Chapter 1

Many years before the war began, Grievous was different. He was not a machine. He was, however, a warrior and a general of the army of his native species known as the Kaleesh. They waged a war against enemies called the Huks, and fought gallantly with Grievous at the front as their lead.

He led his brethren and his eldest son Katakas with his missing finger and scarred chest to war with the Huks and battled them like legends. Grievous was proud to stand side-by-side with his son on the battlefield. It was only together that they would receive immortality.

But it was during the war that the Huks received help from a force much stronger than both sides. This force was that of the great Galactic Republic. It was with their help that the Kaleesh were easily dropping in numbers during the war.

Grievous solely grew a grudge for both the Republic and the Huks and swore that they would die by his hand. It was there and then that the Separatists came into the picture. Although they had not yet truly revealed themselves to the public, they were already forming.

Grievous did not want their help, and it was because of that that he ended up writing his own death sentence. While on a shuttle, Grievous had not realized that the Separatists had placed a bomb underneath the shuttle's hull and fatally injured Grievous in the process.

It was the chairman of the InterGalactic Banking Clan—San Hill—who came to General Grievous with the offer of saving his life and saving his species. Many had considered it to be a very dubious offer, but Grievous accepted it.

The terms of the offer were: the Separatists would provide Grievous a new body and protect his fellow Kaleesh. In return, Grievous would become the living droid general of the new droid army, nothing more.

General Grievous' new body was suddenly put to work. The Separatists took his surviving internal organs and more importantly, his brain, and fused it together with a towering body, crystal circuitry, and grasping appendages… the list could go on and on.

Two months in the making, Grievous experienced irony through pain and suffering at the hands of his saviors. His right to be called an organic being had been taken away, just like his right to be with his species after his rebirth.

And when Grievous was first shown his new appearance, form, and voice, he was at first surprised at the result, and then, he became outraged. They promised him to have a new body. Instead, he got a machine's body. It was absolute pain.

However, this was his choice. As mentioned earlier, he ended up writing his own death sentence. This is the origin of General Grievous.

Now we shall leave this monstrosity's origin and instead, we shall go to his reintroduction to the art of fighting. Unlike his new life's predecessor, Grievous had never truly explored the art of dueling.

Of course, he was the General of the Kaleesh army, but the way he fought was the blunt street fighter's way. He fought only with a staff before; he did not know the true usefulness of his staff.

It was when he met the mysterious aged Darth Tyranus that he experienced lesson one. He was humiliated in front of this Sith Lord as he tried to defeat him in a duel. Grievous struggled with his skill and even his new attributes to defeat the Sith, but later on learned that even a mere touch of a lightsaber could beat the armor of General Grievous.

So that the reader may get a better sense of this scenario, I shall elaborate on these events. Take note that these events take place before the prologue of this general memoir.

General Grievous entered the daunting room where he would first meet the legendary Darth Tyranus. The walls were all black, just as the floor was with a mix of marble. Darth Tyranus stood in the middle wearing his regular brown attire, with the gallant brown cape flying behind him. In his hand, he grasped the hilt of a weapon Grievous was unfamiliar to.

The weapon was of bright gleaming silver and was bent to look much like a curved Alderaanian blaster. At least that was Grievous' perception of this weapon.

"Darth Tyranus, I presume," Grievous said in his mechanical voice. It felt as if he was speaking into three microphones, which modified his voice to make him seem more like a machine.

"Welcome, general, to your first lesson in the art of battle," Tyranus greeted back as he raised his weapon before his face a pushed a silver button on the side. A bright white-red beam shot out of the weapon and lighted his face to show more distinct features. There was a continuous hum, which somewhat kept Grievous a little irritated. By now, Grievous could establish that Tyranus was aged at the sight of his short white beard and tiny wrinkles.

This stunned Grievous only a bit. The thought of an aged man teaching him to fight was flabbergasting! Ha! When banthas fly! He thought deeply about Tyranus.

"Despite whatever your thoughts may be, general," Tyranus suddenly popped. He lowered his weapon and then slanted his arm at an eight o' clock position, "I am still your teacher." He paused for a moment. "Now, let me see your 'fierceness.' Show me your anger."

Grievous felt like grinning at his teacher's first command, but also felt it was impossible to smile after his face had been grafted to a mask, which became his new face.

He charged at Tyranus and kept his eyes focused on the old man. You better have a death wish, old man. But as he continued for Tyranus and was about to ram into him, Tyranus suddenly disappeared and reappeared in another spot. Grievous was unaware that the wall was right there, and instead of being able to ram into Tyranus, he instead rammed the wall.

As he returned to the condition of fighting, he turned his head and saw Tyranus standing in the same spot. Impossible! Angered, Grievous charged again for Tyranus. This time, Tyranus not only disappeared, but he also managed to slash a small portion of Grievous' armor with his weapon.

Grievous this time did not ram into the wall as before, rather he crashed into it. He felt the sting of pain once again from the sting of Tyranus' weapon. "What sort of trickery is this?"

"This is no trick, general. It is only your first lesson." From his belt, Tyranus took another weapon out. It was similar to the one he used, but the design was very much different. Unlike Tyranus's, this weapon was straight, not curved. He tossed it at Grievous' pain-stricken body. "This is the weapon of a true warrior; a lightsaber."

Grievous got up and examined the lightsaber Tyranus tossed at him. He saw its unique design at the shiny buttons and knobs on it. He pointed the lightsaber away from his body and pressed the button near the top of the hilt. A bright white-blue blade blazed out and gave the continuous hum, which still irritated him.

Grievous gazed at the blade from top to bottom and then swung it around a few times with both of his mechanical hands on it. "Interesting weapon, Tyranus," he commented. "This weapon must be truly powerful if it allowed an old man such as you to evade my attacks."

"No, that was different." Tyranus answered in a way that made him seem very… distinct and cultured. "I evaded you with a certain attribute that is only possessed by very few."

"Do I have that power?"

"No, I do not sense the Force flowing within you," he answered. "But I do sense your anger, your hatred, and most especially… your fear."

"I do not fear anything," Grievous said in an intimidating voice.

"A man, creature, or machine without fear is a fool," Tyranus answered back in an even more intimidating voice. "The truth is that everyone is truly afraid of something. Some only have a fear of revealing it. Fear leads to anger, which you truly exhibit in fighting. Anger leads to hate, which I am truly sure you have. Hate leads to power, general, which I know you desire."

Grievous was silent. Inside, he was stupefied. He took a long moment's pause, to which Tyranus ended by asking: "What do you fear, general? What was it that caused you to agree to our terms and become the new droid general?"

Grievous remained silent.

"That, my friend, is lesson two."