Before - Legends Masters of the Dark Side (Short Story, OC)

Title: Masters of the Dark Side
Timeframe: KotoR era.
Characters: OC
Summary: A former cultist has dedicated his life to finding the Jedi that took his "family". Now, after years of search and of learning the power of the dark side, his vengeance may finally be at hand.
Notes: Just a short little one-off story I whipped up. All criticism and feedback encouraged. Enjoy!

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Hate was the greatest motivator Vatei had ever known. No fire had ever burned so fiercely, made every breath taste like ash. Hate had taken him half way across the galaxy, brought him to the edge of death and back again and forged him into the weapon he needed to be.

It had brought him here, to crouch among the grey, naked trees, the heavy rain pattering against his black armour in an endless rhythm. White bones scattered the ground. It was an appropriate place to end his long journey, a place so dead that even this seemingly endless rain could never breathe life back into it.

The drops ran smoothly across his hairless head, along the striking black tattoos that crossed his scalp, and dripped down over his narrow face. The cold had turned his skin, the white of a Rattataki, yet paler still and Vatei knew that to anyone else, he would look dead already. It seemed right, somehow.

He knew why no life could survive here, why the air had a foul taste to it and why his skin crawled even beneath his armour. The dark side of the Force was everywhere; soaked into the ground and the dead bones, in the trees and in the storm itself. The dark side killed everything it touched, in time and it had been here for a very long time.

It would take Vatei too, one day. No one escaped the dark side without eventually giving what was owed, willingly or not and that was something Vatei had made peace with. He had learned the secrets that should never be known, done the things that should never be done.

The Force had always been strong in him, but the light could never have given him what he needed. It was only the power of his hate that pushed Vatei through the furious storm, through the forest of the dead, towards the only goal that made his cold life worth living.

He was going to kill a Jedi.

He couldn't quite guess why Master Vis Ryova had come to Sierus, this Force-forsaken planet. There were some small gatherings of civilisation scattered across the world, some mining facilities, but none anywhere near. The nearest was long abandoned, its residents either fled or having become a part of the forest.

Ryova wouldn't be the first Jedi Vatei had killed. The first had been an accident, an improvised interrogation that had inadvertently proven to Vatei that Jedi were indeed mortal. The second had nearly cost him his life and reminded him that he himself was not immortal. The third had been easy, proof that he was ready.

All three had been means to an end, an end that was finally in sight. For a brief moment, Vatei wondered what life would look like tomorrow. Either he would be dead or his quest would be over, which would be almost like death in itself, in a way.

Ahead of him, the forest gave way to a clearing, wide and perfectly circular. Stone columns, seven feet tall and engraved with a language as dead as the trees, scattered the space in strange and deliberate weaving patterns. At its centre stood a small temple built of grey stone.

There was a chill to the air that had nothing to do with the rain or the wind or the distant clap of thunder. Even those weak in the Force could have felt it, and it sent a ripple of something like fear through Vatei.

Only a fool felt no fear at all and Vatei had felt so much of it in his short life, but this was something different. Primal, almost. Like death itself sat within those old stone walls, waiting for him. He supposed that wasn't entirely untrue.

There was only one entrance to the temple, a simple wooden door that somehow still stood after so many years. He stalked across the clearing, almost instinctively avoiding the columns as best he could. They made it impossible to walk in a straight line and despite having no features at all to do so, he felt their gaze upon him.

It made him feel oddly naked, as if there was no armour or bodysuit to protect his skin from the bitter, cold kiss of the rain. Vatei embraced the feeling and stood straight, now striding across the clearing. The dark side was an old acquaintance and he knew its tricks. He would not cower in its presence.

As he drew closer, he saw a faint, orange light from beneath the door's edge. His heart began to pound a little harder at the visual confirmation that there was someone inside. The cool rush of anticipation flowed through his body and made his mouth suddenly dry.

He unclipped both of his lightsabers from his belt, holding one in each hand, slightly apart from his body, and almost hesitated. The door stood before him, rattling in the wind. Vatei reached out with the Force and the door swung open, as if of its own accord.

The interior consisted of a single tall chamber, lit only by the fire of a dozen torches set in the walls. Shadows owned the room, dancing in the firelight. There were no windows and though maybe once the grey walls had been covered in trappings and decorations, time and greedy hands had long ago stripped them bare.

Vatei walked slowly across the hall, his footsteps silent against the floor. His hands gripped the hilts of his weapons so tight that his knuckles were likely white beneath his gloves. He made his heartbeat steady, kept his breathing calm. Whether it was fear or thrill, it would not claim him.

At the room's end, a robed figure sat extremely still, but Vatei was not fooled. As he could sense the Jedi, so the Jedi could sense him. He drew to a halt a dozen paces away, while Ryova slowly rose to his feet and turned to face him.

His robe may once have been the traditional brown of the Order, but the colour had faded into a dark and dirty grey. The edges were frayed and curled with age and use, and the very bottom of his cloak had turned practically black. The man's beard had grown out considerably from the one he had worn half a lifetime ago, once black but now threaded with white.

Though faded now too, he still wore the same strip of fabric over his eyes. A Miraluka, Master Ryova did not see the universe like anyone else. Over the years, Vatei had wondered often what it must be like to see life only through the Force as Ryova did. Was it as beautiful as he sometimes dared to hope or would the amount of darkness only fill him with despair?

When Ryova finally spoke, it was with the same voice that Vatei heard in his dreams and his nightmares. “You've come to kill me.”

“You remember.”

“You think I forget so easily?”

“You killed the only family I ever knew.” Vatei controlled the beat of his heart, his breathing, his simmering hatred. “I would have spent my life as a slave, but Mother Ara saved me. She gave me brothers, she gave me purpose. I learned I had the strength to be more than just a slave.”

Ryovar tilted his head ever so slightly, invisible eyes upon him. “Her cult did many terrible things in the name of strength. They made their choice, as I made mine.”

“So you say.” A dual snap-hiss pierced the air as Vatei ignited the lightsabers in his hands. Crimson light pushed some of the shadows back, made the others even deeper. “But you took them from me. It is only right that the debt is paid.”

Ryova simply nodded. “Do as you will.”

Vatei didn't hesitate, launching himself through the air and swinging both lightsabers in a scarlet arc. The instant before they met flesh, an emerald blade sprung into existence and caught the blows, redirecting their momentum to the side.

Both combatants acted without hesitation or even conscious thought, Vatei diving into the next attack as Ryova moved in perfect time to defend and deflect. Neither pair of feet were still, moving back and forth across the stone floor as if in well-rehearsed routine.

Their lightsabers danced back and forth across the space, meeting with bright golden clashes that illuminated the chamber for the briefest instant. The strikes were like thunder and lightning at once, before hissing and cracking as they broke apart. Occasionally the blades struck the ground beneath them, gouging at the stone and spraying bright sparks.

Vatei's body was no longer his own, as he gave it over completely to becoming the Weapon. The dark side flooded through his veins and took control of his limbs, moving them faster than he had ever thought possible, always a moment ahead of what the mortal mind could comprehend.

But Ryova matched him at every moment. Where Vatei was relentless in his attack, constantly moving and always striking, Ryova's lightsaber was a constant barrier of emerald light. Wherever the red blade attempted to be, the green was there to block the path and so they would repeat and repeat, at every angle and from every direction.

It would have been a wondrous spectacle to behold, an intricate and utterly impossible performance, where one wrong move meant only death.

Vatei didn't know he was going to do it until it was already done, as he spun and leapt faster a normal body was ever capable of, striking one boot against the Jedi's head. His body kept moving and the second kick caught Ryova's fist, breaking his grip and sending his lightsaber spinning into the dark.

Red lightning flashed and the weapon fell apart in two halves. He flowed into the next strike, both lightsabers lunging towards the weaponless Jedi and the thrill of victory surged his chest.

But Ryova was no longer there, the red blades struck only at empty space. Vatei wasted no time, throwing himself into the next attack, but Ryova kept moving, twisting his body so that every strike met only darkness. Victory was replaced by frustration and Vatei snarled in animal rage.

He lunged as Ryova stepped aside, missing him by only a hair. An invisible force wrapped around him like a rancor's fist and suddenly Vatei found himself surging forwards through the darkness and was flung across the chamber as if he weighed nothing.

He landed on his feet and spun to attack again, only to find Ryova lashing out from the shadows. His fist met Vatei's chin and his head snapped back in a flash of bright pain. A boot struck his chest and Vatei's feet left the ground only a moment before his back hit it.

The air rushed out from his lungs as he landed, but he went with the movement, rolling backwards to come to his feet once more. His blades carved parallel grooves into the ground as he did so, steaming in the crimson light.

Before he could finish straightening up, a blast of energy took him in the chest and he was propelled backwards once again, this time launched off the ground by the pure strength of it. A noise escaped from his throat as he flew, somewhere between a howl and a hiss.

At the same time, he felt something tug at his hand, or more specifically, at the lightsaber within his grip. He held on tight, but the force that pushed him back was equally strong to the one that pulled his lightsaber away. His fingers flailed at the air as his weapon spun across space to land in Ryova's waiting hand.

The Jedi Master was bathed in red light as he raised the weapon up into a ready position. Hot rage swelled up within Vatei, replacing the cool calm he had been holding onto so tightly. The fire surged inside and propelled him forwards, leaping across the hall and lashing out with his remaining lightsaber.

Red clashed with red and the dance resumed as if it had never stopped, although imperceptibly changed. Vatei fought with the pure fury of the dark side, an animal finally unleashed. But Ryova was unmoving, planting his feet in the ground and forcing the river that was Vatei's assault to flow around him.

His frustration grew with every re-directed attack. Ryova wasn't simply blocking, he was turning each attack away and using Vatei's own momentum to do it. It cost Ryova nothing and Vatei valuable energy. Not even the dark side could keep his body going forever.

He threw himself into a backwards flip, gaining some fresh distance from his opponent. He landed a few paces back, one hand to the ground, expecting a Force attack that never came. Vatei slowly straightened, planting himself deep in the Force, like one of the columns beyond the stone walls.

Vatei had one advantage. This place was infused with the dark side, more so than anywhere else Vatei had ever been. Even more so than the temple on Denon where Mother Ara had made a home for her chosen family. She had taught Vatei and his brothers so much about the dark side and inspired him to continue on after her murder.

It was those first lessons he called upon now, as he opened himself up to the darkness that surrounded them. The shadows seemed to grow deeper as he became a well in the rain, letting every drop of the dark side fill him. The darkness was his, just as he belonged to it. The flames in his chest swelled, filled his body with the pure, unquenchable heat of his rage. He became a blazing pyre in the centre of the lonely hall. He felt like his skin would melt off at any moment, that his eyes would run in streams down his cheeks.

With a fury that only an exploding sun could recreate, Vatei lashed out with the Force and shoved his hand forwards. Ryova jerked as the blast hit him, his ratty cloak billowing outwards and around him. The air was distorted with the intensity of it and great chunks of stone were torn up from the floor between them.

Vatei had never felt so powerful. Like anything was possible if he only willed it. He willed destruction and so it came, ploughing across space towards the Jedi Master. But still Ryova remained standing. Unmoved. Even as the fury of Vatei's blast continued to push and tear at the world, the ground beneath his feet remained undamaged.

A rage-filled roar burst from Vatei's lungs. All around the hall, the dozen small fires that lit the temple flared suddenly bright. They grew and grew, blazing and powerful and casting the shadows back until the whole room was filled only with the light of the fires.

With but a thought, the fires leapt inwards, converging on the space occupied by Jedi Master Vis Ryova. There was nothing he could do as the flames suddenly swirled and then engulfed him, directed by Vatei's will. The ground melted and twisted as the blaze took the Jedi in its ruthless grip. .

Something shifted in the Force, in the dark side itself, and Vatei felt it like a shiver down his spine. It took only an instant, but then everything changed. The fires burned so bright that he was momentarily blinded and then came the loudest noise he had ever heard, temporarily drowning every other sense.

He didn't remember leaving the ground until he hit it once more, crashing down on his back as his whole body screamed in disapproval. His eyes stung even as he blinked away the afterimage of the explosion, and he pushed himself to his feet.

Around the spot where Ryova had stood, the floor was warped, deformed by the heat of the flames. The only light came from the uncountable number of bright red ashes that scattered the floor, like a hellish reversal of the starry night sky. Smoke rose from the ground in a dozen places, obscuring what little Vatei could see.

There was a long moment of silence as his ears struggled to readjust and the ringing began to fade. He took a slow, hesitant step forwards. His stomach twisted in unease and a cold knot had formed between his shoulder blades.

A snap-hiss broke the silence and a red blade extended almost casually from within the smoke. Vatei activated his a moment later, gripping his blade in both hands as the smoke was suddenly swept aside by a huge invisible hand.

Ryova stood exactly where had before, the stone beneath his boots as smooth as it was before. Faint wisps of smoke rose from the fringes of his robe, but otherwise he was unchanged. Physically, at least.

But something had changed, invisible to the mortal eye. Or had it been there all along and Vatei had been simply too blind to see it?

Vatei leapt forwards, striking furiously and desperately all at once. Ryova blocked with ease, moving so smooth it was like he had already seen and done it before. With the rag over his eyes, he wasn't even looking, at least on any plane that Vatei could see.

Blow after blow, Ryova blocked Vatei's path before finally twisting him around and grazing the tip of his lightsaber across Vatei's thigh. He started to fall, but a sweep of a hand and Vatei was suddenly sliding across the floor instead, tumbling and rolling until crashing into the wall.

He started to force himself himself up but it was as if his body was no longer his to control and he found himself tumbling through the air. He hit the ground face first, nose cracking sharply against the hard stone and blood instantly filling in his mouth.

Vatei tried to push himself up, only to find he simply could not. His arms and legs refused to move, as a force more powerful than he pressed his body to the ground. The stones were warm, still hot from the earlier flames. Pressed against his bare face as they were, he tried harder to push away.

“You never questioned why I was here, of all places.”

He heard Ryova's low voice above him, but there was almost an eagerness to his words. As if it had been too long since he had spoken to another living person.

“The Jedi spend their whole lives being taught the danger of the dark side but to most, it's just words on a page. A lecture, a warning. But when I saw Ara and her followers, the pain they left in their wake, death like I'd never seen... I learned not only that the dark side was more than just words, but that I had never been a Jedi. A Jedi should never fight to kill, but death begets death.”

Vatei's skin began to sting, more intense every passing second. A small hiss escaped his freshly bruised lips. “You killed my family. You killed my mother.”

“I did. I've spent so many years trying to understand what I did, as if I could somehow undo it all. I came here, to this cold and wretched place, to confront the darkness, to prove that I could still be the Jedi I had always believed I could be.”

Vatei grunted, a little high-pitched sound of desperation, and pushed harder to get away from the hot stones. The skin of his face was beginning to burn, growing more and more intense by the moment. He felt rather than saw Ryova crouch down beside him.

“I was wrong.”

The pain grew and grew and the beginnings of a gurgled scream slipped out from his crushed mouth. He fed on that pain, used it to flood his veins with the familiar power. Invisible chains shattered and Vatei pushed himself free, rolling away and coming to his feet.

His blade broke through the darkness, bathing him in blood red light. “This ends now, Jedi.”

Ryova stood up straight once more. His stolen lightsaber was held casually at his side, the crimson blade lightly grazing the stone floor and sending faint wisps of smoke trailing upwards. “I remembered you. I remember how you ran, when I cut down your brothers.”

Vatei snarled, lunged and lashed, was easily parried and sent staggering passed the madman with the grey streaked beard and the dirty cloak. He hurled himself into another attack, lightsabers clashing and quickly breaking apart. His boots slipped on the stones, Ryova moving calmly aside and letting him stagger by.

“They were strong in the Force, capable killers, but they were nothing compared to a Jedi. One by one, I cut them down. When it came time to face the Mother herself, when all of her sons had fallen or fled, I struck her down like the rest. She was nothing to me.”

A strangled cry accompanied Vatei's final attack, but he was met only with the back of a fist. He spiralled into the ground, felt blood spray from his face, drip from his lips and nose. He pushed himself up with one hand, pushed his lightsaber out in front of him with the other in a desperate attempt at defence.

A clap of thunder accompanied the blinding flash of blue-white light and lightning struck the blade with all the fury of the outside storm. The lightsaber was nearly wrenched from his grasp by the pure power of it, but Vatei poured all that remained of his strength into holding the lightning back, while tendrils writhed and lashed violently around his blade.

“You've come far since then, I see that.” Ryova spoke over the crack and the thunder of his storm. “Just not as far as I have.”

A sudden surge of power, a white explosion and deafening boom that seemed to split the air itself, and Vatei was thrown through the air, limbs flailing beyond his control. He crashed through the ancient doors, accompanied by the sounds of wood splintering and bones cracking, and tumbled across the slick ground beyond.

Vatei crashed against the hard, unforgiving face of one of the tall pillars and fell in a crumpled halt at its base. He pushed himself up on one knee, one palm pressed to the ground and the other wrapped around his weapon. His whole body ached and his limbs trembled as he tried to support the awful weight of his body, but he would not cower to this mad Jedi.

The rain fell still from above, a seemingly never-ending torrent. It rain down his hairless head, cold against his bruised and burned skin. Each drop that landed on his blade hissed sharply and then became steam.

Ryova stood in the ruined doorway, looking out towards Vatei with those non-existent eyes. For a brief moment, Vateie caught a glimpse of what should have been there. Beyond that filthy, rotten rag, for just a moment he saw a flash of a golden, sulphurous glow, burning through.

Vatei felt a shiver, deep beneath the pain of his bruised flesh, his aching bones. Something more than simple fear.

With shaking legs, he straightened up from the ground, gripping his lightsaber so tight it felt as if the skin over his knuckles would tear. The last son of the Mother would never give in to fear. The dark side was his armour and his weapon and he could never fall. With a final roar, Vatei leapt, letting the dark side carry him like a wave. His lightsaber cut a path of steam through the sky, promising only death.

A quick blast of lightning leapt across space, striking the blade with the force of a speeder. His fingers snapped open of their own accord and the lightsaber flew, lost into the storm. He hit the ground hard, bright pain running up his back from the impact, but Vatei forced himself to sit up, holding his hands out before him.

The dark side was his shield and nothing could break it.

It was as if the world around them simply stopped, the rain halting in the air and the thunder above drawn out for an eternity. The storm was no longer its own beast, now bound to a single master and re-directed with new purpose. The next blast came like nothing he had ever felt or seen.

Vatei fell back, embraced by the storm. The lightning surrounded him, accompanied by the horrible roar of the thunder. Every touch sent pain screaming across his body, caressing him as if his armour was nothing more than cloth.

The rain itself was electrified with the fury of the Force and the air itself seemed to blaze white. It was as if the lightning came from all directions, jumping from drop to drop to drop before launching back at him, creating a vortex of pure and terrible energy with Vatei at its centre.

He screamed. It was an animal noise, born of fear and pain, with everything else simply burned away. He writhed and flailed and danced to the tune of the storm, his body no longer his. Where before the fires of the dark side had fuelled him, now they burned him from the inside out.

The pain was beyond anything he could ever have possibly imagined, each instant stretching out to last lifetimes, and Vatei found himself disappearing into it. Iit was like he no longer existed, not beyond the storm. There was nothing but the pain and the darkness that closed in around him.

When he finally felt the first cold drop against his cheek, it took him a long moment to realize that the lightning had stopped. The pain was still there, so intense that simply laying on the ground was agony, his skin so sensitive that the rain drops felt like shards of glass.

But his body was finally still, no longer animated by the power of another. It felt like days disappeared as he simply lay there, waiting for the end to come. But instead, as the days passed by, the darkness seemed to recede, the agony easing back into more reasonable levels of pain.

His limbs trembled nearly beyond control as he pushed himself up onto his knees and then attempted to straighten up fully. He fell the first time, fresh agony nearly sending him back into the darkness, but he pushed again, slowly forcing himself up onto unsteady feet.

He swayed as he straightened up, his knees shaking with the effort. His fingers still twitched slightly of their own accord and the world seemed to spin around him. It took an effort beyond anything he knew he had just to keep himself steady.

A familiar voice cut through the haze. “Your power has been wasted.”

Vatei felt an instinct to attack rush through his body, but he found himself utterly unable to follow it through. Simply standing took everything he had and he so he just stood there, watching as Ryova walked through the rain towards him. He seemed unaffected by the weather, his cloak unmoving in the face of the wind. His own face was unreadable, hidden behind beard and rags.

“First by Ara and then by your childish vendetta. Raw power is one thing, but the will to use it is something else entirely. Look how far you have come on your own. But in the right hands, you could be much more, more than this mere puppet of vengeance.”

Vatei spit at the ground and tried to speak through numb, trembling lips. “Kill you...”

“No.” Ryova waved a dismissive hand. “Your thinking is so narrow. Look upwards, away from this loathsome place, away from the petty revenge you've sought for so long. You came here serving death, as so many do. But we can be more than that, you and I. What if death is something to be conquered?” Ryova held his hand outwards and Vatei's discarded lightsaber landed gently in his open palm. Vatei's for the taking. “Are you death's slave or could we be its master?”

Vatei looked at the weapon and then at the man holding it, feeling those invisible eyes upon him. He reached out with a slow and trembling hand, wrapping his fingers around the cold hilt. Even in his weakened state, it would be easy to do what he had spent years dreaming of, to watch the man's flesh burn as he pushed his lightsaber through it.

What if it was a trap? Then Vatei would certainly die and for the first time in a long time, he felt truly uneasy. He had always accepted his death as inevitable, the price he had to pay for the power he wielded. He'd made a promise, that Mother and his brothers would be avenged, and now the moment he had sought for so long was right here in front of him.

But the power hadn't been enough. Soon, just like Mother Ara and all his brothers, he would be dead. What had it all been for? His promise, his life, they were nothing compared to what Ryova had found. He'd been cheated.

Vatei neither heard nor felt the rain around them as he dropped to one knee and held the weapon up in an open hand. He felt the weight of the unseen gaze upon him and then, instead of taking it, Ryova reached out and wrapped Vatei's fingers around the lightsaber.

“Apprentice.”

“Master.”