SERNS

Leena had this particular fondness with the Sith Lord named Arrun and he felt the same. They didn't have to tell each other, they could just feel it through the Force – their bond grew stronger with each meeting, Occlus felt that emotional bond when she came back from Alderaan but she didn't say anything about it. Baras, on the other hand, was moving his pieces in silence.

Vette would notice that smile of her friend every evening when she would return, with such a cruel life – the Twi'lek was pleased that Leena managed to find happiness in the dark.

The mere burning flame in her heart, reminding her that Sith is human too. They feel even though some have given up the other sensations of emotion in exchange for power. Her mother Zylas was right, to experience those simple pleasures again would be worth anything.

Passion makes a Sith stronger.

Another evening when Leena escaped her own stronghold through the dark, Baras watched her through the monitor in his chambers. The Dark Lord leaned back with the wonder in his mind, having to turn this little feeling of love in her heart into anger and sorrow – having her embrace the Sith code instead of being tainted in Occlus's horrid teachings.

To him, she was not Sith, but Occlus has proven herself to be one of the strongest Dark Lords across the galaxy.

He spent years molding the apprentice's hatred, having her feel the connection of anger through the Force so that she may commune and rely on the dark side. The more information he received about Leena's little affair with Occlus's son, the deeper his plans go.

Occlus, on the other hand, watched her son leave their stronghold in silence. After her travel from Alderaan, she grew worried about the children. And at the same time, she wasn't allowed to show weakness as a member of the Dark Council. It was the burden of every Dark Lord in the council – with power only second to the Emperor. With the kind of power and influence they hold, in their ranks, respect is earned and trust is even more difficult to obtain than the relics she collected over the decades.

No one can truly walk beside her.

Occlus closed her eyes when the Sith took her from slavery and into the academy. When she was born, she thought that the rest of the galaxy would be a mystery and she was unable to grasp the idea of what stars looked like, what power felt like. She still remembered the burning sunlight on her skin, the scent of blood of every slave she killed in the arena, the color of her first friend's eyes.

She didn't seize the position on the dark council because it was her right. She had no right. She seized it because she could. If Thanaton had children, they would have succeeded him, but killing him in an honorable duel in the presence of the council made her earn her place in the pyramid of power. She values power, she values resources, and she values life – especially of the life of her only boy.

Risking his life for a love he could never have.

"The boy is distracted." Khem Val spoke to his Master. "Command me and I will eat the girl."

"Oh please Khem, she doesn't even look tasty for you to eat." She would rather have him eat Baras but, this kind of powerplay makes the Dark Council nervous. And she cannot have that kind of uneasy feeling through the twelve most powerful Dark Lords in the Empire. "As much as she would make you full, I need her."

"The legacy of Tulak Hord is lost."

"Oh quiet you," she sighed. "I still have a game to win." Sith treachery is a Sith's endless game, and she must win.

Dismissing the creature from her chambers, the Darth couldn't help but think into this matter even more. She had the title, the resources, the research and the keys – but she couldn't go past Baras his Master are is on the council. Things were difficult even when the Darth didn't have any blood relation to Sern but she is his apprentice, Vengean who is seated on the Sphere of Military Offense. She can't be reckless, a single wrong move would turn the plans that she planned through the decades into ashes.

The galaxy needs its betrayals.

The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months – Occlus wasn't stupid to see the idiotic grin on her son's face every time he leaves the stronghold.

Desperation can drive people to many things, Zash has taught her a thing or two when she was an apprentice.

Her best hope, her only hope is to be careful with Baras of all people. "The things I do for Zylas…" The entanglement of problems, it just keeps getting tighter and tighter as the years pass by. The girl would be turning twenty-four in a few months, she's considered a grown woman – appropriate for marriage. If the apprentice is in Alderaan she would have been married already but, even Occlus knew that Baras wouldn't just let her loose carelessly.

It was humiliating, thinking that Baras has his grip around her neck, suffocating to the point where she could turn to desperate choices. Carelessness could get her killed in the end and she cannot have that. The Force won't allow it, not yet.

'Is there someone in your service who you trust completely?' She remembered Zylas's question when they were younger. With the former slave just promoted into a Sith Lord in her own right.

'Yes.'

Zylas smile always did annoy her at some point. 'The wiser answer is no, my friend.'

They admired each other throughout the years, even Occlus knew that Zylas was one of the most dangerous Sith Lords in the galaxy at the time. And there she stood – the one left alive and the other beyond the grave. They played their roles continuously until the Force was done with them.

A man with no motive is a man no one suspects, it confuses people, they wouldn't know who they really are or what they are. The galaxy is the representation of conflict, the Force itself is conflict and conflict are what shapes and binds the galaxy together – the mere idea of chaos fuels force-sensitives to do things they think is right and just.

A warrior who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the galaxy. She wins her battles by making no mistake, and making no mistakes is the core establishment of victory, meaning that conquering the enemy makes it sweeter.

"I want us to be friends, good friends." She remembered when they were young. When Zylas took her hands with and oddly cheerful smile on her lips. Genuine joy, without a hint of lies in her eyes.

"Don't trust anyone." Were Occlus's exact reply when she lived with a different name, in a different life. "Life is safer that way, Sern."

But Zylas kept on smiling. "No one can survive in this galaxy without help. It wouldn't hurt for you to make friends."

"I'm a slave."

"So what?" Zylas chuckled. As amused as she was, Occlus could never really guess if her late friend was always genuine or being cunning behind a cheerful façade. "Sometimes we don't have a choice. Sometimes we do. You're a free slave now, are you not?"

"Soon to be shackled to a Master if I'm lucky enough to survive."

"Or if you're strong enough to outlive her. Sometimes being free is choosing if you will go or you will stay."

Occlus always thought of her friend to be stubborn and unpredictable, stupidly reckless with unnecessary bravery and foolish loyalty. She couldn't see those traits in Leena Sern, on a single glance when they first met, all she saw was a frightened child.

Staying in her chambers one afternoon, Occlus watched her holomonitor that was being broadcast from the Imperial Academy. With her helmet mask, the Darth continued to stay in the shadows as she saw a struggling young woman performing the tasks of her instructors. She saw how flexible this child is, how brilliant, how fast, cunning, unpredictable, reckless and has placed her loyalty to the Empire.

"Which child are you watching this time, my Lord?" Talos asked as he placed a tray of a cup of tea for her liking. Considering how much older he is – the man has never excelled as a soldier, she was lucky enough for him to have his passion through history and archaeology. When she has a historical task, he was the only person who wouldn't fail her.

"The youngest," Occlus answered without even looking at him. Though she was always like this, he didn't mind. Her acknowledgment comes if she speaks to the person who entered, even though it was considered rude – but it was her rules, her chambers. "She seems like an interesting girl."

"Is she?"

"No, not really." The Dark Lord sighed. "She seems to be stereotypical… Sern. Stubborn and stupidly reckless, she's more like her mother in personality unlike the other who seemed to only inherit Zylas's looks. Excluding the white hair."

"Did you grant her the Holocron, my Lord?" Talos asked.

"Of course, I did… If you didn't tell me that theory years ago, then I wouldn't have been able to make it in the first place. Most of my work is through you, Talos, not even Arrun can match your knowledge in archeology."

Years ago he stated that certain ancient devices, holocrons especially, have resonances. Something to do with the Force just as only Sith can activate holocrons. Some ancient devices can only be activated through certain Sith bloodlines, even though most archaeologists rejected the idea and claimed it unscientific.

He bowed. "I'm honored that you think so, my Lord. But Lord Arrun seems to be more interested in the philosophy of the Force and the history of both Sith and Jedi, and that lady friend he keeps company."

"I swear that child will get himself killed before myself if he's that obvious at this point."

"He seems to be extremely happy, my Lord."

"Happiness doesn't cure my heart of worry, Talos." Occlus frowned behind her mask. For a man who had dedicated his life to restoring the history of the Sith, the historical mind is always curious and never seated.

"Naturally, my Lord, you love your son."

"All mothers do, Talos. If she lived long enough, you would have liked her. She had a mind for history herself and had a… an oddly different view of the Sith and the Jedi."

"If I may ask, are you referring to Lord Sern?"

Occlus nodded, standing up from her chair and gazed through the window. Watching the rain pour around the planet. Dromand Kaas has always been a crying planet, or so Zylas described. "Like myself, Zylas loved her children. All mothers do but her? There was this fierceness that even I couldn't describe. I always saw it as unnecessary bravery and unneeded love. She did anything and almost everything for her children. She betrayed her Masters, climbed up to power, killed her enemies, fought in a war… but…"

"But what, my Lord?" Even a man like Talos could hear it. How much that Darth Occlus admired this dead Sith Lord whose soul is trapped in a Holocron. How much she valued her, how much she looked up to her, and how much she loved her – sisters by bond, sisters beyond power, and sisters beyond death.

"Zylas fought nobly, Zylas fought bravely… and Zylas died."

"But she is not forgotten, my Lord."

"That's the remarkable concept of death, Talos." Occlus smiled as she removed her helmet mask and turned to the soldier with a rare, small smile. "Being remembered or being forgotten. I don't think… she regretted being killed that night. If the Force brought her back, she would do the same thing for her children. I didn't understand this concept of this unconditional love, it was fully foreign to me until the day I found Arrun. A helpless boy, crying in the presence of a Jedi who was unknown to him. His hands were small and his eyes were filled with sorrow. At first, I said I would take him as an apprentice, watch him evolve from a boy to an acolyte. An acolyte to an apprentice, apprentice to Sith Lord and soon Darth – but now he is my son. My only son."

Talos nodded. "I remember, my Lord. If I may be so bold if Lord Sern is to choose between the ones she loves or her honor – which one would it be?"

Without hesitation, she spoke. "Knowing Zylas? She would do whatever she feels is right. That bloody Sith always did trust the Force. She trusted it to the point where I also began to blindly follow the will of the Force, and it does not bother me."

Every Lord is the hero of his own songs. "Leena will be a Lord without wealth, without land. But if people choose to follow her, she will take them down a hard and brutal path. But the path that leads to the one thing every true warrior desire. If they follow her, they will have her blade and her oath. She's more than a weapon, even I know that… she has a sleeping dragon inside of her, and I wish to awaken it."

A leader must decide who he can trust, and who he must discard. Understand the minds of his friends and enemies, recognize that the truth of a man is not in titles or achievements but rather the character of his soul. The chronicles will be added and the songs will be sung, but the Sith apprentice Leena will not be mentioned in the histories – Occlus can see that now.

She will be something more if the apprentice dares to open her eyes and allow her to embrace the noble Sern blood inside of her.

Serns are hard to kill, after all.