Private To Tame One's Beast

[Varin Mortifer]

The impact of skull on skull was hard, the sound of a resounding crack, like the bone was wanting to split. But both parties were too stubborn to break under the pressure.

Lord Lechner evaded Varin's grapple, certainly for the better. His aim was to crush whatever he had gotten ahold of. The dark side was thick around Varin, clinging to him as if it was a youngling attached to its parent. Almost like a codependency.

The change in Lord Lechner was quick, happening within a single bound before his claws dug into the flooring beneath him. So this was the Sith Lord's secret. He had heard rumors of man turning into canines but he had never witnessed it.

His fur disappeared into the mist like a natural camouflage. Varin swapped positions looking around him, quickly gazing every angle he could. But The Wolf was far more cunning. It was within the last second Varin had a feeling, like his hair had raised, as The Dread Wolf leapt towards him, fangs bared in animalistic savagery. Varin set his stance quickly clasping both his hands around his snout as The Wolf went on the assault.

The combination of impact, strength, weight and surprise was enough for Varin's grapple to fail, sending him to the ground forcing him to take a guard, instantly placing his arm over his neck and face. He needed to act fast, he had to get out.

He felt cornered, claustrophobic.

let it go….

Varin let out a mighty roar as quick powerful burst of dark purple lightning erupted from his mouth towards The Dread Wolf. A move of desperation, but also a tactic to try to gain ground.

Gerwald Lechner | Revna Marr​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Úlfs Reiði (Wolf's Fury)
TAG: Revna Marr | Varin Mortifer

The wolf’s fangs met resistance. Varin’s hands caught his snout for a heartbeat before the weight of the impact broke the hold. The boy fell backward, sand and water spraying across the stone.

Gerwald did not pursue the full strike. He landed low, claws biting into the wet floor, shoulders tense but controlled. The instinct to finish the hunt was there, burning just beneath the surface, but he held it. This was not prey. This was lesson.

He prowled forward a few paces, gray fur slick with rain, eyes bright in the mist. The scent of fire and fear mixed in the air, heavy and raw. The Dark Side pulsed from the boy in waves that twisted the air around him. Gerwald could feel it feeding on itself, wild and unbalanced.

He pressed once more, sudden and fast, forcing Varin back again. His weight was measured, his strikes close but never fatal. Each movement cut the distance between them, each pause granting the boy a moment to think.

Then the sound came. A roar that carried through the arena, sharp enough to break through the storm. The wolf held his ground until the last of the lightning faded. Steam curled around them, and the air smelled of rain and burnt stone.

Gerwald’s gaze followed the boy through the haze. The power still rippled around him, wild and uneven. It was not control. It was survival.

He drew a slow breath and stepped back. The gray fur faded. The form of the man returned, tall and still, rain running down bare shoulders as silence reclaimed the arena.

He looked at Varin for a long moment. The boy trembled, the glow still burning behind his eyes.

“You lost it,” Gerwald said. His tone was quiet, but the weight of it filled the space between them.

He took a few slow steps forward, stopping just short of him. The air between them still hummed with power.

“You let it own you.”

He stepped closer, unhurried, gaze fixed on Varin. “Do you know why that happened?”

 

[Varin Mortifer]

The lightning blew through, raw power erupting like a surging storm. Varin watched as the mist began to dissipate around the Sith Lord. Varin stayed on his guard as he slowly stood up. He watched The Wold shift back to Lord Lechner. The ease of changing from beast to man, the control.

Varin growled deeply, not to Gerwald, but he was angry with himself. The words that escaped Lord Lechner’s lips only twisted the knife. Varin only stood looking at him before an inner pain caused him to wince and stare at the ground.

Deep down he knew that not only did he lose it, it was never his. The battle lust had set thick roots within him. To upheave it would topple his very self.

Lord Lechner took a few steps closer to him, causing Varin to slightly stumble back his fists balled tightly.

“Do you know why that happened?”

He was silent. His breath running ragged around them echoing off the walls as the fire around them finally died. Doused away, even the heat abandoned him.

“I…”

He breathed hard, the frustration and tension was high within him.

“I don’t know, Lord Lechner.”

He eyed him as he tried to control his breathing.

“But I also don’t know who I am beyond it. I’m afraid that not only is it a part of me, but that it is me.”

Gerwald Lechner | Revna Marr​

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Úlfs Reiði (Wolf's Fury)
TAG: Revna Marr | Varin Mortifer

Gerwald studied the boy in silence. The storm had quieted, the rain falling in thin streams through the broken arches above. The fire had burned itself out, leaving only smoke and the faint hiss of cooling stone.

Varin's breathing was uneven. The words came out in pieces, heavy with shame. Gerwald could feel the fear that what he had unleashed was not some foreign thing, but the truth of himself.

He took a step closer. The sound of his boots carried softly through the wet sand.

"It is you.”

His voice was even, without judgment.

"All of it."

He let the words sit for a moment before continuing.

"You keep looking for a line between the man and the fire. There is none."

Gerwald stood still, close enough that the boy could feel the quiet weight of his presence.

"You are what you do with it." He turned slightly, looking toward the open sky. "Control is not separation. It is ownership."

The rain ran down his arms, cutting lines through the soot on his skin. He looked back at Varin, eyes steady.

"Stop running from it. Learn to use it."

He stepped aside, giving the boy room to breathe again. The lesson was finished.

"Clean yourself up," he said. "Then come find me."

Gerwald watched the boy a moment longer. Varin's head stayed low, the last of the fire fading from his body. The rain had turned to a steady drizzle, thin and cold. It carried away the ash, the blood, and the smell of smoke. He took a slow breath and turned toward the far gate.

"Revna, come."

He started walking, his steps quiet against the wet stone. The air grew cooler as they left the center of the arena behind them. Only when they reached the archway did he stop. He looked back once to be sure the boy had stayed where he was. Then he stepped beneath the stone canopy and spoke.

"He will need more time." His tone was even, but his eyes stayed sharp. "He fights himself more than he fights anything else. Every time he draws on the Force, he turns it into war. It has become the only language he understands."

Gerwald looked out across the empty plains. The clouds were breaking, streaks of sunlight cutting through the gray.

"You saw it. The power is real, but it is bound in anger and fear. If I push too soon, it will destroy him."

He turned his gaze back to her.

"He must learn to live with what he is before he can learn to use it. Until then, the fire owns him."

The Wolf was quiet for a time, watching the rain slide from the edge of the roof.

"I will work with him, but not yet. He needs to understand stillness before strength."

Gerwald turned toward the waiting shuttle.

"Keep him close. Let him rest. We leave when he can stand."

 

[Varin Mortifer]

His words once again drew closer into him like a blade. No, it was a hammer. Bit by bit sundering the very starting points of how Varin viewed himself and his battle lust. Ownership. Not separation. The fires that burned inside were not just a part of him. Perhaps it started that way and through some time of being part of him it had consumed him. It was him, and he was it. It was a lesson that would take time to get used to, but every sculpture starts as an unknown mass. A redundant shape before it is carved into it’s purpose.

Varin was simply not at the sculpted process, but he was now in the starting point of carving the shapes.

Purpose

Ownership

Control

The words spiraled in his head. The fundamentals of truly advancing and knowing what he is.

“Yes Lord Lechner.”

He spoke quietly as he caught his breath. He caught his reflection in the nearby puddle. His face was coated in soot, and the left overs of a recent fight. He had changed so much since he first left his home planet, he would almost be unrecognizable now.

Gently he cupped his hands beneath the pool and splashed the water over his face, distorting the image.

Who am I to be then?

His eyes gazed upon Lord Lechner discussing with his master.

What am I to be then?

His gaze fell to his old cloak that he had crash landed in. His hand met the cloth that hung on his mace and slowly, using the mace’s leverage he began to pull himself up.

I don’t know what I am now. But thanks to Lord Lechner, I know what I must be.

Deep in Varin’s mindscape

Ignati watched Varin’s bound form closely. Four of the five chains that bind him that hold him back were still intact. A smile came to his lips.

Good. For the time being I still remain-

His gaze shifted to the boy’s left hand. His eyes glared as he growled low. He needed a better look. A closer look. Like a starving animal his form barreled towards the boy and he grabbed his left arm. Then he saw it. A crack in the link. A weakened chain.

His clawed hand wrapped around Varin’s throat.

I still maintain three more chains, boy. Remember that.

He let him go, returning back to his resting spot, a ravaged throne room, blessed in fire.

Gerwald Lechner | Revna Marr​

 

[Revna Marr]

Revna observed with her sharp gaze as her Disciple and the Dread Wolf faced one another; Gerwald bid Varin to strike first, and the young Sith had no issues with stepping up to do so. Though she watched their interaction and duel like a hawk, her eyes bright with wariness and concern - she did exactly what Gerwald told her to do: she didn’t interfere.

Not even when man shifted into wolf and lunged for her boy; nor when Varin unleashed the beast within him and lost himself to the fires of his wild wrath and battlelust. She didn’t speak up, didn’t move a muscle. She simply observed from a safe distance and let things play out how they would. Gerwald wasn’t going to kill Varin, that much she knew and she wasn’t concerned about it at all. This was a test to see what exactly was going on, where and how he could help the boy, and injuries were possible and did occur with this test. But they were Sith; injuries were commonplace and she hardly batted an eyelash at it. If they were severe enough to warrant bacta, then she could provide it. If not, then Varin could deal with it naturally and learn valuable lessons through their healing process.

In the end, Varin ended up on the ground having lost his fight to own the beast within him, and Gerwald had seen enough. Words were exchanged between the men, words she did not hear from the distance. Silently, however, Revna wondered if she was truly the right master for Varin. He had grown and bloomed under her guidance in many areas, yes…but in this he struggled. She struggled. She wanted to do her best for him, and there was a part of her that doubted herself. She kept that hidden and buried, however.

Her attention returned to Gerwald when she saw him turn and begin to walk away from Varin and towards the far gate. He called to her to come to him, and she moved towards him without hesitation, coming to walk beside him in silence. Once they reached the archway, and well out of ear shot of her Disciple, Gerwald turned to address her directly to report his thoughts on the matter and his experiences. Revna listened intently and quietly, occasionally letting her fiery eyes drift to the form of her Apprentice who still remained within the center of the arena, still collecting himself and no doubt pondering on whatever lesson or information Gerwald and left him with. He was a reflective young man…much like how she was.

She sighed a bit heavily when Gerwald told her that the boy would need more time, that Varin was waging a war with himself and if Gerwald pushed him right now, Varin could face destruction through his own power. It was great, mighty indeed - but it was bound underneath layers of anger and fear…things she had seen for herself time and time again since collecting him under her wing.

"He must learn to live with what he is before he can learn to use it. Until then, the fire owns him." Gerwald said, gazing off in silence for a time. Revna pondered his words in the silence as well, chewing on her lip in thought as the fear that Gerwald would reject aiding Varin swam through her mind. She would have to find an alternative if that was the case.

"I will work with him, but not yet. He needs to understand stillness before strength." the Sith Lord said after a time and she nodded in understanding, feeling some relief return to her. At least he was still willing to aid the youth, even if the timing wasn’t now. As Gerwald turned towards the awaiting shuttle, he told her to keep Varin close and let him rest after all that had just occurred. They would leave when the young man was able to stand on his own and move around enough to rejoin them.

“Well, this has at least given me some sort of direction to work with him, at least until the timing is better. I have an idea of what I can do in the meantime. I -” Revna cast her gaze at Gerwald for a moment before lowering it, a rare show of genuine emotion flickering across her face, revealed to the other Sith Lord. “ - thank you for this. It is not easy to recognize where one’s own…talents or experiences fall short, and when one needs to set their pride aside and seek guidance. I…am invested in him, in his journey. He’s entrusted himself to me and I can’t…walk away from that. I won’t.”

She regarded the figure of Varin for a few long moments in reflective silence as he finally pulled himself up on his feet, before Revna turned towards the shuttle and began to make her way towards it, a look of determination replacing her concern. Whatever Varin would need, whatever push, whatever lesson, whatever trial…she would do her best to facilitate it so he could grow from this.

Gerwald Lechner // Varin Mortifer
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