Private Apprentice to Metal

[Syd Celsius]

"Sith Blood Magic are perversions of what I'm showing you. They are exactly what I warned you about." The Sorceress of Ossus explained as she moved into the next room.

"True versions of what I teach are rarely used in combat, though there are exceptions. Even employing it defensively carries with it certain risks. It is best used in constructive ways. Easing pain, slowing a disease. Rendering a harmful substance harmless. But if it must be employed in battle, it is better to employ it Defensively."

He then asked if he could try undoing an enchantment.

"Attempting to undo these? Oh no. Much too advanced for you. You'd kill yourself in the attempt." The Sorceress answered matter of factly. "As with all abilities, we shall start you off at the basics."

The Sorceress spotted a blood ward over a door, this one having a strange sort of lock mechanism at its center. It said 'COMMUNICATIONS'.

The Sorceress Concentrated, and pulled out a knife, cutting open her palm. Dark green blood flowed out of the cut and leapt into the lock, her flesh shuddering as her blood broke down the Alchemized mechanical device. The blood wards slowly crumbled to Ash and the door opened, her palm healing.

"As I was saying..." She continued, gesturing for him to follow her into the comms room. The Witches had restored it to working order--she could clearly make out imperial equipment. As well as a workbench.

"We shall start you at the basics. I'm going to give you a single choice between aspects of the Blood Art to learn...pick quickly...I sense we are running out of time..." The Sorceress of Ossus said whispering words at a nearby wall that burned three different sets of strange runes into a nearby wall.

"One is a form of ritual Magic, another is a sub discipline of Hematokinesis. The last is a Spell..." She told him. "Choose wisely but remember: Use sparingly and only in the defense of the innocent."

(Starling Rand has been given a chance to learn a single blood art)

(CHOOSE WISELY)

Ritual: BLOOD RE-AGENT

Spoiler

Craft a Pentagram of one's own blood to alter/break down objects that have been Alchemized, or apply special, extended protective enchantments that last a month. As skill at conducting ritual grows, more powerful objects can be broken down or repurposed and more powerful protection enchantments can be applied to people. The Light Side must be focused constantly to keep the ritual from becoming corrupted by base emotions.

Power: BLOOD HEAL

Spoiler

Charge blood with the Light Side of The Force, enabling User to heal another by dripping a few drops of blood to heal even the most severe of wounds at an incredibly fast, efficient, but painful rate. Long cool down for both User and Patient, as it will be a week before patient can withstand another exposure to this kind of healing without dying in the process. For the User, it will be a full day before they can use the power again to its fullest at first, but as their skill grows, the amount of cool down drops by two hours. When it hasn't been used to heal another, it functions on a constant basis at a very low level, able to heal even very serious wounds as long as the user lies still (At the speed of a regular bio restorative underlay) and conveys very mild poison and disease resistance

Spell: SLOW DISEASE

Spoiler

This powerful spell is capable of slowing the progression of even military grade diseases by a massive amount for up to 007 Hours, by using magic to supercharge the immune system temporarily, until more effective means of treating disease are available. As skill grows, the user develops greater and greater resistance to the disease they use the spell to treat for up to a month

The Sorceress, while Starlin picked, began to silently demonstrate the effects of more specialized Hematokinesis. She cut open her palm again, floating a large, fat drop of dark green blood upward from the cut, flesh shuddering as she channeled the Light Side through it, until it split up, the large portion becoming a crystal, the two smaller portions becoming lenses, her cut healing rapidly as she went to the work bench.

"As I have said, there are drawbacks to trying to employ the Blood Art in a fight in a direct offensive manner, but there are exceptions. You can employ something made with it for example and as long as you take proper precaution by involving and trusting The Light Side through the whole process, you should be able to employ it without risking the corruption of your spirit."

The Sorceress then began assembling the parts, a dull red metal used for the hilt. Fencing emitters were used for both ends and when she was finished, she had constructed a double Bladed Lightsaber which was the length of a single bladed hilt, producing Dark Green Blades.

"Just an example of what can be done." The Sorceress said, clipping it to her belt. "Speaking of which remind me to start teaching you double Bladed Combat once we're past all this."

Starlin Rand

 

[Starlin Rand]

He smirked as Syd denied his request. Oh well. He didn’t think it would work anyway. But he listened to her words intently, absorbing every word like a sponge. As she began to create the three sets of runes, a question crossed his mind. He was surprised he had never asked it before.

“Syd, who trained you?” He figured she had to have had more than one master to have learned so many different disciplines.

Since Starlin’s Balosar heritage meant that he was already resistant to most toxins, he was left to choose between the first two options. Ultimately he pointed to Blood Re-Agent. He wasn’t much of a healer, but he was a protector and a purifying force.

As he absorbed the knowledge from the runes, he watched with raised brows as Syd constructed a lightsaber from her own blood, utterly fascinated. A double-bladed saber, too.

“Holy chit, I could be like Darth Maul,” he said softly, the quietness of his voice belying a burgeoning excitement. Suddenly he could picture a weapon in his mind, a handsome double-bladed hilt with blades that were black at the core, but surrounded by a royal blue glow. His weapon...

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress paused as Starlin Rand asked who trained her.

She relied on Syd's memories to get through the speech check.

"I was...created...by the Man in White, as I said." The Sorceress told him. "He oversaw much of my instruction. But to channel the Blood Art, I can only do that by assuming this guise. Like the guise I used to teach you Metallokinesis. Or the one I used to teach you Geokinesis on Yurb. That's because I had to absorb the knowledge of a Witch imprinted on an Artifact. But I had many instructors, yes. They all taught me something. But The Man in White is the one who stands out the most. He was a very accomplished Sorcerer. I've learned a lot since his day. But even now, if we ever went head to head I'm not sure I would win..." She admitted.

"As for being Darth Maul...well, he was a very competent and dangerous Warrior. But he used the DBL in a particular way. And he used the type of hilt most DBL user's rely on...Double length. Most do not have the skill to efficiently fit everything together in a normal length design. Great for open air defense. Fantastic when paired with Soresu or Form 6. Ideally, though, the total aggression it's capable of should be used only as necessary. It's best to often use this type of DBL as a single blade most of the time, treating the second blade as a way to launch occasional surprise flurry attacks with both active blades. Observe."

The Sorceress got a fair distance from Starlin, deactivating one end of the Saber and going into a Form Six attack Kata, delivering swift two handed strikes go an imaginary foe's target zones. Then in the middle of the upward arc of a slash the second blade activated and the attack sequence became faster and more vicious, blades spinning wildly for a few seconds before the second blade deactivated and she flawlessly transitioned back to single bladed lightsaber combat for a few moments before unpredictably shifting back to Double Bladed Combat, this time in a vastly different, but no less furious spinning sequence. She then shut both blades off,, turning it to low power setting so he would only sting instead of burn or cut himself if he screwed up.

"Care to have a go?" She asked.

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin nodded his head. He suspected the Man in White was the one. It made the most sense, given what she had told him about her past. No doubt to Syd’s relief, Starlin found this answer satisfactory and moved on to the next subject at hand.

He watched her demonstration with clear fascination and awe, almost blushing when she offered the weapon for him to try. Reaching out, he took the hilt in his hands, waited for her to step out of the way, then mimicked her movements, switching from the single blade to a sudden double and back again. It was far from a perfect imitation, lacking a certain finesse and grace—he came close to singing himself in the thigh the second time he activated the double blade—but not bad either.

The expression on his face by the end of the attempt said it all.

“I love it.”

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress of Ossus smiled as Starlin Rand demonstrated quick thinking and adaptability. He mimicked her movements very well for a first time go.

"Good. Keep that one. I still have three." The Sorceress of Ossus replied with a smile. Yes...loads of potential. Losing him to the Dark Side would be a disaster.

"Now let us not delay further. These Witches need stopping."

She exited out of the communication room and steadily disarmed the last of the Blood enchantments. Beyond the last door was surely where the most powerful witches could be found

She decided to yield control of Syd's body back to to the one that had been teaching him to control metal.

Her flesh shuddered disgustingly back to the Sorceress of Coruscant's guise as she activated her Spinning Lightsaber.

"Another thing about Kinesis-Type powers...you can get fancy all you like..." The Sorceress of Coruscant said not missing a beat as she tore metal off the walls, crushing it into a battering ram.

"But sometimes, the simplest approach is best."

She threw the battering ram forward into the last door, shattering it.

There were insane screams all around them as the catsuit clad Witches exited out of the chamber.

The Sorceress of Coruscant activated both blades, then breathed green emerald flames out towards them in a highly Concentrated amount. Four were burnt up immediately, but 007 managed to dodge and the Sorceress had to go into a Defensive retreat, blades raining down on her from all sides, three going toward Starlin, whispering curses to try and drive him insane.

The red blades seemed to be everywhere for the Sorceress as she defended against them, flesh shuddering as the gown helped her resist the attempts to break her neck with the Dark Side.

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin stifled a scream of excitement when she told him he could keep the double-bladed lightsaber. Separating them in two, he fiddled with the controls, increasing the intensity of the blades to lethal levels, then followed Syd.

As she crushed the door, unleashing the furious witches, he swung the lightsabers in twin arcs of emerald light, whispering the Ward Against the Dark. Their curses deflected, they nonetheless fought against him, trying to overwhelm him with three against one.

He was used to fighting with two blades, and cut down one of the witches thusly. Then he reconnected the hilts just as Syd had shown him minutes earlier and caught the other two by surprise. The boy had plenty of pent-up aggression within him, and he found it channeled into his fighting style much easier with this type of weapon. Whether that would prove dangerous or helpful to him remained to be seen; in the circumstances of this particular battle, he was far from falling to the Dark Side.

Defeating the trio, he turned his attention toward the ones combating Syd, impaling one through the middle and slicing off the sword arm of another, his body in constant motion like a dancer.

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress of Coruscant did very well at fending off the strikes, but the assistance of Starlin Rand was a welcome reprieve, and seeing him fight like a natural with a skill he had been exposed to only minutes before made Syd's slumbering mind swell with unconscious pride for him, pride too powerful to ignore or suppress.

As the last Witch was dispatched, Syd retook control of her body, memories subtly edited to make her think she had been in control the whole time.

"Well... congratulations, Starlin, you are now a blender. Set to puree." She said, beaming at him. "Y'know, I almost regret not teaching you this earlier... because if you can pull off that with a DBL now? Extended use will make you truly a Force to be reckoned with.

Syd then strode into the chamber where they had been trying to resurrect a Master Witch.

It was a repurposed Equipment storage bay. Everyone was dead, to her surprise. They had been shredded apart by blaster fire, bodies slick with white blood and yellow gore splashed every where. Syd and Starlin, it had turned out, had not been facing the Elite Guard. Just the survivors of Maple Harte's brutal John Wicking. The makeshift chamber where the Master Witch's corpse lay had been set ablaze. The air stank with putrification.

"Holy chit..." Syd muttered. "Whoever this was they were a pro. Normal blasters only. No missed shots. Point blank range. Pistols probably, or a really small carbine.

Syd looked for traces of the shooter...No sign.

That fight we were in lasted maybe a minute...they weren't just a pro...they were fast...

Syd strode over to the Witch library, but all the manuscripts were burned.

The Master Sorceress concentrated, closing her eyes, and the bodies burnt up into ash, along with the blood and gore.

Syd opened her eyes.

"Let's get to purifying this place."

 

[Starlin Rand]

Starlin simply grinned at Syd’s approval, turning off the blades. This was turning out to be quite the trip for him in terms of learning new skills and techniques.

As they progressed further, it became clear that someone had already been there and dealt with the remaining witches. Starlin spun around, taking in the slaughter with a slack jawed expression. “Do we know for sure that whoever did this isn’t still here? Cause I don’t think I want to meet them, even if they did kill the cultists for us…”

Of course, he would meet Maple Harte eventually, on a battlefield far, far away. But for the time being she was an unknown factor, a stranger who left only desolation in her wake.

Despite his reservations, Starlin trusted Syd completely at this point in his life. He believed her when she demonstrated that the shooter had left, and obeyed when she decided to purify the storage bay. Lowering himself to the blood-stained floor, he closed his eyes. Given all his previous exertions, he had to meditate and gather his strength in order to help with the cleansing. But soon the Padawan began to rise up, levitating in the lotus position as his body began to glow brightly.

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

"Whoever did this isn't the sort to stick around. No way. And frankly, not worth the trouble to catch. No ordinary Sith Assassin would kill in such a manner. No Mandalorian could pull it off without leaving a trail. Whoever took them...maybe we oughta give "em a job next time we see them. They're likely off the planet by now." Syd answered, getting into a meditative stance while both sought to purify this place.

"I have one final lesson to impart to you today, Starlin. It is an old Technique, used by Ancient Consulars of the Jedi. It is called a Force Form. Meditative Battle Stances used to bolster and enhance one's connection to the Force. They're no longer widely used by The Jedi Order...indeed, I've met few who even seemed to know what they are. It's an alternative to the Lightsaber, where combat must be conducted solely through the Force. They offer great advantages, but also drawbacks. As you are still a Padawan, we will start you off at the most basic form...The Force Channel..." She said, going into a Tai-Chi like Kata.

"Channel allows you to recover strength in The Force slightly quicker...and do slightly more damage with it. It's sorta like the Shii Cho of the meditative forms--effective when nothing else works..." She explained, even as she purified the area...

"Force Forms are powerful, but also dangerous. Only use it to decisively bring threats to a stop. And I would recommend using the Forms solely against other Force Users...you might kill someone by accident with a basic Force Power that's way stronger than it should be. But we have had enough words at this point...let us focus on the currents of The Force and it's will...and banish the darkness around us..."

Syd continued practicing the meditative forms motions, demonstrating them to him so he could mimic and learn as well...

Later on...

After purifying the place, they had set to work clearing the worst of the wreckage and debris to make it habitable. They would not finish today. This would take many days to finish...it was a Project for Starlin ultimately, to learn hard work, patience, and discipline. But she would be there to help him for all of it, not just because he was her student, but because she was his friend. It was that Maternal Sentiment that would make her eventually barely choose to help him over Laertia, and the act of choosing him over her would cause her immeasurable pain.

But that was a loooonnng ways off.

Syd at the moment however, frowned as she fumbled with his game controller. He was still kicking her ass at fighting games.

"Oh, c'mon! I was pressing the damn combo! Why'd they have to work the trigger button into this? It's too damn complicated...and now you just ripped my head off? What is that chit?"

Syd grabbed another slice of pizza, munching on it.

"007 losses in a row... you're not mortal!" She joked, slightly exasperated...

OOC: Ending post for me...


Starlin Rand