Dark Lord: Bride of Vader

Chapter 10: Followers of the Dark Side

I do not own any of the Star Wars and DC characters and ideas represented in this work.
"The Dark Side of the Force is the pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural." - Darth Sidious to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

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Darth Angelicus fell into a murky, muddy puddle, arms first then head. Getting back up, she wiped the dirt from her face and fixed herself upright.

The forbidden jungle on the planet Almerac was a place where few should want to be in. Though the reputation of the region wasn't infamous as planets that had wild jungles and forests cover most of their surfaces, the jungle here in Almerac was so dense and alien compared to the other regions on the planet that it might as well be considered to be on a different planet.

Trees and many exotic plants sprung out of the wet soil and covered the landscape with no break. Vines and lianas creep their way to the jungle's canopy. The air was balmy and thick with the smell of greenery. The animals were just as dense and dangerous as the terrain was. Vipers slither through the grass; poisonous insects and reptiles patiently hang onto trees to ambush their prey; carnivorous felines and even the monstrous carnorites hide somewhere within the jungle's dense hideaways. Any wrong turn or bad mistake could leave one lost indefinitely or wake a slumbering predator up.

The forbidden jungle was a perilous place, Angelicus found out, but it was a more dangerous and unforgiving place in the realm of the force than in the material realm could ever offer. The dark side was strong here much like how shadows were at its strongest within the night or haunting spirits in a graveyard. Everywhere she looked, the dark side had its influence over everything; animals, plants, whatever resided in the jungle was under the dark's cloak. It was in the air she breathed in, the soil that she walked on. The smell of dark energies whispered into her nostrils and her taste buds danced with power from taste.

In the few little months under her Sith training, Angelicus has come to understand that these places of dark side energies can grant those who have the dark side as their ally to heighten their powers than it would usually be. It surrounded her and in turn she drew its power into herself. She can feel the dark side talk to her; through the plants and their soft but docile voices; the animals and the way they stalk their eyes onto the Sith.

This was the dark side's absolute domain, and in accordance, hers.

When up, she saw her master not too far away from where she stood. They walked on a trail created by Almeracian Gazelle, though this temporary path that somewhat lacked plants, in time, will regrow and overtake that trail. Her master, Darth Vader, black as a shadow and more so in the force, stood along the edge of the bank of a raging river, where the trail ended. His back turned, arms folded, and not a single trace of mud or grim onto his blackened body, he had an aura of impatience for Angelicus still struggling to traverse the jungle's wilderness, where he had no problem going through it.

Since the beginning of her apprenticeship to the Sith master, he had subjected her to cruel and gruesome training that every Sith had to go through. Though his experience wasn't as painful or humiliating as her previous tortures with the Gordanians, this was to break her down and for him to recreate her from that collapse.

Her master was cold as intergalactic space, and his patience was thin as ice on frozen water that can break easily at any given moment. But within that cruelty was a man who held powers and authority beyond her reach. She had seen and experienced his eldritch powers at hand; sometimes she was the unfortunate victim of them. She, however, respected him greatly since she saved her—his powers and handing her the tools of her rebirth.

When she came to think about it, nowadays, she respected no man other than him. She had no high regard to the many suitors that swarmed her like bees on a flower; she never met her father for he died when she was at a young age; and she hated the Gordanian men who tortured her for months without end.

Vader was the only man in her life she truly respected, feared, and hated as well. Emotions that many would call conflicted and contradictory, but to the Sith, were necessary and appropriate.

She walked behind her master, the rushing speed of the river filled the air and while it was wet from the condensation. She used her hands to clean herself off as she waited for her master to speak.

"Since my arrival on this world and this jungle we are in," Vader's mechanical voice pierced through the river's animatic yelling. "I have attempted to search for an origin of this wilderness and why it was so strong in the dark side." He paused, "In Almerac's ancient lore, was a man named Thusla who is said to be a powerful man that had wielded dark magic."

He ever so slightly turned his black helmet at her, "I suspect that he was an agent of the dark side, and his exploits are no less similar to a Sith." He returned his gaze to the river. "But his demise was at hand in this jungle, along with any teachings and secrets he held. For a time, I tried searching through the force to see if Thulsa had created the jungle's connection to the dark side or to see if it was a simple creation of nature itself." He shrugged his heavy shoulders, "Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it mattered little whether this nexus that we stand in is artificial or natural. Trying to find the answer would be a quest as long as time, just as the force will always be to us."

"This Jungle, young apprentice," Vader continued. "Is a symbolic representation of the dark side. It is a place many would perish if they walked through, and few can traverse it without being unscathed. It is a realm with its own mind and will; respect its power, and not only could you survive its wilderness but prosper, but disrespect it, and it will deliver a punishment that you will not be able to escape from, for it will be too late."

He kept on looking at the rushing river. "Much like the animals and beasts who call this jungle their home, if we are to survive its wilderness, and therefore the dark side, we must surrender our instincts and faith to its will. Then, will it bestow us with its power." He faced Angelicus, removing his arms from his chest. "That is what you must do, Angelicus; you must embrace the dark and accept its power. In doing so, it will grant you the strength that you ever so wish."

She bowed, "I understand, my master."

Vader didn't respond immediately, "No, you don't." He responded bluntly. "But you will soon enough." He started to walk away from the river and back to the wild jungle. She followed, not wanting to be left alone in the exotic woods.

Time passed of him walking in a random direction, moving past foliage and greenery with her closely behind. Within this walk, she decided to be bold enough to ask a question to her dark master, "Master...when will you tell me how to heal my wings?"

Vader, still waking and not slowly doing, musingly said, "Ah yes, your wings; you wish to regain your ability to fly, much like how your people dearly hold it and look down on those who don't have such gifts of the sky."

Angelicus fought back the urge to snap at him from irritation and frustration. Since the start of her apprenticeship, Vader has suggested how she could heal her wings. In her imprisonment, the Gordanians broke her wings to the point where normal surgery and medicine wouldn't cut it. They broke and bended tendons in unnatural ways; bones cracked and nerve endings became unresponsive. In this, there was a constant sting and wrenching pain from the things she dearly valued long ago.

Cloning, expensive and not very available as it is, was still an option of replacing her wings with surgery, but cloning and other artificial means of limb procurement were heavily frowned upon in Havanian society, and to an extent, her. Beauty was held in great respect and even worshipped amongst Havanians, which included wings as they saw beings who had no appendages beneath them. Cloning and changing one's physical appearance was just as seen as immoral and taboo in Havanian culture as other cultures considered stealing or fraud as crimes. Yes, Sith were not supposed to have their past shackled and be slaves of it, but cloning her wings wouldn't suffice, not mentally at any rate, and she knew that would grasp into her thoughts. She would know that they were cloned and, therefore, would be disgusted by it. Regardless, her master warned her that cloning from force-sensitives was a dangerous and unfruitful effort.

Since Vader took her, she was given medical treatment, though he couldn't care less, so that her wings wouldn't be damaged any further. While slightly repaired, the damage to her wings could not be reversed. At least from normal means. But Vader had not taught her the healing techniques of any kind.

She instilled a manner of obedience into her voice: "Yes, my master, you said how I could do such a thing with your teachings."

"Patience, Angelicus, in time, you will be taught the Sith techniques of healing."

"When?"

"Soon." He spoke with venom.

She grated her teeth out of anger. "That's not good enough."

Vader stopped, and she did as well. He let his breathing come in and out, then whirled at her. "Is this how you repay me?" Emotion entered his cold breath. "I give you strength and power few can manage to have, and you repay me by questioning my teachings?"

"I'm not questioning your power, master, but you've promised that I can heal my wings, and you've shown me nothing that can do that!"

"You think I am treating you unfairly?"

"Yes." She said it bluntly.

"And the power of the dark side is not enough for you?"

She worked her jaw. "The Green Lantern corps would've probably helped fix my wings right now."

Irk silence was born in between them. Her mentioning of the powers of that Lantern Corps over the dark side seemed to work up her master into a rage, for the cold aura she is used to seeing him in disappeared and a hot angry spark replaced it. Vader balled his fists; though hidden under his mask, she could tell that his eyes glared at her. Shadows created by the trees and plants inked out from their natural borders, as if darkness in them was overflowing. Shadows flowed and dripped from the ground and above, and the humid air got bitterly cold.

"So, this is what my Sith will become?" He said it more to himself with anger: "A hive of unfaithful beings with no loyalty to me or to the dark side? Is it because I taught you so little in the short span of time that you came to the conclusion that this is all I have to offer? Have you learned nothing from my teachings?"

Before Angelicus could say anything, an invisible tendril of the force wrapped itself around her neck and squeezed a heavy pressure onto her light blue skin. She instinctively pulled her hands onto her throat as air was being restricted, and she gasped for needed oxygen. She dropped to her knees as she was barely clinging to consciousness.

She looked up and saw Vader having his forefinger and thumb close to each other, as if her neck was in between them. "Perhaps I should have left you to the Gordanians..." he mocked as darkness was coming within her vision. "Perhaps I should've left you to your fate with them and let them have their way with you till you die! Is that what you want!"

With whatever strength she had left, she let out a weak voice begging, "N-no."

He opens his half-closed fist, and the pressure on her neck is released. She fell further down to the muddy ground, pulling in heavy inhales and exhales. At the same time, the increased shadows and darkness started to wane and return back to their natural borders. Light was slowly returning.

"To test me, apprentice," he said while she was coughing. "Is one thing I lack tolerance of, but to question the force and to have no faith in it is another."

He stepped closer to her, "Especially when you think the Green Lantern Corp has more power than the Sith. If that is the case, my young bird, do you think that a green lantern can influence the mind of a being? Do you think they can conjure the dead, summon beasts and the Sith cannot? Is their vaunted rings more powerful than the force itself? Do you think they have the power to destroy entire worlds like Vitiate and Nihilus could? Can they will themselves to live like Sion? Encourage stars to explode like Naga Sadow has or create life from nothing as Plagueis did? Do you think Green Lanterns can conjure true power with their so-called constructs?"

"No..." Angelicus collided, "...master."

"Because the lanterns' power is flashy and grand," Vader went on as she stroked her tender throat, "Doesn't mean it is great. Power, my young bird, comes in many forms and we Sith use all out of them while the Lanterns could only use one. Tell me apprentice, who would have more power than the other?: the Lantern who wields a theatrical lightshow on their wrist? Gaining the attention of all beings around them. Or is it the Sith Lord who secretly stores their power in reserve until the time is right and strikes their enemies with no mercy?"

"The Power of subtlety triumphs over the power of show. Consider the difference between a grenade and a hidden bomb in a public space. Yes, the grenade could be devastating, but every being knows their power and avoids it. The Hidden bomb, however, is beyond their sight; no one will know the true knowledge of their demise when the bomb detonates. The being who lives under the knowledge that he has control over the lives of beings who don't know it truly gains power from it. Do you think the Green Lanterns know this?"

Angelicus didn't say anything; Vader accepted her silence. "I thought so. The power of the Lanterns is like docile stars: they have to obey the laws of reality; there are many but none that alter the course of a galaxy; they only can create a star system and nothing." He gestured between them, "But we Sith are like black holes: we ignore laws of nature and create our own rules; we are anomalies that bend space and time to our imagination; we are few but grand; we can change and warp galaxies in whatever we desire."

"Look at my empire and see what I have created. I have done more for this end of the galaxy in months than what the Guardians have since their long creation. We are destined to take over, for they had their chance to rule and failed that test. They will no doubt try to resist the inevitable change that the galaxy desperately needs. For beings who wield power are afraid to lose it. The status quo the galaxy is stuck in will be destroyed, but to do so, we will need to study our enemy in and out."

"Until then, apprentice, your journey into the dark side will have to transcend further and your unfaithfulness to me and to the dark squashed." Vader finished. She stood up, her pride sore much like her throat. Before she could say anything further, Vader looked to the side and stated, "We are being tracked..."

Alarm went into Angelicus, and she began to dart her head around. "Who or what is it, master?"

Vader didn't respond to her questions immediately, "Hunters...that could be considered sentient if we are generous: Lizarkon."

Lizarkon, bipedal and crocodile-like, are a reptilian race that had no real permanent homeworld and instead were a diaspora in the wider Milky Way. Known for their barbarity and uncivilized manners, they were much like other cold-blooded sentient Saurian races. Angelicus mentally admitted to herself that she had no previous knowledge of the race's history, say, for they once inhabited the same star system the Hawkmen of Thanagar were in. When Thanagar's power eventually rose up, the Thanagarians beated the Lizarkon into submission and cast them out of the Polaris System.

But recollecting her shaky memory of the history of the Lizarkon, she asked her master a pressing question. "Why are the Lizarkon here?" She said, puzzled, "Why are they here on Almerac, and why not just get rid of them?"

Vader considered her questioning, "As you know, Lizarkon has no world to reside in. It is said long ago when the Thanagarians kicked the pathetic race out of their home system, some Lizarkon went to this side of the galaxy and landed on Almerac. Much like the Hawkmen, the ancient Almeracians defeated the reptiles, and the survivors were driven to this jungle as a refuge." He paused and added, "Despite once possessing technology, their defeat at the hands of Almerac destroyed much of their technology and made them recess into a primitive group. With the remote region this jungle is, Almeracians saw no reason to pursue, and the Lizarkon kept to themselves in this wilderness."

"And you didn't see the need to get rid of them?"

Vader folded his arms. "They are beneath my attention, but that too might change."

"Well, I guess we aren't above theirs," she replied.

"Maybe so," he said while dropping his arms and retreating to a nearby tree. He looked behind her. "But perhaps this is an opportunity from the dark side to test you, my young bird."

She felt a warning from the force. Before she could unclip her lightsaber from her belt, she heard the cocking of a gun behind her. Then she heard a viper-like voice utter, Handssss up."

She didn't dare to move; without making a motion with her head, she drew her eyes towards her master, who didn't move or bothered to kill the assailant threatening her. Confusion overtook her, but she ceded to her captors demands and lifted her hands up. The voice spoke again, "Walk forward ssslowey and turn around when I sssay it."

She breathed in and out; she took a few deliberately slow steps forward on the forest floor. After the fifth step, her captor commanded her to turn around with his snake voice, and she did so. There, her captors, two Lizarkon males with ragged clothing and armed with wooden projectile rifles, pointed at her and looked deeply at her, only at her.

The one that commanded her stayed at his place while the other moved to the right of him, in the direction of her master. At first, though they had eyes on her, they should have seen him by now, but the moving hunter passed Vader, as if he didn't know that a Sith Lord was standing there.

In her thoughts, she began to make any possible explanations on why the hunters are ignoring him. Was he that anchored into the jungle's dark landscape that no other being other than a force sensitive can see him? Has he always been there? Was he just an illusion since they entered this jungle these past days? Has he deployed his eldritch powers into their minds, removing his presence from their point of view?

Many questions whirled around her head, and she was spooked by a voice that entered her mind. "You are becoming a victim of your thoughts, Angelicus." She recognized the feel and aura of the voice as her master's, but the sound of it wasn't the one she is used to. It wasn't the mechanical, deep voice that her master spoke, rather, it was the voice of a normal man. She suspected that was his real voice. His words in her head continue, "Put yourself in the here and now, teach these barbarians a lesson on why no being should ever cross a Sith Lord."