The Art of Chaos and Darkness

Chapter Twenty

Moraband was everything and nothing Din had expected. 

He set the ship down on the landing pad which connected a long walkway into a domed building.  The towers reached for the sky in the setting sunlight.  Everything glowed a hazy orange and red and the temple itself appeared to be clawing upwards with black, skeletal fingers.  The opening gaped like the maw of an ancient monster.  Giant statues rose on either side, the figures' faces set in terrifying battle cries.  The entire planet bled war and destruction and absolute, indestructible power.  

Valda stood beside him.  "The Sith Academy.  Breathtaking, isn't it."

Din was inclined to agree although it was more breathtaking for it's ability's to render terror into anyone who laid eyes upon it.  It was beautiful in a horrific and catastrophic sort of way.  For the first time, Din realized the colors and sunset of Moraband was perfectly reflected in Valda's eyes.  The exact same hues, the glowing embers.

"You'll have to restrain me again."  She held out her wrists.  "Or they'll just do it once we exit the ship." 

Din had a feeling they would be less compassionate about it than he would so he snapped a pair of cuffs across her wrists.  He strapped his rifle to his back along with the beskar spear.  The Dark Saber hung from his belt.  Then he escorted Valda through the cargo hold where they waited as the ramp slowly lower.  He cast one last glance around his ship, suddenly afraid it would be his last.  Then they descended down the ramp.

As they reached the bottom, six dark figures appeared almost instantaneously as if they had melted out of the air itself.  

"The King's Guard," Valda breathed.  

Din didn't know what that meant but as he watched the figures approach, a chill skittered down his spine.  An unnatural wind rushed at them, forcing him stumbling back a step.  Valda stayed rooted in the spot.  The King's Guard reached them.  A personal escort into the Academy.  Din pushed Valda forward and they walked, two in the front and four behind them.  

Din was aware of every movement the figures made, noting every step they took.  He also felt Valda at the end of the thread that connected them, a constant source of shadow and powering humming quietly.  The closer they drew to the enormous entrance, the stronger he felt her growing. 

The hall the entered was quiet and empty.  Flickering lights led the way across red and gold carpeted floors.  Drapes drifted in a cold wind as they passed, huge banners in a language Din had never seen before.  The King's Guard came to a stop before a set of obsidian double doors that reached to the ceiling.  They were engraved with designs and characters he couldn't read.  The King's Guard pushed the doors open and the scene opened up before them.  

The throne room was huge, draped in banners and lit with glowing lanterns that cast shadows in colors of the sunset, red, gold, orange and amber.  The sides were lined with figures in robes and amour and finery alike.  Human and Twi'lek and dozens of other species.  And at the end of the room, perched on a great throne set on a dais, sat the King of the Ancient Sith. 

The throne alone was created from obsidian glass that shimmered in the light.  It glinted wickedly, the back ending in sharp points like a spear that reached halfway to the enormous domed ceiling.  Behind it was a banner set in crimson and gold and black and silver.  To the right of the throne was a female Twi'lek, her skin as red as the crimson banner and lined with black tattoos.  A sneer was set on her lips.  And on the throne itself, lounged the king. 

His face seemed hewn from stone itself, unmoving and cruel.  His right eye glowed the same orange as Valda's but as he turned his face, Din saw his right eye was a cybernetic, appearing as blue.  He was dressed in simple grey armor that covered his chest and shoulders.  His black robes gathered around his legs. 

His posture was casual and he appeared relaxed but Din knew he was nothing of the sort.  Not as every single part of Valda went rigid at the sight of him.  Din's connection to her became all but severed and when he reached out, it was as if he slammed into a black void of nothingness. 

"Come forward, Mandalorian.  I see you have completed your bounty."  The Sith King's voice should have boomed off the walls of the hall.  But instead it was low, hoarse and set every instinct in Din's body screaming at him to leave this place right now.  He forced himself to take a step forward, Valda walking in front.  They came to a stop at the edge of the dais.    

"She didn't give you any trouble did she?"  The King leaned forward, cybernetic eye studying them both.  Din had no doubt he had the ability to scan them both with the advancement.  

"Nothing more than expected."  He kept his hands at his sides, within easy reach of his blasters.  

"Darth Kchoas.  You have finally returned.  How long it has been."  His words were neither warm nor cold.  Perfectly neutral.  

Valda finally raised her head, dark hair falling back from her face.  "Did you miss me that much, my Master?"

The King leaned back in his throne and let out a chuckle that was void of any humor.  "One would say they did miss your... efficiency in dealing with things."  

The female Twi'lek to the right of the throne bristled at this, stepping forward.  "You are no longer the rightful Chaosbringer."  She spit at Valda's feet.  "You are not welcome here."

Valda tilted her head to the side.  "Darth Talon.  I should thank you for keeping my seat warm for me in my absence."

The Twi'lek snarled.  "This seat is mine now."  

Valda sneered.  "As if."

Darth Talon looked down her nose at the other woman.  "You were just a slave lucky enough to catch His Majesty's eye.  You've worn out your welcome."  A cruel smile flitted across her lips.  

The room had gone dead silent, the people behind Din were deathly still.  The lights flickered in response to the shift of energy in the room.  The restraints around Valda's wrists unlocked and hit the ground with a clang.  Someone jumped.  Darth Talon's smile faltered by a centimeter.  

"Let me remind you who I am."  Valda's voice was deathly low.  "Let me remind you, Darth Talon, of how I earned my place while you did nothing but whore your way to the Dark Council." 

The Twi'lek's eyes flashed in hatred.  Din risked a look at the Sith King.  He hadn't moved a muscle and was watching the two Sith Lords, unfalteringly.  With enjoyment, Din realized.  And finally he understood.  This was the Sith.  

Valda took a step forward but Darth Talon held her ground.  "Bitch," she hissed.  "If you think you can simply march in here and take from me-"  She stopped suddenly.  Her hands clawed at her neck as she choked, desperately trying to breath.  

Valda held out her hand, fingers curved as if they were wrapped around the Twi'lek's throat.  "I am not taking anything from you.  This seat is mine.  And if you think you can take my place, come close to touching my power and try to imitate me with these... tattoos-" she barked out a cold, dark laugh.  "You are sorely mistaken."  She dropped her hand.

Darth Talon fell to her hands and knees, gasping for air.  She looked up at Valda from the ground, rage and hatred simmering in her eyes.  "You-" she hissed and her hand reached for the lightsaber clipped at her belt but it flew from her hand and into Valda's waiting palm.  

She ignited the blade, the crimson glow lighting her face.  "Get out of my seat."  

Darth Talon climbed to her feet and looked desperately at the Sith King who had remained silent.  "Your Majesty- how can she-"  she looked between the two of them, near hysterical. 

Valda reached out and Darth Talon jerked as she was dragged forward, kneeling before Valda on the throne room floor.  Valda looked to the Sith King and Din felt his stomach drop as there was nothing human in her face.  Her eyes glowed in the light of the crimson blade. 

"What is your will, my Master?"

The Sith King folded his hands together.  "Kill her." 

"As you wish, Master."  The lightsaber hummed as she raised it.

"No- don't!  Please!"  Darth Talon pawed at the ground before Valda's feet.

"You die without honor."  Valda said and brought the blade down.

Darth Talon's head thumped to the ground and rolled to a stop near Din's feet.

The Sith King smiled and rose from his throne.  "Welcome home, my apprentice."