The dead padawan's ship burned for three days before the wind buried it.
Kael made no effort to conceal the destruction. Let them see. Let them wonder.
The red light of his corrupted saber cut against the rising sun each morning as he walked the wall under construction. Each time the villagers saw it, they bowed—not from custom, but fear.
Fear was loyalty in its purest form.
The Kingdom Menu now bore a new notification.
[Faction Alert: Jedi Council – Padawan missing, signal traced to Outer Rim sector N-43.]
[Investigation Team ETA: 7–10 standard days.]
Kael's lips curled slightly. So the Council had noticed.
Good.
He welcomed their scouts.
They would serve as more stepping stones.
The Forge of Flesh
He gathered his six warriors that evening. They stood atop the command ridge, dust blowing around them, faces marked with crude tattoos that Kael himself had burned into their skin—symbols of obedience, protection, and death.
They had followed him into battle.
Now he would elevate them.
"I offer you a gift," Kael said, voice cutting through the wind. "Power. More than weapons. More than strength."
He held out a bowl—filled with coarse desert water infused with crushed scorpion glands, raw minerals, and his blood.
"This is not poison," he said. "This is the beginning of evolution."
One by one, they drank.
And one by one, they collapsed—twitching, sweating, screaming in their minds as Kael used Force Meditation to press their pain into something constructive.
He didn't give them the Force. But he opened the door.
Those with potential began to see echoes—hear whispers.
Only three survived the first trial.
[You have initiated Force Awakening: Proto-Disciples x3]
[Kingdom Feature Unlocked: Force Corps (Tier 0)]
Force-Awakened Subjects can now train under your direct supervision. Progress scales with your Midichlorian stat and current skills.
He named them the First Shadowguard.
He would train them personally—turn them into ghosts, assassins, warpriests. Warriors not bound by the light or the dark, but by his will.
Kael now spent his nights in the temple-ruin outside the village, meditating while the Shadowguard sparred around him.
He taught them silence first.
Then pain.
Then death.
On the sixth day, the Jedi arrived.
Their ship didn't land in the village. It descended far on the opposite side of the canyon, likely wary of ambush. Two figures emerged from the sand—brown robes, hoods drawn, sabers sheathed.
Kael watched from a nearby cliff with his veil active. Veil of the Void (MAX) rendered his Force presence completely invisible. To them, he was just another grain of sand.
He listened from afar as the older Jedi spoke with the villagers. Asking questions. Showing a hologram of the missing padawan. A few eyes widened—but none spoke of Kael.
Fear sealed their lips.
The Jedi left after dusk. Their ship waited. They hadn't discovered the truth—only tension. Suspicion.
But suspicion wasn't enough.
Not yet.
[Achievement Unlocked: Outwitted the Jedi – Passive Bonus Gained: +2% XP Gain vs Force Users]
+50 XP
Kael returned to his command ridge. The red saber hissed to life.
The Shadowguard knelt before him. Their eyes were harder now. One was missing three fingers. Another bore a cauterized wound across his ribs from live-blade training.
But they had survived. They had adapted.
"Are you ready?" Kael asked.
Dareth—now wearing a carapace forged from slaver scrap and Jedi plating—nodded.
"To kill."
That night, Kael opened the Kingdom Menu again.
[Kingdom Menu – Updated]
Name: [Still Unnamed]
Territory Controlled: 2 (Desert Basin, Temple Ruin)
Population: 189
Loyal Subjects: 12 (3 Force-Aware, 6 Militia, 3 Logistics)
Influence Radius: Regional
Resources:
Food: Low
Water: Moderate
Metal: Moderate (New mine discovered)
Structures:
Wall (30% Complete)
Training Grounds (Force Corps – Tier 0)
Relay Spire (Encrypted)
Leadership Roles Assigned:
Commander of the Guard: Dareth
Quartermaster: Keesh (Logistics Overseer)
[Renown: 210]
[Rank: Regional Outlier – Unregistered Faction]
Kael entered the Stat Menu.
STATUS MENU
Level: 11
Stat Points Available: 5
Skill Points Available: 1
Attributes:
Strength: 15
Agility: 18
Midichlorian: 8,035 (+7 from allocation)
Skills:
Force Manipulation Lv.4
Combat Instinct Lv.4
Tactical Command Lv.2
Lightsaber Combat Lv.1
Force Sense Lv.2
Bone Craft Lv.1
Weapon Proficiency – Blaster Lv.1
Passive:Veil of the Void (MAX)
He allocated all five points into Midichlorian.
Now at 8,045.
His reach was growing. His awareness extending further.
And deep in the canyon, far beyond the boundaries of his sight, he felt something... watching.
Not Jedi. Not Sith.
Something older.
But that was for later.
For now, he had a wall to finish.
And an army to raise.