The room is dimly lit. Ceremonial, yet the air carries an overwhelming
darkness within it.

The room is large, but shadows hid its walls from sight.

A lone figure stands before an alter at the head of the room, dressed in
full black robes, a deep hood upon the figure's head. He waits.

Minutes pass and the sealed double doors part and open, revealing a figure
in full black and a figure in full white, standing side by side.

Together, they pass through the threshold of the open doorway, moving
slowly, side by side, down the center of the dark room, toward the black
robed figure standing before the alter.

The two stop before the black robed figure and the pair of stone steps
leading up to the alter, and the figure black and the figure in white,
together, fall to their knees, heads bowed, eyes downcast.

The two figures wait silently, motionlessly for the black robed figure to
speak as they kneel side by side, the figure in white to his left, the
figure in black to his right.

The black robed figure steps forward, down toward the two kneeling before
him, and standing before them, he raises his arms and holds his hands out
above the heads of the two before him.

He begins to whisper, an ancient promise - a promise to be made between
male and female that can never be broken once made.

Silence. Then the robed figure turns his hooded head to the figure in pure
white, a veil of sheer white upon her head.

"The union between male and female is forever and cannot be broken and to
break it would mean death if her mate so chooses. The union between a Sith
Lord and his Lady is honored by his master or apprentice if he be the
master." The black robed figure pauses; his eyes still upon the woman in
white.

"Lady, do you accept and pledge to honor and obey your Lord and mate until
death between one of you?"

"I do, my Lord." The woman answers softly, though her voice tinged with
fear of the man whose hand hovers above her head.

"Her word and promise has been given and it stands forever." The black
robed figure then turns to the figure in black before him.

"Lord of Sith, do you accept and pledge to honor and protect your Lady and
mate until death between one of you?"

"I do, my Master." The man in black answers his voice like dark liquid
velvet and filled with utter loyalty to his master standing before him.

"His word and promise has been given and it stands forever." The black
robed figure finishes then raises both hands from above the heads of his
subordinate and his mate and slips a ceremonial dagger from within the
sleeve of his right arm.

"And to seal the past between these two, before the eyes of all Sith Lords
Past, Present and Future," The black robed man grasps hold of the left hand
of the woman before him. He runs the razor sharp edge of the knife across
the palm of her hand. "Her life's blood," then he grasps hold of the right
hand of the black dressed figure before him and too, cuts his palm. "And
his, together, with the power of the Darkside, they become one."

Then, holding the man and woman's hands in his, the black robed figure
brings their hands together, palm to palm, their blood instantly mixing and
entering one another's wounds, alone with the power of the Darkside, and a
golden cord is wrapped about their hands and wrists to signify their union.

"Rise Lord and Lady of the Sith, announce your union to your gods and to
the ancient Order of the Sith."

The two now wed, rise to their feet as one and as they hold their hands
together, fingers intertwined, blood slowly dripping from between their
hands. The man dressed in black raises their hands above their heads and
suddenly he cries outloud, speaking in the language of his kind and then
that of his Order, his voice echoing off the walls about them, in the
darkness.

Silence then fills the room and slowly the man in black lowers their hands
before them, and finally turning to look upon his mate, he slips the black
hood from his head. And he looks upon the woman at his side, pride in his
brilliant glowing golden yellow and blood red eyes.

End