Savage searches for Maul and get help
When Savage's ship left the hyperspace, the planet stood before him in all its ugliness. He read the information his ship could provide him - there was not much info at all. All it said was that the planet's atmosphere was thick with toxins coming from all the trash and the poisoned ground. Besides the fact that living there wasn't exactly healthy it said that the atmosphere contained oxygen so he wouldn't have to worry about breathing. The nearer he came to its surface the thicker the brownish mist became. The entire ground was covered with trash which was stapled up to the height of his ship. It took him some time to find a trustworthy spot to land his ship without damaging it in any way.
'And my brother spent ten whole standard years on… this?' He thought with a frown, not believing in what a shameful situation that Jedi had put his brother in.
He grabbed his double-bladed lightsaber along with some credits and clipped it to his belt. When he stepped outside the ship he grimaced in pure disgust. The air smelled and tasted like garbage. One couldn't even see more than about fifty metres - the fog was that thick around here. He ignited his lightsaber and turned to see if there was any kind of danger around him he wasn't aware of. The amulet felt warmer around his neck and this was a sign he was on the right way. He stretched out with the force but couldn't find anything useful. Maul's force signature must have changed considering the fact that, if mother Talzin wasn't wrong - he doubted that - Maul's mind was in a kind of insane state. But he trusted the force and let it guide him wherever it would lead him to.
He passed endless mountains of garbage and little toxic puddles that were created out of all the watery substances that dripped from the trash. It was utterly disgusting.
After what felt like an eternity he sensed another being close to him. This being was clearly witty but weakly minded at the same time. He decided to stalk towards it, lightsaber in his hand, ready to kill at any time. The zabrak felt the creature approaching and he ignited his weapon. Red light shone in the dim surroundings and the buzzing lightsaber was pointed into the face of a snake-like, grey creature.
"You." Savage said and the creature was taken aback by this fast reaction to its approach by that horned man.
"Yes what is it?" It hissed in standard language but thick with accent. It eyed Savage and yellow eyes met grey - both not trusting anything.
"I need to find someone living on this planet. Have you heard of Darth Maul?"
The creature tilted its head to one side and eyed him curiously and blinked a few times while it watched the Sith.
"Welllllll … I saw a creature once that looked similar to you but his body was different to yours and his skin one of a dark red colour. Do you think it could be him?"
Savage eyes that creature even closer now. It looked like a long snake and it was quite big - not as big as some snakes on Dathomir but quite big, still. Sharp teeth glinted in that creatures' jaw. 'This creature is my only chance right now I have to get more information out of it. If it is of no use I can still kill it or leave it be later on.'
"Hey, you." The creature hissed.
"What is it?" Came the answer.
"By what name can I call you? Hm? My name is Morley and I can assure you I know this region better than anyone else and I'm much more trustworthy than most of the creatures living here. Right now I have no business to attend besides to look out for food but you…" He eyed Savage once more and especially the red saber that was still ignited and dangerously buzzing at him, always ready to slice himself into pieces. "…You need something and I am willing to help you find it. Rarely people come here… only those who buy certain pieces that are still having some worth to sell it away again… still trash but useful one it seems… . I am interested in this whole thing I can sense a certain power surrounding you… I can't quite grab it but…"
"That is something you won't understand and it doesn't matter right now." Savage cut Morley off.
"I… understand. We all have secrets theheheh. Anyway… I will help you if you want to take my help. I think I still might know the way and I think it is worth trying or do you have a plan already? No one else is here and this seems exciting and interesting. With someone like you accompanying me, no one will harm me so one more reason to help you find…?"
"Darth Maul." Savage ended the sentence for Morley.
"I am called Savage. I accept your help - I am from far away and I am sure you are the one here knowing the surroundings far better than I do. Darth Maul is one of my species and I believed him dead for a very long time and I was told he can be found on this planet. If your help is useful in the end I might repay your help." Savage said to Morley in a calm tone and removed his saber out of the creature's face.
"Good Savage, I would say you follow me. Be careful where you step, people easily die here and get eaten. There isn't much to eat here and beings not born here cannot survive a week without getting eaten or killed… or both at the same time thehehehe."
"I understand. Now lets go I have still a long way ahead of me and once I found him, even more."
Morley just nodded and moved. His body was perfect for this place, he was quite fast and it seemed his body was quite strong and the skin wasn't easily harmed by the toxic substances all lying and dripping around of them.
They passed huge one might say mountains of garbage and damaged parts of droids, ships and other metal and almost rotten things while on top of that there was trash stored on the planet's surface, too. At first, Savage kept his lightsaber turned on but with the time, the ground they were walking on turned completely to trash and Savage had to jump and climb a lot so he decided to clip it to his belt in the end.
They came to an area where nearly all surroundings were burning and the air was polluted with thick smoke. Smoke not made for lungs to breath. The garbage towers hovered over them like the entrance to hell itself - if there was some kind of hell this planet definitely was a part of it. The sky was of a dark brown orange the whole time and the fires burning everywhere gave this place an even worse approach.
"Well… Savage follow me then but beware of the fire breathers. We are very close I might say. You survive or you won't make it it is all up to you now." Morley said.
"Fire breathers?" The Zabrak asked and looked up.
A giant droid-like creature one would call it, climbed from one trash tower to another one while pure fire was burning in its enormous maw, eating all the metal pieces and things in its sight in seconds, while it infected the surrounding area with the hot, lava-like metal that leaked out of its jaw so everything just burned way more. The whole place was burning and Savage could barely see his surroundings or where to go.
Morley eyed him and grinned. Then he nodded. "Well then. Come." With a flick of his tail he wriggled around the pieces of trash and dodged burning metal pieces falling out of the fire breathers maws which only had one purpose - to eat everything around and just burn it all away. A living, burning scrapyard.
Savage ran as fast as he could and with the force he was able to dodge all of the falling pieces and Morley waited for him at several spots and hissed his name along the comment that he should hurry up. Savage just grunted at that and ran faster.
Finally the air didn't feel like fire burning in your lungs anymore and they came to a halt. The fire breathers were still clearly visible and Savage could still hear the metal scraping while the fire breathers climbed from tower to tower, while these nearly fell apart.
He turned to Morley. "Thanks."
"I am impressed you made it. The last one I guided didn't make it." Morley snickered.
"You better not betray me, snake." The Zabrak warned, eyes glinting.
"No, this is something different…"
The amulet glowed and became warmer Savage noticed, now that he wasn't dealing with surviving anymore. 'Im close, brother.' He grabbed the amulet and closed his eyes, while Morley eyed him with a certain interest.
"What is so special about that someone you seek to find? What is that you are holding hmmm?" Morley asked and backed away when the Sith turned to him, eyes shining golden in the towers' shadows.
"It leads me to my brother. … Now come I don't have time for chit-chat and especially not with someone like you."
Morley nodded and in silence they made their way. 'How much longer will this take?' Savage asked himself when he suddenly felt a shift in the force that told him to be aware and one second later he dodged a blaster shot with his double-bladed lightsaber. Quickly, he hid behind a rotten wing of some ship. Morley was close to him and looked him.
"Scrap gatherers." He hissed and Savage nodded. This was an annoying distraction but of course it was easily solvable for him. No need to waste time - getting this done quickly was necessary so he could continue his way through this rotten planet of trash and leave it behind forever.
About eight Scrap gatherers, wrapped in thick cloth were standing around them by now. All of them carried blasters as far as he could see from the distance. That snake wouldn't be of any help but he didn't care since it didn't matter at all.
The fight was quick but harsh. The Sith moved forward, using the force to sprint, while he dodged blaster shots from several directions and killed two of them by only reflecting their shots. It felt good to let the darkness flood him and he felt alive while his body soaked up all the darkness. His saber cut one in half and sliced another ones head off. It fell to the ground next to him.
Meanwhile, Morley hushed into the shadows, always close to Savage, who was just reflecting another blaster shot with the lightsaber, same colour as the blood it caused. He grabbed one of the scrap gatherers by his throat and raised him in the air so that the rest of them could see their partner. Savage eyed them and the man or whatever creature it was, tried to flee from his grab, took a last breath and then his neck cracked with an ugly sound. The creature fell to the ground, lifeless.
The Sith could feel the fear radiating around him and he could let the dark side flood their minds and kill them that way but it wasn't worth it. They ran away a moment later and Savage turned his saber off and put it back on his belt.
Morley crawled to him and waited for something. "Come on." Savage said and moved his hand to emphasise the order.
The amulet again grew warmer and Savage couldn't hold back some sort of a little smile. 'Soon.'
While they walked in silence, besides Morley pointing in certain directions, the orange sky became darker and darker. Soon, the Zabrak felt rain dripping from the sky. Water seemed wrong at such a place since the planet seemed to be burning constantly and the ground was so poisonous that he doubted a single plant could grow here.
He hissed, when the substance hit is unarmed body parts and burned on his skin like fire. With a look at his hand, he directly knew what this was. Acid rain. Of course, on a planet like this - especially this - he should have expected it even sooner. The air was filled with nitrogen oxides, dirt, fire and Sith hells, a lot of other things he didn't even want to know.
"Savage! Come, we have to seek shelter! Over there!" Morley hissed with alarm in his voice.
The Zabrak ran over to the place, where the snake was pointing at.
Inside it was quite dark and he heard Morley approach while the storm of acid rain grew stronger and he was relieved he was protected by this thick steel roof, he was able to identify. 'Name a place that isn't garbage here. Tsk.'
He looked around and when he looked closer, he saw that we was not standing in a puddle from the rain that maybe dripped through a hole in the roof - no - he was actually standing in a huge puddle of black blood.
This place seemed to be a bar and when Savage took a look at the place, he saw several corpses laying on the floor which was covered in blood.
The amulet shone in a bright blue and it pulsed with heat. 'I have nearly found him!'
There was some sort of tunnel in that bar that lead into pure darkness. This was the way.
He turned around to make out the creature but found nothing. Savage turned around and saw Morley directly infant of him.
"Good bye, dear Savage. It was a pleasant journey with you and you survived everything. But THIS- " He snickered "NOT!" And then Morley pulled down a lever with his tail and the Sith fell into a black abyss.
"Good luck! My master will be very happy when he sees what I have brought him! He will be happy with Morley! He will leave me the rest of you to eat, yes! My master is always happy with me and rewards me for bringing him his food!" Savage could Morley hiss above him before the trap closed.
'I will kill that poor excuse of a creature!' Savage thought and he fell hard to the ground. He managed to stay up but he noticed several ribs were cracked and his skin was ripped open on his unprotected parts, where his armour didn't reach. The dark side welcomed that pain and he released it into it.
The Sith ignited one of his blades and looked around. Stones reflected the red light and it seems as if he was alone. But that wasn't possible, since that bastard above had said something about a master. Was his brother involved in this? He had no time to think about it, when he heard something behind him, some meters away.
"Brother?" He asked. "Is that you?" He got no response. He could hear movement and shadows cast around him.
"Brother?" Still nothing. He hurried after these shadows and after several meters, the shadows stopped and merged together into a creature without any manifestation. It attacked him and furious about being fooled, Savage used his saber against it with such anger and hate, that the creature backed away and escaped.
The Zabrak hurried after it, swearing by his horns that this … thing would lead him to his older brother.
He ran as fast as he could and followed the creature deeper and deeper, not caring, where he was going.
He came to a halt when he saw fire shining behind a fall and by the flames shadows it clearly was a campfire someone was having. The amulet shone that bright and turned hot, it almost broke, so Savage took it off his neck.
He braced himself and with his lightsaber still ignited he stepped into the bunker.
The once feared Sith, Darth Maul was walking around in that little room like a caged animal, talking to himself and moving in a way, that wasn't normal or calm in any way Savage knew of him. Maul was grabbing his horns, which were long and broken and his claws digging into his skin so hard they drew blood.
"Brother!" Savage said and stepped closer, his lightsaber with him. He stopped when he saw his brothers lower half.
Where should have been his torso and legs, there was metal. Scrap surrounded him and it formed a spider like shape around him with eight matching, sharp legs out of wires and metal parts that were merged together by even more cables.
"Brother! Maul!" The Zabrak yelled and Maul looked at him for the first time.
His red eyes were blood shot and Savage could see the insane in them.
"I- I… I…have to… I have to.. kill! Yes! Kill him. Kill them all! Shame. Shame. Shame! I have to KILL" Maul stated and raged and when Savage made a step in his direction, his all time feared brother backed away and turned around, his many legs scraping over the ground.
"Maul what did they do to you?! Tell me!" The younger brother screamed and hissed in anger.
This was, what his brother had become?! His strong, fearless brother - a Sith in all but name?! The Jedi would have to pay for that with their own blood and even that wouldn't be enough. He would rip them apart and burn them all in pure hate!
Savage suddenly heard movement out of the other direction and saw Morley crawling out of the shadows.
The creature looked at him, eyes wide. Oh! I thought my master had killed you already, I-" He was cut off by Savage's hand that grabbed his throat. "Well, too late. Thought what? I would be dead? Pah! What did you do to keep my brother down here, in this dark place?! To make him suffer even more so you would live off by his suffering?!" Savage hissed and tightened his grip and Morley's body fell to the ground, lifeless.
He turned around to his brother. "Maul! I came here to safe you, to bring you back to reality! What do you want me to do? Do you seek revenge? -"
At the word revenge, Maul turned around and faster as anything he grabbed his brothers shoulders and eyed him, his long fingernails digging into Savages flesh it hurt but he didn't care at all.
"KENOBI. I want to - I need to kill Kenobi! He shall die. They all have to. He… he did this!" Maul grabbed his horns and tried to rip them out of his head.
"Brother, we will. You will seek revenge and I will help you."
"YES" Maul hissed through gritted teeth and turned to face Savage.
"But first…" Savage said. "… let me call Mother Talzin." With that he grabbed the amulet as fast as he could.
A green aura started to form around them and then suddenly the figure of Mother Talzin stood before them.
"My dearest night brothers. Savage, I believe you found what we all hoped you would. Now, Maul, come. My child, no fear - it will all come as you wish to be. Now, come" Mother Talzin spoke and Maul stalked towards her, his gaze unfocused.