Knife's Edge

[Caspian Rekali]

Warlock's Gate, Dathomir...

Ever since that unfortunate day when the Young Warlock saw his sister show up at the Lost City barely able to conceal the tears threatening to come down her face, Caspian's life had been turned upside down. Before he and the clan could even properly grieve for their lost leader their very future in the United Mandalorian Clans was called to question by the rise of Ra Vizsla, the Iron Wolf.

Around every corner there was danger, worry, despair, and vengeance gnawing at the fringes of his mind. So much tragedy had befallen especially the Rekali Family once large and majestic, now small and broken with so many lives lost, so many of their blood buried. The mounting tragedy was enough to drive the once great Jedi Master his grandfather was in a downward spiral. Caspian was strong because he needed to be for Alec who needed family and support in a time like this where she was who everyone looked to for guidance. Caspian could still hear his grandfather repeating over and over the same morals and values every Rekali should live by:

"A Rekali's first and ultimate priority is to his family. In the end family is all that matters not your honor, not your wealth or power, family is everything."

So while he faithfully supported his sister on the outside he couldn't help but feel lost, broken, in despair on the inside and filled with anger. So much harm had come to them and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Caspian wasn't strong enough to be there for his aunt [member="Aaralyn Rekali"] when she was killed, he wasn't strong enough to be there for when [member="Ember Rekali"] was killed by a rogue gen'dai whose mission for the Mandalorian Empire now had no meaning, the empire's sovereignty fell and it bent the knee to the Clans.

While kind words of wisdom and encouragement from family brought temporary relief, they ultimately ran hollow in his mind. For perhaps the first time in his life Caspian Rekali was lost, confused, his very beliefs that he held so dearly he began to question their validity. For all the guidance training with his grandfathers spiritual gatekeeper brought it was a hollow representation of the real man, the true guidance that the Elder Warlock brought to his younger pupil. Ultimately Caspian deep down in his roots was also afraid of the paths that he was being drawn toward, the darkness lingering at the corners of his mind. It claimed his grandfather before the end, it claimed others of their family before almost as if they were predisposed to it.

So it was this very thought that he came to a single solitary conclusion: He still had a lot to learn. This is what brought him to the village that sat next to the Warlock's Gate. It was one of the few remaining access points, and perhaps the only man made access point to the Netherworld. As part of the rites of passing through the gates the Dathomiri witches covered his body and face[with the exception of his tattoos] with ritual paint to protect his physical form from the harsh dangers of the Netherworld, while totems and other trinkets were attached to his armor.

Caspian turned to his sister [member="Alec Rekali"] helmet gripped in hand. They were told there was a good chance with the dangers of the Netherworld that he would be killed. While it was a risk he was willing to take, he would ensure his sister knew of what he was walking into before he made the decision. "Looks like I'll be gone for a little while. You know this is something I have to do Alec."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Caspian Rekali"]

"I've got total faith you can survive what's in there, Casp. What worries me is that you'll find a place you want to put down roots, a bit of afterlife you wouldn't mind claiming. And you'll like it so much that you won't take care of your life when you get back, and then you'll be gone."

She was describing the choices their grandfather had made. As she clasped her half-brother's hand, though, Ember barely entered her mind. She and Casp hadn't been terribly close for a long while. Somehow, though, she'd come back from timeguiding in the Chiloon Rift and exploring the Kathol Rift and learning the ways of the corporate overlord, and found that they clicked well together. Growing up could do that, though in Alec's opinion it was more likely to tear people apart. What they'd built as siblings had extra value, then, for its improbability. Then again, how could she know one way or the other? He was the only real sibling she'd ever had, even if there were hundreds of bastard half-brothers strewn around the universe.

She'd made him one of her alor'ade, and she had to trust him with this like she trusted him with the Clan. The thought lingered, but she didn't bother mentioning it.

"I'll keep the Aaralyn warmed up for ya. Hurry back."

 

[Caspian Rekali]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

Listening to Alec speak of their grandfather stung. A lot more than he thought it would. Perhaps it was because everything she said was right. Through his searching of the Netherworld in the throes of his internal anguish Ember found a place that he thought was perfect to settle down in. A place where he could bring relief to his own mind by the slaughter of those who killed his family for an eternity. The famed Field of Blades in the Netherworld was where he was rumored to be located, and although few ever returned from that realm, he listened carefully to the stories.

Wherever Ember was he would find him. Caspian pulled Alec into a hug "That won't be me Alec. Besides I've got you to knock some sense into me if I did." He replied. Truthfully he didn't know what he would find on the other side in the realm of souls. Most return from that realm but not many living souls go to the realm of the dead. It was one of the few rare times that he was legitimately nervous, about this whole ordeal. Caspian looked toward the gate as he stepped away from her.

"I'll be back before you know it Alec." Caspian said walking towards the Warlock's Gate. He stopped briefly before it "Stay alive sis, I don't know how I'd manage to come back if I came across your spirit in here." Caspian jumped into a T-37 Buyca Airspeeder and entered the Warlock's Gate. The journey was almost as if he was going through space into some sort of tunnel, with the Netherworld on one end and Dathomir on the other. Caspian in full armor drove the airspeeder through until he came out.

It was there that the Young Warlock popped the hood of his speeder open, and looked around with night vision in the pitch black darkness of the searing hell that was Sinner's Desair. "Grandfather, I'm coming."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Caspian Rekali"]

Six days after entering the Warlock's Gate (so said his datapad, though his own sense of time had long since failed him), Velok came to an inescapable conclusion. Sinner's Rue absolutely sucked. It had started off as black oblivion, then morphed into some fool's idea of a customized hellscape, specific to his sins and terrors and so forth. And truth be told, endless hunger and boredom really weren't his ideal conditions. As hells went, this one was respectably oppressive. He'd certainly learned very little in here of any interest, and an eddy of darkness had whirled him away from the Gate, cutting off the possibility of a return trip. Now, and for the last three days, Velok crouched in a bland, sterile room. From time to time he caught an echo of a distant sound, some other soul experiencing this location's custom tailoring.

Today he heard such a sound, and it grew louder. In short order it resolved itself into the humming roar of a speeder bike.

He stood, knees aching. "Now that," he said to himself, throat dry, "is unusual."

The sound intensified. The wall before him rippled and tore, revealing a pitch-black hellscape -- another part of Sinner's Rue, intense enough to overwhelm the boundaries between two souls' experiences. He touched the ragged half-real boundary. "So that's how that works," he murmured, yellow eyes examining the speeder bike's running lights.

Deliberately, he began to walk toward the speeder, then run.

 

[Caspian Rekali]

[member="Velok the Younger"]

Truth to what he heard and read through the notes of his grandfather's experience, Sinner's Rue was an bleak hellhole. While Ember's notes were brief but thorough covering exactly what he observed and thought of the region, from the black oblivion to the hellscape of terrors. He wondered how miserable of a trip this would've been had he not prepared with all of the supplies he needed for a long journey. The low rumbling of the enclosed speeder hummed in his ears as he zipped across the landscape of Sinner's Rue. The helmet of his armor's HUD was sync'd with the systems of the speeder, and climate control on his armor kept him cool and temperature controlled. The radar on the speeder bike started flashing red with motion sensors picking up someone, or something moving towards him looking to head him off.

Growling Caspian gripped the handle of Naaast'Beskad as the vehicle charged forward then he slammed on the breaks, opening the lid and shutting down the speeder. It was geared to his biometrics and a specialized lock ensured that no one but him could activate and drive the speeder. Caspian's own strength enhanced by the power of the force he lept high into the air towards the charging whiphid. While in flight he drew and extended his weapon into the spear it was.

Caspian used the momentum of the running creature against him by attempting to strike him with the long reach of the polearm. If it connected with any clothing or skin it would immediately flash freeze the limb, armor, or area.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Caspian Rekali"]

The speeder's running lights turned the murky gloom into a dull gray, like a moon on a foggy Dagobah night. His predator's eyes had little trouble picking out the vehicle's silhouette -- or the outline of a figure leaping up and away from said vehicle. Light glinted on a blade of some kind.

Two things about jumping high toward someone. First off, near the apex of your parabola you seem to hover in midair, more stationary the flatter and more aggressive your trajectory. Secondly, changing your direction in midair just isn't a thing. A third point to ponder, though unrelated to the whole jumping issue: Whiphids, especially Sith Whiphids, can move pretty quickly when necessary.

Velok bared a tusk in a grin and turned his Force-accelerated charge into a feet-first slide, just as if he was skidding beneath a caraboose on Toola. An instant before he passed under the leaping man, his yellow lightsabre snapped to life in a whirl, meant to intercept a potential blade strike -- and just maybe to lop off a foot or two. He'd waited until the last instant, and a blade slashed into his long hair. It fell cold against his neck, shorter than before.

In the last instant as he passed under his enemy, he fired off a weak upward Force-push, possibly too late. If it connected, though, maybe it would screw with the other guy's landing.

 

[Caspian Rekali]

[member="Velok the Younger"]

The whiphid was faster than he expected sliding under Caspian as he dropped down to the ground, the flash freezing beskad slicing the hair off his head and freezing the rest down to the roots. The familiar snap hiss of a lightsaber coming to life rang in his ears just before the blade of his polearm connected with the yellow saber.

While jumping had its advantages it also had its disadvantages if your opponent was fast enough to get under you. It could seal either victory or defeat in the midst of a battle. Caspian acted quickly to recover initiating the familiar witch technique that allowed him to move at blinding speeds.

Everything around the Young Warlock appeared to be slowing down in his vision, when in reality it was him speeding up. The blast of force energy connected with the fast moving man and were it no for his heightened speed, would've come crashing down face first. Instead he nearly fell but recovered in what would appear almost instantaneous. Just as he dropped down to the ground he gripped the polearm and drove the butt spike at the whiphid as he struggled to stand. If it succeeded it would deliver a stun blast enough to drop a wookie.

Regardless of it connecting afterward he created enough distance to fold his polearm down into a handheld sword, ready to begin a renewed assault.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Caspian Rekali"]

Velok rolled, skidding, to a halt and came up in a crouch facing back the way he'd come. He threw up a three-clawed hand, focusing all his will on the oncoming weapon, and brought it to a halt just shy of his left palm. That took more power than he'd expected: this human was stronger than most. Not Whiphid-strong, but nothing he could dismiss as puny, either.

The Whiphid stood, sweeping his lightsabre up between them in a curtain of yellow light as he pulled back his hand. The goal was to catch the underside of the polearm, its butt spike or close enough, and sweep it upward to break the human's balance. His blade had already encountered that weapon and, so far as he could tell in the gloom, left it unharmed. That meant he should be able to exert leverage with a strong enough upward sweep, rather than just shearing the end off the weapon.

Ideally, his blade would jar the underside of the polearm's butt as the weapon pulled back. That might drive the human's balance onto his back leg.

At which point, Velok would fire off another Force push -- weak, but quick -- in hopes of shattering his balance entirely.