Dagobah's Open Terrain

Darth Strife:

The man's eyelids fluttered as loud shouting woke him from exhausted slumber. Ugh, this was why he had never had children. Young ones were always being loud and obnoxious when they shouldn't be. He sat up in bed, stretching his neck from side to side as he did so. Time to get to work. He walked to the door of his cabin and palmed it open. Slowly he emerged, looking at Adonias pacing all the while. "Ah, we're awake! And how are we feeling today, little one?" The sith smiled widely as he went over to where he kept the rations. Withdrawing some ration packs, he walked closer to the cell before him. "Are you ready to be good today and listen?" He opened one of the ration packs and stood eating while looking at Adonias mockingly.

Darth Strife:

The sith studied Adonias as he replied, "I measure size in knowledge, not in age. You know little, therefore you are a little one. You are but a child in the ways of the force." Darth Strife finished eating and casually disposed of the trash, pocketing the other rations in his robe pocket. He stretched out to the force and relished in it's power. "Someday you will be grown, but it won't be for quite some time. You may ask your first question, my unruly apprentice."

Darth Strife:

The sith didn't bother to reply. For those who refused to soak up knowledge from words, there was always pain. With a flick of his his hands, he unleashed a wave of force lightning on his difficult padawan. The electricity passed between the tightly woven bars of the front wall of the cage, sending sparks flying. Pain had always seemed to motivate his last apprentice. He was sure that his new one would respond the same way. Life forms always did respond to pain. He held the force lightning wave on Adonias for a full minute before ending the attack.

"So again I ask, are you ready to listen? I could do this all day, and have before. I suggest you cooperate before I'm forced to cook you." His lips twitched at the idea.

Darth Strife:

The sith smiled gleefully. "That's the point. Use your hate. That is what will give you power. All the anger, fear, frustration, and hate that you feel can be used to strengthen yourself. Now stop being lazy and learn." Darth Strife began to pace back and forth before the cage, droning on and on about the history of the sith starting at the very beginning. Not all torture was physical. In his mind, he thought fondly of the future he had seen. Soon, his new apprentice would face Crystal. He would claim the victor as his partner and go on to carve truth into the universe.

Darth Strife:

"I think you are beginning to understand how things will go, aren't you?" The sith looked at the Mando who was silent before him. He fished into his pocket and pulled out a packet of rations. Then he threw the rations through a tiny slit in the door area designed for trays to slide through. The cell was larger than it had to be. It was roughly ten steps from one side to the other, there was a solid metal bunk securely fastened in one corner and of course the most basic spot for waste to be eliminated in. The front area of the cell was tightly woven bars that almost appeared vine like in nature. One could see through the tiny spaces between each bar but not even a finger was small enough to pass between them. The middle of the front wall of the cell was a solid door with a small opening towards the bottom for items to pass through. And of course, off to the side of the cell was the biometric scanner and control panel for the cell itself. It was solid. The sith knew even he would have had difficulty escaping from such a cell. He had complete confidence that the boy was trapped and at his mercy. "I will leave you to ponder on my words." He ignored any response the boy might give him and then made his way back to his cabin and closed the door behind himself. Sitting cross legged on his bunk, he communed with the force.

Darth Strife:

He sat, ensconced in shadows, screams from the past his only companion. At times, Darth Strife was tired. He wasn't physically tired, no, he was tired of trying to show others the truth. The exhaustion sat in his bones and threatened to cause him to lower himself to other's base actions. It prodded at him to give up, to stop teaching and just destroy those who wouldn't listen. At times, he was so very tempted to listen to those prompts. But he had a higher purpose. Teaching the idiots, though it rankled him that it was so hard for them to accept the truth; the force was stronger when a force user surrendered fully to their dark impulses. He had worked tirelessly in the dark for decades. Even when he was holed up in his bunker on Dathomir, he still called to the force sensitive through dreams, using the force to bend them to the dark side, the true side. And now, he would do the same. He sent out whispers of thought using the force to guide him. His captive companion needed to see why his impulses were true and should be trusted. It was nearly midnight now and he hoped the resulting dreams his force tendrils causes would help Adonias to truly understand. "Go, my servants, shed truth. Dig deep and reveal pain." He whispered the words quietly into the dim air of his cabin.

Darth Strife:

--Dream--

"We are together in the dream world, connected by the force. This world is made to show you the truth and will open your eyes." The scene darkened around the figures of Darth Strife and Adonias. Shadows seemed to press in from all sides. "Why do you resist the dark side? Why do you fight against what you know is right?" Darth Strife's voice was but a whisper in the still air of the dream. "Think back to the worst time in your life, examine it with mature clear eyes. What do you see, my apprentice?"

Darth Strife:

"You do not need to have a large collection of knowledge. You only need to reach out and touch the force. Surrender to your feelings and reach out. The force is there, and once you have established your connection with it you will never need worry about being weak again." Darth Strife smiled slightly as he witnessed Adonias' progression. The boy was so close to joining him. So very close. "I was once young and my master instructed me on the force daily. He told me to envision the force as a mighty river, when I had need of it I could either dip a toe in or else dive in completely but either way, I would need to enter the river. And so you must enter the river as well, envision it in your mind and move towards it. I promise, power will be waiting for you." Darth Strife let anger fill him up completely. He was not an unjust man and the tale of Adonias' childhood filled him with wrath. Cruelty with a purpose was acceptable. Cruelty for the sake of nothing was pathetic.

Darth Strife:

"Good, good. Now clear your mind of all but your anger. feel the force running through you and use it as you will." As Darth Strife walked his apprentice through how to utilize the force as a weapon, he smiled. Dream walking exhausted him but also rejuvenated his soul. "Now, what will you do with your new found powers, what weak individual deserves extinction?" Darth Strife tried to move a vision of Crystal into the boy's mind. Hoping that the Mando would turn his rage onto the clearly pictured vision sent his way. That was his goal, his two apprentices must fight. The strongest would emerge forged by fire and help him with his life's work.