Outer Ring. Corriban.
751 DBYA.
13 years before the Mandalorian Purge.
A few moments later.
Darth Doom.
The creature that rushed at me was certainly impressive in terms of its power in the Force... But compared to what I had seen on Earth... It was nothing special. It looked intimidating, but it would only scare cowards, not more or less experienced warriors, even if they were complete idiots.
In general, idiots often possess an incredible level of bravery that stems from their lack of understanding of the situation.
Oh, how many heroes I've met who didn't understand how strong I was, and why they went where no sane person or intelligent creature would go!
Only refraining from spitting on the ground out of a lack of culture, I returned to reality and the battle.
The beast rushing towards me was knocked off course and thrown to the side by a powerful Force Push. Despite the fact that the sophisticated effects of the Dark Side and the Force in general did not work well on the local creatures, the simplest telekinesis attacks worked wonders, as they affected the purely physical rather than the energetic component of these monsters.
Although... The terentatec, as the creature in front of me was called, would be a pain to deal with.
"No one has the right to mock me, beast!" — I was rightly outraged by such insolence, sending poisonous vapours of the Wild Force at him. The latter depended heavily on the planet, and I hadn't spent enough time on it to cooperate with Corriban's aura and integrate my Magic, again, the Force, into his natural energy system, so instead of instant death, the effect ended with the fanged head shaking violently.
The disorientation helped me gain time, and now the beast is bound by chains made of sand compressed by telekinesis, and several large stones, remnants of tombs, fly at its head.
"Gra-a-a-a!" — a dissatisfied roar rang out, immediately interrupted by dozens of stones of various sizes, which, together with the sand lying on them, flew straight into the beast's open mouth.
Naturally, it didn't like that, and with remarkable accuracy for someone whose eyes were buried in the sand, it lunged towards me. I had no intention of running away, so I deflected its arms with telekinesis and, continuing to hold them back with the power of my mind, grabbed the two fangs protruding from its muzzle like those of an ancient sabre-toothed tiger from Earth.
We met his gaze, our identical red-orange eyes flashing... Only unlike his eyes, mine were filled with intelligence. Unexpectedly, the beast found itself lying on the ground, because although the stones raised by telekinesis that hit its legs did not damage its body, physics still applied even in a galaxy full of anomalous Force.
"You!" — My iron fist, strengthened to the limit by Wild Power and Power in general, slammed the creature's large, armoured face into the sand, sending it flying in all directions. "Submit!" — Another blow to the monster trying to get up, but restrained by my telekinesis. "Dum!" — I barked right into its ear-like openings, this time embedding my foot into Corriban's surface.
"Gra-a-a-a-u-u!" — Pretending for a dozen seconds that he had obeyed me, the terentatek waited until I removed my foot from his snout and tried to jerk away again.
"You're clever for your level of intelligence, beast." — I grinned maliciously, jumping back and watching the Dark Side's creation rise. "But alas, you're not even close to the average human mind, let alone mine." — Folding my arms across my chest, I stared wide-eyed as the huge killing machine first swayed on its hind legs, then was forced to drop to all fours, and finally collapsed onto its side. "That's why you're losing. You realised too late that my blows are incredibly poisonous to anyone connected to the Dark Side. Initially, I..." I waved my hand, starting to explain the situation. "I developed it against users of the Light Side, but... The Wild Force interacts very well with the Dark Side... In the end, they're two sides of the same coin, and if you act directly on the whole coin... Oh, what possibilities. I'm even glad that the Dark Side decided to kick up a fuss.
Finishing my explanation, I approached the beast and touched its weakened mind, beginning to invade its base instincts and subtly replacing the concepts in its dull head. I made myself appear much more powerful than I really am in his eyes. An absolute force, an absolute leader, someone to be obeyed.
Backing it all up with a promise of quick food from the followers of the Light Side, I quickly finished my work of subjugating this glorious addition to my army. And he's clearly not alone here... No, there are many of them on Korriban. Extracting pieces of memory from a semi-sentient creature was more difficult, but nothing I couldn't handle with the level of power I possessed.
There were only forty-six of his kind on the planet. An incredibly small population, considering that they were the pinnacle of evolution and the food chain here. But the thing was, there were very few other beasts left, such as the huge black dogs of the tuk'uat and the wingless Dragons of the Dark Side, the hsis. Feeding solely on the Dark Side is harmful to living beings, no matter how closely related they are to it. They were not ghosts who could sustain their existence on the Force alone.
So they slept and did not reproduce.
"You're disturbing my thoughts, worms!" I barked, feeling the Dark Side's anger at my disobedience subside, and I could use it more effectively against the opposing party of dragons and dogs.
Having decided to sneak up on me as I stood frozen in thought, they paid for it with a powerful Force Press that pinned everything around me to the ground.
After they recovered from it, I began to make maximum use of telekinesis, combining walls of compressed sand and stone rising from the ground with Sith magic, striking the advancing beasts surrounding me from all sides with multiple volleys of dark figures of various orientations. Some began to tear their organs apart, others plunged them into illusions and nightmares in which the beasts tore themselves apart with their claws, teeth and fangs, while others made their skin burn and melt without creating any fire themselves... A multitude of cruel effects befell those insolent creatures who dared to attack me. I was wrong to be cautious with the Jedi... I should have used my entire arsenal against them.
I can feel it would have been extremely entertaining...
And when the Wild Force joined in, the beasts finally began to understand who was at the top of the food chain.
"Holy shit..." — came from somewhere behind me in the voice of the female saboteur, but I completely ignored her surprise.
"Listen to me carefully..." — beginning to rapidly spread invisible strands of the Force through the minds of the creatures, I began to literally hammer my words into their brains. "You. From now on. Continue. My. Will!" — I stamped them even harder, waving my open palm and reinforcing the effect of mental intrusion with physical subjugation. "You. Go. Sleep!" — My words echoed in their heads with an unbearable but unforgettable ringing. "And wait. For me. I will come. I will bring you. On a hunt. The prey is delicious!" — Remembering how to subdue such beasts, I continued to imprint these words into their half-mindless brains with broken words.
Then I put my own memories and feelings from my encounter with the Jedi into their heads, making the beasts drool.
And after pinning them to the ground a third time, much stronger than before, to reinforce the message, so to speak, I finally let them go.
Dozens of angry glances were thrown at me, but the awareness of my power and the anticipation of a great tasty hunt stopped them from attacking, and showing at least a little bit of brains, they began to scatter back to their burrows. This way, they will conserve more strength before I summon them to my army, and they will also avoid the attention of the Jedi, who will definitely want to investigate the site of the future ritual.
Speaking of the ritual...
"Come here." — I turned to Vi, who was sitting on the floor, gesturing for her to come to me.
For a while, this idiot annoyed me, staring at me with her big eyes... But to her credit, she got up and came over to me faster than I could get angry at her for her slowness.
"Y-yes, boss?" — she asked, swallowing nervously and glancing at the passages where the local fauna had hidden. However, it was unlikely that there was any flora left on Corriban after the bombing by the Republic fleet more than four thousand years ago.
"What's going on with the future victims... the gang scum?" — I corrected myself, staring intently at the mercenary dressed in my designs.
I took the Earth version of the equipment, which was unusual for this galaxy, as a basis and reinforced it on all fronts. The body armour and armour plates became lighter, more comfortable and more flexible. Anyone would kill for such equipment, here or there.
So this little thing would be working off this payment for her activities for the rest of her life, however long that might be.
"They're sitting there, waiting... What else can they do... Eating the supplies they brought with them. It seems like no one has died of hunger yet... True, they're kind of sluggish... But you know, boss... I'm not telling you what to do..." — she hesitated, but seeing my nod of approval, continued with the same caution: — We need to resolve the looting issue quickly, or whatever you have in mind..." "The horned and tailed creature scratched the back of her head in confusion. Judging by certain genes that had helped her survive in radioactive conditions, her world had clearly been through a nuclear war." "Otherwise, despite your droids, these guys will try to... This... Kick up a fuss..."
"All I needed was the fact that they're sluggish." — In response to my words, this insolent little thing tried to frown indignantly, but stopped halfway through, realising my potential reaction. — And I don't need advice like that. You should have seen for yourself how strong I am, and that fifty pathetic scumbags, not even elite fighters, are no match for me. — Continuing, I waved my hand contemptuously before putting it behind my back along with my companion and striding towards the Sith Academy. — Hold them. As soon as we reached the entrance, I threw four cylinders full of the Dark Side into the girl's hands, which had been stored in secret compartments in my armour. "Place them so that they form a circle around the scum's camp. In a vertical position, of course.
"I-I-I understand... And then..." — The novice saboteur tried to mumble something, but immediately fell silent when I gave her a promising look. — Got it, no questions. You're not stupid. — And having said that more clearly, she quickly sent Vi back to work.
I allow her a lot... A lot. But it frees me from a certain mild form of loneliness. Trapped in a holocron, Sorzus Sin's consciousness is too limited for me to continue communicating with him... And humans, unfortunately, are social creatures. Even I, accustomed to solitude, have created and will continue to create Dumboots with intelligence and character as close as possible to my own.
For other people, less intelligent and perfect than me, caused natural and completely justified irritation on my part.
Upon entering the Sith Academy, I shook my head in disapproval at the tent city that desecrated this place sacred to many generations of Dark Side adepts, but I said nothing. I was not so steeped in this entertaining but overly aggressive culture as to express my dissatisfaction with its violation out loud... And anyway, these are just walking ingredients for a ritual.
I'm not exactly a better person than the rabble... But at least I had enough brains not to resort to such petty crime, so they deserve more than death. And as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans, I'll use this kind of... contingent as sacrifices.
Glancing at the Dumbroids, I was about to give them a few more commands, but I was distracted by Vi rushing back.
"Done, boss. Everything's done..." — clearly out of breath, which made her breathing heavy, she told me about the completion of her work.
The artefacts I had collected did not require particular precision, as I could easily compensate for this with my own strength, without entering the Life Force territory of my own very convenient body, which I certainly did not plan to change in the next twenty years. Good looks, great potential in Strength... What more could one want?
"I see. Now I advise you to go to the entrance." — I waved in the right direction. " — If you don't want to die along with these morons, whose eyes are blinded by the ringing of credit cards and fear of your explosives and my droids." — I snorted contemptuously, and immediately found myself watching as Vi, as if scalded by boiling water, began to retreat.
Her self-preservation instinct still works when it needs to.
I hope the acolytes I'll have to train as a distraction for the Jedi will be at least a little bit like my only subordinate from my inner circle.
"It's time to begin." — I nodded to myself, standing perfectly in the centre of the camp and between the cylinders. It would be foolish to wait any longer, or they would start running away from the camp again.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on resonating my own Force with its conduits in the form of scarlet cylinders, which appeared before me as if in reality. As soon as I clenched both fists, the artefacts opened, leaving only small pencil-sized rods standing upright, which began to emit a Force that reflected and simultaneously penetrated the ancient walls around them, also imbued with the Dark Side.
For a moment, I heard a whisper of different voices in my head, but it disappeared immediately, because the spirits of the dead understood the essence of the ritual, which was designed to give them freedom and the opportunity to manifest themselves for a while. Even the madmen, of whom there must have been enough among the dead, did not interfere with this action.
On the contrary, they moved a little further away so as not to interfere with their presence.
At first, the area around the wreckage, which was not very well lit to begin with, became almost like the middle of the night.
Despite the fact that the numerous light sources illuminating the ancient structure continued to burn uninterrupted, they seemed to fade, weaken and dim.
"A-a-a-a-a..." — I began slowly, accompanying the voice swirling around the Force.
The bandits jumped to their feet and began to understand what was happening, and even the quickest among them tried to shoot me... But the ritual that had begun could not be stopped. The blaster bolts were literally blown away by the concentration of energy that raged around me.
I closed my eyes and allowed the energy reflected from the cylinders and walls to flow into me and back, saturating me with the incredibly dense Dark Side, which began to ring and resonate in the huge Force focus that was this pyramid.
The ancient Sith did not prefer this type of architecture for no reason, but for quite prosaic and practical purposes that the Jedi and the untalented could not understand.
Historians could spout all kinds of nonsense in Golonete... But the fact was one and only one — at that moment, this structure continued to absorb the actively moving Force.
The Force that had finally begun to suck the life energy out of fifty bandits. Those of the most intelligent races who tried to scatter in all directions simply did not have time to run even ten metres.
They began to age, waste away and crumble right before my eyes, which I opened once again.
The combination of various techniques of the Dark Side had an excellent effect, which under different circumstances could have turned into an incredibly dangerous and large-scale attack. But... The Vortex of Life and Death I had created required a place so saturated with the necessary Force that it blocked its use on ninety-nine percent of the planets in the Galaxy, and even more so far away from them — in space. The main celestial bodies of the galaxy attracted the Force too strongly, and it did not like the silent void without any life, without any feelings, which served as the source and at the same time the continuation of the mystical energy here.
"A-a-a-a-a!" — Several bandits from among the most resilient races managed to let out heart-rending cries, but they too soon fell in piles of dark dust.
"Here." — I said solemnly, gathering the Life Energy hanging in the air between my palms and manifesting the very concentration of Life, the Living Force, in the form of a greenish sphere.
The steel of my suit began to deform and crumple before my eyes, for the amount of Power required to contain and preserve the gathered Life was not small. It was enormous, and in other circumstances, it would have been enough to cause a full-scale meteorological Storm of Power capable of destroying entire neighbourhoods and small towns.
But I am not a pathetic piece of trash.
I managed to cope, and after waiting for the rampage of the Dark Side around me to subside somewhat, I was able to get a good look at the bait I had created for the spirits of the Dark Lords of the past. My predecessors, if you look at it that way, because I too can be called a full-fledged Sith Lord, a Sith Master... It was not for nothing that I took a new title that would better reflect my essence in this Galaxy than Doctor, was it?
"Do you see this, ancients?" — I said excitedly, as if addressing no one and nowhere. "This will allow you to appear and pass on your knowledge to me without being tied to your tomb! You will be able to see what the galaxy has become since your death! But! As is customary according to the rules of the Sith, only one of you will earn the right to train me, Darth Duma! Fight and battle among yourselves, you dead men buried in the sands! Only the most powerful will receive this Life!
The concentrated hatred, contempt, surprise and rage that hit me almost knocked me off my feet, but I managed to remain standing without even flinching.
"You are outraged by my audacity... But so far, you are the only ones who have lost!" — I dismissed them, holding the Life Energy shrouded in the Force in my other hand. "You were overthrown, and no one remembers you. Only dry lines in the archives, and nothing more! You died, killed by enemies, friends, and even old age!" — I continued to speak confidently, feeling the concentrated attention of hundreds and hundreds of dead people from the past on my mind. "You prepared your own tombs while you were still alive, knowing that you were not strong, talented, powerful, or intelligent enough to leave an unforgettable memory of yourselves! Well! Heed the words of Duma—I will shake this galaxy to its very edges, overturn the chessboard of trillions of intelligent beings! And all, all of them will worship only me, only Duma! And tell me..." — Beginning to get carried away in my speech, I went all in, and my aura literally flashed, exploding like a supernova of the Dark Side, heating my body and shaking these ancient walls to their foundations, where countless generations of Sith had begun their ascension. I will begin. They may have been apprentices, but I am now a master." "How dare you doubt me, how dare you doubt my will? I am Darth Doom, and you will obey me, you dead and forgotten fools!
For a moment, reality itself rippled in a small section of space-time, saturated with the exclusive Force, in which for a split second appeared the figure of a bald human-like creature with a satisfied expression on its face, whose features immediately blurred and disappeared into pure darkness, replacing reality at a specific point on this planet for a single heartbeat.
The fleeting creature was so inconspicuous in the shadows surrounding me that someone else would have considered it a hallucination, and perhaps one of the ghosts of the Sith Lords... But I was experienced in Dark Magic and communicating with otherworldly beings.
The fleeting creature with the brightest scarlet eyes was powerful.
As powerful as Mephisto himself.
Apparently, a new player had entered the game. Whether they would be my ally, my rival, or my worst enemy was unclear.
But I will find out... I will definitely find out what kind of game and match has begun around me. However, later.
Right now, I must finish what I started.
Impressed by my power, the Sith Lords began their battle for the best apprentice in their history.
The battle did not take place in reality. It was where they spent most of their existence. Between life and death. Between the Galaxy and Nothingness.
A place where only the Ghosts of the Force can go. A borderland. The frontier of the living.
I did not see it, hear it, or feel it.
I only sensed it.
Somewhere out there, a great battle was raging, shaking the very foundations of that place. Everything the ancients had learned, all their techniques, were being used against each other so that one of them could accept my invitation and offer to train the one who had been sent here to restore the forgotten and distorted memory of the Sith.
Six minutes. That was how long the invisible battle lasted on the border between the real and the unreal.
And before me, a single Ghost began to take shape, the victor of this battle.
"My tomb has been destroyed..." he said in a hoarse voice from behind his steel helmet. "My legacy has been forgotten. My power has been lost for millennia..." he continued in a long-winded voice, absorbing more and more Life Energy from my hands. "But now, after an eternity of oblivion, you have appeared. The result of our agreement. In a time when the Dark Side has weakened to the point of indecency... In a time when the Light Side reigns supreme over the Galaxy... I sense that you reject the rule of the fool, Bane. He tried to take our power, but left with nothing...
"I gained only knowledge from the Beynites, and threw their ideology in the trash. It does not deserve to be followed by anyone truly powerful." — Crossing my arms over my chest, I replied with dignity, while at the same time examining the figure taking shape with hidden interest.
"That's right. And you are the first of their dynasty to understand this." "I don't have that newfangled title, Darth, introduced by Nagoya Sado and Andeddu, who wanted immortality because they couldn't fulfil their ambitions in one lifetime... But I have others." — flashing a considerable amount of Force, which made me take this intelligent being seriously. No less seriously than Morgana Le Fay.
"What are they? Name yourself, Sith. Name yourself before the greatest Doctor Doom, who became Darth Doom and accepted the legacy of your kind. The legacy of your Order. Name yourself before me!" — flashing with no less power, I demanded, staring intently and harshly into the scarlet visors of his helmet.
"So be it, Sith'ari from another universe. In the current situation, my titles are more relevant than ever..." — The dead man nodded slightly with a slight smile, folding his arms across his chest in a manner similar to mine. "I am the Lord of the Coming Darkness, the darkness that will descend upon the Galaxy with your arrival... Lord of Hatred, lord of the feeling I have towards the current situation. I am the Slayer of a Thousand Jedi and Lord of the True Sith Empire — Tulak Hord.
***
patreon.com/posts/dr-doom-in-star-132737081