Failure
Hathor was a jungle world, populated only by the overgrown ruins of a long dead civilization, and a single pacifistic Jedi Master. The planet reeked of life and growth, making Maul uncomfortable. He preferred desert worlds, dead worlds, industrial worlds dying in their own waste. Forests, jungles and swamps unnerved him. They held too much life... As he entered the ruined city he began to feel more at ease, the sight of lifeless, decaying buildings brought to mind that a race had once lived here, and that they had died. Plague? War? Mass slaughter? Or did they just simply die out? It didn't matter, the thought of death encouraged the young Sith as the temple came into view. The temple was once a grand building, no doubt, but now it was no more than a half-collapsed relic to a long-forgotten deity. Even their gods are dead. Maul observed wryly. Darth Maul grinned as he stepped into the ruined temple. Keth Sarga waited patiently in the center of the of the ancient holy place, looking gently at his assassin.
"So, you've come to kill me young one? I will not fight you." The voice was soft, kind and without any traces of fear. Keth was of a species unknown to Maul; tall, thin and humanoid, but with a nest of hypnotically moving appendages resembling spider's legs crowning his head instead of hair, horns or lekku. He was unarmed, and ironically, his eyes were as black as the Dark Side itself, no other color appeared in those curious orbs. He sensed a strong emotion radiating from the old Jedi, but it was not fear. Maul recognized it, and he resented it. Pity. He pities me! Maul snarled, lit his double-bladed lightsaber and spun it theatrically, leaping and whirling, proudly displaying his dark power before the Jedi. Finally he stopped, and held the blade centimeters from Keth's throat, grinning, displaying rotting yellow teeth. "Still pity me, old one?" His yellow eyes met those of his prey, hoping to see fear, awareness of imminent death...
And it was over.
It was just beginning.
The darkness of those eyes drew Maul in, he was no longer on Hathor, no longer a Sith Apprentice, but a child on his home world of Iridonia. He felt fear, pain, longing. He was a slave, and the man who wanted to buy him was bad, he could feel the cruelty radiating from him as strongly as he could feel the hot sun upon his red skin. The man smiled, showing perfect white teeth, "Yes, this one will be perfect."
That was when his life had ended. Years of torture and cruelty rolled by, his deepest memories pulled into the light...
Keth shuddered as he pressed his feelers against the young Sith's forehead, gaining a closer mental connection. He felt incredible pity for this child. But he felt something else as well, hatred. Hatred of this Darth Sidious, this monster who taken an innocent boy and turned him into a soulless killer. He calmed himself, hatred led to the Dark Side, and Keth pushed it away, but it still lingered as the watched the boy's suffering.
He was sixteen years old, and Sidious had trained him to use the pain long ago, to channel the hatred and rage into the power of the Dark Side. He hated his master, hated him will all of his corrupted heart, but he feared him even more. One day he would act on that hatred, one day he would be strong enough to destroy his master, as Sidious himself had destroyed his own to become a true Sith Lord. It had already been a day and a half since Sidious had begun marking him with the ancient runes of the Sith Order. He was taking his time, allowing the pain of the tattooing and the frustration and humiliation of being strung up naked and helpless like a gutted nerf to further fuel his rage. His mind wandered, he remembered his failure, years ago, when, as a child, he had shown kindness. Sidious had punished him severely, but it had felt so good, at the time, helping someone... He shook his head, clearing his mind, replacing such treacherous memories with darkness.
More memories, more pain... Keth was aware of the tears rolling down his cheeks, and the tears forming in Maul's own eyes. If only he could reach him! There had to be good within him. Even as he watched the Zabrak commit atrocities of his own, not his master's, he knew that he couldn't blame the boy. He'd never been given a chance to feel the Light. All he'd ever known was cruelty, hatred and darkness. He had to bring him into the Light... He had to save him.
Darth Maul felt a cold, dark joy in his heart as he struck down the second Jedi. The small party of Jedi had stumbled across him as he trained in the hot wastelands of Varl. It was the perfect place for the young Sith Apprentice to meditate and train, hot, harsh, empty and filled with a lingering darkness. They were archeologists, obviously, why else would anyone come to the abandoned, lifeless husk that was the birthplace of the Hutt race? Even the Hutts themselves had no interest in that shattered world, though they certainly would if something valuable was found there. They had probably even charged the Jedi a fee for the 'privilege' of landing there, Hutts could make a profit off anything. He could easily frame the Hutts for the killings, The greedy old slugs were devious and treacherous, they would make excellent Sith, if they weren't so fat and lazy. He laughed cruelly as the three surviving Jedi, who'd probably thought the Sith just a ghost story to frighten younglings, raised their lightsabers. He drew out the battle, feinting and parrying, playing with his prey, feeding off their fear and confusion until he grew bored and struck them down without mercy.
He had to act now, he felt the boy wavering, felt his confusion. The door was open, and he had to let the Light in.
This isn't you. A soft voice entered his thoughts, This isn't what you are meant to be. Open yourself, feel the Light. Your sufferings, they will always be with you, but it's not too late to save yourself... Darth Sidious is truly evil, he wants to drag you down into the eternal darkness of hate and rage. You will never know peace if you follow the Dark Side, you will never know freedom, in life or in death. Your joy, your pleasure, these are false, the deceptions of darkness. You have known true joy, true pleasure, before that evil man took you, and you can know it again. Open yourself to the Light, young Zabrak. Embrace the Light... Maul could feel a warmth, a pleasure unknown to him. He could feel ... The voice wavered, the Light was rapidly growing dim. A face appeared in his mind, blocking out the Light. It was the face of his master, hideously contorted in rage, it was his voice speaking now, You are my creation, my tool, my weapon of destruction! Your only future is darkness, and the power that comes with it! Focus your hatred! Focus your rage! Strike!
It vanished, all of it. He stood over the dying Jedi, noting the spasms racking those spider's legs. Darth Maul felt something wet sliding down his cheeks, and stood dumbly in shock at realization that they were tears. He had almost lost himself, he had almost forgotten his true purpose. Silver tears trickled from Keth's black eyes, his mental voice was still present, dying away with the Jedi himself. Keth was radiating grief and pity, not for himself, but for his assassin, I'm... sorry...young one...I failed... you... The dying Jedi vanished, becoming one with the Light. Darth Maul flew into an uncontrollable rage, slashing and kicking at the ancient stones and columns of the temple, venting his incredible anger on his surroundings. He had wept. Sith do not weep, Sith do not cry, do not feel regret. He felt humiliated before his master. Once he had finally calmed himself, Darth Maul turned and walked slowly toward his ship. He would be punished for showing such weakness, for lowering his guard and allowing this Jedi to subvert his mind, to lure him toward the Light. And he would deserve it.
As he flew away, he turned and bombed the empty temple, just for the dark joy of it.
The End.
Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, Varl, Iridonia, Zabrak, Hutts, the Sith, the Jedi, the Force, etc... are copyright Lucasfilm Ltd.
Poor Maul never had a chance, he was raised in cruelty, darkness and evil. He really had no choice in the matter, unlike Anakin. I actually do feel sorry for him.
First Toad, now Darth Maul, I seem to be on a Ray Park kick.
Keth Sarga is my invention, though I based the name 'Sarga' on Sargonnas, god of wrath (Ironic, for a pacifist) from the Dragonlance Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Sargonnas, Dragonlance, etc... is copyright TSR.
I based Keth's description and abilities on the Mindwalker Zoanoid I created for my story The 14th Zoalord. Mindwalker is one of the few things about that shameless Gary-Stu story I still like. I think I lost my mind around the whole 'Typhon' part of the storyline. I still think it was a great original Zoanoid design, and the ability to dig into other people's memories can be very useful. Zoanoids and Zoalords belong to Yoshiki Takaya and his great, but incredibly violent, Manga/Anime Guyver, The Bio-Boosted Armor or just Guyver.
Lekku are the tentacles that grow from the heads of Twi'leks, like Bib Fortuna, Nautolans, like Kit Fisto, and Togruta, like Shaak Ti.
Hathor is the ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth, motherhood, fertility, love, joy and many other things. She was usually depicted as a cow or cow-horned woman with the sun disk between her horns.