The Blood Sith: An Old Republic Tale

[Klannad]

A/N: I know, I know. Two stories on here... While the Episode one rewrite is my number one focus, I had this idea swimming around for a while so I thought why not post it. I will update it, probably after I post a chapter on Episode one. That being said, Enjoy!

 

 

“Go ahead, Vais, Open it.” Juin urged, smiling down on the young sith child. Vais looked up at him, his eyes brimming with tears.

 

 

“I-I can't. Not until my father arrives.” He said, his voice shaken yet defiant. Juin sighed and turned to look at the small group of Imperial nobles behind him.

 

“He doesn't want to open any of his presents.” Juin reported. Vais poked his head from out of the shade of Juin's tall figure, looking at the pitiful group that had gathered for his birthday. He remembered, when he was just a young boy, his elder brother's eleventh birthday had dozens upon dozens of attendants. The thought made him want to cry more.

 

 

“Vais,” a strong and commanding voice began. Vais looked up, strands of black hair falling over his eyes, and saw Captain Kilsan, the human who was stationed on his father's estate.

 

“You know your father won't be here. Just open your presents and be done with it.” He said harshly.

 

Vais sniffled softly, his large black eyes red with grief.

 

“That was a little harsh, Kilsan.” Juin glared at Kilsan, and then approached Vais, kneeling by him as he silently wept.

 

“Go ahead, Vais. You can open mine first.” Juin urged.

 

“No,” Vais said sadly.

 

“Vais... You and I both know father will not be here. Please, open our gifts. We tried very hard to make this special for you.” Juin whispered.

 

 

“But...at your age-day there were dancers. And performers. And for Ezaul's father had fighters do tricks in the sky-” Vais complained, his voice cracking.

 

 

Juin sighed, holding his half brother close.

 

“Vais, I know. Please, just enjoy this day. For me?” He asked with a smile. Vais sniffled once more, and then nodded, beginning to unwrap Juin's gift. Juin laughed aloud and jumped up to his full height, and began clapping. The ten or so people gathered at Vais party followed suit, and he opened his first present to a hearty but pitiful chorus of hands.

 

 

“Happy age-day, Vais.” Juin said, smiling as Vais held a lightsaber in his hands, a small smile on his face.

 

“I remember this one- This one is yours, isn't it brother?” Vais asked.

 

Juin nodded. “And now it's yours. I know according to tradition, you were supposed to make your own, but...” Juin trailed off. He gave it to Vais because his father would never allow his half brother to train in the force, despite his very apparent force sensitivity.

 

 

“Go on, turn it on.” Kilsan said, getting caught up in the excitement. Vais took a moment to find the activation switch, and then turned on the blade, a dark red hue painting his maroon face as the energy sword extended to it's full height in a matter of seconds.

 

 

The small gathering clapped again, more robustly now than later. Juin smiled deeply.

 

“You look like a real Sith!” He grinned, his sharp canines apparent. Vais smiled and tentatively waved the blade around, slowly, and then performing a few moves that his brother had taught him. He then deactivated the blade, and bowed.

 

 

“Thank you, Juin.” He said. He looked at the lightsaber in his hand awkwardly, realizing he had no belt to place it on. A servant rushed towards him silently, and took the hilt from him.

 

“I'll have a belt made for you, sir.” He whispered, and Vais reluctantly let go of the weapon, only after he looked at Juin, who nodded at the servant's intrusion.

 

Kilsan clapped his hands together. “Well, you have about thirteen more gifts there. Open them!” He ordered as if Vais was one of his soldiers. Vais spent about thirty minutes opening gifts- He received many things- a holo-projection of a starfighter, a small pistol with a wooden finish, and sweet tasting candy among other things. Like the lightsaber, the pistol was taken from him, and Kilsan grumbled as the servant carried it off.

 

“Boy needs to learn how to shoot.”

 

Vais spent the rest of the party sitting at his table, the remains of gift wrap scattered about it. He ate his sweetened candies, savoring the taste of them. He looked up from the table and again saw the small group of people and couldn't help but compare his party to that of his brothers. They had been given grand ceremonies- Sith and human nobles from all over Dromund Kaas had arrived, and father and his wife had presided over the affairs, their faces painted with pride.

 

 

He realized, then, what the difference was. Vais screamed as he jumped from his seat and flipped over the table.

 

 

“No one cares about me!” He roared, surprising his handful of guests as the large metal table fell over with a loud and violent crash.

 

“Vais!” Juin cried, but Vais didn't listen, and ran from the room, pushing over a servant who tried to stop him. He needed to be alone, more alone than he already was. As he ran down corridors he slowly heard the voices of those calling out to him die down, and then vanish all together. He didn't know where he was running until he stopped at a large metal door, flanked by two guards. He then realized what he wanted to do.

 

He wanted to confront his father.

[Klannad]

“Let me pass.” Vais commanded, looking up at the two guards, who were dressed in dark armor and wore helmets that hid their faces.

 

 

“Oh, the little lord desires an audience?” One of them mocked. The other one laughed heartily.

 

“Little half lord, this one!” The laughing one choked, and Vais felt his throat tighten.

 

 

“Shut up! I am the lord's son-” Vais began, but the two guards erupted in an even louder spout of laughter. Vais could feel tears threaten to wet his cheeks as they stood, laughing at him. But he stood his ground, small and defiant, until they slowly died down. They both looked at each other and then back at him.

 

 

“The halfbreed is serious, isn't he?” One of them said. The second nodded.

 

“He looks almost like his father. Save for the horns.”

 

 

They both started laughing again, it sounded like they nearly died from their own humor.

 

 

“Let me by.” Vais hissed.

 

One of the men shrugged.

 

“This could be entertaining.”

 

“His father would kill us.”

 

“No, he'll kill him.”

 

One of the guards bent his knees and shortened himself to Vais' eye level.

 

“We'll let you through, half-lord. But your father may kill you for this.” He warned.

 

Vais grimaced.

 

“I don't care.” He said, his dark eyes burning.

 

“Okay, go ahead then.” The second guard said, and the large metal door hissed open, slowly. Vais tentatively stepped through, and winced as the door closed behind him. His father's audience chamber was large. Massive gray walls surrounded Vais, with statues of horrific beings enduring various degrees of torture leading up to his seated Father. His wife sat by him, also a pureblood, with raven dark hair and crisp, pointed features. She was beautiful, Vais knew that much. Even the human company that stayed here said lustful things about her when they thought no one who mattered could hear.

 

 

“I beat them all today. Especially that annoying pale-face, Drajin. I got my revenge.” Vais' brother, Ezaul, boasted. Vais didn't notice him until he began to slowly walk towards his father. Ezaul was six years older, and inherited his mother's features- Yellow eyes, pointed noise and chin, with high cheekbones and a face free from tendrils. Long dark hair framed his handsome portrait, and Vais saw that as his brother knelt before his father, Ezaul's hair was so long that there was enough of it to fashion into a pony-tail, and that, in turn, reached the middle of his back.

 

 

“Very good, Ezaul. You grow stronger every day.” Ezaul's mother commended.

 

“Thank you, Lady Kuruzan.” Ezaul said, bowing his head even lower. Kuruzan smiled, and then her eyes spotted something small sulking up behind her son. Her mouth twisted in anger as she saw the disgusting half breed behind her true son, his eyes dark and determined.

 

“What is this... abomination doing in here?!” She said, jumping up from her seat by Vais' father and pointed a red finger at Vais. Ezaul turned, a bewildered expression on his face that turned into a smile of cruel humor.

 

 

“Well if it isn't the little beast.” He laughed, raising himself up to his full height. Vais ignored him.

 

“Father! It was my age-day today!” Vais screamed. “You didn't attend!” He accused, his voice filled with hurt.

 

Ezaul grinned. “Of course he didn't attend. You're a little beast. A savage.” Vais didn't respond to Ezaul's stinging words, and looked with pleading eyes to his father.

 

 

“Why didn't you attend, father? Why?” He begged. Ezaul's mood suddenly turned dour.

 

 

“You do not ignore me, beast!” He said, backhanding Vais and sending him falling backwards. Vais whimpered on the ground, curled, holding his bruised cheek.

 

“Shall I kill him mother? We have endured this animal long enough.” Ezaul said, igniting his purple lightsaber.

 

“I care not what you do with this animal. As long as he is removed from my sight.” Kuruzan said with disgust.

 

Ezaul nodded, licking his lips and walking towards Vais, twirling his lightsaber between his trained fingers. Vais laid perfectly still, and the room was silent, save for the scuffle of Ezaul's boots on the fine carpet that hugged the floor.

 

 

Vais could hear Ezaul's heavy breathing as he stood over him, Vais vision darkened by Ezaul's shadow.

 

“I've waited some time for this.” He whispered, and then said more loudly, so his father could hear,

 

“Die, BEAST!” and plunged the blade downwards. But he was slow. Vais rolled out of the way, Ezaul's attack burning into carpet. Ezaul swore, and chased Vais with his blade, his slow sweeping arcs just out of reach of Vais' vulnerable flesh. Vais ducked and ran and rolled, with Ezaul growing more enraged with each missed attack. Vais dashed behind a statue, Ezaul followed, hissing, his lightsaber held high above his head. Vais stood still next to the statue, his eyes wide.

 

 

“I have you now, you little runt.” Ezaul grinned. He slashed at Vais, but hit only the hard rock of one of his father's statues as Vais climbed up the leg of the figure, who held up a large spiked ball, several of the spikes impaling the figure's back and stomach. Ezaul swore as Vais climbed atop the figure, using the several spikes as leverage.

 

 

“Enough of this, Ezaul! Finish him!” Kuruzan yelled. She flashed a yellow eye to her husband. He watched impassively, but his eyes flicked with interest. She frowned and turned her eyes back to the spectacle.

 

“Get down, coward!” Ezaul goaded, looking up at Vais. The halfbreed remained silent, and looked at him with those horrible dark eyes.

 

“You little runt!” Ezaul screamed, and hurled his blade at Vais. It went swinging, hilt by blade, but Vais ducked downwards, swinging on one of the many spikes, and pushed himself forward, releasing his hanging grip and hurling himself towards Ezaul as Ezaul's lightsaber harmlessly deactivated behind the two siblings.

 

Vais fell on Ezaul, screaming like a banshee, scratching at Ezaul's face with his nails. His brother screamed, and beat at Vais' back, but the young sith did not relent, and dug into his brother with his nails, his hands coming away with fingernails filled with skin and palms painted with blood. Ezaul began to whimper and fell over, and started to scream.

 

“Get this animal off of me!” He yelled, his voice on the verge of hysteria.

 

Kuruzan looked at her husband in disbelief and then roared at her guards.

 

“What are you fools waiting for? Get him off of my son!” She ordered. The guards both looked at Kuruzan's husband.

 

“Lord Anatbeiss?” one of them asked. Anatbeiss nodded, his eyes locked on his two sons.

 

The guards ran into the fray, pulling Vais off of a crying Ezaul. Vais still beat and hissed as the separated him from his brother, His hands dripping with blood. Ezaul scampered away from all of them, covering his face with his arm.

 

“Kill him! Kill him!” He cried. Kuruzan's heart went out to her son, grief for him growing as she saw how his blood dripped and how his voice wept.

 

“Order them,” She said to Anatbeiss.

 

Lord Anatbeiss slowly rose from his seat, his dark cloak curling around his body. As he stepped towards Vais, the guards drop their hold on him and let him fall. They bowed and backed away as Vais lifted himself up. Anatbeiss looked at his son thoughtfully. How could I produce something so small?

 

He asked himself. Yet, Vais had bested Ezaul. Ezaul was foolish and impatient, and Anatbeiss didn't pity him at all as he flashed an eye at his other son, who was still silently crying as he wiped blood from his face with his sleeve.

 

“Vais,” Anatbeiss spoke, his voice was deep and powerful, brimming with ancient knowledge that only masters of the sith knew. Vais visibly shook, but stayed his ground.

 

“Father, I-” He began, his voice young.

So young.

 

“What you have done today is not excusable. You will be punished.” Anatbeiss said. He produced a long dagger from his cloak, and walked towards his youngest son.

 

“Kill him!” Ezaul screamed suddenly, and Anatbeiss frowned.

 

“Silence.” He said, and Ezaul fell silent, his yellow eyes wide with fear.

 

Vais was still, not looking up at Anatbeiss as he stood over him.

 

“Give me your arm.” He ordered. Vais, despite himself, offered up his arm to his father. Anatbeiss took it with a gloved hand, looking it over, inspecting Vais bloodied left hand.

 

“This is your punishment.” He said, and with a swift cut of his dagger, three of Vais fingers from his left hand fell on the floor, blood slowly pouring from his lost appendages.

 

The pain was so sudden that Vais stood in shock as blood spurted from his mutilated left hand, and his father simply turned away and made his way back into his seat.

 

“That's it? He hurt our son!” Kuruzan exclaimed as she watched her husband climb back into his chair.

 

“Death was the punishment Ezaul offered, and he failed. I will not overcompensate for your son's weakness.” Anatbeiss boomed. Kuruzan opened her mouth to protest, but she said nothing.

 

The pain of Vais' punishment began to hit him now, and he began to wail, his youthful cry filling the throne room.

 

“Guards, take him to medbay.” Anatbeiss ordered. Vais last memory was being roughly picked up and carried off until he blacked out from the pain. He was eleven years old today.

[Adwynyth]

Ooooo...I like so far. Can't wait to read more. Edited October 10, 2012 by Adwynyth

[Klannad]

Thanks, and sorry about the delay in writing, i've been busy. Expect more tomorrow

[Klannad]

CHAPTER TWO PART ONE

 

 

 

Vais sat atop his mount, a shuddering lizard-cat, as the heat of the jungles of Dromund Kaas seeped into his body, causing his black tunic to stick to his shirt. He found himself on a high hill, with tall green grass and scattered boulders nearly the size of his steed. To his left, the ground dropped dramatically- years of erosion had broken down the land, and ahead of Vais a massive waterfall, several dozens of feet above him roared, and fed water to the river that rushed several miles below.

 

 

Vais gripped the reins that controlled the beast tightly, his metallic fingers on his maimed hand curling about the leather. He urged the beast to the right, turning it around, and began to plod down the hill. Its sweeping tail waved after it, and the lizard-cat consciously scurried ahead, its red eyes taking in everything.

 

Vais had let his hair down, allowing his raven mane to flow freely in the wind. It trailed behind his head, like a tail, and his bangs beat at his cheeks. His horns, which had grown considerably since his youth, had become pointed and defined. His mixed Sith/Zabrak heritage now unquestionable.

 

It had been four years since his father had cut his hand. After the incident, his life had continued nearly like it had before, save for the fact that he now had more guards-less lenient than the ones he had before. His presence on his Father's estate was therefore severely limited- He was not allowed anywhere near Anatbeiss or Kuruzan. He had seen very little of Ezaul- His half brother was usually too busy training. He felt no loss there. Ezaul was a proud fool- The less of him the better. He felt the same for Kuruzan. The woman hated him for nearly no reason save for the blood of Anatabeiss, which flowed in his veins as strongly as it did in Ezaul's or Juin's.

 

Vais relaxed as the lizard-cat reached the deeper part of the jungle, massive twisting trees obscuring the dusky sky of Dromund Kaas. The shade was relaxing for Vais; as the lizard cat moved the cool shade combined with the rush of speed chilled Vais, making him forget of Dromund Kaas' heat. He lessened his grip on the beast and allowed his mind to wander.

 

Juin.

 

 

He hadn't seen Juin for nearly six months- His eldest brother had gone off with most of the other fighters- To reveal the Sith Empire to the Republic. They plotted a bold move- attacking Korriban, their ancient homeworld, in full strength, which would no doubt lead to war. Juin had been excited- as had Vais. War was an essential part of Sith culture, and their blood called for it. But a part of him was worried- What if Juin never returned? What if they failed?

 

He had not heard much of the Republic save for stories that he was told when he was a child, and what he read of his people's history. They were a mostly human government, led by Jedi, who had cast out the Sith out of fear. It was only out of bravery and a desire to persist that the Sith Empire survived, out of the Republic's reach. But the Republic had done much to cripple the Sith. Purebloods were nearly extinct.

 

He saw pockets of them here and there, but aside from a few nobles and his family, which kept him at arms length, he had seen almost no other Sith. The thought occurred to him time after time, a gnawing fear that bit at him like a driving insect. Humans seemed nearly endless- But the Sith were finite. They were dying, not as an ideal, but as a people. Vais thought of all the humans that surrounded his father. They were nearly invasive, adopting Sith culture and dress and powers- But supplanting them as well. How would the Sith live on in a thousand years? Would their legacy be carried by some human, who would never truly understand what it meant to be Sith?

The thought troubled Vais as he rode back to the estate, his Lizard-cat deftly moving through the tree swarmed jungle better than any speeder.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Klannad