Chapter Twenty-Two

Savage stepped out yet another door and found himself outside, in the breeze of Dathomir's winds. He had escaped the horrors of the pantheon but found himself a surprising distance from the temple he had once aided Talzin in ascending. No matter, I have come over greater distances than a few dozen meters he told himself. And indeed he had considering his galactic travels searching for his brother, serving Dooku, and fighting alongside Maul.

He decided to begin his walk toward the temple but not before noticing a puddle of water in his path. From the look of his environment, it had probably rained only moments ago which explained the reason for the sweet, watery smell. Since he was a child, he always had an interest in what reflections he would see in the puddle besides his own. But this time, it was his own that interested since he noticed a change that had likely happened during his travel in the pantheon: his eyes had become as orange as his brother's had been in their time together and the black pupil was almost non-existent.

There were even tiny red specks near the edges of the already orange orbs he used to see. He didn't think it meant anything but he decided he'd best check on his eyes next chance he got and saw if they got any worse. Or was this an improvement that he was looking at and not a fatal condition that would later kill him? It didn't matter so long as he had a chance to take his revenge against his grandmother before he went to the grave forever.

"Indeed you have improved from when we last met, boy. But sadly, it is not enough against my power," Claudiate said. "Funny, I defeated you without the improvement but now you say you're more powerful than me despite improvement on my part? Get realistic, would you please?" Maul retorted. "Oh but I am being realistic young one, I was brought back from Oblivion with far more power than I ever had facing you and that Jedi bitch Ophelia; and as I recall, you barely manage to hold your own last time we met," Claudiate replied.

"That's not how I remember it, actually, I remember using the power of the Dark Side to destroy you at Heraklion Prime. But of course, that was a desperate act on my part after Ophelia had been gutted with her own lightsaber," Maul stated. "Then allow me to refresh your memory of every single second of that final fight where you lost the woman of your dreams by my hand!" Claudiate shouted.

He grabbed Maul with the Force, dragged him across the hall, then grabbed his head, and electrocuted him with lightning. Though Maul's immunity to lightning kept him safe from harm, the visions that followed were unavoidable. Every single grueling moment from that confrontation on Heraklion Prime came flooding to the front of his mind, causing him to scream. It included the moment where Ophelia had been killed with her own lightsaber by Claudiate, the rage he had felt after lying helpless and watching slamming into his head like a tsunami.

It was then that Claudiate let him go in hopes of having made him bow down before him. But Maul examined the visions for a moment and realized something: Claudiate had twisted the truth of it around. Unlike what he had felt the first time the emotions stirred in the duel were amplified too much to be his own. He now knew what Claudiate's scheme was: to make him feel guilty and slay him with the power of the Dark Side again.

Rising back up to his feet, he took a deep breath and adjusted his lightsaber into an Ataru position. "Oh that's a new one for you, let's hope it serves you well," Claudiate stated. He went for the kill but Maul leapt over him and managed to slash Claudiate vertically up his back then turned around and prepared for the imminent retaliation. And as he anticipated, Claudiate wheeled around and hacked at him with both of his lightsabers and tried to force him into using the Dark Side.

But Maul kept up his vigil of Ataru as well as Soresu, something Claudiate had never even seen on Ophelia let alone his archrival. And just when Maul was about to attack for the first time in the entire duel, he noticed something happening to Claudiate. The combination of ancient Sith Lord and young scientist began to transform before Maul's eyes, bones cracking in his enemy's back, his hands morphing from Claudius' to Vitiate's. It was when the transformation was complete that Maul realized that Vitiate had cast his Claudius half and chose to fight as a fully resurrected Sith Lord instead of one trapped in Claudius' body.

"Now you die boy, for I have recovered my full strength as the Sith Emperor who once came so close to destroying the Republic only for it all to slip away from my grasp! I am truly Darth Vitiate, not that pathetic hybrid of myself and Claudius Draco, perhaps my greatest pawn," Vitiate said. "I will not fight you Sith Lord for I now realize why you're here before me," Maul said. "And why is that?" asked the fallen Emperor.

"Because you are the symbol of all my guilt: the more attention I give you, the more powerful you become. I will not fight you but rather, I will let you destroy yourself as Sith Lords inevitably do," Maul answered. "No, you will fight and kill me thus reclaiming your place in the Dark Side!" Vitiate demanded loudly. He attacked Maul with the lightsabers that had now turned red and Maul destroyed one of them in that first attempt at an attack.

Then he kicked Vitiate away and started to walk toward the gate that had been behind Vitiate at the beginning of the duel. "No foolish child, you will kill me and fall into darkness once more!" Vitiate shouted. But this time, Maul ignored him save to call him an illusion of the past sent to haunt him by the powers of the city. Vitiate cried out one last time before fading away at that comment, the action somehow causing the gate to swing open and reveal a portal of light Maul knew to step into immediately.

Smiling, Maul knew he had broken the Dark Side's hold over him and created a new destiny for himself. Now he knew where he was meant to be and knew that Dathomir was just the start in his new life. He was a knight of justice now but first he was something the Nightbrothers of Dathomir needed him to be: the Arras Käsi chosen to save them from destruction. And Maul would do just that as well as deliver them from the tyranny of the Nightsisters that ruled over them after defeating Talzin and the Snake Goddess.

"You cannot hope to defeat me here, Kycina! The power flowing within this city is too great for you to defeat me so long as I can draw on it for strength," Deimos warned. Kycina looked around, saw four pillars with red lights in them and guessed from the occasional run of electricity that struck Deimos that they were how he drew upon the city's power. Using the Force to conjure lightning, she subdued him long enough to whisper an incantation into her staff and hit the butt of it against the ground, causing four blasts of magic to shoot out and destroy the pillars simultaneously.

"Now you have no power with which to destroy me, give up now Deimos. While there is still honor in your name, give up this fight," Kycina begged. "Never!" Deimos replied before resuming his attack against Kycina. Kycina kept on the defensive long enough to observe her former mate and recognized that he was no illusion so much as a soul brought back from the Underworld and given substance in order to fight her.

She knew only one thing would have the ability to turn the man who had once loved her more than anyone against her: the corrupting influence of the Snake Goddess on this forsaken city. "Deimos do you not remember how we met? How we fell in love and produced two beautiful sons?" she asked. "I remember, why?" he asked her.

"Then surely you remember how you had survived the grueling Selection just to preserve your reputation. Don't you remember how I fought you originally to keep you in place with the rest of the Nightbrothers but fell in love with you instead?" she added. "No Kycina, do not even start there; all I desire to remember is that I was merely a shadow living under your great shadow," he replied. "How did I betray you love when I did nothing to you or our sons?" she asked him.

"You betrayed us all when you gave away your eldest son to that human who raised him to be a Sith Lord as pathetic as that may sound. When Talzin came down on our doorstep and separated us from each other and left the boys in my care, I knew what you had done!" Deimos answered. "I had no choice: I didn't know Savage was Force-sensitive nor did I want Maul to perish in the same manner you eventually would," Kycina told him, still hoping he'd listen to reason. Still Deimos kept up the attack, driving her back towards the door she had used to enter the room before seeing him and fighting him.

Now that Kycina knew for certain that Deimos would not listen to reason and was forever beyond hope, she knew what to do. She pushed him back, conjured a charm from her staff and threw it at Deimos' head without missing him. The staff glowed with the same orange light she had used when facing the damned souls in the tower and pointed it at Deimos. "Deimos, father of Savage, son of Mercury, and grandson of the head tribesmen of the Nightbrothers," she began.

"No, don't do this!" Deimos begged. "I release you from your suffering and send you back to your place in the Underworld. Goodbye forever my love, may you rest in peace as I can only hope to do," Kycina finished. Orange lightning began to surge in and on Deimos, throwing him to the ground and creating a portal back to the Underworld.

But not before Kycina came up to him and gave him a passionate kiss on his lips and saying goodbye. "I hope our son honors me by killing you and your other child slowly and painfully!" Deimos said. Then he fell through the portal and went back to the Underworld where he would remain for eternity. "Goodbye love, I hope we have a more peaceful reunion when my time comes to join you in the afterlife," Kycina replied shortly after the portal closed.

It was then that the gate ahead of her swung open and she headed towards the portal of light behind it. When the brief flash of light passed over her, she saw that she was back in the city, apparently in the aftermath of a rain storm considering the smell of moisture, and saw where she was. She realized she was very close to the temple and also saw her son Maul at the base of it, causing her to call out to him and to run toward him. He saw her and also ran toward her and soon the two were embraced in each other's arms, more than ecstatic to be reunited at last.

"Maul, where's your brother?" she asked after a moment of happy pause. "I don't know, we became separated after grandmother threw us off the tower and into the pantheons in the city," Maul admitted. "Well hopefully, he'll see the light and side with us when he catches up but I doubt that will happen. He won't serve her anymore but I don't think he'll fight with us for the same reasons we would have if at all," she said.

"I think that closes the matter of Savage for now, let's kick some ass now that we're back together again. After all, standing here and talking isn't going to get the job done and my lightsaber calls for her skin," he said. "I will do what I can to help you as far as magic goes but most of the real fighting may have to be your responsibility," she replied.

He nodded in understanding and together, mother and son ascended the stairs to the temple once more. This time though, they would not stop in their fight until they had killed Mother Talzin once and for all. Their fight would either save the universe or see its destruction but regardless of the consequences, they would try. For the sake of Dathomir's freedom from the Snake Goddess, they had to at least try.

With spear in hand, Talzin explored KaiSu Lak'Ton and found the place of the Goddess' rest. Smiling, she aimed her spear in throwing position and waited until she found a weakness in the seal. "Mother, I bid thee return to me," she said. Then she threw the spear and undid the seal.