The Vaa-Thaalda

Posted on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 @ 5:27pm by Amare & Bomoor Thort & Thane

2,449 words; about a 12 minute read

Chapter: Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Vaa, Thaal system (Moon of Caanus)
Timeline: After "Moonwalk"
Tags: Vaa-Thaalda, Cabal

OLD

"Walk the path--walk the path--walk the path," Coda kept repeating over and over as she stirred where she lay. Upon Bomoor coming close to her, she snapped upright, grabbed at his robed collar with one hand, her eyes luminous and burgundy red, and she cried to him, "He's coming! The dark lord comes this way! RUN!" She pushed away from Bomoor and scrambled northbound towards the dense thicket of forest. "Have to warn the general," she said to herself, a strange echoing male voice interlaced with her own. "Cabal will kill us all!"

Having no time to stop her, Bomoor could only watch as a strangely manic Coda fled from his side. She was clearly experiencing a vision in the Force and her inexperience with such abilities was causing her to confuse her own thoughts with another, perhaps long dead, being. Cursing their foolishness at bringing someone so powerful, yet so inexperienced into this environment, Bomoor flung his head around towards the violet beacon of Thane's weapon, the light rebounding on thousands of water droplets that hung in the mist.

He went to call back to Thane, but then he saw something new: almost indistinguishable from the bright light of the ignited lightsaber were several pairs of shining orbs hanging in the darkness above them. As he focused on them, Bomoor began to sense a masked life-force behind those orbs and a fear set in as he realised they were eyes, trained upon himself and Thane, helpless in the mist.

"The creatures are here!"

NEW

"Blast!" Thane swore as Coda scurried away with Force-imbued speed into the thick fog, her form having shot past him rapidly, his apprentice quickly becoming obscured by the tree husks and beyond his vision. Even within the Force, he was struggling to pinpoint exactly where she had run to, instead still sensing the overriding sense of direction that the key continued to pull him towards. Conveniently, however, in the direction the Nautolan had disappeared.

Staring after her, his thoughts as to wondering what had possessed the young woman were caught short by Bomoor's echoic roar:

"The creatures are here!"

Raising his weapon back to the Soresu stance he had adopted before, Thane's mind was brought immediately back to the previous threat, his nerves tense and his one-handed grip tight on his weapon. He sidestepped quickly to bring himself closer to Bomoor's side, leaving the two former Jedi facing outwards from one another in ready poses. Above and around them, the almost-imperceptible sound of claws scraping against pale dead bark could be heard, and more than one branch was heard to snap.

Glancing upwards, the Caanan saw a shadowy form, its features impossible to make out and its gangling limbs dangling loosely from a branch, just for a second, before it scurried upwards and then leapt across out of sight. As his eyes focused and his senses became more attuned, Thane was certain he could see several, perhaps dozens, of those same elongated, angular forms shifting from tree to tree within the mist.

"They're concealing themselves in the Force," he hissed in a low tone, confident Bomoor had drawn the same conclusion. Even as he readied his blade against the oncoming beasts, Thane felt himself glancing to where Coda had run - to where the key, now growing warmer against his chest, as if excited, was also calling him. Its inexplicable command was becoming more difficult to resist or ignore.

“I can sense them, but only just,” Bomoor agreed, swiftly igniting his viridian blade and sweeping it across him in the defensive Shien posture, “I cannot tell how many there are around us.”

In the mist, the pale green and purple blade light splashed together, blanketing the trees and shrubbery around them in unnatural tones, making every curling branch and twisted root seem like a monstrous limb emerging from the darkness. The Force-sensitive pair stood back-to-back peering into the unknown for some sight or sound of the creatures they knew were peering back at them.

Then there was a thud, the sound of dust being whipped up as a weight fell upon the dry surface, just a few metres to the side of the two friends. Thane turned his pale eyes towards its source, his violet blade's point arced directly at the grotesque form that was now clearer to see.

Its skin was deathly grey, mottled and scarred from unknown battles or simple deformation, stretched across a skeletal structure that was misshapen and jutting in peculiar angles, as if designed by a madman or a cruel prankster. Its arms and legs bent sharply at the joints, drawing its taloned hands and feet inwards beneath its undersized, thin trunk. Although it was currently hunched, Thane was certain that were it able to stand at its full, horrific height, the beast could top eight or nine feet. Crowning the crawling corpse was a skull that had been stretched at a queer angle, with two deep sunken sockets with small glinting jewels of eyes embedded deep within, and another crevice existed in between, presumable where its nose would have been. And finally, beneath that, was a jaw, appearing dislocated and hanging from its head; rows of misshaped razor sharp teeth dotted along its edges, and saliva dripped languidly from its unclosing maw, spattering thickly on the ground.

Eyes widening at the sight of this despicable predator, Thane knew at once that this was the creature of his childhood nightmares: the Vaa-Thaalda of Caanan legend; the folklore abominations that all good children of Caanus feared would come to feast upon their flesh.

But, of course, they were not simply a fairytale creature used to scare unruly children into following their parents' commands. Instead, they were hunters - very real, and very really staring into the eyes of two interlopers upon their world.

It was only then that Thane realised the creature was no longer advancing, but was instead rocking on its malformed limbs, not breaking eye contact with the would-be Sith. The Human realised too late what the ploy was, as he felt two knocks of pressure impact his shoulder. Risking the briefest of glances, he saw a viscous, yellowy fluid seeping down his shoulder, immediately recognising it as the same thick saliva falling from the monster's mouth.

He looked up just in time to see one of the beasts launching itself from a branch high above him towards his face, a bloodcurdling scream reverberating from its narrow chest as it slashed through the mist towards him. Thane sliced instinctively, narrowly cutting the Thaalda into two steaming pieces of twitching corpse that fell to either side of him, the heat of the beast and the cut assaulting his cold face.

And all at once, every creature that had surrounded them roared to life, screaming, dashing and hacking towards the lightsaber-wielding pair, throwing themselves high and low at curious angles, their warped visages ripped into masks of pure vitriol. And, unlike before, they all appeared within the Force - a mass of hate-filled abominations, determined to claim their quarry, excitement and dark side energy permeating everything surrounding Thane and Bomoor, the Thaalda's guise dropped as the assault had finally begun.

"Run!" Thane shouted, throwing himself in the same direction Coda had disappeared, slicing away at two more of the monsters that flung themselves at him.

There was a scream from Coda about fifty yards ahead of them. It was quickly followed by the sound of three blaster shots and the wild manic growls of Thaalda giving chase.

In the flurry of twisted bodies that had launched themselves at Thane after his initial retaliation, Bomoor had shot to one side to avoid being overwhelmed. His blade stayed firmly held in front of his long head and several pale, frenzied hands had been singed or sliced as he moved away from the chaos.

Stealing a glance at the bushes ahead, where the blaster shots had emanated from, the Ithorian could sense Coda still on the move and was pleased that she had at least managed to avoid the Vaa-Thaalda’s grasp thus far. Part of him was also glad that her shots had thinned the herd around himself and Thane; although he knew it placed her in additional danger.

A terrible screech, like a ruptured steam valve, came from one of the frenzied humanoids behind Bomoor, alerting him to an imminent attack. The cry was enough to send any weaker-minded being into hysterics but Bomoor’s training and experience with his own Force-augmented Bellow, gave him some protection and prevented him from flinching as the creature hurled itself forwards, sharp talon like fingers poised to tear along the former Jedi’s throats.

Spinning around and switching into a one handed form to aid his swift movement, Bomoor swept his lightsaber from the ground diagonally across the Vaa-Thaalda as it descended upon him, borrowing from the Makashi form. Its light and scrawny body was thrown aside and, after some futile scrabbling, was dead. However, just as before when Thane had cut down the first Vaa-Thaalda, several more jumped forwards from the darkness enraged by the death of their fallen kin.

He had not realised it, but the movements of the creatures had driven him further and further from Thane and further still from where Coda had disappeared into the trees. There was an intelligence to their attack, crazed though it seemed; they were using their numbers to shepherd the ambushed fighters apart.

“They’re driving us apart!” Bomoor boomed over the shrieks and cackles, while holding a steady defence back in his defensive stance “I don’t know how many more are out there but, we’re going to be overwhelmed at this rate!”

Thane was only able to manage a few subdued grunts in return to the Ithorian, narrowly sidestepping yet another lurching creature, violet blade running along its spinal column in the same deft movement. Taking the briefest of moments to look towards Bomoor, his vision obscured by both fog and the sheer numbers of the manic Thaalda, he too realised how effective the animals had been at separating them.

Some greater intelligence is driving them, he thought, and whilst his mind made the most fleeting of connections between that and what Coda had said, it was immediately interrupted by another of the Vaa-Thaalda flinging itself towards him, yellowed teeth bared in a mockery of a grin.

With the Force, Thane clutched the creature mid-jump, using its own momentum to swing it down with great energy into another advancing Thaalda, crushing the two attackers into an audibly bone-crunching limb-strewn mess some feet away from the Sith apprentice.

The tactic, he noticed, had left an opening in the direction Coda had run - and the key was calling.

"This way!" Thane shouted to Bomoor, although much of his voice was lost to the cries of the Thaalda, a mere whisper compared to his friend's own echoic sounds. Purposely stretching out within the Force to his friend to ensure there was some more tangible tether, Thane then called once more upon the mystic power and imbued himself with unnatural speed, compelling his body and mind to move more quickly as he began running towards where he last heard blaster fire.

However, with their primal instincts, honed hunting ability and lean muscle, Bomoor could see that several Thaalda were quick and able to take up the chase, matching Thane's speed and alacrity, forcing him to dart between trees and spin himself about to deliver swipes and strikes with his blade. Even so, the Human was quickly enveloped by the white mists as he swept the beasts away, the brilliant sheen of his weapon and its trademark hum and swipes becoming less apparent in the all-consuming miasma of Vaa's unearthly weather.

Whilst several of the Thaalda had split off from the main bulk in pursuit of the Caanan, several others were now clambering towards Bomoor on their misshapen, oversized limbs, keen to capitalise on the hulking Consular's solitude. Separated as he now was from the others, he must have appeared entirely vulnerable to the seething tribe of monsters beginning to encircle him, their pace slowing but no malice yet having left their queer, savage eyes.

As the creatures closed in, so did the mist; the Ithorian and his twisted foes seemed the only presences in an otherwise empty landscape. He was alone...

...but there was the Force.

Reaching out from himself, Bomoor focused more intensely on the beings before him and began to see their interaction with the Force, strained though it was. As they held still and quivered before him, he sensed their eagerness to pounce but also a restraint that was common between all of them as though they were waiting for the order. He felt the Force interacting with their muscles: tensed and ready with adrenaline.

The mood changed; there was a flicker of action that they all felt and then they began to growl and snarl. At this moment, Bomoor realised that several more Vaa-Thaalda had crept up behind him so, whipping his arm around, he flung a wave of energy across the group before him, sending most of them to the ground before turning his attention to the attack behind him. But, even in that fleeting moment, he found one of the monstrous beings had bitten down on his left arm, causing him to bellow in pain. The great force of his exclamation caused the creature to fly from his arm, but not before tearing away several layers of his tough skin, revealing weeping crimson flesh beneath.

Within moments, more creatures leapt forwards; he could sense them and flung several away, but he could not defend on all sides and, before he knew it, two more had latched on to him. They too, were biting and clawing, this time at his back and Bomoor could do little but slice at them while attempting to fend off even more coming from in front of him. He was quickly being worn down and the creatures could sense it. They became more bold and flew at his face, battering him relentlessly, spitting and snarling as they weakened him.

He felt his head getting lighter and his ability to resist waning but, even as his guard fell, the creatures seemed not to go for killing strikes but rather continued to bleed and bruise him until he could not hold himself up any longer. Then, as a final Vaa-Thaalda sprung right atop him and whacked his head with a rock, his knees buckled and he fell to the craggy ground, unable to resist the temptation of sleep.

Lost to the mist.

TBC

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