Lord of the Cenobites

Lupercus sat passively on board the Blood of Hapes, his chest moving slowly up and down, up and down, as he watched the city below. The planet was a primitive one, although not to the point where primative meant sticks and stones. In this case, primative meant not yet reaching for the stars, or unable to do so successfully. It was a thriving planet, billions of people, a single power dominating them all, but maintaining the pretense of democracy throw the use of a puppet world organisation. Lupercus saw and laughed.

These people are sheep nothing more, merely waiting for the hunter to descend upon them and cull their pitiful lives. Already the biggest sheep pushed them around, their petty minds believing that it knows what its doing, that it will protect them from others, and themselves. But perhaps, should they look up, they would see the sword of Democles hanging over their necks.

Suddenly, out of the recesses of Lupercus' madness, something asserted itself. It was a conciousness like no other, pure evil. Not just bad but sane, but a hell bent on torture and bringing about the Dark Realms to the Galaxy, turning every single planet, every single being, into a grim portrayl and picture of the true Darkness. This 'personality' instantly asserted itself in Lupercus' mind, showing him a clarity beyond which lay perfection.

Nodding to himself with a certainty he had not had since a child, Lupercus rose and left. He had work to do...

Hours later, surface of Olenji (Sol III).

"Yes, they had done their work nicely..."

Lupercus mused, looking around at the chamber in which he now sat. His disciples had come down with him and helped him set up what would be his testament to the Dark Force that was rising inside of him. All around him lay hooks on chains, blades and implements of the grossest torture imaginable. With a laugh of pleasure, Lupercus rose. It was growing dark outside, and the warehouse turned abattoir would serve his purposes dutifully. Picking up the phone, what was here, the most direct means of communication, Lupercus dialled in the number for pizza delivery. A woman answered, and after a few confusing moments, Lup managed to Order a pizza. The woman said she would deliver it in 30 minutes.

The ease at which the time passed was mind boggling. He was still sitting by the 'phone' when he heard a ring at the buildings enterance. Reaching out with the Force, he pulled the door open, and felt her walk in slowly.

"Hello? Anybody here? I've got one pepperoni pizza, and someone owes me some money!"

She was about to speak again when Lupercus slammed the door shut, and implanted in the womans mind the idea to run. Faltering, she did so, charging forward through the dark corridors. Lupercus rose, and stood behind the wall, waiting for her to run into his chamber. Moments later she did, Lupercus' reflexs grabbing her by the hair and stopping her dead, the pizza box flying from her hands and onto the floor a few metres away. She made no noise. She couldn't for she was parilysed with terror. Lupercus smiled, turning her head towards him, his free hand reaching up for her face.

"Scream for me..."

He trailed off, hoping she would concure. She did not.

"Scream for me."

He was more concise now, less insistant and more demanding. Still she did not scream. A fury welled up inside Lupercus, his eyes narrowing. His free hard reached out, this time towards the room of blades, two chained hooks snaking out and slashing down her belly in small but swift cuts. This time she did scream. Her head arched back and a powerfully loud wail, reaching a crescendo as Lupercus' hand moved, and two more hooks appeared, clasping the skin and tearing it, exposing her throat. Next door, which was a fair way away, Lupercus could hear movement. They had heard his call, and would be the means by which more would come. With an evil laugh, Lupercus let her fall, his hands rising above him and calling on the dark arts to heed his call. They did, as was proclaimed by the bloody and still alive body being dragged by the hooks into the middle of the chamber, still more arching out to ravage her body, as a Dark Mist descended. All the while, Lupercus watched, his mind shaping the process.

Yes, you will be my first. My perfect hellminions. This planet will be my testament to the Darkness which fuels me. It will be Hell!

As Lupercus watched, the body was transformed into a work of art. Her skin was turned inside out, its pasty white colour signifying not only death, but in his mind, purity. She continued to lay there, despite her now alive state as Lupercus stepped out of view. Sirens could be heard as the police forces hurried to respond to the intense screaming they had heard earlier. With a sigh, Lupercus summoned up the Dark Force again, his hands moving quickly across his face as what appeared to be a mirror was created across the door.

"Open up, this is the police!"

They continued calling and upon realising they were getting nowhere, kicked the door down, the wooden remains splintering and fracturing into nothing. Looking at each other, they split up and began searching the pitch black warehouse for the source of the screams. Suddenly, one of them slipped, his flashlight smashing on the ground. Startled and now blind, he picked himself up and stumbled off, feeling his way around. Suddenly he saw him at the end of the corridor. Walking up, he came up behind his twin brother.

"From now on we stick together."

His brother turned around startled and fell backwards. He was covered in blood! Suddenly, they were distracted as the saw the mirror, and looking through it was the woman who was reported missing. Both of them stood up, and approached her slowly, asking her if she was alright. They kept walking until the passed through the mirror, and the woman was instantly seen for what she was. A Cenobite. Lupercus laughed, noting they were twins and they wanted to stick together. His voice sounded as if from nowhere, the sound coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Stick together? My my my."

Suddenly the blades flashed out, slicing into the twins inner shoulder blade. The female cenobite looked on impassively as the two cops were dragged onto a rack, wires lashing out and holding them in place. The rack twisted and the two bodies were slowly meshed into each other, their heads and skin being melded into shape. And again the Dark Mist rose, the dark force melding into the bodies, animating them with hell energy to form not two, but one powerful Cenobite. All the while Lupercus and the female Cenobite watched.

The Twins, you shall do well, this i know. Only time will tell how well...

And in the begining, god created man.

And so now it was rightful that the man who was to replace god creates his own. And thus the Cenobites would overrun and replace man...

The thought had long dwelled inside pinhead, even before he arose to prominence in Lupercus' mind. Pinhead himself was the imaginative creation of Lupercus, the perfect method by which the true Darkness, not the petty level that had long been associated with bad things happening to good, or even bad, people, but a true Darkness, born of insanity and corruption and longing for not conquest but destruction.

And it was slowly being born. Lupercus' potential was immense. He could be the perfect model of Hapan Royalty as he had shown on Hapes and as he courted Jaina Solo. One the other end of the spectrum lay the evil yet calculating mass murder that had raped Gallinore. Again he could take a purely military mind as he had on Garos IV, with only a small exception. The facets of his personality, or rather personalities, were endless, and Lupercus or more importantly Pinhead, was slowly realising it...

Round the Hanging Tree,
swaying in the breeze,
In the summer sun,
as we two are one.

Round the Hanging Tree,
swaying in the breeze,
In the summer sun,
as we two are one.

Swaying...

Weeks passed, and the death tally mounted. Tens turned into hundreds, and hundres rapidly converged on thousands, and still they continued. The ranks of the Cenobites grew, the Dark Force telling Lupercus what to create, the minions becoming more and more ghastly as time wore on. But still the people in the city denied what they knew in the deepest recesses of their soul to be true. In their hearts, the appocalypse had come. As they continued to deny the truth, Lupercus' rage rose, and with that the constitution of Pinhead became more dominent, more powerful. Finally, he decided to act.

"My beauties, my creations! Now is our time!"

Before Lupercus lay the Cenobites who were of the truest of Form. They were the true creations of Pinhead, and in amongst them lay the centrepiece, Pinhead himself. He rose above the others, a full week being devoted to his creation. And during that creation, he was imbued with all that he needed. Pinhead was born.

"Now it is time to reveal ourselves, and bring about that for which you were created, Hell on Earth!"

His speech droned on for hours, his candour fueled by a rage and fury for which the likes of the galaxy had never seen. And at the end of it, he rose up, floating down towards the ground. With a devilish grin on his face and a demonic glint in his eyes, he led them out...

A bulky, yet engineerically beautiful, YT-1300 swooped out a hyperspace and slid gracefully into the docking bay of the Nemesis Class Star Destroyer Justice Lost.

Once all landing proceedures were finished, Jai Solo exited her Millennium Jade Falcon and was debriefed by a young ensign who was scurring about, trying to keep tabs on the bays' goings-ons.

She explained that she had been invited to Lupercus Darksword's stateroom for a private dinner and for the kid to buzz off and go annoy a real trouble-maker. With that, Jai strode off down the hall where she'd been directed.

After a good bit of walking, Jai came upon what she hoped to be Lupercus' stateroom. She walked in and froze in the doorway.

There was a beautifully decorated table, complete with crystal china and gold cutlery. There was also a huge bouquet of red and white roses, her favorite, and petals spread all around.

"..............Wow."

As she was still takeing it all in, her com went off:

"Jai! Jai! You come home. Home, now...please? I done...no no..did something bad. Little fire, got stopped...is ok...but fireman wants to talk to you." It was Zoe, her inherited/adopted daughter.

"What?!!? Oh, sweet Minions of Xendor." Jai scribbled a short note explaining why she had not stayed on a cloth napkin for Lupercus, and then she ran back to her ship. She didn't really want to go, she had been looking forward to seeing him agian, but this was an emergency.

With a heavy sigh and a longing thought to all the things they could have done, she took off quickly, headed for home.

And off they swarmed, the army of purity marching forth, the natives of Olenji fleeing before him in their thousands. There could be no way to stop him now. With a determined smirke he activated his uplink to the Justice Lost, full colour picture large and incharge from the planets surface.

Time passed, the graphic nature of the view tantalising the Nemesis Class Star Destroyers Crew. Lupercus himself was covered in blood from head to to, his breath heavy with exurtian as the army marched on, ever moving ever plundering.

And soon, Olenji was a dustbowl...

<font color=FF3333>From her place in the shadows next to the warehouse that had become his factory of death and pain, Tevarii watched with immense pleasure at tirade of hideous creations that exitted and ran into the streets of the unprepared city. How this world was going to burn, and how she loved fire.

She saw him exit, her Dark Pretender that had played god and created an army of death. Her mind reached out and touched his somewhat painfully, a reminder of who it was he was now dealing with.

Tell us, Pretender, have you missed us?</font>

The stab of pain sent a tantalizing shiver down Lupercus' spine. With the pain came a glimmer of recognition as Tevarii entered his mind.

Missed you? Perhaps your imagination, and indeed you in other ways...

But Pretender? I think not Sithling...

<font color=red>She laughed telepathically as well as vocally, coming out of the shadows as she continued to watch the procession of cenobites.

So we see. Truly you are a pretender no more, but still you lack something. Something that will not complete your reign of death until you posess it.

Tevarii locked eyes with Lupercus over the sea of mutilated bodies, an evil grin on her lips and in her dark eyes.

Me.

Lupercus smiled, though it was entirely devoid of warmth of any kind.

"Indeed. Well we shall se..."

Pinhead rose, furious. This distraction was too much. Hundreds might escape their slaughter if he continued this dalliance. It was time to leave. Suddenly Lupercus' smile turned into a sneer, then a snarl. With a blast of the Darkside he ran, his procession awaited.