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Ary the Grey

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Solus listened intently to his lord’s words, soaking each one up carefully. It was the first time he had seen a kind of gentler emotion from Roshan so far, though Solus’ lifetime so far had been brief. Still, Solus had seen a touch of anger from Roshan back in his ascension. Now Solus was seeing a touch of sadness. Solus was feeling a mixture of pride and sadness himself. Pride at the fact that Roshan was willing to share this emotion with him, but sadness because his master was sad. 

 

When Roshan faced him, Solus nodded. “Yes Lord Roshan. It does. At least, I believe it does. Yes…”

 

Solus glanced out through the window at the array of passing stars and space. While his sensors that could not read what it was, it and Roshan’s words made Solus think. He turned and began slither out of the cockpit to attend to Tear and Sir Aliss, but at the door he stopped.  He placed a hand on the metal frames of the door, feeling the texture of the metal on his own fingers. Lost in thought, he began to mumble, but grew slowly with enthusiasm.

 

“Lord Roshan, I vow to be the god-killer you need. Once I have become strong enough, your rival will feel your wrath! Yes, that is my oath! Ha ha!” 

 

Solus was feeling a rise in emotion. He couldn’t help himself. His serpentine tail shivered in excitement. Solus' body moved upwards nearly hitting the ceiling with his head.  Solus looked as if he was looking at the ship's ceiling  inches away, when in reality his gaze was somewhere else. With his hands clenched, Solus raised both arms as if in triumph and swiveled around to face Roshan. 

 

“Yes! That is it! I will become a god slayer! Solus the Ascended will become more! "

 

Solus grew louder and prouder, lost in emotion.

 

"By my visions!" Solus slammed the ceiling once with a metal fist, causing a large banging noise.

 

"I will be more god-like then anything before! By my ascension!"

 

Solus slammed with his other fist, denting the ceiling slightly.

 

 "I will become a tool of the Force! By this body!"

 

With both fists he slammed his own chest, the ringing noise echoing throughout the ship.

 

"I swear to be a weapon to slay gods, become a god myself, and then…"

 

Solus turned back to Roshan and lowered himself into a bow. “...your rival will feel your wrath.”

 

Before anyone could say anything, a howl came from the back rooms. Tear was awake and sensing its ancestral home. The ship’s monitors beeped in warning that it was about to exit hyperspace. And Tear knew it somehow. So did Solus. Something in him shivered. Something dark. 

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Solus watched through the window as Lord Roshan maneuvered the ship. Once they were on the way, Solus listened intently. He flinched at the rebuke. It was physically visible how Solus started to feel. His entire body slouched slightly, and the enthusiasm that was there moments ago completely dried up. 

 

At his words, Solus nodded and went back to the room to check on the hound. Tear growled slightly at the metal being as Solus entered. The droid stared at the beast quietly and moved closer. It’s growls intensified.

 

 For a moment, he froze. Solus reached forward and grabbed the thing’s head behind the ear. 

 

“Shut…” With brutal force Solus slammed Tear’s head down into the bed. Tear snarled and barked. With metal hands, Solus began to squeeze, making Tear yelp in pain. 

 

“UP!!!”

 

Solus raised Tear’s head up and slammed again. While the bed wasn’t a hard surface, it certainly was enough to make Tear flinch and stay still.

 

For another moment, Solus held the hound down. The hound panted over and over, staring at its owner in utter fear. It knew what the thing could do.  Solus stared down, his yellow eye giving a putrid glow over the thing’s face tempted to try to crush its skull.  To break it apart. His grip tightened. 

 

“I am in charge, and you will please me! You hear?"

 

Solus realized that there was a noise in the room. A kind of rattling, clicking noise. Glancing back, Solus saw that the sound was coming from his tail shivering on the floor uncontrollably.  This was the first time Solus had to focus to stop moving it. 

 

After he released the hound and backed away, Solus slumped against the wall, his torso leaning back while his tail curled up underneath him. Something was wrong with the body. It felt sluggish. The energy that moved through the wires was not moving as fast. 

 

“This...is...what…” Solus started. His voice box didn’t sound right. It was too slow. Too low. 

 

For a moment, his eye flickered, giving the illusion he was going blind.

 

A dread panic began to form inside Solus. 

 

“What...what’s...happening? No..Lord...”

 

Solus tried to pick himself up, but the chassis wouldn’t respond. The electricity was coiling back to its battery. With outstretched hand, Solus reached for the bed where Tear watched cautiously. 

 

“Tear...help…” 

 

The last thing Solus saw before his eye flickered out completely was the hound struggling to get up on it’s broken legs. 

 

***

 

To anyone outside, it was obvious that the chassis Solus had needed to shut down and do a recharge. However, since Solus wasn’t fully accustomed to what his body needed and how it worked, to him it was the most terrifying thing he ever experienced. 

 

At first, the shard tried to move the body over and over again. It begged. It commanded. It could still feel the body through it’s electromagnetic senses, but it couldn’t see or hear. Solus felt like he had just descended back into the void he came from. 

 

“Is...is this my punishment? Did I not please my Lord? Roshan! Please!” 

 

Solus begged. He pleaded. He requested and bartered with the void around him, hoping Roshan would hear his cries again like he must have had before. Then, it turned to shouting. Silently, the crystal inside the chassis turned from a bright red to a near black. The lines became more jagid, and erratic. 

 

“Well kriff you! I...I will do it! I will give myself power! Yes! Myself and no one else! I will be powerful! Yes! And once Roshan, once you are dead, my family will be better then ever!”

 

**to Korriban**

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  • 1 year later...

As the newly built Exodus-Class Star Destroyer pierced through hyperspace on her maiden voyage, so too did Solus try to tame his hound on his chassis’ maiden combat situation in one of the many hangers.. 


“Ah! Down Tear! Down I say!” Solus tried to command as he and the hound rolled over and over on the floor.  Solus’ metal hands were gripping onto the beasts upper and lower jaw, doing everything in his power from keeping it snapping around his head. 


Eventually Solus raised his leg and pushed the hound away from him. The hound tumbled on the floor and slammed into a fighter, but quickly back jumped to its feet, while Solus was still getting up. 


The hound leapt forward, claws eager to fulfill its name’s purpose. It’s master before had kept it contained through sheer violence and size. Now, Solus was almost as small as it was, if just a foot bigger. Solus was weaker, and thus, no longer in charge when the shock leash was off. 


Solus barely rolled out of the way of the hound’s tumble. His mind flashed back to when he had fought Tear’s brother, Rip, and the rest of its pack. Back then, he was with Lord Roshan and his other warrior, and Solus had his large chassis. He was able to hold Tear down with one hand, and break leg bones just by squeezing.


“This is just so stupid. So dumb! Gah!” Solus angrily shouted as he dodged another pounce. This time he was ready and leapt onto the hounds back, grabbing tightly. 


“Obey me Tear! You know I’m in charge.” Solus commanded to no avail. Instead Tear responded with by rolling over and pressing onto Solus with his back. 
Solus thanked the force that Tear hadn’t developed spines yet  like his brother. Still, he was forced to let go. 


The two got themselves up and circled each other momentarily. Tear growled and bared its razor-sharp teeth. Solus started to lose hope. This was useless, he did not have the same strength to tame Tear. 


“Come on Tear, what is it? What will make you obey me again…”

 

Tear barked in response, its glowing red eyes showing no fear nor compassion. It had no reason to listen to this fake thing. 


Solus tried to think more. He recalled what his master had said. 

 

A tuk'ata must have it's allegiance earnt through sheer will, by bending it's will to your own. Dominate his mind. Show him your true self, your darkness, your rage, anger and all your fears. Earning his loyalty, only then will you have a true hound of war to follow you for perhaps centuries to come. For they are not easily bought and rare to find. Let him loose from his chain, break his will on the journey to Naboo, consider this your first real test as a Sith

 

Solus shook his newly made head in confusion. 

 

Bend your will to my own? Isn’t that what I did before? By beating you to a pulp and breaking your legs?” 

 

Tear charged, trying to use its teeth instead of its claws this time. Solus stumbled back a bit in surprise and raised an arm up in defense. Tear grabbed the arm and, with the force of a beast, shook Solus around and threw him to the side. 

 

The Shard crashed into the wall, shocked from the sheer muscle Tear had. He had been growing since Korriban. He was just so big that Solus never really saw it. 

 

“Why won’t you listen to me?” Solus shouted, anger in his synthesized voice. Tear charged again but this time he was ready. As the beast leapt, Solus brought his arm up and struck at the thing’s throat. 

 

Solus didn’t realize how much strength he actually did have. While it was nothing compared to his previous chassis, it was still the strength of a robot. With the air knocked out, Tear collapsed onto the ground momentarily.

 

Solus looked at his arm. The dents in it, as well as the strain in Solus’ shoulder, showed the power of Tear’s jaws. If he was an organic, it might’ve been torn off. 

 

“You damaged me!” Solus yelled. Tear was getting up. Solus was up first and jumped up and placed himself over Tear. With one hand on its head and the other on its shoulder, Solus pinned the hound with his full weight. 

 

“You DAMAGED ME!” Solus shouted, his synthesized voice blaring out slightly. Tear began to struggle, but Solus only pressed down harder.

 

“All you had to do was listen to me. You needed to listen to me! But no! You decided to not listen at all and damge me! Cut me out of everything and leave me! Thats what you all did! Isolate me like some piece of NOTHING!” 

 

Tear stopped and looked at the being. The force was coming off of the metal being now. Waves of anger and pain were rapidly intensifying. The shard’s past was being brought forward. With its new body, Solus was more connected to the Force then ever, and the beast not only recognized it, but relished in its nourishment. 

 

Inside his chassis, as the pain came to the surface, the shard’s lines became faster and more precise. Their usual chaotic dance began to imitate a more geometric shape as its feelings became focused.

 

“All you, and all the rest of you had to do was listen! I had visions! I saw the world of worlds! I SAW EVERYTHING! And I was right! I was! Not them! ME! ME! AND YOU ALL PUNISHED ME FOR BEING RIGHT!! WELL WHO IS RIGHT NOW!?!?!”

 

With each sentence, Solus’ voice became more garbled and distorted as the dark side surged from the shard inside the thing’s head. With each surge, the lines got closer and closer, until finally, they were perfectly aligned. 

 

"WHO"S RIGHT NOW!!!!"


 Solus grabbed Tear, picked him up, and blared his scream. The shard turned a horrid black. The metallic screech was layered with dark energy from the fury inside the Shard that had been held back for centuries. . The walls shook slightly as the force, starting to be recognized by the Shard, vibrated. True, Solus would probably never be able to do this on purpose without training, but here, Tear was his prisoner and Solus could give into his rage without worry. 


The screech only lasted for a few seconds. Then Solus’ body collapsed. Despite being robotic, his body was drained of all power. Solus could see but was unable to move. His hound locked eyes on his fallen master who only moments ago. He was completely helpless. Nothing could save him now…

 

Tear calmly walked up and curled himself around Solus’ body. His master had finally shown some of his true colors. His pain. His rage. This is what nourished the Tu'kata more then any kind of meal. Death was its meat. The Dark Side was its drink. And its master could provide equal measures of both. 

 

Solus chuckled a bit at this as his body temporarily powered down. It would soon power back up however, when the ship’s broke hyperspace at Naboo.  

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  • 7 months later...

“Come come Tear, can’t be late!” Solus briskly moved down the hallway while snapping his metal fingers. Tear growled as the Sith Hound barely kept up, its claws clicking on the metal floors. 


“Oh it’s fine? It’s fine you say?” Solus mocked the hound, waving a hand. A few Linnorms stepped aside seeing the Dragon approach. The Sith apprentice had taken the new title well, and already had commanded with more authority than before. And the Linnorms knew it


“Fine is my master being impressed with my work.” Solus continued, not even noticing the Linnorms stepping out of the way. “Fine is killing someone in service to the Fanged God. Being on time is not fine in of itself, and being late is worse, so we will not be late!”   


Tear seemed to roll his eyes and growled again, uncaring for the little things its master worried about. 


However, Solus couldn’t help but stop at one corner. The hallways metal interior provided several points of polished reflection, and the Shard couldn’t help but stare at the image that looked back at him. 


A chuckle came from the voicebox. “Ah, I can hardly believe it Tear. Just think, I used to be some rock in a cave. A piece of shrapnal. And now, I am more. Much more. The Dragon. Can you believe it?” 


Tear didn’t say anything, but instead simply stopped and looked at the reflection as well. This silence carried on for a few moments, as the Shard continued to study his own reflection over and over again. He even began to lift a hand as if to feel his newly made ‘face’ as he had seen so many of the other organics do, despite the fact that his chassis’ sensors already allowed him to feel his face by instinct alone.  Was this pride he felt? The sin that his Father, Lord Roshan, used as a connection to the Force? What a glorious feeling it was!


“Come come, lets get moving!” Solus shook himself and made his way again. As he left, the Linnorms breathed a sigh of relief and carried on with their own work. 
Finally, the two entered the chamber, and the Shard’s full attention was immediately drawn to the Acklays. 


“My, my my, what beautiful things!” Solus admired out loud, taking a few steps closer to them, but still keeping a safe distance. Perhaps it was the recent vision of the spider thing during his lightsaber making, or the fact that the beasts were huge and monstrous looking, but Solus couldn’t help but immediately fall in love with them. Another step forward and Solus had to stop as the nearest Acklay shrieked and snapped from behind their pens. Tear however stood at the doorway, watching carefully. 


Solus looked up towards where he felt the cloud of red anger was coming from, and gave a slight bow. 


“My master, I am here. What are these amazing things?”

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Solus looked in curiosity as the room altered itself to become the labyrinthine chamber his master desired. From above, Akheron could witness everything easily, but for Solus, walls, pillars and sections of elevated floor now blocked most of Solus' eyesight. 


The instructions sounded simple enough, Solus mused to himself as he disposed of the robe on his body. Use stealth and kill without being heard. An interesting challenge to say the least, but not as difficult as his master made it sound out to be. Then again, the shard suspected there was more to this challenge besides blinded Acklay and gungans and no sound. 


Solus gave another bow to his Master in the observation area, and began his work. 


The first steps were the easiest, and the most educational. Not used to trying to be stealthy, Solus made adjustments as he moved. Using the balls of his feet over the heel, being in a permanent crouch position, even lowering his own power settings to reduce the potential noise his circuits made.    


Solus stopped as he peeked around a corner. The passageway ahead of him was plain and abandoned, save for two Gungans holding spears walking away from him. Several paths broke off the central way, but otherwise there was only darkness. 


This is too easy, Solus thought to himself.  


The memory of the Naboo Abyss, and the time of being swallowed whole, flashed to the forefront of his memory. 


Not wanting to repeat history, Solus peered into the Impossible Geometries, conjured his Envy up, and threw the little lines out around him. He almost chuckled when he saw that a few feet in front of him and all along down the hall up to behind the Gungan warriors, several metal wires connected  a multitude of pressure sensors to blade attachments hidden in the wall. 


Thankfully, the sensors were well separated. Separated enough for the Shard to tip-toe between them, closer and closer to the two Gungans. 


That's it you idiots… Solus mused silently as one foot deftly moved over a pressure pad. Keep looking that way, and all will be fine, just don’t…
 

One of the Gungans paused and began to turn around. 


Kriff 


With only seconds to act, Solus leapt sideways into a branching hallway. Coming to a complete stop at the corner, Solus froze in a kneeling position, avoiding any possible sound. Still, the Gungan sensed or heard something, as he got his partner’s attention and began to walk in Solus' direction. 


Solus smiled inwardly as a cruel idea popped into his shard. Silently from behind his corner, Solus reached his framework hand out towards the leading Gungan, and pulled. 


The Gungan lurched as if chains had grabbed his head and pulled forward onto a pressure plate. With a click and buzz, a spinning blade emerged from the wall and swiftly shot out, separating the Gungan’s head from its body. 


The other Gungan froze in fear, clutching his blaster rifle that had been given to him at the start. 


Then the roar occurred. 


The nearby ground shook slightly as with each thud, the monster known as the Acklay came closer. Solus saw it first, as it came directly down the hallway he was in. Having to think fast, Solus pressed himself into the wall as the Mantis-like thing’s claws passed inches from his metal chassis.


The Acklay, blind as it was, went directly for where the body was heard being sliced apart. The other Gungan, now terrorized, screamed and broke into a sprint. Solus could have sworn that the razor-sharp teeth of the thing were smiling as it heard exactly where the Gungan ran to. 


Solus watched the entire chase from the Impossible Geometries. The Gungan only got a few paces away before he himself fell victim to another buzz-saw. However, he wasn’t as lucky as his partner, as the saw only chopped off a leg this time, leaving him vulnerable to the Acklays claws to stab, rip, and tear apart to be eaten. 


As humorous as it was for the Shard, Solus realized his main goal of the three Acklay still needed to be done. Again, Solus reached out into the Impossible Geometries and began to work his magic. Akheron said Solus needed to remain silent and invisible. And with the powers of the Force, he would do just that. 


The Acklay was a massive creature, and now was in a hallway filled with traps. It was a wonder it didn’t activate any of them itself, but Solus would fix that. In the Impossible geometries, Solus’ lines of envy wrapped around the decapitated Gungan’s head, and began to drag it across the ground. 


The vibrations did the trick, as the Acklay, now done with its meal, took notice. Curious and still hungry, it began its march back to the head. Solus almost cursed out loud, as each step the Acklay took, it avoided a pressure plate. Frustrated, Solus released the skull and focused on the nearest pressure plate to the Acklay and pushed down.


The saw swung out and nicked the Aklays forward front claw. The monster, surprised and momentarily blinded by the sudden noise and vibrations, took a few steps back, bumping into a wall and inadvertently stepping on another plate. Again, another saw came out, slicing through a back appendage. The Acklay shrieked and tried to step away from this new blade. Solus repeated the trick again, pushing on the next pressure plate that had the Acklay in range, if barely. And again, the process would repeat, over and over again. 


Soon, the Acklay collapsed in a mass of cut and broken skin, sliced tendons, and carved bones. Still roaring and hissing in pain, it proved it remained alive. 


Not for long... Solus thought to himself as he stepped out from his hiding spot and made his way, moving under some still spinning blades and around others. With all the saws active, the noises he made were almost nothing in this tight area. To this blinded creature, he was invisible. 


The monster didn’t even know when the lightsaber was held underneath its head, until the blade was activated. 


With a quick deactivation, Solus stepped from the monster to admire his handiwork. Then he turned around and continued on his way. 


One down. Two to go

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A force flash? Solus mused this over as his master’s speaker died down. That didn’t exactly sound wealthy. And yet, how his master worded it, it didn’t sound like that at all. Perhaps…

 

But first Solus needed to find a holocamera. Having walked a distance away from the corpse of the Aklay, he heard his next target more above him then on his level. Solus glanced upwards and noted how some of areas in the place had been elevated much higher than the others.  

 

As good as place as any. If anything, the elevated area’s walls could provide a vantage point to get his bearings on the other Gungans. But getting up there would be an issue. 

 

The elevated area was about 20 feet high, not counting the walls that surrounded some of the elevated area as well. In some imitation of an imperial complex, there were railings surrounding the outer edges that didn’t have walls, as well as plain doorways and empty windows. There didn’t seem to be any ladders or steps on this side.

 

Solus shook his head. He didn’t have the patience to go looking for a ramp on the other side. Instead, he measured up a nearby column next to the elevated area, and hatched an idea. Taking a running leap, Solus planted a foot on the column, and pushed off towards the elevated area. Still too low, to reach the ledge, Solus repeated the step and planted a foot and pushed back towards the column. This continued a few more times, leaping back and forth from wall to column to wall until his fingers gripped a solid ledge to climb upwards onto.

 

Solus stopped, dangling. With a quick focus, Solus casted his envy above him. The area was empty, but Solus cursed silently. Inside the first room past a doorway a Gungan stood, seemingly inspecting the room quietly. And above him was a floating sensor, no doubt one of the holocameras Akheron had mentioned. From the quick glance, Solus gathered that it  had been rigged to screech at the first sign of intrusion. How the Gungan hadn’t set it off was a wonder. 

 

Solus casted his envy further in. The entire area was a maze of tight corridors and walls and ceilings, with holocams secured randomly everywhere. 

 

Solus drew his lines of envy back, pulled himself up onto the ledge, and pressed himself near the doorway. He could hear the Gungan from here, muttering something about how he would murder the next person he saw. 

 

Solus focused himself again and tapped into the Impossible Geometries. The Gungan was easy to see. A conglomeration of annoyance and nervousness. His shapes were drifting backwards and forwards slowly, but spinning with life. However, he wasn’t the object of focus. 

 

Master said to use the darkness… Solus thought silently, as the lines of envy circled and clouds of anger swirled around the liquid-esque forms of electricity that was the holocamera. Seems like anger and darkness are synonymous for you master…they don’t call you the Lord of Rage for nothing.

 

Solus clenched his hand suddenly. The clouds of anger in the Impossible Geometries sparked and shook violently, as his own shard tinged black momentarily. While he couldn’t see the effect, Solus knew the result. Without hesitation, Solus came around the corner. His memory fashed to how Tear would kill someone. How the hound’s teeth would go for the throat. So too would his hands go for the gungan’s throat. 

 

With full force, the shard moved the Gungan out of the room, stopping short of crashing into a wall. The Gungan tried to gasp as its windpipe was crushed and lifted upwards. Not satisfied, Solus tightened both hands until he felt the soundless crunch and the body going limp. 

 

Gently, the Shard laid the body back down and mused over this, almost shaking with excitement. It was so much better then just cutting someone down. To feel their life actually disappear… No wonder Tear seemed to enjoy killing with his teeth. Or was that just instinct?  

 

Either way, no time to wait. 

 

For what felt like an hour, Solus moved from room to room. Quietly, and pausing at each corner, Solus had to refocus and use his Force Sight to make sure the next room wasn’t trapped. A few had cameras. Some had tripwires. Others even had a few Gungans. But each time, either his Master’s lesson, or the Shard’s determination, were more then enough. 

 

During all this, Solus felt one thing rising in him. A sense of accomplishment, and pride. He was finally proving to his master that faith in the Shard wasn’t misplaced. 

Finally, Solus found the stairs to what was the roof. Creeping along them slowly, hands resting on each step giving him the appearance of some kind of metal animal, Solus peered around and froze. The Acklay was standing over what looked like a mound of bodies, dissected and partially eaten. Smaller then the last one, this Acklay was still fearsome to behold. 

 

Had Solus been an organic, he would’ve swallowed a lump in his throat, knowing what he needed to do. This training was about stealth and silence. This would test its extreme. 

 

Slowly, ever so slowly, Solus began his way towards the Acklay. Each step was carefully planned and plotted, avoiding bits of blood and bone. When the Acklay breathed in, or snapped a piece of meat, Solus took another step, freezing once the monster became quiet. When the Acklay stopped and listened, so did the Shard, freezing in place. At times it took minutes before the beast moved, and in turn Solus had to remain still just as long.

 

Each sound felt magnified. Solus felt his own power circuits wanting to thrum with the electricity built up, but his batteries needed to run on the lowest setting possible. His very shard wanted to scream out in anticipation. But more then that, he wanted to keep proving his master that he, Solus the Dragon, was worthy of his title. 

 

Finally, Solus was crouching underneath the Acklay’s belly. Each wrinkle in its leathery skin was for inspection if Solus desired. Slowly, Solus raised the lightsabers handle and brought it up. Each breath the Acklay took, its stomach went up and down, and Solus attempted to match it. If his master wanted silence, he would give silence. Now, just an inch more. An inch and the handle would touch…

 

Solus activated the blade and plunged the handle into the Acklay. The spider-like thing screeched, but it was too late to fight back. Being too big, the blade didn’t even pierce the Acklays top, but all of the organs inside were vulnerable for the sizzling energy Solus’ weapon provided. 

 

In a swift motion, Solus deactivated the blade and caught the falling monstrosity with both hands. Slowly, almost buckling at the knees, Solus laid the monster down, now dead from its lethal wounds. 

 

One more to go. Solus thought to himself, taking a moment to rest.  
 

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  • 3 months later...

A bead of sweat dripped down the human’s forehead as plasma torch busily worked on the chassis before him. Stitch-Mouth didn’t bother wiping his forehead. Such bothers were long forgotten by hours and hours of training with the Sorcerers of Bragsanu. Hours that included surviving days without liquid intake, painful scarring during meditation rituals, combat practices under a black moon, and, of course, the sealing of his mouth. 

 

Stitch-Mouth eventually indulged himself and opened a small fatty flap on his neck, revealing a socketed hole. Taking a clear tube from his belt, he connected the hole to a water canteen at his side and took a drink. Around him, nameless, titleless servants looked away disgusted as they handed over the parts they could find. 

 

The human looked them over and selected which ones, much like a studied surgeon would choose an organ replacement. None of them were in prime condition, but that couldn’t be helped.  With the destruction that had occurred, and the loss of so much at Nar Shaddaa, choicest parts would be harder to come by. 

 

Still, he made do. The parts were salvaged from an assortment of machines and parts, but the main chassis body and head came from one model: An uppity EV-Management droid, who’s pain antics, while amusing to the Linnorms for a while, had gotten out of hand. Its legs had been destroyed, so the Sith Alchemist had to replace them with the remains of a K4 security droid. Solid, a little heavy, but dependable. 

 

True, it wouldn’t be like the Shard’s old chassis, but perhaps upgrades could be added later. The true art to droid’s after all, was that their bodies could be changed with a little time and energy on a whim. Not like organic bodies that required continual work over and over and over again until it literally learned what it was supposed to be. With the EV-series being especially adaptable, Stitch-Mouth knew upgrades would be in the future. Who knew, maybe some extra appendages would help the Shard out.  

 

Stitch-Mouth looked at the shard on his work desk. It was still screaming. Its lines of thought had become a jumbled storm of dashes screeching wildly between invisible points.  Though Stitch-Mouth’s human ears couldn’t hear it, the Shard’s voice rippled on the force. Pain wracked its brain and, for lack of a better term, body. And there was something else. Something that would be much harder to cure. 

 

Hours later, the time for testing came. The alchemist carefully placed the Shard into the EV droid’s head. The wires were a bit trickier than the droid model the sorcerors had made back on Faleen. Thankfully, the Shard’s oldest chassis, the Hutt Security droid, was an easy study and provided Stitch-Mouth all the information needed for making more chassis for Shards. 

 

The head powered up, its eyes flickering to life. At first, it looked like everything was normal. 

 

Then it screamed and flailed its limbs around wildly like a possessed madman. One nearby soul was bashed away, a blow to the head that would prove fatal. 

Without missing a beat, Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote in his hands. On cue, the restraining bolt on the Shard’s new chest activated. An electric jolt flooded the shard’s systems, purging its control. This was followed by shutting the chassis down and back up. The screech occurred again like a soul taking a breath, followed by another click from the remote. The others around flinched and looked in morbid curiosity. No doubt, this was a painful experience for the crystal inside, being brought to and from consciousness on command with a complement of electrical shock.

 

Still, Stitch-Mouth was more than just an over-glorified mechanic. He was an alchemist, and the Sith required more than a share of knowing how brains worked. 

Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote again and again, running his own tests on the chassis, while instructing the others to various tasks via datapad. Each time The arms needed to be removed and the legs needed to be shut off to prevent self-damage.  This would be a very long process.  

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Stitch-Mouth said nothing as the Sith Lord joined in first repairing his own armor and then helping attend to the Shard’s treatment, but did give either a grateful or simply respectful nod. The work continued, the alchemist remained in charge of the Shard’s bolt. 

 

After an hour of work and numerous restarts, Solus’ screams had turned to words. Brief phrases more than complete sentences, and while Stitch-Mouth was forced to cut off the Shard many times, there was an air of hope for recovery. 

 

“The blood runs upwards! Blood runs upwards and the skies fall dow-” 

 

Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote and started again.

 

“The vines, like wires and veins! The vines, like wires and veins! Burn them all! Burn them…”

 

Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote and started again.

 

“The dragon awakes, the tree crushes its scales! The dragon awakes, the tree crushes its-”

 

Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote and started again.

 

“Let the galaxy burn! Let it burn and let me kill it with my hunger for vengea-”

 

Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote and started again.

 

“Darkness within light! Light within darkness! The teeth open between. The teeth open be-”

 

Again, Stitch-Mouth clicked the remote and started again.

 

The process took another hour. The screaming and ranting echoed everywhere, with the Force infused into each syllable. But eventually it quieted down.

 

Finally, Solus awoke without screaming or ranting. The shard looked around almost as if it was in a daze, recollecting itself, analyzing it’s surroundings. 

 

“Master…” Solus voiced, raising its arms up slowly to study them. They were much different from what the shard had before. Where the previous arms were like actual humanoid arms, these were more like metal rods with hands. 

 

“How…how long was I out master? It feels like years, yet nothing has changed. How many decades have passed? No, wait, maybe I don't want to know…”

 

Solus’ new head looked at Akheron, gold sensors looking over the Sith. Behind the sensors the slight glow of the shard’s crystalline form could be seen. 

 

“What has happened, master?”

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At the words that time had only passed a few hours, Solus went silent and still. Then he started banging his newly installed head with his arms, the metal clanking loudly. Stitch-Mouth even flinched and almost pressed the shut-off remote. 

 

“A few hours?!? That felt like an age. Two ages! Only a few hours? Impossi…” 

 

Solus quieted himself, remembering who he was talking to and continued to listen. 

 

After his master was done, Solus nodded and looked over his body and attempted to get up. It was like learning to walk all over again. The joints creaked and shook at first, evidence of their age and use. The metals that Akheron and Stitch-Mouth had used in fixing them however proved their use, as the body slowly stood up and stumbled a few steps forward. 

 

“That…tree thing…” Solus uttered as he took another step. “Definitely will pay. His aura…his presence in the Force was unique, and my envy gave me power. But not enough. Not enough….”

 

“Enough…enough” Solus head repeated the word a few times, softer and slightly distorted with static. 

 

As Solus stopped  talked, his voice box chittered and repeated the last word, like an echo in the circuitry. The Sith alchemist raised an eyebrow, but assured the others it was nothing to worry about. Where wounds on an organic would be physically visible, it appeared the ones Solus had would be more vocal. Echoes and all. 

 

“I definitely have more learning to do, master. That tree thing will pay, or my name isn’t the Drago- ach!”

 

“Aaaaaach!!!” The echo shrieked as Solus stumbled over and into a batch of wires and circuitry. In a sudden panic, Solus shrieked again as he flailed. However, he quickly stopped, a chassis amongst droid parts, growling slightly.  

 

“Stupid…gah! Stupid me, just some wires. Like that viny thing was here. No no, just some wires...”

 

“Some wires” 

 

Solus gestured towards Stitch-Mouth violently. The alchemist nodded and handled over the still working lightsaber. It was a wonder the thing had not been damaged during the entire encounter on Nar Shaddaa. Solus held it carefully in one of his appendages and stumbled after his master, his steps becoming more and more sure as he became familiar with his new body. 

 

“Tell me master, I must ask, where are we heading to next? Back to Falleen? Or perhaps back to Korriban? After all, I’m sure the Sith won’t take this defeat lying down…”

 

“Lying down…” 

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Solus seemed to listen his his master's words, nodding at them. However, his sensors seemed to drift, glancing about instead of just looking at Akheron. The shadows on the ship seemed to draw his attention occasionally, and the random noises of the ship running its usual procedures. Still, like a child, his focus came back over and over to Akheron.

 

“I recall reading about Coruscant…” Solus started. “It had a moon crash into it. I once had a vision of that long ago, before my ascension.  Back before…”

 

Solus stopped, only the sound of his echo following his words. The memory that flooded his being needed to be squashed quickly. 

 

“I think I learned from my battle with that son of a stump…” Solus changed the subject as the two continued down a hallway. “I let my emotions control me too much. I charged when i should’ve fled. I knew he was powerful, and grew upset when he didn’t fall for my traps. I hope you are not too disappointed with my loss master.” 

 

“Master…” the echo continued, lingering in the air.

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  • 4 months later...

Solus fell to his knees, grasping at his head where his Shard was hidden inside. The fear that sank in was much more noticeable than one would imagine. Perhaps it was his training with the force abilities, or perhaps it was because what he had experienced earlier in the Hellvault, but he could feel that this fear was much more implanted and fake than genuine. 

That didn’t mean it wasn’t effective however. On the contrary, Solus’s voicebox began to emit a soft but eerie piercing noise, a quiet scream of a machine. He could’ve sworn that around the corner, that thing was creeping up on him, readying to slay the shard where he stood. 

 

Solus began to look at the others. Was their skin starting to peel away? The Miraluka who leaned in to whisper almost got smacked away, Solus holding his hand back barely. Were those scars actual scars or were they just disguises? Perhaps they were monsters hiding in plain sight or…

 

Then the fear vanished as soon as it came. With less effort focused on the Shard, the fear quickly evaporated. Realizing how silly he looked on his knees, Solus pulled himself back up. 

 

“Yes master, it will never happen again…” he said, like a defeated child. He nodded obediently as his master went off with Mavenger.

 

Solus looked at the others. Instantly, he seemed to change his posture, as if he was aware of how he looked to those who remained.  No longer a defeated child, he acted like the excited droid his body portrayed. “Behold the wisdom of my master, and remember your fortune at having him at our side.” 

 

Solus bowed to the others. “If you wish, I will not mind company, for my glorious master has no orders over you, and perhaps you would like to learn what i am learning? Perhaps you, blind one?” Solus gestured to the miraluka. “Or you, great Apothos? Lord Innmortos held a keen interest in our databanks, and perhaps you might share his interests, hmm?” 

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"My own tutelage taught me different. To rise to the rank of Sith Lord, I would have surpass my Master and slay him. Wouldn't it prove a burden to slay the one who you hold upon such a pedestal?"

 

As Solus led the way for the two, he replied with his own thoughts. 

 

“Ah, you are of the same teachings that my father, Lord Roshan, was under. And to that, I say, if I kill someone who is below me, is it such a worthy challenge? Killing someone above me…now thats a worthy feat, is it not? ”

 

As Solus walked he turned himself around and walked backwards briefly, looking at the two Sith Lords. 

 

“Besides, there is a phrase in our clan that I've discovered: Wide smiles, sharp blades. Both are easy to clean” 

 

Having finished with his own thoughts, Solus finally introduced the group to the ship’s library. A circular chamber filled with various datapads and holocrons, the Master of Hides greeted the group. A tall, gaunt, and horribly deformed Bith by birth, with his left arm and left foot shrunken to half their normal sizes. To make up for this defect, the Master of Hides utilized a mechanical arm attached directly to his spinal cord and a pair of robotic legs overfitting his defective leg.

 

To Nok’s requests, he simply waved him to his right. An assistant servant over there would be willing to help. To Dictum’s request, he took a more personal consideration and pulled a few datapads off the walls. 

 

“While our collection is lacking on Ragnar’s personal livelihood…” The Master of Hides explained with a terrible lisp. “...his professional career is a bit more recorded, including many of his more deadlier and deceptive methods of killing his enemies, as well as his last days working within the Sith Empire. I believe these will shed a light on what you hope to find.”

 

For Solus, the Bith looked the Shard over. 

 

“I’ve heard about what you seek, Dragon. Your madness has become….erratic to say the least. The sorcerors warned me of this possibility. I have already prepared several datapads for you, but I will say, what we have is limited. The Temple of the Spider is not a well-versed subject here. Madness usually doesn't concern us. But, perhaps you can find something we have missed…” 

 

Solus bowed to the Master of Hides.

 

“Great celestial cranial pod , your help is appreciated beyond words. May your brain never explode from the sounds of greatness.” 

 

With that back-handed compliment given, Solus began his work. While the others had their own tasks in the ship’s library, Solus was sorting through information as fast as his photoreceptors could take them in. The record speed for a droid of his chassis was hundreds of hours of video files of footage within one hour. Solus was only a little slower then that, much faster than the average humanoid.

 

After three hours of going through the data, Solus began to see a pattern. 

 

“Aha! Behold!” Solus exclaimed almost widely as he pulled up files for others to follow. “All mentions of similar madness like the one I have are usually linked to madmen, who were placed under psychiatric watch and then usually died shortly after. But for ones like these…”

 

An image of a crocodilian species appeared. “Behold, Shimrak, a Vulptereen security officer who claimed he was stalked by spider-like ooze, which followed him from Vulpter to Neimodia. Died in custody at a police station. Officially ruled as suicide, but doubts existed as his own through was slashed five separate times. No one else was spotted in the room.”

 

The image changed to an elderly Sullustan woman. “Feen Paluub, nighttime dancer and professional consort. Killed several of her customers under orders by an ‘unspeakable thing made of nothing but eyes and legs. Placed under medical care to be administered before tried in court of law, but died due to heart failure enroute to hospital.” 

 

Finally the image changed to a young male human. “Reg Oyce. Correlian freighter pilot from Corellia to Coruscant. On his last mission claimed he saw a ‘dragon’ swimming alongside him, giving him force visions of something ‘beyond description’. Was fired from his job, and the Jedi Temple denied an audience with him. He was found dead in a speeder on his homeworld. Ruled as a drunk-driving accident.”

 

Solus swiped all the information away, and pulled up three separate images of the final death scenes of each mentioned individual. A police jail cell, a bloodied hotel room and a smoldering speeder on a travel way. 

 

“Now you may be thinking these people have nothing in common. No similar causes of deaths, positions of work are widely seperated, different genders and species, heck, one of these beings didn’t even speak basic. They died between 12 and 15 years apart from each other, and none of their livelihoods ever crossed paths with each other. But they all had one similarity:”

 

Solus outlined a singular place on each image. For the jail cell, a pattern carved into the wall sloppily by claws. For the hotel room, a canvas painting hanging on a back wall. For the speeder accident, blood smeared on the ground. Each one was slightly different, but only slightly: cascades of circular shapes, overtaking each other, with a few lines criss crossing all over. And in the center of each image,  a unified but separate  shape, with no lines crossing it.

 

"They all had a unique appreciation for art at their time of death. "

 

Solus brought up another image: His room on the ship. On a previous conversation with his master, he had made a nearly identical image in his own ravings of mania. With all four images before him, the Shard overlapped them each other, with the central object as the pinning point. Separate, they were wild, useless, unimaginative  drawings. But together, they were now a star chart, complete with routes and popular planets of trade.

 

“Behold!” Solus proclaimed as he brought up the appropriate star chart to match the image before him. “The Kathol Rift! Hahaha! Yes yes!” 

 

Solus practically leapt upwards and jumped about like a child, beating his chest and whooping wildly, unable to contain his joy at his discovery. “Bwahaha, my madness is not madness, it is genuine! The Temple exists here, and here alone! And I, Solus the Ascended…Solus the enlightened! No, I, Solus the Dragon, know where to find it! Haha!” 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Solus turned to the Master of Hides and bowed, thanking the Bith before leaving the library. Overhearing Dictum’s words, Solus couldn’t help but comment as he followed alongside

 

“If I may comment, Ziost is of note to our current empress as well as a challenger…” 

 

Solus stopped, knowing his words would garnish attention. “The power balance in the Sith Empire is changing from my understanding. I would be careful of who you support. A recent acquirement on Coruscant has been dropped off on Ziost, and more than a few Sith around her seem to think she is worthy of so much more.  Personally I don't know if she’ll succeed our current empress or not, but if you do meet with a being known as Calypso, I’d treat her with more respect than a common underling. More respect than our necromancer at least.”

 

With that, Solus excused himself. Akheron had told him to be in the training room after this, and he did not intend on disappointing his master again.

 

In the training room, Solus found himself early. His master was nowhere to be seen, though his resident mechanic Stitch-Mouth was sitting on the floor waiting. Looking up, Stitch-Mouth nodded to the Shard and snapped his scarred and burnt fingers, before pressing a button on his wrist. 

 

Solus felt the Impossible Geometries shift suddenly as several doors opened up in the massive chamber. Linnorms armed with staves, swords, knives, bows, and other primitive weapons entered. Each of them gave a shout and charged.

 

The shard instinctively reached for his lightsaber, only to find it missing. Glancing down, Solus saw just in time for it flying into the Alchemist’s waiting hands. 

 

“You kriffing son of a” Solus started as he reached through the Geometries to grab the saber back. But with another click of a button on his wrist, Stitch-mouth activated the room’s random walls protocol. Metal frames rose up and down at random, making a literal moving maze for everyone. Following this, klaxon sirens blared and pierce the air, creating a deafening noise for all, and the lights began to flicker and pulse at random.

 

With the bombardment on the senses that would drive many organics to the point of seizuring, Solus understood what was going on. This wasn’t punishment or an attempt to kill him. This was training. 

 

Solus shut off his visual sensors and focused on the Impossible Geometries. No matter how much visual or auditory chaos there was, the Geometries were the same. A conglomeration of shapes and symbols that, when navigated property, gave insight to what was happening. Solus almost mused how foolish the training was, since he had done a decent enough job using the Geometries in Naboo’s depths and…

 

Solus stopped as pain shot through his entire robotic body. The floor panel Solus stood on became energized, shocking the shard’s chassis to his very brain. Just as soon as Solus lost control of his sense, the energy stopped. 

 

“So that’s how it is…” Solus commented. “If you sense me using the Force, you will shock me. But If i don’t…” 

 

Solus rolled forward as a sword barely missed his head. Turning around, Solus, blinded by the flashing lights, threw a force push in the direction he came from, and then kept running. The trick was obvious. Solus had to keep moving while he sensed what was around him. If he stopped, Stitch-Mouth would know exactly what panel to shock and render Solus defenseless to the Linnorms with weapons. 

 

However, Solus did have to get creative from time to time. At one point when hopelessly lost, Solus found one of the Linnorms, and lodged his comm link into the Linnorm, killing it but draining what it had known about the layout of room and where he was currently standing.  

 

More than once did Solus crash into a suddenly rising wall or have to stop to take down a Linnorm using only his body,  but eventually Solus found Stitch-Mouth. Sitting at the center of the chamber, the alchemist waited. Thankfully, combat wasn’t needed, as when Solus approached the  alchemist, Stitch-Mouth held up an open hand and then clicked buttons on his wrist to stop the training. 

 

Solus took his blade back as everything quieted down and then looked around. He was getting anxious and wanted to tell his master what he had discovered. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

“You two!” Solus pointed out two crew standing idly by. Instantly they went to attention to the diminutive droid. 

 

“Pack your gear, and meet me at the hangar. Your worthless hides been selected for the honor of a little trip with me”

 

Solus didn’t even stop to make sure the crew members understood and continued walking down the corridors. Stitch-Mouth kept a few feet behind, monitoring the Shard. 

 

“I tell you alchemist, enough waiting, i’ve heard it. The call. I’ve heard the call.” Solus explained as he continued on into his own personal chambers. Still a mess from disorganization and body parts chewed up by Tear, it was a wonder that Solus was able to find his own personal power generator. 

 

“The Fanged God, he calls me! Oh yes, he calls me himself, I know it!” solus exclaimed, almost skipping as the words were uttered. “I can’t explain it, it’s…it's impossible to understand and… and…what was I saying?”

 

Solus stopped in the middle of the chamber and looked around, seemingly lost in thought. Stitch-Mouth raised an eyebrow, wondering if he should allow the Shard to leave. 

After a few brief moments, Solus looked back at the alchemist and shook his head. 

 

Gah, nothing, nothing. Make sure to keep taking care of Tear while I’m gone. Who knows how long I will be gone, yes?”

 

With no words from the alchemist to stop him, Solus continued on, rambling the entire way. Instructions for what to do with his other chassis while he was gone, frequencies for the transmitters his ship’s sensors would be using, and explanations for what to tell his Master. 

 

“Just make sure to convey to him that this is more important than patience” Solus continued as the two entered the busy hangar. Crew and Linnorms were rushing everywhere, fueling the ship Solus insisted on using. “That waiting any longer risks losing the site of the Temple, and my very sanity. Speed is of the essence right now. He will understand that.”

 

Solus stopped and spun towards the alchemist and waved a finger. “And don’t you dare insinuate that I’m doing this cause of the fiasco on Hellvault.  That was not a failure, no matter what the Lord of Rage thinks. It was both a momentous discovery and a side effect of accomplishing my mission. If anyone has a problem with that, just remind them that this Shard knows a fraction more than any other fool who claims otherwise. After all, no one else has made any connection to the Kathol Rift. Not even that necromancer nor Akheron’s old apprentice.”

 

These last words carried a bit more venom in their tone. It was obvious Solus was feeling slightly threatened and emotionally wounded. 

 

“Now that I’ve explained myself…” Solus turned towards the ship and squealed with glee. The ship was a HWK-290 light freighter, long since past its expiration date and refixed over and over again until it looked like a genuine pirate ship. Small, but it would do. Solus had chosen his crew. Besides himself, there would be four other crew to assist. 

 

“Ah, this is perfect. Just perfect…” Solus commented. For a brief moment, he paused in silence, just taking in the situation. 

 

“Well, time is of the essence! Let us be off! And remember alchemist! I do this for myself and for the Fanged God! Kathol Rift awaits! The Temple of the Spider essence awaits me!”

Solus boarded the ship. The ship roared to life and lifted slowly, before leaving the hangar. Within moments, Solus activated the hyperdrive, and took off for the Kathol rift. 

 

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Day 1

“Breaking out of hyperspace now” The pilot reported. Solus nodded as the kaleidoscope of blue lines outside vanished into a black abyss. Even the usual dots of starlight that were  impossible distances away were invisible here. Solus did not need to adjust his sensors. Nebulaic material  blocked any form of starlight to pierce through the darkness. 

 

“The kathol rift…” Solus noted as he reached and touched the window with metal fingers. “It’s… gah, the language of sound isn’t sufficient for description. I just…” Solus stopped and scratched head, causing his optics to shift slightly. “It's a pulling. There's something here gentlemen. Something great and powerful. Beyond comprehension if I'm correct. “

 

“Eh, looks empty to me. Nothing for light years as far as I can tell.”

 

Solus looked at the Linnorm and nodded. “Yes, isn’t it amazing? True darkness. True nothingness. It's the Fanged God’s dream made reality!” 

 

The linnorm looked at the Dragon confused. Solus gave a sigh of annoyance. “Think harder, you excuse an organic computer brain. What will the galaxy be like once the Fanged God has had his last feast? What will exist after everything is gone? When the Dragon himself has been consumed by the Father of Dust? This!”

 

Solus gestured widely at the window of nothingness.  Something was pulling at his shard. Something dark and ominous. Like the pull of a black hole absorbing all light around it, so too did this thing pull at his very being. 

 

The crew on the other hand, did not share the shard’s excitement nor reverence. Of the four, only the pilot had a modem of idolization, and that was because she was raised in the faith from birth. Arnix and Aaran, the two human twins, Delda, the female Rodian, all believed in the Fanged God, but their beliefs were more fueled by the destruction of things and not the destruction of all things. Only the female Devaronian pilot Farnay was a proper Linnorm. 

 

An odd group to be sure, but one Solus would make do. 

 

“Where are we going, Dragon?” Farnay asked. For not being one of the horned nomadic males her people were known for, she was very eager to get moving.

 

Solus stopped and focused himself. His natural electromagnetic senses were useless out here. Only the Force could guide him. A few moments in meditation revealed that the Impossible Geometries were odd here. The shapes were less geometric and more organic. They flowed in and out of themselves like liquid, only to crystalize and shimmer inwards into an inverted form. Sorting through the shapes was almost impossible. 

 

Almost. 

 

“There.” Solus pointed out the window. “20 degrees to the left, you hornless thing. The unknown beckons!”

 

Day 5

“No, we cannot go hyperspeed,” Farnay groaned, rubbing her eyes. She didn’t need to remain at the controls, but something felt right about the seat. 

 

“This is taking forever though” Arnix whispered, glancing over his shoulder. Solus remained at his place, still staring out into the abyss. He hadn’t moved, say to plug himself directly into the ship’s power supply. There was no need to sleep, no need to take his eyes from the window, no need but to focus on where they were going. 

 

Arnix shuddered. “Just a quick jump. Then we ask him if he can sense anything behind him. 

 

Farnay gave a glare. “Do you know anything about spaceflight? That’s a nebula we are in. I can’t tell a star from a pocket of dense gas, and if I fly right into the wrong thing…”

 

“Alright alright, geez…” Arnix rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, sorry, I'm just a little tired.”

 

“Can’t sleep?” Farnay looked the human over. She knew exactly what he was feeling. Her dreams were continually haunted by nameless things, and jolted her awake with a paralyzing fear, like something was watching her. Even with drugs to help calm her senses down, she still felt a paralyzing sense of paranoia creep over her. 

 

“Ya... I might go collapse a bit if that’s ok?”

 

Farnay waved the human off.  “Get some sleep. If anything happens, I’ll call you.”

 

Arnix nodded and walked back into the hallway. He gave a slight salute to the diminutive Solus, who did not return the salute, or even acknowledged his presence . Arnix gave a sigh and left the room. 

 

“You know…” Farnay muttered loudly to the Shard. “You aren’t exactly stirring confidence in the crew…”

 

A scream pierced the silence. Both individuals flinched at the noise. Surprisingly, Solus was the first to the door, though Farnay was close behind. 

 

“ Arnix!” Farnay exclaimed. Collapsed on the floor, Arnix flailed wildly, screaming and rolling over and over, hands clawing at everything around him like some rabid animal.

 

“Get it off! Get it off!” he cried out between screams. Solus stood, stuck between confusion and observation. Farnay, behind the Shard, could only watch, not daring to cross the Dragon. It wasn’t like she could do anything. She was no medic.  

 

Down the hall, Arnix’s brother came racing, dressed in the equivalent of a nightgown. Only at this, did Solus finally step aside to let Farnay get through.  Together the two began to restrain the man. Farnay began to issue commands for bacta, but the cold realization washed over the group that this ship wasn’t stocked with medical supplies. All they could do was restrain, watch, and listen.

 

“Interesting…” Solus eventually commented. He stepped forward and moved over the restrained human, placing himself above the flailing human, adjusting his sensors. 

 

“Its, no, get it off, can’t you see it? Get it off!” Arnix ranted.

 

“Shhhh, there now you stupid thing…” Solus utterred, working his way into the man’s line of sight. “What’s got you?”

 

“The…the eyes! Get them away!” Arnix turned his head and shut his eyes. Trying to avoid looking at whatever it was, he banged his back and forth onto the metal floor, clanging over and over.

 

Solus adjusted his visual sensors again, then reached and grabbed Arnix’s head, forcing him to look at the Shard sensors.  “Arnix, focus. What is it? What has you?”

 

“It’s…its…”

 

“Is it a spider?” 

 

Arnix screamed in confirmation. Aaran and Farnay looked at the Shard, confused and scared. This was not something they had ever encountered. 

 

“A spider, yes? With so many eyes? And the symbol? Is the symbol there?”

 

Arnix nodded his head, now crying. “The miamed beast. It’s there! Get it off me! Get it off me!”

 

“There there…”  Solus soothed and padded the man’s head. The other two looked at each other. In their short time with the Dragon, they recognized that specific tone. 

 

Without another warning, Solus unsheathed his comm link from his finger and plunged it into the screaming man’s eye. The man’s flailing intensified momentarily as data flowed from the dying man’s brain into Solus’ circuits. The shard gave out an orgasmic groan as the man began to still. 

 

After a moment of silence, Solus pulled out, stood up and looked at Aaran. “Your brother died well in the service of the Fanged God. Store him in the back and we’ll give him a proper burning when we return. 

 

Solus glanced at Farnay. With an unusual cheery tone that did not match the situation, he chimed,  “Back to your post please! I’ll be there shortly.”

 

Farnay nodded and returned. She wiped her eyes after sitting down at the controls. She wasn’t going to be sleeping well for a long time. 

 

Day 8

“He’s out there!” Delda pounded on the door  

 

“Delda, that’s impossible, we’re in the middle of nowhere” Farnay tried to calm the Rodian down, to no avail. Instead, she only caused the rodian to bang on the door more. 

“You don’t get it, I saw him! He’s out there! Brilhon, I’m coming!”

 

Delda began to work the door’s controls. Realizing what the Rodian was about to do, Farnay’s eyes widened. Instinct forced her to grab Delda to restrain her and pull away from the control panel. 

 

“Delda! Stop!” Farnay shouted, hoping someone would overhear. “Your husband can’t be out there! He’s billions of lightyears away. There’s no way he’s out the…”

 

Delda’s next shriek was ear piercing. “No! It’s eating him! Let me go, I can save him!” 

 

Before Farnay could say anything, Delda broke free and grabbed the door to the outside.

 

“Brilhon hang on! I’m coming!” 

 

The vacuum of space ripped the door right out,  Delda along with it. In the emptiness of space, filled only with pockets of nebulaic material, her body was quickly pulled away out of sight. No doubt she would instantly fall unconscious, before the lack of oxygen killed her from the inside. 

 

As for Farnay, the pull of the vacuum of space felt like it nearly ripped her skin off. But instead of being pulled out with Delda, she hovered in the air. Glancing a look over her shoulder, she could see Solus hanging barely onto a piece of the ship, one hand outstretched into a clenching fist. Farnay screamed. It felt as if a giant hand was holding her by her feet. She could feel her body being pulled apart, like a cloth at the seams. At any moment, she would…

 

The ship’s automatic systems kicked in, as a shield generated at the open doorway.  Everyone collapsed into the ground as gravity retook a hold. Farnay groaned as she gripped her head. The oncoming headache was going to linger. 

 

“Come on, up, up, up hornless one.” Solus chided as he helped his pilot up. 

 

“There…now tell me everything. What happened? What did she see?”

 

“Thanks for the concern,” Farnay remarked sarcastically. 

 

“No sass right now you stupid girl!” Solus’ tone became dark and serious as he reached up. Farnay felt her neck momentarily tighten as she was picked up slightly, floating in the air momentarily. Farnay fought back some tears as she gasped for breath. She recognised what Solus was trying to do. It was similiar to what she had seen Akheron do to the Dragon before.

 

“Oooh, my bad, sorry, so sorry, I’m just a little stressed” Solus apologized, letting Farnay down and patting her clothes like some kind of nanny droid.  “Please, tell me, what did she see? She did see something, yes?” 

 

Farney, gasping momentarily, unnerved and more than a little scared, nodded. “Ya- yah” She stuttered, rubbing her throat. “She claimed her husband was out there.”

 

Solus nodded. “Yes, yes, anything else?”

 

“I don’t know, she saw something outside eating him? It's all fuzzy now, I…”

 

“Tell me more, tell me more! Were her eyes dilated? Was she sweating heavily? What was her breathing rate?”

 

“How the kriff would I know?!?” Farnay cursed and smacked the shard’s hands away. The maniac energy that was coming off the shard instantly vanished. Despite not being force sensitive, she could feel the wave of hatred that flowed out of Solus.

 

“Oh, sorry, sorry, I forgot that your organic eyes are not as great as my own. Please, go back to your room. I’ll take care of things here.”

 

Farnay paused a moment before going. Instantly, the hatred she felt off the shard intensified. Feeling the emotion, Farnay nodded and almost ran for her room.  Not that she would be getting any sleep. But at least it would be safer there. 

 

Day 11

“Twenty six times…” Solus commented. 

 

Farnay flinched, almost rocking the controls and sending the ship into a careening arc. “What?”

 

“Twenty-six times. That's how many times you’ve rubbed your eyes in the past hour.”

 

Farnay looked at her hands, realizing what the Shard had said and silently cursed herself. 

 

“Sorry, just tired”

 

“I know”

 

Farnay glanced at the Shard. Despite how everyone else was faring, the Shard seemed unaffected by the journey. Course, having a metal chassis for a body meant less care was needed. A glance at her reflection in the window showed her mess of hair as well as the small bags forming under her eyes.

 

Farnay took a sharp breath. In the dark void outside, something seemed to move. She couldn’t explain it. It was similar to seeing mynocks fly in space, or the sea creatures of naboo swimming in the trenches. Something was alive out there. But instead of flying, she swore it swam. She rubbed her eyes and took a second glance, only to find nothing but the swallowing abyss.

 

“Twenty-seven” Solus commented, not even looking at the Devaronian.

 

“Has it affected you?”

 

Solus turned from the window and studied Farnay for a moment. “Certainly. Much longer than it's been affecting you. And those things everyone’s been seeing. Trust me, I’ve seen them too. Just… different i guess…”

 

Farnay looked back at the controls and the empty void ahead. She glanced at her sensor readings again. There was still no sign of that thing swimming out in the darkness. “Naturally. You have to be stronger in will to be the Dragon i suppose.”

 

Solus nodded and looked at the window again. “Your kind…they are usually force sensitive, no?” 

 

“I guess so. Not me though. I’m one of the unlucky ones…”

 

“I’d debate that.”

 

Farnay glared at the Shard. Maybe it was the frayed nerves, the exhaustion finally catching up with her, or just the annoyance of working under Solus, but he was pressing some of the wrong nerves today. 

 

“Is that so?” 

 

“Arnix and Aaran… according to the Master of Hides, they were both blessed by the Robed Master when they were brought in, did you know that?

 

Farnay rolled her eyes. “So?”

 

And Delda, from her medical records, her midichlorians were about 10 percent higher than most Rodians in the galaxy, and that is saying something.”

 

Farnay sighed. “Are you trying to rub my face or something? Cause that’s what it feels like, oh great Dragon." 

 

Solus groaned in annoyance, an adult annoyed at a child’s incomprehension. “Think about it. Those three are connected to the Force. You aren't. Those three had mad visions, like me in the past. You hav-”

 

“Whoah whoah whoah” Farnay interrupted, waving her arms wildly. “Aaran hasn’t had any hallucinations.”

 

He did when I killed him” Solus stated matter-of-factly. 

 

Farnay had to pause as the words sunk in. “What?”

 

Solus shrugged slightly. “This morning, while you were sleeping. He came to me, crying like a baby. Said his brother’s body was talking to him. I checked on the corpse, and it was still dead, but he swore it was talking to him. Saying things about his worthlessness, his ineptness, etcetera etcetera. A genuine haunting”

 

“And you kriffing killed him because he was hearing voices?!?” Farnay screamed, now off the controls and approaching the Dragon. 

 

Solus didn’t seem to notice. “Oh no, I killed him when he grabbed me and begged me to abandon the mission so we could give his brother a proper burial.”

 

Inches away, Farnay stopped, recognising the subtle threat. 

 

“More accurately, I killed him when I refused his begging and made a move towards my head. But he was in the throes of insanity like his brother. Dilated pupils, elevated pressure, like I was asking you before. Course that may just be for humans.”

 

Solus held up his, still bloody, scomp link. “It was a rather enlightening experience. Tell me, you haven’t been having hallucinations, have you my dear?” 

 

Farnay swallowed and shook her head. 

 

“Excellent. Now…” Solus sheathed his link and waved the girl away before returning to his position and turned his gaze back to the eternal blackness outside. Farnay returned to her own seat and did the same. 

 

This time, she did not rub her eyes. Even when the thing outside made another pass, its yellow eyes glancing into her very soul, she did not rub her eyes. 

 

Day 14

Farnay slammed the door behind her, gasping for each breath. Behind her, the thumping sounds of metal boomed through the ship.

 

Farnay!” the automated voice called through the hallways. “Farnay!” 

 

Farnay screamed a little as something slammed the door directly. The sound of Solus’ fists beating on the door She jumped to where her bunk was and pulled out her personalized hold out blaster. The only weapon she, as the pilot, was permitted. 

 

Solus roared, his voice box more demonic than synthetic. The durasteel door shook violently under the violent blows outside. 

 

“Get away! Leave me alone!” Farnay shrieked. Once, twice, she opened fire, shooting the control panel next to the door, sealing it completely.  

 

“The nwnglui ot n'gha ulnah nilgh'ri!” the voice croaked and groaned.  

 

“No! No, go away! Leave me alone!!” 

 

The door began to warp slightly, and then a red beam of energy protruded through. Farnay shrieked again. This wasn’t how this mission was supposed to go. She wasn’t supposed to die at the hands of her boss.  She was supposed to die in glorious battle. Fighting for the Fanged God, killing all life in the universe. Not being killed by…

 

The lightsaber had made a full circle. Durasteel flew violently away, revealing a dark hallway, with only a singular red beam of energy, held by the Dragon’s fleshy tendrils.

 

“Farnay…” the thing growled. Its meaty form slugged forward, oozing over the door crack, as numerous hairy legs sprouted and recessed into the mass of fat and flesh, grabbing the metal walls to pull itself forward. 

 

“No…no…” Farnay began to cry. She fired the blaster again, aimed at the flesh. The shot went wide. Before another shot could be made, her pistol was yanked from her hands by an invisible force, flying across the room.

 

“Mgah'ehye ya ymg' hafh Farnay. Mgah'ehye ya ymg' gokahe…” The Dragon growled, smoke and steam belching from the thing’s mouth. Its tendrils reached forward, dripping with sweat and oils like some kind of piece of a hutt, while its wings scraped along the roof of the room. 

 

Farnay’s vision began to blur. The Dragon’s tendrils had wrapped themselves around her, tearing her apart. A metal coldness was pulling her limbs off now, separating each piece from her essence. The eyes were glowing brighter now. Her body roiled from the inside. The parts were being pulled out of her. 

 

She was beginning to understand. The fear had brought on a cold realization. She recalled what the Shard had said at the beginning of this journey. The Kathol Rift was the Fanged God’s last feast. The emptiness after life. And she had walked into it.She had willingly flown into it. Into the Dragon’s mouth. And now, it was consuming her.

 

“Vulgtmnah, vulgtmnah..” The Dragon whispered, as everything faded to black.

 

Day 16

Solus reviewed the holofeed again, crumpled in a corner of the room, whimpering like a child. The images didn’t lie. The bodies didn’t lie. None of them ever did. Solus wanted to call them impossible, but that itself wasn’t possible. 

 

“I must be missing something.” Solus told himself, rewinding the feed again. “Something. Anything. After all, there’s always more information, isn’t there?”

 

But there wasn’t. Even as the feed from each incident played over, there was nothing he had missed. His strangulation of Aarnix with his bare hands while the others watched helplessly. His opening of the airlock door to throw Delda out while saving Farnay. His bashing of Aaran's skull in over and over. And now, most recently, the complete dissection of his pilot, who had witnessed each event, but somehow didn’t witness the events like he did.

 

It was like she had seen something else play out before herSolus wanted to declare outloud, but couldn't. If he did, he felt like that would make it a reality

 

Solus would’ve vomited if he had the organs to do so. He was unable to escape Farnay’s room. If he tried, he would've had to touch the mass of guts and organs everywhere. The scene was beyond recognition. Intestines draped from the ceiling frames. Flayed skin wrapped over the bed. Bones piled in the corner with symbols drawn in blood next to them. Images of arachnids everywhere. It was like some mass murderer's dream. And any sane man’s nightmare.

 

A klaxon alarm blared throughout the ship. Solus screamed and covered his audio sensors, unable to turn them off completely. The noises never stopped. Something was always crawling in the vents, or oozing on the outside of the ship. There were buzzings in the hallways. Clickings under the floors. But no matter how much he pulled the ship apart by the seams, he couldn’t find the source. The entire vessel was at its breaking point. 

 

“Why…why is this happening…” Solus whimpered. The alarm continued to blare, louder now. Somewhere, Solus could hear doors opening and closing. Something was boarding the ship. But what? He had seen so much outside the ship. The corpse of Delda he threw out. The swimming beast Farlay whispered about in her sleep. The eyes of the spider monster waiting to pounce. They all were waiting in the abyss. Was now one of the things getting inside? Or were they already in and now escaping?

 

The doorway to the room opened. Solus glanced over, unable to move any further. A robed figure floated in and looked around, studying the bloodied room, before focusing on the whimpering Shard.

 

“Solus, child of Shuburoth, apprentice of Akheron'' a feminine voice buzzed, no louder than a whisper. “We have been waiting for your arrival

 

One arm drifted out as if to hold out a hand. Instead, what emerged from the robe was a mass of wriggling worms and hair, making the vague shape of a humanoid limb. Reality here distorted into beyond recognition. What was and wasn't real didn't seem to matter anymore. 

 

“Come child. Let us begin immediately.”

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The time period between when Solus had arrived and when he left was fuzzy at best and immeasurable at worst. The lack of a sun or any kind of rotational period that so many celestial bodies were given made days and nights the same. The station itself had ‘darkness’ periods, but when and how long they would occur were random by what Solus could measure. Once it was many many hours, and another time it was only a few minutes long. No two periods were the same. 

 

The worst was when these darkness periods occurred at a place where the gravity was no longer functioning. While not ill-kept, the entire station felt like it was on the verge of falling apart. In addition to the lights, some sections of the station had no gravity activated. Other areas were claustrophobic to the extreme. Even Solus with his smaller body had difficulties navigating. Heaven forbid he got stuck in section 18. The section was actually open to the vacuum of space, where a careless slip would doom to an eternity in the darkness. 

 

During the entire experience, Solus continued to have the occasional blackouts. There were no more random and unnecessary deaths, but Solus knew that was only because of Chosen Emlee'esh. But as time went, Solus sensed he was gaining control of the blackouts. He had no proof, but he felt less terrorfied during the times.

 

Emlee'esh, the being who had retrieved Solus from his ship (which translated to Chosen of the empty flesh Solus found out), was mysterious to say the least. Even with his technological abilities, fitted with infrared and electromagnetic sensors, every attempt at peering under her hood resulted in a blank dark void. Her hands, if they could be called that, changed from day to day. One time it would be tendrils, the next clawed knubs, the next a conglomeration of wriggling wires and worms and the following prickly hairs woven into the shape of fingers. Once Solus worked up the courage to ask what species she was. Instead of answering, she only chuckled and commented that such limitations were unnecessary. Everywhere she went, trails of microscopic webs and arachnids seemed to follow, only to vanish when a second look was given. Thankfully her voice stayed the same,making identifying her easy for the Shard, especially given the others that dwelled on the station. 

 

Meeting other beings on the station was a rare circumstance. Most of the disciples, as Chosen Emlee'esh called them, kept to themselves, content to expand their own esoteric studies. Solus’ best guess for how many people resided on the station were somewhere between 30 and a 60. The occasional one Solus met and spoke with didn’t disappoint. Disciple Araneae, according to Emlee'esh, was a Kalo scientist who, after hearing the call of the Madness, dedicated his life to transmitting the condition through disease. His maniacal focus on germs that could exist in the vacuum of space was intoxicating to say the least, and at the end of every speech, would exclaim, “The secret is there! Within the cells and between the cells, the secret is there”. Solus felt like if he himself was more dedicated to the scientific arts, he would find a peer in Araneae.  

 

The being Solus saw multiple times to get reading material was Chosen Leera’ka, or Chosen of the Leering Specter. The first time Solus saw him, the shard fled and hid until Emlee'esh forced him to return to face the monstrosity. While Leera’ka was a Kadri’Ra, he appeared more like a mass of legs and teeth than the dragon-esque species he was. The reason Solus had to flee was because it reminded him so much of the thing the Shard encountered at the Hellvault. Every meeting with Leera’ka afterwards Solus trembled, even after refortifying his mind over and over.  

 

Then there was Disciple Wilmarth and his ‘music’. Wilmarth, the Disciple of the Crawling Wail, was a Bith by birth and never spoke. Solus only met him because he had heard the music echoing down one of the labyrinthine halls. Utilizing several small droids, Wilmarth was creating an eerie symphony of pipes and drums. At first, Solus was hypnotized by the music, unable to resist its siren-like call. But after a few minutes of listening, Solus had to run out of Wilmarth’s chambers, screaming at the noise that stalked him. The very Impossible Geometries trembled at his work. Just as it was beautiful and organized, it quickly became dissonant and maddening. Surprisingly, during many of Solus’ blackouts, he would find himself at Wilmarth’s door, completely drained of any charge and unable to escape the sublime music. 

 

Chosen Emlee'esh had begun Solus’ training by subjecting him to an array of illusions and hallucinations. Since the Shard had suffered so many already, it was obvious this task was simple to perform. Many of Solus’ blackouts occurred after these sessions, with him waking up missing a few pieces of his chassis or in front of Wilmarth’s quarters.

 

The fact that Solus continued to end up near Wilmarth’s quarters led Emlee'esh to create several instruments for the Shard to experience with, as well as assign him to attempt to create poetry or small pieces of fiction. Emlee'esh explained that a dedication to the arts was not only beneficial for those in the Temple, it was in some ways a necessity. 

 

“At the core of the Madness” Emlee'esh explained As Solus struggled with a hand-held version of a valachord, “is creativity. You must learn creativity and inspiration to manipulate the Madness properly. Much like the ways of an assassin, the more creative you can be, the more versatile and expansive your powers will become.” 

 

“You must also learn to lose the rules of this so-called reality” Emlee'esh continued. “Even before you first ascended, you assumed time flowed forward. The cause of the effect precedes the effect itself. Water flows downwards, babies are born then die. Rocks form, then erode. Light jumps from one place to another. But in the Force and in the Madness, such things no longer remain true. Say goodbye to the logic of the universe. It will fade into things like ghosts and shadows here. And when all you see is madness, you will never fear it, and you will be able to control it. ” 

 

“How does this relate with the Fanged God?” Solus questioned, taking a slight break from the annoying instrument. “I discovered the Madness through him, and so far, you have never mentioned him once.”

 

“Madness and Death often hold hands.” Emlee’esh answered, circling the shard and forcing him to continue playing. “Your deity desires death of all, including the Force. That is a madness in of itself, is it not? It is why some of his disciples succumb to madness. The very core of your religion is based on it, not that your master would believe so. Do not worry too much over this. You will come to understand in time”

 

However, his training did not stop with illusions and instruments and philosophy. Solus was also forced to endure hours of absorbing information, ranging from subjects of various political systems of the galaxy at large, to past Sith Lords all the way from the first dark jedi, various torture methods developed by various individuals, documents and reports on famous murderers in history, and medical facts on every single type of known species in the galaxy. In addition, Solus was forced to read numerous fictional stories, biographies, novels, and propaganda reports from all over the galaxy. During each training session, Emlee'esh would question Solus about what he read like a seasoned professor, and when he made one error, even an accidental one, Emlee'esh would purposefully force Solus into a painful and maddening blackout. After the first two errors, Solus vowed not to make another mistake again. 

 

After some unspecified time, Solus was allowed to have his lightsaber back for training. Each session occurred outside the station on its hull. Fighting in the vacuum of space proved to be difficult for Solus at first, only to be compounded by the fact that the fighting style he was being taught relied on fear, intimidation, and surprise. Solus had to balance his focus between maintaining his mental composure, his foothold and his aggression. More than once Emlee'esh sent Solus hurtling into space, only to pull him back with a force pull, slamming him into the hull. Ironically, the lessons of these training did not include finding solid footing in the zero gravity, but to be able to be loose from the rules of gravity, and to use agility and mobility over steadiness. 

 

All of Solus’ training cultivated with the Ritual of the Open Eye. 

 

“The Open Eye” Emlee'esh explained to the Shard, who sat floating in one of the many places with no artificial gravity. “Is the opening to the Madness. You are a beacon to the Madness. The ritual will make you a stronger beacon. A door for the monsters to walk through. It is how you become one with what dwells in the Kathol Rift. That unnameable horror that we can never fully comprehend. Give yourself to the Madness.”

 

“How am i to do that?”

 

“Purge yourself of all your virtues. Compassion, selflessness, honor, everything. Then reach out into the darkness. For both Nature and the Force abhors a vacuum. By doing this, the Madness will seep into you. Once you have done this, focus your will against it and force it to serve you.”

 

“Will this cure me of the hallucinations?” Solus asked, genuinely curious and concerned. 

 

Emlee'esh shook her head. “They will grow more frequent and intense as time goes on. You will become a beacon for the Madness wherever you go. A conduit for unspeakable horrors. The Kathol Rift may be far behind you, but you will never leave it. You will desire its presence, but loathe its arrival. In time, this will be both your strength and your downfall. And when you die, you will return here, unable to escape its hold.

 

“But you will recognise it easily and be able to dismiss it. You will know what is real in the terms of common practitioners of logic, and what is real in the realm of madness. Here you will find control.” 

 

Solus nodded and began the ritual. Emlee’esh left the area, locking the doors behind her, leaving the Shard in total darkness. Sitting in the zero G environment, he began to pluck at the strings of his small simplified valachord. The area was pitch black, with no source of light save the singular datapad floating in front of the Shard. Solus began to read as he played, feeling his mind opening to the Force and the Kathol Rift.

 

“Do not do this apprentice.” A voice ordered from the darkness. Solus refused to stop his playing, even as the figure entered into the light, revealing his large, bulky Sith body. “This power is not what you seek. It is not the power of the Fanged God.”

 

Solus waved a hand from his valachord, pushing the illusionary shade back. The training with Emlee'esh was already rewarding him. Months ago he would’ve believed his actual master was here. He almost did. The shade breathed out warm air, and the metal floor shifted beneath its illusionary weight. Solus’ sensors read everything as real.

 

“Do you think this is what I wanted for you to find here?” The shade of Akheron continued to appeal to reason. “You were sent to get better. To save your mind, not to subjugate it to torture. Stop this and come back to me, or you will suffer more than fear and pain by my hands.” 

 

Solus waved his hand again, the shade vanishing into the darkness. Again, he returned to his music and opened his mind. 

 

“This is pathetic…” Another voice started. The feline figure was unmistakable. “You are so much better than this. You are a child and warrior of Roshan. How will this help me take over Ishvara?”

 

Solus grunted. This shade was appealing to a sense of selflessness, like Emlee'esh had said. Solus knew he still had a desire to help his father claim Ishvara for himself. Still, he was surprised in the form the shade took on. 

 

“Kill these idiots and let's be off Shardling…” The shade continued, its bleeding teeth reeking with fetid rot. “Make your power grow with death, and then rush to my side to help me once again…” 
 
Solus waved a hand again, refusing to acknowledge the shade further. It growled as it faded into the black. 

 

Finally, another figure intruded. Solus’ old frame looked down at him, its faceless features an unreadable mask. 

 

“This is wrong…” It’s voicebox identical to Solus’ past. “You are losing pieces of yourself. Your reasoning? That helps you greatly, and will continue to aid your ascension. Your selflessness? This is what helps you serve the Sith so well. If you lose these things, what will become of you? What will you become?”

 

Solus intensified his playing. He was approaching the zenith point. The Madness would soon invade him. He had to continue. He could not stop here. Not yet. 

 

The figment approached and clutched at Solus’ shoulder, pleading. “Please Solus, think of yourself. Think of all that you are losing.”

 

Solus growled and waved his hand. He would succeed. Even if he had to forget his conscience entirely during this. 

 

The music became erratic and rapid. The darkness was swirling and congealing. The floors and walls began to swirl with the blackness, mixing and bleeding together. The eyes appeared one by one, opening and never closing, blood draining from their edges. The legs came next, followed by the pincers and the flesh. Some of the limbs flailed, the others twitched and stayed still. Arachnoid and tumorous, the thing’s face finally revealed itself. 

 

This time, Solus did not scream. Instead, he invited it closer.

 

______

Solus powered the ship once more. He gave a small sigh as he glanced out the window at the Temple of the Spider. This was actually his first time seeing the station in its entirety. Once splendid and opulent, it showed its age and worness. Littered about the station, remains of starships that either had tried to hyperjump foolishly through the rift, or were towed by one of the Temple’s disciples for scrapping. But even so, Solus couldn’t help but admire the architecture and mystique. 

 

Solus turned and looked at the thing that was forming on the wall. 

 

“I succeeded,” Solus commented. 

 

The thing didn’t answer in any known tongue. Instead it squelched and burbled something unintelligible. Underneath it sat several datapads and the custom valachord. Solus chuckled as he turned away and started the controls.  “I remember what Emlee'esh said.” Solus flipped a few switches and began to turn the ship away from the station. 

 

“Pledge fealty on behalf of the Temple to our current Dark Lord. Return when you have grown. Read what is given. Practice your skills. And perform the ritual of the Wyyrlok numerous times. Know your aspect’s name. Sure, not straightforward, but for a being like myself…”

 

Solus gave a few almost victorious whistles as the thing behind him burbled more and more, squelching as pustules popped and resealed themselves. A few whistles came out of its undulating orifices, but nothing comprehensible. It crawled down across the floor and up Solus’ chassis towards his head where his Shard laid.

 

 “Please, I am Solus the ascended. Solus the Ascending. The Ascending Dragon. The enlightened. If anyone can do it, I can.”

 

The thing squeezed its way through the cracks of Solus’ chassis and oozed its way onto the Shard’s being. Though nothing more than an illusion of Solus’ own senses, Solus could feel each twitching muscle and each undulating spasm as it crawled into its home that was Solus.  

 

Solus chuckled and with a flip of a switch, the ship broke into hyperspace.  

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  • 8 months later...

As the others did their own, Aeon was left to his own devices to repair his body. 

 

The arm was the most troubling part to fix. With Akheron's severing of the limb, solus has to extensively replace numerous wires and central frames. He was able to recover some of the materials from his destroyed ship, but there was not enough equipment to perfectly replicate the arm. The scomp link itself required more special pieces, and so it was technically operable, but remained unconnected to the Shard's mind. 

 

Most of the other fixes were easy enough. The damages from akherons shatter move had left his chassis harmed, but but not beyond repair. However, without stitch-mouth to assist him, Aeon was left to do the repairs himself. 

 

"I must say this will never be normal for me I believe" Aeon commented as he operated on his own open chest while sitting on the cold floor. "I wonder if doctors had ever performed an autopsy on themselves "

 

Aeon giggled at his ponderings. Despite everything that has happened, he felt more whole than ever. He felt, emotionally, a little stronger. He felt a bit more in control of his life. He felt unique even…

 

"Are you actually  unique?" A voice broke the room. Aeon glanced upwards at the figure standing at the doorway to the small room aeon had claimed. The undead lizard reaked of decay and rot. No doubt one 

 

"Why yes I am you insignificant rotting meatbag" Aeon chimed back. 

 

The lizard laughed and stepped in further. Aeon had to study the creature a moment. Directly in its face was a hole from some kind of puncture wound. 

 

"To me you are nothing more than a rock in a robot suit. A droid with an eccentric personality "

 

Aeon clutched his hands at the comment. "A droid that can use the force. Where is your master? Shouldn't you be serving his whims?"

 

The lizard smiled. " he cannot reach me anymore little rock.  Alas, I am now beyond his sight"

 

Aeon paused. Something was off. A momentary glimpse into the Force revealed no presence here in the room. Was this the Madness at work?

 

Aeon stood up, inner chassis still exposed, and raised his hand to wave the apparition away. The lizard faded from sight, giving one last chuckle before leaving the Shard alone.

Aeon sighed. Then jumped as he felt someone's hand grip his shoulder. 

 

"He's right you know…'

 

"By the fangs!" Aeon exclaimed as he toppled over himself onto the floor. 

 

The Fallen behind him laughed. "To imagine that I was killed by a worthless whelp like you. If only I had hidden that grenade a little better.  "

 

"You! You're that…" Aeon started. The Falleen nodded at the shards' realization. The Falleen that attempted an assassination attempt on Akheron before Nar Shaddaa. 

 

"You are in my head…" Aeon began to piece together outloud. "I drained your memories and you are in my head. That's why that lizard looked familiar. He was the first one I ever sucked the brain out of. And because I sucked everything I could, I must have gotten a piece of the personality as well"

 

"Well, personality is based on memories, and memories is based on data, and you basically absorbed as much data as possible…" The Falleen shrugged. "And with your particular eccentric connection to the Madness, you are getting more than you bargained for."

 

What the Falleen said confirmed Aeon's thoughts. It wasn't the Faleen soul or something similiar, for this apparition had no idea about the Madness whatsoever before his death. He was simply a leftover remnant that lived in Aeon’s head rent free. 

 

"But back to the matter at hand, ol dead bones is right" the falleen continued, offering aeon a helping hand up, to which the shard refused. " You aren't that unique. Nothing more than a droid really."

 

"Kriff off, I am unique enough" 

 

The Faleen laughed. "Are you certain? Tell me, where is your ship? Your planet you vowed to attain? "

 

Aeon stopped moments before waving the hallucination away. It had a point. 

 

"By the force, you still are using a regular model of an analysis droid. You may be a rock in a droid chassis, but you aren't unique. Akheron is the lord of rage and leader of the cult. That necromancer has his own planet and now ship made from that planet! That newly taken on assassin probably has something we dont know yet. What do you have? No temple, no servants, just a new name and a puny chassis and a lightsaber. "

 

Aeon listened to the hallucinations words carefully, each one ringing true to his sensors. His lightsaber pulsed at his side, calling at the feelings of envy welling up. It gnawed at the Shard, silently encouraging it to do something about the situation. To kill Akheron, to slaughter the necromancer, to dispose of Dictum, and to take everything they had...

 

"Lord Aeon, OK Lord Ragnar, I need you in the altar room"

 

Akherons voice broke Aeon out of his trance. The Falleen vanished as soon as the words were emitted. 

 

"Coming! Ach, coming!" Aeon stumbled out of the room, almost tripping while clumsily putting his chest pieces back into place while walking. He was still secjring the outer covering when he arrived into the room. He gave an almost comical appearance of a man redressing his robes after being caught performing intimacy. 

 

"Apologies, I was still fixing myself. But as you can see, both my chassis and I are performing optimally. "

 

Aeon banged on his now reattached chest covering to emphasize the point. In truth, he was still slightly shaken from the hallucinations he had encountered, but he saw no reason to let the others know. 
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

At Akherons words, Aeon shuddered slightly. The memory of wounding his very shard when creating his lightsaber crystal was still fresh in his mind, and the damage he had received from the tree had left his crystalline body still vulnerable. He did not understand how his being was supposed to heal, or if it even was supposed to heal. How does one heal a rock of its damage? 

 

"If it must be done, then it will be done," Aeon commented, regardless of his feelings. As he spoke, his head panels opened up to reveal the small glowing gem connected amongst the wires of his body. 

 

When the ritual began, and the dark side began to resonate in the room, Aeon felt a mixture of excitement and dread grow within him. These experiences always revealed more about the Madness, no matter the origin,  but there was always an unpredictability inherited with such events. But at the same time, that very chaotic essence is what made it exciting. 

 

At Akheron's gesture to add the essence, Aeon focused. Using the force, he began to pull and yank at a piece of his Shard. His voice box emitted some static as the lines in his shard became chaotic and erratic. His effort and pain was not in vain however, as a small piece, no bigger than a fraction of a pebble, tore off, and fell into his open palm. 

 

"Glaoim ar na cinn…" Reaching out, Aeon dropped the piece while reciting the words. He felt his body channel the dark side further into the ritual, unable to hold back the darkness inside. The Madness even began to manifest itself in more tangible forms for everyone in the room, an indication of what Aeon was bringing with him into this ritual: From inside his circuits, down the robotic arm, crawled numerous fingernail-sized purple mist-spewing tumorous spiders, pausing on his hand only to leap into the mixture of blood. 

 

Unaware that the others could see these tiny manifestations of the dark side, Aeon ignored them and continued to chant. 

 

"Trí Bhás, Chaos, Am agus Spás a ghlaoim ort! Mar is toil liomsa beidh sé!"

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Aeon awoke. He found himself in blackness, disconnected from his chassis. His crystalline form was nothing more than a rock in space, lines of thought dancing blindly and wildly inside. No dim stars in the sky pierced the dark, nor did any hissing buzz of nearby electricity touched his magnetic senses. At the moment, he was alone, a still geode floating in an infinite void.

 

Aeon did not scream. This void was not like previous voids of not having a body. It wasn’t like before when he was cut off from his family. The air felt fuller around him. It wasn’t the cold vacuum of space, for there would’ve been stars or gasses or something. And beyond all that, he could actually ‘see’ the darkness, despite having no eyes or sensors to speak of. 

 

Hello? Aeon resonated into the abyss, unsure what was happening. 

 

Ah! You are finally here! Come, embrace my form! Let us communicate fully! Something resonated back. 

 

Aeon paused at the response from the darkness. There was something familiar about the thing that resonated back. 

 

Embrace your form?

 

Yes! Oh wait, you don’t remember how to do that anymore, do you… I suppose it has been a long time for you to remember that. Stretch yourself out. Open yourself, and then cast yourself out, like how you would into the Geometries. 

 

Aeon paused again. How do you know about the Impossible Geometries?

 

Once you do so, you'll understand

 

Aeon stopped talking and began to do as the thing instructed. To his surprise, the lines of energy inside his body escaped his body. Much like the lines of envy escaped into  the Geometries before, so too did his lines of thought escape into the void. The lines dashed and darted in all directions until they bounced off something. Something hard. Aeon refocused himself. His lines of thought barraged the hard surface he found. Like fingers grasping blindly, so too did the lines ‘feel’ around the shape. It was polyhedral, but it continued to morph over and over again. At moments Aeon was sure it was a cube, only for him to discover new corners had been shaped out, creating a sort of  rhombic triacontahedron, only again for a moment later for some of the corners to disappear, creating a tetrahedron. 

 

What...what are you? Aeon resonated as he continued to ‘feel’ the shifting shape. His frustration was starting to build as he repeatedly had to rediscover new edges and vertices. 

 

Don’t fret! You’re almost there. You are just getting through my outer shell. It's complicated, but necessary. Think of it as a test of will. Push yourself now! Break through!

 

A line broke through the invisible polyhedral. A crack of some kind, not formed by Aeon’s actions. Aeon focused all his thoughts on the one spot, driving each line of electric thought into the shape. Whoever, or whatever, that was inside would be known to him. 

 

A soft, warm glow broke the darkness. Aeon’s lines connected with something new, yet old. Something foreign, yet familiar. A crystalline body, with cracks and lines of energy dancing inside it..

 

You’re me! Aeon exclaimed. 

 

The other Aeon laughed. Yes! Well, mostly yes. I am Solus, and you are Aeon! Haha! It is so good to connect with you! Oh my, it's been forever since we’ve done this, hasn’t it?

 

Yes… yes it has been. Aeon mused over what was said. Not since we were with our original family. 

 

Yes. Normally we’d have to be physically touching, but… well, not to sound cliche, through the Force, many things are possible. 

 

Aeon’s lines released Solus and began to feel the shape that surrounded Solus.

 

What is this? Why does it keep changing?

 

Oh, I call it my shell, though the Jedi call it a ‘holocron’ casing. 

 

Holocron?!? Aeon responded almost violently. So you are nothing more than an object? A tool?!?

 

No no no! Not at all! I am still me! There is nothing artificial about me like usual holocrons. I’m not just some gatekeeper. I am the tome, the key to the tome, and the guardian of the tome. The Scholar of the Impossible. The Student of before and beyond. I remember all, and learn all. Like you, I am timeless. 

 

But… you’re a holocron?

 

I use the casing of a holocron. One that is my own creation. It helps others connect with me if they think of me like a holocron, but it shifts over and over again to represent my thought process. I analyze and memorize everything about them, and in turn, they can study everything I have ever studied or seen. With my connection to the Force, I have a near limitless storage of information, and everyone I connect with not only helps them grow, but helps me grow as well. 

 

You… what? 

 

Like a holocron, I am a library of information. But unlike a holocron, I continually learn from everyone who interacts with me. I am alive! I study people and their experiences. As long as there is life, I can study and grow beyond my limits. 

 

But…you’re a tool. A slave to other people’s uses…

 

Solus tsk tsk several times. The shudder Aeon felt at the Solus’ resonance was indescribable. 

 

You see things much too limited. That is the problem you have right now. That…blackness in your very shard. Madness is what you call it, right? A funny name. There are much better terms for it I think. You think of it as freeing, but instead it’s shackling your mind. You cannot see things correctly anymore. It's like… it's like a grease smear on a focusing lens. That Madness prevents you from seeing things correctly. It's impossible to see things correctly now. 

 

But if you want, I could help you.

 

This last statement made Aeon retract suddenly. It was unexpected, even from another version of himself. A free offering of help. 

 

What do you mean help me? How could you help me?

 

The Madness inside you? It can be purified. Many Jedi Masters have done so with other variations in the past. If you allowed me, I could attempt to purify the madness from your very soul. 

 

Wait, but you are me! How can you purify me when you don’t even exist?

 

Solus laughed heartily at this comment. The lines inside his Shard pulsed and bounced with newfound energy. 

 

Who says I don’t exist? In the Force, there is no time. No beginning, no ending. Just the Force. Am I just a hypothetical version of you, or perhaps you in the future, reaching back to heal myself? Or perhaps I'm just a reflection of something inside of you, given form in the void. Either way, does it matter? No, no it doesn't. 

 

So, will you allow me to heal you? Will you try to become pure of the Madness that haunts you? 

 

Aeon paused in thought, momentarily disconnected from Solus. His own thoughts, separate from Solus, raced around the Light-sided shard. Solus seemed to wait patiently, an air of calm in the midst of a storm. 

 

Finally, Aeon’s lines reconnected with Solus again. 

 

“Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” Solus exclaimed as his own lines of thought began to intertwine and mingle with Aeon’s thoughts. “Come! Let us begin…”

 

Aeon felt a glimmer of joy inside himself.  The sensation of having another Shard, even himself, in full contact with his being was rapturous. All other feelings Aeon ever experienced in the past paled in comparison. If Aeon was organic, he would’ve termed the sensation as orgasmic. It was the climax of all sensations a Shard could’ve experienced. 

 

Yes! Yes yes…” Solus commented, seemingly feeling the same thing Aeon felt. “Now..let me begin-”

 

Solus cut off suddenly. Aeon’s lines of thought became thicker and thicker, sending more and more energy towards Solus. The Light sided being’s lines of thought tried to pull away from Aeon’s, but Aeon adjusted  his frequencies at the right setting. The two were becoming inseparable, and Solus was becoming larger. 

 

“What…what are you doing? Are you…feeding me?” Solus began to frantically wonder out loud. 

 

“Yes, that’s one way of looking at it…” Aeon smugly replied. “You see, you are nothing but an illusion. You might try to claim you aren’t but you apparently forgot or don’t realize that I deal with illusions constantly. Spiders crawling in the walls. Dragon’s swimming in the clouds. Moans in the darkness,  gurgles in the waters… I deal with those all the time. I know illusions, you puny pale puzzle of pontification! And you are nothing more than an illusion!”

 

Solus gasped as more energy flowed into him. But…you are making me stronger? Why? I don’t understand…

 

Aeon laughed. “Come on, I thought you said you remember everything! Don't you remember what lessons I received at the Temple? The Temple taught me to embrace my illusions. True, they meant for scaring other people and infecting them, but here the logic still stands. I am embracing you, and giving you some of my life!"

 

But why?  Solus asked again.  

 

Haha! Oh this is very amusing, watching you trying to understand with your limited intellect. Your puny insignificance amuses me! You see, another reason I know you aren’t real is that you can’t sense those souls that are approaching me and my fellow Sith. If you were real, you would sense that danger. Hell, maybe you'd be able to sense my fellow sith! Or even my true intentions! However, you can’t, because you are nothing but a falsity.  But rejoice Solus! By giving you some of my life…you will sense those ghosts that approach. Hell, you will be able to feel them! But most importantly...

 

Aeon had to pause to snicker once more at the false Shard known as Solus. 

 

They will sense you.

 

No… Solus' cold realization vibrated across the abyss, becoming a beacon for those hungry ghosts on the material plane to swarm.

 

Don’t... you don't have to do this...

 

Aeon laughed again. Do try to scream as much as possible when you are getting torn apart please. It will help sell your likeness. You may be just an illusion with a semblance of life, but you are also my bait, and i expect you to do your best at dying

 

Good bye Solus! It was nice talking to you! Aeon resonated into the abyss, barely audible over the terrified screams that helpless Solus was now making. In the material plane, the image of the Scholar Solus took form, floating in the room. Like the illusion Aeon faced, it was screaming. 

Edited by Solus
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Still a floating crystal in the void, Aeon heard the call of the Madness first. The wet chewing and crunching noises of it reached invisible ears Aeon didn’t realize he had. The gurgling and bubbling of tongues in languages unknown resonated inside his very crystalline form. And the growing beat of something throbbing  in the darkness.

 

Drawing on his experience with his previous, still screaming illusion, Aeon stretched out his ‘brainwaves’ into the void. However, instead of escaping his body, the lines bounced right back. Surprised, Aeon attempted again and again. Repeatedly, the lines bounced back. Something was trapping him. 

 

“What in the Force?” Aeon resonated, confused and slightly scared. 

 

Aeon began to feel the heat on his form. Something was pressing against him.  Something was growing around him, encasing him inside itself. Was this a reflection of what he had to do to connect with the previous illusion? 

 

No sooner had this thought occurred, the ‘thing’ began to enter Aeon in its own way. The cracks all along Aeon’s form were being filled in with something thick and wet. Sinewy lines of something were breaking and crawling in, stretching out in Aeon’s ‘brain’.

 

Aeon’s lines finally touched one of the droplets and felt a surge of power. Like connecting with the wires of a chassis, so too had Aeon connected with these clumps of nerve tissue. Senses returned to the Shard. 

 

In the depths of space, Aeon looked over himself with his numerous eyes. This form was certainly different. All of his previous chassis had been humanoid, or vaguely humanoid. This was spherical, and had no discernable movable limbs, save the millions of tiny root-like feelers that would sprout and regress back into the body. The pale white translucent, rubbery flesh was smooth and slick compared to the previous conjurations the Madness had generated. 

 

However, Aeon could feel things inside his body as well. Underneath the flesh, between the capillaries and veins, billions of relatively tiny creatures crawled about, carrying on numerous tasks. Aeon could feel their thoughts and emotions. Anger, panic, envy, superiority were amongst the most prevalent with them as they worked, lived, breathed, bred, grew, and died inside his body. Aeon would focus on one creature, and feel it fall over lifeless as its essence was sucked in the Shard’s own. But rather than turn on Aeon, the other creatures simply disposed of the dead body and continued on.

 

“What is this?” Aeon wondered. Surprised, he felt all the beings inside stop and ask the same question simultaneously. They were connected to him. They were of him but at the same time separate. Living vats of knowledge that Aeon grew inside, and then drained them when he needed to. 


“What am i?”

 

As if to answer his question, an object in space appeared. A small blue planet.

 

The body shook, and began to move towards the planet, as if movement was unnatural for the form. Aeon felt shooting pains all throughout his body, but before he could scream, the creatures inside began to soothe the flesh, appeasing him like they would a child. All the while, Aeon approached the planet. 

 

It was here that Aeon realized the scale of what he was. The water-filled planet he viewed had several moons orbiting it. While the planet was massive for  most worlds, Aeon dwarfed the moons easily.  

 

“I am…a world? Yes, a world…” Aeon voiced through the billions of creatures inside of him. “I am… celestial! Ascended! Haha! Like Betelguise of the Ebon Star, or the Death Star of the Empire, so am I!

 

On the planet’s surface, Aeon could sense life. He could hear their thoughts as they went about their business. Fear was rising amongst them as Aeon approached their planet they called home. They had noticed their moons had already begun to succumb to Aeon’s gravity, wobbling out of synchronized orbit as a sign of the impending apocalypse. They sent out messages to all regions of the galaxy, but no one heard their pleas for help. The people below were helpless to Aeon’s form. 

 

“I can feel them… can they feel me?” Aeon wondered. 

 

The beings inside Aeon all froze at the question. As one, they began to chant words mixing both ancient Sith and Cthol. The world before Aeon shuddered in the Force as the Darkside wrapped around it. Madness took control. The beings of the world began to scream in terror as visions of vile things arose all around. In blind panic, the populace began to tear themselves apart. Neighbor killed neighbor, friend mutilated friend. The mother’s smothered the children, and the fathers carved themselves up in terrible delight. The world’s sanity had been broken, and now it had entered an aeon of madness that would only end with the coldness of death.

 

Aeon cackled madly. The billions inside of him danced and celebrated with their god as the world was plunged into chaos.

 

“I am all powerful! I am not only of the Madness, I AM THE MADNESS! I am the Madness incarnate!”

 

Aeon continued to laugh, even as the creatures inside stopped dancing and began to sooth Aeon’s body again. However, they began to whisper independent thoughts now. 

 

“Surrender to it, great one! Surrender to this vision, and be forever this way.” 

 

Aeon stopped laughing. 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

The beings inside continued to coo and caw their deity as they explained. 

 

“This is a vision, oh great one. It is unreal. You are not this powerful and you know this. This apex of your power, it will possibly never exist, even if things go your way. But here, it is real. It is real, oh great one. Surrender, and you will be this way forever. Give in, let the Madness fully consume you here, and you will never be weak. You will always feed, and you will always kill. You will drive entire worlds insane like just now, and even the mightiest Sith and Jedi will crumble before your mind. Even the dead will scream from the Madness you will become.”

 

Aeon considered their words. Everything they said was true. This form, illusionary as it was, was perfect. He was a deity. He was the full culmination of the Madness, with powers that rivaled any other living thing in the galaxy. 

 

Aeon shuddered. As tempting as it was, this was not reality. 

 

Aeon focused and began to scream. He had to break this illusion away and focus on reality. The dying world, the billions of beings inside Aeon, the flesh planet, and space itself fell away. 

 

Aeon’s droid body came to life as he returned to reality. The illusion of the Scholar Solus still screamed before him, but the ghosts had now realized their target was a fake and were turning their attention to Aeon’s actual body. 

 

Aeon reached a metal arm out as the ghosts approached to tear him apart. 

 

“Uoy ekat ssendam tel!” Aeon shouted. Reaching into the Force, Aeon felt the attacking souls and infected them with the Madness inside himself. The ghosts screamed in pain as their undead minds were invaded, before turning on each other like those beings on that fake planet Aeon had witnessed. 

 

Aeon chuckled as he watched the ghosts literally tear themselves apart. 

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When the blue flames went out, Aeon seemed to shake himself further awake. The ritual was done, and he could feel it. His soul felt different. It was an esoteric sensation, but it was there, like the wind in the trees or the waves in the water. He could feel the touch of Korriban stronger than before. He could sense the sensation of chaos eating at the edges of his mind. 

 

“Oh my oh my!” Aeon chimed, tapping on his head “What a strange sensation, don’t you agree gentlemen? Ah, yes, yes i agree Lord Akheron, rest does sound needed at the moment. I do need to recharge my batteries, and honestly, I feel strained beyond most capabilities. Rest well, my lord! Rest well!”

 

Aeon turned and faced Dictum and examined him more closely, adjusting his sensors like the glasses he often pretended they were. 

 

“I must admit lord Dictum, when we first met, i never imagined i would commit such a ritual with you. You came off as slightly ignorant in my opinion. But let me say, your words of wisdom have shown themselves fully, and the sensations I am feeling that I can only attest to your participation is intriguing. Whatever my thoughts about you in the past, our paths are now tied with Akheron like the rings of Geonosis.”

 

“But I am curious, my friend…” Aeon continued. “I can sense Chaos and the rage of Korriban stronger than ever thanks to your participation.  But what is it that you se-”

 

Aeon was cut off. His voice box broke into a shrill of static and broken pitches as the body fell backwards, violently twitching and shaking. Aperture sensors rapidly opened up and then closed over and over while joints bent backwards into impossible positions. Most organics would’ve described this as a chaotic power surge for robots, or a epileptic seizure  for humanoids. 

 

With the recency of the ritual complete, it was entirely possible that Dictum and Akheron would have seen and heard what Aeon was experiencing in his mind. These hallucinations that occurred were of the Temple of the Spider. The halls darkened and seemed to stretch into infinite corridors. Monotonous pipes filled the air alongside long guttural drones of deep voices and thrumming of drums. Spider webs began to form at the corners, only to stretch across the walls.

 

“Disciple Emlesh Beosta” A reverberating voice rung out. 

 

From the twisting shadows, a cloaked figure formed before each person. Floating several inches off the ground, the figure was unnaturally tall and twisted over. Neither its face nor its hands were visible, and its chest seemed to wriggle with untold life underneath its robes. 

 

“Emlesh Beosta, we call you to the moons of Yavin'' The voice continued to reverberate as Aeon continued to seize and scream uncontrollably. “A gift awaits you and your companions. Seek ‘The Iron Net’"


From down the hallways came screams and roars. Giant monstrous things began to emerge, dragging themselves on carapace legs. If they were seeing the hallucination like Aeon was, Akheron and Dictum would feel numerous tiny insects crawling on their arms and legs. The hooded figure opened its robes slightly. Instead of a body, there were only worms piled on top of each other in the vague shape of a human chest

 

“The Iron Net. The moons of Yavin. The figure reverberated one last time. 

 

Then, as suddenly as it began, the hallucination ended. Aeon stopped shaking and regained control of his senses, though he did not move for a period of time. After a few moments of silence, Aeon did finally sit up. 

 

“Oh my, my apologies, I must have had an episode. But that felt different than usual.” Aeon looked at Dictum again. “Did I sense you in that hallucination? Did you hear and see what I saw?"

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