Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:57 pm by The Holy Man
*It had been a long time.
Silence surrounded what remained of the Xendorian Guard Citadel Courtyard. The wind danced across the open grass, sending leaves tumbling across the ground. Maximus stood in the open, dark hood over his head and robes bustling in the breeze. He reached up with bandaged and bloody hands, pulling the hood from his head to reveal the worn face of an aging man. His head was shaved, and his beard was highlighted in gray. His violet eyes were tired, and his face was bruised and worn.
Maximus exhaled slowly, his eyes searching the area before him. The Citadel was once one of the most beautiful structures in the galaxy, with its ornate black stone walls. Now, it was evident that the massive building had remained unused for years. Rubble littered the courtyard as Maximus walked through the tall grass, his open hands reaching out to brush against the stone monoliths. The stone was smooth and cold, with jagged edges that had been worn down after years of exposure to the elements. With a sigh, Maximus remembered the Citadel as it once was, and everything that had happened to him since.
It had been a very long time.
His life had taken many turns since those days. After the Warriors of the Iron Fist disbanded, it was Pyros who was one of the founding members of the Xendorian Guard. Multiple former members of the Iron Fists had followed him here, where they continued to learn and teach within these walls. The Guard has amassed quite a following before even it succumbed to the clashing of ideals.
It wasn't long before Iniquitous left the Guard, causing Maximus to follow his brother like he always had. For some time, they had fought with no purpose, with no ideals. It wasn't until they were battling together on Honoghr that Dark Tide was born. Iniquitous, Nexus, Vale, and Maximus banded together under a common banner, and a common goal to flood the universe with a relentless wave of darkness and chaos. Target after target, Dark Tide crashed upon its foes with no remorse, no holding back, and no mercy. After years of hard work, Dark Tide grew to be one of the most formidable Factions in the galaxy, and a name that most people trembled before.
But for as strong as Dark Tide was, it too fell victim to fate. First, it was Vale who grew restless and angry, and did more to try and destroy Dark Tide than he ever had to build it. He had tried to assassinate all six of the Lords of Dark Tide because of his arrogance and unwillingness to better himself. After that, Sinistra had been captured by the Mandalorians, spurring the rest of the Council into action to rescue her. Lianna was one of the bloodiest battles Dark Tide ever faced, but in the end, Sinistra had been retrieved and saved.
However, it wasn't without cost. In saving Sinistra, Maximus had volunteered himself to take her place, and ended up spending more time than he cared to remember locked away in the bowels of Lola Curich. The time he had spent there drove him to the brink of madness and beyond, into parts of his mind he didn't even know he still had locked away. But no matter what his captors did to him, he never broke. He never folded. His loyalty and his will remained as strong as ever, until he eventually managed to break out of the prison that held him, and finally return home.
When he returned, things were not as he expected. Dark Tide was but a shell of its former self, and it seemed like all of the Lords had broken up and gone their own way. The only Lord left on Manaan was Iniquitous, the man Maximus had followed through thick and thin, always wielding a blade to defend the man's back to the last. Their conversation was short, and ultimately, Iniquitous disappeared, leaving Dark Tide behind and under Maximus' control.
That was when Maximus had made the decision that ended Dark Tide permanently. He had called the few remaining remnants of Dark Tide to arms, but instead of telling them all he had returned, he had taken on the identity of Iniquitous. It was a curious decision, but it was not without reason. Maximus had thought long and hard on the decision, but ultimately, he knew that Iniquitous was a far stronger symbol for Dark Tide to follow than Maximus could ever be. So when Dark Tide gathered one last time to follow Iniquitous into battle, it was to strike at the highest profile target in the galaxy. With one swift stroke, Dark Tide crashed upon Coruscant, the heart of the Jedi Order, and the galaxy itself.
The attack caught the Jedi off-guard, and Dark Tide had even completed it's primary goal in the destruction of the Jedi Temple. Yet for the few things that went right, there were three times as many things that went wrong. His identity ruse had been uncovered due to his own mistake. The Jedi had somehow manage to summon reinforcements that drove Dark Tide back and defeated them. Most importantly, there were events that even Maximus hadn't planned for, and they shook the entire galaxy to the core.
Somehow, despite the obliteration that Dark Tide had succumbed to on Coruscant, Maximus had managed to escape with his life in tact. He had retreated, he had regrouped, and he had lost everything. And now, he had found himself standing in the Courtyard, reflecting on the events that had brought him here. Years and years of service and loyalty, and now he was nothing more than a man, alone with no path to follow. He wasn't exactly sure why he had returned here, but something brought him back. There was something that drew him here, to this very courtyard.
Maximus stopped walking, breathing the fresh air in through his nostrils. His hand traced over the tall grass around him before he exhaled through his mouth. He found himself by a larger piece of rubble, and climbed on top of it. Maximus lowered himself into a sitting position, crossing his knees in front of him. He closed his eyes, feeling the wind at his face, and the Force surrounding him. He controlled his body, calming his heart rate and clearing his mind before he submerged himself into a meditative trance. This is where he would find his answers. He would not leave until he found the answers he was looking for. He would not leave until the path he had to walk opened up before him.*