Fiction Activity

Competition
There I was...
Textual submission

Malice took a sip of her drink, mulling over the day's events. She enjoyed the alone time, using it as a means of escape from her everyday schedule. Most of the other drinkers knew well to not bother her. She'd been known to punch teeth out when she felt like it. She tensed slightly as she sensed two people coming near her, and silently wished them away in her head. Unfortunately, wishes were for children, and the two took the empty seats to her left side. She groaned inwardly as the two started laughing loudly together, and she saw the bartender glance her way, raising an eyebrow. She shrugged back, indicating that she had no idea who the fools were.

They were both female, at least a few years younger than she was. The armory lightsabers at their sides indicated that they were also someone's apprentices, and she pitied the force users who had to deal with them.

"I accidentally lit my home on fire. It was enough force energy that my master picked up on it and came to ask me if I wanted to train! Of course, I accepted, my parents were so annoying." One of them spoke up slightly, reaching for the drink she'd ordered. Her companion laughed slightly.

"Well, I accidentally killed three people before I knew I was force sensitive!" She said proudly. Malice tried to drown out their obnoxious voices, but her attempt was interrupted as one of them turned to her.

"What about you?" She asked, sounding very full of herself. "You look around our age. How did you find out you were force sensitive?" She was almost so annoying that it was amusing, as she seemed to challenge her to top killing three people.

Malice glared at them from out of the corner of her eye before sighing and finishing her drink off. She turned in her seat to face the two of them, clearing her throat.

"You think you're something special? Either of you? I didn't have parents to raise me, and I killed a lot more than three people. When I first showed signs of being force sensitive, my parents tried to get rid of me. They tried to dump me with the Jedi, and when I was too old to be accepted, they abandoned me on the outer rim planet Cholganna. It's a wild and dangerous planet, covered in thick forests and vicious creatures. The most dangerous of any of them is what I was raised by. The Nexu."

She grew more satisfied as she saw the girls eyes grow wider and wider, their egos slipping with each sentence.

"They accepted me almost immediately, teaching me to survive in the forest. Leaping through the trees, killing from the shadows, you'd be dead the second you stepped into our territory. Not even your bones would remain after we were done with you, they'd been ground down and crushed by even the smallest of cubs. Even with all their ferocity, that doesn't stop Nexu from being a highly sought after prize. They're used for their fur, their teeth, their spines, as arena beasts, even as pets if you think you've got what it takes.

One night as we all slept, poachers arrived on our planet. They scoped us out easily, sleeping in the highest branches of the trees. They quietly set fire to our forest, using it as a means to draw us out. I just remember waking up and feeling my throat burn as I inhaled the smoke. My mother handed me her only other child and had us run as far as we could the other direction. Even if I was fast, one of the hunters had us cornered almost immediately, and none of the grown Nexu where there to protect us. We didn't' even know if any of the others were still alive. He was getting closer to us, until all of a sudden he was writhing on the ground. I felt something I'd never felt before, some sort of power. It only grew stronger as I got more angry, so I thought about everything he'd done. How we might never see our family again. I thought of our mother, and how she must surely be dead now. I watched his eyes roll back into his head as he fought for breath. I watched all the different colors his face turned, watched as he slowly began to look more like the monster I knew him to be.

We went after the others after he was no longer a problem. The fire was put out quickly, it's purpose now served. Many of the people had left already, their prizes secured as well as their bounty on them. We tortured the rest. I wanted to make them suffer, make them beg for death. Even when they finally did, we savored their pain, the cub and I. We allowed one to escape after the others were dead. Who better to spread the fear than someone who had just watched his comrades eyes bulge out of their sockets? We wanted to stop anyone else from coming to our world, and it worked for the most part. There were a few groups that thought themselves strong enough to best us, but as the cub and I grew, we only grew more deadly. Some were killed instantly, others we played with, toying with them and playing mind games. No one left the planet alive. Until one day, word got around to my master, Selika. She heard the tales of a wild girl using a mysterious power and recognized it as the force. I must have peaked her interest because she paid us a visit. We didn't kill her right away, we were more curious than anything. I sensed in her the same thing I had in me, and she eventually convinced us to join her. So please, go on about your three deaths and your measly fire. I'm sure we're all dying to hear more."

The girls were silent, and one of them had their mouth hanging open in surprise. Their confident gazes had been completely taken over by fear, and Malice dropped a few credits on the counter as she stood from her seat. She glanced at them once more before turning, smiling smugly to herself. Nothing welcomed new recruits like intimidating them out of their minds.