To see the truth with one’s own eyes

[Darth Ogre]

Ogre stepped from out his small, modified freighter, walking out upon the battleground, where several conflicts were already being waged. Few of them were between Darksiders and Lightsiders, while many of them were being fought between beings both of the Darkness to prove nothing more than their superiority over the other.

It was a regular example of everyday life here. An example of how futile and pathetic the efforts of the Jedi really were in this Universe. They had no presence, as entire civilizations were swept away into nothingness. Innocent people were slaughtered every day without so much as the slightest aid from those sworn to protect peace and all that was just. Peace was obviously a non-existent thing in this place, and those who strove for it, had almost as much presence as this fleeting thing concept they were sworn to strive to bring about.

Behind the tall green Sith strode a dark robed man, many would find familiar and many would never expect to be accompanying the one known as Darth Ogre, at least not willingly. Ogre stopped and waved an arm at all that transpired around them, the chaos, the killing, and the conflicts, all of which were proceeding unhindered.

“What you see before you is reality. What you see here is proof that the plight of those you used to follow is pointless and without any merit. Chaos rules!”

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[Nupraptor]

Gingerly, the robed figure walked up beside the massive Sith Master. His garments were still in tatters from the <a href=http://pub76.ezboard.com/fogrescavefrm8.showMessage?topicID=10.topic>previous day</a>, but it didn't seem to bother him in the least. In fact, he found it somewhat fitting to his new outlook on life that they remain that way: a silent reminder of what he once was. To strangers, it would probably come as small surprise that he now stood side by side to one of the most evil creatures in the known Galaxy. He had never strictly abided by the Jedi's rules and codes. Rules must sometimes be bent, after all, to achieve a goal.

Walking with a distinct limp, the man made his way to Ogre's side, seeming almost diminutive by comparison. He swallowed back the lump in his throat and forced himself to look around at the warfare waged around him.

Yesss... you sssee? I ssspeak the truth. Even your massster agreesss with me. Chaosss rulesss thisss plane.

Warily, Nupraptor lifted one hand to the side of his head, clutching at it in an effort to silence the creature within.

"Yes, yes... I know that now. You don't need to get repetitive about it."

He looked over at his new master with a sort of awe, clearly impressed at his ability to see something which had proved elusive to Nupraptor his whole life. His legs shook with the effort of standing, but he managed to collect himself and stand firm. It wouldn't do to appear weak this soon.

"Master...", he said the word with some reluctance. Was this creature that had once been his sworn enemy really his tutor? Yes, it was so. "I... I wish to learn of the true nature of power. I've denied myself it for so long, I don't think I remember what it's like any longer."

[Darth Ogre]

Ogre pulled the hood of his own dark cloak back and his tusks glistened in the day’s waning light, as he turned to face his newest Disciple of the Dark arts of the Force. The green Sith Master was prepared for any eventuality, as he always was when he was here on the battleground. Weapons adorned his body underneath the dark exterior of his cloak, even without all these items he was a walking threat to any being, but with then he was a walking, talking, and growling armory of death and destruction.

“Chaos is the way of true power. Delivering it to those without is what gives us the strength to draw from the Darkside of the Force. Doing so while taking pleasure in it is the most gratifying thing a being can do.”

He turned away from Nupraptor again and looked out at the carnage being waged in front of them.

“Do you not see the power that those who enjoy the destruction they wrought on innocents and even not so innocents wield? They do so and take pleasure in it. No guilt, no sign of the hindrance attempting to restrain their urges would bring, just sheer unadulterated pleasure and release of whatever they wish to let loose upon those who stand before them.”

He began to walk towards a burned out hull of what had once been a civilian transport vessel, obviously caught in the crossfire of a war being waged around them and its occupants left to do nothing more than die among the devastation brought to this place.

[Nupraptor]

"No remorse...", Nupraptor whispered.

All around him carnage reigned supreme, one bloody fight ending just as another began. Had it always been like this out here? It seemed so long since to Nupraptor since he had ventured onto the battleground. He'd always believed that things could be resolved without fighting, peacefully. Now, looking upon this pastiche of hatred and righteousness... it was like being told that everything you knew up until this moment was wrong. Looking upon the endless fighting awoke something primal in the cyborg, and his hand reflexively went to the spot where his lightsabre once rested. He had stopped carrying it long ago, of course. But he found that he still reached out for it sometimes, the way that a man without an arm might still feel pain in his phantom limb.

Clumsily, his footsteps clanging against the metal ramp, the new Disciple made his way over to the charred husk that his master stood near. He gingerly reached out with one hand to touch it's surface, just letting his fingers brush the still-warm surface. The contact, however brief, flooded his mind with visions, imbued memories of the past - of the way the ship's occupants had perished. And Nupraptor found himself somewhat disturbed: Not by the death of the innocent people, but by the fact that he felt nothing for them. Nothing at all.

"You will teach me to be like you, won't you? The Dark Side... it is still unfamiliar to me. I know only that it comes from Hatred, Sadism... the feelings which I have been taught to lock away."

[Darth Ogre]

He walked further up the ramp and into the blackened remains of the actual interior of the craft. Charred and still smoldering bodies littered the floor. Skeletons holding what looked to be smaller children’s skeletons within their slim soot blackened arms. The floor was still hot with signs of this having been a recent occurrence and Ogre sensed what was going on within the mind of his Disciple, even before he posed his question.

The top of the hull was all but totally gone and laser blasts screamed overhead, as the fighting continued outside. The sky was already becoming darker and darker with the onset of evening, which caused the lights from the blasts streaking the sky to be more pronounced in their color and in the intent they carried.

Ogre kept walking past charred remains as he spoke, answering Nupraptor’s request after giving him a few minutes to see the atrocity of what had occurred here. Keeping a mental eye on the man’s reactions to what he was witnessing, making sure there was no remainder of what he once had been.

“I will teach you to release that which you have kept in check. Teach you to let emotion run rampant, and free you from the cell, that the Lightside had the real person within you, contained.”

He stopped and turned back to him looking directly down into the man’s eyes.

“It will not be a simple thing, but when it has happened, you will be more free than you ever were as a follower of the Light.”

A laser blast impacted the ground close by where they currently were and sent debris and flames rocketing into the air high enough to light the darkening area they were within.

[Nupraptor]

Every word the Sith Master spoke echoed through the his student's thoughts profoundly. A phantasmagoria of images and sounds flashed through his mind, accompanying every snippet of the conversation. And each invoked it's own little vision. Time began to ebb and flow, branching off into countless paths. Thousands of images assaulted him, from the mundane to the galaxy-spanning. Bloody jihads down one road, utter defeat down another... and even his own death.

Nupraptor shook his head, awoken from his semi-slumber by the sound of another laser blast striking dangerously close to him. He could feel the heat as it streaked by, leaving the faintest mark on his flesh as it did so. Impassionately, he turned turned his head down to examine the fresh burn. The skin bubbled and cooled, leaving only a few lumps to mark the laser's passing. Like a silent nonsequitur, Nupraptor smiled then, his mouth growing wide in a predatory grin.

"When do we start?", he growled with a fresh hunger.

[Darth Ogre]

Ogre reaches under his cloak and withdraws his blaster, adjusting it to its most powerful setting. Ships continue to scream around over head as they do battle with each other, while regular civilian traffic is intertwined within, taking occasional hits accidentally, though one ship in particular is getting closer and has thus far been unharmed.

The green Sith hands the weapon to Nupraptor and looks up at the underside of the ship as it passes. He smiles then turns back down to look at the fallen Jedi.

“My first request is that you do what you can with that weapon to take that ship down and cause it to crash.”

The civilians on board could easily be sensed as typical flatscan regular people. No Force abilities and no strength, just a plethora of fear being emitted from them. Fear of the situation they were in the middle of being in the middle of this battle they really had no part of.

“Can you feel their fear, my Apprentice? Feed on it and strike at them.”

[Nupraptor]

He took the weapon gingerly, almost cautiously from the Sith Master's hand. It had been so long since he'd held a blaster... it almost felt alien to him. A quick glance revealed that he would still have several minutes before the ship was out of range, and so he spared a moment to test the heft and weight of the weapon. Ogre had asked him if he could feel their fear and yes, he could. It radiated from them in waves, easily spotted even to the uninitiated.

Wrapping his hand around the grip as best he could, Nupraptor raised his arm, leveling the weapon on the craft. He stood like this, motionless, for several heartbeats. It was obvious that his master was becoming impatient with his hesitation.

"Am I really going to do it? Slaughter not one, but many innocent people? Have I really degraded to this?"

Questions buzzed through his mind, doubt and a lingering sense of morality holding his hand. Everything seemed so bizarre to him now, so surreal. It was as if he was living his life in a dream. He felt like he wasn't really there; wasn't really holding a weapon trained on a passing ship full of terrified people. That ship, however, was getting further away by the moment. Almost without thinking, Nupraptor's mechanical eye began to focus, tightening it's zoom so as to give him a better shot. It increased the magnification... 2X, 4X, 8X... until the pilot of the ship was looming in his view.

Yessss... do thisss now, and you walk the right path. You will reclaim the power you have denied; The power you need! It has always been your destiny, though you tried to stay it.

"Don't you ever shut up?", he whispered in response. And, before the last word passed his lips, he tightened his grip, pulling the trigger. With a shriek, the bolt of energy lanced out through the air, closing the distance to it's intended target in the span of a breath. The blast struck the pilot squarely between his eyes, disintegrating flesh and bone. His body slumped over on the control panel and the ship immediately began to veer off-course, taking on an erratic flight pattern.

Patience, however, was no longer a virtue for the fallen Jedi. A second shot, aimed precisely at the fuel tank, made short work of the ship's remaining crew. The metal craft erupted into a wild conflagration, thundering over all the other noises for an instant and leaving a lingering ringing in his ears. The smoldering remains crashed into the soft ground, skidding for several yards before coming to a complete stop. A black scorch mark besmirched the entire path, scaring the ground and leaving a deep wound in the planet's surface.

"So... this is how you destroy your humanity.", Nupraptor thought bitterly to himself.

Without any emotion registering on his face, he turned back to face his master, returning the borrowed weapon with a toss.

"Was that... acceptable?"

[Darth Ogre]

It was obvious to Ogre, even without mental eavesdropping on Nupraptor’s thoughts, that the fallen Jedi was still struggling with what it was he had himself chosen to do. The hesitation he exhibited before actually delivering the fatal blows to the ship, condemning its entire crew and compliment of passengers to death, as well as the vocal outburst of speaking to something unseen, made it quite clear that this would take time.

Nupraptor would not become a killing machine, capable of slaughtering hundreds without a second thought right away. More coaxing and showing of the power he could attain if he were to freely let his emotions of anger, hatred and aggression, guide him would be necessary. But what Ogre saw before he caught his blaster had enraged the Sith Master. His directions were not followed absolutely and without question.

Even if Nupraptor hadn’t questioned Ogre out loud, what Ogre had witnessed made it clear that he was questioning himself, which in the Sith Master’s eyes and mind was the same exact thing. The blaster that Ogre caught, spun quickly in his hand and a bolt was fired from it without hesitation, within but a split second from his having acquired it.

The blaster bolt, grazed the dark clad Disciple’s shoulder and burned its way through cloth and flesh, before Ore once again holstered the weapon beneath his own dark cloak. The Sith Master’s eyes were locked on Nupraptor in anticipation of the possible response, such a lashing out may have. Ogre’s growl, which had begun even before the blaster left Nupraptor’s hand continued, even as he spoke.

“You will obey my commands properly, or you will die!”

[Nupraptor]

His eyes opening just a tad wider, Nupraptor recoiled as the blast struck his shoulder. Not so much out of pain, but out of surprise. Outwardly, he showed little reaction to the wound. But inside of him, at the most base level, anger began to bubble to the surface. Without thinking, his hands balled into tight knots and his breathing sped up a notch. Nostrils flared, and a hundred and one subtle signs of anger began to manifest themselves.

"What have I done wrong?", he thought angrily. "Did I not do what he asked?!"

He began to concentrate on the pain in his arm, numbed to a nagging sting now. The pain fed his anger like fuel to a fire. Thoughts of revenge and retribution flared through his mind as he considered the best way to return the pain in kind. If only he had his lightsabre...

Yesss, yess! Rage! Feed off of your anger!

With the insect's words, Nupraptor began to calm himself some, reason once again pushing it's way to the surface of his thoughts.

"He's angry with me because I hesistated. I deserved that."

His face still tight with lines of anger, Nupraptor bowed his head to his master. When he spoke, he did so through gritted teeth.

"My apologies, Master Ogre. It will not happen again."

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He sensed Nupraptor’s anger and then sensed it be brought under control. It seemed as if old habits died hard. Habits such as this must not be allowed to continue. Ogre himself was angry about the fact that his newest Disciple wasn’t listening to him, nor his own emotions, he was reasoning as if he were still of the path of the Lightside.

“You were angry yet you didn’t et it take hold of you. Why?”

The Sith Master’s voice came loud and demanding as his expression contorted with anger.

[Nupraptor]

The student raised his head a little indignantly at his master's question before answering. Reflexively, he slowly crossed his arms behind his back in a subtle gesture of restraint.

"It's quite simple, Master: I value my life. It would be foolhardy for me to retaliate against you at this point. I owe you and your sister a great debt. I will not jeopardize that in a moment of anger."

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

Before Nupraptor’s eyes, Ogre form shrank and transmorphed into a small in stature being of diminished size, but not diminished spirit. The being was one whom Nupraptor had also once called Master, but he was a Master of the light, not the Dark.

The small being spoke to Nupraptor, the voice a perfect match as Ogre was able to convey the illusion perfectly down to even the smallest detail.

“Anger is of the Darkside. Let it control you not, Nupraptor. Misfortune awaits those who give in to feelings as those. Better than that you are.”

[Nupraptor]

The features on his face tightened as Nupraptor watched what he believed to be Master Yoghurt chided him as he had done countless times before. The Jedi Master spoke to him as if he were ignorant of these things; As if everything he said was some kind of revelation to the fallen Jedi. Instinctively, Nupraptor's lips curled back in a snarl and he unknotted his arms from behind his back.

"I know quite well what the path to the Dark Side is, for I have chosen it, you old fool! Do you have even the faintest idea of how difficult the decision was to make? No, you don't!" He was shouting now.


"I chose what I did because I need power to accomplish anything. As a Jedi, I could never embrace that. Everything I touched became worthless. Can you even begin to fathom the burden that placed on my soul? Only when you have felt the full gravity of choice should you dare question my judgement!"

His face flush with rage, Nupraptor flung his arms out wide, as if attempting to push the diminutive Jedi away. The Force responded without hesitation to his wish, and Nupraptor saw the small figure flung violently through the air backwards, slamming harshly against a heap of scrap metal.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

The small form seemed to snap and break as it struck the steel of the heap of debris. Blood spurted from the creature’s mouth and its eyes seemed to stare blankly and coldly at nothingness. It appeared to have died from the strike Nupraptor had dealt, as it slowly slumped to the ground in a pile of useless flesh and bone.

From behind the Fallen Jedi a voice could be heard. The voice was that of a female, nothing like that of the being he had just dispatched, but it was also a familiar one, the voice of Leia Solo. Its tone was that of shock and surprise, but as always it contained a deep calm as well as a tinge of sorrow.

“What is it that you have become that could bring you to the point of actually killing him? You were one of the best of us, you were a defender of peace, you were a teacher, a scholar. How, how, how, how, how?”

The voice trailed off in confusion, as it came from behind. Her form would be easily visible to him, were he to turn around. Her face streaked with tears of sorrow.

[Nupraptor]

Hearing the voice behind him, Nupraptor's eyes went wide as he spun around. His face was plastered with a stupid grin, a feeling of elation still flowing through him at having slain the ignorant old fool that he once called 'master'.

Standing directly behind him was the woman he had once called friend and ally. She was the purest of Jedi, of that there was no doubt. She also had always struck Nupraptor as the weakest. Looking at her for several long moments, he craned his neck to the side, as if listening for something. Strangely, the insect now living inside of his head hadn't decided to pipe up at all during all of this. Perhaps it had decided that he was doing well enough on his own without the need for coaxing.

"Oh, please," his words were delivered in a patronizing tone of voice, cold and biting. "You know nothing of who or what I am. You words hold no truth to them in my ears."

Taking a step back, Nupraptor continued to speak to her, his voice dripping with contempt.

" I think that you even delude yourself. You are not concerned with losing me because I was some 'Great Protector of Peace'. You're afraid to lose me because I am more powerful than you. In fact, my power is surpassed by precious few of you Jedi. And when I learn to master the Dark Side, it will be boundless."

Leia opened her mouth to protest, but found herself cut off as the back of the cyborg's hand smacked her across the face. There was an audible crack as the metal knuckles connected with her cheekbone, and she stumbled back a few steps, dumbfounded.

You are too sssoft on her, Fallen One. Ssshe isss worthlesss; weak. You should kill her now, the creature spoke up, talking in it's raspy hiss so that only it's host could hear.

Nupraptor gritted his teeth, inner turmoil stirring within his breast. Killing Master Yoghurt had been one thing. He didn't even intend to do it: it just happened. But could he really strike down someone that he had called 'friend' for so long? Memories of his companionship to her took hold in his mind, and flashed by in an instant that seemed to last hours. The times, even before he was on the Jedi Council, that Leia had come to him for guidance. The times he had stood by her on the battlefield, seeking to stop the kind of wholesale slaughter that he was now an instrument of. And, more strongly than all, the times when she had consoled him in periods of doubt. The former Jedi had precious few people that he felt indebted to in the galaxy, and the Jedi Master Leia Solo was one of them. How could he even begin to consider doing what his inhuman patron urged him to do?

And then the moment passed, the smile once again returning to his face. In a flash of revelation, he had determined how to best settle all of these internal disputes in one swift move. Without any warning, one of his hands shot up towards the image of the woman before him. Before she had even the slightest chance of reacting, his fingers were woven around her neck, tightening with inhuman strength and cutting off her air supply.

"Consider the debt I owed you," he said, his voice taking on a lilting quality. "Repaid. You go to a far gentler afterlife than I will ever know, dear Leia."

Laughing softly, he released his grip and allowed the limp body to drop to the ground.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

Just as the body hit the ground, Nup again heard a noise behind him. This time however it was not a voice but a very familiar sound. It was the sound of a lightsaber igniting, a lightsaber with a very unique sound. It was the weapon of Jedi Master Darth Turbogeek, the widely known judicator, protector, and avid fighter among those known as Jedi.

He was well known to strike first and finally when it came to matters of dealing with evil, some even claimed that he ventured along a fine line between being a Jedi and being rouge. His styles to choose to fight instead of mince semi pointless words, having earned him a reputation for such.

He was stalking towards the dark clad Nupraptor, his blade in front, poised to deliver a killing blow.

[Nupraptor]

His eyes went wide at that sound, recogonizing it immediately for what it was. Many lightsabres sounded and indeed looked very much like one another. But sometimes, a sabre was craftly so uniquely that everything about it stood on it's own. Athona was one of those lightsabres.

Nupraptor spun around, a look of guilt crossing his face like a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He saw the blur of motion as the blade came crashing towards him, and he reflexively reached to his waist for his own sabre which wasn't there. With less than a fraction of a second left to react, he twisted his body, jerking hard to the left. The lightsabre connected with his right shoulder, and the cyborg pulled back with imagined pain.

He was, however, not a man to ever waste opportunity. And being presented with a Jedi Master's open flank definitely classified as "opportunity" in his book. He shot a viciously quick rabbit punch into Turbogeek's side, causing him to stumble. A follow-up kick sent him sprawling.

"How?", was all the former Jedi could manage to blurt out. "You were dead. I saw your body myself."

The other man simply got up without answering, readying himself for another strike. Frantically, Nup looked for something that he could as a weapon to defend himself. He was lucky last time - only got a light burn. It could be much worse. It could....

Wait. The burn was gone. How? As realization dawned on him, Nupraptor looked back up at the form of the Jedi Master. But now, he could see the most minute of flaws in the illusion, like well concealed pencil markings on a drawing.

"This... was a test?", he called out into the darkness. "Or did you simply think it would be amusing to watch me kill everyone I once would have called friend, one after the other?"

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

“It could be called a test, a lesson, or even an amusing exercise, but to me it has actually turned out to be all. The results of it as much a surprise to me, as the actual occurrence and happenings were to you.”

The voice came from behind Nupraptor, but when he turned to face it, he could see nothing. No apparition, no towering green Sith, only the darkness of the night that had fallen over the land around, still lit by the random laser fire from the battles still waging around him.

”How does it feel to want, what you would once have called your friends, comrades, and maybe even loved ones, destroyed by your own hand?”

Came a question from nothing more that the still air, the voice so loud, almost as if it was being spoken directly into his ear.

[Nupraptor]

As the adrenaline left his body. fatigue began to set in. The lack of sleep, and his lingering wounds sapped him of his energy quickly. He thought, then, that he should feel... something. Remorse, possibly? Anger? Satisfaction?

But none of those things came. There was only an hollow void - an utter lack of emotion. In his mind's eye, Nupraptor could see the empty pit inside of him, a swirling darkness that consumed everything else within. He longed for that pit, that great void. He wanted to bathe in inky blackness that lay sprawled before him. It was so tempting... he could feel the tendrils of night stretching out towards him, caressing him at every point they touched. He stood mute, enjoying the feeling with an outer impassiveness and blasé demeanor. And he knew then, more than ever before, that he felt comfortable there. In the darkness. He didn't feel happy, not by a long shot. But he felt... complacent. Content - or as close to it as he would ever be.

"I... felt nothing, Master. Their deaths had no more meaning to me than does the changing of one's clothes, or the eating of a meal. Or any other daily mundane activity. Is that... normal?", he ventured.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

Nupraptor suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and turned to see the cause. He was met with the materializing form of Ogre beside, yet slightly behind him. The pain being caused by Ogre’s claws as they dug into the flesh and steel of his shoulder.

“That we will have to change, feeling nothing is an old habit you still need to break. I want you to take pleasure in dealing death. I want you to reveal in it and draw strength from the glorious deed of dispatching those not worthy of living.”

His grip continued to grow in its strength and tightness, bending steel as if it were no more than thin tin in a normal man’s grasp.

“Much like the pain you feel now. Let the pain feed your emotions and fuel your power. Such power will serve you well, making you nigh invincible.”

[Nupraptor]

With a muffled grunt of pain, Ogre's pupil fell to one knee as the massive hand pressed down on his shoulder.

"I... I-I...", he stammered, trying in vain to come up with some excuse that would halt the pain. Everything in his vision started to turn white as nerve endings flared in agony. There was a warm trickling down his arm, and a quick glance revealed that a sliver of metal had pierced his skin.

Trying desperately to think of some way to react, Nup lifted the opposite arm, pressing the palm of his hand against his face.

You can end thisss - It isss within your powersss to do ssso.

"I. Know."

Ssso do it!

He couldn't think. Everything was happening at once and it was just too much simultaneous input. So he stopped trying to. Instead, he turned himself over to instinct, reflex. The pain began to ebb, and the space it left was filled with a burning, like pure magma being poured into his veins - Unbridled Anger. His vision blurred to point where he could only get staccato glimpses of what was going on.

Flash. He was standing again, having pulled away from his master's grasp and leaving only strips of flesh in his outstretched claw.

Flash. Emerald skin bathed in a crimson glow. A fanged mouth grinning approvingly.

Flash. His balled fist buried in that still grinning face. Small trails of smoke drifting from his hand as the acidic blood did it's work.

Overwhelmed, and certain that he had just signed his death warrant, Nupraptor fell to his knees and bowed his head, waiting for his Master's judgement.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

The huge behemoth of a Sith began to laugh as he licked some of his blood from his lips and tusks. He had gotten the reaction he was seeking from his newest Disciple of darkness. His persistence in his twisted ways was beginning to pay off.

Again Nupraptor felt a hand on his shoulder, but this time it was not the already injured one, and this time, the grip was not so strong as to bend steel and crush bone. Ogre lifted the bowing disciple to his feet.

As Nup was now as close to eye level to Ogre as he would get without having his feet lifted from the ground, Ogre turned to the side for but a second and spat some of his caustic blood onto the decaying hull of the fallen ship they still occupied. The surface of the jagged edged steel also began to smoke and sizzle as the blood of the Kashirian started to eat through the durasteel.

“Look at me!”

Ogre commanded, his voice deep and powerful, but not sounding angry. Nupraptor raised his head and looked into the eyes of his master.

“You have seen fit to embrace what you are now. You have done well.”

[Nupraptor]

"I... I have?"

Cautiously, Nupraptor raised his head to look up at his master. He cringed, looking like nothing so much as an animal that had suffered abuse its whole life: Praise was the last thing either of them would have expected.

"You're not... angry at me, Master Ogre?"

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

“Angry at you for finally accepting the truth that lies before you, without question? No, I have succeeded in that which I intended. You will become more than you ever were. You are walking the pathway that you were meant to travel.”

Ogre’s visage, still covered in his dark green acidic blood, formed what looked to be a smile of satisfaction and accomplishment. Nupraptor had seen the truth that was already present before him and accepted it, today’s goal had been achieved.