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29-04-2023, 12:15 PM
The Forged Path
Thessalia Trach’oul was in one of the many study rooms in the Korriban academy. She had buried her nose into the books as usual when it came to assignments from the Overseers, at least in her case. Yet again a Sith Lord of some status was utilizing the acolytes as workforce to translate things.And so here she was, with several tomes, datapads and a holocron in front of herself. She had already spent quite the time on this particular task. Not because the text was hard, quite the opposite due to her upbringing, but more so that there was a lot of it.It was not just a phrase or a paragraph. Even a chapter would’ve been fine. But an entire tome itself was going to take time. And more Thessalia translated it, more she realized that she was translating a cooking book to a Sith Lord.A cooking book it was from every aspect of the way, but Thessalia had a hunch that everything was not how it looked to outsiders. She knew that the prominent alchemists opted to transform their work into harmless forms so that those without a keyword or a phrase could not unlock the secrets within the text. A method of concealing important bits into the plain sight. The old saying of best place to hide a tree is a forest came to mind.Yet Thessalia did not have a keyword to unlock the secrets herself. But she wasn’t that worried. She did not really care for this particular set of alchemical instructions as she could probably attain better and more information from her mother’s archives instead. A shiver ran through the young female upon the thought of matriarch whom she had many words for. And not all were that pleasant.Thessalia carried her almost sculpted figure with ease as she switched from seat to another to take a deeper look at the datapads on the side. The alabaster skin upon her face frowned as this particular image of the object to be translated was particularly bad in its detail. Whoever had snapped the picture clearly did not understand how to do it well.It was not the first of its kind and thus she was getting rather sullen on this task. The amber eyes jumped from the guide texts to the other datapads while her leather glove covered hands kept on writing on the device that was meant to be given to the Sith Lord. She could’ve sworn that if she were that of red skin, her task would’ve been given in proper way and that she wouldn’t need to do it in such boring manner.The halls of the academy were unusually quiet for this time of the day. A noon to the Holy World if a little past noon in the Galactic Standard Time. Other acolytes were either in lessons or herding the Tuk’ata as the day’s agenda had been. Sith themselves were busy as one would expect. And so there was little to no traffic in the halls of the academy which suited Thessalia just as fine. Less likely to run into some rascals after all.It was the red-headed woman whom had received a special permission to stay behind to handle this imperative task on behalf the Overseer’s command and the Sith Lord’s wishes. She was not complaining. She did not mind the physical work, but a day of rest made her more ready than others on the next one. Something she could appreciate as it definitely gave her and edge if there was another conflict between acolytes to brew before nightfall or the next day.Yet her work was interrupted as a holocomm unit in her pockets began beeping as a signal of incoming call. This device in particular did not bring forth good news ever. It was a private one, only who had the frequency was the estate and her mother.Quickly the woman stepped backwards from the table while leaving the device on it. She accepted the call with a simple demonstration of the Telekinesis to apply pressure on the button while she herself lowered her form quickly to her right knee. Hands crossed over the raised leg and the gaze was pressed down as it was taught to her when she was going to greet her mother.
”Mistress. Thessalia Trach’oul responding to the summons.”
The woman in acolyte garments replied to the call on the way she had been demanded thousand times. But when the woman heard a male laugh from the device, she knew it was not her mother who was on the line. Instead it couldn’t have been anyone else than Djizâr, the household apprentice to Thessalia’s mother. The first one at least.The apprentice was pureblood, traditionalist to the core: prideful, arrogant and almost every bit the zenith of being the one who caries the red mark. And with the laughter, acolyte Thessalia’s features tensed and grew neutral. She couldn’t show hate towards the mother’s favorite.
”And so the little doll understands her place. You alien scum are the filth of the Galaxy. When I get to become a Dark Lord of the Sith, I will exterminate every single one of you. Starting with you, you little puppet.”
”Your existence is nothing more than a pet project of my master. An experiment to see whether it could be done and whether the success would be granted. It was done so, you should die and relieve your mother of the burden of supporting you. You-”
Like usual Dzijâr continued with the insults towards the daughter of the matriarch. Thessalia’s mother had opted to have sex with an alien, a miraluka, for a reason or another. Some called it love, some called it an experiment, some did not care. Her mother had not made her reasoning known to wider public. Including that of her apprentices.But it was nothing beyond of an alien hiss coming from the holodevice that interrupted the man from his droning speech of supremacy. The matriarch had arrived. And so the pureblood who just a moment ago had been all high and mighty was now a bit more tense as he spoke to the device:
”Lord Vizier wishes to speak with you.”
Lord Vizier, or Vizier, was the title her mother carried. Officially she was Lord Arachnorius among the ranks of the Sith. To many she was a reclusive, hardly known person in truth. Yet a reputation of hers was something that made most lesser Sith unwilling to approach her even on minor business. The halls who knew her more intimately knew that she was a woman that shouldn’t be angered. And so even Thessalia promptly responded:
”Mistress. How may I be of service.”
Thessalia’s melodic voice only could hide her fear for that much. Even she, the daughter of this Vizier, was afraid of what could happen to her if she wasn’t in favor. But before the fear could settle itself upon the acolyte, the chittering of insects, buzzing of wings, clattering of thousands of insectoid legs started to ring out in a chaotic cacophony.It was the Vizier’s chosen method of communication. An illusion, but effective enough to mask her voice and thus her message from those that could listen to without her consent. Yet the way it came always made smooth alabaster skin of Thesallia quiver in disgust. And under the disgust, there was that fear of said insects once again crawling and burrowing under her skin to feast on her flesh.And if one spent their mind to focus on the insectoid orchestra, they’d soon feel the various bugs and creatures on their skin instead of just hearing them. A feeling that not many, even among the Sith whom were known to be hard, could consider as pleasant.
”Yes Mistress.”
Thessalia answered right after the insects grew more silent, yet their noise was not ever gone when Vizier was there. The pause indicated that mother had asked the daughter a question of some sort. Another short burst of the sound came before Thessalia had to reopen the melodic chest of words to the mysterious persona that was her mother:
”Yes Mistress. It will be done.”
Thessalia couldn’t help but to smile a little towards the ground and thus hide it from the screen. The message she had received was illuminating as well as joyful as she understood that the strings had been pulled to get her transferred from the public side of academy to more private installation. A set of good news on her books compared to the usual reasons Vizier chose to approach her.
”I will do this meeting then as you demand, Mistress. Anything else?”
It was a dangerous question to pose towards such as Lord Arachnorius. She was the one who held the initiative in conversations and life in general. Any attempt of seizing it could be met with fatal strike. And as Thessalia predicted, she felt the powerful tug of telekinesis reaching under her jaw and pulling it upwards to look upon the holodevice.She was prepared for her just punishment. But instead she received nothing of such. Yet. Instead there was another choir of arachnids marching in chaotic waltz as the Sith Lord hidden on the other end of the holocomm spoke once more. The words were directed at Thessalia but also Djizâr who had stood there in silence as the face of the call.But it did not end there. Suddenly the first apprentice began to exhibit pain and torment upon his face. Twitching and retching while visibly shaking in sudden burst of agony. It was clear the man, the pureblood, was facing a punishment from his master. And the sound of arachnids, bloodworms and centipedes only strengthened. This time though they did not carry a message of words, but message of pain. Djizâr began to vomit, but instead of lunch, blood was the substance came out. And among it, there were dozens of those insect; worms, cockroaches and spiders crawling and attempting to survive their sudden birth into the dark world. There was horror on the pureblood’s eyes as the realization came that he was sick beyond that of ordinary disease. But he couldn’t scream or even plea for help from his master vocally when the skin on his face, arms and beneath the clothes began to bubble.Djizâr glanced towards the side of his and had a request for mercy upon his eyes. But that visage lasted only for a moment before the agony, the distress and horror took over to twist his face beyond recognition. His back arched and he spasmed while attempting to retain his posture otherwise, to show strength when he had none.Soon enough fangs of spiders, claws of scorpions and stingers of wasps began to protrude out of limbs and torso of his as the creatures ate their way out. The pureblood fell to his knees as the dark tunic of his burst open and from within. The reason was that hundreds of various insects began to pour out along with the organs of the man. He had his torso eaten already eaten out.The intestines and stomach came first with insects crawling all over them eating what was left of the half consumed body parts. The blood spilled forth and while the holocomm unit could not bring forth the smell, one could only imagine what it was considering the red tincture of life was boiling. The sizzling sound cracked on the frequency as the apprentice was being consumed by the punishment set upon him.But it was not the only thing boiling as the bones revealed from the chewed out chest were also broiling under the effects of some form of acid, possibly a produce of the insects crawling on the corpse. Parts of the skeleton began to fall to the ground in clatter as Djizâr’s physical form was breaking down in all manners of speech.His mouth opened and from it thousands of arachnids of small size began to pour out in form of a waterfall and thus showing how deep this affliction ran. The eyeballs of the pureblood began to expand rapidly into very painful and distorted manner until they popped like balloons. From the sockets dozens of wasps began to fly out revealing the nests they had had inside the man.Suddenly there was gurgling sound along with shrieking screams of pain coming out of the pureblood. The arachnid waterfall had ceased and given him opportunity to express himself so. That was until the vocal cords were eaten by the worms now bursting from his throat. Djizâr was alive in amidst this all. A twisted manner of punishment it was to keep the mind awake and still reactive through the Force while this horrendous army of vermin continued to have their feast of a lifetime.Thessalia was forced to watch the proceedings until there was nothing left of the man that once had been his superior and the thorn on her side in terms of disapproving the mother’s methods. She had yearned for the day she could stab him with a shikkar of her own making, but now that dream was shattered.And as the death of Djizâr was complete and nothing of recognizable of the man remained, the insects just vanished from the vision of a holocomm. Perhaps the technique had been another illusion, yet strong enough to kill, or an actual physical demonstration of what was required of the people who entered into service of Lord Vizier.The telekinetic hold upon Thessalia’s jaw vanished as the Sith Lord still hidden from the view released it and thus allowed the beloved daughter to look elsewhere. The red-head had trouble keeping her own lunch in her all of a sudden. And she was certain that this show would give her nightmares for years to come. She gagged and whimpered on the floor as she fell to both of her knees.
”Thessalia dear. You know how I dislike those who opt to dislike my views. Djizâr did just that. I am not fond of those whom seek to insult my… toy. Now be a good daughter and do what your mother wished. And be sure to visit home often. There are new things I like to test upon you… The delights and pleasures are awaiting… my dear.”
That was Lord Arachnorius breaking from her usual approach and using her real voice for once. The words were full of sultriness, sincerity and almost belonged to a woman that did not really fit into the Sith world. Especially when the innocent giggles followed the words provided. A twisted, cruel method of showing that a voice of a witch did not need to be that of otherworldly to intimidate the listeners.
”Yes Mistress.”
Thessalia managed to articulate that met only with another set of giggles with a sound that reminisced anyone listening of someone blowing a kiss. But soon after the holodevice’s connection was disconnected and Thessalia lurched down to the study hall’s ground. She shivered and quivered under the fear the mother had set upon her frame from early age. The abuse and trauma that came after. All of it flashed upon the halfblood’s eyes and she wanted to cry. Cry and just die under the psychological torment she was under. Her hands grasped on the sides as she wanted to curl up in a ball of misery and be finally released from this anguish.But she couldn’t as she aspired to be a Sith. And so she began to summon the dark side to her aid, to strengthen her resolve and make her resist the strings that were attached to the puppeteer mother of hers. And stitch back the wounds that this Lord Arachnorius had opened so violently. To break herself free from the forged path that the mother figure had set the daughter upon.But only thing coming out of the dark side were those hallucinations related to her second sight. From memories of abuse, now become the terror demons of her imagination. And so in the middle of the study hall, she spasmed under the futility of her resistance against the sheer dread that she was facing.She was too weak. She couldn’t. And only the abyss responded as the darkness took her into dreamless sleep.
Discord:
lord_saltaeon
