I Was But A Child Then...(Solo)

[Via Dolorosa]

The ominous clouds threatened rain over the swamps and marshes once more. The animals, with their sixth sense, scurried for shelter while the predators quickly made a last bid for prey as the approaching storm drew closer. The first drop hit the murky waters, the first shot in many to come, made a ripple effect that spread out until it slowly dissipated. The insects danced, gigged, and zig-zagged their way across avoiding their scaly nemesis, but for a select few their life had come to an end. It was the natural order of things, predator and prey; the strong devouring the weak.

The sounds of rumbling thunder added their stake to not be undone by the cascading water from the sky while lighting tossed its hat into the mix. The locals, spread out through the area in little makeshift villages, turned their eyes upward gauging how much time they had to retrieve their valuables from the outside and securely store them in their moss and mud covered huts. A young child extended his hand, the index finger on his hand pointing to the sky, asked his Father what that flying thing was. His Father, grabbing up his son, took a brief look over his left shoulder and saw what his little by was pointing at. "A ship of some kind," his Father replied ducking into the hut.

The shuttle slowed its approach while seeking out a reasonable place to land. By the fourth cycle, a landing zone had been determined and the shuttle set down. Hisses and smoke resonated from the shuttle as several operations shut down and the ships internal cooling system kicked in. For two hours, while the storm came and went, the shuttle sat in silence. Then without warning, the back end opened and a ramp reached down to greet the wet ground. A lone figure, covered in a black velvet, hooded cloak, stood at the top; her head swiveling from right to left.

Slowly she moved down the ramp stopping momentarily to look at the planet's surface. Then in one fluid motion, her left food extended out and touched the surface of Dagobah for the first time in several years. Her homeworld. Her swamp. The start of it all came flooding back to her. With a ghostly smile on her face, the Dagobah Sith was home.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

She had no destination in mind, so she simply walked through the marshes keeping alert for any of the predators that might come out of hiding. As she walked, she began to recall memories from her childhood. One in particular....

Age 9​

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"Xhexania, you must learn to control your outbursts, the Hepsalum Tash elder said the moment she sat down in his hut. "The others are growing frightened of you. And its not just your outbursts, its those things you keep doing with your mind. Your parents defend you constantly but even they are growing wary of you. Some have begun to reference you to a witch. These things you do are not natural." The elder sighed. "I do not regret the day I found you Xhexania. I love you like a daughter just as your parents do."

Young Xhexania looked down into her lap. She didn't understand how she did those things, they just happened. She tried to control it but mostly it just made things worse. And her outbursts, how could the elder even blame her for them? She was different than all of them. They didn't understand her. They asked more of her than the other kids of their race. Was she being singled out because she was different? That was not fair! She could feel her anger begin to rise and fought hard to keep in check.

"I know life has been hard for you here. But you are not making it any easier on yourself," the elder said as he placed his massive hand under her chin. Slowly he raised her head so he can see into her eyes. "I only want to help you find inner peace. But if I'm going to help you, then you must allow me to do so."

Inner peace? How could he speak such a thing? Though she had been accepted into their village, she was still viewed as an outsider when it came to their daily meditation sessions, where they prayed to some unseen spirits of the swamps. And what does he know about her hardships? He sits in his hut all day! Does the others come to him to complain about her and that's where he gets this idea of her hardships? Unfair! How dare they talk about her behind her back, perhaps she will show them.

"Listen Xhexania, I'm on your side. Really I am. We have a ritual that can, well, help to rid you of whatever is inside you. But I will not allow it without your permission," the elder says. Inside me? There is nothing inside me! They fear me because I'm different. No, they are jealous of my talents! That's it! They want to perform this ritual so they can steal my talents. I won't it allow it. "May I have some time to consider this, elder?" Nodding his head he answers, "Take all the time you need. Please Xhexania, for me, try to work on these outbursts and please stop doing those things with your mind."

Xhexania left the hut, heading to her secret spot. She played the meeting over and over in her mind which was only resulting in making her mad. No! They will not steal my talents! Unaware that she was doing it she picked up a fallen and soggy log and hurled it at nearby tree. No!

Present​

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"Steal our talents. Fools," she muttered under her breath. She changed directions and headed for the village that she grew up. The same village that kicked her out and forced her to live among the monsters. "We'll show all of you what we can do now! And lets see how willing you are to help us now." She began to laugh that led to the voices in her head to join her.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

With each step she took, drawing closer and closer to her old village, her anger rose. First her birth mother had abandoned her the moment she was born and then the only family she knew did the same. Both had shed their responsibility of protecting her from the dangers of Dagobah, choosing to sacrifice her to one of the predators; or worse, die alone. The memory of the day of her banishment slowly snaked its way into her mind. "Banishing us...

Age 13​

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The two worm-like boys that always found the spare time to bully her had once again struck leaving her sitting in mud, dirtying her fresh clean clothes. With all her chores taking up most of her time, she barely managed to keep her clothes clean. For a human living among the Hepsalum Tash, clothes were hard to come by. Her foster Mother had taught her how stitch clothes together but supplies were in short demand, for her anyway. Nobody wanted her around much these days and they scoffed or made excuses why they couldn't trade with her. She knew they looked at her more differently now, some even avoiding her all together. She had thought about running away but how long would she last out there in the marsh before she filled the belly of a dragonsnake or a Dagobah python or a swamp slug.

She clasped her hands to her head and screamed as the first tear rolled down her cheek. This only made the boys laugh harder. She looked at them through watery eyes, bared her teeth, and struck. Using her mind, or what the elder called 'witchery', she slammed one of the boys into a hut, breaking his back at once. The boy's screams alerted the village but not in time to save the other one. The other boy, now dripping with fear, had turned to run but was impaled with a sharpened pike the hunters used to catch game and fish, killing him instantly. Xhexania moved to her knees looking at what she had done when the first of the villagers arrived, led by the elder.

Amidst their cries of protest and banishment, the young girl tried, to no avail, to explain they attacked her first and that she, smaller than the two, was only defending herself. The elder looked at her for a few minutes then lowered his head, unable to look at her when his words poured forth. "It grieves me to do this Xhexania. From this day forward, you are banished and never to return. Any attempt to return will be under the penalty of death. You have one standard hour to gather whatever you need and then you are to leave."

What amounted to her belongings was the clothes on her back and a few items of no real importance that fit in her new knapsack. She glanced back once when she reached the end of the village's borders in hopes this was all a joke or that the elder and the villagers came to their senses. In the end, only the elder, not even her foster parents, stood to watch her leave. Her head hung low, she left.

Present​

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"...instead of killing us was mercy," she hissed as the first signs of the village was now in sight. "Mercy is for the weak! We will show you what your mercy has created! You thought you feared us back then...oh what fear and horrors we bring with us now"

 

[Via Dolorosa]

She stood on a ridge overlooking the village, her black eyes scanning about as she watched her former family and villagers move through their daily activities. She wondered now, if they ever ever regretted their decision to kick her from the tribe. But it was to late for regrets now, they will reap what they have sown. Every last on of them. And just like that, the first of the victims had been chosen. Sensing them through the Force, she felt two arrivals making their way toward her, hunters or scouts perhaps, unaware that she was there.

Stepping down from the ridge while putting her back to the village, she stood where her legs slightly apart and her hooded head hung down. The two clumsy fools stumbled onto her and for a brief moment just stared at her. "Who are you," the alien said in broken basic that earned him a reply in their language when she answered, "The question you should have put to us was....what are we going to do to you?" The two Tash males exchanged a look between them and when they looked back at her, she raised her head to see their confusion on their faces. Before they could react, she drew her weapon and sliced the head off of one and gripped the other's mind with hers. His will easily broken, he fell to his knees, his eyes glazed over. Using mind shard, she began splintering his mind filling him up with extreme pain. As he went to open his mouth to allow the screams of pain to escape, she gripped his throat, using force choke, and slowly strangled him to death. And so her revenge had begun.

Casually she strolled into the village's entrance and stood there looking at the Tash, her eyes burning with hate. One of the villagers spotted her and ran toward one of the huts while the others halted their activities to look upon the foreigner. A short time later the elder, escorted by four of the tribe's hunters, approached her; stopping several feet from her. "You have entered the domain of the Hepsalum Tash as an uninvited guest. We are a peaceful species and mean you no harm. We...," the elder began when his words fell silent when she began to laugh.

"Harm? Oh....you have already harmed us elder. You harmed us when you ordered our banishment. You harmed us by forcing us to live like some creature of the swamp. Harm? We are way past that," the Sith replied. The elder took a step backward when realization set in. "Xhexania? Is that really you," the elder asked. Pulling back the folds of her satin cloak, exposing the hilt at her right side, she answered, "Xhexania is dead....and in her place stands us...Darth Venefica, Sith Knight. And we, elder, have come to return the harm you brought upon us."

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Her hatred for them roared and raged throughout her mind as she began cutting them down, killing the ones that challenged her first, mainly the hunters. When they were no more, she stalked through the village killing everything in sight, while the voices inside her head urged her on. The elder, at the first sign of danger, had fled which was fine with her, she wanted him last. Men, women, children, pets, and livestock fell to her crimson blade and still her hatred rose. Her memories of how they treated her toward the end shimmered at the forefront of her mind. They claimed to be peaceful yet their spite for her turned them from her people to her enemy. At last she found her foster parents. They too fell before her, their pleas of mercy answered with death.

Darth Venefica stood in the centre of the village, her weapon powered down, soaking in the death all around her. It was blissful and satisfying to lay this injustice they done to her to rest. "Elder! Elder! Do you still want to help us," she mocked. She knew he was cowering in his hut hoping the terror would pass him by. "Come out and face the child you saved...the child you banished!" The flaps to his hut spread apart and out he stepped, his hands laying at his side. "I had to do what was best for the village Xhexania." This made her laugh. "Best for the village? You cast us out without even hearing the truth of what happened that day."

The Hepsalum Tash elder shook his head. "No. How many times did I speak to you about your actions? How many times did you fail to listen to me? You left me no choice, Xhexania." His attempts to justify his decision only infuriated her further. "And how many times did we become the victim of your tribe? How many times were we mocked and hurt by the other children? How many times were we blamed for defending ourselves?" The Sith started walking toward the elder who seemed to stand his ground, a gesture of his defiance.

"I know where your real Mother is," he said when she was standing right in front of him. "A few years back she came through with some humans and she made inquiries about a human girl. I knew she meant you. How she knew you were here, I do not know. If I tell you were to find here, will you leave me in peace?"

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The Dagobah Sith stared into the eyes of the elder, perplexed by what he had just revealed to her. Assuming this was true, what possessed her to seek out the infant child she left to die? Guilt? And why should it matter to her, she never knew her Mother. However, she found her curiosity piqued. "Tell me where I can find the wretch!" The elder flinched at her words, as if she attempted to smack him across the face and he wished to avoid such contact. With a heavy sigh, he said, "You are angry..." His words were locked in his mouth as he felt the muscles in his neck constrict, the precious air struggling to get through. "I don't need a lecture from you. Where?!"

Slowly she released him from her death grip so he could answer her. "There is a village four clicks to the south of here. That is where you will find your Mother. Now please, I beg of you to leave me in peace," he replied as he rubbed his neck. Darth Venefica smiled then said, "Peace is a lie." And suddenly the elder felt the collapsing of his trachea as she poured all her hatred of him into the Force Choke ending is life abruptly. She stared at the lifeless body of the elder as it laid sprawled on the dirt ground for a few minutes before exiting the village, the feeling of satisfaction flowing through her body.

It took her two days to reach the village, delayed by storms, only to discover that it laid in ruins. Half eaten corpses littered the scene while most of the structures were torn down. A closer inspection of the corpses revealed signs of blaster fire. Her loud scream of anger roused a survivour hidden in one of the structures that had survived destruction. "You," she said when she saw the man poke his head out of the building, "What happened here?" The man scrambled out of the tent and fell to his knees when he reached the Sith.

"Slavers! A roving band of slavers came and took away all the able men, woman, and children. Killed the rest." Tears began to fall from his eyes when he saw the lightsaber dangling from her waist. "Jedi? You a Jedi?" Darth Venefica scoffed at the man's words then replied, "Far from it. These slavers....do you know where they took the villagers?" The man nodded and pointed to the west. "Unsure. Heard one mention Dragonsnake Bog." At the mention of the bog, she gritted her teeth. Dragonsnake Bog was one of the most deadliest areas on the planet. It was unhappily named for all the dragonsnakes that made it both their breeding ground and at times, their hunting ground. Why would slavers be there?

"I'm looking for a woman...an older woman. Is it possible she was taken?" The man nodded once again. "All woman were taken. Only killed the old men. Is Jedi going to help?" She looked toward the west, where Dragonsnake Bog resided. "Help...no." The man watched with stunned eyes as the woman headed west out of the village.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Much hadn't changed here in the swamp in her absence, except for the Dark Side that seemed to have grown stronger. Most of the predators that scared and hunted her as a child seemed to be more passive which she found strangely odd, or they simply chose to ignore her and seek out weaker and easier prey. There was nothing in these swamps that could hope to challenge her and survive the encounter, she had become the apex predator in these marshes. However, a portion of her had wished for some encounter with the beasts, to show them who truly reigned supreme here. But when she reached Dragonsnake Bog, she knew there would be challenges aplenty. And she wasn't disappointed.

She was perched on a moss covered stone looking down into the valley, observing the movements of the slavers. Even as she watched them, she was already formulating a plan in her mind. She didn't care about the other villagers, or much about the welfare of her Mother, but she wanted the woman that gave birth to her go unharmed; until it was time for the Sith Knight to do the harming. If she ran in there, lightsaber blazing, the slavers might cut their losses and eliminate the slaves before fleeing. Granted not all would have the opportunity to escape her, but those that did would no doubt kill the villagers, including her wretch of a Mother.

So without further delay, she walked down into the valley and confronted the slavers, posing as a buyer. "We've come here to conduct business with your...establishment. You will take us to the holding pens so that we may view your merchandise," she said waving her right hand out in front of her, manipulating the head slaver's mind. He gestured her to follow him and a couple of his cronies. "What is it you are seeking to buy," he asked along the way. "An old woman...to tend to chores around our home." The slaver nodded his head, pointing his finger to the holding pen. "Take your pick."

She scanned the pen looking only at the old woman, not entirely sure who she was looking for. She had no memory of her Mother, including her appearance. Suddenly, and without warning, she felt the Force emitting from someone in the pen. How was this possible? Reaching out through the Force, she pin-pointed the individual and her jaw nearly dropped. Standing in the pen was a girl a few years younger than herself and with a remarkable resemblance to the Sith Knight. Could this be her sister? Impossible! Then a voice tore her away from the girl when an old lady moved to stand between the young girl and the cage. Her Mother.