The Legacy

Co-written by Delerius_Jedi and Prisoner24601

Vrook Lamar had never been known as a gentle man; he had always demanded dedication and absolute devotion to the light. His students had been among the best in the galaxy, and he had been proud of the work he had done. And yet, there would always be two names that haunted him, two names that spoke of failure on the part of not just himself or another Master as a teacher, but of a failure of the very foundations of the Jedi Order.

I still don’t know what happened to Revan, he thought bitterly. One of their best students and most adept Jedi, Revan had turned against the Council and been reborn as a Sith Lord, the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Exar Kun. And like Exar Kun, Revan had managed to sway countless other Jedi to the Sith cause, hollowing out the Order from within. Even the apparent defeat and subsequent redemption of Revan had brought little peace - the charismatic Knight had simply vanished one day, aboard a ship that was now parked at the spaceport outside Khoonda, but now with a new master.

If the Force had sentience, then it would most likely be chuckling at the irony. For the new master of the Ebon Hawk was indeed the second name he thought of: Riss Varn, who was the only Jedi who had returned after the Mandalorian Wars to face judgment and exile. Riss Varn, who had not been heard from in a decade, the Riss Varn now cowering before him in her black robes, holding one arm out in front of her trying to cover her disfigured face.

Vrook loomed over the crouched woman, his anger at her actions seeping into his voice,

“I should have stopped you long ago. Your machinations end here, outcast! You were steeped in darkness after the Mandalorian Wars, and this is just your final mercy,” he said as he raised his blade over his head to deliver a quick execution.

He barely had time to react. Just as his blade was coming down, Riss sprang to her feet; a silver blade that matched the coldness in her eyes blocked his strike with strength he wasn’t prepared for. Vrook staggered back and her mocking laugh told him that her cowering had just been a ruse, a way to lull him into a false sense of security. His jaw locked in a hard and determined line, as he realized that she was much more powerful than he had thought. But it didn’t matter, her overconfidence and arrogance would lead to her downfall the way it had for countless others before her.

“You old fool!” she hissed and waved her blade in front of her in a Makashi style flurry. “You cast me out based on your own fears and prejudice.” Riss circled him, her predatory eyes never once wavering. “You always claim to understand the darkness, but you have never seen it. You are like the rest: you cower in your enclaves and preach dogma to impressionable children.”

Riss lashed out towards him with her blade, pushing him back against the wall while she barred her teeth like a Denebian river-lion.

Vrook parried her blows. “You speak of the Jedi preaching to impressionable youths? Isn’t that what you’re doing to the two you keep in your entourage, the ones who were with you in the cave?” Stall… buy time. “You Sith are delusional. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re dead within the month at the hands of one of your so-called apprentices.”

She pulled back for just a moment, tilting her head like a predator eyeing prey. It was the first time he could actually see what had become of the fair-skinned, white-haired woman who had stood before them all in the Council Chambers on Coruscant ten years ago. Riss’s hair was still white, but it was drier and lifeless now. Her skin had turned deathly pale, offset by bulging purple veins that decorated her face.

And then Riss laughed. Not the laugh he had heard from her back during her years as a Padawan, but the cold, sadistic laugh of one who knew exactly what they were doing and how to get away with it. Had Vrook been anything less than a Jedi Master, his blood would have frozen at the sound.

“You saw darkness where there was none ten years ago. Well, I think it is high time you saw the truth, Vrook! So see,” she spread her hands and her eyes suddenly seemed to go black, “see the darkness that you created!”

Vrook prepared himself for another attack, but his opponent just stood there. Suddenly, the Force screamed, overwhelming his senses and he cried out in pain. He looked at her and still just saw Riss standing there, but when he reached out with the Force he saw the truth - the truth of what she had become, and to Vrook Lamar: it was far worse than any Sith. He saw the Force bending and twisting as if caught in a vortex, a vortex that was Riss Varn. She was a black hole in the center of a populated star system, and all the bright, life-giving currents of the Force were inexorably pulled to her, perverted by her, and consumed by her.

She locked her eyes with his and raised her hands, and the lightning of the dark side sprang from her fingertips, but this was not like the lightning Vrook had trained himself to resist. Despite it being of dark side power, it was equally perverted by Varn’s presence and each bolt seemed to have the head and body of a viper, enveloping him and filling him with venom.

Vrook screamed and his lightsabre clattered uselessly on the floor beside him as he sunk to his knees; his flesh burning and his consciousness failing him. The vipers bit and crushed and crushed until the blood leading to his brain was almost completely cut off, until his bones started cracking under the enormous pressure. The last thing Vrook saw before his vision darkened was the face of Riss Varn, twisted, evil and smiling.

As Riss dragged Vrook’s half crushed body out of the Khoonda administration building and into the hushed and crowded courtyard, she decided that justice really was sweet.

Vrook began to stir back into consciousness, but his precious Jedi serenity was now shattered, and his face, that now framed a broken and bloody nose, twisted in agony when she drug him by his collar through the door and down the bumpy steps. His body and robes still smoked from the torrent of Force lightning that she had called down on him, before she’d nearly crushed the life out of him. But she hadn’t killed him, at least not yet, because she still had a lesson to teach.

Riss could have used the Force to levitate him into the courtyard, but that wouldn’t have been as satisfying as dragging him along by the collar of his charred robes. She grinned down at him, still feeling the adrenaline rush of the battle that they had just fought, and the high she got from the dark side that was singing through her veins.

The outer courtyard was filled with sentients – those who had helped defeat the raider’s assault on Khoonda. Riss didn’t spare them a glance. She had done her duty and saved them from the mercenaries, protecting innocents the way that the Jedi should, but now that her duty was fulfilled it was time for justice to be served. Since she had just saved all of their lives, Riss knew that they wouldn’t stop her from what she was about to do.

Her crew was also gathered in the courtyard. Murderous Atton, faithful Bao, jaded Mira, and naïve Disciple all stared at her in disbelief, but Riss didn’t let that stop her from dragging Vrook into the middle of the square. Visas was the only one who wasn’t shocked, she just watched in calm admiration, but then that wasn’t a surprise; she had probably witnessed worse from her old master.

Riss released Vrook and he toppled over onto the cobble stones, and looked up into the cloudless cobalt skies of a perfect day. She held out her hand, palm open and levitated Vrook into the air until they were face to face, and spun him around slowly in the air until he was facing her new students, who were still paralyzed in dumbfounded shock. She kept the pressure on his throat so he couldn’t talk, it was time for him to listen, and she didn’t want to hear anymore accusations or excuses from him.

Although Riss spoke out loud, her voice was quiet and low enough so that only Vrook could hear her. But even though her voice was quiet it was still filled with hatred and venom, as she leaned over his shoulder and spoke into his ear. “Look at them, Vrook. Look at my five students, and feel how much raw power they have. They don’t even know it yet, but they’re mine. I’ve got them wrapped so tight in Force bonds that they can’t break away from me, even if they wanted to.”

Cocking her head, Riss studied each one of them in turn. The corruption of the dark side wasn’t showing yet, but it would soon, and she shivered in anticipation.

“In their hearts they are good people; even the murderer isn’t beyond redemption, and they would make fine Jedi. I could use them to help rebuild your precious Order, make them the cornerstone of a new and glorious age. I could teach them the Jedi way, preach the dangers of the dark side, and teach them about the power of redemption. But I’m not going to do that.”

“Why should I allow them a chance at redemption that I was denied? Why should I give them the gifts that were stolen from me?” Riss spun Vrook around again so they were face to face once more. Even though his serenity was gone, he was still defiant, still accusatory. He looked at her with the same expression he had had on his face the day he helped cast her out of the Order. Riss dredged up the old bitterness and hatred that was created on that day and bathed in it, reveling in the strength and power it gave her.

“Being a Jedi was everything to me! When you stripped me of my rank and cast me out you took everything that mattered!”

“I’m going to use them. I’m going to tear them down, the way that you and the Council tore me down, and I’m going to remake them in my image. I’m going to twist them and corrupt them and then I’m going to set them loose on an unsuspecting galaxy, where they will teach their bile and filth to everyone they meet. That’s not going to be my legacy… it’s going to be yours. And through them, I’m going to make sure that the Jedi Order never rises again.”

For the first time, Riss finally felt what she wanted from him, what she couldn’t get from him when she was crushing or shocking his body. Cold fear, tricked through his mind, and it was intoxicating and refreshing balm to her tortured soul. Riss closed her eyes as she drank it in, savoring the taste and texture of his fear.

Sighing, Riss decided that she had indulged herself enough. “It’s time to end this. It’s time for you to die knowing that I will make sure your precious Order will never be reborn. That I will hunt down and corrupt every Force sensitive I meet, and kill all who oppose me, all because of you.”

Riss ignited her blade, and raised Vrook up until his chest was level with her lightsaber, and his eyes widened in shock as he realized what she was about to do. With unearthly slowness, she lowered him bit by bit onto her silver blade, releasing her choke hold on Vrook’s throat because she wanted to hear his screams. Her lightsaber burned slowly through his robes, through the center of his chest. Vrook couldn’t stop himself from crying in pain, and screaming until his lungs were raw. The smell of his burning flesh was the sweetest perfume Riss had ever smelled, and his screams were like the chorus of a beautiful and rousing symphony.

Adding to the torrent of emotions that swept through the onlooking crowd were her students’ revulsion and horror and fear. Mical in particular was sending out fear in waves, and it pleased her. The boy would make an excellent puppet when the time came. It was extremely amusing; she could feel his newly bolstered determination to overcome his fear so he could guide her back to the light. It was going to be fun to watch the poor boy try.

Finally when it was over and Vrook was dead, a deep sense of satisfaction filled Riss. She looked up from Vrook’s mangled and crumpled body on the ground, at her horrified apprentices and smiled, because it was time to create Vrook’s legacy.