Private Understudy to an Abomination

[The Amalgam]

Wearing: Resistance Epidermis

Armed with: Skin Shears (Purple Split-Saber

Currently: Conducting an unholy ritual

Planet: Chandaar


It had been months since she had at last set foot on this world, the last time being a very memorable attempt to kill her during a purge of the gangs.

The Dark Side's power was glorious here, drenched and coating the world in a suffering she fed off of like a parasite.

In spite of the vicious purge of the defiled cities, slowly being built back up by the Sith, or stripped down to obtain resources in a pitiless boot stomp on the local history in anticipation of making it a productive world of imperial citizens, there were a few stragglers, here and there, who persisted.

As a member of the Saaraishash and a Dark Side Witch, She had been sent in to find the remaining pockets of resistance to the Sith and slaughter them as she pleased. Which she had done so with horrific relish, tearing out and eating the minds of gang members then tearing out the life from their bodies, which created an addictive euphoria in the Witch as she killed and killed for days, toying with the gangs with magic, with stealth, with her bare hands, but mostly just eating their souls.

But it was busy work, and as much as she loved killing in general, she loved killing innocent people more so.

The Witch had been delighted to learn, while digesting the mind of a straggler she had tortured for hours aboard her ship, that he had been a gatherer, for a small village hidden in the more stable end of the rural swamplands.

It had been a slow journey by boat through the swamps to the village proper, and then she had reached stable land, waited until nightfall, and simply walked the rest of the way.

She understood why it hadn't been caught by the scanners...the canopy of large trees blocked it. The flesh everywhere on her body, covered by a skin tight flesh colored suit that was white at the arms and legs, wriggled and bunched up like rats were underneath for a few seconds as she felt the small nexus of Dark Side power. Slumbering, but powerful. She would wake it.

She smirked in the darkness as she watched the small village full of men, women, and children, huddled in various huts of twig and log, their fires extinguished for fear of drawing military attention. Being Sithspawn like, she had nightvision naturally, and could see most were malnourished and on the verge of panic and despair, which she could feel, which made the flesh everywhere shudder and wriggle disgustingly in anticipation and the Dark Side coursing through it.

She had already decided on a method to dispatch them. And it was a particularly cruel one, which made the dozens of evil minds her consciousness was composed of cackle madly in the Force.

She would give them hope. At first.

She stepped forward on the trail into the village, near impossibly beautiful, with a jet black bob cut and dead purple eyes, smiling as she saw the alarmed villager, dressed in rags point a rifle at her as she strode up, hands in the air.

"It's okay..." she called out gently. "I'm a Jedi. You have nothing to fear. I have come to save you. To save all of you."

Thirty minutes later...

The Amalgam sat at the head of the table of the largest hut, the village adults and children gathered around her with small candles lit. They had calmed when she showed them the purple of her blade. First mistake. Never assume its safe because the blade isn't red. Exar Kun had a blue blade after all, and he was responsible for the death of millions.

The children seemed fascinated. She smiled at them when they smiled at her.

She gave a plausible enough story, enough to override the desperate caution that must have been surely swimming in their minds as to the beautiful visitor. She had been on deep cover assignment in Sith Territory, and was now due to be extracted any day now. She heard about the village and risked everything to get here to make the offer to take them with her to the Republic. Where they could be free.

She felt their hopes, rise, filthy and bedraggled as they were as she spoke calmly and softly, reassuring them all that there was enough room to take them. They had started to grin, started to chuckle. She didn't use Force Persuasion. She wanted to do this on pure skill. She rarely applied her charm this way for others, but the memories she had eaten helped her know just what to say, and how to say it, even as the minds of the beasts that held together her unholy flesh howled in anticipation.

They were soon sharing the last pitiful remnants of their food with her. She ate with them, made a few jokes, even turned her lightsaber in and spoke of the Jedi and what they believed in, which she did with such convincing passion that by the time she was done, she knew they were bleeding in the Force with hope. She had even done a few tricks for the youth present with what little telekinesis she could manage, all the while reminding them their troubles would soon be over, that they would all fly away happily ever after on a silvery Nubian Ship for freedom and democracy.

But there was one part. One part she had not covered, one she had deliberately avoided covering as she conversed and reassured them they would be leaving this awful place, one she had been waiting for one of them to ask as she was patted on the back and thanked for saving them, some even wanting to swear a life debt to her.

Then the question was finally asked.

"The ship?" One woman in rags asked. "How will we reach it...? The military has a dragnet everywhere."

The Amalgam smiled, blinking dead purple eyes at her.

"Easy..." she said gently with a reassuring smile...

...right before her eyes turned a terrifying, moldy yellow.

"You'll be getting there because your souls will be in my body..." she sneered, both purple blades flashing on, the mask of humanity slipping away from her still beautiful visage entirely.

"Getting digested..."

Her hand seized the head of the oldest man in the village, draining him to a moldering corpse in front of them as they backed away, some desperately shielding their children, their hope turning to absolute horror and despair as her flesh bulged and wriggled disgustingly. She heard pleas for mercy, insane shrieks. She savored it all, letting their terror build as she walked slowly to them, purple lightning arcing across her body as she made lesions appear on a bubbling, wriggling face...

Four hours later...

The village was splattered with blood and lightning-cooked gore, piles of it artfully arranged in a pentagram around the witch. It had been slow and painful.

She had annointed the ground in slaughter, stirring the dark nexus from its slumber, but now came the part not only to wake it, but make it stronger.

She had painstakingly drawn the spells in blood around and through the pentagram itself, having stored up the collective suffering and life force of her victims to begin the attempt.

She could feel The Unholy Spirit pleased with her as she knealt in the center of the pentagram, meditating as she released that stored suffering into the nexus, her flesh shuddering and wriggling once again as she became a living conduit of the Dark, chanting unnaturally as her flesh bubbled. But she could feel something.

The Bogan had led her to more than just a Nexus that could corrupt future adepts, she could feel it.

But what, or who, had it led her too?

The Amalgam decided to let the Bogan do the revealing as she worked the dark magic, the nexus becoming like a flare in The Darkness, attracting any who were drawn to the Dark Side...

But who would dare get close enough to the murderous, disgusting creature to satisfy their curiousity as to the source?

Whoever it was, they would find the beast at the center of the slaughter, wriggling flesh giving away her unnatural state...

Darth Vindel

 

[Darth Vindel]

Wearing: Sith Cloak

Armed With: Red Short Lightsaber

Currently: Investigating a disturbance

Planet: Chandaar

Meditation was impossible. Every day, screams in the force were heard. As if entire villages were being destroyed regularly. Voices crying out in terror, and suddenly nothing.

Silcona had come to Chandaar in search of knowledge, in search of anybody who knew about the Sith. Instead he found dead, charred or fractured bodies scattering the desolate towns that once held people. This wasn't a local Sith raid, hell this wasn't even a war. This was the work of a Sith. Not The Sith, A Sith. One force user created the destruction he saw before him. However, the towns of corpses had no pattern, wherever this wanderer was, there would be no telling.

In a desperate attempt to learn more, Silcona stood tall, and pulled his hood over his head. Looking out into the distance, he began to travel. Town after town, the days passed, yet he still walked. Time was irrelevant, being a creature of near death, tiredness was never an issue, water and food were irrelevant. He only wandered the lifeless surface of the planet, searching for the dark master.

In one town, something was unique. The bodies were scattered, they were burnt or drained of all life, yet unique. There was one body with a slash across it's chest, that is all. There remained a soul, not yet consumed by the dark side.

Silcona, being only faintly familiar with force echos, knelt down to the corpse. He placed his hand over the body, nothing. He looked at his hand, and pulled off his glove, revealing his pale, cracked skin. He places his palm upon the forehead of the body, a vision..

A blade of purple, eyes of yellow, and a body of white. A deciever, a warrior, a Sith. His vision continued as he looked outside of the hut. There she stands, overlooking the destruction she has caused with a grin. The Sith Lord he has searched for.

As the final cry of the vision died, the body was lifeless, just as the rest of his family. Sheathing his hand back into his glove, Silcona stood up, the cries in the force were heard again. The master was still here.

Silcona looked in the direction of the cries, the chills crawled down his spine like the sins of a thousand men. His soul burnt of hellfire, and his mind began to speak in cries of help, and cries of salvation.

He walked, as he had, towards the loud, concussive slashes that felt like sound barriers breaking with every clash of the blade. Yet with all of the screams, all of the torment in the force that he felt, there was no blinking, no flinching, nothing to stop his path towards the path he walked. He needed to meet the sith.

Four hours later
The screams stopped.

Silcona dropped to his knees, now exhausted from the journey. He did not see the point in continuing. Soon enough, there would be more screams from another village, on the other side of the planet. He would never find his master.

A traveler, a merchant came by. Carrying his supplies, food, and water. He noticed the cloaked man, and walked up to him. He handed him a water canteen, out of his pure generosity. Silcona, having his mission destroyed, was filled with anger. He looked up at the merchant, glowing yellow eyes under his dark hood. The merchant realized who he had come across, and began to run. Silcona lifted his arm into the air, with a fist of anger. The young merchant was pulled off of his feet, into the air. Standing up with rage, Silcona turned to him, and pulled the young man to him. Just before impact, Silcona ignited his father's lightsaber, and plunged it through the merchant.

Perhaps it was the death of the young man, or the lifeless towns that surrounded the country, but something called to him. Dropping the corpse of the merchant, the young Sith felt a presence nearby, a dark presence.

Silcona came across a young girl, cowering under a bush. He knelt down in front of her, and told her to calm down.
"What is wrong, young one?"

She looked up to him, as tears fell down her face,
"s-she took mama. mama is gone, she took her"

Silcona was confused, was this little girl the source of the dark side energy? No, there was more. He stood tall, over the brush that concealed him.

He saw her, the one he had searched for. The Sith master he had traveled across the country to find. She stood in the very center of the massacre that surrounded her. Her flesh moving unnaturally, and the force being a powerful presence within her.

It was her.

Silcona stepped out of his cover, taking the little girl by her hand, and walked towards her.

Throwing the little girl into the pentagram in which the Sith resided, he said calmly and deeply,
"You almost let one go, you wouldn't want a witness, would you, Sith?"

 

[The Amalgam]

The misshapen, wriggling thing at the center, driving the nexus to greater strength, felt a twitch within that darkness, the twitch of curiosity.

It felt him approach, carrying a straggler who had fled her culling, throwing her to its pentagram.

"Why thank you, how considerate..." the beast in the wriggling body trailed, her flesh resetting to an immaculate state.

The terrified girl looked, and screamed in horror and despair, the Amalgam taking the face of her mother...

...thirty seconds of nightmarish horror passed and when it was over there was only her, Darth Vindel , and the Dark Side amidst the blood and gore.

The Amalgam's face shifted back from the mother she had brutally absorbed to its near impossibly beautiful normal state.

Dead purple eyes worked Vindel over. Fine specimen. Full of hatred and wrath.

She smiled, rising up.

"My my, such a brave one, walking in on me like that..." she trailed, stepping out of the pentagram, the Dark Nexus fully awake and alive.

Her flesh wriggled on her face for a few seconds, breaking the glamour as she circled him, but kept a wide birth, her corrupt, rotting presence darker than the actual nexus she had awoken and made stronger.

"Feel that? That power?" The Amalgam asked. "That is the land, finally made beautiful. Beautiful with the Bogan. Much like I perceive your soul is, if you don't mind my saying..."

Oh, yes he was a beautiful one in the Dark Side. But it was a raw beauty, like an uncut gem. The Amalgam loved guiding Dark Siders, and if given the opportunity she would cut and shape the gem he was to jewelry.

"I sense great potential in you, young one. Allow me to introduce myself. I am known as The Amalgam. If I might ask, what has brought you to me? It is so rare for me to be willingly sought out. Doubtless you have come to understand why." she joked. "But such a bold move...you intrigue me. What is your name? I simply must have something to call that beautiful soul of yours..." she trailed, feeling something significant in the darkness in him but still unsure as to what.

She would be bored frankly, if it turned out it was just to kill her, but if he had come because he saw opportunity to grow in the Darkness, well...she'd be saving his soul from the light if nothing else...

 

[Darth Vindel]

"'Bold', 'brave', these words only speak to the narcissistic. I prefer to call myself, 'powerful'."

The hooded figure walked along the rim of the pentagram that tainted the ground beneath him.

"If you must know, Amalgam, I am Darth Vindel. A Sith Apprentice without a teacher. When I felt the destruction that had been caused on this planet, I felt more. There was the usual waves in the force, the screams heard from throughout the galaxy, yet I felt more. I stole a civilian vessel, and came to investigate. I crashed here, and have been wandering for days, searching for whatever else I had felt."

He stopped at a point on the bloody figure on the ground, and turned back to look at his mission.

"No Jedi could have caused all of this suffering, no grey user could be so cruel. No, I sense a different feeling within you. I sense a powerful darkness, and considering how you just brutally ended the life of a child, while wearing the face of her mother, I'd say you're no ordinary Sith. My parent's were strong in the force, because of their undying and unfathomable love for each other, I stand a Sith because of my hatred for them. You...you have a different feeling. I don't sense a single voice, a single entity within that flesh of yours. It's corrupted, it's foul, it reeks of the damned."

The hooded figure walked up the the creature he stood before, and knelt down.

"No sith could match what you possess. I have stood before Emperor Carnifex himself, and yet his darkness was not as powerful as it is within you."

He reached to his side, and pulled out his father's lightsaber, igniting it. As he raised his hood to meet the gaze of the Amalgam, he raised his blade to glow it's crimson light under his dark hood. He showed the Amalgam his disfigured, cracked, and destroyed face.

"I am an abomination in the force, I am not the beautiful soul you seek. However..." He lowered his blade, and his hood "...I seek your teachings, no teacher of the dark side within the Empire would accept me, my raw power is too unstable, they prefer to have easier students to train. I sense experience with you, and I only hope that within that experience, you can train a young sith, with the power he seeks."

As he switched off his blade, he spoke the words he always wanted to speak.

"Thy bidding is mine own, my master."

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam smiled wickedly at his first reply.

"Well well well, passed the first test. So many Dark Adepts are taken in by flattery. It's good you say what really allowed you to approach. The truth of the matter. Power. Power to destroy, and end, and savor it. Only a powerful one would dare approach me."

She was delighted with his explanation. She could feel it. The Bogan had sent her another soul seeking guidance. She would of course do it.

Her smile grew a little wider as he said he didn't sense a single entity within her.

She chuckled delicately at that, stepping over the gore.

"Of course you don't sense a single entity, young one." She replied, circling him, studying him.

"I am many. Multiple minds, all dedicated to the will of the Dark Side. My cause is...purer than that of the Empire. But it is not damnation you sense within me, Vindel...that is freedom you sense. Your shackles are rusty, and loose, but I can help you break them. You need only ask."

As he drew his lightsaber, shining his cracked, destroyed face for her to see, saying he was an abomination, and that no master would take him for he was too unstable, the Shi'ido Witch could hardly believe the bounty placed before her. Then, on the spot, he pledged himself to her teachings.

"I accept your apprenticeship..." she said, pulling out a small knife to cut open her palm, squirming, white blood spilling out as she traced the jagged moon on his forehead.

"I bless you, Darth Vindel , in the name of The Dark Side, in the name of the Unholy Spirit, I hereby welcome you into my order, The Cult of The Brain Demon, founded by Darth Phyre The Mind-Binder."

The Dark Side whirled around her and Vindel as she finished blessing him.

"Your first lesson, My Apprentice, is this: You are not an abomination. Your soul is beautiful, as mine is, for like the souls within me, it courses with the Dark Side. Do not pay attention to such crude things as appearance. Magic can alter so trite a thing. See what is beneath...and I see a beautiful soul foolishly shunned by those old fools in the Empire. In the old days, in the golden age of the Sith, they'd have murdered each-other to get their hands on a powerful apprentice such as yourself. Or murdered you to keep their rivals from getting you. But their loss is The Dark Side's gain. You wouldn't have found fulfilment with them anyway. I moonlight as one of their fething Saaraishash Agents and I can barely stand the red tape. Sometimes you just wanna perform an unholy ritual on the locals, like so." she said gesturing to the horrific atrocity she had just commited. "But in the end, it should be about the glory of the Dark Side."

Her flesh shuddered everywhere as the Nexus of Darkness pulsed in the Force. She smiled at him.

"My Apprentice, here is your second lesson: draw the power of the Nexus into you. Hold nothing back as you do. Let it seep into every cell.

She stepped back, drawing her split-saber, purple blades shooting out of a black jeweled hilt that she spun elegantly around a muscular but Petite frame.

"And once you have done so...attack me with everything you have." she said, flesh on her wriggling and bunching up on one side for a second as her body metabolized the power of the Dark Nexus before going back to normal. "I must see what your current limits are, before I know how to break them."

As she waited for him to open himself to the Dark Nexus, than attack, she decided to get curious.

"Tell me of yourself, My Beautiful Apprentice. What do you want out of life? What caused you to seek the Dark to begin with. Motivations are everything, Vindel." she called out silkenly. "Look within yourself with the power of the Nexus, let it help you strip away the surface motivations. Do not fear the loss of sanity. Sanity is for the little people. Loss of sanity makes everything fun in the Darkness."

 

[Darth Vindel]

Vindel, honored by his new master, stood tall in the center of the pentagram. Unsure what to do with this 'nexus', he sat down onto the figure on his knees. He closes his eyes, and began to tell his master what she sought in him.

"The Jedi say that he dark side is what brings death and destruction. They say that life cannot be driven from the power of the dark side. Yet, for 24 years, I have lived off of the dark side alone. I can survive for weeks without food, I can walk for days without a single ounce of rest. They are fools for believing that the only thing that can come from the dark side is destruction. As for the Sith, I only align with their empire for their current path of conquest. Their war against the Silver Jedi Order has intrigued me. Once we hit the capital of their order, battles will scatter the skies, the buildings, the ground up. The younglings within the order shall need a teacher once the war is over. That is why I align myself with the sith. They will bring me to my ultimate goal. I wish to teach the damaged students of the order, how to survive, as I have. No doubt there will be many students who would be scarred by lightsaber and force combat. I specialize in staying alive, and using the pain from the past to fuel conquest. I shall teach them so. Once the Sith realize what I intend to do with the younglings, I shall be gone. I will travel to unknown space, and set up my own academy for the younglings, and any across the galaxy who wish to learn how to truly use the dark side. The Sith only wish to use them for conquest, I shall teach them how to survive, and how to grow as force users. I shall be known in Sith history, Sith for generations shall read my holocrons, I will be one of the greatest philosophers the Sith have ever known!"

Vindel calms, lowering his hood.

"Yet, I can barely use the dark side as it is. My parents were both sith, their own power courses within me. When I killed them, I felt more powerful, yet my sanity began to fail me. I have been a wanderer ever since then. The only thing I keep from my parents, was my father's lightsaber. A red blade, the one he used to kill Jedi before I was born."

Vindel raised his hood back up, now ready to channel the power of the nexus

He closed his eyes, and let every part of him go. He held nothing back, as his master commanded. He felt voices, he could feel the death caused before he had arrived. This was truly a mark of a Sith. The dark side was being channeled through every vain in his body, the could see red everywhere he turned his eyes. A vision glanced through his eyes, of the day his parents scarred him, he watched the child grow, into what he was. Then, he watched the silhouette of himself crumble as a blue light shrouded him. He saw a face he knew, but could not understand, or fathom.

As per his orders, he had enough of what he was shown. Vindel ignited his lightsaber and assumed a Djem So stance. He swung downwards with a powerful swing, as the ground beneath him cracked like his skin, and the dirt around him flew away, standing in the eye of the storm of his own creation.

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam was genuinely touched by his answer.

"See why your soul is beautiful, Lord Vindel?" She asked silkenly. "You are an Evangelist at heart as I am. For nearly four hundred years I have made it my life's work to do exactly what you propose. The ways of the old empire, they took the Sith far. Quite far. But the real war is in the hearts of every Force User. One of The Cult of The Brain Demon's chief functions is to turn as many people to the Dark Side as possible. If the person is not Force Sensitive They are either a slave, a plaything, or something to corrupt to the point they think as a Dark Sider for our own use...that last bit will be the closest to salvation and enlightenment that any non-Force User can hope to achieve. It is good that you desire to make others strong. To save them from the Light's shackles. Here is my second command to you, Lord Vindel. Walk without your hood, unashamed. I use my appearance to lull fools into passivity, only to increase their horror and despair when I reveal the truth of me. But I was once not so Femme-Fatale looking. I had to learn to appreciate me for me in a less enticing form long before I was able to develop the confidence to manipulate behind this artful shell you see before you. Unless you develope the confidence to admit to yourself and to others that you are a worker of The Bogan's designs, and revel in it, and take joy in enacting it, you will never develop the confidence you need to lead the Academy you dream of, my Beautiful Apprentice. The students, will see only the scars, not the man, not the mind, and certainly not your power. But do not fret at your current lack of skill, young one...I was no more than a whisper in the Force when I started out myself. You will grow into the role. I will aid you. And who knows? When you have finally broken the last of your restraints, you might not even have the desire to conceal your nature beneath a pleasing appearance as I do. Confidence is half the battle in Mastery."

The Amalgam smiled as he rose to attack her. A Djem So Stance. He was power, and his power was his style and his style was his power. A glorious self-reinforcement.

She focused pure Hatred and Rage as the blade arced towards her, her muscles bulging everywhere, black veins popping out of her neck and forehead, eyes turning black as she caught the blade with her staff, forcing him backward with immense, wookiee like strength, sprinting at him with vicious, dizzying spins of her staff, trying to throw off his defense in her Niman style.

Darth Vindel

 

[Darth Vindel]

Vindel was tossed back with strength he had never felt before. Never, had he been thrown back after attempting his strike. He flew a few feet above the air before he landed on his feet, still unbalanced and unprepared for what was to come. He looked ahead, noticing his master spin at him with her staff.

"Powerful, yet..."

Vindel leaped over his master, landing right on one of the village huts that surrounded them.

"...Even form 6 has it's weaknesses!"

He jumped down and assumed a Makashi form. He Held his blade pointed downwards, and used his other hand to pull down his hood.

(close enough image i guess)

He stared his master dead in the eye and stood in a form 2 stance for quite some time, watching his master with a close eye. Being held together with dark side energy, he could quite literally wait there forever. However, this was not necessary. The rage fueled Vindel with a powerful fury. He stood taller, staring down his petite master, and knowing exactly what to do. He lifted his free hand and directed all of his fingers at her, and released a powerful force lightning attack!

"Now, master, show me what power you have to offer me! Show me what you can do against my own power! Show me why I turn to you, Master!!!"

 

[The Amalgam]

"Ah, now, my Beautiful Apprentice, it is always one thing to know a weakness...it is a far different thing to be able to exploit it effectively." She hissed, though she was admittedly impressed he scaled her vicious spin attacks. She inwardly grew wary as he entered a Makashi stance, as all Form 6 users with true mastery should

You have embarked on a path of following the Bogan the multitude of evil minds including the one primarily in charge that he was interacting with spoke in his mind via telepathy.

It is a long and difficult path, but the only true path. You have even been given already at such a young age many important blessings, long before you received mine: Anger, Despair, Fear, and Desperation. All of these build armies and societies, and put the weak in their place as tools, or their souls to become food for the strong such as you and...us. The Unholy Spirit, the patron from which we take our Cult's name, knew this, and haunted the minds of the Sith Flesh Smiths until they used their great power to download their knowledge and resolve into a body filled with a hand picked corrupted soul. This creature became Darth Phyre. She was the first of us. The first to enact the type of Unholy Ritual you saw tonight. To truely embrace the Darkness, you must delight in cruelty and torment of the innocent and the powerless. This is the will of the Bogan. Just as it has enhanced my flesh, it has enhanced yours.

She wanted him to understand the importance of The Dark Side, and the importance of the Cult's history. He had to understand, or he would never have what it took to lead his own order, which was a goal The Amalgam was sincerely interested in helping him achieve. So many Dark Users are in it solely for themselves. Vindel was one of the few that actually had passion and a vision. She delighted in helping these types to enlightenment, and felt a deep moment of gratitude to the Bogan as she actually watched his soul become slightly more beautiful with the Dark Side in real time, the Bogan telling her what the newly blessed Darth intended.

Purple electricity arced around her rage infused flesh, causing it to wriggle as the lightning struck her body. A Sith Lightning Shield. Some of the pain got through but no where close to disabling.

Darth Phyre was wise, and cruel, and brought the Darkness to all still functioning planets during the Gulag Plague, feeding on scores of innocents either for pleasure, to fuel her intense, fiery rampages, or both. You would do well to follow the example you see all around you. We, after all, delight in this sort of thing where possible.

She finally chose to speak out loud.

"I see you have the gift of lightning. I know things about lightning you only heard about in nightmares. You wish to see my power? Very well..." the beast hissed, raising her arms.

Her flesh wriggled everywhere looking like it was melting at points, as she called down a Force Storm. It was at full strength...if he really was holding his body together with the Bogan, then he should be able to survive it.

Heavy, thick bolts of purple lightning impacted on the ground in a deadly, constant stream that traveled on the ground, heading to Darth Vindel . Could he withstand the attack? It mattered not. After she was done with this man he would be able to take four of these.

Vindel genuinely intrigued her. To the silent astonishment of the evil people within the beautiful shell, they found they actually liked him, just for his motivation. If only more Dark Adepts had such pure motives...

 

[Darth Vindel]

Vindel stood unfocused. The voices which spoke to Vindel in his mind distracting him from his own force lightning. He lost control of his power, and the beams of energy began to slip from his power. He heard his master speak to him, her true power was yet to come, despite all of his force lightning not being enough to phase her. Vindel watched as her arms stretched out, not even aware of the power they could hold.

He looked to his master, a small glimmer of fear struck his eyes, when purple strands of lightning came from underneath him, and engulfed him in pain. Any power he had in his own force lightning was gone, any power used to hold himself together was bare. For the first time since his scarring, he felt helpless. He fell to his knees and onto his side, curled up and screaming in agony. He could barely hold himself from dying. If my master is so powerful as this, why must she choose me as her apprentice? Why not a more powerful Sith? Vindel thought.

He brought himself to his knees, the purple glow surrounding his body, as he attempted to stand. He could not, his knees were his limit now. He stared into the eyes of his master, looking into her purple eyes, yet closing his own.

Get your voices out of my head. I have enough to focus on as it is. I don't need your own power within my mind. You've shown me what you can do, Master. You've shown me what you're capable of, now see what the dark side has given me!!!

Vindel raised his hand, his palm taking in some of the dark lightning. He stood up, keeping a firm figure, before pulling his hood back over his face. He turned his palm into a fist, and allowed the lightning to engulf him once more. Now, he stood still, allowing the lightning to strike every inch of him.

He lifted his leg, shaking violently. He took a step towards his master, and repeating once more. He took agonizingly slow steps towards his Master, before he stood mere inches from her.

"Pain is a gift, Master. If one is to embrace it, it makes them stronger. This lesson is known among the Sith, because it speaks the truth. Now, Master, I suggest you end this storm before you create a monster you cannot control."

He stared his master down, motionless.

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam smiled as he crumpled at the attack, feeding off his agony to make herself stronger.

Oh, you misunderstand, Apprentice. Being able to fight, to focus while someone is actively attempting to overwhelm you is an essential part of mastering The Dark Side. If you cannot fight while someone is merely needling your mind with idle talk, you'll crumple when they 'really' want to mess with your head. You want me out? Fight me!

She could feel his doubt as to his worth. He didn't even know how worthy he made himself in her eyes as he attempted to stand, then finally stood, the Amalgam let him feel her inner delight at his efforts as he stood before her constant barrage, suggesting she stop shocking him.

"That's a very wise suggestion, Lord Vindel..." she hissed, cutting off the lightning.

"Unstable, they called you..." she said softly. "Nonsense. They were afraid. They were afraid of you. All who are wise should be. I shall have to keep a very close eye on you my Beautiful Apprentice..."

The Amalgam reached up, her fingers touching his damaged face, tracing the cracks.

"Each scar a road traveled, a challenge overcome. Overcome with pain. You speak the truth, Vindel. But there are many ways to embrace pain, Vindel. You get your strength from your inner pain, which is a good start. But the more advanced state of enlightenment is to cause pain to the innocent, which is my strength...and pleasure..."

The now muscular Witch took a step back.

"Shall we resume our duel? Or would you like some insight into my power? It would be a delight to explain whatever you ask, Apprentice. Just be aware though, for every secret you learn, the greater the danger becomes. But as a certain pop singer once put it...if its not rough...it isn't fun."

The Amalgam waited for him to continue attacking her or ask something. She was happy to do both.

 

[Darth Vindel]

"Master, though I would enjoy to continue our duel, I do not think I am capable of taking another shock like that. Perhaps I could surprise you, as I have, or perhaps it will kill me. Either way, as Sith, many duels shall come in time for us. But for now, I must ask that we postpone our fighting. Much to both of our disliking."

Vindel walked behind his Master, holding out his lightsaber, as he knelt before her.

"You are the teacher that I have sought in the force, you are the dark one in which I have seen in my dreams. Yet I must ask you, how does one fall so far from the light? I follow the Dark Side because it sustains my life force, it empowers me, it keeps me on my feet. You seem to use it for fun, and to torture anything inferior to you. I am impressed. Carnifex would be, too, if not for his stubbornness."

Vindel looked around, and spotted a corpse in the village. He held out his arm, aiming at the deceased. A bright blue wave exited his glove, and shrouded the body in electricity.

"I do not possess the power you do. Any other sith teacher would simply end me where I stood fir being inferior. I lost many friends that way, back when i studied in the academies, I had a beautiful woman by my side. Before I met her, I was lucky to pull off force lightning at all. After teh Sith took her away because they said it "halted my training", I never saw her again. I knew that they killed her, what else couls they have done? That is when I realized that the Empire was flawed. The Sith Order itself was flawed. Countless potential warlords, murdered for traditional values. If we are to kill the Jedi, we shouldn't be killing our own soldiers!!!"

He stood tall and began to rage!

"We stand with strength in numbers, we stand in strength in the quality of our soldiers, but if that is so, why did they take her from me? Why did they take her from me?! TELL ME WHY, CARNIFEX!!! TELL ME WHY SHE'S DEAD!!!"

In his rage, Vindel raised the hut behind him with frightening speed, and crushed it into a ball of ash and the corpses within. After the ball fell, Vindel fell with it, to the ground.

He was tired, he had once again overpowered himself.

 

[The Amalgam]

"Very well then, my Beautiful Apprentice. Let your body recover. We indeed have many more duels between us." The Amalgam conceeded to Darth Vindel . "You actually did rather well. Most 'apprentices' would have been outright killed."

As he knealt before her, his obedience and humility deeply gratifying to the monstrosity instructing him, the beast's face twisted into one of open delight as he asked how she got to where she was.

"Ah, but what was it I told you earlier about surface appearances, Vindel? Our packaging may be quite different but take my word for it...I use the Dark in the exact same way, it is merely that I am farther ahead. Now as to how I got this way..." she trailed, taking his lightsaber and examining it. Good starter weapon. Nice patina. She handed it back to him, taking a seat at a nearby swamp log not covered in gore.

"I could not have started farther from glory if I had tried. Once, before I was infused with the minds of the witches in my line before me, I was little more than a street vagrant. Didn't have much ambition until I got the gift of desperation and fury, and took a life in revenge. I was horrified at first, and for a long time fled from what I felt within me, that taste of the Dark Side for the first time. Tried to go straight. It all went horribly wrong of course, by The will of the Bogan, and that is when I was found by my Master, The Congregation. She taught me everything I know...but here you are, using it in the language of the Bogan's detractors, with such loaded words as 'fallen' to describe you and me. We are not fallen. We fulfill an important function in The Universe, and that is to make sure The Bogan's presence thrives everywhere inside that universe, whether there is a Sith Empire to spread it in a more concrete way or not. We are not fallen in any way, shape or form. We walk the road of truth, my Beautiful Apprentice."

She smiled again, in a surprisingly warm manner, all the more unsettling given the horror she was responsible for in this place, as he tested his lightning on a corpse, then frowned a bit as he proclaimed his inferiority.

"And 'you' are not inferior. You approached me without fear, faced me with only the small shadows in your soul against the ocean of Darkness the souls inside me command. You are inexperienced. Not inferior. Doubt has killed more Sith than any Jedi ever could. Do not become yet another scalp on its trophy wall." She admonished quietly, like a stern schoolmaster.

To her delight, she felt the fierce anger within him build, and it was clear he had a lot more sources of his pain and anger than just his familiy. She even sympathized, because the main persona in control of this body, the Woman known as Leejun Forrwiirmeni had loves of her own.

"I can definitely answer that question. You see, where the Old School Sith are concerned, you have to consider that their training method can be described as what in modern parlance would be termed 'Trolling'. Trolling is understood as doing or saying things to others to provoke a response, often a negative one. The Old School Sith are masters at trolling the young and inexperienced such as yourself, and to their credit, it produces results more often than not, but is crude, and your case, results in a waste of perfectly viable Dark Users. That said, the Darkest acts can come from caring for others. It drove Anakin Skywalker to eventually become Darth Vader and tear the Jedi Order from their corrupt stranglehold on the Galaxy. It would be nice to have a companion to tear apart the innocent together with, but sadly that isn't always possible. As hard as this might be to believe, I understand how you feel, not being with such a person."

She watched as he collapsed after screaming his question.

"How much did you care for this woman, Vindel?" she asked.

 

[Darth Vindel]

Vindel fell to his hands and knees, holding himself up on all fours. He spoke quietly, he spoke once again in a calm manner.

"She was everything to me for the longest time. I fed my own power from her, keeping her safe, keeping her happy. It was this power that led me to become as powerful as I was. The dark side had taken my sanity, taken my family, and now had even taken the one woman who I had ever met, and looked upon me with loving eyes, away from me. I kept her close to me to make sure she never got hurt, but it only lead to her death. That was three years ago, and it took me those three years to realize that the Empire had been taking the dark side in it's own way. Why were my parents so argumentative? Why did they meet in the first place? Why was my one true love taken from me? The Empire is to blame for all of these things. They have taught me nothing, everything I have learned in my lifetime, I learned through my own experiences. I learned how to use the dark side through my parents, I learned how to harness passion and rage through my lover, and I learned how to survive on my own, by holding my own existence together for 24 years straight. I only recently realized what I must do to end the empire."

Vindel stood up, towering over his environment, he walked to his master and knelt before her.

"The Sith Empire has only destroyed the possibilities of the Sith. I am going to attempt to start a Sith Revolt. A separatist movement among the Empire, in secret. Once our numbers are high enough, we shall split off from the Empire, and create our own order within the compact cluster of the wild space. We shall be near the Jedi, but not yet attempting war. As we build up an army, the Sith Empire would have to push through the Jedi defense in order to reach our space. It is a risky plan, however it will benefit the Sith for generations to come. I alone cannot teach all of the Sith within our new order, if I am successful in my campaign, would you be willing to leave the empire behind, and join our new order against the war mongering Empire?"

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam listened as Darth Vindel explained just how much he loved the woman they had killed.

Vindel was young: He didn't understand how much this resonated with the monstrosity he had accepted into his life.

"I know exactly how you feel..." she said solemnly, almost jealous that the person he loved actually returned his affections, only to be snatched away. The Loss had made him powerful but also filled him with doubt. Especially in regards to his family. Just like her daughters rejecting the Darkness even as her bloody, inhuman actions ensured the Bogan would slowly but surely seep into them regardless had driven her to levels of emotional pain and hatred she had never experienced before.

"I never knew my parents. My earliest memories are scrambling to dig through a trash can at age 007 just to find something to eat. But if I had to venture a guess, Apprentice, the reason your parents argued is because they gave a damn. One's heirs are serious business after all. As to why they met--who could know why two Adepts come to love each other. Could be destiny. Could be power. Could be both. Could be anything. The important result is...you."

If they were arguing over your future with the empire--which is what I imagine it was, its likely because one or both of them were aware of the 'exact' problems you have become aware of concerning The Traditional Sith. Its why I never tried to gain too much influence with them--I would become as much a prisoner of their system as I would under the boot of a Jedi."

She could feel his pain as he spoke his inner turmoil, and while she intended to make him use that pain in new and exciting ways, it was the familiarity of the pain that caused her to elaborate.

"You wouldn't think someone like me could be capable of love, huh? A long time ago, you would have been right in assuming this. Doing stuff like what you witnessed tonight never left me much room to consider feeling anything for another, and still does not. But there are two. Only two. Only two people I am capable of truly loving, if indeed what I feel can be described as that...truth is sometimes even I don't know how to describe it. My daughters, both adopted. Y'know how I can understand your pain so much when long ago such sentiments would have been foreign and weak to me? My daughters reject the Bogan. They reject being beautiful like you, my Apprentice. They reject the Bogan. They reject me."

The unhinged fury slipped out a little in her voice as she spoke it.

"It is my fondest wish to one day annoint them in the Glory of The Dark Side, as I have you. To have them be as free as you and I are, and to treat our inferiors as slave, food, or plaything no matter who they are. But they continue to reject me, and the pain of that rejection drove me to greater enlightenment and determination in The Darkness. I have become more powerful from the pain of not being with the only two beings I can actually love...and that is why your love was taken from you, Vindel..." she said softly, almost matronly, but her flesh still occasionally wriggled and bunched up in places as the power of the dark nexus fluctuated, the stink of death from man woman, and youngling settling in, further illustrating her depravity and disconnection from normalcy. If it was indeed love she felt, it was twisted, mutilated, and perverted by The Darkness to drive her to greater extremes, and still she could not let go, despite possibly being aware on some level that she didn't deserve to have her "affections" returned after the horrors she had wrought through the centuries. But the Darkness always suppressed that last lingering sentiment very deep. Too deep for Vindel to sense.

"It's a mixed bag, Love." The beast remarked as her flesh settled back to normal. "The perfect fuel for motivation...and frustration."

Vindel then proclaimed his plans, and the Amalgam raised an eyebrow. This guy meant it. He was serious. The Bogan tingled with excitement.

However...

"You are indeed, truly ambitious Vindel. And indeed, I am dissatisfied with the Empire's short sighted nature as well. But what you propose takes more than just us. We are talking logistics. Supply lines. Allies. More powerful slaves. Weapons. And the timing of splitting off must be absolutely flawless. Also, and this is a big sticking point, our empire, our citizen-slaves in said empire, will have to be truly devoted to the Dark Side. It must be taught in the schools. In civics. In politics. But yes, if we can do all that...and we can make sure we aren't killed off within weeks or months of doing so...I would be ecstatic to help guide a whole legion of adepts to freedom, and to make their souls gorgeous, like yours is becoming the more your pain rages in you. Yes, I would be interested...but we are a long way off, Dark Lords were not created in a day, and there is still the matter of Carnifex. You must master yourself first and foremost. Come apprentice, we have spent enough time among this pit of the unworthy, and frankly, the detritus of my spirtual feasting. You're gonna love the ship..."

The Amalgam beckoned him to follow as she began to walk out of the swamps. Eventually her ship came into view, a sterile white, sleek vessel reminsicent of a stubbier and flatter J-Type 327 Nubian, but it still looked magnificent.

"My mobile base of operations, The Corrupted Flesh. An X-70B Phantom Class Yacht reproduction...there is a guest room aboard for you..." she explained, opening the ramp and heading aboard, through the pristine black interior with red leaf patterns to a sterile white luxury guest quarters, circular in shape, the restroom and mess area concealed behind wall panels.

"Would you care for some tea, Apprentice? You must be sore after getting turned into bacon by me, never mind all the walking you had to do to get here. Do you eat? I've sometimes met people with a similar ability to you. Some had to eat. Some didn't. Power scaling sometimes gets a little confusing...no two Force Users manifest the same power in the same way."

 

[Darth Vindel]

As they began to walk to the ship, Vindel continued to explain

"I understand that I am not yet ready to fully control the power of the dark side. Carnifex is still far more powerful than I. The wild space territories have small, easily subjugated populations within them, slaves are of no real problem, but an army, and a navy are what we lack. This buildup will take some time, and Carnifex will have no idea what he crossed."

Walking aboard the vessel, Vindel was amazed. The ships he flew in the past were nothing in comparison. He walked through the ship, inspecting his surroundings. His master asked him if refreshments were of welcome.

"Hey, just because I can survive for days without food or drink, doesn't mean I'm not human. I still need them to survive. I haven't had tea in the longest time, I usually just down Tarisian Ale after I've somehow managed the credits for it. Say what you want about older drinks, that stuff can get a person wasted within the first few sniffs."

Walking into the guest quarters, looking in awe of it's amazing class, and speaking a tad louder across the ship.

"But yes, I would love some tea, I can't look around this ship, and not need some of that extra class. If Thrawn were still alive to see this, I'm sure it would make him cry. You should be proud."

Vindel took the tea prepared for him, and lowered his hood to take tiny sips, he looked to his master.

"Your daughters, do they look towards the Jedi for knowledge? Or do they simply not see the force as you do?"

 

[The Amalgam]

The Amalgam prepared tea, revealing the mess area. Pouring the black tea into steel tea cups with rubber grips.

"Oh, you don't need to tell me the effects of Tarisian Ale." The Amalgam assured him, acting all pleasant, as if the past few few minutes they had spent together had not just displayed how much of a monstrosity she was. But that was the point: she was unashamed of her brutality and horrid, murderous, merciless nature, and wished her Beautiful Apprentice to become the same.

Vindel, after taking a sip, asked where they stood on the scale.

The Amalgam smirked a little.

"One does. The other is a syncretist. I cannot abide my daughters wallowing in such a wretched state. But plans are in motion to drive them to the Bogan, Apprentice. Plans are in motion on that front."

She began to lead him throughout the ship.

"The build-up will be complicated. No one must know you are my apprentice. The Cult of The Brain Demon operates and survives on stealth. We infiltrate. We subvert. Then we torture and crush."

The first stop was the armory, an entirely white chamber filled with white colored weapons.

"The Bogan has all answers, but punishes those who are unprepared should there come moments when the Bogan simply cannot be called upon the way you want."

She walked into the chamber, taking a sip of tea. It was not a simple tour. She was imparting small nodes of wisdom in him.

"Darth Tyranus was a gifted man. His soul must have been magnificent to gaze upon, as knowledgeable as he was of The Dark Side. But like many of the Old Sith...and many of the modern Sith--who like to repeat the mistakes of old--his chief flaw was his arrogance in thinking one style of fighting and the Dark Side would be enough to see him through. But some of the hidebound nature of royalty still guided his thinking--made him too proud to consider his particular fighting style might not be the best answer in every situation. The best warriors are those who learn and master multiple techniques. While one should always keep the Bogan first and foremost, The Bogan tests us by occasionally abandoning us to our own devices to see if we continue to deserve its glory. And when these tests of one's resolve come about, when we cannot simply 'get' our way with The Bogan--one learns quickly that abandoning more mundane measures of creating slaughter are severely short sighted."

She took another sip, leading her cracked and scarred apprentice to the engine room, just as immaculately white save for the golden cages around the main reactor.

"The ancient Sith Darth Traya understood that the strongest Force Users maintain earthly disciplines beyond preparing to fight. If you've survived this long without a teacher then surely you know of what I speak. At least a fair amount. An unorthodox, mundane solution can sometimes serve the cause of The Dark Side better than overt applications of its nature. Think heavily on this as we go forward, Lord Vindel."

Darth Vindel

 

[Darth Vindel]

"It will truly be a challenge to hide me for this time, master. It would be impossible, for at some point, we would be seen training, or plotting. The only thing we can do until then is try our best not to be seen. Gathering allies, and only when we split, shall Carnifex see the truth of his 'loyal imperialists'. The Cult of the Brain Demon operates on stealth, then so shall I. I shall train in open fighting, but refrain from using it, as I hide in the shadows of the Sith."

His master told him of the Sith arrogance, Darth Tyranus and the continued mistakes of the Sith.

"Tyranus was weaker than most thought. As I recall, he was murdered by a young Darth Vader, before his suit and enhancements. An improvement for Sidious, at the most. Maul was murdered by Vader's original master, while he was still a padawan. The older Sith ways only consist of an apprentice murdering their master, and thus leaving less room for mistakes. This only cuts down on the Sith, making them weaker, and causes civil wars within civil wars. The Dark Side is a weapon that Tyranus took for granted, and that is why he was bested."

He followed his master into the engine room, and took another sip of his tea as did she. She told him of the ancient Sith Master, Traya, the Lord of Betrayal.

"Traya knew the ways of the Sith better than any other ancient Sith Lord, or modern Sith Lord. Even when she stood before her apprentice, she let him live, even with Meetra Surik. Traya was a simple Sith, and that is what makes her so deadly, nobody would expect her to stab you in the back. Though she rarely did it, it was her most powerful ally. I shall think heavily on your words in the future, master."

Vindel finished his cup of tea, and turned to his master.

"Well, you've caught my attention with heavenly tea, and stories of ancient Sith. It's not like I'm leaving this ship anytime soon, now. May I ask where our destination is set for? Where we shall strike destruction throughout the Galaxy?"

 

[The Amalgam]

"Oh, hiding will be difficult but it can be done. You are right though: There will come a point where our scheming can no longer be hidden from Carnifex. But that will not be for some time. But as to your query...I'm so glad you asked..." The Amalgam trailed with an evil smirk.

"We journey to Mimban. As a matter of fact that's why you caught me stuffing myself silly on those weaklings: A group of powerful lightsiders seeks to defile one of our cult's temple's deep in its jungles, and I was building myself up on pilfered life force to take them on. Mimban is an extremely dangerous jungle. Only the strong survive it."

The Amalgam led him back to the guest quarters she had first shown him, passing by the circular bed recessed into the floor and hitting a panel, which revealed a metal locker, which she opened up, retrieving two boxes, both white.

"I knew there was a reason I had retrieved these from storage recently." The Witch said more to herself. "I see now that The Bogan was preparing me to receive you into my tutelage."

She laid the boxes on a nearby workbench recessed into an Alcove, opening them up. The first contained a Lightsaber, and the second contained a Pistol and mods.

"Your initiation presents." she explained. "I do have one bit of knowledge to impart, however..."

The Amalgam turned to him.

"It is the way of our cult to enjoy in causing despair and suffering. We have developed specialized magic to inflict this. One of our favorite spells for causing it is the Spell of Psychic Fire, which causes loss of morale and severe depression if the victim fails to resist. We can feed on the negative emotion of such a victim of ours for hours or days before dispatching them. But to understand the magic the best. It must first be inflicted upon you. Kneel, My Beautiful Apprentice."

She waited a few moments for him to do so before she concentrated the Dark Side in herself and spoke the words of Power:

"Unholy Spirit, pour forth my hatred..." she whispered.

Her flesh wriggled for a second as a purple light glowed in the back of her throat before she opened her mouth wide and purple flames came rushing out to bathe on him.

The flames could not harm him physically, but they were meant to have potentially devastating effects if he was not strong enough to resist.

Feed on the despair it makes you feel. Do not turn from it, Lord Vindel. Feed on the ugliness it drags up. Only then will you understand how to best inflict this spell on your lessers and your rivals. Only then shall you truly start on the road to understanding how to make Carnifex suffer The Amalgam communicated telepathically as she continued to breathe the psychic fires on her new Apprentice.

 

[Darth Vindel]

Vindel looked at his initiation presents, he smiled with a devilish grin as he realized they were soon to be used to wipe out the Jedi. Lightsiders attempting to defile dark history, is simply a sin he could not ignore. He could already imagine the crimson rod of his blade, pulsing energy as it rips through Jedi flesh. Did he enjoy his gifts? No, for no word could describe his excitement, corrupting his subconscious and conscious minds.

His master told him of the darker magic used by his Master and her cult, he grew to the liking of training darker than the Sith would tell, powers that even Lord Carnifex himself would find to be unholy, and unnatural. The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural, yet these powers would make the unnatural look unreal. His interest was heightened by the mention of Psychic Fire, the mere title of it drowned his mind in ideas of pain to the innocent, the depression and fear it causes, could make him a considerable force against the Jedi.

As his master commanded him to kneel, he did so with great speed, and great excitement. His master called upon the unholy demons of the dark side, the dark forces that dwelled only in shadow and evil, now making home to himself. The purple flames covered him, as if it was liquid, yet it fell to the floor as a gas. It did not burn, yet he felt something within himself. He heard his master speak to him through his mind, he could feel the despair she spoke of, he could hear the voices behind her own. He looked inside, and saw it. The feeling of depression struck like a wave, followed by his own worst fears. He stood still, kneeling before his master, and grinning on his outside, as his inside fell to torture, and pain. He opened his eyes, the coursing purple flames filled his body, and the yellow in his eyes shined with bright fury. He felt better than he ever had, in his entire life. He lifted his head, and stared his master in the eye, letting the flames enter him through his eyes, surrounding his vision in a purple blur, only occasionally seeing through it, to gaze at his master.

"Master, I can feel the pain in which you speak, the horror in which you present to me. I have never felt such hatred, such fear, such depression..."

He paused to open his arms, welcoming the flames as if they were death itself.

"This is the power the dark side holds, this is beyond anything I have ever seen...I love it!!!"

He laughed a powerful noise, an evil sound that would corrupt worlds to his submission, and as he could feel the pain that deprived him of hope, love, and compassion, he looked back on it as a sign of his strength. Only now, may his power grow, with his master.

"Master, this pain you send forth to me, I must learn to use it, I must watch my enemies crumble as you do!"

His excitement only grew as the pain grew larger within him.