The ship has landed on the outskirts of Randin and as I stepped out the door, pulling my cloak hood over my head, the Zan-Deer looked at me in shock and fear. I walked quietly through the village as everyone backed out of my way. Even Rooda, recognizing my face, stepped back.
"Eyt, what happened to you?" She looked down at my outfit, then at my face. "You're not- you."
"Oh, Rooda," I chuckled, "I'm more me than I've ever been." I kept walking to the Chief Hall, and once I entered through the sliced curtain. Two Zan-Deer bucks, the same that held me back when I was dishonored, stepped in front of me. I Force threw one to the back wall with enough strength to knock him through it. I held out my hand to the other, clenching my fist, strangling the other and sending him to his knees. I watch as Chief Tzano, partially recovered from our last encounter, entered the room and stared at me.
"What is the meaning of this?" He glared at me.
I raised my hooded head and revealed my face to the chief.
"Eyt-" he murmured in fear. "If this is about the "Warrior" thing, I'm sorry." His chair started backing away as I slowly walked closer. "It's just our tradition, remember?"
I snarled at him and pulled a lightsaber from my belt. I ignited its crimson blade.
"You're right. Tradition. Well, I'm no longer a believer in your pathetic traditional ways." I pointed the blade at his neck. "I should thank you, however, because now I am a more powerful warrior than you have ever seen." Two Zan-Deer enter behind me, to try to help Tzano and I Force shoved them against the wall with my hand behind my back. The old chief whimpered in fear as I pulled my other lightsaber out and held both blades at the sides of his neck. I glare at the chief and as my anger for him rises, my eyes become the color of the Dark Side and when I pull my hood off my head, I revealed my new antler-sabers and the ignite, sensing my anger.
I let the chief catch this last glimpse a few more seconds when I say the last few words he will ever hear.
"Because of you, the most respected warrior in the whole desert has now become one with the Dark Side of the Force. And I'm not Eyt anymore. Now, I am Darth Venison, mighty Sith Warrior."
"Eyt-" he pleas.
I firmly held the blades near his neck, both crossed at his throat, and move the blades in a scissor-like motion, decapitating and killing Tzano. I walked into the back room as I hear his head roll on the floor. I searched for my Warrior's loincloth and I chuckle when the buck laying in the pile of debris from the wall try to get up. I walked over to him and stepped on his chest.
"Where is it?" I snarled at him.
He pointed at the table in the corner of the room and whimpered in fear. I walked over to the table and grabbed it off the table. I turned to the buck as I folded up the loincloth and tucked it under my belt.
"I want you to make it clear to everyone that I'm not the same Warrior you fired. Now I am more powerful. Here on Zant, I have more power than anyone. Down here, I'm God." I picked up Tzano's severed head by his antlers and walked out of the Chief Hall. Immediately the Zan-Deer gather and stare in horror as I throw the chief's head into the ground.
"I have come back to strike fear into the hearts of all. The old chief is dead. He has caused a great dishonor to me. And now, because of him, I have become the the most powerful warrior in the history of Zant. I am-" I pulled my good off my head and the antler-sabers on my head all ignited in unison, "-Darth Venison, the Zan-Deer Lord of the Sith." I turn to Rooda as she backs away from me in fear. "Rooda, I ask you to join me, as my apprentice. Join me, and together we will rule Zant as the most powerful Zan-Deer in the galaxy." I held out my hand to her, to see if she would take it, and conform to the Dark Side. To join her lost Eyt. "We will triumph over our enemies. We will protect Zant's way of life. We will be unstoppable and no one would dare to try and overthrow us as the rulers of this planet. What do you say?"
I watched her as she hesitated, just sitting down on her knees, thinking. Then she looked up at me, nodding.
"Lord Venison," she stood up on her hoofed feet. "We warriors train together." She grabbed my hand and then looked at the Zan-Deer villagers. "I still have a tradition to keep." She smirked as she held her fingers crossed behind her back. She's thinking about our time on Coruscant, when we had to share a room and slept still wearing our cloth. The time where she broke the rules.
We watched as one Zan-Deer villager kneel on one knee. Slowly, others started kneeling down to us and the whole village respected us for who we are now.
"Good," I smirked. "But, Rooda, you cannot be trained here. I know somewhere, and someone, that will help teach you the Force. Give you the ability to feel everything. Then you'll see what I have seen within the last days."
"All right," she nodded her head submissively, looking to the ground. "I'll go with you." I put my hand under her chin and got her to look at me. "Have faith, Rooda. Once you are trained, we will once again share the same power." I watched her eyes drift to my ship. "You want to say goodbye before you go with me?" She shook her head.
"It would be too much. Too sad for everyone." She walked straight to the ship and I followed her in, closing the door behind me. I sat down in the pilot seat and started the ship, slowly picking it up, and charging a flight back to Hoth.
"You're upset." I looked to her as I fly over Randin. "Why? Is it them?"
"I worry, what if something kills them while we're gone?" She turned to me. "Our family, our friends."
"Our families don't look out for each other anymore and we're each other's only friend." The ship left the atmosphere of Zant and I get the ship to enter lightspeed. "Hoth is different though. There it's quiet, and empty, lonely. Other then my master, Lord Sorin. He has taught me everything about the Force. Everything that Rakine failed in." I chuckle and look back to reassure her. "Everything will be fine now. It may be the Dark Side and we might as well now be evil" I fold both my fingers when I say the word "evil", "But we're still powerful warriors. And as long as we are warrior, we can't lose. That's why I came back to Zant. I was a terrifying power. We can protect the Zan-Deer and intimidate any of our opponents. So I want you to join me and you will soon grow more power than you have had before." The ship slows down and Hoth draws nearer and nearer. "There it is Roo. Hoth." I flew the ship closer to the atmosphere, and I look to Rooda.
"Is that all snow?"
"Hoth is a large icy mass. It is empty and desolate. Only me and my master are here now. It is where I've been trained in the Dark Side. You might love it here. It's nice and quiet, and the best part is-" The ship flew down to the snowy landscape and tauntauns roam the snowy fields. "Your favorite hunting prey. Tauntauns." Rooda stared out the window, a smile on her face. Tauntaun meat was her favorite since she was a Zan-Deer fawn, back when she roamed Zant's mountainous tundra alone. She says that's where she learned to hunt down the large beasts. How she became one the most vicious of the Zan-Deer desert Warriors.
"This is perfect, Eyt," She look at me. "I loved the snow and tauntauns as a fawn. I think this place might be better than I thought. Where is this Sorin though?"
"Right there," I landed the ship just outside the cave and opened the door leading out into the snow. Rooda got out of her seat and ran out in the middle of the snow. She sighed happily, held her arms out at her sides, and spun around, dancing in the snow. She fell back and rolled in the snow and laughed, just like back wen she was younger. I couldn't help but chuckle, walk out, and watch her. I felt Lord Sorin arriving through the Force and motion for Rooda to get up.
"He is coming." I watch her stand up and wipe the snow off her soft fur. I watch the large metal doors open into the cave entrance and Lord Sorin walk out into the snow.
"Welcome home, Lord Venison. I'm sure your trip was productive." He grins as he walks by me, then turns to Rooda. "And who might you be?"
"She is another warrior. My partner, Rooda. I hope her presence is no trouble."
"No trouble at all. But if you're going to teach her the Force, I should tell you about the Rule of Two-" He stops mid sentence and stays there thinking, If something about it was stuck on his mind. "Nevermind. It isn't important. We can train her. But there is a problem." He stopped and closed his eyes, feeling the Force through Rooda.
"What is it?" I closed my eyes and felt Rooda in the Force. I knew now what he felt. Rooda isn't as Force-sensitive as I. Only a tiny vibration.
"It will be difficult to train her the full Force. Force jumping and Force shoving is possible, but I can arrange for her to be trained with lightsaber combat."
"I am an excellent acrobat." Rooda chuckled. "And my lightspear is my best weapon." She held it in her hands, ignited both blades and twirled it in the air above her head, with one hand. She began practicing methods of combat with it, performing offensive and defensive maneuvers each time I swing one of my crimson blades.
"Is it?" He looked at her, both unamused and worried. "Your blades are too short to fight with. A double-sided weapon is good, but perhaps you should learn of the saberstaff."
I took my two curved lightsabers and stuck the pommel ends together, connecting into a saberstaff. I ignited the blades and Rooda stared in awe.
"That's a saberstaff?" She asked.
"That's amazing. This is a weapon for fighting?" I asked him.
"It is." Sorin nodded. "And you can learn to use them." Rooda took the saberstaff from my hand, handed me her lightspear, and came to me, practicing on me with the saberstaff. She becomes aggressive and with each swing, I can barely block each attack. She uses the saberstaff to knock her lightspear out of my hands and onto the ground, she swept one leg under my feet and knocked me to the ground, holding one blade at me and looking at Lord Sorin.
"See? I can fight." She deactivated the saberstaff and handed it to me and she picked up her lightspear.
"Very well," Sorin rubbed his head. "Come inside. It's too cold out here. We can continue talking in there." He motioned us to the underground base and stopped to point at my ship. "That should be stored here in the hangar. There is enough room for it there." He pushed a button on a control panel on the wall and large metal doors opened to a hangar. I walked back out to the ship and started it, to rest it in the hangar, to avoid detection from others or to be buried in the snow. When I came out of the hangar and closed up the base entrance, I saw Rooda sitting down at a fire, rubbing her hands together, and warming up by the flames.