Before I begin this chapter, I just wanna say thank you to all the people who have read this far. I've decided to dedicate this chapter to Mathew Stover, since about half the things that Darth Lycaon say were first written by him.
The landscape was nearly barren, except for a few plants growing out of the cliff face that resembled coral that one might find at the bottom of the ocean. The rocks themselves were rusted red, rich with iron and vulnerable to corrosion. There were oddly shaped rock formations, like pillars or arches, shaped by the erosion of the wind and the sand. A Boy came flying over a mound of red stone. He landed hard on his side in the dirt on the cliff edge. if he hand went any farther, he would have gone straight off the cliff and into the chasm. The boy stood up and brushed dirt off his suite. he was wearing black shorts with white trim and steel toed shoes. he was wearing a sleeveless shirt with a collar that concealed the bottom half of his face. he had white and black fingerless gloves that went from his hand to just below elbow. there were training weights tied to his long gloves that weighed him down.
The Boy panted at he turned around to see the Monster that had been chasing him pull itself over mound of stone. It's torso was a shapeless blob, and it had no head. All the Monster seamed to be was a bundle of tentacle. Black, whip-like Tentacles with bone spikes extruding from beneath the flesh. The monster was a Vaapad, the Legendary creature of countless tentacles, and it wanted him for dinner. It raised it's thorny tendril and, blindingly fast, brought it down on the boy. But his reflexes were quick, and he sidestepped the blow as the tentacle buried itself in the dirt.
His hair was spiky, and black as the space between the stars. The boy's eyes were red. They did not glow red, but rather, the color of the iris was red.
Three more tentacle whips were raised into the air, then disappeared out of human sight as they came at him. But the Boy was still too fast. He ducked under the first whip, and felt one of the bone spikes near shave the crown of his head. Another whip came down, too low to duck under, so he leapt up and flipped sideways over it. The third came at him straight like a spear, intent on impaling him. Once he landed on his feet, the Boy bent his back backwards to avoid the straightened Tentacle. It went over him, then recoiled back. The boy, who looked about 16 years of age, decided to run.
The stone archways made a good bridge to cross the chasm over, but the Vaapad was in hot pursuit. The Vaapad's tentacles became one big blur as it slashed away at the red stone. It ripped the archway to rubble, cutting into the stone directly behind the Boy's heals. He could feel the wind of the swipes, and he felt the debris pelting against his legs and back. He knew that if he didn't go faster, he would be ripped to shreds in an instant.
A change in direction was in order, so he decided to leap off the stone arch altogether. He landed against a rusted stone wall and ran along it sideways, as if defying gravity, but he was only able to hold his footing for a few brief seconds before leaping off that as well.
The Boy crashed into a sandy slope and slid down until he found himself in a large deposition of sand. The Monster came crashing down Focused on the kill. a massive dust cloud formed, and when it subsided, the Vaapad rose out of it and shook off the dust. The beast saw it's prey lying face down in the sand. The monster sent another straightened Tentacle at him, but the Boy leapt up at the last second and twisted around, slicing off the pointed tip of the tentacle with his glowing red blade.
The beast let out a heart stopping screech in pain as it recoiled it's injured tentacle. The boy turned his red lightsaber over in his hand, holding it backwards. He couldn't escape from this beast without making himself vulnerable, so he would have to kill it. The monster raised all of it's offensive tentacles, as if realizing that the hunt was drawing to a close. In a sudden moment of clarity, the Boy realized that the Vaapad had exactly 28 tentacles. it was using six tentacles to stand, and it had 22 tentacles raised in attack. Then those 22 tentacles all blurred out of sight.
He let his combat training take over, and his own blade became a blur. Purple blood flew through the air as the beast clashed against his weapon. He ducked and parried blows, but the lightsaber was the ultimate defense. The Vaapad tried to stretch it's tentacles around and attack him from behind, but he would not give the monster an inch. He began advancing on the beast, cutting and slashing into it's onslaught. Finally the Vaapad withdrew. It's tentacles were severed stumps, gushing with purple blood. The Boy himself was covered in its purple blood.
"AHA!" He shouted with confidence. "No one's eating me today!"
Then, quick as lightning, a tendril shot up out from beneath the red sand and wrapped itself around the boy's throat in an instant.. The rest of the Tentacle rose out of the sand and raised him into the air. The remaining tentacles began to wrap around him as well. He slashed at them with his weapon, but a particularly thorny tendril wrapped around his arm and twisted it, causing the lightsaber to fall to the rusty sands below. The Tentacles tied him up like a cocoon, until the only visible part of him was his head. The boy was able to see the Monster's gaping maw up close; it was like a fleshy tunnel, lined with huge, jagged, rotting teeth. An it emitted a foul odor, similar to the smell of corpses. He also spotted about a dozen freakish yellow eyes surrounding the mouth. They were arranged haphazardly around the mouth in every direction.
The monster was about to Shove him down it's throat when a second red bar of energy blasted out through the fleshing encasing. The Boy brought his second lightsaber up and spun it around, obliterating his bindings as he spun in the air. He fell to the sand and crouched down. His first lightsaber flew into his hand and he held them both at his sides.
"Come get some!" The Boy shouted as he launched himself at the Vaapad.
Atop a tall pillar pillar stood a humanoid being, overlooking the battle between the Boy and the Beast. This being had a smooth sliver mask with reflective black lenses over his eyes. There was a laser pointer over his left eye, and a plasma cannon on his shoulder. Long tendrils hung from his head like dreadlocks. His chest and forearms were encased in armor, but his muscular biceps were wrapped in a fishnet like material, and his grey-green skin was visible there. The Man entered a code into his wrist mounted computer, activating his cloaking device. His body became completely transparent as the field he emitted bent the light around him. soon every last bit of him was invisible, the last think to be seen were his eye lenses, which flicked out of existence in a blue flash.
The boy was lost in his battle. He lost himself to the violence, lost himself to the killing. He tore into the monster's flesh, and soon he was blinded by the gore. but he kept going, relying on the Force to guide his blade. He sands ran maroon with the spilt blood. He didn't even know when he had killed it. All that he knew was that, once he had come out of his trance, The scattered shards of the mangled Vaapad lay all around him. He sat on a lump of blubber-like flesh and deactivated his twin lightsabers. His weapons on his belt and his hands between his knees, He sat and contemplated his actions. Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. in an instant, His blade made contact with another. He looked and saw that he had made contact with a disembodied Red saber. There was only the glowing blade, not even the handle could be seen.
then the very air itself seamed to contort, like a could of heat. The man with the dreadlock tentacles appeared before him, And the boy noticed that his blade would have cut through the Man's throat if it had not been stopped. He was getting better.
"I see that you have succeeded in killing the Vaapad, Mordred." Said the Man. "but you have not done it gracefully."
The Boy named Mordred dropped to his knees. " I am sorry, Master Lycaon."
"Come now. There is no time to grovel." The Yautja man told him. "The Morlocks will be opening the wormhole soon. Follow me to the waterfall so that we may prepare for our return home."
The Yautja man strode up the bloody sandy slope, and Mordred followed.
They walked through the desert towards an oasis, that could barely be seen off in the distance. "listen now, my apprentice." Darth Lycaon said from under his mask. Mordred looked up, a purple smear still on his face. The Dark is Generous."
"Generous?" Mordred asked, the powerful sun beating down on his head. "How so?"
"It's first gift is comforting illusion. The ease of gentle dreams in night's embrace." Lycaon told him as they passed under the shadow of a massive boulder, relieving Mordred of the burning heat. "But the greatest of it's comforts is the illusion that the dark is temporary, that every nigh brings a new day. Because it is Day that is temporary. Day is the illusion."
They made it to the Oasis, and just in time. The insectiod vultures had been following them after they ate the Vaapad, and they expected them to drop at any moment. Once they made it under the cover of the coral like trees, the vultures gave up their pursuit.
"The second gift is concealment. Our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. but the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, But in hiding from the truths of others."
They found the water, and Mordred washed the blood off his body in the waterfall while Lycaon made a fire and boiled water for the soup. When Mordred returned to the camp, Lycaon told him more about the darkness.
"The Dark is Eternal." He said. "It is everywhere. It is in the wood that burns in the fire, and the kettle over that fire. It is under chairs and under tables. It is under the sheets that you sleep in at night. Walk under a sun, and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet. The brightest light casts the darkest shadows."
"It is the Dark that seeds Cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt. The dark is always waiting behind the Star that gives the light. The Dark's patience is infinite. eventually, even Star's burn out."
Mordred dug into his soup as he listened to Darth Lycaon's lecture.
"But hear this, my boy, and hear it well. One lone candle, a single spark, a single glowing ember is enough to hold the darkness back. True, the Darkness is superior to the lone candle, and the candle can easily be snuffed out, but a lone candle cane light others, and before you know it, We, the Sith, are blinded by the glare.
We can never win until every light is blown out. For every candle that is still lit, is a failure. And even when Darkness consumes all, there is still the chance that the light will return all on it's own."
Mordred stared at him. Lycaon had taken off his mask, and he chewed at a raw steak that he had saved from a hunt earlier. He mandibles dug into the meat, and Mordred asked. "what? How? How could the Light, The Jedi, How could they return if we eradicate them?"
"There is Light and Darkness within every soul, but you know what brings the light to it's fullest potential? Love. Love is more then a candle. Love can ignite the stars."