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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.

“Naturally. It was fun taking the wind out of those two pompous asses.” Shadonyx examined his fingernails, sighing. “Pity, though. I really did want to kill them.” Astatine rolled his eyes and strode out of the chamber, followed by Mairin. Shadonyx stretched and yawned, quite amused with himself. He'd more than likely be taken to task for this later, but it was worth it. He rarely had the opportunity to exercise his powers anymore, and opportunities to tweak the nose of his peers didn't come often. Shadonyx disappeared again, his laughter echoing throughout the chamber a long while after his departure.