SAVAGE OPRESS

Savage was quite confused.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw was a very unusual sight. He was on some weird, ancient ritual site, instead of the landing site he remembered being on. He was laying on the ground not far from the center of the site, giving him a great view at what was happening.

He saw his brother, Maul, laying on some stone altar, unharmed,but still unconscious. He was surrounded by many people, both familiar and not. He instantly recognized Mother, who was standing over Maul, waiting for something. There was a mysterious dark sider standing close to her. He was wearing an intricate mask, hiding his whole face. The fact that the man was obviously powerful in the force and that the last thing he remembered was seeing him meant he was probably the one responsible for Savage's and Maul's state.

He didn't have time to get angry at the man, as he saw who else was present. Little farther from Maul were various Nightsisters, who were watching the situation in silence, apparently unconcerned by this whole situation. He was able to spot Asajj Ventress among them, which ignited his fury. This pathetic wretch! She dared to show on Dathomir again?!

He stood up, full of rage. He would show her that coming there was a mistake! He would make her pay for what she did!

Everyone looked at him, noticing his movement. Most of the nightsisters were looking at him with scorn, something he was already used to, so he ignored it for now. Ventress was looking at him with the same hatred he was feeling himself, though she didn't take a battle stance, instead just watching him silently. It confused him, though the reason for this became obvious when He saw Mother Talzin. Her gaze was hard, as she watched him silently with a vague threat in her eyes, indicating she wouldn't tolerate any violence there.

Savage calmed down. He still wouldn't forgive Ventress, but he knew that displeasing Mother wouldn't be wise. He knew he would have his chance later. For now his brother was a bigger priority. He slowly approached Maul and his mother, trying to understand the situation. When he reached them, a previously silent dark sider spoke up.

"Finally, we were waiting for you," Man in the mask said. His voice was cheerful, which felt completely out of place, considering the situation, making Savage cautious. He wondered why the man was even there. Would Mother really let some outsider stay in their village? "We can finally start the ritual"

Ritual? Did they plan to do something to Maul? Savage growled. He wouldn't let anyone hurt his newfound brother!

"Calm yourself" Said Mother, apparently already expecting such a reaction "as you know, Maul is...confused and hurt. We merely want to bring him back to normal" She was right. That was why they traveled to Dathomir. He was a fool to doubt Mother. She already helped him find Maul, so it wouldn't make sense for her to hurt him now. Hovewer he still didn't know who the newcomer was and he wasn't stupid enough to trust someone from outside Dathomir. He learned this lesson with Dooku.

"Who are you?" He growled, looking at the outsider, with a clear threat of violence in his eyes. The Man didn't give any reaction to this, seemingly not intimidated by Savage. It probably shouldn't surprise him though. This man was able to incapacitate Savage and Maul at once. Of course Mail wasn't in the right mind, making him weaker than he was before, but he was still more powerful than Savage. Person capable of defeating them would have to be extremely powerful.

Not that outsider's strength mattered. He would kill him, if he were to hurt his brother.

"This is Darth Imperius, our new ally," said Mother. What? That couldn't be right, he was an outsider! His rage must have shown on his face, as Mother continued "He saved the village from the destruction. If not for him, general Grievous would have razed it to the ground. I will not tolerate any disrespect towards him. Do you understand?" Her voice carried an obvious threat. Was she truly serious? He saw remains of the separatist fleet during their journey to the Dathomir, but was this so-called Imperius responsible for this? How powerful someone had to be to do something like that?

He was dubious, but he then spotted a proof that Mother was telling the truth. Some distance away from the ritual sight, General Grievous, limbless and unconscious, was laying on the ground. His armor was badly damaged, making his remaining organic parts visible. He was worked on by some unknown Twi'lek woman, who tried to attach some B1-series droid limbs to his body, though without much success. Savage almost couldn't believe his eyes. Did they really capture the fearsome leader of the confederacy's forces?

He looked at the sith lord. The Man was at ease, even when surrounded by Mother, Ventress, nightsisters and Savage. This sort of attitude meant that he was either ridiculously strong or simply mad. He didn't really want to test which option was correct.

"I understand," he said, not wanting to cause another conflict when his brother was not well yet. He would consider his next steps after solving the current problem.

"Good, then let's begin" Stated mother before starting to cast the spell. Green light surrounded Maul, lifting him in the air. His robotic lower body disassembled, falling on the ground. Then Savage noticed that Grievous' artificial legs, looking like they were ripped from his body, started to float towards Maul. Then, these legs attached themselves to Maul, replacing the previous lower body. Process took several minutes, but soon Maul's legs looked like they were part of his body, seamlessly fusing with organic half.

"Did you really need to remove the spider legs? They were cool! And they would be great for intimidation purposes!" Whined Darth Imperius. Mother ignored him completely, instead focusing on Maul. There was still much to do, as Maul's mind was the real problem, not his legs. He lost his sanity after his defeat against the jedi master, leaving him insane. It was the main reason why Savage brought Maul to Dathomir. To restore his mind.

Knowing that, Mother moved to Maul's head, raising her hand. She then did something, as Maul started to scream, now awake and seemingly in pain. Some black smoke started to leave his head and gather at Mother's hand. Judging by Maul's reaction, it apparently was an incredibly painful process. Fortunately after several minutes the ritual was finished. Maul fell on the ground, while Mother threw concentrated darkness to the side, letting it disperse.

Savage slowly approached Maul, wanting to see if everything worked as intended. As if sensing his approach, Maul opened his eyes.

"Brother" Savage whispered, hoping that Maul was finally well. He didn't want all his hard work to be in vain.

His brother looked at him, before violently grabbing his face with his hand. For a second Savage worried that the ritual didn't work, but then something must have sparked in Maul's mind, as he released him and replied with a small smile.

"Brother," said Maul. Then his previous happiness vanished, replaced by a barely restrained fury. He slowly stood up, still not completely used to his new legs, ignoring or not noticing other people surrounding them. "I remember everything! I remember that worm, Obi-wan Kenobi! I remember the suffering he subjected me to! It is all his fault! It will not end like this! I will have my revenge!" He was starting to shout, overwhelmed by his emotions. He raised his hand into the air and clenched his fist "I will have my vengeance! I will..."

He wasn't able to say anything more as he was slapped in the face so hard that he was thrown in the air by the force of the blow. He hit one of the stone pillars, violently stopping his flight, before sliding to the ground. Maul found himself sitting on the ground, leaning on the pillar, completely stunned by the unexpected assault.

Savage looked at the person responsible. Darth Imperius was standing there, his hand still not lowered after the initial slap, hovering in the air. Ignoring shocked looks everyone was giving him, he loudly exclaimed.

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted, for some reason extremely angry. He then started to walk towards Maul, still talking. Savage moved to intercept him, but he was stopped by Mother's warning look. "I am done with all this edgy, rebellious phase of all of you! First Ventress, now you? Put yourself together instead of bitching about someone being mean to you! I once had to deal with a fucking body hijacker in my head and I wasn't even half as whiney as you!" He was now standing in front of Maul, waiting for his response.

"How dare you! I am..." Maul started to stand up, furious, but he was silenced with another slap coming from Imperius, making him hit the ground again. It clearly showed a difference in strength between two siths. It didn't seem to discourage Maul from trying though.

"I will..."

Slap

"Stop this..."

Slap

"...I..."

Slap.

"..."

Finally Maul fell silent, apparently deciding that arguing further wasn't worth getting slapped again. Seeing that, Kallig turned to Mother.

"This is how you deal with rebellious children, Talzin," He said.

No one said anything, too shocked by this development.

ADAS KALLIG

Two days after the ritual ended, we were ready to leave Dathomir. We already got allies and I got a new robot and a new apprentice. I probably should explain the last one.

After seeing Maul's violent outburst, I decided that leaving him alone would lead to a lot of trouble in the future, if not for me, then for Talzin. I didn't know who his previous master was, but the guy was obviously too emotional. Don't get me wrong, emotions were quite important for a sith, source of our power and all that, but the point was to control your emotions and use them. He was letting them rule him, which was quite a grave mistake. Many sith in my time were doing the same thing like him, making them constantly angry and almost feral. It never ended well for them.

In short, Maul looked like someone who would die young.

That was why I decided to take him under my wing. Leaving him on Dathomir wouldn't be a good idea as Talzin would just reinforce his bad habits, which wouldn't end well for anyone involved.

Negotiations with Talzin were quite long and tense, as she didn't want to let go of her beloved son, who finally returned to her after all these years, but I was somehow able to convince her. She wanted the best for her son after all and learning from me would be a great opportunity for Maul. He would also be quite safe, as opposed to staying in the village.

He was already in my ship, recovering from his injuries (His fault, not mine). Satine was with him, wanting to talk to him, as they apparently had a common friend or something like that. I was quite glad they became friends so quickly. Satine probably needed a friendly face on board, the same as Maul.

I was on the landing site, saying goodbye to my new allies. Mother Talzin, Asajj and Talzin's other son, Savage, were there.

It was decided that Savage would lead nightbrothers, as he was the strongest one among them and was a moderately powerful force user. Nightsisters were quite surprised when I suggested that Savage should train the rest of them to unlock their force potential, but I didn't know why. Doing that would increase the Village's strength significantly. Maybe nightsisters thought nightbrothers wouldn't agree to that? Were Zabrak males that prideful?

Well, it didn't matter that much and Talzin promised me they would think about it, so it wasn't much of a problem. I wasn't really a part of their village and they would act as they saw fit.

Asajj on the other hand decided to join nightsisters again, now a full member of the group. From what I understood, things were still tense between Ventress and other members, but I was sure the situation would improve in the future. And even if it didn't, I had an idea what to do with her, though it would take time before the position I had in mind would become available for her.

"I want to thank you for your hospitality, Talzin. Your planet was quite a pleasant surprise. I will try to visit it as soon as possible" I said, completely serious. Dark side, gigantic monsters and necromancers? I couldn't imagine a better vacation spot!

"I am glad to hear it" she said, though I couldn't say if she was sad or happy after hearing my declaration. She had quite a poker face. I could only hope she enjoyed my stay as much as I did "So, where do you plan to go next?" She said, interested about my intentions.

"Well, I will take it slow for a while. Maybe I will do that lecture I was promised?" I said, thinking about her question. Lecture would take place on Coruscant, which would also help me achieve some additional objectives.

I could reward my followers for completing their task by letting them relax, attend some forms of entertainment and buy something nice for themselves. Both Maul and Satine looked like they needed to blow some steam. They were so tense. Their common friend, Obi-Wan, was also there, so maybe they would be able to meet with him.

I would also try to find some decent mechanic to repair Grievous. Leila gave him some makeshift limbs as a replacement for his old ones, but it wouldn't do in the long-term. Yes, Coruscant sounded great. "I will spend some time on Coruscant. Then, we will see"

"I see, then I wish you good luck" Talzin responded. "Dathomir will await your next visit"

With these words, my visit to Dathomir was over. I boarded my ship after saying my last goodbyes and set the course to Coruscant.