja stepped up to speak to Remy. "The cave is not far now. You will know it when you feel it. I shan't accompany you in there. What you face will be of your own design and only you can deal with it as a result."

The term cave was something of a misnomer. It was, in truth, a large Dark-infested hollow under a tree. Typically the cave showed a potential dark future for whoever entered. And then, once Remy dealt with whatever it was, she'd have to find a crystal - or two depending on what sort of saber she might eventually craft. But Maja was getting ahead of herself. Her apprentice had to find the cave first.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Remy looked at her master and nodded her head as she crouched down towards the dirt, taking two fingers gently into the dirt as she brought it up to her nose then tasted it. The ground was seeped in it.... Well in two things the first was the blood from the giant snake and there was also the underlying feeling of the darkside while she was moving. The metallic tinge on her tongue and in her nostrils as she abandoned her master taking grip of her blades in one hand. She could see the hollow tree stump leading into the ground and it was a strange feeling.. cold and yet inviting more so while her eyes flicked around the area.

She didn't know what she was feeling while she was thinking on what her master had said about this place. She was a warrior, she fought things but this wasn't a place of logic and fighting... This was a place more of the fantastical like out of a children's tale the human's would make up. She set her blades down to the side while she was crouching with her head tilting up to look and watch the interior of the cave/tree. Remy moved forward while her attention had her hand flicking back and forth to look with her hands at her sides as the feeling of coldness overcame her. "This place feels strange and familiar."

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja noted her apprentice tasting the dirt. It took all sorts, she surmised but you wouldn’t catch her putting a combination of a creature’s blood and soil in her mouth. But then there was that time she was obliged to drink blood from a human heart!

She watched her apprentice approach the cave and now kept very quiet. Until Remy emerged from the cave, she would be on her own. For Maja had no doubt her charge would survive – she was strong and undoubtedly worthy.

So Maja sat on a nearby tree stump and closed her eyes and meditated, relying on the troopers to guard the areas until the task was complete.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Remy found herself walking, the tickling in her mind making her see things out the corner of her eyes but she wasn't certain of what was there. She didn't know what she feared or was scared of, the galaxy was a larger place and she didn't know how to handle that. Fighting a predator trying to kill her was one thing but even being a sith didn't mean you could kill everything. The strong ruled over the weak because they could, killing everything under you would leave only those who were as strong or stronger then her. She was thinking things over now and the buzzing in the back of her head got louder while she watched mist descend upon her. Slowly Remy was moving around and felt something soft at her back after she had cleared it. Her mind was rushing through thoughts of some creature behind her but she felt conflicted on the one hand she knew nothing real could sneak up on her, on the other hand her first reaction was turn turn around and strike at it as the soft part seemed to be a chest near her ears with the pounding of the heart in a massive chest. She turned around quickly her pivoting bringing her foot up as the massive sith grabbed it. Her ankle being held in place before she was getting thrown against a wall and feeling her head slam into the wall. There wasn't a voice but the ornate gold and robes while her vision went dark and she was laying there. Her mind trying to find something beyond the fear and danger of her not being strong enough while this beast towered over her with her vision going dark.

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja sat and waited. Whatever happened inside that cave would most likely remain inside that cave. It was likely her Apprentice would emerge a different person. Maybe not today but one day whatever she experienced would impact her.

For now the Sith Knight merely reflected on the Sith Code she’d been sharing with her charge. It was true that the weak deserved to die – but only if it served a purpose. You didn’t kill because you could, you killed because it was necessary. Because it added some value in some way.

But she was philosophising and shrugged it off. For now, she simply listened for signs that her Apprentice would emerge.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Remy didn't know how long she was out, her eyes opening slowly as her vision was blurred before she moved her head to the side and it felt sticky, not from sap of the tree but dried at first and then as she pulled the crust came off revealing the wound to the open air. The Pureblood hissed in agitation as she was expecting to be in the tree's rots still but something was crunching under her hands and body while she rolled over and saw bones. The sharp ridges on the eyebrows and cheeks telling her they were her people as she moved around jerking and realized she wasn't afraid of someone... she was afraid of being this, dead like the million of her people on Ziost, on Korriban, on Dromuund Kaas. She didn't want her people to be extinct like the galaxy believed them to be and was afraid of that more as her body rolled over and she was starring at one of the faces she knew. The scare from a blade she had given the man in the apprentice duel for the king. Slowly Remy was scrambling as the bones seemed to vanish and she was digging in the dirt as she found her way outside looking up and around.

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja sensed her Apprentice's arrival before she saw her. She appeared shaken and Maja wondered if she'd fully recovered from the ordeal. But she didn't ask - nor did she show any interest in what Remy had seen. That was for Remy to deal with.

Maja mused what she would see if she entered the cave? In truth she didn't want to know.

So she simply stood up and once Remy was in ear-shot asked, "Did you get a crystal?"

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Remy could hear something and she was back in the swamp, her eyes darting around while she raised her head feeling the cool air on the mud at her chin. A shiver going down her spine before looking towards her master and she didn't know if she had found a crystal, she was about to say no but felt something in her hand as it was digging into her palm. "I.." She trailed off holding her hand and the crystal was there large enough to be used for two blades and seemed to be curved. "I must have grabbed it when I was exiting."

 

[Darth Zilti]

It was funny how the Force worked sometimes. Crafting a saber could wait - her apprentice had the crystal and the experience of the Dark cave, so the trip had been doubly fruitful.

"Training..." she said as she looked around the swamp. "Where shall we start?" Maja saw no value in teaching anything that someone didn't want to learn - she was here to make Remy the best Sith she could be, not a replica of herself.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

Where to start indeed, as she was rising up Remy slid the crystals into a small pouch she could keep on herself. The feeling from the cave not going away but her attention was on her master now as the feeling and sensation rolled off of her skin. She was feeling better or less sick at least while putting one hand behind her head and feeling her neck and joints pop. "That magic you were wanting to teach me I think would be best, there is a great need I think for sith purebloods to embrace their heritage again."

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja looked around. "No place like the present."

She wandered around and quickly located another of the snakes. "The art of mental magic is based on a simple premise. You have to get into someone's mind. Animals are foreign but easier to access. Humans tend to have stronger defences."

"So you have a choice. Force your way in and go for a quick win - but risk damaging the mind forever. Or go in subtly and motivate rather than instruct the target to act in a given way."

"You can get a mother to slay her own child or simply rip out information you seek. And once you've mastered accessing the mind, there are many delicious spells I can show you to do some delightful things."

"I want you to bring that snake to you. I want it to drape itself around your neck and be as placid as if it were a pet. You need to decide the best approach and if necessary, the best motivator. If you struggle to access the mind, seek out any strong emotions and follow them back to the creature's mind."

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

She listened to her master as she stood up tall with her blades going to her back and she tilted her head. Expanding her senses out before hearing what she was supposed to do. Make the snake serve her needs and that had her attention. Mostly while she was listening to her master talk about the magics of her people before she moved. Her body crouching a little lower and she was moving quietly without vibrations almost on her hands and legs as she approached it. Slowly letting the force energies flow and roll along the length of her skin. She moved in the shadows around to look at the snake before its eyes locked with hers and she didn't try the magics just yet. Not blinking and starring it down as one did a predator to get them to back away. Slowly her hand raised up while she was moving with the snake... or was the snake moving with her. She understood the idea of getting into the heads of animals it is how her pet shriek hawk followed her and the tuk'ata's she had owned for hunting. With a look the snake was rising up to meet her before Remy was swaying a little to the sides and her gaze continued to be locked with him. The force energies slowly rolling while her mind sought his to connect and overtake the creature.

 

[Darth Zilti]

Maja watched. The Force was no exact science. Some of the spells she had read in Zannah’s book did not work precisely as they did for the ancient Sith Lord. But through trial and error she’d been able to amend the process for her.

And so it would be for Remy. Which was why the instruction was kept simple – to allow her Apprentice to find the route that worked for her. Maja would make suggestions if she struggled – but as Matsu had done before – she simply guided her charge in the right direction and allowed her natural abilities to take over.

For Sith Sorcery was not for all. Matsu had warned her before she’d agreed to take her as an Apprentice. Fortunately Maja had passed the test – albeit the burns on her back were a constant reminder of the perils of underestimating the power of the Dark-side.

[member="Remy Singh"]

 

[Remy Singh]

[member="Darth Zilti"]

She could feel her master there watching her as the small hairs on the back of her neck before she was moving a little. Slowly creeping with her the force was going into the mind of the snake until it was face to face with her. She was moving with it to stalking around while the mud and planet seemed to fall away from her sight before her until the forked tongue of the creature came out and touched her face with it seeming to slink away before she grabbed it hissing and speaking. "No you will stay with me until I am done with you." Her master hadn't said specifics of what was to be done but she was holding her hand with the fingers extended out to point at its eyes while she moved standing to look at her master. "You will serve my needs."