Chapter 7: Ascension and Exile

[Lord Iezkon]

“Fitting. The only word that can be used to describe what this task is. With the old Lorekeeper’s lack of effort towards maintaining the history of the Houses it has fallen to myself to write about a key moment in the House’s past. A moment that saw my ascension alongside Lord Sanguinis swiftly followed by the death of the Exile as he became a traitor to the Empire.”

“Darth Horuset in his infinite wisdom trained myself and Lord Sanguinis gruellingly. We fought him, the pair of us against the Dark Lord himself. His power was absolute and in the end the Dark Lord of Horuset beat us both. Such a defeat, was one of the greatest victories we had achieved. The Dark Lord set on us a task. Lord Stygian and Lord Begeren, two Lords that were outside of the Horuset Powerbase as the Houses knew it but within the iron grip of Darth Horuset had begun planning the betrayal of their Master. Anointed as we were, the Dark Lord told us to kill them both.”

“Lord Sanguinis chose Lord Stygian, who we had encountered several times previously as his target and I took Lord Begeren who we had only heard of in rumours and whispers. Both were powerful Lords of the Sith, both had amassed Powerbases directly within their grasp and at the grace of the Dark Lord of Horuset. Lord Stygian was based in a Research Facility on an unnamed world in Sith Space, only known through a string of numbers. Lord Begeren was stationed on Begeren in a fortress. We considered ourselves unstoppable.”

“We were not proven wrong.”

“Lord Sanguinis assaulted the Research Facility with the forces of one of our allies. Even to this day the official reports are mixed on what happened. Lord Sanguinis was simultaneously in multiple places at once leading different flanks of the troops and fighting Lord Stygian in personal combat. The facility suffered minor damage in the assault, Lord Stygian having developed a plethora of traps ranging from devices that stopped weaponry to outright knocking assailants unconscious. In the end, Stygian died like a cornered rat. One half of the conspiracy to oust the Dark Lord dead.”

“I, looked down on the Begeren fortress from the Terminus-Class Destroyer that I was commanding and saw that the Fortress’ walls would outright decimate my forces. While the Research Facility was just that, the Fortress was designed to repel an assault. My forces landed on the planet and the hundreds of us split into three groups. We each positioned ourselves at different ends of the Fortress and waited. I called Lord Begeren and after a small bit of back and forth, he invited myself and 20 of my troops within. I took my best, including an Acolyte named Zutauha Ronith, and my best was enough. Once inside the fortress’ Command Centre alongside the traitorous lord, I struck. Lord Begeren died that day, beheaded by my lightsaber and his. The other half of the conspiracy to oust the Dark Lord dead.”

“Myself and Lord Sanguinis both returned to the Horuset Fleet with our victories. We had struck simultaneously, both Begeren and Stygian dying within hours of each other. Neither knowing of the other's demise. We brought to the Dark Lord the Lightsabers of the dead, kneeling before him. We rose as Lords of the Sith in our own right. Our greatest challenge yet overcome.”

“But we looked to the horizon and saw another yet greater.”

“The Exile, Zarrious. Exiled by the Dark Lord after Lord Saud, his then fiancee, believed him to be working to oust the Dark Lord from the powerbase was still actively working against the House years after he was exiled. Months prior to his death myself and Lord Sanguinis had been given the task by the Dark Lord to see the Exile killed and his Powerbase scattered so that nothing remained. We called together every ally we could, amassing a fleet of ships through favours and the calling of pacts that would be comparable to our return to Korriban at the very start of the Great Galactic War. We had been Lords for two days and both Darths and Lords of the Sith alike were summoned together to form the War Council that saw the destruction of the Exile.”

“Our fleets slowly began to form over Dromund Kaas, only for the Exile to strike us first. His own fleet began shooting at our forces. Such blatant traitorous behaviour had become expected and we acted swiftly. His flagship was disabled by an EMP that I had acquired years ago as an Acolyte for that exact purpose. For when Zarrious was first exiled he tried to sway Th’Asidra’s crew away from the Dark Lord and the EMP was brought in to ensure that if the ship did switch sides, it would not be a threat. But Th’Asidra did not switch sides and the EMP remained unused for years. The rest of the Exile’s fleet switched sides soon after, the spies and loyalists we had planted making themselves known as they ousted the traitor crews.”

“With the skies secure, the Exile was trapped within his jungle temple. It became his tomb.”

“The temple was razed by Fighters and Bombers. The walls crumbled, the floors cracked and the Exile’s forces were routed and decimated. Teams in the jungle captured and killed those who fled. But the Exile did not die in the bombardment as we first thought. The coalition forces, headed by myself and Lord Sanguinis with Sith Aljo and Apprentice Occularis as notable members went into the temple ruins and found him with his closest bodyguards, throwing aside parts of the roof that had almost fallen on them.”

“A fight alike no other began. The bodyguards charged us and they fought with a cold ferocity. The Exile and myself began to circle one another, before we fought each other lightsaber to lightsaber. The coalition forces slowly began to end the bodyguards, but not without wounds, not without casualties. I fought the Exile, with Lord Sanguinis and ironically the old Lorekeeper who should have recorded this passage for the histories in the first place assisting by assaulting the Exile’s mind.”

“When the bodyguards were near all dead, the Exile knew his fate. I had taken his Lightsaber. In a blaze of power he began a firestorm of Pyrokinesis, surrounding himself entirely. I was forced back briefly, but was prepared. The Exile was known for his Pyrokinesis and with a Force Barrier and a Mining Shield, I went into the fire itself. I could not see anything but fire. The shield gave out, the Force Barrier soon after. I saw a black shroud in the flame and in a haze I stabbed at it with all I could with my lightsaber and his.”

“The Exile was dead, skewered by my blade and his. Fitting.”

- By Lord Kalkoran, Apprentice to Darth Horuset, Councillor to the Dark Lord and Patriarch of House Kalkoran