Fiction
Archive... Krath Epis Shadonyx |
Shadowy
Intentions It
was another boring affair after the other for Shadonyx, Chancellor of
the Dark Brotherhood. Astatine was seeking to change several facets of
the organization and was meeting brick walls along the road of
advancement. Such roadblocks seemed to deal heavily with the old
saying, “If it isn't broke, don't fix it.” Shadonyx himself
preferred direct, to the point documents and more than half of the
dribble that spawned from the Dark Brotherhood was anything but that.
Despite being a Krath himself, Shadonyx fathomed that half of the
Order weren't Dark Jedi, but love-sick poets with sadistic tendencies,
therefore butchering spoken word as much as possible and torturing
people by making them read the drivle they called “writing.” The
Chancellor would know this well enough; after all, he was the Editor
of the Dark Voice. The
loud, almost irritating voice of Keirdagh Cantor cut into Shadonyx's
mind and echoed throughout the expansive Audience Chamber. As he
recalled, the current argument was in regard to the set of badges
Astatine wished to use to denote position. While many were for the
addition of badges for those not on the Dark Council-for the Council
had long had such badges-many of the Sith Order felt the badges were
too “TIE Corps like” and therefore the idea had to be discarded
immediately, because, as Keirdagh had been ranting for several
minutes, his Order had an “identity crisis” and anything that
remotely resembled the TIE Corps would destroy it. Not that Shadonyx
cared much. If their Order Leader was any indication, the Sith were a
bunch of fools with mouths larger than their brains and the only real
service they could ever do was to ram their ships into the nearest
building. As
usual, it was the Krath High Priestess, Mairin Astoris, that was
attempting to bring order to the deliberations. Firefox often took a
backseat in such debates, merely watching, his eyes alight with
observation. There was more to the Grand Master than his seemingly
humble appearance. Whereas Astatine stood tall, oppressively and even
fearfully showing himself, Firefox tended to blend with the crowd, and
was often congenial. It was then that Shadonyx recalled that Firefox
was once the Sith High Warrior; he quickly amended his previous
thought to say that not all Sith were bad, just the majority. “Yacko,
be reasonable,” Mairin pleaded, using Keirdagh's nickname, “these
badges will bring no harm to anyone, they are a simple way to identify
everyone's position within the Brotherhood.” The large Sith High
Warrior grunted and redoubled his arguments. “We
all know our places within the Brotherhood; why do we need badges to
remind everyone? This is just a tactic to boost people's egos, nothing
more. There is no reason for these badges.” Astatine, of formidable
bulk himself, strode closer to Keirdagh, his eyes blazing. “The
badges add to the simplification to the redesign of the robes I am
undertaking. With the removal of the medallions-” “Why
are we trashing the medallions after all this time?” Keirdagh
interjected. “Why aren't we attempting to reform them to add to the
simplicity of your new robe system?” Astatine's eyes narrowed and he
sighed. “You'll
note that the current system is completely over complicated, including
the robes, and I am attempting to remove such complexity by trashing
the medallions and created a new robe structure. I would have
accomplished this already if it weren't for thickheaded fools like
you, Yacko.” Shadonyx snorted with laughter while Firefox chided his
apprentice. “Always
with insults!” Keirdagh spat. “The moment one of us doesn't go
along with your plans you bitch and moan and insult us! I won't have
it!” “Are
you challenging me, Keirdagh?” Astatine asked, his voice cool. The
Order Leader hesitated for a moment, but then spoke, “Yes, I am.”
The air rang with defiance as the two Jedi placed their hands on their
lightsabres. It was then that Firefox rose from the Iron Throne and
stood between the two of them. “That's
enough! I will not have my Council members holding private little wars
amongst each other because of petty differences. You two will
apologize to one another, and in order to stem further argument, it is
by my order that these position badges will be used to further
identify members of our Brotherhood. Is that clear?” There was a
silent nod throughout the chamber and Astatine and Keirdagh muttered
their apologies. Firefox bowed slightly, eying the Deputy Grand Master
and Sith High Warrior hard before he left the chamber, leaving
Shadonyx alone with Astatine and the three Order Leaders. “Another
impressive argument,” Shadonyx drawled. “I daresay Keirdagh, you
might even win one, someday.” “Shut
the hell up, Shadonyx.” He growled, “What business do you have
here any way? As you are not an Order Leader-” “He
is a Dark Council member, and Firefox requested his presence.”
Astatine cut in. Shadonyx stood and went to Astatine's side; thus, it
was the three Order Leaders before the dias and the two Dark Council
members on the dias itself. Shadonyx smirked a challenge at Keirdagh;
he personally detested the man, ever since he had the gaul to tell
him, the Chancellor, that he was wrong for forcing Keirdagh to award a
particular medal for one of his Order-wide exercises. “Not
more than a month on the Council and already a lap dog,” Keirdagh
sneered, turning to leave. “Would
you care to say that a little louder, fool?” Shadonyx said, any
trace of humor gone from his voice. “Or would you prefer to go
bellow like a sick cow in front of the Grand Master again, citing on
how I've been a big meanie towards you?” Keirdagh whirled around his
eyes blazing and teeth barred in fury. Shadonyx met the murdurous gaze
with his icy blue eyes and a cold smile. He rose his staff in a
defensive position. “Well,
Keirdagh?” The question stood there, the air charged with enmity. It
was only after a few moments that the Obelisk High Commander, Sharad
Hett, tugged on the arm of Keirdagh and said, “Let's go. It's not
worth fighting over, and you will get in trouble.” The two men held
their baleful looks for a few more moments and then broke, Keirdagh
and Sharad walking away. Shadonyx chuckled to himself and turned,
making a face at Astatine. The
attack came from two directions, the oppressive weight attempting to
crush and maim Shadonyx's body. The offensive unleashed by Keirdagh
and Sharad seemed to do its work; Shadonyx's body crumpled to the
ground, blood gushing from his mouth. It was until the body vanished
into thin air did they realize it was nothing but an illusion. “Magic!”
Keirdagh hissed, his lightsabre igniting. Shadonyx's laughter echoed
throughout the massive chamber, mocking the two Order Leaders. “Oh
come now, did you really think you two fools could hurt me? You and
your silly little powers are no match for my magic. I suggest you both
leave now before I accidentally kill you.” “Come
out, you coward!” Sharad roared furiously. Astatine glared at Sharad
and Keirdagh, “Stop this at once! Firefox warned you not to
fight!” Shadonyx's cackling redoubled and from seemingly nowhere
shadows leapt to assail the two warriors. Hard as they tried, slashing
to and fro, the shades merely formed themselves and redoubled their
attack. “Mairin!”
Sharad shreiked. “Do something!” The High Priestess began to make
gestures, ready to dispel Shadonyx's magic, when Astatine stopped her. “No.
They did this to themselves.” “But
Ast-” “Shadonyx
won't kill them.” The two Krath watched as Shadonyx's shadowy
creatures continued to assail the Sith and the Obelisk, never
relenting in their attack. It was only moments later when they finally
disappeared, seemingly of Shadonyx's accord. “Had
enough yet?” Shadonyx's voice calling from somewhere unknown. “Come
out and fight us!” Keirdagh yelled. “To
be rather frank, my little Sith High Warrior, I don't want to fight
you. This is rather pointless, as we must work together-you do want
your medals don't you?-so while we can continue this personal enmity
on a non-violent basis, I think we're fine. Once we start drawing
swords and calling up monsters, someone is bound to get hurt-and I can
wager it will be you.” Shadonyx's insult hung there, but Keirdagh
did not take it. He and Sharad quickly stormed out of the chamber,
both of annoyance and fear of what Shadonyx might conjure next. The
Chancellor appeared in his customary chair on the Council's dais,
chuckling again to himself. “Having
fun?” Astatine said sourly. |