Unconventional

"Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power. Through Power, I gain Victory. Through Victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. This is our code. You are new to the force. You do not understand our ways. You will likely die here. This is my message to you, Jaiden Starsearcher, heed it well."

Lord Qordis was a gaunt man. He was tall and he might have once been human. His fingers were long, bladed digits. His face had sunken features only seen on carcasses. His eyes burned yellow.

Strangely, Jaiden did not fear this man as he did others, but he didn't think that was the point. Qordis had informed him of a probability but he had not threatened Jaiden.

"You come here, to the ancestral home of the Sith, to learn from the Sith masters. Here in the temple made thousands of years ago to focus the dark side. You radiate power, you vibrate with power, yet are you truly where you belong?"

Jaiden knew now that he could not lie to these men. It was a pipe-dream to believe this would be easy.

"No. But where I belong is a place of freedom. The dark side will bring me that freedom, the dark side will break my chains."

And Jaiden found that he wasn't lying when he said that, he just didn't include that fact that he also planned on using the light.

Qordis cut into his hand with his talon-like nails, letting blood pool in his palm.

He pushed his palm to Jaiden's forehead, a truly revolting sensation.

"Rise, acolyte of Korriban. We expect greatness."

"Yes, Lord Qordis."

Then, his first lesson began. Jaiden then realized he had an issue mustering up the rage needed for the dark side to work properly. He needed a focus, something that could bring him rage.

He reflected on his values. Strength, the force, the mind, the preservation of all things. His mind then drifted to the obvious suspect. The *orders*. The Jedi, who held thousands of years worth of knowledge and data for themselves. The Sith, who viciously destroyed themselves and their history through needless infighting. Bane, who's legacy led to the greatest destruction of knowledge in Galactic History. Palpatine, who brought life to its knees. Disney, who ripped his universe he held so dear asunder. Himself, for his own weakness to stop it.

'No. I can bring forth rage. Rage against stagnation. Rage against control. Rage against indoctrination. Rage against censorship. *Rage* against the Self destructive, hypocritical Jedi. *Fury* against the Sith who ruin everything. Yes, I can find Rage.'

Qordis had asked him to simply lift a box in the center of the room. With a control he had never before possessed, Jaiden liften the box into the air, then he crushed it, letting it fall.

Qordis *smiled* at him, the creepy bastard, and praised Jaiden.

"Good, good. You might just do well. Now leave, others must learn."

Jaiden left to find the archives then.

-----

The Sith library was not where it was by the time of Bane. He made it his personal undertaking to fix that issue. First, he checked history. A lot of it...was wrong. Most of what he saw was journals and personal accounts rather than actual historical texts, he would fix that first.

Moving on he found abilities, which was much more interesting to him. Most of them were fairly standard but a few texts stood out, like mental invasion and defense. There was also a text on making a mental pyramid, which was rather important for Jaiden in particular.

Otherwise the archives checked out, so like any good student, he read.

After a couple hours, it was time for Saber Lessons.

-----

Kas'im observed his 6 acolytes carefully. None of them particularly stood out besides Starsearcher. The youngest of the Acolytes wasn't especially skilled in combat but he was very attuned to the force while he fought, which made him very dangerous to teach. Kas'im had seen one person fight like this boy in his life and that man now leads their brotherhood. Every strike was imprecise and his stance was very wrong, yet he won spars because he could 'fight the future' with perception alone.

The other acolytes noticed it too, and began to compensate by using pure strength against the untrained boy.

Kas'im already knew this boy would never use a traditional lightsaber. The weapon was incredibly versatile and adaptable but also deceptively restrictive in a fight, Jaiden needed something that could incorporate more of his body without interrupting his flow. Really, he should probably use something like a chakram. A glaive-style saber would also work with enough time, he would definitely be an interesting student.

"Starsearcher. Come here."

The boy immediately complied.

"You are trying to use a style that will never work with a saber. You either disregard what I teach you or you are trying to combine them. You are nowhere near the point that you could effectively meld them, I have trouble doing so and this is my life. We will find something else for you."

The boy blinked, then nodded.

"What would you suggest?"

"Circles."