Dude, We're Monsters

[Ra Vizsla]

Endelaan​

Jungles of Endelaan​

Abandoned City​

​

[member="Xerus"] [member="Disciple"]​

​

"Just keep digging, idiot."

"Get out of my head."

The behemoth of a Yuuzhan Vong, a man by the name of Tsavong Kraal, was in the middle of a very large structure in which the floor had been completely sunken in sand. The building, seemingly a temple, had been sinking into the jungle for nearly a century now. Yet the Yuuzhan Vong knew something was here, knew something lay beneath the jungle's waste that he needed. Clawed hands dug deep into the soil, throwing it whichever way the wind would take it. The bandages across his face were beginning to loosen and tear amidst the strain.

"Put your back into it, Tsavong."

The creature took a minute to stop and stare off to the side, snapping back with a different voice that echoed into the ancient jungle.

"Nikk tchilat phagh khrev khurtel, Jeedai txiinr!"

To any casual onlooker that approached, the Yuuzhan Vong was completely alone in the jungle. And a few potential prospects had been dispatched holomails earlier... but Tsavong wouldn't remember that now, even though he knew he needed the help.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

A fairly small, hunched over shaper wandered around on the small shuttle analogue that was available to such a being of his stature and rank. Middle tier was not fitting to Xerus's wishes and hopes and dreams. It was only a step above shoveling dung, and a dozen steps below where he wanted to be, but this trip was useful. Anyone he could use, or he could piggyback on to rise in stature and authority was someone he would use, and thus be willing to cling to. This trip was for that exact purpose, to cling to someone a little more powerful and rise with them.

"Oh, I shouldn't have come in person... I should have sent an underling or a beast." His words were filled with the sound of teeth chattering and nervousness as the little shuttle analogue landed in the jungles. The little thin shaper straightened and composed himself as the yorick coral touched the grass of the planet's surface, jungles looming around him. He couldn't have his tool for escalation knowing he was afraid.

His eyes shifted in color, turning bright lime green as he looked over the jungles all around him. Oh how he wished for a Cloak of Nuun or something else to hide him from the predators of this world, and yet, capturing one of those jungle predators for experimentation would be perfect for his designs. His mind wandered just as the yuuzhan vong wandered through the woods, almost aimlessly.

[member="Disciple"]
[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

[member="Xerus"]

Tsavong turned over his shoulder and looked back at the wilderness. A figure in the shadows of the jungle was wandering around seemingly aimlessly. Something clicked in his mind, something that told him that he had sent a message to this person... or a person... for help. All the Yuuzhan Vong knew was the mission, his mind was having trouble holding on to the more minor details for the moment.

He roared in the jungle, a roar that gave the message that in this particular vicinity of the planet, the role of apex predator was already taken.

"YOU," his roar began. "COME HERE AND GIVE ME A HAND."

The massive creature turned back to the pit he had dug and began throwing his weight back into it, large clawed hands digging into the soil.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Diminutive in stature, Xerus was not one to disobey an order from a monstrous Yuuzhan Vong warrior the size of the being that growled at him now. For an instant his eye's turned yellow with fear of a physical beating and bruising at the hands of the massive warrior, but as the being turned away and began digging in the soil and dirt with it's hands once more, his mind began turning once again. Yellow turned to green, which turned to bright blue as he swiftly made his way over to the being.

The small shaper's hands dug into the hole near the Yuuzhan Vong as he knelt down across from the massive being. Who it was he was helping was hardly important, far less than the fact the being was powerful and strong, strong enough to escalate everyone around him's stature and authority. To be getting in on the ground floor of the beings second or third ascension was nothing less than a blessing of the Gods. The fact that it was the former Warmaster of the Hrosha-Gul he was aiding only made Xerus more excited. Soon he would no longer be beneath anyone but this monster. And then, it was only one quiet assassination or some puppetry from dominating everyone.

Keeping his blue eyes turned down into the soil he muttered out a question to the large being, "What is it you seek, Warmaster." The use of the former title was a nice touch in Xerus's mind, giving the being authority and power over him immediately, and hitching his wagon to Tsavong's wagon immediately.

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

[member="Xerus"]

Warmaster?

You already know I was a Warmaster of the Hrosha-Gul.

Yeah, but you're not now, are you?

Shut it.

Tsavong stood up from his digging, taking a break to wipe the sweat from his brow. He looked down at Xerus, his eyes squinting through the glaring heat of the Jungle. "I seek... I seek..." The massive warrior looked back down at the dig site, then back up to Xerus, then back down to the hole. Tsavong began digging even more feverishly, no tool in site to aid him in doing so. Only his clawed hands and the rippling ornate tattooes on the muscles of his back.

"I'm not a Warmaster, not anymore," he said, changing subjects. His mind clearly wasn't in the right place. "You know who I am. Who are you?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Xerus, paused his digging for a second when the big Yuuzhan Vong stopped. Without tools and only his delicate shaper hands for now, he wasn't keen on digging through muck, dirt, and clay alone. He would if his life depended on it, but he would much prefer to stop and find something or someone else to do it for him, but that was his way. "Every Yuuzhan Vong worth their scars knows you, and Warmaster once, perhaps Warmaster again." Xerus said, keeping going with the false adoration and complements. His sniveling, cowardly, power hungry mind needed Tsavong to get what he wanted for now, and thus Xerus would endeavor to help.

The small, diminutive Yuuzhan Vong cleared his throat, and smiled a toothy grin through scarred lips. "I am Xerus of the Shaper Caste. Once I was Hrosha-Gul, then when you disappeared, I was with the Legion Yun'do. Now I am with you again." Again. It was meant to imply that he preferred Tsavong, or Naas as he had been long before. Xerus was but a lowly shaper, no one truly special in the Caste, no one of note. But that was mostly because he couldn't care less for the True Way. He cared only for himself, and it forced him to keep his favorite creations secret from most. Like his little pack of Voxyn he liked to keep around, or his other works in progress. He was a builder at heart, but instead of stone, he used flesh. And builders always looked for new ways to one up everyone else.

"I make creatures to serve alongside the warriors of Yuuzhantar. It has long been my calling and purpose." If only he had brought a digger creature he wouldn't be wrist deep in soil and earth. He would be sitting at the top of this hole relaxing, watching it work, he thought to himself, heaving more out of the excavation. Tsavong far out paced Xerus in effort and progress, but Xerus wasn't being lazy, he just wished he was.

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

[member="Xerus"]

"Shaper caste? Interesting."

He kept digging, but opened up a bit more in conversation with the other Yuuzhan Vong.

"A Yuuzhan Vong, wandering in the jungle alone, perhaps in search of beasts or his next greatest achievement... and now here we are. I led Hrosha-Gul until the Hydra Queen, I met with Legion Yun'Do. I felt both... were lacking. That perhaps there was more to it than the Sith, more to it than the Hydra Queen. I am here... I am here because I've been shunned by the Gods. That we have been shunned by the gods."

"Our people. Exiled. In a new void, one greater than the last, demeaning and lifeless. I am here because I am taking penance, Shaper. The Gods have cursed us anew and we must pay in kind."

He began digging again.

Nice speech.

You're not real.

Oh, but I am.

Tsavong sat up in the hole, placing his hands on his knees, taking a moment to pause and look up at the Shaper. "Do you believe in fate, Xerus?"

The ground beneath the exiled Warmaster gave in, and Tsavong fell into the darkness of the pit that opened beneath him.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Their people. Xerus didn't care about the fate of any Yuuzhan Vong alive that couldn't be of use to him and his power hungry climb to dominance. The philosophical nature of the Warmaster was surprising, and boring as could be. The success or failure of their species was only important if they could raise his status as well. Currently, they were the only species he could cling to in order to elevate himself, so they were a priority.

He kept digging, slowing a bit and thinking. What was Xerus going to do with the exiled Warmaster seeking redemption like some kind of self appointed messiah. If Tsavong wanted to be the savior of the Yuuzhan Vong he would need to convince more of their species he was there savior.

Do you believe in fate?

An interesting question the warmaster posed. He was much more intelligent than Xerus had ever believed a member of the Warrior Caste could be.

"I believe that individuals make-" and then the ground swallowed the Warmaster like a gaping maw, opening up wider, taking the small shaper with the massive Yuuzhan Vong warrior.

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

[member="Xerus"]

Tsavong stood up in the darkness, dusting himself off. They had fallen several meters but the soil down here was soft. The Yuuzhan Vong looked up at the opening above, soft sunlight pouring in through the cavern and touching upon his purple marked flesh.

"It seems we've made it, friend."

The beast patted Xerus on the shoulder and helped him to his feet. He pointed forward... there was a tunnel before them, with soft shimmering light... almost geothermal in appearance.

"The way before us," Tsavong started, heading down the tunnel and towards the light.