PART I: DEATH MEMORIES
Little brother…so full of confidence. Of arrogance. Lying to everyone. To yourself…worst of all
…
CHAPTER TWO: WHY
"Why?"Little brother…so full of confidence. Of arrogance. Lying to everyone. To yourself…worst of all
…
CHAPTER TWO: WHY
"Why what?"
"Why have you done...all of this? Why? How?"
The great over-muscled creature turned over the cooking spit and clicked his tongue in time with the bursts of light in the dark sky. Roast quarra flank was to be his dinner for the night - usually an uninterrupted affair he liked to hold far outside the border of Assarda. But tonight was to be different. Tonight, he had to talk to those who had more reason to hate him than anyone else on Devaron. He supposed it was only a matter of time, given both the distance they had to travel without utilizing the benefits of modern technology and the slog of combat they had to rummage through.
His father asked his question again, his voice filled with visceral disgust, and kicked a loose stone from the edge of his son's encampment. It flew and cracked against the giant's shoulder guard, falling to the dirt with an unceremonious thud. The Devaronian beast looked up from the firepit and met the glaring, burning eyes of his family. There was no love to be seen in their stares; there was only hatred, disgust, despair, and remorse. Remorse was the most curious expression that he saw on their faces, particularly on his parents'. Remorse that they had spawned such a horrific creature who dared to remain tethered to them by blood, even if that blood had been so grotesquely diluted by alchemy. He sighed at the sight and groaned when his mother parroted his father. What was there to say to that question that could truly satisfy them? To make them think better of him? They already knew the answer that awaited them. They knew him well enough by this point in his dark indulgence to guess what he was going to say, or rather predict it with frightening pre-cognizance. They knew he was going to hurt them.
But what a great journey it was going to be to describe either way.
It had been seven years since the Bishop and his loyalist congregation had been slaughtered. Once the winds were visibly shifted following those deaths, the vast majority of the population of Assarda and its neighboring towns and villages were either becoming complicit out of fear or completely faithless out of disillusionment. In between the first fifth and sixth months, Naith'a's splinter group officially went public after gaining a substantial following among the complicit or truly believing, and became known (ostensibly) as the True Will. To the world, it was an extremist faction based on long-lost traditions and Force-based practices. It wasn't long after that day that they "finally" took great interest in personally leading the politics of their country, rather than having their voices heard and ignored by the already in-power administrators. At first, they focused on securing the loyalty of towns and villages throughout the jungles and mountains. Eventually, they moved into Assarda proper and through backdoor deals, intimidation tactics, and mental manipulation, Assarda's Assembly seats were filled more and more by female members of the True Will. After seventy-six percent of the country's total governmental power had been secured, the group had declared Assarda as the home of Pure Devaronians.
"One year was all it took."
By then, word of their actions had begun to spread from country to country, with some governments and joint world organizations swearing justice would be found on the guilty parties for their acts of terrorism. Others swore to abstain from any actions against the faction, likely fearing how quickly they had risen into power, while others declared their allegiance to them and supported their attempts to bring back the great ways of the ancient Devaronians. The True Will effectively became a global superpower by way of vassalage, and war soon followed. In different times, the Republic or the Empire would have likely become involved to ensure the planet and its operations remained running as smoothly as possible. As it was, nothing was there to help out Devaron's plight. Only themselves. This made things a lot easier than they should have been. Thus, for the next six years, the True Will and the rest of the world made war.
"And what a war it has been."
The governments that had chosen to abstain from the conflict were ironically the first to be wiped out and conquered, either by the True Will or their enemies, with their military forces quickly becoming absorbed into either side. The surviving citizens were then drafted to the fight or indentured for the industrial factories, which saw both industries rise to exponential heights and the war economy grow to ludicrous levels. Naith'a and his spouses became beloved and feared leaders. Naith'a in particular became known as the Scourge of Blades, personally leading several of the most decisive battles in the conflict across his home continent. By his hand, much of the northern regions became controlled by his people, and a great headway was now being made in the south. His husband and wife, concurrently, led many victories overseas and established connections with the eastern vassals. Now, the latter was conducting a siege of Montellian Serat itself with the forces of these vassals, and the former sought to assassinate the entire political leadership of Plaeree to aid in the deployment of starships for wider system dominance.
System dominance. A recent development only in the past year, space-faring combat was naturally the next step to force the hand of surrender from either side. Conflicts for control of the moons and other planets throughout the system become the heated method of warfare, and many targets for control on Devaron were now spaceports (or Points of Parting) - Montellian Serat and Plaeree being two of the more well-known marks. This recent trend also saw the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Devaronians once exploring the Galaxy, called to battle by their families.
"Can you imagine that? A fight for Devaron...bringing back the warriors we so desperately needed."
"Why do you need them?" his mother spat, her fists clutched so tightly that her nails drew blood. "Don't you have enough blood?"
More blood for your dark intent. To help Vessivus and Crule dominate the weak. To feed your bloodlust. The same lust that killed you on Tython. You could create your army…and wage war on the Galaxy. To quench your endless thirst.
No. That's not right, Sen.
You abandoned your people. For power.
No! I wanted to help them. To help you. If we only had the strong…we could achieve what I said we could achieve. I was not lying that night. I was honest.
No, little brother. No more lies. It is enough to hear you say it in memory.
"What were the lessons that Father always told me, Mother? What are the words of our family, passed down since the days of humanity's dominance? We are Devaronians...we need to fight to ensure our people, our legacy is not forgotten and our strength is not belittled. We need to accept the pain of our lives and fight and never give up. I suffered so much of that pain because of how I used to be. So sickly and small."
You remember these words so precisely. Like it was the truth. But it wasn't the truth, little brother.
It was the truth. I wanted us to be great again. You must understand, Sen, that the people never would have followed us if we paraded the words of the Sith. They had to believe it was our own. The True Will's own, not Adas' or Malgus' or Malak's.
You hid the origin of your dogma behind a veil of traditions and ancestry. You used sorcery to corrupt the minds of the masses. Betting on the ignorance of centuries of isolation. How can a better world be made from a pit of such fallacies?
"I followed those words to the letter and I achieved greatness because of it. And that greatness brought me clarity. Those words are not just uplifting words or a guideline for survival...they are a blueprint handed down by our ancestors as a last hope. A blueprint that can help our people return to their former glory. If I could achieve what I did on my own, what could our species accomplish together? We could become wardens of the stars again. Explorers and warriors alike. Hunters of knowledge and the most powerful prey. Vessivus and Crule saw my wisdom. Look at what a mere three Devaronians did. The more we accomplish, the more our numbers grow every day. More and more are seeing our wisdom. We can bring on a new age of power on Devaron."
An age of tyranny. Of darkness.
No. Of peace, prosperity, and glory.
Little brother…you lie to yourself more than you did to anyone else. You chose those beasts over your own family.
They helped me. More than Father did. More than Mother did.
They loved you.
Liar. You're as much a liar as I am.
Is that why you killed me that night?
