The Duvall's Beginning

[Zatania Duvall]

The rain outside of the rather large dwelling of two known Jedi beat cruelly against the windows with each gust of wind. Light flash in through and crawled across the floor as if reaching desperately for something. Then it faded back, giving way to a frustrated rumble, a growl. As a crash resounded from the sky above the residence itself, a crash sounded inside as well, in sync with eachother to make the hiding child jump. She pulled her knees around herself, staring blankly at the white table cloth that was drapped over the table she was beneath. Blood was spattered across it, and a lifeless lightsaber of a Jedi lay just slightly under the tablecloth, while the other half of it was visable from the hallway.

The child squeezed her eyes shut, her shoulders hopping up and staying crunched against the neck as she heard another crash from the next room. She threw herself to the floor silently, putting her ear to the floor and curling up into a fetal position. She could heard the struggle going on in the next room over, the scuffle of boots, the hum of lightsabers. And then finally, as another flash blinked through her closed eyelids, she heard her mother gasp. She could almost feel her mother's pain as the crash came to follow the flash of light. As that crash bellowed through the hallways, the child heard her mother's lightsaber hit the floor.

Then there was silence. All but the rain had hushed into a standstill, even the child's own beating heart whispered softly enough to maintain a stealth-like sound. And then the footsteps started, heavy and burdened with evil. Each step, she could feel the evil seep through the floor and crawl her way and wrap it's hands around her neck. She swallowed hard, opening her eyes and peered out from under the table at the approaching boots. If not for the gleam from the windows, the black boots would have been lost in the darkness, yet instead were left with highlights against its shiney material.

The man stopped suddenly, looking around slowly with a grunt held for a short moment in his meaty throat. With each turn of his head, his feet shifted, as if he were ready for something to pop out at him, or maybe run away. The child gritted her teeth, keeping herself from making too much noise, but that was not enough. The man knew well enough where she was, and slammed his hand onto the table, pulling away the table cloth.

With a shriek, the child stood and made a wild dash for the front door. With two simple steps forward and a swipe of his hand, the man snagged the girl up by the back of her shirt and brought her back to him. He chuckled as he brought her face to face with him, a gleam in his eyes as another flash disrupted the calm darkness. The sudden flicker of light send shadows and highlights across his face, revealing more of his features. The girl's eyes went wide as she began to struggle, pulling her gaze away from the scar riddled face and cold black eyes.

He simple chuckled, tossing her over his shoulder and walked towards the front door, keeping a hold of her so she would not escape.

"Congradulations. As the last remaining Jedi Duvall, you will be my apprentice..."

[Zatania Duvall]

Slowly, she stood from a crouched position, leaning carefully over with her hands reaching to the roof that she stood on until her knees were unbent. As soon as she caught her balance, she stood and looked out towards the stars surrounding the planet. It had been a year or two since she had been whisked away from home, under her master's wishes. She may have been the last Duvall of the light, but she was not the only Duvall kin within the force.

The young child sighed, frowning as she looked down over the property that surrounded the area. It was a peaceful, undisturbed dune of sand, engulfed by the cloak of nightly shadows and unknown demons. She reached up and brushed her long hair behind her ear, pondering uselessly at what she really thought of her situation, as explained by her master, her uncle.

"Our family has been plagued by separation for many generations, my neice. In each litter, there are those of the light and those of darkness. Some have said that it was a curse brought upon the family name centuries ago..." He told her.

She frowned, still reacting badly to him for what he had done. "And that gave you right to hurt my mom and dad?"

He shook his head, narrowing his eyes as he lightly force shoved the tiny girl(for her age) to the ground. "Listen well, and I will tell you why."

She stood immediatly up from where she landed, clenching her fists. This only caused him to laugh.

"That's right, child! Get angry! Show me what fate had in store for you!" He chortled, stepping closer to her. "You have no idea how much bigger this is than the simple deaths of your parents! You're the one!"

He snatched her wrist and forced it around so that the bottom of it faced upwards at a slight angle. Upon her wrist there was a strange tatoo of a circle. It was more than just a circle, stars lining the inside in a triangle, strange letters forming a swirl around it. In the center of the triangle, there was the letter "D", which had strangely changed day by day, turning clockwise as if it were timing something.

"This is your time clock... Watch it well! You'll never know when it will stop!" He chuckled, letting go as he turned away.

"What do you mean!?" She growled, following his steps perfectly.

As he stopped and turned, she stopped and listened closely as he spoke to her in an odd tone. "When the D turns thrice completely and bleeds into the bleak of night, you won't be the same."

He paused, looking away for a moment, then looked at her sidelong. "It will come without warning, and it will take everything you believe with it.... Do you really think you could withstand it?"

"Withstand it?" She gave him one of those looks like he had lost his ever loving mind. "I don't even know what you're talking about. This is the family coat of arms..."

"Do you think you can or not?" He bellowed, snatching both of her wrists.

She glared up at him and snarled viciously. "I'm a Duvall! Of course I can!"

He shoved her hands away, causing her to fall a step back yet keep to her feet. As he turned away, he spoke in a grave manner.

"It is not known why each Duvall that has come to pass had only had two sons each generation. It has been like this for as long as the name has been around. Each of the siblings of each generation went their separate ways with the force, one to the darkness and one to the light. It's been written in many of our family's ancient tomes that with each generation brought forth, the lightside within the family will grow weaker. Your father was the last surviving of the lightside Duvalls other than you, until I killed him." He said.

He turned and looked dead into her eyes. "And in the tomes, it is also written that the last surviving child of the lightside would be the only female brought into the family. That 'tatoo' is not what you think it is. It's not something that your parents put on you as a baby. No, child, it's a birthmark, the mark of the Devil... Zatania."

"Zatania?" She whispered, wondering why the name had sounded so familiar.

"Yes.... Just remember this, my neice. Whatever you know now, or have known is nothing to what you will know. You will have forgotten every bit of it... Remember that."

She sighed and shook her head, walking towards the edge of the curved roof, her bare feet curved perfectly to the sphere shape of the top portion of the house. The tiny hut was small enough for her to hop down with ease, her feet landing softly in the sand as her knees bent to give way to a trouble free landing. What was he talking about? It sounded like some sort of prophecy.... but what prophecy exactly?

[Zatania Duvall]

The girl had grown yet another year, and her arrogance grew by the day, as if some outside force was changing her that wasn't necessarily in the environment around her. It had to be something that wasn't being caused by her, yet was inside of her, something she didn't know how to control.....yet.

She leaned her back against the wall from where she cat on the window sill. The window went deep into the wall, as if it were going into another small room, but stopped about a foot within. This gave the girl enough room to sit with her feet propped up against the opposite wall that was in front of her. With a frown, she picked at her nails, her brows furrowing as she fussed over the blood beneath her nails.

Her Uncle and Master walked across the room, chuckling as he watched her closely. He had been cruel with her training, forcing her to watch each and every battle he was in, and clean up the mayhem he caused afterwards. It made her even more bitter, made her hatred grow. That's what would make Zatania awaken.

The "tatoo" on the girl's wrist was beginning to change color, becoming a bright red instead of a deep jet black. It was beginning to show just what it was, a birthmark, and not a tatoo. The girl wouldn't understand what had caused the birthmark, but she would know when he decided to tell her.

She frowned and looked up at him, sneering a bit as she leaned forward a little bit. She rested her elbows on her knees and laughed smugly.

"What are you looking at? Got some perverse plans?"

He raised a brow, wondering where in the world that came from. She certainly was the morbid and vile one... All the more to laugh about in satisfaction. She was turning. This had been easier than he had thought. Soon, she would be the only one left, and the universe would be at her feet.... or so he thought.

[Zatania Duvall]

The shadows of the ship played differently on her this time. So many years ago, the shadows had overpowered her, making her fear and loss of hope obvious. But this time... they were afraid of her. The shadows seemed to try to escape her, yet they were powerless due to the flashing light coming from the broken light fixture across her room.

Her eyes watched the light, entranced by the tiny sparks that flew to and fro, the way the light played across the room to her. Was the light trying to get her back? Was the darkness unable to handle how fast she was growing? Who was she anymore?

The door to her quarters opened slowly, and the shadowed figure of an aging pathetic man entered the room. Funny, he seemed so much more frightening and all powerful when she was younger. Now he was just a mere inconvenience.

"What do you want, old man?" She said, in a monotoned voice.

Her master frowned and beckoned her to her feet with the use of the force. He was old, yes, but he still had the power to beat discipline into her. "You will call me Master, Zatania!"

Zatania flashed a glare his way, using a small technique that he taught her as quickly as possible without giving as much as a notion to her plans. He stumbled back slightly, due to her clumbsy speed it was not as powerful as she would have liked, but at least he fell to the floor.

"My NAME is NOT Zatania! Call me......" She started.

"You are not allowed to say that name again. She is gone, Zatania. Would she be pushing an old man around, dark sider or not? Would she even be cursing the very graves of her parents?"

"What the hell do you mean?! I never cursed them! NEVER!" Zatania barked, facing him.

"Oh, yes you have. By cooperating with your training you have. They've been rolling over in their graves for almost 17 years." He scoffed, smiling at her.

"......."

"Thats right, child. Deny it. " He paused for a moment, gathering his wits as he stood.

Slowly, he made his way to her side and snatched her wrist into his hand. She struggled a bit, but with one smack to her head, she cooperated and allowed him to view the "tatoo" that was on her wrist. It was blood red now, not "bleeding" like he said that it would, but the brightest blood could look in color. The "D" had only turned twice so far, it had one more turn to go before whoever this Zatania would come out. Whatever that meant.

The girl had been asking herself why for so long. Why her? Who was Zatania? Why did it sound familiar, and why is "Zatania" inside of her?

"Don't fret yourself, neice. You'll know soon enough."

"This is your time clock... Watch it well! You'll never know when it will stop!.... When the D turns thrice completely and bleeds into the bleak of night, you won't be the same."


"... I guess."

[Zatania Duvall]

They had been on the ship for a long time, and the master was extremely ill, as well as the girl. She had caught something, something strange that the old man was able to catch. Both were bed ridden, and the ship was merely drifting in orbit around a lonely moon.

Her face felt cold, yet was dripping with sweat. Her eyes were closed, and yet, she was aware of what she could see around her.

Her breathing started to become irratic, desperate. Why? The "tatoo"... It began to glow slightly, causing a burning feeling to go throughout her arm. Her eyes shot open as she began to scream, calling out for her mother who would never come.

"It hurts..." She thought. "Mother.."

She tried to sit up, but couldn't control herself. Instead, her arm lifted without her having to lift it, her wrist facing her wide open eyes as if something was forcing her to watch. The "tatoo" was bleeding, her nightshirt becoming drenched in the thick liquid. The D was upright, like it should have been, the stars in one circle, the letters in an outer circle to spell "Zatania".

She howled, arching her back as her arm dropped harshly onto the matress... and then silence.

[Zatania Duvall]

Her eyes opened suddenly. Darkness. Her body slowly sat up yet did nothing more. The pain was slowly fading, and her breathing calming down... Why was she in pain? What had happened? Where was she?

She turned her head to be precisely parrallel with her shoulder, then turned her legs so that she'd be facing forward off the side of the bed. Slowly, she stood and began to walk towards the door.

It slid open and she began to stroll down the hallway. Where to? Her legs were leading her without her knowing where. Why? Her mind was a complete blank.

Soon she could hear the groaning of an old man, sickly and desperate. She stopped outside of the door from where she heard this, and opened it with the push of a button.

"What the? Why are you out of your room!?" The old man coughed.

She said nothing as she stepped forward into the darkness. The sweat at her brow slide down her face, causing a slight faint glow to reflect off of it from the tiny light at the old man's bedside.

"ANSWER ME!" He said.

She then reached behind her and unclipped the weapon at the small of her back. How did she know it was there? She could not remember having it.

The old man looked surprised for a moment as she ignited the vibroblade, and yet, after a few moments, he smiled. His growing toothless grin could make anyone sick, and yet she didn't even flinch.

"Ahh... Zatania! You are awake now."

"......Yes." She said, monotoned.

She knew her own name, but knew nothing else.

"Put down the weapon, child." He said, going into a coughing fit.

She did not move, saying nothing as she watched him with her dark demonic looking eyes. His smile began to fade as he frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"You are helpless."

She tilted her head for a moment then stepped forward and pointed the weapon at him, still emotionless.

"You'll regret this. You won't be able to control the REAL you if I die. And then your soul will be back in limbo forever! This is your last chance at living!" He cried.

She had no idea what this meant, and sliced his throat anyways. For whatever reason, she did not know. But for a breif moment, deep inside, she felt a sense of justice, and yet, she did not know what the feeling was exactly.