Ch 04: Howl Dread (SW Clone Wars)
He woke up confused. Disoriented and sore.
He looked around and saw the mass grave he was in. Other individuals lay there all of them of the same race.
Confusion and pain assaulted him. Anger that led to hate. It all transformed into pain and sadness, but overall deception and resignation.
Having two sets of memories was confusing. He was Feral, he was also Maximilian. He was Feral of Dathromir. Night brother and kinslayed by his own brother Savage Opress. He was Maximillian Larth, from Earth. Terra.
He was both yet none.
Confusion. and his newly acquired Identity dysphoria did not help keep him stable.
Feral was dead. The young night brother gave up. Yet Part of him remained. Most of it is his memories of his brothers. Maul and Savage. Love for his brothers. Hate towards the night sisters and how they enslaved the male Zabraks. Hate towards Asajj Ventress for making his brother that mad beast.
Hate for the dark side and Sidius. What he did to Maul, what he would do.
His breathing became more ragged. He could feel the dark side. As clear as day. For it was a new sense, a new limb he could feel. One that was not present before as Maximillian.
A savage snarl caught in his senses, his head snapping towards the offending side.
A juvenile Rankor. He could sense it before he saw the creature.
It was hungry. But also weary. It usually came here to feed on the corpses of the discarded Males. The ones that never passed the three tests.
The same way that he was discarded.
He could feel the Dark side. Asking him to give in. To let go, to accept the hate, bathe in it.
He hated the dark side the most. It was the source of all of his problems. Not only his suffering. His brother's suffering too.
He was not going to let the dark side control him. No. He was going to make the dark side his bitch.
He channeled the force. And pushed all of his hate projecting the vile sensation as a force push, a manifestation of his will.
The Rankor sensed that something was very wrong. It tried to run. To little too late.
The predator slammed against the cliff wall with all of its 4000 pounds of bone and muscle letting out a yelp of pain.
Feral of Dathromir. Maximillian of Terra. He was all of them. Yet none at all.
With a twist of his wrist to visualize the Force doing its thing, the Force snapped the neck of the Rancor.
He could feel the pain, fear, anger, and helplessness of the rancor. The heart still beating her body not responding. He feeds on it. Drawing on the life force of the Rancor. Eating the essence of the beast, the Vibrant Neon Green smoke emanates from every part of the Rankor. it approaches and enters him. The Rankor shrivels and gets mummified with each passing second
His sore body revitalized. His muscles grew. His height increased. His horns grew in length. He was Feral no more. No longer Maximillian. He was born a new.
"Howl Dread. They shall know that name and learn to fear it!" The scream to followed was not only done by his lungs. The force trembled across the galaxy in the boiling rage of the Howling Dread.
—-
Weeks, for a few weeks he has survived in the unforgiving savage lands of Dathromir. His crude double pointed spear was tipped with Rankor fangs on both ends.
A crude yet brutal weapon that served him well enough to train and secure food.
But He had a different kind of prey in his sights tonight.
He observed the three night sisters that were traversing the rocky terrain of Dathromir.
They were talking about some crash site. They have received some quest by Mother. some ruins that were built during the Old Republic era. Tasked to retrieve some artifacts from the thousands of years old Forgotten city.
He scoffed at their idiocy as he stalked them. The only thing they will be finding here will be their deaths.
He did not care that they might be related to him in any way. Even if distant relatives no Nightsister was his kin. Not anymore. Perhaps as Feral, he accepted the status quo of the night sisters being the rulers of this planet. It is a matriarchal society. Now that he was Howl Dread he no longer had to accept a thing.
He could feel the Dark Side whispering for him to give in but he was not going to listen. The dark side and the force was no more than a mare tool for him. To be used and abused as the little bitch that it was. Not to be dominated by it.
The night sisters used their laser bows to kill a few chyrodactyls that tried to swarm the three Witches of Dathromir.
They harvested some of the meat and continued on their freckles through the wasteland that the people of Dathromir called environment.
—-
Five weeks. It took the Near-Human females five weeks to reach the crash site. While at first. Howl Dread did not understand why they did not use some kind of transport. After some time he got it. It was a test. A rite of passage for the Nightsisters.
While the Three Witches tras versed the wilderness, hunting, foraging, and looking for water. Howl Dread followed them. Working on his stealth skills and Force Hiding. All while he hunted and practiced with his rancor spear. His exercises for improving in his force-wielding were divided into two categories. Power and precision. for power, he moved heavy objects like fallen down trees or rocks. for precision, he telekinetically moved small fragile objects in patterns making sure to not destroy them or damage them.
He revitalized and recovered stamina by absorbing life force from living creatures. Granting him the ability to bypass sleep almost entirely.
The more he fed on the life force of living creatures the stronger the voice of the Dark Side was. The stronger his ability to use and harness the force. The funnier it was. Instead of becoming more alluring. Dread felt that the Dark side was becoming desperate, begging him rather than seducing him. Truly a pathetic way of trying to control him, it had no power over him, only as much as he was willing to give it.
It could be some kind of cognitive dissonance. But he was still in control. He has learned that he still has patience. what is more, he has yet to be corrupted fully. Dread Howl doubted that the Darkside would ever be able to take over. Ether due to how he used the force, his understanding of it, or maybe even due to him being an amalgamation of two souls.
after all that has happened during these five weeks, Howl was positive that he had control of his mind and body.
"We should rest. Tomorrow we will arrive at the coordinates. We would have pased the test. Ready to join Sister Ventress." Said Yulav. The pack leader of this group.
"I'll take the first watch," said Jensal. The youngest of the three.
That night Dread Howl snuck into their camp using a full force conceal suppressing his presence just like he has done for the last few weeks. To test not only his stealth skills but also his self-control.
Each time he looked at Yulav's face Hate tried to take over him without any sign of success. He remembered that Nightsister. Let's say that she visited the Nightbrother's village regularly at night. Having a taste for young and defenseless boys.
So far he had a plan. Yulav would die. In the most horrid and scary way that he knew he could kill her. He would drain her slowly of her life. Similar to the way that she drained those young boys repeatedly every night she visited.
This time he did not retreat or hid away after he snuck into the Nightsister camp. He sat down on a rock near the fire. Jensai had her back towards the fire to not get blinded during the night. Thinking that the fire would keep the predators away while it kept their backs warm was a mistake that would cost them dearly. For he was not a regular predator.
Jensai turned around and shook her companion to awaken her. Her eyes still did not adjust to the light of the fire. Dread sitting right behind it snarled silently showing his sharp teeth, he slowly stretched his hand and immobilized the young adult Dathromirean female, freezing her in place. He squeezed his hand in a tight fist. Using the force to compress her rib cage making the young woman pass out from the lack of air, not even being able to scream.
He used his force telekinesis to move some rope the night sisters had with them and tied up Jensai and Versiss the second non descript Dathmirean female. Inmobilizing and gaging them both In the process.
He then approached Yulav. His former tormentor, who has yet to wake up. Peacefully sleeping. Even with all that she has done to him in his past life as Feral. He still thought she was attractive physically.
He considered his possibilities. He could do her. Pay her back for what she has done. Fuck her and drain her of life while doing so. It's what the dark side screamed for him to do. Let go and delve into the dark side. Become a rapist.
He snorted at how desperate the dark side sounded with its urge to let him dive and become a Hipocrate.
His snort alerted Yulav of his presence. The woman drew her duskblade. A small cutlass like sword made out of a dark metal that was deathly shap, durable, and flexible.
One hand lifted her by the neck, his second one caught the wrist that held the blade.
He squeezed.
Her eyes went wide.
"Yulav. We meet again, the tables turned, now I've got the upper hand," Howl Dread Spoke in a cold, emotionless voice, his eyes burning with a cold Wrath.
"Feh…Ral." She managed to groan in between breaths as she tried to resist.
"That was my Slave name. Now I go by Howl Dread." He crushed her wrist as if his hand was a hydraulic press until he heard a Snap. the way Yulav tried to scream yet could not due to him almost crushing her windpipe made his lips curl up slightly.
"You should have known. That sooner or later It would come back to bite you in the ass. All those nights… It's time for Payback" Howl Dread Opened his mouth and started to absorb the Nightsister's life Essence. It was far greater than that of a nonsentient animal.
Her LifeForce appeared as a light mix of Green and Red smoke, leaving her pores slowly as her body lost her youth, drying up. Her eyes showed primal fear as she looked into his mouth full of sharp teeth, yet he stared at her eyes, she made eye contact and he could see her primal fear, he could taste it.
A few minutes later her dried up husk crumbled away as he flexed his hand breaking the mummified corpse into pieces as it landed on the ground.
"Well. Hello there NightSISTERS, have you ever heard the tale of Sauron, Maiar of Morgoth, and Lord and Savior of Middle Earth?" Dread Said in an overly enthusiastic manner as he squatted next to the two trembling young women. "Let me teach you, about how the Orks came to be." He started to mold the DarkSide as he pleased in his hand, coating it into a thick coat of a dark Ichor that was just condensed visible Darkforce "They were Elves once, Taken by the Dark powers. Tortured, Mutilated. A ruined and terrible form of life..." He told them as his hand reached out towards his prisoners.
~~~
Their hands were bound and they were still trembling as he pushed them further with the tip of his spear. some time ago they lost their gags and he had unbound their legs.
"ohh come on SlaveSisters. no need to be angry. I was just playing around" Dread said while he lightly pocked their firm and shapely behinds.
He decided to spare their lives. while trying his powers in the way of corruption by the DarkSide would have been an interesting experiment, and his connection to the DarkSide begged him to do it.
he decided to be a gigachad to the DarkSide and tell it to Fuck Off. he was a physical slave once, never again not even to some Vudu Space Chakra.
He ransacked the supplies of the night sisters, so far he has been wearing his tattered robe, but now he covered himself in some spare red cloth that the NightSisters used to cover their bodies with by wrapping it around their bodies.
He had to admit. These Space Feminazis had good taste in color and the quality of the fabric. The Nightbrothers rough hemp woven fabric was far more resistant but coarse that this silky red. it only spoke of how much of a different caste the two sexes were on this planet.
After a thorough interrogation and with the force aiding him in knowing if he was being deceived or not he found out the reason for their pilgrimage.
They approached some secret ruins deep inside the misty jungles of Dathromir, a ruin containing a long-destroyed and forgotten city of Dark Jedi. A Female supremacist society that worked as the basis of the Dathromirean society.
They Wondered the Ruins for days, examining texts, Dread lifted off a few collapsed and overgrown buildings that had been sealed for thousands of years.
Trinkets and Artifacts where easy to find, in fact the two females that he was now using as packamules had their bags full of interesting tech and relics that would sell for quite the number of credits, ether due to the rarity of the materials or their historical value.
"Blasphemy, you will be cursed for the rest of your pathetic life." Jenssai hissed at him while he strained to lift up a huge slab of rock. a huge pillar that would have made even the Egyptians proud of its size.
Dread Let out a groan as he released the Pillar, before the rock could collapse he Grabbed Jenssai and ForceThrown her under the rock.
"NOOO PLE…!" were the last cries of the Young Woman before she was squashed under the gigantic rock.
he turned his head to Versiss.
the youngest of the NightSisters avoided looking at him.
"Look at me." but she did not dare to do so. "LOCK AT ME!" He said in a roar of rage. "YOu like to enslave men on this planet. Rape them, force them to Kill each other. My own Brother killed me." her eyes finally realized what he said. "Yes. I died. to be born Again. Like a Phenix, rising from my ashes more beautiful, and powerful than before. I don't care about your Goddess, for all, I know I'll find her, bend her over, and fuck her until she likes it"
Truly a possibility with The Son and the Daughter have physical vessels in this world.
Howl Dread looked at the squirming nighsister. she smelled of fear and… Arousal?
That made him take a step back. "I swear. I don't understand you, How can you get turned on by this? women!"
Versiss was getting horny from me crushing her NightSister and threatening her?
"I don't even know what to say" So he just decides to Bonk the Horny out of her. He karate chops her head and goes back to lifting the pillar.
The structure behind the pillar ended up being a Temple.
He could feel the force emanating from the inside.
they camped inside the temple after Howl did a full sweep of the temple grounds. He started to work on everything he have collected.
Thanks to His usage of the force he was able to instinctively repair and examine everything they have collected so far.
4.5 broken light sabers. enough usable parts to make a dual sided lightsaber, maybe with a bit of a stretch make two.
All the Kyber Crystals were dead, broken into smaller pices. he did not know if that was due to their masters dying or due to them being severd to the force perhaps? theories.
He decided to meditate with the Kybercrital Fragments.
His meditation was different to how it was described in the movies or literature he read.
He emptied his mind of thoughts then he achieved a meditative state only following a series of feelings and sensations. after he achieved an astral sense of projection he managed to have an out-of-body experience if he wanted or just be attuned to the force better.
"You should not be here" his astral form turned around, he was no longer in the ruins of Dathromir. rather he was in some place. different.
Father stood there.
"You don't have to tell me," Howl said as he looked at his twisted form, the mixture of both his souls manifesting as a chimera between the Terran that he was and the Zabrak that he merged with. "can you help me? get back? or at least tell me what to do?"
The Father looked at him and hummed.
"do as you please. Know this. the balance will return, and balance is needed if the galaxy is to survive the Vong" This made Howl snort.
"does that mean that I'm powerless? no way to change things?"
"Don't put words into my mouth child" he had trouble reading the intentions or any kind of clues from this physical manifestation of the force.
"Show me" Father chuckled at that. this time he could read him or at least he thought he could the Father was Amused.
~~~
Howl Dread opened his eyes.
The KyberCristals in his lap were restored. two crystals one that took over a dark orange tint another one a grey tint with black sports to it.
He got up from his seated position and reassembled the lightsaber parts into tow twin lightsabers.
He ignited the baldes. the blades roared a Feral Howl as beast ready to pounce its prey.
Howl Dread looked at the Tied Up Nightsister next to him. She was dead.
Had he used her life force to reignite the Kybercristals? he did not know.
His left lightsaber would be named Feral as a memento of his past life. his right one the one that had the colors of the woman dead next to him will be Versiss.
He discarded all of the holocrons he had found but one. the one that The Father recommended him to keep.
Howl walked through the ruins until he reached an abandoned ship. not even 20 years old. seems that some bounty hunters came to these ruins to die. he boarded the ship and turned it on. taking into the skies.
He selected a destination for his travels. introducing the coordinates on instinct.
The ship went into the Hyperspace jump.
Howl Dread knew of the dangers of reaching into the force while in space. force wraiths and other horrors lurked in the galaxy.
The Father has shown him Dae Wae. he knew what he had to do.
Palps would suffer. Howl knew how to make the Sith cultist fail.
The main objective would be to follie Palp's plan with Order 66.
Another way to fuck over Palps would be to create his own order of Dark Jedi.
for that, he would need a few things.
His ship exited the Hyperspace jump, The force has guided him to this remote part of Deep space.
The force guided him in the blindness of the vastness of space.
His ship approached the long-ago abandoned and half-destroyed Old Space Ship.
He docks and enters the