They had stolen from the Emperor. They had kept him hidden away from the Empire, when they should have brought him to the government, to Lady Sera. Lady Sera was making him strong. He could already feel it. He felt... powerful.
He still made mistakes. If he cut too deep, Lady Sera would place a needle in his arm, so that he had to do his work in pain. But he was used to the pain by now. His father wasn't... he screamed so loud, the boy almost thought it was pathetic how loudly he screamed. He couldn't wait for him to shut up, but knew better than to rush his death... if he did, he would be punished, and he did not want to be punished. So, he was patient, he took his time. He found he had a... knack... for telling what hurt more. It took his father a lot longer to die than it had taken his mother. When he finally had, the boy felt... freer, somehow... he looked up to Lady Sera and smiled.
Lady Sera smiled back. "That was very well done, young one. You're a fast learner. I was right about you... one day you will make a fine Sith. But, for right now... I believe you have earned a name," she said, stroking his hair, looking into his dark eyes. "Shadow. From now on, your name is Shadow," she said, and patted the boy on the head. She was very pleased with him... he had about three needles in his arm, yet showed not the slightest hint of pain. She pulled each one out, noticing how he barely flinched. "Tomorrow we'll begin your training, Shadow. Go get plenty of rest... you won't have much more of that for a while."
Shadow smiled and bowed, then ran back to the cell that he slept in.
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Shadow had been training for weeks before the day came when he first learned about meditation. "Sit down, Shadow," Lady Sera commanded, and the boy quickly did as he was told, though he wondered what was going to happen next. Most of his training, up until now, had been with him standing up, and usually involved a lot of pain. She sat down across from him. "I am going to teach you how to meditate," she said, smiling down at the boy. "Meditation is when you quiet your mind, and allow the Force to flow through you. It is how we will strengthen our mental bond with each other, a bond which will allow us to communicate, since you cannot speak," she explained. The boy blinked, and nodded. She reached out a hand, and stroked his pale cheek. "When we do this, you will see things, terrible things, and may get lost. Just stay with me, let me guide you, and you will come out safely," she warned. "Close your eyes." The boy did so. "Now, open your mind... picture a dark room, with no light, nothing but the blackness," she murmured, and closed her own eyes.
Shadow could feel darkness all around him, now... cold, black darkness, and recognized Lady Sera's presence. She embraced him, engulfed him, and he felt colder than he had ever felt before.
"Let the darkness fill you, Shadow... embrace it," she instructed.
Shadow did his best. He pictured the darkness like the water from the sewer he had spent so much time in. He breathed it in, drinking it up, and he could feel it coming from within him... it responded to how he felt about his parents, to how he felt about the bad people his parents were taking him to... the Jedi.
Anger filled him, then turned to hatred, and its bitter edge tore at him inside, but he embraced it, held on to it. He could feel the pleasure of Lady Sera as she mentally embraced him, showing him that he did well. Suddenly, the blackness gave way to something else, and he could see a young girl with brown hair, completely covered in blood. Beside him, Lady Sera stood, holding his hand. 'One day, Shadow, you will take my place. I will give you my memories, so that you will know what I know,' she said, stroking his hair.
Shadow watched, horrified, as an old man made the little girl do things, terrible things... some things he didn't understand, some things he understood too well. After a while of watching Lady Sera's memories, he knew why she had told him that eyeballs tasted like candy. And, he knew she wasn't like him, wasn't human.
In Lady Sera's mind, he could hear whispers...
Then, things turned strange. He couldn't tell what was real, and what wasn't. 'Neither can I, sometimes,' his Master replied to his unspoken thought. He saw Emperor Xarkun through his Master's eyes, and smiled. He had saved her from a fate worse than death... one of powerlessness, of weakness, of slavery to the Jedi. He was shocked that she had once believed herself to be one of them, and felt his Master's hatred for that particular memory. His Master's memories were all jumbled up, and he felt... disjointed, like he was coming apart at the seams. Lady Sera held his hand, and led him to another place.
He saw his Master's training under Emperor Xarkun. He... felt... the training, through her mind. He heard screaming in the distance. 'Embrace the pain,' Lady Sera admonished him, her voice mixing with her memory of Xarkun's.
'I'm afraid,' he said in his mind, backing away.
Lady Sera took his hand, and stroked his hair. 'That is why you must embrace it,' she replied. 'Once you do, you won't be afraid anymore.'
Shadow locked his eyes with Lady Sera's, and nodded. Clasping her hand tightly, he stepped forward... into the strange lightning that Emperor Xarkun was shooting from his hands. Pain exploded from within him, white-hot pain, but he didn't flinch, he didn't run away... he took it within himself, made it a part of him, even though it hurt even worse, and he thought he would die. He welcomed it, holding it within him, refusing to let go of it, until he was nothing more than a white-hot blur of pain...
When he awoke, his Master was bent over him, stroking his cheek with the back of her hand. He was on the floor, and his throat hurt. It took him a while to realize that the far-away screaming that he had heard had come from him. Memories of the visions still flashed before his eyes, and he felt... different, somehow. Like, before he had been asleep, but now he felt like he had woken up, like he knew things he hadn't known before. He could still... feel... his Master's mind, like they were...
'Connected,' Lady Sera's voice spoke in his head, even though she hadn't actually said anything. His eyes went wide.
'You can still hear me?' he wondered more than asked, but his Master merely smiled.
'We can talk this way whenever we are close to each other,' Lady Sera thought to him. 'The stronger our bond becomes, the greater the distance can be,' she explained.
Shadow blinked. 'Master... can you explain the poem to me?" the boy asked, eliciting a smile from Lady Sera.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion," Lady Sera began aloud. "There is no such thing as everyone getting along with each other. It is our nature to fight..."
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Shadow had been training under Lady Sera for quite some time before he finally got to meet Emperor Xarkun. Lady Sera had told him to be on his best behaviour, and he had finally learned just what was expected of him. She had taught him how to move things with the Force, how to channel his hatred and anger. She taught him how to be aware of his surroundings at all times... he slept standing up, now, with his eyes open. He had spent long enough in an electrified cage to learn that lesson pretty quickly. He had learned how to meditate, even under extreme pain, and, even though he couldn't talk anymore, he had learned how to read the minds of prisoners being interrogated, and often accompanied Lady Sera in this task.
As they walked into the throne room, Shadow could feel the presence of the Dark Lord. It was stronger than Lady Sera's but just as dark, if not darker. It made him feel cold.
He was used to the cold.
When he neared the throne, he bowed with Lady Sera. When Xarkun had the two of them rise, he looked the boy over curiously.
"Shadow," he said simply, looking the boy over. "So much has been said about you. Lies must be filtered away. I will discover what is true here today."
Shadow was dressed in a black bodyglove now, with his dark hair and dark eyes a drastic contrast from his very pale skin. Shadow kept his eyes lowered.
"I hear you've become quite adept at interrogating prisoners," he said, watching the boy with shiny black eyes. "Lady Sera tells me you cannot speak. Tell me, do you hate your mother for making you bite off your tongue?"
Hatred filled the boy's eyes, and he nodded.
"And, do you hate those who oppose me? Those who try to hide their children from me, those children who belong here, those children that I offer to teach the true ways of the Force to?"
Once again, the boy nodded, and Xarkun could sense the hatred emanating from the boy.
"And what of the Jedi? Those who would otherwise take the children to inflict upon them their narrow, dogmatic ways?" he asked. Xarkun could feel the room darken, the hatred within the boy was so strong. The boy nodded slowly, the look in his eyes almost able to peel flesh.
Xarkun smiled. "Good, your hatred will make you powerful." He turned to Lady Sera. "He is acceptable, continue his training. You've done well." he said, then dismissed the two with a wave of his hand.
They bowed before they left. As they walked down the corridor, Lady Sera laid her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Soon it will be time to build your lightsaber," she told him. She stroked his cheek. "For now I will teach you something I think you would be good at," she said, and led him into a room where a prisoner was strapped to a table, shouting obscenities at whoever would listen. "Close your eyes, Shadow, and follow my mind with yours. We will show this poor, misguided rebel the true meaning of fear," she said, and began teaching him how to weave nightmares of the most horrifying kind.
Next Chapter?
Imperial Palace, Chapter 9
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