Star Wars: Rise of the Sith
Chapter 1
Sombra's Void

"Awaken. Sith'ari...You are no use to the Sith if you are dead." Vesper stirred. The cold and harsh winter winds whipped incessantly past her ears. Threatening to deafen the young Sith Lord with little of any other sense. Remembering that she is in the cold Frozen North. She clenched her teeth in her mouth and bit back, a thin layer of snow had packed on her back. Shoving away the frostbite, Vesper stood up.

The Lord of the Sith stretched, her muscles tight and her bones creaky. She had been lying in the ground for a while. A few of her bones cracked releasing some of the tension within the appendages. She blinked and standing a few feet away was the owner of the voice, Vesper sneered and reached for her lightsaber out of reflex.

He wore a long black cloak and think ebony plate mail over his chest, hooves and shoulders. Spikes occasionally donning on his armour. A double hilted lightsaber sheathed at his side. Vesper however did not sense a living being, the Force that he used was not of the physical realm. Her magic as well told her about this. The name of this shadow came more easily than the wind, Sombra. Sombra sneered as he noticed this and commented, his voice thin and raspy, "Smart girl."

Vesper rose in anger and defiantly stood towards him, "Wouldn't have killed you if I wasn't."

"If memory serves correctly, it was your dragonling slave that delivered the killing blow. You were but a speck. A few more moments and I would have had the Crystal Heart in my hooves." Sombra growled like a wolf, his demeanor was not threatening, thereby deducing that he was not there to incite a fight between them. Which was strange for a few reasons.

One, he brutally hated Vesper and her friends. To the point to where he likely would come back from the dead for this. Two, he was taught in a different way of wielding the Force. He was completely immersed in the teachings of the Dark Side. Which is likely how he is able to manifest himself now.

Vesper took in a deep breath, more out of annoyance than any real exhaustion, "Leave my servant out of this, if you have something to tell me then speak quickly. I do not take kindly to spirits that have lost their way to the Ethereal Realm."

"My my, how you have changed. I expected niceties and preaching of friendship, this...this is strange...even if you are Sith'ari."

Vesper grew tired of his arrogant tone, she grumbled as she pushed past him. Though she did find it refreshing that he could actually communicate rather than just grunts and moans. Perhaps the side effects of returning to life in a broken body. Whatever the case, Twilight did not care and decided to humor the ghost, "I am a changed mare."

Sombra hovered close, his voice was similar to a lion's growl, "Had Darth Venator left that much dark side energy that he clouded even your judgment?"

"Silence-"

"I mean, this is you we're talking about. I expected more from you, despite my hatred of you."

"I said silence!" Vesper barked, her hoof flicking her lightsaber out of its hilt. The plasma blade ignited in a light amethyst, her face permeating with hatred. She had dealt with more than enough ghosts to last five lifetimes, she was not going to be insulted by another.

Sombra huffed and floated on top of the blade, causing no such damage, proving that the was incorporeal. Vesper knew this, but she thought of no way to express her anger without harming the spirit. Though she had no idea why she cared to do him this kindness.

His mocking voice tore the final straw however, "Heh, you are hardly in a position to make any kind of threat."

"Oh am I?" Vesper turned, fully facing the dead Sith Lord. Vesper willed a combined spell and manifestation of the Force, the energies mixing and causing a discharge within the spirit, crippling it. Sombra coughed as if he once again depended on air, he keeled over and began violently coughing. Ethereal energy escaping him and absorbing into Vesper. Magically forming chains over the spirit.

But she shook away the sympathy and barked, "I willingly took this mantle of Sith'ari and this is how I am repaid? No, you will speak your peace and then leave me. I have no desire to be influenced by a worm such as you."

She willed the subdued Sith Lord towards her and got a better look at the spirit. Underneath his hood, his face was sunken and slightly less ebony in colour, taking on a whiter shade of black. His eyes were more tired and sunken, the faint green mist that weaved out of the corners of his eyes were slower and less as intense as usual. His look could inspire fear into her once. Now she could do nothing but sympathize for the lowly unicorn necromancer.

Sombra choked, Vesper beginning to draw on more Ethereal energies, causing Sombra to lose a little bit more colour, "Where is the second Kaiburr Crystal?"

Sombra choked, "I...I don't know."

Vesper curled her lip in anger and slammed the spirit against the ground, damaging even the incorporeal form. She did not even expend a lot of her energy to do this. She felt pity for him and grimly whispered, "You were once a powerful wielder of dark magic, now look at you. A pathetic husk of something much greater. How such a weak pathetic fool like you ever found your way to the seat of a Dark Lord of the Sith is beyond me. Now I suggest that you don't lie to me or else I will make you sorely regret you ever considered becoming a Sith Lord. You will not even be able to begin to describe the pain that you will feel."

Sombra flinched as she raised her other hoof and whimpered, "Stop! No, I swear I have no idea where it is...but I know who does."

Vesper released her grip on the spirit and listened, "Speak. Now."

Sombra gathered his wits, the thin layer of snowflakes gently falling from the sky. He answered, "There is a crystal sage within the Crystal Empire. She knows where it is, find her and you'll find the second Kaiburr Crystal."

Vesper stepped closer and whispered, "Is there another reason why you are here? Other than to annoy me?"

Sombra loosely sat up and bowed, "To pledge my undying loyalty to you-AAAGGGHHH!!!"

Vesper flicked her wrist, stretching out her hoof and tongues of electricity leeched onto the spectre and begin to destroy his spirit. Vesper insulted, "You're as loyal as a gold digging whore. You live to fight for the winning side. I can see it in your cold dead eyes. Once you see use in me used up then you will try to toss me aside. It is the nature of the old Sith Lords. No, I can accomplish this on my own. At least with those numbers, I can trust."

Vesper halted her force lightning only to finish her thought and with a cruel smile she said, "Enjoy eternity in oblivion."

Pushing her hoof out against a deafening crack of lightning burst the spirit into nothingness, a silent scream echoing across the tundra plain of snow and ice. Only to fall silent afterwards, with no sound other than the howling wind.

This combined power of magic and Force was still something to get used to. She had only recently cast the spell to combine the two mystical forces. They had mixed, but wisps of the opposing energies still remained separate. Feeling as though he soul inside of her was split between two choices and was indifferent to choose either. She wanted both, she needed both, yet her body was rejecting her plights to still combine the two forces. This makes anything she cast unstable, what she could perform was powerful but not as powerful as it could be. With a simple miscalculation could mean the end of her short reign as Dark Lord of the Sith.

She looked left and looked right, nothing in sight to guide her to. No beacon to guide her to the salvation of the roaring icy winds of the Frozen North. Her armour clanked as she randomly chose a direction and promptly stepped her way forward. Her mission was simple, to find the next Kaiburr Crystal. Not only would this incite greater protection upon Equestria but it will mean a more even and level headed casting of her spells and force capabilities.

As she walked she could feel the residual dark energy of Sombra. Unwelcoming and hissing at the back of her mind, these left over energies of the necromancer unicorn spoke a lot about his impact upon the Frozen North. The magic that ran through the roots of the frozen land was great and potent, but it was inherently dark. Yet in the immersion of darkness she could feel the warmness of light within the void that Sombra had left behind. Showing that the dark lord held a small amount of ambivalence, at least to a degree. HIs socialist reign of the Crystal Empire was to expand, to make it as great as Equestria in half the time it took Celestia and Luna to build. Where it had taken them centuries to shape the perfect country, Sombra would do in a matter of months.

A sound plan, but he had gone around to doing it the wrong way. Vesper pocketed the history lesson back into her psyche, focusing on the path ahead.

Her journey ahead was long and arduous, but she was determined. Determined to both save it from these invaders that were on their way, and to protect it from itself. She had much work to do.