MOTF Book I: BOTE Chapter 23

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Queen Suzanne of the Shadikill exclaimed.

“What happened to all of the hugging and being happy to see me alive?” Dylan asked his mother with a playful tone of voice.

“You see son,” King Mogarius, Dylan’s father, began, placing his hand on Dylan’s shoulder and speaking with a serious tone of voice. “She is your mother, and as your mother she has to balance her happiness for your wellbeing, with a soul crushing need to point out your mistakes.”

“But you aren’t alone,” Dylan’s father continued, his tone of voice now far less serious. “You mother is also my wife, and because of this, I too have to deal with the nagging and the-“

“Oh shut up!” Dylan’s mother exclaimed, interrupting his father. Immediately, Dylan and his father broke out into laughter as his mother stared at them. Though she had a very stern expression on her face, Dylan could tell she was trying hard not to laugh as well.

“I see where you got your sense of humor Dylan,” his mother said, a hint of a smile showing at the corners of her mouth.

“Look, Dylan,” his mother began. “Your father and I are beyond happy to see you alive, and we are proud of the reason you went to that Lightor base. Rescuing another soldier from the Lightor is beyond admirable, but you have to realize that your life is important. You can’t keep making rash decisions like this.”

“Yes well, I’m not-” Dylan stopped short of saying he wasn’t an adult. he hated to bring his age into arguments like this. “I’m not the King yet, or the Head of the Council. I’ll leave the wisdom and rational decisions to people of your experience and position, and enjoy my time of reckless impulsive decisions while it lasts.”

“This is your life we are talking about here Dylan,” his father replied.

“Don’t try and tell me that you two didn’t do very similar things when you were my age,” Dylan countered.

“Your mother had two brothers and three sisters, and I had two sisters,” Dylan’s father replied. Dylan always hated arguing with both of them at the same time. Just arguing with one of his parents could be like trying to swim upstream. But arguing with both parents at the same time was tantamount to racing a landspeeder on foot. “We could afford to be reckless and impulsive. You are our only heir.”

“So that’s what this is about,” Dylan sighed. He wasn’t always sure if he could be the person his parents hoped he could be. “The Shadikill throne and the Council of Alliance?”

“No Dylan, this is about more than that,” his mother replied. “You are our son and we don’t want to lose you.”

Dylan hesitated for a moment. He wondered if he should share the true reason behind his mission, if he should share his feelings for Shorya with his parents. Immediately he dismissed the idea. He wasn’t even ready to tell Shorya that he loved her yet, so he sure as hell wasn’t ready to tell his parents about his secret crush that almost led to him dying. No, perhaps it would be better to save that little detail for another time. Instead, he walked up to his parents and embraced them.

“Don’t worry, you aren’t going to lose me,” Dylan reassured his parents. They hugged him back, and for a few seconds the three of them just stood there. It was at that moment that he realized he had just made a promise. He had promised his parents that they weren’t going to lose him and he had meant it. He loved them and didn’t want to put them through the pain of losing him. At the same time however, he knew if Shorya got captured again, he would make the exact same choice he had made at the mines. He also knew that he would’ve done the same thing if his parents had been captured. He would fight to his last breath to save their lives because he loved them, and that’s what he would be willing do for those he loved.

After a few more seconds they broke apart. “Now Dylan,” his mother began. “Because the Lightor were trying to kill you-“

“The Lightor are always trying to kill me mom!” Dylan replied.

“You know what I mean Dylan,” she replied. “Because they were trying to kill you specifically, we aren’t going to let you and your squad go back out on the field for half a year.”

“Half a year?!” Dylan practically shouted.

“That is correct Dylan,” his mother replied.

“Now just remember Dylan,” his father began. “If you ever do something like that again, I’ll have to kill you. You may think you always know best, but there’s a certain treachery that comes with age and experience.”

Dylan laughed at the obvious joke.

“Your father and I have some business to attend to, so why don’t you go and reflect on your decision to go to that base,” his mother suggested

“I will,” Dylan replied as he turned to walk away. “And don’t worry about me doing something like that again. It wasn’t very fun. It wasn’t even all that dangerous. I’m just gonna go reflect on my decision like you said, and I’m not going to do anything you disapprove of any time soon.”

——————————————————————————

“It was amazing!” Dylan exclaimed immediately after exhaling a large cloud of red smoke. “It was easily one of the most exciting and dangerous things I have ever done in my life! It was so badass dude!”

“That sounds awesome,” Tormax replied as Dylan passed him the centriblaze.

“You know what sucks though?” Dylan continued. “My mom won’t let me return to the field for half a year. She’s being so controlling.”

“Welcome to my life!” Tormax said as he took another hit. Dylan watched the red smoke shimmer as it billowed forth from Tormax’s mouth. “Just the other day, my mom made me clean my room, and her and my dad’s room.”

“That sucks dude,” Dylan replied. His own voice seemed distorted, though whether it was caused by him breathing in the smoke or the reality warping effects of the Blaze Blossom was unclear to him.

“We are the Bladewrath royal family!” Tormax continued. “We have maids for exactly this reason. My parents even have them clean my sister’s room, but they still make me clean my own room! They don’t make my sister do anything! They just keep telling her about how she’s going to be the Queen one day! I’m so sick of it!”

“Why don’t you take another hit Tormax,” Dylan said as his friend started to pass him the centriblaze. “You sound like you could use it.”

“So tell me more about what happened,” Tormax said as he put the centriblaze up to his mouth to take another hit.

“So like, this huge ass mech suit starts firing at me in the Lightor base, so I completely destroyed its arm cannons with my sword and took off running,” Dylan began. “It chased after me as I ran out the blast doors, and so I threw my hands out in front of me- and this is gonna sound really trippy- when I stuck my hands out in front of me, it just stopped. It just completely froze in the doorway, so I slammed my hand into the button and completely crushed it with the door. You could actually see the Lightor blood oozing out from it!”

“I wish I was there instead of making my mother’s bed,” Tormax replied as he exhaled a large cloud of smoke and passed the centriblaze to Dylan.

Dylan took a rather large hit before exhaling and passing the centriblaze back to Tormax. At this point he could definitely feel the effects of the Blaze Blossom. Everything felt distorted, he felt relaxed, but also hungry. Aside from the hunger, it almost felt as if he was in some sort of paradise. “That stuff is nice!” Dylan exclaimed. “What’s that strain called again?”

“It’s called Cave Rave,” Tormax replied.

“Ah yes,” Dylan responded, his head bobbing back and forth. “CAVE RAVE ORGY!!!” he suddenly shouted.

“What the hell are you saying Dylan?!” Tormax replied.

“I don’t know dude, I’m pretty blazed,” was all Dylan could respond with. “I’m not entirely sure where that came from, but I think I was referencing something.”

“Alright dude,” Tormax replied as he put the centriblaze away. “We’re both blazed, so let’s go get something to eat.”

“Hell yeah!” Dylan said in response as he stood up, feeling the world warp and distort around him.

“But before we do Dylan,” Tormax said turning around and staring Dylan dead in the eye. “This is the most high I’ve ever been in my life!”

Dylan immediately burst into laughter. “I’m not even kidding dude!” Dylan piled on.

“We’re never going to let that go are we?” Dylan asked after what could’ve been one or five minutes of laughing.

“Never,” Tormax replied as the two of them walked towards the kitchen in the Shadikill castle, while laughing.

——————————————————————————

The funeral of a Lightor King or Queen was something spectacular to behold indeed. There were lights everywhere. Though it was nighttime, the entire courtyard was illuminated. Each attendee carried with them a luminous ball of plasma encased in heat resistant glass. At various places in the courtyard, there were bright lights encased in pillars of glass. Some of these pillars were arranged in ways to refract the light into its full spectrum, and others were simply illuminated in pure white light.

At one end of the courtyard, there was a stone pedestal, almost like a small stage sticking out a meter from the ground. On all four ends of the pedestal, there were steps leading to the top. The center of the pedestal was glass, and though it had a light underneath it, this light was turned off, leaving the glass cold and dark.

Arthur stood but a few meters away from the pedestal in silence. Unlike many of the others in the courtyard, Arthur’s silence was not one of reverence, but one of depression. He had been wallowing in his grief for the past couple of days, and he had seen his father doing the same. He had had a difficult time getting out of bed that morning, though sleep didn’t come easily either. Every time he closed his eyes, the scene of him finding his mother’s mangled body crushed beneath a door flashed through his mind.

Arthur remembered collapsing to the ground the second he saw her. Though he was already barely able to stand after Dylan’s sword almost cleaved halfway through his body, the pain of what he had seen would’ve brought him to his knees in emotional agony, even if somebody was trying to hold him up.

Suddenly, Arthur felt a hand slide into his, wrapping its fingers around his. It was warm, smooth, and soothing. The touch almost contained a certain reassuring energy to it. Arthur looked up to see Jaira at his side.

“Are you alright Arthur?” she asked, her voice full of sorrow and sympathy.

“No,” he responded. “I’ll never be alright again.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Jaira replied. “I’m here for you, and I am going to help you get through this because you are my friend and I love you.”

Though Jaira’s words lit a warm match in the depths of Arthur’s despair, his despair was a cavern too dark and too large to be illuminated by any match. “I appreciate you being here for me Jaira,” Arthur replied, his voice cracking. “You’re the best friend anybody could ever hope for.”

It was then that a pathway bisecting much of the courtyard suddenly lit up. It stretched from one end of the courtyard to the nearest small stairway leading up to the top of the pedestal. It was made of reinforced glass, and had several lights underneath it. Each of these lights activated, with some of the path’s surface tinted various colors. The resulting effect made it look as if the path were made of rainbows.

It was then that four Lightor walked into the courtyard, and stepped onto the rainbow path. They were carrying Arthur’s mother’s corpse in their hands. Though her body had been adorned with elaborate jewelry and beautiful clothing, she no longer had what could be described as a face, and each of her limbs were twisted and mangled.

The sight brought tears to Arthur’s eyes, and he would’ve started bawling then and there, had Jaira not given his hand a tight squeeze to let him know she was with him. He squeezed her hand back as he continued to observe the two men and two women carrying his mother’s corpse over to the pedestal. Reverently, the four Lightor ascended up the few steps leading to the top of the pedestal and set his mother’s body down on the cold glass center of the pedestal. Then, something happened.

Suddenly, the glass underneath her mangled body slowly began to light up. There was a faint hum as a dim light illuminated her body. As the seconds went by, that light grew brighter and brighter. But something else happened as well. Slowly, all of her wounds began to vanish. The cuts and slashes began to dissolve into nothingness, her mangled limbs began to straighten themselves, her face began to slowly reassemble itself. Her deathly pale skin even began to take on a lively glow as the color returned to her face that was now once again beautiful.

This restoration however wasn’t real. Arthur and every other person there knew that it was merely a holographic visage overlaying her true, and still completely mangled, body. It was a practice the Lightor royal family had used for quite some time now. Arthur wasn’t quite sure how he should feel about this, but he was happy to at least be able to look on his mother’s undamaged face one last time. Her eyes were closed, seemingly resting peacefully, rather than being the victim of a violent and brutal murder. A tear rolled down Arthur’s cheek as he choked back a sob.

Suddenly a large beam of light shot out of the pedestal. The Light was pure and beautiful, shooting into the night sky as a large golden-white pillar. It completely enveloped his mother’s body, real and holographic visage alike. Arthur knew then that he would never see his mother again, since he knew her body was being completely evaporated by the energy shooting out of the pedestal. By the time the beam shut off, Arthur knew there would be nothing left of his mother’s body.

When Arthur had first heard about the process of a Lightor funeral, it had sounded amazing and beautiful. And though the visual and symbolic display before him was indeed beautiful in its own right, it was also terrible. It was terrible knowing that he would never see his mother again, or talk to her, or be held by her, or even stare into her eyes.

Unable to bear the pain any longer, Arthur gave Jaira’s hand one last squeeze, looked into her brilliant blue eyes, then let her hand go. Turning away, Arthur walked into a relatively empty area of the courtyard, sat down, and began to weep. He clutched his temples with his hands as hot tears rolled down his cheeks. Then, Arthur closed his eyes, but he did not see darkness. Instead he saw his mother. He saw her entering a large room and climbing into a mech suit.

What Arthur somehow knew he was about to see next frightened him, but not as much as the thought of opening his eyes now, and losing what was probably his one chance to see it. Though it caused him great pain, Arthur continued to watch as another figure entered his vision. The next few seconds were a blur of blue and black as his mother in the large black mech suit fought her much smaller opponent, dashing back and forth only as a black blur.

Suddenly, there was the doorway and the hallway. Arthur watched his mother race towards the open door as the Shadikill prince threw his arms out in front of him from the other end of the door. Suddenly, her mech stopped in the middle of the doorway as if all time had frozen. Then, the Shadikill prince raced forward and slammed his hand on the control console.

Arthur suddenly saw his mother’s face inside of the mech suit, contorted with horror as she realized what was happening. Arthur wanted so desperately to save her, but his heart throbbed as he knew that he couldn’t. Nothing he could ever do would save her. Inevitably, the entire mech suit collapsed around her, crushing and twisting her body in unnatural angles, completely destroying the features that made her identifiable as a person.

Suddenly his vision shifted again, now forcing him to observe the aftermath. His mother’s mech suit completely crushed beneath the door, yellow blood seeping out of it. The Shadikill prince leaning up against the wall, smugly grinning as he observed his victory. The hatred Arthur felt at that point was beyond what he could’ve ever imagined feeling.

Realizing there was nothing more to be seen, Arthur stood up, wiped the tears from his cheeks, and walked over to his father. His father saw him coming and turned to face him. Arthur could see the tears rolling down his father’s cheeks as well, though there was something else in his face that Arthur could not quite put his finger on.

“Dylan did this,” Arthur said coldly, barely managing to suppress the rage in his voice.

His father did not respond with words, only by staring into Arthur’s eyes with his own.

Hoping for a more complete response, Arthur continued. “We cannot let the Shadikill get away with this!”

His father’s brow furrowed in contemplation and deep thought, but still he did not respond.

“He deserves to die!” Arthur cried out.

Finally his father spoke. And it was when he spoke that Arthur finally realized what he was seeing in his father’s face, for it was likely the same expression on his own face; hatred. “I know son,” he said. “I’m going to kill him.”

——————————————————————————

Mongooku was entering this strange planet’s atmosphere. Though it did not orbit a star, Mongooku could see one half of the planet covered in darkness, save for several artificial lights in cities on the planet’s surface, and the other half was bathed in what appeared to be natural daylight, despite the absence of a star close enough to produce such a light.

When Mongooku had first arrived at the coordinates Nalaniel had retrieved from the dark Jedi, he found himself face to face with the strange monolith he had seen in his visions. It had possessed a strange feel in the force. It had felt ancient, powerful, and almost otherworldly, as if it was a construct beyond comprehension. At first, he had simply sat in the cockpit of his shuttle, completely unsure of what to do. After a few minutes of contemplation, Mongooku had extended his hand and begun to reach out to the strange monolith with the force.

For several hours, nothing at all happened. Mongooku had been patient however, and after hours of waiting, the monolith suddenly dissipated. Though it seemingly no longer existed, the monolith had left behind a planet. This was the planet that Mongooku was now entering the atmosphere of.

The Grand Master’s attention was suddenly drawn by a massive luminous beam of light shooting into the night sky. He decided then that that is where he would land. Flying towards the origin of the beam of light, Mongooku descended further and further as he approached the ground.

Mongooku had sought after this planet for the past few months. Ever since he heard the Great Holocron speak to him, his entire will had been focused on finding this child, and now that he was approaching the planet where he would find the child, it felt suddenly unreal to him. It felt as if the entire destiny of the Galaxy had fallen upon his shoulders, and he was more than happy to bear it.

If Mongooku succeeded in finding and training this child, the ideal Galaxy the Jedi lived and died for would become a reality. This child would be able to purge the Sith and all Darkness from the Galaxy forever, and transform it into a place of pure good and light. Mongooku only hoped he would be alive to see that day.

As his descent continued, a large castle crept into his view. The venerable Jedi flew around the castle, and finally found a landing pad. He slowly brought the ship down, setting it down on the landing pad. Swiftly, the Grand Master pressed the button to lower the ramp and turned to exit the shuttle.

Mongooku exited the shuttle with calm and purposeful steps as he walked down the ramp. He then saw what looked to be several soldiers and droids approaching him, heavily armored and armed to the teeth with what looked to be advanced weaponry. Mongooku did not draw his lightsaber however. He wished to make a peaceful first impression on these people.

A man in white armor who looked to be the leader of this group of soldiers took a few steps forwards and removed his helmet, revealing a face that looked to be human, though Mongooku couldn’t be sure that they weren’t instead near human without more information on them.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the man asked, a wary but also curious expression on his face.

Mongooku was a bit surprised at the fact that these people spoke basic, given that Galactic records didn’t even know of their existence. But he supposed that was a good thing, realizing that it would only make things easier on him.

“I am Mongooku, Grand Master of the Jedi Order,” the venerable Jedi replied. “I wish to speak with your leader.”

——————————————————————————

Darth Holos grinned knowingly behind his mask. The mouth he grinned with could be human, near human, or completely alien. He knew which it was, but nobody else did. Though he did indeed derive great pleasure from this knowledge, this was not why he was grinning this time.

The Dark Council had convened as soon as Darth Malvot returned from her mission. Darth Holos already knew the result of that mission however. Malvot had failed to procure a new apprentice or kill Nalaniel, Vicrant had killed Kawa’ii and became a fully fledged Sith Master, and the Dark Jedi had escaped with the dark talisman.

The Dark Jedi’s true identity was known to Holos, though he imagined a very small number of other people truly knew who this man was. Many called Holos omniscient, and while Holos recognized it as a large exaggeration, those same people would be truly astonished by the magnitude of the vast knowledge Holos did indeed possess. Though again, nor this or the result of Malvot’s failed mission were the reason Holos was so pleased.

As soon as the topic of the coordinates the Jedi Sage Master Nalaniel had received from the Dark Jedi had been brought up at the congregation, the meeting had been interrupted by none other than Darth Odious himself. As usual, the Dark Lord’s presence incited fear in the other Sith Councilors, though Holos was content with the fact that he was always clever enough to avoid incurring the Dark Lord’s wrath.

Odious and Holos both knew the most probable explanation. It had to hinge upon the prophecy Mongooku had heard from the Great Holocron. Holos decided that the most probable explanation was that these were the coordinates Mongooku was hoping to find the child at.

It was then that Darth Holos had offered to send a few of his spymasters to track down what Mongooku was seeking. The Dark Lord quickly accepted his offer and even granted Holos’s sphere more resources, though not at Odious’s own expense. It was not the resources that pleased Holos, but rather the fact that he would be one of the first people to discover whatever it was that the Jedi were seeking. He wanted to know what it was that was so fervently drawing the attention of the Grand Master himself.

Realizing that he could not leave a task of such importance to even the greatest of his sphere, and wishing to be one of the first to look upon the location the Jedi were seeking with his own eyes, Darth Holos had taken it upon himself to follow the Grand Master here.

At first, he and Mongooku had both arrived at a monolith free floating in space. Darth Holos had sat by in his cockpit, his ship and presence both cloaked by technology and the force respectively, as he observed Mongooku attempting to somehow evoke some kind of response in the mysterious monolith by reaching out to it with the force.

Finally, after several hours, Holos had flown to the other side of the monolith and reached out to it with his own power in the force. Almost immediately, there was a reaction. The Monolith had seemingly dissipated into nothingness, leaving a planet behind.

Many other Sith would’ve foolishly proclaimed that the monolith opening instantly to them, while it wouldn’t open even after Mongooku reached out to it for several hours would suggest that they were in fact greater than the Grand Master. Darth Holos wasn’t nearly that foolish. Though the monolith didn’t open until he had reached out to it, he did not fail to take note of the fact that the Grand Master had never stopped reaching out to it, and the fact that the monolith had dissipated and unveiled the world for both of them.

Though he clearly did not possess the same affinity for sensing the currents of the force that Darth Nash did, Holos still had some idea of what was going on. Holos had reached the conclusion that the monolith would only open when both a force user belonging to the dark side and a force user belonging to the light side both reached out to the monolith at the same time.

It was the only thing that made sense. It only opened once Holos reached out to it and Mongooku had been reaching out to it the whole time, and it had opened to both of them. Holos realized that he was not nearly as powerful as Mongooku, and that there was nothing inherently dark or light about the monolith.

Since the monolith was gone, Holos had witnessed what perhaps nobody in the Galaxy would ever witness again, and it was spectacular. And furthermore, Holos was observing the planet in even greater detail, ascertaining more and more about it’s people as he traveled through a black castle. Based on historical records Holos had managed to slice into, this species of near-humans called themselves “Innamortans”, and they were divided into several kingdoms that were in a constant state of war.

Holos also discovered that he was in the castle of the people who called themselves “The Shadikill.” Amongst the warrior kingdoms of “Innamorta” as they had named their planet, Holos immediately grew to admire them the most. The Shadikill were very adaptive, much like Holos. He respected their ability to adapt and plan things out in the way that the other warrior kingdoms did not. With their cleverness, the Shadikill had managed to place themselves at the head of the Alliance the warrior kingdoms had forged against the Lightor, something Holos applauded them for.

From slicing into the medical and scientific records, Holos had managed to ascertain the unique biology of the Innamortans. Based on a cross-examination of Innamortan biology with human biology, it appeared that Innamortans were, on average, around ten times as physically strong as humans and far more durable as well. Rather than being felled by one or two blasterbolts, Holos had read about a few adult Innamortans barely managing to survive being shot with a rocket launcher, while unarmored.

Their internal organs and biological systems were far more efficient than that of humans, and the bone structure of their torso was also noticeably different. Rather than possessing a rib cage made up of individual ribs as humans and many other species did, Innamortans possessed more of a plate like bone structure completely encasing their vital organs, and not providing a point of vulnerability or an opening to be exploited, while at the same time not restricting movement or flexibility.

He also discovered that each of the Innamortan nations was its own unique subspecies or race of Innamortans. The most obvious difference was in their blood color. The adaptive warriors known as the Shadikill possessed black blood, the blade wielding warriors known as the Bladewrath possessed grey blood, the blaster wielding warriors known as the Blastidonez possessed blue blood, the pole-arm wielding warriors known as the Speartons possessed red blood, the knowledge seeking Lightor possessed yellow blood, and the Crystalyx, the race of miners employed by the warrior nations for services and labor possessed green blood.

The other differences between the races Holos discovered were far easier to miss. They were subtle differences in biology, such as the somewhat more acute and ranged eyesight of the Blastidonez or the greater joint movement and flexibility in the arms of the Bladewrath, the slightly more heavyset nature of the speartons. Each of the Innamortan races possessed very subtle, but effective biological adaptations allowing them to pursue their chosen paths of life and warfare. They were however, close enough biologically to crossbreed without biological problems, though such a thing was very uncommon among them, as well as being close enough in appearance to be virtually indistinguishable from each other just based on their external physical appearance. In fact, Holos realized one would have a difficult time distinguishing an Innamortan from a human just based on casual observation. One would have to take notice of the slightly differently shaped abdomens to recognize an Innamortan.

The most intriguing thing to Holos about the Innamortans however was the fact that they did not seem to age past their physical and biological primes, which came at approximately twenty five years of age for them. Holos imagined they would be subject to much envy and curiosity from the Sith, particularly the great Sith lords who sought immortality, such as Sorzus Syn, Darth Andeddu, Emperor Vitiate, Darth Bane, Darth Plagueis, and even a Dark Lord as powerful and mighty as Darth Sidious.

Despite this vast wealth of knowledge Darth Holos had uncovered, the crown jewel of Holos’s discovery was something else. When searching through the Shadikill castle, Holos had felt two beings with strong, but latent connections to the force. After tracking the locations of the two Innamortans, Holos had placed microscopic scanners hidden in their food. When eaten, these devices would measure the midichlorian count of those who had consumed them before being dissolved in their stomach acids. Before that happened however, the microscanners transmitted their data to the heads up display inside of Holos’s helmet.

One of the Innamortans was a Bladewrath. Holos was rather astonished to discover that this boy’s midichlorian count was one of the highest Holos had seen in his lifetime, being noticeably higher than those of most of his fellow councilors at an extraordinary count of eleven thousand per cell. Had it been a single blood test, Holos might have repeated it again, however he had placed around fifteen microscanners in each of the Innamortan’s meals, and all fifteen of the Bladewrath’s had given consistent results.

The data he had gleaned from the other Innamortan, however, intrigued him far far more. The other Innamortan was a Shadikill, and his midi-chlordan count was too high to even be measured by the microscanners, which could measure up to twenty thousand midichlorians per cell. With the exception of Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa Solo, no count in recorded history had even been measured as high as fifteen thousand, with Anakin’s count similarly surpassing twenty thousand.

Holos’s first thought was that maybe this child was the child born of the Light from the Great Holocron’s prophecy. But considering things, Holos realized that this could very well be the child born of Darkness from the Dark Holocron’s prophecy. In fact it easily seemed to be the more likely of the two. As far as Holos could tell, this boy held a natural, though latent, affinity for the Dark Side of the Force specifically, based on his personality and the culture of his people.

Holos had just discovered the child borne of the Darkness, the being destined to destroy the light. Holos wouldn’t reveal this to anybody else. Knowledge is power, and Sith don’t share power. Holos had just come across the boy who might become the most powerful Sith lord in galactic history. What did Holos intend to do with him now? Nothing. For now, Holos was content to just watch how things played out. For unlike anyone else, Holos knew what this boy could become, and thus he could keep his eye on him in a way nobody else could, waiting and watching to discover in what way he could be most useful to him.

This is what made Holos smile behind his mask as he sat in the kitchens of the Shadikill castle in the guise of an unassuming guard, comfortably watching from a distance as a Shadikill and a Bladewrath stuffed their faces with food to satisfy their drug induced hunger.