Narrative Sketches Volume 1
Maul v Inquisitors
A Star Wars fanfiction
Standing at the mouth of a cave, the trio of black armored warriors were dwarfed by the abyssal expanse leading into the side of a barren mountain of naked stone as it reached far above into a dingy sky of burned orange. The lead figure stood between the other two, one being a slimmer female that wore a masked helmet akin to his own, and the other a towering mountain of muscle that was clad in bulkier, more battered armor with an open helmet that let a scaly gray muzzle jut from beneath a pair of pale, dead looking eyes.
Stepping into the void, the lead Inquisitor was immediately tailed by the two as they all melted into the shadows. As they marched on, the echoes of their foot falls grew louder as the light spilling from behind them faded dimmer and dimmer until they were shrouded in a true pitch black.
Pulling a disc like construct from his belt, the lead Inquisitor held it by a gripped rail stretching through the middle before thumbing a button to ignite a humming blade that glowed a sinister red, lighting the way as the dull stone was painted a bloody hue. Their march carried on until the cave expanded, then gave way to a massive cavern that was wide enough to absorb the glow of the blade, leaving a shroud of black over the far reaches.
Around them, pyramids of square cut stone tapered to flat peaks that were likely meant to hold some ancient or relic or shrine, but now stood empty in an eternal wait. Eventually arriving at the room's far end, the trio were faced by a line of stairs leading between two columns that towered into the void above before spilling into a platform that had been engraved with runes of a primeval script, all of which circled an ornate central pedestal, bearing upon it… nothing.
Sitting before it however, with their legs crossed and hands outstretched, a dark robed figure rested in meditation.
"And which lost seekers query the abyss today?" the figure asked, unmoving as he spoke in measured, raspy voice.
"The relic, where is it?" the lead Inquisitor demanded.
"Relic?" the figure lowered his hands, laying them on his knees as he turned his shroud covered head to face the trio. "If any relic were here, it's been gone so long that not even the shadows remember its name."
"Then why are you here?" the Inquisitor asked, lowering his blade to point it at the figure.
"Because I have other questions these shadows may answer."
Glancing back at the female Inquisitor, she gave the leader a shrug, and he returned his attention to the strange individual before him. "Well, your questions will have to wait. Lord Vader will have quite a few of his own, and we're not leaving here empty handed."
"Lord Vader?" The figure asked with a faint chuckle. "You know, I almost pity him."
"You pity him? What in the galaxy could make you pity him?" the Inquisitor demanded, bringing his saber closer to the figure's head.
"I know his master." The figure explained. "In fact, I once thought myself fated to serve his role. But alas, I was only a pawn in the end."
Drawing back a little, the Inquisitor tilted his head in a vain attempt to get a look at his face. "Just who are you?"
Gingerly lowering his hood, the cloth peeled back to reveal a ring of almost crown like horns set atop a jet black scalp, and a face decorated with a mask of red markings, diced and intersected by dark lines that give it an almost skull like resemblance.
For a moment, the Inquisitors could only stand in shock, unsure of how they should proceed.
"You're… You're Darth Maul…" the female inquisitor said, nigh awestruck. "The Sith who killed Qui-Gon Jinn and tried to take over Mandalor."
"No," Maul corrected as he pushed himself to his feet. "I'm no Sith, as you are no Jedi."
"Well regardless, you're coming with us." The lead Inquisitor ordered.
"A generous offer." Maul said with another chuckle. "But I would sooner let myself be digested by a Sarlacc than again face my old master."
"Well, I'm sure your old master would just as happily accept your head given to him on a pike." the Inquisitor stated as he ignited another crimson blade from the hilt of his saber.
"More than likely, yes. But do you really think yourself fit to take it?"
"I do."
As the other two Inquisitors moved to back up their leader, he raised a hand, halting them in their tracks, then he approached Maul with his forward blade aimed at his chest. Making a stab for Maul's heart, the Inquisitor's attack was evaded with a fluid sidestep, and the subsequent string of slashes were just as easily dodged as Maul looked upon his assailant with a look of disappointment.
Moving a finger onto a trigger within the hilt, the Inquisitor activated the rotor system within his weapon, setting the blades to spin across the disk like frame with a blinding speed that caused them to seem more like a flashing wall of red light. Holding it front of himself like a shield, the Inquisitor marched towards his target and attempted to press him into a corner.
With an unamused tilt of his head, Maul studied the cycling blade as he nonchalantly backed away several paces. The Inquisitor's weapon was then sent airborne as a brief flare of red shot from Maul's hip and cracked against the blade with a hellish flash. Raising a hand, Maul then sent his opponent hurling back towards the stairway before the man crashed and tumbled against the stonework, coming to lay at the feet of his subordinates.
With a hard, echoing clatter, the Inquisitor's saber landed between himself and Maul as the blades retracted, leaving them all in darkness once more. Reigniting, the weapon's twin blades glowed before Maul's face as his fiery yellow eyes studied its construction. Pressing several switches, he spins the blades one way, then another before shaking his head.
"So this is the kind of toy that passes for a Sith's weapon these days?" he asks, then tosses the weapon back to its owner. "I can assure you, if you knew how to use one properly, you wouldn't rely on such gimmicks."
Taking his weapon as he gets to his feet, the Inquisitor glances between his two subordinates. "You're gonna wish you hadn't done that." He says as the trio all ignite their sabers and move to surround the former Sith assassin.
A moment of tense stillness descends as the hum of their burning crimson blades echoes through the dark stone confines of the cavern. All the while, Maul's gaze remains fixed on the lead Inquisitor, however the cold distance in his furious amber eyes tell that he's well aware of the others' every move. The blades of their weapons then blur into bloody flashes as the trio rush in to attack Maul from every side.
Twisting, Maul sidesteps and is missed by mere centimeters as he ignites his double bladed saber and targets the gargantuan Inquisitor. Flaying the thing's belly with a fluid slash, he vanishes into a blur, traceable only by the hateful glow of his weapon as it cleaves through the Inquisitor's shoulder before he lands behind his victim. The other two bolt after him, the female inquisitor jumping in Maul's wake as their leader sprints around.
Aiming her strike as she descends, the female inquisitor stabs at Maul, but only impales the dust laden stone floor as she hears a deep, guttural cry from her companion. Turning to face him, she's assaulted by a disorienting slew of attacks before seeing Maul's blade one final time as it slashes up through the handle of her weapon to cleave her skull. The large alien then crumples to the floor, immediately followed by the body of the other Inquisitor as steam rises from the glowing molten valley dissecting her helmet.
The lead Inquisitor charges in a hate fueled rampancy upon seeing the fate of his underlings. Enraged beyond words, his power is channeled ten fold as he unleashes a storm of slashes and stabs at Maul, who casually deflects and dodges each attack as his collected expression remains unchanged.
"Your anger gives you power." Maul explains as their blades lock for split second before he shoots a kick into the Inquisitor's diaphragm that sends him skidding through the dust as his blade clatters from his grasp. "But it's unfocused. It is the blood rage of a wild beast, fit only for the crudest of bludgeoning. Hence why you were given this." Maul kicks the saber towards its owner with spiteful indifference. "You Inquisitors are a mockery to what I was, and so many leagues beneath what I am that your pathetic mind can't even comprehend!"
"And just what are you?" The Inquisitor asks, coughing as he pushes himself to his feet. "Some rejected apprentice?" He picks up his weapon and ignites it once more. "Something the Emperor threw out when Vader came along!?"
"You want to know what I am?" Maul asks with a sinister laugh, then attacks the Inquisitor with several heavy strikes that leave him staggering from each impact. "I am fear." Maul explains as the Inquisitor attempts to retaliate by stabbing at his chest, only to have the strike parried before being knocked back to stumble into one of the columns. "I am hunter." Bolting upright, the Inquisitor presses a desperate assault against his opponent, but as crimson blade meets crimson blade, and high pitched electric cries echo through the absence like pained screams, he misses his mark. "I am filth." As the Inquisitor spins his saber, Maul's own clips it at the hilt's end, burning through both blade projectors and rendering it little more than a rod of scrap metal.
Jumping back in surprise, the Inquisitor makes a desperate call upon the Force as he tries to push Maul back, but as he raises his hands, he sees only steaming stubs of jagged, burned flesh. Meeting his opponent's eyes once more, the Inquisitor's horrified expression is faced by a look of determined malice as Maul's red skin seems to glow in the sinister light of his blade. Before he can even process what's happened, the Inquisitor is impaled through his upper abdomen. "I am Maul."
Deactivating his saber, Maul places a hand on the Inquisitor's shoulder as he drops to his knees and gasps for breath. He then kneels before the dying man and seems to soften, almost to a look of pity. "In truth, we were all just pawns of different eras, but within the shadows I have found my own mission, my own purpose. And you, brother, have found your dismissal."
Pressing the end of his lightsaber into the Inquisitor's chest, Maul ignites it for a moment until the last flickers of life leave his slain foe's eyes.
Footnote: Fanfictions aren't my main focus, as I more want to make stories that are wholly my own, but like many others who dabble in writing, it can kinda fun and a bit nostalgic to geek out and do one as a bit of a guilty pleasure every now and then.
If I do another Star Wars fanfic anytime in the near future, I think I'll do one about or feature Boba Fett basically being Star Wars John Wick, but there's a definite 'if' there.
Second Footnote: If you notice that it reads a bit differently after the "So this is the kind of toy that passes for a Sith's weapon these days." quote, the text is actually copied and pasted in from a YouTube comment I made (Though what's here is cleaned up a fair bit.), hence why it contains a lot more present tense wording than everything preceding it.
Given, I do like to use present tense a bit more when writing combat because I feel like a gives a bit more of a sense of being in the moment, but normally I would try and vary it a bit more. If this were a full on project that I was hoping to really do something with, it would be something that I'd go in and work on a bit more, but for a narrative sketch that's also fanfiction, I don't feel like cracking in to that quantity of editing work.