On the bridge of the Star Dreadnaught, Darth Maul stood mottionless, lean arms folded over his chest, his eyes capturing the darkness of space. Bright red contrasted with the dark expanse, but Maul could feel a semblance of similarity.
He was like the dark space in front of him, and so too was his power. When the protocol droid and torture droid left the room he moved into a separate space on the bridge where he could be neither seen nor heard by anyone else.
He triggered the holographic communication.
It took a few moments for the hologram to appear. A dark-robed shaped like a humanoid appeared, cloaked and hooded so nothing could be seen.
"Maul, you have contacted me early."
Maul nodded, overlooking the fleet large enough to take eighty sectors and than some, all preparing for the jump to hyperspace.
"I got to the jump point ahead of schedule. My legion is assembling with great haste. May I ask who my targets are?"
"You are familiar with what your youngest brother is doing right now?" Darth Sidious asked.
There was a measure of joyous malice he felt about the Ewoks suffering as they spoke at this very moment, he hoped Feral took his lesson to heart and truly learned his lessons in the dark side, and its very nature that fueled power.
Maul nodded, recalling the savagery.
"He sent me a holo-recording. He is waiting for Poggle the Lesser and Wat Tombar to notify him that they are ready for the shipments of Ewoks for experimentation. He has transports, frigates, and even dreadnaughts ready and loaded. Families are separated and being shipped off world or put into separate containment centers. We already have clients who wish to use the Ewoks for their meat and fur. We have some that want them as pets and slaves. There were one hundred and fifty billion in total, according to several droids. Only a few hundred thousand died in combat."
He stared at Sidious, keeping his focus beyond his master, as opposed to looking at him directly. He didn't wish for his master to sense his surprise at how tenacious the Ewoks had been at first, even if they were all suffering fates worse than death now.
"According to one of his droids, they could wipe out one hundred percent of the population, and there would still be a little over one billion Ewoks left. They wiped out everything else on the world. Dulocks, Gorphs, Yuzzum, and the Skandits. The Ewoks only survived because of their sheer numbers."
Sidious shifted.
"Good. Very good. I see Feral has spared you no detail. They will be shipped off world as food and only food. I need certain clients before Ewoks are sent off as slaves or pets. Certain things must be put into play to ensure nobody interferes. The Senate must push for slavery and changes in sentience, in order to help the economy and boost it. You will do the very same thing."
Maul looked a little confused, but he remained quiet, certain that Sidious would fill in the blanks.
"These next tasks I am giving all of you are a test. This is meant to sharpen your fangs. For the dark side to fuel you, for you to become an instrument in which it operates. You are the weapon. Feed on your foes, they are nothing but prey. Your nourishment. They exist to be destroyed, devoured by you. This is to prepare for what must be done when we eradicate the Jedi and to ensure there is no rebellion in the future. The Empire will stand for ten thousand generations uncontested."
The dark figure in the hologram turned slightly.
"What contemptible creatures will be my prey?"
The hood shifted.
"You are quite eager, Maul. Calm yourself, for the carnage will come soon. This is a critical test, for not even you have wiped out billions. The ancient sith would absorb suns, stars, and moons. They would suck the life out of planets and all of the inhabitants. They would slaughter billions for sport. It is time for that dark power to be tapped into! It is time the galaxy has felt the cries of the tortured and beaten as they suffer! You can either rule through hope or fear, and it has been too long since fear ran rampant in the galaxy!"
Maul bowed on one knee, lowering his head. "Yes, my lord. Forgive me for my impertinence."
Darth Sidious's voice turned slow and hostile.
"The Ewoks are contemptible and serve the purpose of unraveling what remains of the Republic if it comes to it. The Fourth Amendment has been passed, which ensures that the Ewoks will never get any help from the Jedi or GAR. One of them could even plead their case in the Senate, but no one would hear it. They never had a representative. It would get laughed out of there. The Ewoks have never been considered sentient, and that will not change."
Maul found himself shaking at the prospect of wreaking havoc on Endor, and he clasped his hands together to still himself.
Darth Sidious hissed at the murderous impulse.
"Bothan Space and every world in it are your targets...You will wipe out every last living sentient creature in that sector. Grievous is going to handle the Mon Calamari, he desires it to be so, perhaps he will make up for his failure. I see them all to be a problem in the far future, especially the Mon Calamari."
Maul glanced around quickly, doing his best not to hiss in ferocity. "The Ewoks, Bothans, and Mon Calamari are problems?"
"They are just the first three of many species, including humans that become a problem to my plans decades from now. However, I intend to exterminate these contemptible creatures before they grow into the severe problem that they will become. Ventress and Savage Opress will obliterate Hutt Space while exterminating all of those slime."
Maul took a quick breath. "And, the Jedi?"
Sidious shifted, growing darker within his robes. "You will find that between their arrogance, the inability of the Council to make a decision, and the inability of the Senate to even care enough to make a decision...The Jedi won't be much of a threat. If any are sent, kill them."
"Yes, my Master." Maul answered. "I will ensure the Bothan all suffer and perish."
"Good. Very good. The more they suffer, the more I am pleased Maul. The more they suffer, the stronger you become. The Senate is bogged down in procedures with these so called peace talks and repairing the damage done by the riots. By the time these incidents come up, everyone will have no choice but to accept that what's done is done. It will be out of the political and judicial body at that point, even if they want to kick and scream."
Maul glanced quickly at his master. "What if any of our targets call for help? The Ewoks are not represented or considered sentient, but the Mon Calamari have a seat in the Senate."
"I have already arranged things since Feral's attack on Endor and his barbaric and brutal subjugation of the Ewoks; what they say will mean little. You will find doing the same thing to the Bothan on all of those worlds, and turning them into a food source will be simple. The Jedi will only begin their hunt once we bring it to the Senate's and their attention through Holonet footage. That is when we bait them into striking Mygeeto."
"And, not Endor or the worlds we are targeting?" Maul asked, just for clarification.
The hologram shimmered.
"We will bait them to Mygeeto. I expect Master Windu or Master Yoda to accompany the Strike Team. Endor, Bothan Space, Hutt Space, and Mon Calamari will not even be a focus."
"I understand, Master."
"I expect you to do well, Maul. We've sent the quarries back, now we lead the Jedi where we want them to go."
"I will not fail." Maul said, tone hard.
Sidious looked him over, shifting within his robes. "I don't mean just Bothan, I mean the whole world. All of the species on that world. On all of those worlds. Every last clan down to the young. They are your prey, they exist as nourishment for you, they are weak, they are light, and you are darkness."
Maul's eyes burned red.
"When it comes time to launch our attack on Kashyyk and Mandalore...When it is time wipe out the Wookiees, wipe out the Mandalorians, and wipe out the Jedi Order...This test will be a reflection in your deep meditations. Mygeeto will make things clear to just how secure our future is."
Maul remained silent, getting the feeling Sidious was going to continue.
"Take what I have said to heart. Use and depend on the Bothans' agony, just as your brother uses and depends on the Ewoks suffering like oxygen. It has become his power."
Maul pondered something. "Is it wise to commence these attacks?"
"The Jedi and Republic both want to play the high ground on ethics and morals, let us see how haughty and sanctimonious they can really be. The fact of the matter is natural order has already been cemented, this is just a show that has to reach its end."
It is then Maul understood, and he understood that he needed to meditate on all of his teachings and battles before he commenced his own attack.
Trillions were about to be slaughtered, and if that dark power took control of him, Maul knew he would be nothing more than a conduit for carnage.
He also understood the lives he would take, and that his allies would take were all inconsequential.
Feral examined his light-saber. The handle was robust and powerful finished with a rough gripping. The handle was curved, just a little, allowing subtle wrist rotation, flourishing, and using his center mass to brutally hack through his foes.
He always kept a deathly grip. His attack style was one based on momentum, speed, angles, and sheer brutality, to hold it in the fingers would reduce more than half of his power. He bashed and smashed his opponents until they couldn't move, there was nothing elegant about his method.
The handle was pure gold, mixed with Phrik, and inlaid with a rigid hand-grip. He utilized a high-output diatium power cell. He used a combination of lethal crystals. A lava crystal, a Firkrann crystal, a Katak crystal, a Nextor crystal, and a Phond crystal all imparted gruesome attributes to his blade.
This combination gave him a blade that burned so fiercely it would spew out lava and streams of fire, the addition of Phond and would make the blade crackle when it made contact with something.
But what set his light-saber apart from others was the fact he had small pieces of Barab Ingots throughout the combination, ensuring that the blade would burn hotter to the point of losing cohesion, and a rare Sapith crystal.
Perhaps, his blade was the hottest in the entire galaxy. In his hand, and with the force, the blade moved swifter than wind and more fluid than a rolling stream. However, his light-saber wasn't quite complete.
After brutal torture many Ewoks confessed they had a gold and purple egg shaped artifact called the Sunstar. Its counterpart was the Shadowstone, a pure purple artifact. Both wielded great power according to the Ewoks, and they had it hidden on their world.
He would have that power for himself, and he made it clear.
He had ordered Ewok warriors, shamans, elders, and scouts to bring both to him. Battle droids, Super Battle Droids, Spider Droids, and Droideka escorted them as they vanished into the ruins, keeping a constant watch on the furry prisoners and the surroundings.
They claimed to know where it was, but minutes began to turn into hours and they had yet to return with the prize. Feral began to get impatient when he felt the atmosphere cool, signaling that night would soon be upon them.
A Tactical Droid remained at his side as Ewok after Ewok continued to approach him. They offered him food or toiled to build his throne and palace just a few feet away. They carved, chopped, shaped, and hauled what had once been their homes in a herculean effort to finish his abode.
Most who worked on the two projects died from exhaustion, or being crushed by the materials themselves as they struggled to build it at the speed Feral desired. Regardless of what they did, they kept their eyes pinned on the ground or just in front of them. If a few Ewok were crushed, more ran up to take their place and got to work.
IT-0 torture droids, IT-09 torture droids, and the tall T0-D torture droids remained by Feral's side and spread through the entire containment centers. It was more than enough to keep all of the surrounding Ewoks from trying to be rebellious.
They were afraid of the droids that could talk, but the IT-0 models petrified the Ewoks to the point they ran and screeched at him to stop the droid.
There must have been something terrifying about begging and pleading for mercy, but getting no answer in return, and then realizing the droid didn't even care. The droid just wanted to hurt, maim, and ultimately kill what was before it.
For the Ewoks that got to see it up close and in person, it gave them nightmares, and they fell in line fast with being silent.
Millions of rows of Ewoks were hauled into transports, frigates, and Dreadnaughts. If there was any resistance they were shot in non vital points. The more furious they got from being shot the more they were peppered until their fur and flesh melted.
The families were sent to transports on different sides of the planet as a means of total separation.
As was the procedure since they would be used for food and for their fur, they were branded with white hot iron, shaped into numbers and symbols for branding. The heat was so intense it disintegrated their fur, and boiled their skin until it popped. The Ewoks' backs and chests, popped with blood, designated as livestock they were hauled them off according to the branding burned onto them.
More were burned square on the face, melting their noses and cheeks together while scorching them all the way to the bone.
The next mandatory step was the process of removing their wrists, hands, fingers, toes, arms, and legs. It could be a clean sweep taking all of the limbs altogether, or just a few. Ewoks had good strength, so removing the hands was mandatory per order of extermination.
Most of them had both arms removed at the shoulder and all six of their fingers removed. It left them with two legs, each with one toe. They would only be able to run and screech at the beings who bought them to use as food, but since it was in the Outer Rim they would just be chopped to pieces or cooked alive by the hundreds.
Their fur could be used for a lot. There was no mercy and there would never be any mercy in the Outer Rim, and everyone had a taste for Ewok meat thanks to the popular jerky. Everyone would use what they could to survive.
Ewoks that only had legs lined up along the walls and just stood around before they were tortured with saws and needles.
Feral was really waiting to see the two artifacts presented to him more than seeing the Ewoks being shoved into containers to be used as food and branded. The mission was going along perfectly, but he was waiting for something greater than Sidious's praise.
The food being offered and the rodents that offered it weren't even an afterthought, they didn't even exist in his eyes.
He wanted that great power to himself, for himself, and to take away what the Ewoks held so dear. They were the only two things that made them hope, and he was going to yank it away. He was starting to get angry.
The Ewoks bringing it could very well use them as a lure against him, and he wouldn't have that.
The day the rodents outsmarted him was the day he ate his own blade.
"Ask one of these little filthy rats where the Sunstar and Shadowstone are. I am not going to wait any longer. Do I have to start chopping more Woklings into little pieces? They had better not be stalling or wasting time trying to put a fight or leading my army around in circles."
The Tactical Droid looked at the Ewoks gathered.
"Ne gata Sunstar? Ne gata Shadowstone? Den mo fudana! Enenah coro aargutcha Sunstar and Shadowstone? Chaaa es'eesht seefo mo na-chin, mookiee roda?! Tana rueenee! Chaaa es'eesht tana! Weechu chaa che womok! Mookiee bok-chuu ock eedada huutaveet! "
"Gyeesh grenchicit! Den mookiee bok-chuu ock! Grenchicit hoji hoji!" One of the Ewoks looked at him, tears soaked its eyes.
The Tactical Droid struck the creature.
The Ewok tried to stand, but the droid struck it down again, shoving it down into the mud each time it moved or even looked up.
"Es'eesht etke! Eshtee Sunstar and Shadowstone moktok! Meechoo es'eesht n'dla na-chin neetuhl! Eshtee Sunstar and Shadowstone noot!"
"Seeg reshee! Stusl stoa ta thleek thek! Gyeesh fudana! Den es'eesht etke mookiee! Gyeesh fudana!"
The Tactical Droid smacked the Ewok with thrice the force it had before, getting a loud duration of pops as its head twisted all the way around to face the Ewoks behind it, instantly frightening the others gathered as a bone snapped free from its body.
It crumpled to the ground, a gasp escaped its mangled throat. Some moved to see if their fellow was okay, but stopped when they remembered they'd suffer the same fate or worse.
"That little tree rat is saying to wait longer and not to kill more of their young. They have a place, like a secret station or cave where they keep it hidden. They have to throw it from a high point."
Feral sliced off a nearby Ewok's arms off at the shoulders, setting fire to them as they hit the ground with a light thud. The Ewok itself sparked into flames, flickering from crimson to orange as it ran around, finally igniting fully just a few feet away.
Soon enough its flesh cooked.
He called more towards him, gaping their mouths open with the force until sickening cracks ripped through the air as their tiny jaw and face bones shattered. The last thing they seen was lava chewing through theirs heads and bursting from back of their skulls, burning away their life.
As the Ewoks looked up into his eyes, they knew they would be the victims of Feral's cold blooded slaughter, and they would were not the first, and would not be the last.
Feral twirled his blade, slicing through throats in crossing patterns like a scissors chopping. The severed Ewok heads floated, sighs either escaping their severed trachea or their mouths. They stared at Feral, faces twisted in perpetual agony, still fully conscious.
The severed heads' stares were fixed on something beyond living sight. The desperate pleas frozen in place on their lips. The headless torsos collapsed and crumpled with a slowly fading sigh from the cauterized gapes of their throats.
Feral arranged the heads in a neat pile, hoping that got his opinion across on the speaking in circles. He hoped that got his point across that he was never merciful or kind in the first place, and had no patience at all.
"I want the Sunstar and Shadowstone right now! Your scouts and warriors are playing around! They are stalling! I've had enough of this stalling!"
"Chaaa nim-nee Sunstar and Shadowstone noot! Noot! Shetai shodeesh treekveek! Shetai shodeeshden theesdarat treekthin!"
"Den teera theesdarat treekthin!"
"Gyeesh arandee! Gyeesh fudana! Shetai stusl sut!"
The Tactical Droid looked at Feral.
Feral fed the pair of Ewoks answering his blade, burning jagged holes in the back of their skulls, making them convulse several times before they finally went still.
He would get the Sunstar and Shadowstone, even if he had to kill all of the Ewoks. That was the plan in the long run anyways, but anything that gave him an edge in raw power, he would take it.
"What did they say?"
"They insist you wait. The ones who are getting what you desire are only taking a while. They are not trying to run away or fight. They don't wish for any more of their young to be killed. They will call for a meeting when they return with the artifacts soon."
"It is not soon enough."
"STA!" The Tactical Droid snapped at the Ewoks, firing a storm of blasts. "STA!"
"Seeg pola kreeth uhree weewa!"
"Gyeesh den es'eesht! Gyeesh!"
Ewoks screeched in terror, running away from the pursuing droid as fast as they could, shrieking out words with haste.
The droid grabbed one black Ewok and pinned it to the ground. It struggled, but the droid easily turned it over on its stomach, hyper extended both of its arms behind its back, torqued its wrists, contorted its fingers, and jammed its knee into the center of the furry creature's spine.
It caved in its left arm.
The Ewok screeched, bucking and clenching its eyes shut. As it screeched again, it looked to Feral for mercy, looked to the others for help, and began crying as its bone ripped through its fur, coming within its line of sight.
"Gyeesh fudana!"
"Permission to brutalize these contemptible tree rats." The Tactical Droid looked at Feral, eyes glowing brighter than usual.
"You have authorization to brutalize them. You have authorization to wipe all of them out, when we ship the ones off that need to be and our mission is complete."
"Yes sir."
Feral rubbed his chin. "Begin to remove their voice boxes and vocal cords, even the ones in containment. All of the ones being shipped off world are to have their vocal cords removed without question."
It relayed the order to the others, turning its full attention on the Ewok beneath it that continued to wiggle and screech.
"Permission to use Dioxis, rock Worrt venom, and Synox on these rats."
Feral nodded. "You have authorization to utilize all three."
"Rock Worrt venom is strong enough to kill a Bantha. We can cram three hundred Ewoks into the gas chambers and use all three, and make sure the venom is filtered through to all of them. We will put helmets on them and release the poison."
Feral nodded.
The Tactical Droid leered at the black Ewok, bending its thumb until it popped. It then broke its other arm, folding them both at the elbow so its hands were by its ears.
"Meecho seefo es'eesht weechu noot! Meecho seefo weechu noot!"
"Esa! Gyeesh na goo! Choo doo den seefo weechu!"
Feral was certain the Ewoks being yanked around by his droids to find what he wanted were stalling, he was almost positive they were causing nothing but problems for him right now, and would in the future. Brutality like this was always essential to keep the masses in line, but one always had to get more brutal.
More blood would always have to be shed.
Agony ripped through the Ewok's small body as bones began jutting clear out of it, shredding fur and flesh in a shower of gore.
The Tactical Droid tossed the Ewok aside carelessly and moved towards the others, brandishing a long saw and razor sharp pincers. The torture droids moved forward, zoning in on the Ewoks that didn't run. More went after the Ewoks that had no arms and just stood around.
The furry prisoners were plucked from the ground, their vulnerable joints all ripped through by sharp spikes, and sharper voltages of electricity blasted into them. Dozens of Ewoks caught fire and screeched as they turned into full blown infernos. More sprayed with blood as the torture droids utilized saws and other tools to shred flesh.
Ewoks nearby flinched, overcome with pure terror.
They quickly bowed their heads.
"Den!"
"Gyeesh den!"
"Gyeesh fudana j'voo hoji!"
The Ewoks that were capable, shook with sobs.
"Weechu den tana! Weechu goo bok-chuu ock! Weechu eleeo gooka tana! Weechu bok-chuu ock eedada huutaveet!"
The Ewoks tried to run away, but with droids all around, missing toes or legs, and Feral right in front of them, none of them got very far. They began to plead, beg, and finally bowed their heads between their hands when all else failed, totally submitting.
Ewoks began to cry out, running away, trying to hide in bushes close by, and pleading as they stood up, unable to do anything but tremble as the droids marched up to them.
"Eeeeeeeep!"
"Gyeesh den!"
"Gyeesh grenchicit!"
"Den bok-chuu ock tana!""
"They say please no, please wait. Hang on a minute. Please wait a little longer. Please don't send us far away from our home."
The Ewoks around him looked up from the ground, almost hopeful. They bowed their heads over and over, nodding at him every so often, waiting for him to nod in satisfaction of their praise and worship.
Feral looked deep into their eyes and shook his head. He showed he was not happy and they would suffer. He called dozens towards him with the force and slowly, carefully, carved their chests open with his talons, spraying out geysers.
He stood in the center of the gore and blood rainfall. He called more to float over his head and split open their chest cavities, bathing in the crimson and using it to quench his thirst.
He opened rib cages, and reached in, gripping the still beating hearts.
The Ewoks on the ground trembled and screamed when Feral tore the beating hearts free and devoured them. They screeched as the blood of Ewoks oozed down his form, his mouth wide open to consume all of it as they slowly lost their life essence.
Finally, he just smashed the creatures on his cranium, his horns, longer than any of them, punctured through their bodies with ease, spilling out gallons of blood over him and what would have pierced his ears, only made him shake with power.
With a wave of his hand Feral sent more torture droids forward, and watched them with an odd sense of observation as they hunted down the Ewoks methodically and then carried them around like prizes, laughing, reveling in the suffering they caused the creatures, and tortured them with a precision he could only dream of.
Ewoks thrashed around, flailing their stumps for limbs and bloody appendages. The torture droids held them in place, laughing in their monotone as they mockingly called them dolls, forcing them to screech and writhe around more.
"Mookiee den gyeesh!"
"Fruk, freet, jeerota, deej, shou, shodeesh, shetati sta den bok-chuu ock!"
"Gyeesh den bok chuu-ock!"
"Gyeesh! Gyeesh! Gyeesh!"
Torture droids grabbed hold of several dozen more, lifting them high over head so they could get a better view and began to go through their stages of brutality levels and torture. Saws and drills whirled and punctured through tendons, muscles, and bones.
One moved its saw right beneath an Ewok, slowly carving it vertically, sending masses of gore and fur flying the closer it got to its head.
The Ewoks screeched and shrilled at the sadistic droids as they were plucked from the ground, they screeched and shrilled at Feral to stop their suffering as blood burst from their small bodies like geysers, their small flailing limbs exploding into chunks of gore.
They thrashed and writhed, heads and bodies shaking as the droids turned them into puppets.
The droids pumped them with pain until their teeth clicked.
Their wrists and arms were sawed off. They flailed around and thrashed, blood gushing from the wounds as they screeched at the droids, begging for mercy, but the droids never granted them relief.
They were ten times worse than he could ever be.
No matter how much they shrieked or begged, the droids didn't respond nor end their torment, and kept the spinning saws shredding into Ewoks until blood fell like rain and soaked everything within a twenty foot perimeter.
Ewoks shrieked, letting out cries as they were pulled into the shower of gore.
Feral looked at the rest that weren't being ripped to shreds. He pointed his finger at the ships just beyond the splattering blood and fur, then turned to the droids that could understand the screeches of the Ewoks.
"Get these rats in the transports to be shipped away, slice off their fingers, arms, and legs if they give you any trouble."
"Oh hheneheh! Oh hhenenheh!"
"Oh hhenenheh! Oh hhenenheh! Oh hhenenheh!"
The shout was loud, accompanied by the long drone of a horn.
Ewoks around Feral raced towards the call, using the chance to get away from the demonic being before he ate them whole or drank their blood. There were more of their fellows racing towards the call that could, but some stopped upon seeing droids moving around.
They too were interested in the commotion, and more came after them with helmets.
Feral looked at Tactical Droid, arching a brow. "What's going on?"
"We are going to poison one million Ewok. It also appears our search party has returned and they are calling for a meeting."
Within only a few minutes the Ewok search party was in front of him, along with the rest that ran towards them, and two stepped forward with the powerful artifacts in their thumb-less hands. Battle droids flanked and backed the Ewoks, successfully closing them in.
They showed signs of fatigue and damage, no doubt suffering long and hard falls in their quest.
Feral looked the two artifacts over, not oblivious to the apprehension and hesitation that smoked off of the two Ewok handing them over. They knew once he got a hold of these, their end was all but ensured. These were the last two things they were putting their hope into.
Now, they had nothing.
He could feel the raw power in the artifacts-the Shadowstone held the dark power, volatile and quick to cause destruction, he could feel its call. The Sunstar held an overwhelming surge of power that was neither light or dark, and it too called him.
He grinned savagely, snatching the two stones and held them aloft with the force, carefully inserting both within his light-saber where the combination of crystals was housed and focused.
"At last all of the power is mine...It is all mine..."
Feral collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest. His breath and pulse quickened with each passing second, his blood rushed and boiled, surging with a new found power. His face began to contort and his teeth sharpened. Veins and muscles bulged all over his body, threatening to explode as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Ewoks tried to distance themselves, watching in shock and horror as his body expanded.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Something inside of Feral caught fire and began to smolder.
He clawed at the ground, just on edge of where the Ewoks were, but his grip was too powerful for the surroundings, and part of the depression crumbled under his brute strength.
His legs and arm began to burn as bursts of scarlet lightning ripped through him. Feral screamed louder, scrabbling at the ground, but the more he struggled, the more he slipped deeper into the pain. The ground felt scorching hot. Each time he dug his fingers into the ground, it felt like his finger tips were burning clear off.
Flame licked the fringes of his entire being, and the area around him blackened, slowly beginning to take on a charred and scorched appearance. Feral felt like he was bursting into flames. He turned his glowing, red eyes onto the Ewoks, his face contorting into a mass of wrinkles.
"I hate all of you! I hate you! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
It felt like his whole torso shattered from the pressure as his muscles bulged and rippled, nearly compressing him. Radical lightning surged around his limbs, and they too bulged, getting thicker, getting longer, and more massive to accommodate his bulging torso.
"RAAAHHH! RAAAAAHHHHH-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Feral's throat flew with blood as he howled in pure agony. His bones began rapidly shifting, growing larger, his face expanded and widened, his horns jutted and grew nearly upright, his muscles continued to grow, and his calves expanded nearly ten times what they had been.
His shadow towered over everything.
Feral called Ewoks into the sky, flooding the area with so many furry bodies it looked like the landscape was spinning and swirling. Their cries distorted into one, agony ridden chant that echoed through the planet itself as they kicked and screamed, fading into the crimson sky.
Feral felt the power beginning to gather, like pools of water spinning faster and faster until they raged into a hurricane.
The Ewoks felt the pull on their conscious thoughts as they were dragged down into the dark power. Their awareness, their minds, and even their identities were swallowed up in the vortex of power. The reverberations of their voices intensified.
Feral could no longer feel the pricks of agony, or feel the pressure of the sorrow that permeated, nor could he hear the screams that would have popped his ear drums. Their mind slipped deeper and deeper into the center.
Realizing he would soon lose both the ability and the desire to free itself from Feral, an Ewok tried to fight against what was happening to him.
It was like swimming up a raging current. He felt the screeches and cries of pain becoming a mantra that took on an actual physical shape. The darkness wrapped around their collective will, trapping it, shaping it, and ultimately bound it into a rapidly coalescing form.
From deep within itself the Ewok summoned its last reserves of strength. Somehow it was enough, and he was able to wrench his mind free from the pull.
He staggered back, gasping, his senses crashing over him, bursting through the invisible barrier that had taken them away. Sight, sound, smell, and touch returned, overwhelming his frantic mind. The light from the crimson sky had grown much dimmer, as if it, too, was being swallowed.
The screeches of Ewoks continued, so loud now it pierced his ear drums. The temperature had dropped so sharply that he was able to see his breath, and tiny crystals of frost had begun to form on the blood puddles close by and its own fur.
Suddenly he realized that Feral had them all gripped. They were all floating and spinning around, kicking and screaming, too overcome with pain and agony to do anything else. At first it looked as if they were grasping at nothing, but as his eyes adjusted he caught sight of a strange...Distortion in the air.
The Ewok didn't dare to look at it for more than a moment. There was something terrible, evil, and fearsome about the distorting fabric of reality, and he turned away in horror. His fellows were right, the terror ridden Ewok realized.
Feral was going to eat their souls!
There was a faint tug on his mind. A ferocious pull that was quickly grew stronger, threatening to yank him in with the others. He stumbled away from the horrible distortion and its doomed victims, squinting to see his way along the blood drenched ground.
One look at Feral drained all hope the Ewok had of surviving. The demon's face was contorted. His features were wrinkled, as if his skin were going to burst and he was easily one hundred of what he had been before before the dark side engorged him.
Blood covered his face, his expression was one of cruelty, and he trembled uncontrollably. He stared straight ahead at the Ewok with hatred.
"Weechu nim-nee ehshtee Kna!" Feral's voice was coarse and deep, distorted by pain and fury.
"Den!" The Ewok cried. "Den!"
His lip curled into a sneer, and he raised his huge hand up.
He clenched his hand together, and the bomb of power exploded. In an instant every living thing in the area was snuffed out of existence. Flesh and bone were vaporized. The droids, transports, and even the dreadnaughts were reduced to rubble.
The rumbling echo of the blast rolled down across the planet, smothering every crevice and fissure leading around the world, filtering the dark power through the world itself and into the core.
The waves of pure dark side energy swept over the Ewoks. They screamed without reprieve as it ripped through their bodies like a raging monsoon, sucking the essence and souls right from their bodies and ripped their spirits from their shell. Their flesh withered, their fur shrank, their eyes shriveled into nothing, and they were reduced to less than ash when their screeching ended.
And, just like a monsoon that whirled out of control, the wave magnified and grew, spreading further and further, taking more Ewok into its center, and distorted the space around.
The dark side came alive.