Kellen fled the decrepit starship turned habitat, fists shaking and tears staining his cheeks. As he disappeared into the alien forest, the one oasis on the uncharted planet fading from view, he heard his parents’ voices calling after him.
“Kellen!” His mother cried. “Please come back…” Her words did little to convince him though, for in his eyes, she was just as guilty as his pathetic excuse for a father.
“That’s right, run!” His father’s deep venomous tone suffocated whatever his mother continued crying out. “Run away just like your good for nothing brother! He’s dead, and you’ll die out there…”
Kellen roared and panted as he kept moving, his tears now streaming down his face. His brother… how could he have abandoned him, and leave him alone with that man? Kellen stumbled and fell, screaming in a fit of rage as he tumbled and rolled, landing on his back. He didn’t want to believe his brother was dead, but everyone else who’d left the safety of the broken ship since they crash landed there years ago were either found dead or never seen again. He clenched his eyes shut in denial, shaking with rage and sorrow. When he opened them, he was greeted by the same glowering image in the sky that’d haunted him for most of his life: a red gas giant that dominated the moon’s sky.
Its storms swept across its surface in layers of pinks, reds, burgundies, and oranges, with a few thinner layers of browns and yellows, but the shades of red dominated over the rest. He actually thought the massive planet was quite pretty, however, at its center was a never ending storm, perpetually swirling on and on. So gargantuan was this cyclone that it took up a third of the gas giant’s surface. Surrounding the storm were yellow lightning storms that eventually bled into the outer layers. It was this particular storm, the one at its center, that left a permanent feeling of unease within him all his life. That feeling like you’re being watched. A paranoia that crept throughout his entire being, because this storm was such a deep, dark red that it may as well have been black. To Kellen, the gas giant seemed an ever-gazing eyeball hovering above at all times, and it never slept… it never blinked… always watching.
Lying on his back, his gaze locked with that of the eye of the storm, fear exploded within him. His reality finally clicked. His eyes widened as the great eye in the sky seemed to grow, his surroundings shrinking away, and he felt as though he was being swallowed. He snapped himself out of it and broke away from the staring contest he had no chance of winning. The fear intensified as he looked around at the unfamiliar terrain, realizing he’d run further from the ship than ever before, his stumble erasing any semblance of bearing he may have had. He’d run further than all the times he’d accompanied others in retrieving bodies… bodies of those who’d also fled the madness festering back home. No, not home. He decided. That useless broken pile of rubble, overgrown by all manner of flora that thrived and danced under the ever-watchful eye, was not his home. It was torment; a prison. His eyebrows furrowed, a scowl splintering across his young features as fear became hatred… became acceptance. "Death it is then.” Kellen growled.
He wandered through the red glow of night aimlessly. He knew not where he was going, and neither did he care. Despite having accepted death, Kellen gripped his hunting knife tightly, and kept it close. He had to use it a few times to break free of several of the native plants' tendrils attempting to feed on him. It was well known that much of the moon’s foliage was carnivorous. They’d learned that the hard way when he was still very young. They weren’t difficult to avoid or repel, but even one mistake or shred of complacency meant he could be a flower’s supper. Some of the fungi, or their spores, were especially dangerous. Some of the plants grew their own drones to fetch them food. Those were incredibly dangerous and aggressive, but were also neutralized by other plant’s defenses. All in all, wandering into the wilds had been utter stupidity, but Kellen didn’t care. He was more worried about whatever animals called the moon home. They were out there somewhere… the plants needed to eat after all, and whatever they were they sounded like something straight out of a nightmare.
As the sun rose over the horizon, the red glow of night became more of a warm orange, softer on the eyes. He’d need to find shelter before the first eclipse, which bathed the moon in the only true darkness the place ever saw, and he did not want to be out in the open then. He had a few hours though, and so Kellen continued his aimless trek across the cursed moon.
A few hours later, Kellen was no closer to finding shelter than he had been since leaving the ship. He could see the sky beginning to dim. Before he had time to panic, a clicking sort of snort erupted nearby. He spun around to see one of the moon’s animals for the first time. It looked like a giant lizard, but was covered in thick fur, and its snout somewhat resembled a boar’s. Large tusks and rows of jagged teeth protruded from its maw. As it stalked toward him its tongue emerged in much the same way a lizard’s might; quickly, and accompanied by a strange clicking-hissing sound, and was barbed at its tip. Kellen slowly backed away, sparing a glance over his shoulder when he could afford it, but the creature would burst into a quick slithering charge when he broke eye contact.
His instincts told him to run, and run he did. He ran harder than he’d ever run in all his life, dodging tendrils, vines, and other appendages reaching for him, but the creature was too fast. This was its home. He hadn’t stood a chance. He felt the barbed tongue stab into his calf and Kellen roared in pain, but dwelling on it did not behoove him as the creature started pulling him closer, and closer. Then it leapt upon him, tearing its tongue loose and inducing another agonizing scream from him. It pinned him down with a foreleg against his chest, and only then did Kellen notice how lanky its legs were despite the creature’s strength. He slashed right through the limb and tumbled out of its reach. Blood spewed all around and plants immediately battled for the amputated leg. Then, to Kellen’s horror, the creature began growing a completely new limb in its place as it howled those gut-wrenching snorts. More clicking snorts echoed in several directions, none too far away.
Run! He took off in one direction, but an overwhelming sense of dread filled him, so he turned toward another direction. Frustration exploded within him and he pivoted in a new direction. The sensation of satisfaction tickled his nerves as he fled the beasts. Following his instincts, he managed to stumble upon a cave of sorts. It was no ordinary cave, but more like an ancient decrepit temple. He studied the craftsmanship in awe for a moment before he heard the angry clicks behind him. Five of those creatures hissed, slowly stalking toward him, and he limped backwards until he was across the temple’s threshold. The creatures stopped abruptly, clicking angrily for a moment, and then fled from the place.
Kellen leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. Once he regained his composure and headed deeper inside, darkness consumed the moon. The walls lit up with dim red lights that looked more like veins stretching across all the walls, and a weight nestled in the pit of his stomach… something wasn’t quite right there, but at least he was safe.
Then came the whispers. Kellen couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from… everywhere! All around him. “Who’s there!” he yelled out, but none answered. Tapping sounds echoed off the walls, and Kellen covered his ears and closed his eyes, nearly curling into the fetal position, but then it all ceased. He lied still until he fell asleep.
He saw his brother’s face bloodied black and blue. He saw his mother scolding him for upsetting their father. He saw bodies… so many bodies… people he grew up with… their screams, gurgles, and their melted skin. He heard the hum of the ship, the screech of the animals, and the rustling of the hungry plants. His father’s face, the murderous intent behind his eyes when his brother went missing. He felt those fists in his face… his lungs deprived of air. He heard laughter… maniacal laughter. Everything was red… always red. He watched the madness grow within each and every member of the crew. He watched them turn on one another or flee to their deaths. Then he was sitting in his room on the ship looking out a window at the large gazing eye up above. Outside his window, the whole world bathed in its hues. The gas giant’s perpetual glare induced panic and mania, anxiety and paranoia, but he could not look away. Then it shuttered as if blinking, and next thing Kellen knew, a red-eyed figure stood over him… spawning from the stuff of his nightmares.
The moment Kellen awoke in the cave, maniacal laughter filled the space, bouncing off the strange walls, and he screamed as he got up and ran toward the entrance, his leg strangely pain free. “Where will you go?” The whispers finally coalesced into a single coherent voice, a guttural baritone that resonated from its point of inception with power. Kellen didn’t stop though, covering his ears as the voice mocked him all the way to the exit, where several of those lizard-boar things waited patiently, their tongues flickering this way and that. He skid to a stop inches from the threshold in a panic, unsure how to proceed, the laughter behind him fading until all he could hear were the sounds of the deadly jungle and the hissing of the beasts. They eased their way toward him, and with nowhere else to go, Kellen slowly backed away until he felt a figure brush against his backside. He turned around, and filling the entirety of the corridor was the eye from above, boring into him with its menacing stare. Kellen collapsed to the ground, his heart on the verge of failing, but when he looked back up it was gone. “I can taste your fear.” The voice came once more. “I can feel your pain, your anger… your hatred.” Kellen seethed from within as if his rage would unleash an inferno that would devour him. “Good… now come to me.”
Kellen followed the pull this time, despite the malicious intent tingling along his skin. His heart pounded against his chest, his fists clenched and shaking. His breathing came in short, powerful huffs as he approached a door. He opened it, and it suddenly pushed itself against him with a strength he couldn’t match. Red fingers wrapped around the frame, and a red mask came from the shadows, deep black pits where the eyes ought to be, and pinpoints of red at their center. The door slammed open and a tall translucent entity stepped through, its eyes never leaving Kellen’s own. It glowed red, much like the moon’s host planet. Even its black eyes glowed behind its mask. Red tendrils from behind its skeletal mask hung from beneath the lower side of its face. It stepped aside and pointed through the door, and Kellen obliged.
Immediately upon crossing the threshold, he came face to face with the decrepit ship he’d fled a day or two before. His confusion was short lived as its entry ramp lowered, exhaust vapor spilling forth. The vapor filled the entire area like fog. Wide eyed fear narrowed into defiant contempt. He felt an approval course through his being as he straightened to face his father. The man approached him with clenched fists. “You dare show your face around here again?” His father asked. “Think you’re a man now, eh? Well, c’mon then!”
“Kellen!” His mother screamed as she joined his father’s side. “Why would you come back, you stupid, foolish boy?”
His father backhanded her across the face so hard she went straight to the ground. “He’s a man now, can’t you see? Keep your damn mouth shut.”
Kellen growled ferociously. His father laughed. “I’ll kill you!”
It was his mother’s turn to laugh, but before she spoke a single word, his father shut her up with a look that promised something far worse than a simple backhand. Before he could react, his father decked him hard in the face and he went sprawling into the mud face first. His father stepped on his head and pushed his face deeper into the mud, and he began inhaling the murky water. “Pathetic.” He said mockingly.
A rage exploded from within him and the weight of his father’s boot was suddenly lifted, and he could breathe again. He heard his father’s grunts, and then his footsteps as he quickly approached from behind. Kellen spun and threw his fist at his father, but the much larger man caught it in his oversized hand, and punched Kellen in his gut with his free hand over and over until Kellen collapsed to his knees, his fist still firmly clasped in his father’s hand. “So weak,” his father spat. “I expected more from my own flesh and blood, what a waste.” He wrapped his large fingers around his son’s throat and began choking him while lifting the boy to his toes.
Hatred burned like coals within him. Then he dropped to his feet as his father grabbed at his own throat, clawing at something that wasn’t there. Kellen squeezed his fingers as if they were around his father’s throat, glowering all the while. His mother screamed, and then she too began clawing at her throat, gasping for air that wouldn’t come.
“Yes!” The voice erupted, pulling Kellen back into the cave. “I can work with this.”
Kellen looked around confused. He felt his neck where he’d felt his father’s fingers crushing his throat, the pain still lingering, and then looked around at the room. There was an altar, and another closed door beyond it. “Who…” Kellen stammered. “What are you?”
“I am Darth Viscerous, the Red Tyrant.” The entity raised its spiny translucent fingers before his mask as if studying them. “A ghost, now. Come.”
He pulled his mask off and it immediately solidified, falling through his fingers to the floor, and pointed to the altar. Kellen placed the helm upon the altar and it opened up in response, revealing an obsidian hilt of a lightsaber, decorated with crimson runes.
“These relics are now yours.” Darth Viscerous announced. “Retrieve them, and rise as Darth Maniacis.” The closed door opened. “Your training begins, my apprentice.”
“Yes master.”
“Kellen!” His mother cried. “Please come back…” Her words did little to convince him though, for in his eyes, she was just as guilty as his pathetic excuse for a father.
“That’s right, run!” His father’s deep venomous tone suffocated whatever his mother continued crying out. “Run away just like your good for nothing brother! He’s dead, and you’ll die out there…”
Kellen roared and panted as he kept moving, his tears now streaming down his face. His brother… how could he have abandoned him, and leave him alone with that man? Kellen stumbled and fell, screaming in a fit of rage as he tumbled and rolled, landing on his back. He didn’t want to believe his brother was dead, but everyone else who’d left the safety of the broken ship since they crash landed there years ago were either found dead or never seen again. He clenched his eyes shut in denial, shaking with rage and sorrow. When he opened them, he was greeted by the same glowering image in the sky that’d haunted him for most of his life: a red gas giant that dominated the moon’s sky.
Its storms swept across its surface in layers of pinks, reds, burgundies, and oranges, with a few thinner layers of browns and yellows, but the shades of red dominated over the rest. He actually thought the massive planet was quite pretty, however, at its center was a never ending storm, perpetually swirling on and on. So gargantuan was this cyclone that it took up a third of the gas giant’s surface. Surrounding the storm were yellow lightning storms that eventually bled into the outer layers. It was this particular storm, the one at its center, that left a permanent feeling of unease within him all his life. That feeling like you’re being watched. A paranoia that crept throughout his entire being, because this storm was such a deep, dark red that it may as well have been black. To Kellen, the gas giant seemed an ever-gazing eyeball hovering above at all times, and it never slept… it never blinked… always watching.
Lying on his back, his gaze locked with that of the eye of the storm, fear exploded within him. His reality finally clicked. His eyes widened as the great eye in the sky seemed to grow, his surroundings shrinking away, and he felt as though he was being swallowed. He snapped himself out of it and broke away from the staring contest he had no chance of winning. The fear intensified as he looked around at the unfamiliar terrain, realizing he’d run further from the ship than ever before, his stumble erasing any semblance of bearing he may have had. He’d run further than all the times he’d accompanied others in retrieving bodies… bodies of those who’d also fled the madness festering back home. No, not home. He decided. That useless broken pile of rubble, overgrown by all manner of flora that thrived and danced under the ever-watchful eye, was not his home. It was torment; a prison. His eyebrows furrowed, a scowl splintering across his young features as fear became hatred… became acceptance. "Death it is then.” Kellen growled.
He wandered through the red glow of night aimlessly. He knew not where he was going, and neither did he care. Despite having accepted death, Kellen gripped his hunting knife tightly, and kept it close. He had to use it a few times to break free of several of the native plants' tendrils attempting to feed on him. It was well known that much of the moon’s foliage was carnivorous. They’d learned that the hard way when he was still very young. They weren’t difficult to avoid or repel, but even one mistake or shred of complacency meant he could be a flower’s supper. Some of the fungi, or their spores, were especially dangerous. Some of the plants grew their own drones to fetch them food. Those were incredibly dangerous and aggressive, but were also neutralized by other plant’s defenses. All in all, wandering into the wilds had been utter stupidity, but Kellen didn’t care. He was more worried about whatever animals called the moon home. They were out there somewhere… the plants needed to eat after all, and whatever they were they sounded like something straight out of a nightmare.
As the sun rose over the horizon, the red glow of night became more of a warm orange, softer on the eyes. He’d need to find shelter before the first eclipse, which bathed the moon in the only true darkness the place ever saw, and he did not want to be out in the open then. He had a few hours though, and so Kellen continued his aimless trek across the cursed moon.
A few hours later, Kellen was no closer to finding shelter than he had been since leaving the ship. He could see the sky beginning to dim. Before he had time to panic, a clicking sort of snort erupted nearby. He spun around to see one of the moon’s animals for the first time. It looked like a giant lizard, but was covered in thick fur, and its snout somewhat resembled a boar’s. Large tusks and rows of jagged teeth protruded from its maw. As it stalked toward him its tongue emerged in much the same way a lizard’s might; quickly, and accompanied by a strange clicking-hissing sound, and was barbed at its tip. Kellen slowly backed away, sparing a glance over his shoulder when he could afford it, but the creature would burst into a quick slithering charge when he broke eye contact.
His instincts told him to run, and run he did. He ran harder than he’d ever run in all his life, dodging tendrils, vines, and other appendages reaching for him, but the creature was too fast. This was its home. He hadn’t stood a chance. He felt the barbed tongue stab into his calf and Kellen roared in pain, but dwelling on it did not behoove him as the creature started pulling him closer, and closer. Then it leapt upon him, tearing its tongue loose and inducing another agonizing scream from him. It pinned him down with a foreleg against his chest, and only then did Kellen notice how lanky its legs were despite the creature’s strength. He slashed right through the limb and tumbled out of its reach. Blood spewed all around and plants immediately battled for the amputated leg. Then, to Kellen’s horror, the creature began growing a completely new limb in its place as it howled those gut-wrenching snorts. More clicking snorts echoed in several directions, none too far away.
Run! He took off in one direction, but an overwhelming sense of dread filled him, so he turned toward another direction. Frustration exploded within him and he pivoted in a new direction. The sensation of satisfaction tickled his nerves as he fled the beasts. Following his instincts, he managed to stumble upon a cave of sorts. It was no ordinary cave, but more like an ancient decrepit temple. He studied the craftsmanship in awe for a moment before he heard the angry clicks behind him. Five of those creatures hissed, slowly stalking toward him, and he limped backwards until he was across the temple’s threshold. The creatures stopped abruptly, clicking angrily for a moment, and then fled from the place.
Kellen leaned against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. Once he regained his composure and headed deeper inside, darkness consumed the moon. The walls lit up with dim red lights that looked more like veins stretching across all the walls, and a weight nestled in the pit of his stomach… something wasn’t quite right there, but at least he was safe.
Then came the whispers. Kellen couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from… everywhere! All around him. “Who’s there!” he yelled out, but none answered. Tapping sounds echoed off the walls, and Kellen covered his ears and closed his eyes, nearly curling into the fetal position, but then it all ceased. He lied still until he fell asleep.
He saw his brother’s face bloodied black and blue. He saw his mother scolding him for upsetting their father. He saw bodies… so many bodies… people he grew up with… their screams, gurgles, and their melted skin. He heard the hum of the ship, the screech of the animals, and the rustling of the hungry plants. His father’s face, the murderous intent behind his eyes when his brother went missing. He felt those fists in his face… his lungs deprived of air. He heard laughter… maniacal laughter. Everything was red… always red. He watched the madness grow within each and every member of the crew. He watched them turn on one another or flee to their deaths. Then he was sitting in his room on the ship looking out a window at the large gazing eye up above. Outside his window, the whole world bathed in its hues. The gas giant’s perpetual glare induced panic and mania, anxiety and paranoia, but he could not look away. Then it shuttered as if blinking, and next thing Kellen knew, a red-eyed figure stood over him… spawning from the stuff of his nightmares.
The moment Kellen awoke in the cave, maniacal laughter filled the space, bouncing off the strange walls, and he screamed as he got up and ran toward the entrance, his leg strangely pain free. “Where will you go?” The whispers finally coalesced into a single coherent voice, a guttural baritone that resonated from its point of inception with power. Kellen didn’t stop though, covering his ears as the voice mocked him all the way to the exit, where several of those lizard-boar things waited patiently, their tongues flickering this way and that. He skid to a stop inches from the threshold in a panic, unsure how to proceed, the laughter behind him fading until all he could hear were the sounds of the deadly jungle and the hissing of the beasts. They eased their way toward him, and with nowhere else to go, Kellen slowly backed away until he felt a figure brush against his backside. He turned around, and filling the entirety of the corridor was the eye from above, boring into him with its menacing stare. Kellen collapsed to the ground, his heart on the verge of failing, but when he looked back up it was gone. “I can taste your fear.” The voice came once more. “I can feel your pain, your anger… your hatred.” Kellen seethed from within as if his rage would unleash an inferno that would devour him. “Good… now come to me.”
Kellen followed the pull this time, despite the malicious intent tingling along his skin. His heart pounded against his chest, his fists clenched and shaking. His breathing came in short, powerful huffs as he approached a door. He opened it, and it suddenly pushed itself against him with a strength he couldn’t match. Red fingers wrapped around the frame, and a red mask came from the shadows, deep black pits where the eyes ought to be, and pinpoints of red at their center. The door slammed open and a tall translucent entity stepped through, its eyes never leaving Kellen’s own. It glowed red, much like the moon’s host planet. Even its black eyes glowed behind its mask. Red tendrils from behind its skeletal mask hung from beneath the lower side of its face. It stepped aside and pointed through the door, and Kellen obliged.
Immediately upon crossing the threshold, he came face to face with the decrepit ship he’d fled a day or two before. His confusion was short lived as its entry ramp lowered, exhaust vapor spilling forth. The vapor filled the entire area like fog. Wide eyed fear narrowed into defiant contempt. He felt an approval course through his being as he straightened to face his father. The man approached him with clenched fists. “You dare show your face around here again?” His father asked. “Think you’re a man now, eh? Well, c’mon then!”
“Kellen!” His mother screamed as she joined his father’s side. “Why would you come back, you stupid, foolish boy?”
His father backhanded her across the face so hard she went straight to the ground. “He’s a man now, can’t you see? Keep your damn mouth shut.”
Kellen growled ferociously. His father laughed. “I’ll kill you!”
It was his mother’s turn to laugh, but before she spoke a single word, his father shut her up with a look that promised something far worse than a simple backhand. Before he could react, his father decked him hard in the face and he went sprawling into the mud face first. His father stepped on his head and pushed his face deeper into the mud, and he began inhaling the murky water. “Pathetic.” He said mockingly.
A rage exploded from within him and the weight of his father’s boot was suddenly lifted, and he could breathe again. He heard his father’s grunts, and then his footsteps as he quickly approached from behind. Kellen spun and threw his fist at his father, but the much larger man caught it in his oversized hand, and punched Kellen in his gut with his free hand over and over until Kellen collapsed to his knees, his fist still firmly clasped in his father’s hand. “So weak,” his father spat. “I expected more from my own flesh and blood, what a waste.” He wrapped his large fingers around his son’s throat and began choking him while lifting the boy to his toes.
Hatred burned like coals within him. Then he dropped to his feet as his father grabbed at his own throat, clawing at something that wasn’t there. Kellen squeezed his fingers as if they were around his father’s throat, glowering all the while. His mother screamed, and then she too began clawing at her throat, gasping for air that wouldn’t come.
“Yes!” The voice erupted, pulling Kellen back into the cave. “I can work with this.”
Kellen looked around confused. He felt his neck where he’d felt his father’s fingers crushing his throat, the pain still lingering, and then looked around at the room. There was an altar, and another closed door beyond it. “Who…” Kellen stammered. “What are you?”
“I am Darth Viscerous, the Red Tyrant.” The entity raised its spiny translucent fingers before his mask as if studying them. “A ghost, now. Come.”
He pulled his mask off and it immediately solidified, falling through his fingers to the floor, and pointed to the altar. Kellen placed the helm upon the altar and it opened up in response, revealing an obsidian hilt of a lightsaber, decorated with crimson runes.
“These relics are now yours.” Darth Viscerous announced. “Retrieve them, and rise as Darth Maniacis.” The closed door opened. “Your training begins, my apprentice.”
“Yes master.”
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