Maul: Legacy of Shadows

Chapter 25: Resurrection

***Year 3,958 BBY***

Bao-Dur walked towards his ship, pondering over his master's plan for revenge.  As he neared it on the landing pad, he looked over and saw his crimson lightsabers laying near the edge where Surik had fallen.  With a simple gesture he yanked both to his hands and reconnecting them into one double-bladed lightsaber.  As he held the weapon in his left hand, he pulled his old lightsaber from his belt and stared at it in silence.  His former master had used it in their battle, and deep-down Bao-Dur decided the blade needed to rest on Korriban with his master.  Walking to the edge of the landing pad, he let his old lightsaber fall just as his master Surik had.  Turning from the image of it landing onto the ground below, the newly christened Sith silently swelled with power as he approached his shuttle's docking ramp.

As he entered the cockpit, Sorus reformed her earthen body on the edge of the docking pad and looked down smiling at the lightsaber which sat far below in the sand.  Korriban itself seemed to swallow the Jedi weapon, burying it along with the last pieces of Bao-Dur's former self beneath its Dark Side energies.  Her plan was nearing completion.

***On the planet Dathomir***

Miraj stepped out of her hut and looked up into the darkened night sky.  She could feel Bao-Dur approaching and in mere moments he would arrive to exact his revenge.  Two handmaidens stood next to Miraj as she watched a small shuttle break through the stars and dive into the planet's atmosphere. The villagers all took refuge in their dwellings, and a third handmaiden rushed into Miraj's hut with the infant Vaasa-Dur.

The ship swiftly landed and Miraj held her breath, she was prepared to die for the sake of the Dark Side and her legacy.  Only the pain her former lover would surely inflict upon her filled her with fear and panic.  The two handmaidens drew their daggers as the docking ramp lowered into the dirt just outside the confines of the village.  Eyes peeked through cracks in houses at the arrival, some shushing their children who were oblivious to the danger that had just landed.

Without warning the handmaiden on Miraj's right side was lifted into the air and dragged at high speed into the side of the shuttle.  The handmaiden barely had time to scream in objection as her body crashed into the metallic hull, blood spraying across and the ground below.  The body sat unmoving against the ship until finally it fell in a heap of dead flesh against the ground.

Miraj's heart began to race from panic and anxiety, but secretly she hoped her death would be just as quick.  As she thought this, Bao-Dur's boots were finally visible at the top of the ramp, and he slowly descended one step at a time towards the object of his hatred.  Power rippled through the air all around him, and the mark upon his forehead began to glow with an unearthly crimson hue.  Miraj stood with her mouth agape, as the second handmaiden froze from fear.  As he approached, the second handmaiden slowly rose from the ground while grasping at her neck.  An invisible force was choking the life from her, but suddenly Bao-Dur tossed his double-bladed lightsaber at her and activated it mid-air with the Force.  As the deadly crimson blades spun towards the handmaiden, Miraj felt the Force lock her in place, allowing the blades to barely miss her and bisect the handmaiden at the waist.

The weapon returned to Bao-Dur and deactivated just before reaching his hand, and he once again placed it on his waist as he held the upper half of the handmaiden aloft still.  Her lower half lay motionless on the ground, but she was still barely alive from the encounter.  With a simple twitch of his right eye, Bao-Dur snapped her neck and dropped her unceremoniously to the ground.

"I know you've come to kill me," Miraj said, her voice shaking from fear.

Bao-Dur stood in silence as he scanned the village with the Force, and could feel the countless eyes watching his every move.  His new master's words rung through his head like a bell, and slowly he calmed himself down, refusing to give into his uncontrollable rage.

"No," Bao-Dur said bluntly.  "My master has something else planned for you."

Miraj's eyes widened at the remark.  Questions on top of questions consumed Miraj's every thought, but she soon felt a wave of the Dark Side push into her mind, knocking her unconscious.  Bao-Dur turned around and dragged the woman onto his ship with the Force.  The villagers were too frightened to protest her abduction and he began his journey back to Korriban with his former lover in tow.

****

Miraj could feel her limbs and head were being tied down, and her body was laying flat on a stone surface on her back.  Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself within a stone cavern, with what looked like a sarcophagus laying next to her with a skeletal body inside.  Her eyes darted as far as they could, as she couldn't move her head to survey her surroundings thoroughly.  Every now and then she'd notice a shadow move between the torches along the walls.

"Bao-Dur? Is that you?" Miraj asked while trying to hold back tears.

There was no reply, but she expected as much.  A second set of footsteps alerted her that more than one person was in this tomb with her.  The footsteps sounded odd, like sand rubbing against stone, and eventually Miraj caught a glimpse of a nude woman whose body looked fragmented like weathered stone.  As she tried to look around further with only her eyes, Bao-Dur finally came into view, his eyes locking upon hers.  Miraj could see the malice and hatred that lay within them, and in his hands was a tattered scroll rolled up.

Before she could ask what the scroll contained, the mysterious woman came back into view, and Miraj could see she was indeed made of the earth and sand.  In the woman's hands was an intricate dagger that radiated a sinister power.  Miraj began to scream in protest, but the moment sound came from her vocal cords, the Force silenced her.

"It is time apprentice.  Complete the ritual," the woman demanded as her apprentice unfurled the scroll in his hands.

As he unrolled the scroll, Miraj attempted to summon the Dark Side to save herself from whatever was about to transpire.  She was a cornered animal, and her panic consumed her.  Nothing happened.  It was as if she was no longer worthy to command the Force and that it was punishing her for transgressions.  Squirming as hard as she could, tears began to stream down her face as Bao-Dur began to read from the scroll in a language Miraj had never heard of.  The earthen woman's smile was haunting, as the inscriptions on the dagger began to glow with a bright red with each word from Bao-Dur.

With the final words spoken, the earthen woman moved closely to Miraj and lowered her head to her ear.

"Thank you for all you've done," the woman whispered as she plunged the pulsating dagger into Miraj's heart.

Time itself seemed to stop, as her very life-force was drained into the dagger.  Miraj could feel her body withering away, and in agony she wasn't even allowed the comfort of crying for help.  The earthen woman began to cackle, and her glee and joy was the last thing Miraj witnessed before her eyes crumbled within her skull.  Moments later her body was a withered husk on the stone slab, drained of all life.  Within the confines of the dagger Bao-Dur could hear Miraj's screaming through the Force, as her soul was dragged into the void of oblivion.

He couldn't help but smile at her fate, his revenge washing over him like a calm breeze in the wind.  Sorus wasn't finished however and brought the dagger to her skeletal body within the tomb and began to chant with the dagger in her hands.  Flesh began to form over the bones, slowly recreating her ancient body within the tattered robes.  Every second that passed, more of her former self was forming before her apprentice's eyes.  Finally the dagger dropped to the floor and her earthen shell crumbled along with it.  The ancient Sith opened her eyes from within her open sarcophagus and looked at her apprentice, who stood bewildered at her resurrection.

"Sorus Syn lives again!" she screamed as lightning crackled around her, feeding off her Dark Side energy.