Legacy of the End Pt 1

[FallenNightAngel]

Hi,

This is my first time posting after feeling inspired by some of the other pieces put up one here. Hope you enjoy,

FallenNightAngel

 

Legacy of the End

 

Chapter One

Ayliena’s eyes opened, the noise was horrendous. She could see the offending alarm before her; she reached out and switched it off. She ran her hands over her sleepy eyes and rolled out of bed. She dragged herself to the refresher; where she washed her face before looking at her reflection in the mirror. She was a Twi-Lek. Her race had been used as slaves for thousands of years as they were considered exotic dancers and objects of desire; at least the females were. She had pink skin, and two lekku or ‘head tails’ as everyone else referred to them; they came from the back of her head and extended to around the small of her back. Her violet eyes just stared back at her, grateful that she had ended up in servitude too a nice sith family. They could be strict but still they had never asked her to do anything, compromising and debasing; unlike other slaves she had known in other local sith families like the Jeshors. She had been used ever since she was a child to be the servant of young Azryel Farren, they had been play mates at first and then as they got older she was used to do his cleaning etc. but they were friends and she was grateful of that. She finished cleaning up and got dressed, putting on some smart bottoms and a nice top as she would frequently be seen next to Azryel and she needed to look good as to represent Azryel’s power or some such nonsense. When it came to the Sith she didn’t really understand. Sith were predominantly people who could use the Force; some kind of mystical energy which binds us all together, it enabled them to perform amazing feats such as levitating objects and throwing lightning from their hands. The Sith were made up of either humans, or what was referred to as ‘pure blooded’ Sith. The pure bloods were red skinned sometimes with ridges on their eyebrows and chins or even fleshy tendrils.

Ayliena made her way to the kitchen, to make Azryel his breakfast. She had just started assembling some various fruits onto his plate, when she heard someone enter. She turned to see Selaphiel the eldest of the three Farren children and as far as Ayliena was concerned, a sadistic violent witch. She was a pure blooded sith, with long ridges on her eyebrows, and several shorter ones under her chin. Her yellow eyes met Ayliena’s.

“Oh. It’s you,” she said, “making your masters breakfast?” She sneered at Ayliena,

Ayliena did not like Selaphiel and the feeling was mutual. Selaphiel did not get on with her brother; viewing him as a waste of space and a drain on the family. As far as Ayliena was concerned Azryel was a lot more thoughtful about what he did and his direction in life; unfortunately he was having a hard time with that one of late as he was struggling with the philosophies of being Sith. “Yes lady Selaphiel, master Azryel’s breakfast will be ready shortly.” She flashed Selaphiel a friendly smile.

“You know what Ayliena? I think your half of my brother’s problem.” Selaphiel said; her eyes fixed ahead like she was seeing something that no one else could see.

“I don’t understand I,”

“You talk to him like an equal; you’re not, you are a slave and he is your master. You flutter your eyes to make him do your bidding I think; teasing him with your female ways, I know what your race is like.” Selaphiel’s eyes moved locking on to Ayliena; she made a fist slowly taking a few steps towards her. She relished in the fear of the slave.

“Lady Selaphiel I am sorry you feel that way but I,” she tried to defuse the young ladies hostile intent, only to be interrupted.

“I bet you he will cry, but he will get over you and be stronger for it. You never know he may thank me one day.” Selaphiel smiled, the fear was intoxicating. She drew closer and then like a predator she leapt forward driving her fist into the Twi-Lek’s face; blood sprayed from her mouth as she fell back from the blow knocking her head on the kitchen work surface behind her.

 

Azryel was up and dressed in his casual training gear which was all black. He picked up his lightsaber and strapped it to his thigh as opposed to his belt. He was about to sit down to pick up some historical documents about the Farren family, which had become his interest of late, when he felt a disturbance through the Force; it was Ayliena and she was in trouble. He immediately ran for the door, swiftly racing through the corridors towards where he could feel her presence and her increasing alarm. Her alarm was replaced with pain as he rushed through the kitchen doors; the sight filled him with anger. Selaphiel had sat on Ayliena and was punching her repeatedly; Azryel gathered the force and directed it at Selaphiel throwing her off.

“Ha so here is your hero Twi-Lek girl,” Selaphiel said picking herself up off of the ground. Her eyes met Azryel’s; she could see the anger behind them. If only he would show care and concern over things that matter like family and honour that family by being the best Sith he could. “So there is your fighting spirit Azryel!”

Azryel could feel the anger burning beneath his skin; it was like a sweet drink, you always wanted more. He looked over at Ayliena; her hands covering her bloody face. The coppery smell of her blood filled his nostrils. He drew the Force to him, preparing to attack his sister. “You went too far Selaphiel. We do not harm our slaves.” He struggled to contain the rage as he said those words.

“I am merely showing you that she is a weakness to you, there is no strength there whatsoever. Dedicate yourself to your training,” she didn’t get to finish her sentence when Azryel let out a blast of energy shaped like forked lightning towards her, she just about managed to activate her lightsaber in time to catch the attack. When the lightning had finished, she found that Azryel had drawn up close with his lightsaber in hand; with a snap hiss the red blade came buzzing to life.

“Now you will see weakness.” He positioned himself to strike when someone walked in through the door, there youngest sister Sariel.

“I think the two of you should stop.” Sariel said just standing at the door, flanked by her bodyguard and servant Ehno.

Azryel looked at Sariel. She was sixteen, a year younger than himself and two years younger than Selaphiel. She was short, but pretty with her black hair tied up in a knot. She had inherited their mothers yellow eyes, but unlike Selaphiel she was human like Azryel. Ehno was her human body guard he was a lot older than her, but a skilled fighter. He had greying hair combed back and piercing blue eyes that saw everything. “Sariel, Selaphiel did,”

“Stop,” Sariel interrupted, “Father wishes to see you Selaphiel.” Sariel looked at her as she walked out of the kitchen, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I’m a Sith,” she said with a shrug and left the room.

Sariel turned to look at her brother only to find he was already picking Ayliena up and sitting her down on a chair. Sariel grabbed some towels using the force and levitated them over to the two of them. She nodded at Ehno who walked over to give Azryel a hand.

“What happened?” Azryel asked Ayliena,

She looked back at him for a second seeing his scruffy hair that he had never been bothered to tame. “She doesn’t like me Az, that is all.” There was a cough from Ehno, “I mean master Azryel,” Ehno was a real stickler for protocol.

“That’s terrible.” Sariel said, “I will make sure she doesn’t do it again,” she smiled at Ayliena. It was funny because the only time Azryel would really become angry was when she was in trouble, it didn’t help that Selaphiel seemed to make a sport out of it. It made no sense to Sariel as Ayliena was loyal to the family; these kinds of attacks would only damage that loyalty. Father took a dim light on these sorts of things so she felt sure he would deal with her. She turned to look at Azryel, “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? I’m fine; I just wish Selaphiel would just attack me and leave her out of it.” He rubbed his face with his hands as if trying to wake up from a bad dream, only to smear blood over his face as he tried to clean up Ayliena only to be moved by Ehno who swiftly took the cloth from his hands and got to work.

“Azryel, you should get cleaned up,” Ayliena said pointing to his face, “You have me all over it,” she tried to laugh but made a grunting noise as the movement hurt her battered face.

He looked back at her, “okay, I won’t be a moment. Sariel and Ehno will be here,” he quickly glanced at Sariel to see her nod in agreement.

 

 

 

Chapter Two

Selaphiel moved swiftly towards her Father’s study. It had a beautifully crafted wooden door, when she opened it she looked around the room; there was her father’s desk, also wood. She could see various family portraits on the walls. There were a few holocrons; cubes that contained huge amounts of data that one could navigate through via the artificial intelligence that guarded it, usually of the being that stored the information in the first place. The walls were painted a dark red, while his chair was black made of the finest hides on the planet Uloriden; which the main Farren clan had made their home.

“Selaphiel, my eldest.” A voice said from around the corner, “Come sit down.”

She moved to see her father looking over some documents. He was tall, lean with fierce green eyes like Azryel and the same brown hair. The difference was that Tyler Farren, their father, used that power while Azryel just twiddled his thumbs. She took a seat on the couch in the corner of the room.

“Sweet heart,” Tyler began, “I know what happened in the kitchen. I can understand why you did it, but you were wrong. Never harm your slaves unless they have been disloyal. Do you understand?”

“Yes Father.” She replied head low,

“Good then we will not have this conversation again I hope.” He gave her a stern look. “You will become the head of the family when I die, do not set a bad example or you will find rebellion when you do try to lead the clan.” The stern look faded as he wandered over towards his daughter, “I don’t understand your brother either, ‘let him work it out’, is what your mother tells me, so it is the same advice I will give you.”

Selaphiel’s Mother, that’s where she got her looks from as Arabella was also a pure blooded sith. They did not agree on many things, which is why Selaphiel stuck close to her father. Arabella was a thinker, powerful in the Force but too interested in things of little consequence as far as Selaphiel was concerned. “Very well father, I will back off Azryel and not harm his Twi-Lek.”

“It pleases me to hear that,” Tyler laughed. “I have planned for this afternoon a family melee.”

Her head perked up, did she hear her father right, a family melee. It was her favourite event; designed to help the family work better learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses, it was also used to work out ‘issues’. “That would be great father,” a smile spreading across her face. She would remind Azryel of how weak he really was; and that training was the only way to survive in this universe.

“By the way Selaphiel, your Mother and I will be traveling to Korriban for a meeting with some other clans in a weeks’ time. You will be in charge; but remember don’t push your siblings too much otherwise you might find yourself over thrown and outside.” He laughed at this, “But I have full confidence in you.” He walked over and rubbed her head.

“Father,” she said trying to knock his hand of her head, but she couldn’t hide the smile from her face. Her father trusted her to take care of the family while he was away. She would not let him down. “I need to go train for the melee later,” and with that she skipped out of the room.

Tyler looked at the open door. There was so much he and Arabella needed to tell their children, but for all their mastery over the Force and lightsaber techniques; revealing a secret as large as they had to their little ones was the scariest thing he would ever have to do. With that thought he moved back to his desk, picked up his pen and started writing.

* * *

Azryel was in his room studying some history for his mother’s class, he also had some writing to do about various lightsaber styles strengths and weaknesses etc. He put his pen down and looked over at Ayliena; she was lying on his bed asleep. The family doctor had taken a quick look when she said she started saying the room was spinning. Rest had been prescribed and so rest she was getting, but somewhere Azryel could keep an eye on her. He walked over to his refresher and washed his face. All these feeling he had, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do, or rather what was right for him. His life, which according to the Farren family would involve him moving out as he found a partner and children started coming along so as to allow Selaphiel who was heir to the main family; being the first born to rule unchallenged. He cared very little about that; what he did care about is what it was all for. Was he to become some powerful Farren Sith lord or should he or even could he just disappear and be whatever he wanted? In the end his own living nightmare would be if he became a Sith lord and like so many resort to cruel and sadistic means to gain power and control. Was it wrong to want to have a family and live with them as far away as he could from Sith territories? There was a knock at the door, when he opened it he found Sariel standing there.

“Hey Az,” she said with a half-smile, “can I come in?”

“Sure,” he stepped aside so she could wander in.

His room was always a mess, even after Ayliena cleans up after him. He just gets a thought and then he throws everything around until he finds what he was looking for. That was her brother; and he clearly had something bothering him. She took a seat by his desk, “So how is she?” she said nodding in the direction of Ayliena.

He looked as her sleeping form, “Asleep. She has been since I laid her down; Selaphiel really did a number on her.”

The concern was evident on Azryel’s face, “She was out of line, and we both know that she was. You know why she did it though don’t you?”

Azryel quickly, looked at Sariel. She was serious about Selaphiel having a reason. Anger flashed inside of him, what could possibly be a good enough reason to beat up Ayliena. “There was a reason for this? A good one? I would love to hear.”

“She told you, in the kitchen. She thinks that Ayliena is making you weak. I don’t agree with that at all, but she is concerned that you will be killed because she is clouding your thoughts.”

“She is not,”

“Yes she is and we both know it. You have feelings for her; that’s fine but Selaphiel is wrong in thinking that it is Ayliena who is the problem. The problem is you.”

Azryel started getting confused and angry. He was the problem, Ayliena wasn’t, why did there have to be a problem with anything he did, wasn’t it his choice. He stopped, that was it in the end. He didn’t feel that he belonged. His eyes lifted to meet Sariel’s; while she was younger than him she was incredibly smart and aware, a lot like their mother. “I don’t feel like I belong.” He said it, and it felt good to just let it out, like a breath he had been holding for years.

Sariel watched him take a seat at the end of his bed, she moved over to him and held her brother in her arms, she loved him and Selaphiel so much and maybe just maybe as Azryel discovers who he is they will all get on better together. That was what Sariel wanted more than anything.

“Thanks Sariel,” He broke out of the hug, “What do you think I should do next? I haven’t got any great ideas myself, and as you can see I have been looking.” He pointed at all the books and data pads on the floor and desk.

“Have tried to talk to Mother?” she said with a shrug, “You won’t get anything from Father apart from a slap or some harsh words, Mother on the other hand might know something.”

It was a good idea. He and mother had always got on well, and now that he knew what had been weighing on his mind, maybe answers could now be found. He laughed, “Thanks Sariel I will. That was a lot better than my ideas.” He smiled; he didn’t have the heart to tell her that his plan had been to run away.

“By the way there was another reason I am here.” She held his eyes, “Father is putting on a family Melee.”

“What! Are you serious?” Azryel hated these events that their Father put on. He knew the purpose but the fact it became a competition that Selaphiel was going to win was frustrating.

“Afraid so, I am not looking forward to it either; I hear it is happening in thirty minutes so I suggest you warm up.” She rubbed her brothers back and got up, “I guess I will see you on the floor,” she laughed knowing that both would end up defeated lying on the floor, no doubt with Selaphiel gloating. She smiled, something’s don’t change, with that thought she left.

* * *

The corridor on the way to the training room had portraits of Farren forebears, with some head busts and the occasional traditional Sith painting; Azryel stopped to look at one. It was a picture of Korriban the sith home world, there were the oranges of dust and sand and while there were many sith in the picture there was one sith in the top right. This young boy was amongst all the people but there was about a five metre gap all around him. It was Azryel’s belief that the artist was saying, ‘being a Sith is to be among many. To be a Sith is to be alone.’ He continued past that painting and opened the large doors at the end of the corridor. The Farren training room stood before him. The walls were mounted with weapons of other Farren’s and sometimes just rare weapons of war. The walls were white with bright lights overhead. Various pieces of equipment had been moved to the side walls, leaving a large open arena in the centre. Sariel was already on the bench at the far wall. She saw him and gave him a nod. To his left he noticed Selaphiel and their Father Tyler Farren.

“Are you going in?” A voice said from behind him,

Azryel jumped, “Mother,” he said turning to face her. She had thick rich black hair which framed her red face; her yellow eyes always looked at him like she could see through to his very being.

“Hello sweet heart,” She pulled her only son into an embrace, “Selaphiel has been training to prepare for this,”

“No surprise there. I only just found out half an hour ago from Sariel.” He glanced over at his eldest sister, she was watching him closely.

Arabella laughed; “Father is playing favourites, or is he?” she kissed her sons cheek while he thought that one over and moved into the centre of the training arena standing next to her husband. Arabella and Tyler was an interesting couple by Sith standards as they actually fell in love. Most sith married for political affluence or some such motive; rarely was the motive love. They were a perfect team, she kept the records and was a little more calculating than her husband, but he had his integrity and strength as he was an impressive lightsaber duellist. It amazed her on how he treated their children, he loved them all but associated more with Selaphiel who seeks to prove herself to him and be a fighter, while his son is actually more like him as he has many values that he feels are being questioned. She hoped Azryel would speak to her soon, maybe she could help, and then again that could be a mother’s wishful thinking.

“My children you are here for a melee. It will be a free for all and you will need to use all your skills and tactics that you have been developing over the last few months to prevail; winner gets out of chores for a week.” Tyler said to his children who had come in closer. “Best of luck to you all, you will begin on my go.”

Azryel walked back to the bench to pick up his lightsaber, it was standard, the first he had made. It had a red blade which was just the common colour for a Sith to wield. His Father was giving a count down from twenty, at zero the fight would begin. He turned to face the centre like his siblings were when he noticed on the back wall framed for the whole room to see, the Sith code;

‘Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.’

It was something that had been drilled into him since a child,

“Ten,”

Yet there was some truth to it, he could see it but not quite make it out,

“Five,”

’Father is playing favourites, or is he?’ what did that mean? Was it something to do with the code?

“Zero, begin,”

Maybe it, his thoughts were interrupted as the Force warned him of an attack, like a sixth sense, just a lot more acute. He leapt forward towards Sariel, moving into a roll igniting his lightsaber, avoiding Selaphiel’s. He continued to roll to his feet, flipping up and over Sariel’s attacks.

Sariel knew she was in trouble, she was caught between Azryel and Selaphiel and lightsaber combat was not her strength at all; the two of them would want nothing more than to beat each other to a pulp because of this morning. She leapt back to form a triangle with the others so that they had as much a chance to attack each other than as to attack her.

Selaphiel watched the setup, Azryel stood before her maybe thirty metres away while Sariel had jumped back to have the same distance between them all. For Selaphiel she had to take out the weak link first before she could work on her real target. With that she dashed towards Sariel her lightsaber trailing behind as she generated momentum and with an almighty slash she caught Sariel’s lightsaber on hers and pushed it back and to the right, with a pivot she turned dropping down low, continuing to spin striking Sariel’s chest with her blade as it came full circle, Sariel called out as the charge in there lightsabers, currently in training mode so they didn’t actually kill each other, stung her.

Azryel was not fast enough to stop Selaphiel bulldozing through Sariel, and to her credit she had taken her out with one swift movement and was set to face Azryel one on one. Her blade came in close to defend herself from his strikes, she was using a lightsaber form called Soresu, a highly defensive style that made the user able to endure most attacks and ware out the attacker. Azryel changed his form to Ataru, using spins and flips to apply more pressure on her defence. He swept low then high, striking then slashing but her form was good. It was at this impasse he realised something, the Sith code said that ‘The Force shall free me.’ He was only using the force to help him fight with a lightsaber, but it could do so much more. It was like a river and all Azryel needed to do was channel it. He leapt back a few metres with the Force, his green eyes locked on to Selaphiel’s burning yellow. He gave her just a little arrogant smile to rile her, her face steeled as she lost her temper and leapt in the air to attack.

There was no way she was going to let Azryel think he could win this, she was the best lightsaber wielder of the three of them and he would remember that; she was at the peak of her jump. When she felt danger, she flipped in time to see Sariel’s lightsaber soaring towards her, with a snap-hiss the blade ignited, she blocked the strike and watched the lightsaber fly past her, she landed and ducked low bring her lightsaber up to defend against attacks, two lightsabers struck down on hers. Azryel was trying to use two lightsabers? He couldn’t even use one particularly well; she kept blocking his attacks using the Force to strengthen her, as his attacks picked up momentum. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold him off indefinitely; she parried his strikes and took a few steps back making use of the pause. His look had changed somewhat, had something happened in the last few seconds, that move using two lightsabers was strange for him. Normally lightsaber combat was all that was used in the melee… He wasn’t just going to be using lightsabers anymore.

Her face had changed like it had dawned on her what he was up too; he wasn’t going to give her a chance to react. He charged starting his spins early to generate momentum, he stopped short and released a wave of Force energy before him knocking an unprepared Selaphiel back off her feet; he followed forward with a force assisted cartwheel lashing out with both lightsabers hoping to hit his downed sister.

Selaphiel felt herself being pushed back, starting to topple. She knew that her brother would be eagerly pressing his new found advantage. She used the Force to push the fall into a backflip, righting herself and catching both of his blades on hers. Beads of sweat were dripping down her face, her clothes were sodden. Azryel’s eyes were fierce, his green eyes seeing her concern. He knew full well that when it came to using the Force she wasn’t half as good as her siblings and so she made up for it by being a better lightsaber user. Azryel’s ferocity grew as his attacks became more surgical, probing for weaknesses in the wall of lightsaber blocks she was making. What made it really hard was that he was using the Force to nudge her, pushing her back and forth, side to side; not hard but enough that if she did not remain balanced she would fall and Azryel would win. She would not let that happen. She felt the Force push from behind and allowed it to propel her into Azryel; she managed to strike him in the head with her hilt. He took the hit and spun away swinging wildly to block any incoming attacks.

He had gained some distance from Selaphiel she was using the opportunity to take some deep breaths and compose herself. Azryel deactivated his right lightsaber and put his hand to his head. He was bleeding from his right eyebrow; the hit had also made him feel a little queasy. He used the Force to centre himself and tried to calm his stomach. There was a snap-hiss as his right hand lightsaber came to life.

“Enough!” Tyler called, walking into the centre of the room, between Azryel and Selaphiel. He watched each deactivate their lightsabers. Sariel walked over to join them from the benches with their Mother after she had been taken out rapidly by Selaphiel’s charge. “Sariel it was highly unfortunate what happened, work on your defences to help you survive an assault like that. Azryel, you should have been able to take Selaphiel if you trained harder, it was your own sloppiness that resulted in that head injury. Selaphiel you did well at taking out Sariel and halting Azryel’s attacks. Right off you all go, get cleaned up and ready for supper.” With that the three children left leaving, Tyler with Arabella.

“Don’t you think you were a little hard on Azryel?” She asked quietly,

“Was I wrong in what I said?” Tyler responded,

“No Tyler you weren’t, but you didn’t give him any sort of encouragement at all. Unlike your daughters who were praised; in particular Sariel who was defeated in the first few seconds.” She replied, “Maybe a little encouragement would help him become a son you will be proud of.” She kissed his cheek and left, leaving Tyler to ponder on what had been said.

[Emmablackread]

Hey, I think your story is great I really enjoyed your style of writing ^^ The characters were very interesting adn the combat was well-written - I could almost see a proper in-game battle enfolding in fron of my eyes I think you should definitely continue writing other pieces of fan-fiction, you really make the lore and the world come to life through your vibrant story =) A huge thumbs up! Also, FIRST!!!