As he felt his firmly on his own feet again he stretched silently as the camp felt alive in the sudden hustle. He wouldn't be the first one in Sith history to tame a bull, but it was still a rare enough act. It did help that the Felucians had long ago learned the art of taming the Rancors of their world, but they too claimed a bull was impossible to control. He wasn't seeking control though, as a monster himself he felt he understood something in this others failed to understand.
The darkness that still waited inside of himself would be of great aid though, the closest bond ever between a Sith and bull rancor was done through the dark side and with an alchemized bull he'd need it even more. So much for pushing it all off. Stepping outside he moved towards the edge of the camp facing into the jungle his mind stretching as far as he could towards the underground lab. Somewhere among those dark presences one was his ultimate trial, and even if he lost the planet after that it wouldn't matter.
Walking over to a holo map he he glanced it over searching for his prey.
"When the bull turns on the lab the others will follow. When that happens charge, but keep some distance from the rancor front. If any soldiers flee they may surrender and join us. If this Darth flees he dies. Don't wait to question him or give him a moment to speak. I told him he could surrender until the first of your died. After that only death awaited him."
Half way through the jungle he found the bull's presence, it reeked of strength and dark energies, and Grundark loved it. He could hear the dark drums in his ears as he looked directly at it through trees and foliage still a few miles away, and he knew it looked back. With a powerful trumpet he shook the trees in front of him as he felt the heat of battle arise within him. There were other presences but the challenge was already being laid, and the bull couldn't refuse such an outright challenge.
As the Cragmoloid alone finally stepped free from the last trees blocking it he looked up at the immense bull Rancor towering three times his height and mentally somewhere he gave more credit to
First Sister
for her bravery no matter the betrayal. Raising his trunk he trumpeted once more as he sucked the power into his skin, perhaps today was the day he would conquer to foes. Maybe in truth this giant before him was the simpler of the two. He understood it, but the dark side with it's seduction and manipulation was something he hated and had turned from for years.
Perhaps today was the day he tamed his true enemy.
Pulling in the darkness he growled and mounted the black beast inside of him as grappled with the other's mind. Darkness knew darkness and even a bull rancor gave pause for a moment as he tried to decide how to deal with this. Yet Grundark didn't try to dominate the creature completely, no monster should be cowed into a house dog. Instead he met him as a monster demanding his right of challenge as the new bull. Raising up a small hand to the bull he offered it up, a challenge of strength.
Slowly the bull moved downwards it's maw mere feet away from the Cragmoloid as the smell of fleshy decay mixed with the fungus the creature was forced to eat. With an almost idle thought he approached the great mouth and ripped a half rotting carcass from between the mountainous teeth and threw it aside. He could feel it's confusion, it's animal emotions were no mystery, and Grundark welcomed their honesty.
Raising his hand back up the Rancor met him with what could fit in the Cragmoloids palm. The contest looked beyond hopeless, comically so as the enemy soldiers could be heard laughing in the background. The Rancors around were not though as they formed a wide circle, to watch a contest among bulls. Grasping the force he pushed the animal into his bones and muscles so that the very first push of this mammoth creature would not simply snap him in half like a twig. He would either die here or live a legend.
Looking up he locked eyes with the creature as it instinctively knew that meant go and the immediate power and weight behind it's might very nearly overwhelmed Grundark in the first moment. Reaching deep inside though he held on even as he was ready to burst. He was as centered in the force as he'd ever been before as he sought to rise to the occasion. His feet were grounded into the earth, his arm physically tougher then the durasteel those might claws could rend like fabric, and yet still he could not push.
Even as his eyes stared he looked within to the beast that sat there in his soul waiting for him. There was power there, but there was a price as well. He could give into his own passion and battle lust, and obtain it's power with such ease it was deceptive. The cost though, the cost was everything. It called on him to dominate this enemy, and rise above it. To destroy and gain mastery. Yet here was power mere inches from him, but if felt like surrender to take it. Yet was it not within him still? Was it not his power that simply waited for him to take it?
The outside struggle grew more ignored as his body shook under the pressure from the massive Rancor and he could feel it's glee as it though victory was near. It's drool now flew around Grundark as the creature waited to devour it's defeated foe. Inside though the Cragmoloid saw his power for the first time as it truly was. His power. This wasn't the dark side or the light side, no those were merely channels to grabbing it. Reaching inside he grasped it like it was a venomous snake and stared into it's dark eyes. In emotion there was power, but it didn't need to rule him. He'd always thought the Sith a bit crazy in their code. All the talk of chains and binding and yet they banded themselves to this, and all of them would eventually lose to it. It seemed silly at best, and at worst a self defeating prophecy.
Here though for one moment he could see it, it wasn't the dark side that set them free it was the force. Just as the dark side wasn't the power, but simply a way to obtain it. The power was the force and it had been there all along. Reaching in he grabbed it and held it as it strengthened his body and mind yet again. Yes there was power in his battle lust, but it was his power, and his emotions. Just as the battle rage before it was his choice to fall into it or control it. He would not be the little voice inside of himself again.
Reaching out with that passion and power he gripped the Rancors mind suddenly in a vice as he began to push. With a mighty trumpet he moved the impossible large creature slowly inch by inch. It was strong, but the force was stronger still. To the beat of drums inch by inch he moved the creature's hand until it howled deafeningly in his face as it's great muscles gave and the hand fell. A rush of exultation and passion hit him demanding he finish the victory, and yet he rode it like the beast it was and pulled it up short. He was the master of himself, and he would not bow to it.
Darth Empyrean
Grundark
. "If you can't send her crawling back to her master with your own strength, what right do you have to claim the title Sith? Beat her soundly, or loose the loyalty of this legion."
