CHAPTER THIRTEEN
To Toah, everything was a blur. Just as the Crimson Emperor was about to send his guards to attack Darth Nemesis, the throne room's doors opened again, and a man in dark, almost rusted armor barged in and unleashed a barrage of lightning at the guards, killing each and every one of them.
Then, from behind his back, he brought out a staff with two short blades on one end, and a small hoop the size and shape of a ring on the other. He plunged it into the ground, sending a seismic wave that knocked everyone nearby off their feet, including Nemesis.
For a while, the whole room was silent, until the armored man spoke in a voice Toah recognized all too well. "Good evening, everyone," he said. "Am I interrupting anything?"
The Emperor was the first who managed to get to his feet. "Ah...Lord Vorath. You've made quite an entrance..."
"Indeed," Vorath replied coldly. As he observed the room's other occupants, he suddenly made eye contact with Toah. The Dark Lord of the Sith let out a laugh that raised the hairs on the back of Toah's neck.
"Well, look who we have here," Vorath said with a mirthless laugh. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Toah Jarsan?"
All eyes were upon Toah. "How does he know your name?" Luke asked him.
Toah sighed. "Remember when I told you about thee Sith Kyle and I encountered many years ago?" He gestured to Vorath. "He was one of them."
"Yes, I was," Vorath said with another chuckle. "Now, may I ask why you and your Jedi friends are on Dromund Kaas? You are the only ones I were not expecting to find here."
Toah took a deep breath, unsure if he should tell Vorath the reason he was on Dromund Kaas. He glanced at Luke, who gave him a small, slow nod.
Toah turned back to Vorath and, after taking another deep breath, he spoke. "I was told that my father, Aron Jarsan, was sent here long ago by the spirit of Exar Kun."
To his surprise, the Dark Lord froze, his red eyes staring into Toah's. "Aron Jarsan, you say?" Vorath muttered. "I must admit, I never thought I would hear that name ever again..."
Toah's eyes widened. "You...you knew my father?"
Vorath slowly nodded, looking almost as if he was not paying any attention to the Jedi Knight anymore. "Yes... I knew him. A bit all too well. Many times have I tried to forget his name, but how can I forget the one man who stole everything I held dear to me, and ruined the life I once had..."
Abruptly, Vorath turned away from Toah and began walking aimlessly but slowly down the throne room. "Once, in a life I abandoned long ago, I was known as Kalon Soral."
He paused, as if waiting for a reaction from his 'audience'. When none came, he went on. "I see that my old name is not a well known one. Somehow, I'm not surprised. Anyway, I was born on Coruscant and raised by the Jedi Order. Among my peers were Aron Jarsan and...Nova Larisa."
Vorath suddenly stopped halfway towards the Crimson Emperor's throne. His eyes seemed to drift pass the armored man and into the world beyond. After a long moment of silence, the Dark Lord sighed. "I shall not bore you all with the details. To make a long story short, Aron Jarsan took the one thing I loved and, indirectly, made me the person who I am now."
He continued his way down the throne room, making his way to where the Emperor was standing. "And for that," Vorath finished, "I thank him."
The Emperor tilted his head, as if he was giving the Sith Lord an unimpressed look. "Thank you for that fascinating tale," he said dryly. "Now, may I ask why you are here? Or, better yet, what in the galaxy is going on?"
Vorath chuckled, bringing out his staff again. "That is a good question, I must admit. To put it bluntly, Espaa Valorum..."
Suddenly, the staff's tip began to glow with white energy. The Emperor quickly looked around, as if looking for a way to escape, but to no avail. Vorath slowly raised the spear-like staff at Valorum's chest.
"You are no longer needed."
A blinding beam of light blasted from the staff, hitting the Emperor square in the chest. The Sith Lord then gave the weapon a small flick, which pulled what appeared to be Valorum's spirit from his body. An ear-piercing shriek emitted from the spirit before it was absorbed into the staff's blades.
Once the spectacle had ended, Vorath turned to face the occupants in the room. With a voice colder than Death itself, he said, "I suggest you all run back to your squabbling government on Coruscant. The shuttle Lord Ravage and the others brought you in is awaiting."
"Why?" Luke demanded, suddenly getting to his feet and striding towards Vorath. "Why haven't you learned from Palpatine's errors? Why have you waited so long to do what's been done before? Why...why are you doing this?"
Vorath gave him another, mirthless chuckle. "It's simply what we do."
With that, the Dark Lord unleashed a blast of lightning, which sent Luke flying across the room. Just as Chewbacca easily managed to catch him, the ground began to shake.
"As I said," Vorath muttered, sounding as if he did not fell the quakes, "your shuttle awaits."
Without further hesitation, Luke, Toah, and the others rushed out of the temple. Leia, Han, Chewie, and the droids headed for the Sith's shuttle, while Luke, Toah, and Kyle ran back for the Raven's Claw. In a few minutes, they were in their spacecrafts and on their way to Coruscant.
If anyone of them had lingered, they would've noticed a large mass arising from the ground...
* * *
Darth Ravage scowled as he watched the two ships streak across Dromund Kaas' skyline and blast off into space. So that was it, he thought. After all the trouble he went through to capture Senator Organa and take her to Emperor Valorum, where she was to be used as a way to force the Republic to surrender, it proved to be a moot point as both the Republic and the Empire would have ended up under the Sith's control eventually.
The Zabrak Sith gritted his teeth. Sooner or later, he thought, Vorath's plans would crumble beneath him and the Sith would need a new leader-a suitable one. Someone with enough brains and brawn to carry out the Sith's domination.
And Ravage knew that, with complete certainty, that someone would be him.
* * *
Toah remained silent during the entire journey from the Dromund system to Coruscant. What he had just learned from Darth Vorath was almost too much to comprehend. Did Vorath knew his father? Had Aron Jarsan caused Kalon Soral fall to the dark side? Or was the Dark Lord simply lying? But why would he lie specifically to him? What was he to Vorath, if not a potential apprentice?
He was determined to find out, and he knew the best place was the one he was raised on: Dantooine.
Toah sighed as he leaned back in his seat. This was likely his last chance to relax, for another war was on the horizon. And the Jedi would do whatever it took to save the galaxy from the Sith.
No matter what.
EPILOGUE
It had begun.
As the Sith god known as Kal-Teraz began to rise from his tomb, the spirit knew that this was the beginning of a new era. An era which would see the end of the New Republic, the Galactic Empire, and their everlasting war. An era which would see the rise of a new Sith Empire. An era which would be instigated not by Darth Vorath, nor Finis Valroum, but the spirit itself.
And soon, the galaxy would learn to fear his name and the chaos it would bring...
TO BE CONTINUED...
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