Intent - Part 1

This was nothing like Dathomir. Maul awoke to find himself in a metal room, and it was so hot here. He didn't know where he was, nor what happened to the man in the black cloak. Despite trying to escape once he was on the ship, the Sith as he was apparently called if what he had heard in the temple was correct.

He felt anger bubble in his chest. The image of Zaiya reaching and screaming his name burned in his mind. The golden amulet around his neck tingled slightly. He would have to keep it safe, keep it hidden, it was the most important this he had ever owned. It connected him to his… friend. Yes, she was his friend. She had tried to save him from wherever he was now. She was kind to him in a place of cold indifference. He had to get back there.

He didn't know what to do at first, he couldn't see beyond this room, no matter how hard he hit the heavy door it wouldn't move. It was only when he decided to try the invisible magic that the door dared to move. It shuddered and groaned, but eventually he was able to lift it high enough that the boy could slip out from under it. He shuffled out and found himself in a hallway. The metal was dark and the hall was dimly lit… but there were windows out here, and he could see what looked like… fire? Black rocky cliffs and… a river of fire. He had never seen anything like this before. But what caught his attention was a face! He stumbled back, startled but noticed the face in the window did too, disappearing as his back hit the wall. With a frown, he stepped forward again and the face came into view again. It looked back at him with wide blue-grey eyes and… it was red and black like his arms were. He moved his hand and then the figure in the window moved too.

Wait…

He jumped. So did the face. He waved, the person on the other side did too. Suddenly he realised he was looking at himself reflected in the glass. He had never seen his own face before, he'd never had a mirror. He looked at the little horns poking out from his head, they were not nearly as big as they felt, and the markings on his arms and chest and legs were on his face too. He stared for a long while.

This is what she called pretty?! He frowned and tore his gaze away from the reflection, this wasn't the time. That cloaked man could be anywhere. With bare feet padding along warm metal, he made his way down the hall. He crept along carefully, on edge and unsure. He rounded a corner and spotted a staff in the middle of the floor. What was that doing there? He approached carefully and picked it up. This might help if he needed to defend himself. But why was it just lying there…? He heard a click and looked up sharply. Suddenly a panel opened and a creature appeared, crawling out from it. It tapped and clicked and… seemed to be made of metal? It had six legs and a pod-like body, and one huge eye in the middle of its head. Maul backed away quickly but the creature seemed to lock onto him and began to follow. Swiftly. The boy wasn't going to stand around to be eaten by some giant metal bug, he bolted, his feet thudding on the metal as he dashed back to take the other hall and get away from this thing. He nearly slipped, skidding around the corner so fast he was nearly horizontal. His hearts pounding in his chest as he tried to put distance between himself and the spider-creature. He didn't have the luxury of being able to scout the areas ahead and jut had to hope there wasn't something worse behind one of these doors. The thing's thundering steps gained on him, stomping on the floors… as the boy reached a split in the path, one corridor to the left, one to the right. Suddenly the sound stopped for a second and he was just quick enough to stop as it dropped in front of the right path. He bolted down the left. There was a door down the end and without thought he extended a hand, forcing it to open using the magick before he got to it. It opened up into a huge room, and he knew he would not be able to run forever. With the ground he had made, he stopped in the middle of the room and spun on his heel, staff raised in his hands, ready to defend himself against the strange creature, it was too fast, he would likely have to kill it to be able to get away, and hope there weren't more. He held the staff at the ready, the creature skittered toward him alarmingly fast. He had never seen anything like it on Dathomir before, and wasn't sure of it's weak spot, but, as the Nightbrother training the young ones had told him.

When in doubt, go for the eyes. So that is what he would do. Maul was fast, sweeping the staff at the creature's legs, it stumbled but did not fall. He jabbed, trying to strike it's 'face' but it snatched his staff and sent it clattering across the floor. The boy dove to the opposite side to avoid a second leg being slammed into him, and tumbled to the floor with a cry. He had to get the staff! He scampered along the metal floor, his blue grey eyes desperately looking for a way out. The creature kicked out at him, connecting with his ribs and sending the boy sprawling away. He let out a groan and shook his head to clear it. His face scrunched up in anger, he let out a growl in anger and as he pushed himself to his feet, spotted the staff by him. He picked it up swiftly and faced the creature with a roar of pure anger. He launched at the thing with a sudden burst of speed and knocked the two legs that came at him aside, he pushed out with the invisible magic and it buckled, part of it's metal head indented from the force. He struck it once, twice, before jamming the staff into the bulbous dark eye on the front of its head. There was a spark of electricity… then it stopped moving, the legs locked up and it dropped into a heap on the floor, lifeless. He panted, his shoulders and chest heaving. He lashed out to kick it, but it didn't budge. Good. With a sneer, he turned away but froze in place as he heard a high crackling voice from behind him.

"Good, most impressive my new apprentice." Maul's eyes locked onto that cloaked figure that he had seen before. The one his mother had called Sidious. Maul readied his staff, and the man just laughed. "You have good instincts, child, now tell me… you wish to be more powerful, isn't that right?" Maul blinked, eyes narrowing. How did he know that?

"I know many things, boy, and I know how to use the most powerful Force in the Galaxy. I can make you so powerful that mere droids will be barely an inconvenience." He gestured to the metal creature behind the child. It was tempting… he could become powerful, then he could return and he could be the one to take Zaiya and his brothers from Dathomir…? "You can make anything happen, apprentice, all you have to do is obey me." Anything? He could do anything? This was the plan, was it not? To grow strong? To get better? So they could see the stars? Bathe in the beautiful starlight like she had said? Saying nothing, the child looked over the man and nodded. He would do it. He would become strong. For the starlight.


The days did not get easier after that one, every crimson dawn on Dathomir seemed more empty without Maul. Zaiya's outlook changed after that day, where she had been more relaxed with training her magick, now she threw herself into it, trying to build her power higher and greater. Once she could connect further to the ichor, she would be able to summon powerful magicks, and when she was deeply connected to the planet, she would be able to take the trials. To become a true Nightsister, and to earn her crimson robes, displaying her victory to all the others. Then it would be her mission to leave Dathomir and find Maul. She swore it to Mother Talzin, and more so to herself. She would take vengeance on the monster that would steal a child. She would right the wrongs of being so foolish as to bring him to the village with her.

During the days she trained in magick and combat with her sisters, and in the evenings, she stayed with Savage and Feral, singing to them, finding that it calmed them far easier than anything the other sisters did to quiet them.

They grew, and as they were so young, their memories of their eldest brother faded, it was up to Zaiya to keep his memory safe in them. She made sure to tell them about him, how he was the strongest there was and he was stolen by a Sith. She told them of the dream they had, of the wish to venture the galaxy, to see the stars. That they would become stronger than anyone and no one would be able to tell them what to do.

"So you have to go strong too, right?" She told them, when they were old enough to talk and understand. She showed them the amulet, broken in half, a secret that only the three of them could know.

"Will brother definitely come back?" Feral asked, eyes bright, his tattoos a reddish hue in comparison to Savage's dusty black, it was almost like a memory for his eldest brother, making Zaiya smile everytime she looked at him. He was the youngest, and smaller than Savage but bright and hopeful, he was the best at calming Savage's temper tantrums, and managed to follow in Zaiya's steps in making people around him smile.

"Definitely." She nodded, "I will go and get him myself!" She chuckled, smiling brightly, the thought was painful every time she let herself dwell on it, but for the sake of these two, she smiled.

"How?" Savage asked with a frown, "Do you have a ship?" Therein laid a problem she had thought of before, Maul had been taken by the Dark Lord on his ship. It was rare that outsiders' ships arrived on Dathomir, though it was not impossible.

"Don't you worry, I just have to get stronger and train my powers so that I can be strong enough to go and find him." The young zabrak assured, reaching out and petting Savage's little horned head. He seemed satisfied with that answer. Zaiya knew she had to be careful, and had a lot to learn, but she had been increasing in her power swiftly, her passion driving her to excel.

After the boys had fallen asleep, Zaiya took to the temple, to look into the histories of their clan, how their power came to be, and what more she could unlock with it. She ventured in, deep into the temple, her soft footsteps tapped softly on the stone. She made her way down the hallway toward the inner sanctum, her eyes drifted to the various crimson tapestries hung along the walls, some faded and tattered, some showed the black and coloured threads of their story. A woman standing alone with a weapon, one like the light whips they used to defend their home. Old Daka, their former Great Mother now lingered in the deepest inner sanctum, Mother Talzin and she were the ones ready to instruct the child in greater magicks.

Zaiya's birth mother, Tailli, had disagreed, arguing that she was too young, that she still needed to grow. Indeed, she was still a child, but the anger and determination burning in her had been enough for Mother Talzin to see she was more than capable and could be a great weapon in their shared vengeance. Tailli was worried about her child, though the boy was Mother Talzin's own son, and a dear friend to Zaiya, it seemed like an excessive anger in them both.

The zabraki girl arrived at the door of the sanctum, knocking lightly. The door creaked open on it's own, a green glow illuminating the hall from within.

"Come child, it is time for another lesson." Mother Talzin called in her soft soothing voice. Zaiya entered willingly, keen to absorb any and all information that she could. "You must listen to the ichor, child, it is memory, and power. You must take this into your body and allow the magicks to fill you up, no matter the discomfort, you must endure it." Talzin warned, reaching into a glowing cauldron. She scooped some of the sacred waters into a shallow bowl, holding it out to the child to drink. "This potion will increase your receptiveness to the magicks, you must drink it all." Zaiya nodded, taking a deep drink, wincing at the bitterness. Mother Talzin just chuckled. "You are doing well, little one. It will be difficult, but if you keep to your faith, you will succeed." The girl nodded in response, taking a deep breath, it was for Maul and for revenge against Sidious.

She took up a position, sitting cross-legged on the floor. The great witch was not wrong; the sensations were far from pleasant. As the two called forth their green flames and smoke, chanting in Old Dathomirian, the ichor swarmed the room and swirled over the body of the child. The cold fire stung her skin, tugging at her, she cried out, the pain returning to her. The pain she remembered, that pain, the first memory she could recall was this very same pain. Though this time there was no warmth to soothe it. She could see flashes in her mind, visions that made no sense.

A giant pyramid, agents clothed in black, armies of soldiers in white. She could see the depth of Dathomir, and for a moment, she felt the double heartbeat of every Zabrak on Dathomir. She could feel it, the power and magick, and that force Sidious had mentioned. This other power had to be exactly that, it felt different to the magick.

"In your studies, the magick will teach you how to persuade others, how to hide yourself and even how to disguise yourself as another." She could hear Talzin's voice as she felt the power run through her. It felt as though there were a river within her, and the power opened pools within and let the power flood through, from a trickle into a flood. Once the power had consumed her body and the rushing in her ears ceased, she stood, slowly. It hurt, and it felt like she had run to the point of exhaustion before being thrown into an ice bath. The zabrak's breath hung in the air of the now frigid room and Talzin moved in to stand behind her.

"Good child, now, let go of all fear."

"I am not afraid." came the echoing voice from the child, it was the truth, she knew what she had to do, and did not fear the power within her that threatened to tear her body apart. She knew it would bring her closer to Maul.

"Excellent, now, you will follow my instructions and learn these advanced skills without the need of decades of training." She explained to the girl. Zaiya delved deep into the power to follow the instructions as the great Mother spoke. "You will call on the powers to persuade others, but first, we will begin small." The witch gestured to a cloth-covered cage on the far side of the room. When the cloth was pulled away, it revealed a small Bane Black spider, squirming and crawling in the cage, looking for an escape. It launched itself at the child, stopped by the bars. "Follow the power, empty your mind and see within the creature." Mother Talzin urged.

Zaiya did as she was told, closing her eyes and extending a hand toward the beast. She reached out with the magick within, the green smoke swirling in her hand, then shot toward the thing. For a moment it shuddered, trying to shake off the effects of the magick. It seemed to be fighting the control, until Zaiya felt something bubble up within her. She recalled the song, the music of the invisible magick, the way she had connected with the rancor. Her lips parted and a haunting note escaped her, a soothing song filled the room and the spider fell still finally. A fingersnap and the cage opened. The spider wanted to leap forward, it was hungry, but it held still under the effects of the song. The girl drew her hand back and forth slowly, the creature began to sway in time with her movements and the tune she sang.

"A Siren… that has not been seen in many centuries…" Talzin murmured in pleasant surprise. The song seemed to enhance her power and make the spider become docile.

It was several hours before their training ended, and the power drained away from her. Not all the magicks were gone, some remained within her, her power felt increased after the session, though not as strong as during the rites. Zaiya was exhausted after the session, dragging herself back down the hallways to her room. The girl fell into a deep sleep before her head hit her pillow.


-+ Notes +-


Now Zaiya has to begin her journey alone, many trials and tribulations lie ahead, will she over come them? Will she find Maul again? Will he still be as she remembered him?
Leave a comment to tell me what you think might happen! Or just your favourite moment so far!

As always, I love feedback, the more the better!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day!

EDIT: Added some Maul POV