Before - Legends Risen - SW:TOR Sith origin story (one-shot)

Notes: A couple of months ago I wrote a note that I couldn't get into Star Wars, hadn't been truly in it for years, but that it's always been my first nerd love and I knew something would pull me back in sooner or later. Well, that "something" turned out to be SWTOR, thank you Bioware... I'm so back in.

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All your life you have been trained for one thing: obedience. Conditioned well to [i]know[/i] that if one of the Sith gives an order, you follow it without hesitation.

A lazy cuff is the [i]best[/i] you can hope for, if they don?t like the way you look at them, if they overhear a bit of mumbling at the wrong moment.

It?s a beating if you move too slowly, if they decide they don?t like your attitude or that you just need a [i]reminder[/i] of who?s in charge. The overseers all carry whips, and they?re not hesitant to use them, even on the youngest kids. You were so young the first time that you can?t remember [i]not[/i] being afraid of those thin metallic cords that cut deep and leave bloody weals across your back. But even through the pain you realized that there was little justice in those punishments.

You?re [i]still[/i] young, but slaves don?t stay children for long. You?ve lost count of the number of times you?ve bled under that lash, and you [i]know for sure[/i] that they take pleasure in hurting you, the same way you?ll take pleasure in hurting others.

You are [i]Sith[/i], after all. A slave, but there?s something in you that makes you [i]different[/i], a little bit of power that comes from pain.

Oh, they don?t like [i]that[/i] at all, and they begin to realize the whip is not enough to keep [i]you[/i] in line.

Even bound and bleeding, there is that defiant fire in your eyes, that knowledge of your [i]specialness[/i]. They can?t take it away from you, and they [i]try.[/i]

But you resist.

And the consequences for outright disobedience are [i]so much worse. [/i]

Electric agony as they conjure magical lightning that dances across their fingers as they tickle them against your skin with casual smiles. As the current jolts through your blood and bones, it paralyzes you, there?s nothing you can do [i]but[/i] take it, biting on your lower lip until the blood spills over your chin. The light is dazzling, a brilliant blue-white that crackles and sparks, and it?s amazing how something so [i]pretty[/i] can [i]hurt[/i] so much.

But even this is not the end.

The lightning [i]hurts[/i], but it doesn?t doom you. You would not be the first nameless slave to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Lords find excuses to play with their property, after all, that?s why you?re [i]here[/i]. Sometimes the overseers cull those they feel deserve a bit of extra correction, and simply wait, for the Lords who have made a name for themselves through particular cruelty, and then you learn what [i]real[/i] fear is.

But they can still get bored, they can still toss you aside, a nameless slave is not worth hurting, not [i]really[/i]. A nameless slave can be forgotten, can get lost among hundreds of others like them. A nameless slave can die, and no one will care.

But [i]you[/i] are not nameless anymore. You are not allowed to die.

They?re [i]interested[/i] in you now, they [i]see[/i] your strength.

You?re at the mercy of this deceptively calm looking man with the tattoo above his left eye. Some Sith marking, that old language you see all around you, but you don?t understand it. You can?t read in [i]any[/i] language, after all.

You don?t know what it [i]says[/i], but you know what it means. He?s earned it, he?s [i]survived and thrived[/i] through this [i]training[/i] that you don?t yet know you are enduring.

Except that even as he laughs, tracing his sharp fingernail along the curve of your neck, you recognize all the things you have in common with him, and you laugh too, a broken chuckle that bubbles through the blood that flows from your split lip.

Oh, he?d [i]kill[/i] you if he knew the thoughts inside your head, [i]but he doesn?t[/i]. The thought makes you gid

 

Well done! I know exactly how you feel- it was Knights of the Old Republic that did the same thing for me eight years ago. Bioware seems to have that effect on people. I haven't played any of the Sith origin stories on TOR, but this seems like it would be a fascinating one to explore. I hope you write more TOR stories, particularly with this character. Great job!