Chapter 36: Laughing In Darkness

As I stared down the monster that was literally made to kill people like me, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was rancid, like rotting meat.

But I didn't have time to dwell on it as it surged forward, its massive claws swinging towards us. The tunnel wasn't small, but the creature was huge and its talons dug deep trenches into the walls as they sought us.

I didn't get a chance to say anything, instead just moving. Its hand swept uncomfortably close as I dived into a roll, tumbling under the limb and past its leg.

I struck out with my sword, hoping to do something to it. While the blade bit into the skin on the back of the creature's knee, it only left a small cut.

I nearly gagged as the stench got worse.

Where I had taken the low route, Tyrene had gone high, nimbly hopping up onto its arm despite her armor. I heard more than saw her own strike.

There was a flash of red light before the terentatek roared and staggered as the Pureblood landed beside me in a crouch.

No words were spoken as we both got back to our feet and ran.

Our footsteps echoed in the tunnel, all hope of stealth banished. Not that it had been on the table to begin with. Each moment that we were still breathing was a moment where we were still alive.

"What did you hit?" I asked, not wasting more words than necessary. After all, we were running for our lives.

"Light burn above the left eye," Tyrene answered in kind, "You?"

"Light cut behind the right knee."

She didn't bother with a verbal reply, but the displeased scowl on her face was enough of a response. Neither of us had been able to do much damage to it with what we had on hand. Well, I hadn't tried everything, yet.

I didn't need to turn to see if the terentatek was following us. Its thunderous footsteps were enough of an indicator, as was the roar that momentarily deafened us. The thing that was concerning was that the footsteps were sounding closer.

I risked a glance over my shoulder, only to see that it was catching up at an uncomfortable pace.

Why couldn't this thing be slow like a rancor?

Oh right. It was made to hunt Force Users. It needed to be able to actually catch them. Not for the first time, I was cursing the ancient Sith ability to make stupidly effective, yet uncontrollable, murder machines.

I paused briefly on my next step, gathering power before I launched myself forward in a brief Force-empowered leap. Behind me, I heard Tyrene curse before joining me.

It gave us some much-needed distance from the murder machine, but it wouldn't last long at the rate it was going. It was faster than us on foot, but we couldn't just run with Force Speed as we didn't want to lose it.

I'd been hoping to hobble it somewhat with the cut to its leg, but its hide had been too thick for anything more than a superficial wound. Tyrene had obviously tried to blind it, but it must have jerked back in time to avoid a crippling injury.

With as fast as it was, I was starting to get concerns that it would get past the array before the falling rocks could trap it. We needed to slow it down somehow, but most of my options and weapons simply wouldn't work. Except one…

I groaned as I realized what I probably had to do.

"Tyrene, I'll distract it, you take out its knee."

"Wai-" I didn't give her a chance to protest.

Jumping towards the wall, I used it as a springboard to abruptly change direction, hurtling up and over the terentatek's head.

Its beady black eyes followed me as I passed, its attention caught by the sudden movement, its claws already rising. I slipped in between the rising talons before they could catch me, their tips scraping small furrows in the ceiling.

Rolling to a stop, I waited just long enough for it to start turning around.

Raising my hands, I unleashed a torrent of lightning straight at its face. While it wouldn't hurt the monster, it was still a bright flashing light directed into its eyes. Immune to the Force or not, it was still an animal and it reflexively moved its arms to cover its face.

Behind the creature, Tyrene's crimson blade swept across its right knee in a two-handed power strike. Flesh burned as the creature let out a roar. The leg didn't buckle, but I saw shaking.

Resistance did not mean immunity. Putting enough strength behind a blow could overpower it. A point that Tyrene had instantly grasped.

"Run!" I shouted over the noise, diving between the terentatek's legs.

Tyrene didn't need any prompting and we both took off again.

It wasn't crippled, but that should at least slow it down a little bit. If it wasn't before, it was now thoroughly pissed. Its roar shook loose some stone from the ceiling as it charged after us.

Again, I glanced back to watch it. Instead of exceeding our pace, it was now matching it as it was forced to favor one leg. The limp it had now might have been a bit funny if it wasn't currently attempting to murder and eat me. Not necessarily in that order.

I had kept track of how long we walked away from the trap. Most of our wandering had involved going down side tunnels, backtracking, then picking a new one. But all the while, I'd kept a mental map of which tunnels led back to our starting point. With us running, the return trip was much shorter.

In the dim lighting, I saw the inactive glowrod ahead. I didn't need to say anything to my companion. As one, we leapt forward, shooting past the invisible trap before turning to face our pursuer.

The terentatek lumbered forward, none the wiser. Despite knowing what was coming, I still took a few steps back. Seeing a creature that size charging towards you was still fucking terrifying. When it saw us stop, something must have clicked in its head as it started to slow down.

But it was too late.

As one giant, clawed foot stepped over the threshold, the spell of invisibility broke as the array activated. A great crack resounded through the tunnel as the supports broke and the solid ceiling shattered into a shower of boulders.

Tyrene and I covered our faces as a huge dust cloud washed over us. I peered up over my arm, my eyes squinted.

Tons of stone rained down on the terentatek, which roared defiantly as it tried to push through, its massive claws swiping to and fro as it knocked aside rock after rock. I took a few more steps back as it got closer, my hand gripping my sword just a bit tighter.

This was going to work. It had to work.

Just as it looked like it would get through, several large boulders dropped onto its head and back, knocking it from its feet. Once on the ground, it was quickly buried. Only its head and right arm remained uncovered. The terentatek was still conscious, but its eyes were unfocused, likely dazed from the impacts. A low growl leaked out of its throat.

As Tyrene started to walk forward, I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She glared at me, "What now?"

Just a sneaking suspicion, but I think she was getting annoyed with me.

"Kill it from range," I advised, "Terentateks release a cloud of poison gas when they die."

Truthfully, I didn't know if that was a thing for SWTOR's terentateks, but I didn't want to risk it.

She looked at me for a long moment before letting out her breath in a hiss, "All this trickery and running from our foes does not sit well with me…but your advice has had its merits," Just as the feeling of smugness started to encroach in my mind, she quickly added a warning, "So far."

I shrugged it off, not too concerned just yet, "Just go for the eyes. Like this."

Using the Force, I levitated my sword from my hand and launched it forward like a giant arrow. There was a nausea-inducing squelch as the metal pierced the monster's eye, burying itself up to the hilt in its skull.

A grunt of surprise and pain erupted from the terentatek's mouth.

Still grasping the sword with the Force, I spun the blade inside of the wound, using it like a blender to shred its brain. The exterior may be incredibly tough, but the interior was still squishy.

Soon, the creature fell limp as a cloud of green gas started seeping from its wounds. I pushed the gas further down the tunnel with a light Force Push.

Tyrene stared at it, her nose scrunched up, "That…was disgusting."

"Worked didn't it?" I asked. She grudgingly nodded, "Now we just need to keep an eye out for the other."

The Pureblood hissed, her head whipping around to look behind us as though a terentatek was about to burst from the shadows, "Other?! You didn't say anything about another!"

"I didn't," I agreed, "Mostly because I was hoping it wouldn't come up. Terentateks usually hunt in pairs, but sometimes you can get lucky and only find one. This place is trafficked enough that it's possible someone already killed the mate. Just keep an eye out."

As she seethed, I watched to make sure the creature was really dead before approaching. When no movement was apparent, I started forward, kneeling between the exposed hand and its head. I glanced at the oozing wound where its eye used to be, watching rivulets of black blood drip down.

As the first hit the stone below, it started hissing and digging pock marks in the ground.

"I hope you brought a strong vial," I commented, "Because its blood is eating through the floor."

That was new. Did someone add a xenomorph to it when I wasn't looking?

With a thought, I telekinetically pulled my sword out of the terentatek's head. The black blood was almost invisible against the dark metal. The blade was undamaged, likely because of the alchemical enhancements.

Thankfully, none of the blood had spilled past the small guard, so it was safe to grab the hilt. As I did, the blood started sinking into the metal.

I'll admit the weapon had been a curiosity for some time, unknowable thanks to my accidental creation of it. Most of its properties, besides its resistance to lightsabers and its ability to absorb Force Lightning, remained a mystery.

Its habit of drinking blood was unnerving, yet also a bit intriguing. Why did it do that and did it gain any benefit from it?

Soon, I could sense a feeling of hunger from it. It wanted more.

I set the blade under the terentatek's head, where it could absorb more from the drops falling from the beast's head. I felt a trill of joy in my mind before silence returned.

That done, I turned my attention to the terentatek's hand. With some effort, I turned it over. Digging around in my pack, I pulled out a plasma cutter and started cutting at the gaps in the chitin plates.

Tyrene gave up on her attempts to be frustrated with me and set to work on her own task, carefully collecting several vials of blood from the gaping wound on the terentatek's face.

"I don't understand how you can be so…so…blasé about this," Tyrene remarked as she worked.

I shrugged, "After what happened before I met you, maybe I had the fear burned out. Maybe I'll have a freak out later on."

"Wait," She stopped me, her yellow eyes now firmly on me, "The shaking from earlier, that was you?"

"Not directly," I corrected, "I'm here for the Trial of Blood and Bone. When I got my skull from the pile, something big got woken up down there."

"Larger than the terentatek?" She asked, gesturing to the corpse.

"Big," I repeated gravely as I finally loosened one of the plates enough to tear it free, which I wrapped up and shoved into my pack. The plasma cutter was slow-going for this task, but at least it worked. I then got started on the skin, "Thankfully, it went back to sleep almost immediately after."

After peeling back the skin as much as I could, I catalogued all the tubes and vessels, identifying what I suspected were veins and nerves. There wasn't anything like what I was looking for in the forearm. I glanced at the claws. Maybe they were closer to the hand…

"I went on that trial years ago and I didn't find anything," She insisted, "What did you do?"

"Nothing," I replied truthfully. I still don't know what I did to wake up…whatever it was.

From the way she scowled, she didn't believe me. I probably wouldn't have either, so it was understandable. But then, I didn't have to explain jack-shit to her.

Ah, there they were. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time or tools to do detailed work right now. I retrieved my sword from its drinking spot.

"Can I borrow your lightsaber for a second?" I asked before she could continue, "Well actually, you using your lightsaber?"

Tyrene stared at me suspiciously before slowly asking, "Why?"

I wiggled my now deactivated plasma cutter, "This thing isn't strong enough to cut through bone."

The look on her face indicated that she wanted to know, but it quickly shifted to the opposite, "Where?"

I used my finger to show her where to cut. As her lightsaber flared to life again, I scooted aside to let her work.

The plasma blade slowly seared through skin, which didn't improve the general stench. During this, I kept watch behind us, just in case this terentatek hadn't been alone.

It took a few minutes to burn through flesh and bone, but finally the hand came loose at the wrist, cauterized at the stump. Carefully grabbing one of the fingers, I hefted the severed limb over my shoulder. The entire thing was about the size of my chest, if not larger.

"And what do you need that for?" Tyrene inquired.

"Experimentation," I answered simply, "The claws and tusks secrete venom, so I want to see what I can do with them," I shrugged a shoulder, jostling my prize.

"This is about what I can carry out without lifting equipment."

She looked back at the rest of the creature buried under the rubble before looking back to me.

"So that's it?"

I nodded, "That's it. You head back to your master, I head back to my trial," I turned and started walking down the tunnel, "Keep yourself alive, Tyrene. I can't collect that favor if you're dead."

I had just walked out of the light before her voice reached me again.

"Keep yourself alive, Shadow. I can't pry any from you if you're dead."

I laughed as I was engulfed in the darkness.

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