The Pale Death
As much as Veradun wished to stay on Mustafar with his blood brother, the tall and pale forever-youth knew that he would have to return to his Master’s fortress at some point. He had stayed long enough to learn from his Sangnir Sire, learn what he was now, and adjust to his new existence. It hadn’t been without its trials and challenges, and the fledgling knew that many more would arise as he existed in the present moment and stepped into the future. A future that now, for him, extended far beyond mortal comprehension.
Returning back to Anoat would be somewhat of a challenge, but it was nothing that was beyond the Sith apprentice. To conceal his outing and hopefully any ties he had to Kasir and to Mustafar, the youth kept his transmitter and tracking beacon deactivated on his ship even as he left the volcanic world behind and journeyed into the vastness of space. It was here where he would enact the next phase of his plan - and so the freshly turned Lowblood went on the hunt for pirates or other criminals that lurked within the Blackwall. The Sith Empire was full of individuals that would go to any length in order to maintain their pitiful existence. It was something that Veradun was counting on.
It didn't take too long for someone to fall for his bait as he guided the ship through a lane that was frequented by raiders. An idling ship off in the distance noticed him around the time that he noticed them. A dark grin tugged formed on his lips as he made a half decent attempt at escape, trying to out-maneuver the ship that trailed him. Plasma fire ripped into his shields, and he purposefully disengaged them - allowing his ship to be ripped into and mostly disabled. Calmly and quietly, Veradun left the cockpit as the pirates maneuvered themselves for boarding, and he felt the ships lock together as he slipped into the shadows and waited with the patience of a predator that knew that prey was coming to it.
Veradun waited for the opportune moment, then launched his attack against the initial boarders. The first, a human woman from her appearances, went down with a loud snap of bone and a thud against durasteel as the Sith apprentice used the Force to snap her neck, before appearing in the blink of an eye in the face of a near-human male that didn’t even have time to register what was happening before his chest was being impaled by Veradun’s fist, supernatural strength allowing him to punch through flesh and bone and beyond. The scent of freshly spilled blood filled the area and poured over Veradun’s senses like a waterfall, awakening his hunger as it ripped through his veins. A couple of others tried to retrieve their weapons, but they were no match for the killing fury that he unleashed. Another ship raider managed to fire off a couple of bolts at him from a drawn blaster, before they met the same fate as their compatriots. Silence soon descended upon his trapped and crippled vessel, but he knew that they were not the only ones. There were others on the raider's ship…he could sense them.
Time to enact his plan.
Veradun moved quickly, too quickly for the mortal eye to track at times, leaving one ship and boarding the other before hunting through the ship and murdering everyone he came across. Before too long, all were dead except for the pilot of the ship, and they were spared only to feed his hunger. The pilot, a Twilek hybrid of some sort, begged for his life but the Thirst demanded to be satiated. Veradun had learned a measure of control over his desire to constantly feed while he had remained under his Sire’s guidance, but here he showed no restraint and fed until there was nothing left for him to take, before he dropped the bloodless corpse to the floor and idly wiped the residue blood from his mouth and chin, eyes glimmering with a killer’s satisfaction.
But even with the raiders dead, he could still sense the pulse of life somewhere, and he let his instincts guide him towards the cargo hold. There, he found a group of scattered individuals of various races and ages and genders, bound within a sealed chamber. Slaves.
Or at least, they were probably on their way to market and towards enslavement. And now they were his. A cruel smile tugged at Veradun’s pale lips when he heard them plead for help, for release. He could return home with a gift for his Master, hopefully something that would appease the Dark Lord’s wrath that was sure to come.
It was time to return home, and the former Nagai wasted no more time; he jettisoned the bodies before he settled in the cockpit and released the lock between the two ships, then turned the canons upon his old ship, destroying it completely before setting the coordinates for Anoat and sending the vessel into hyperspace.
The flight did not take long…an hour at most…before Veradun was breaking through the toxic and familiar atmosphere of the horrid planet he called home for the time being. Darth Nefaron’s fortress loomed in the distance, illuminated by flashes of lightning from the ever present and raging storm that existed around the Sith bastion of terror and suffering. The Sith guided the vessel to a landing bay, where a group of Legionnaires gathered with weapons, ready to attack as the vessel was unknown to them…that was until Veradun stepped forth. Though his appearances bore subtle changes, the corpse soldiers were too simple minded to see or notice such things, but they did recognize the power and presence of the one that served their Lord and Master, and they dropped to their knees in submission to one of their overlords.
“There are slaves in the cargo hold.” Veradun said to them in a flat voice after a long pause, before he moved off and towards the Fortress itself. His Master had not been on Anoat when he had left, but he couldn’t say if that remained the case now. He wasn’t entirely sure just how long he’d been gone either. No doubt there would be some sort of wrath directed at him, but now Veradun was confident that he could more than withstand such a thing.
The pale young man took a lift from the hangar to one of the main Fortress floors, and stepped off to stalk silently down one of the shadowed halls and towards one of the many great chambers that he could access, keen to see if his dear Master had any information about what he was now. The door to the library opened with a hiss and the former Nagai stepped across its threshold, and instantly came to a halt as a rather sweet and alluring scent washed over him, filled his mind and made him zone in on its source, the whispers of thirst echoing in his mind and prickling just underneath his skin. Piercing blue eyes with their faint glow shifted and settled upon a figure he had not seen since before he left.
Eurydice.
She was here…which meant so was his Master, somewhere. No doubt the Dark Lord already knew his prodigal Apprentice had returned; Veradun would be foolish to assume otherwise.
“Hello Eurydice...” Veradun greeted in a low and soft voice like sweet poison as he made a slow approach, his steps measured and almost predatorial. “...Did you enjoy your little outing with our Master?”