Chapter 7: Training on Dathomir
The planet of Dathomir was a harsh place and it's inhabitants have adapted. Whether that was the Bane-Back Spiders, arachnids with eight powerful legs and a strong venom that would kill a Wookiee in a matter of days or the fearsome and giant beasts known as the Rancor, a bipedal monster covered in thick armour and strong muscles.
However Raiden had discovered over the last two years that none were as harsh or as savage as the Zabraks. They were animalistic by nature and they were lead by their primal instincts of 'the weak follow the strong' and so the largest, strongest and fastest Zabrak male would lead their tribe on the rocky Dathomir mountains. These Zabrak males were known as the Night-Brothers of Dathomir.
While the Night-Brothers lived in their tribes, the females, known as the Night-Sisters, lived in the vast swamp lands. The Night-Brothers were primal beings but the Night-Sisters were cunning and none were as conniving and powerful in the Dothomirian Magik as Mother Talzin.
It was the Night-Mother that oversaw the training of her young Son. She insured he lived through a series of rituals she put him through. With the Waters of Life she channeled the Spirit Ichor through his body increasing his power in the force as well as his raw strength. After his rituals were complete his entire body, except his face, were covered in the Dathomirian tattoos. But these weren't only tattoos they were shackles. And so as his training began Raiden Skywalker was no more and born anew as Omen, son of Talzin.
Raidens training was always brutal but what he was currently going through was the harshest yet. He held a staff of twisted, warped black wood the length of a Lightsaber Staff while facing three Night-Brothers. The largest Night-Brother held a large wooden club, the top being ringed with metal to cause the most pain. The second Night-Brother held two short wooden scythes and the third held a whip and had two daggers on his belt.
Mother Talzin looked down on her son, who had his chest bare and shackles around his wrists that would prevent his from using the force, as he faced the three opponents. He had been fighting for dozens of minutes now and was covered in cuts and bruises, no different from any other training session.
Raiden pushed the head of his staff into the stomach of the first Night-Brother causing him to stagger. He raised his staff above his head ready to strike his opponent when it was caught with the whip stopping it. It took Raiden a moment to unbind his staff but a moment was all the Night-Brothers needed as he was quickly attacked by two scythes. He blocked them but his guard was forced downward by the hooked blades and the club was slammed into his side sending him to the floor.
His black staff tumbled from his grasp as he fell to his hands and knees. Raiden felt a searing pain in his ribs but it fell to the back of his mind as he felt the burning gaze of the Night-Mother. He didn't meet her eyes but he knew that they would be filled with disappointment, who was she to be disappointed in him. He was a Jedi, raised within the walls of the Temple by some of the greatest people in the galaxy yet here he was, on a planet he hated, beaten by people he hated, being looked down upon in disappointment by a woman who he HATED!
All his childhood he was taught that rage and fury was the tools of the Sith and that as a Jedi he must never succumb to his baser instincts but he always struggled. In the temple however he had people to care for him, Masters such as Yoda and Qui-Gon, and even Dooku to a lesser extent, who he could go to when he felt emotions such as these. The one he was closest to was Luminara. She was always there for him when he had any problems, for some reason she just understood him, always able to bring him back to the light. But it had been a long time since he had anyone to bring him back to the light on this Force forsaken planet and so he struggled to keep his rage under control.
The woman responsible for Luminara's death, the Witch Talzin, looked at him in disappointment. And the worst part was that it hurt. Raiden was only five when he was taken, still young and craving the love of a mother in this brutal loveless planet. It was a weakness in his mind and emotions that Mother Talzin was quick to exploit for her own gain. So after exposing him to the most brutal form of physical training she would hold him close and heal his wounds, some of which she inflicted herself, and whispering sweet things in his ears, manipulating him to be the perfect pawn.
And so while he knew that she was responsible for so much suffering in his life Raiden still felt shame in the depths of his soul that he had let her down. And even though he knew it to be wrong and against everything he was taught as a child he channeled these negative emotions through his body and against his enemies.
His shame and rage fuelled him as the Night-Brothers surrounded him. The first with the club stood at his right side and prepared to bring his club down. The second with two scythes stood a few meters in front of Raiden while the last with the whip stood in striking distance on his left. Raiden did what no Jedi should do and rage filled his blue eyes as he eyed his staff, and the knife on the belt of the Night-Brother who held the whip. His staff was out of reach and he was losing time so thinking fast he grabbed the closest thing to him that could be used as a weapon.
His hand clutched a rock and he swung wildly at the Night-Brother with the club, smashing the rock against his head sending him sprawling to the ground. Quickly he threw an elbow into the stomach of the Night-Brother to his left and ripped a knife from his belt before again slamming his elbow into his chest.
He began to rise from his knees, grabbing his staff and throwing the knife as he did so. The blade flew through the air plunging into the shoulder of the scythe wielding Dathomirian. Raiden grasped his staff and prepared to advance but was interrupted by the crack of a whip. He spun to face his opponent and brought his staff up to block the whip strike from hitting his face. Instead the whip wrapped around the shaft of his staff.
Now Raiden was locked in a contest of strength. The Night-Brother was much older than Raiden, who was only seven years old but Raiden was enhanced by the dark rituals he was subjected to in the caves of Dathomir and so his enhanced physique was able to force a stalemate with his older opponent. Raiden was full of rage and anger but not blinded by it and so he noticed the Night-Brother approaching with a scythe, ready to strike him down.
Raiden knew that without the use of the force he wouldn't be able to defeat both at the same time and so he allowed himself to lose the contest of strength. He pushed his staff towards the Night-Brother who was totally surprised and stumbled backwards before tripping and falling to the ground.
Now facing just one opponent Raiden prepared to end it. The Night-Brother was slowed by his shoulder wound and so Raiden was easily able to dodge his strikes ducking under his swing and delivering a swift and powerful strike to his stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs. Raiden then kicked his leg causing as audible crack and he caved to his knees before Raiden slammed his knee into his chin. Now with only one remaining and Raiden picked up his staff. The last Night-Brother didn't even fully make it to his feet before Raiden swung his staff sending his to the floor where he remained.
"Well done Omen." Mother Talzin announced to her son.
Raiden scowled at her words of approval yet deep down, a place in his soul he wished to bury her words warmed him. For he still searched for maternal love and this twisted form of it was the only thing he found on this cold world away from any other kind of friendship or love.
"But your training for today is not yet complete." She continued.
Raiden had known it was coming. It was how all trainings went. He would be taken far into the mountains of Dathomir were he would be trained to perfect his enhanced bodies physical abilities. After it was done he would be bruised and bloody but before he had any chance of rest he would be told to make his way back to the Caves of the Night-Sisters with no assistance. Raiden assumed this was what Talzin referred to but he was wrong. Instead of leaving she instead threw down to him something familiar from his past.
* KWISHUUUU*
White light illuminates Raidens face showing his conflicting emotions. He didn't understand why Talzin would give him this, or what she wanted from him. He also thought about running, he now held his Lightsaber, he could cut his bindings that stopped his use of the force. But he didn't have to wonder her intentions for much longer as she made her purpose known.
"Finish this Omen." She softly commanded
"What?" He asked, not because he was confused but because he wished that he had misunderstood.
"Kill them!" She ordered again this time with fire in her voice.
Raiden stared at his Lightsaber and at his opponents. They were defeated, to kill them would go against every basic principle of the Jedi. Dozens of faced passed through his mind. Sadness in the eyes of Yoda, betrayal im Qui-Gon's, disappointment in Dooku's eyes and anger in the eyes of Windu. Yet it was Luminara's face that stuck in his mind. More specifically it was the fear in her eyes and he knew that he couldn't.
"No." He whispered
"Do you defy me!" Talzin seethed at her son, for he was but a boy and she the Great Witch of Dathomir! She would not be defied!
"You will kill them or suffer!" Green mist surrounded her as her eyes glowed with power and the Night-Brothers began to awake and ride to their feet.
"I said NO!" Again Raiden refused but Talzin fulfilled her promise of suffering.
The Night-Mother stretched out her hand and clenched. The tattoos that covered Raidens body began to glow with green power as Talzin used them to inflict an unimaginable amount of pain. His Lightsaber fell from his grasp and he crumbled to his knees. The burns it caused were so painful that in an attempt to escape them Raiden plunged to the depths of his memory.
"Make it stop! It burns!" Raiden screamed but this time it was a much younger voice
Raiden sat on a pristine white bed in the medical ward of the Jedi Temple. A medical droid was applying a healing cream to the burns along Raidens legs and his small hand clutched a much bigger green one.
"I told you Lightsabers weren't toys did I not?" Came the calm soothing voice of Luminara Unduli.
She waved the droid away approaching Raiden and placing her hands on his leg. She channelled the force through her hands and began to heal the small burn. Raiden thanked her but could tell by the look in her eyes that a lecture was coming.
"The Lightsaber is a sacred weapon of our order. It is the tool of a peace keeper and a negotiator, as such it must be treated with care and to use such a weapon to cause unnecessary pain and suffering is to forsake the Jedi and their ways." She said as the pain was pulled away from his leg and the burn healed
"Do you understand?" She asked softly and suddenly Raiden was back on Dathomir.
"I understand Luminara." He whispered so quietly that not even the Night-Mother could hear
"And I am sorry." He knew the Jedi teachings but he was only human, and not just human but a child, and the pain Talzin was putting his body through would be enough to break the mind of a Jedi Master.
"DEW IT!!!" Talzin's voice was distorted with power and malice as she ordered her son one last time, but this time instead of refusing he grasped his Lightsaber and began to rise.
A whip was sent towards his face but was met with a Lightsaber, rendering it useless. In a fluid motion Raiden delivered an upward strike at the largest Night-Brother who attempted to block with his club but the blade went right through. The Night-Brother was unharmed but left without a weapon. Sensing danger he held his Lightsaber over his head and behind his back blocking an attack by a scythe. Raiden reached behind him and grasped the shirt of his arracker and with unnatural strength lifted him over himself and threw him to the floor.
The Night-Brother who once held the whip now approached with a knife but didn't make it two steps before he had Raidens Lightsaber through his heart. The man on the floor tried to rise but Raiden stomped on his chest cracking many part of his rib cage. Fear filled the eyes of the largest as Raiden slashed his stomach severing his torso from his legs. Then before the final Night-Brother could even fathom what was happening Raiden swung downward at the floor ending his life by severing his head.
"You have done well Omen, My Son." Talzin said to Raiden as she approached and his mind had been so twisted by her manipulations he never even thought of using his weapon against her.
"Thank you Mistress." Raiden responded as he extinguished the blade.
"You're not to address me as mistress anymore, you will call me Mother." She said to him as the shackles on his wrist fell and he felt the force fill his being for the first time in years.
Raiden didn't answer as she held him close to her body hugging him softly like a mother would to a child and the many, many wounds on his body healed to leave pale scars. She held his chin and softly raised it until she stared into his stormy blue eyes.
"Yes Mother." He answered and she smiled
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{ Author Notes }
Last chapter I asked for your opinion on a love interest and I got some good replies
- Bo-Katan Kryse
- Asajj Ventress
- Aayla Sacura
- Shaak Ti
These are my favourite
For everyone who suggested Padme, not going to happen, they will be close friends but she is integral to Anikans story.
For everyone who suggested Ashoka, not going to happen, she will be 8-10 years younger than him with her being 14 (or something) at the start of the clone wars and him bling (22) or something at the start of the clone wars. So not going to happen that would be creepy.
Anyway if you've got more suggestions I'd live to hear than and I hope you enjoyed.
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