Mindfulness and Lightning (Xavka Duquo)

[Darth Ophidia]

Glee Anselm, she had been here before. During the invasion in fact. And she had brief contact with the mastermind currently puppeteering the Nautolan government, [member="Darth Pyrrhus"]. As one of the first orders of business, there had been constructed an Academy dedicated to the teachings of the dark side of the Force. Darth Ophidia had of course come to inspect and utilise the newly founded academy. She preferred to keep herself mobile.

This is where [member="Xavka Duquo"] would find her. She had given him the coordinates, and planted the right information for him to follow into the underwater academy. A test, of course. She would not willingly teach an apprentice with bantha poodoo for brains. No matter his strength, intelligence was key to the way of a Sith Assassin. The trail would lead him to the courtyard of the Academy. She sat on the dry stone, meditating in the damp air. She was far more clothed now than she had been under the beating sun of Iridonia.

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka slowly lowered his ship down through the atmosphere of Glee Anselm, towards the spaceport, and docking bay, where Darth Ophidia had told him to land at. After the events on Iridonia where Xavka had been left unconscious, Ophidia had later contacted him and told him that she would be willing to take him on as an Acolyte so long as he passed her expectations. One of those expectations had been for him to meet her at the newly constructed Academy located on the planet he was now landing at.

Striding off of his ship, Xavka immediately picked up a scent that stood out from the background smell of a spaceport. A bitter-sweet smell that matched the smell that had accompanied the note that had given him his instructions, curled around the room and lead out of the docking bay. Tugging on his collar, Xavka decided that this was probably the doing of Ophidia and set out to follow the scent trail that had been left.

-----

Finally reaching the end of the trail, Xavka couldn't help but shiver slightly at the minor wound in the Force that twisted its way down into the near by water. He had found himself next to the body of water that encompassed the majority of the planet. A few hundred metres to his left was a port that allowed the hiring of underwater shuttles that lead to the underwater city of Pieralos. In front of Xavka was a metal box that was covered in the scent he had been following. Reaching out through the Force he manipulated the old fashioned lock, twisting the mechanism so that the tumblers would align and allow him access to the contents inside. Hearing the tell tale click, Xavka lifted the lid to withdraw the datapad.

Quickly scrolling through the information on the pad, Xavka committed the instructions on how to reach the Academy, the clearance codes and the information on the Academy itself before destroying the datapad so as to prevent enemies of the Sith from leaning the secrets he now knew.

That done he turned sharply towards the port, so as to gain access to a shuttle to Pieralos.

-----

An hour later found Xavka swimming up through the water towards the underwater cave that the instructions given to him told him to go to. He was currently wearing nothing but his underwear, everything else was held inside the large, waterproof bag he carried with him.

Upon reaching Pieralos, Xavka had quickly been able to hire transport and directed the pilot along the route left to him through the Force trail that felt exactly the same as the presence he had felt around Darth Ophidia on Iridonia. However before they had drawn close to the Academy, Xavka had dismissed his transport after transmitting codes to alert anyone at the Academy of his approach and made to swim the rest of the way, so as to keep the location he was heading towards as much a secret as he could.

Breaching the surface of the water, Xavka emerged into a large cave. Quickly pulling himself out of the water, drying and then dressing, Xavka looked around through his lone working eye as well as the Force. The cave was illuminated by a light source he could not see, casting it in hues of green and blue. Before him was a large structure carved out of the stone walls. To his left were two duelling rings, each containing pillars on their left side.

Shaking his head to remove some remaining water from his damp hair, Xavka pulled on his jacket walked to his left, in the direction he had sensed Ophidia's presence.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

She could feel him, sense him on the moist air. Perhaps he was a little scorned about the last time, not that she would blame him for it. She did leave him in the desert after all. Now, she had brought him to the opposite extreme: Glee Anselm. A land of water. At least he had passed her little test of the trail there. Not too shabby for just another acolyte, exactly what she would expect. She had said she would continue to train him, but to be her apprentice, he would have to earn a little more than her curiosity.

"Acolyte Duquo, I see you found your way. How do you find Glee Anselm?"

Breaking from her meditation, she stood up and passed around the pillar next to which she had been sitting. Once more she had gathered the Dark Side around her in meditation, so to have a stronger bond with it during her class. Smoothly, she walked into the middle of the duelling ring and turned her head to look at the Iridonian. Her eyes fixed on him again, like a predator looking for the slightest hint of weakness. A common look among Sith these days.

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka nodded calmly towards Ophidia, emotions kept under a tight grasps so as to prevent them from gaining control of him like they had done so on Iridonia at the sight of the slua before him. The one he would love to kill for humiliating him like she had. Usually, the actions that she had taken would of proven to the Zabrak that she was someone to follow, but for some reason he could not find that acceptance inside of his, which caused his to look towards killing the Rattataki instead of working with her.

Non of his thoughts could be found within his voice, though, as he answered Ophidia's question, shrugging of the predatory look within the pale woman's eyes that seemed to be trying to decipher him, to pick him apart piece by piece.. "It's rather moist." He dead-panned bluntly before continuing to speak. "Although I must say the view of Pieralos is simple marvellous. A beautiful image." He paused to look around the courtyard, "Almost compares to this, really."

He turned his attention back to the Darth before him. "So, what shall we be doing?"


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Yes, the new academy is quite splendid. I must say, they have been efficient."

Her gaze shifted from the zabrak to the splendid building around them, and then back to the acolyte. A small smile spread across her lips as she clasped her hands behind her back and strode across the flat floor of the sparring ground. She felt his hate, oh he did not like her. Yet he had come. Had she been a little hard in humiliating him? Possibly. Perhaps he did not like a female, and a young one at that, to leave him in such a way.

"I will be teaching you some fundamental abilities. One, latent in all Force users, and one quite a trademark of the Sith. One, I expect you to become rather proficient in, the other I suspect you will only have so much use for until you are finally knighted. If you survive that long."

She circled back and gestured to a mark in the stone with her hand.

"As always, begin with a little meditation to gather your power, then we will get on with the lesson."

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka bowed sharply and minutely from his shoulder before walking over to where Ophidia had indicated, withholding the snarl that tried to curl at his lips at the comment about him not surviving. To him that had been a slur against him and his family, someone marking he and them as weak.

To the Zabrak of his Clan, to call someone weak was to insinuate a couple of things at once. You insinuated that the genes of the Zabrak you were insulting were weak, which was a slur against a whole family. You insinuated that they lacked strength, something that insulted how good a parent the Zabrak would be as well as being a slur against how much they gave to the Clan. And finally you insinuated that they were stupid, to slow to know what to do. The last point was the reason why being called stupid was a major insult in the Clan as it held the same insinuations as calling someone weak.

Ignoring the anger curling in his gut, Xavka strode past the Rattataki sharply, before sinking into a seiza position before sinking into the Force. Once there he reached out mentally so as to grasp strands of the Force and pulled them, slowly, into him, where he could quickly and easily call on it.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

A funny thing about the Dark Side is how it can fell even the strongest if he is not unwary of its power. Strength was one of the foundations of their order, but blind strength lead only to self-destruction. Hence her comment about his possible demise. Of course, this was not said, so he would still be stuck in his small and petty world of genetics.

"Good. Once you feel ready, you will need to blindfold yourself with this."

She tugged a ragged, damp piece of cloth from her sash and let it float over to her student. Unless he decided to angrily grab it out of the air, it would lay itself over his shoulder and stay there for a while. Meanwhile, Ophidia reached her left hand out to the pillar by which she had stood previously. There was a box there, full of a variety of items. Telekinetically she picked up the box and moved it to her feet. Xavka would not be able to see what inside, but Ophidia smiled as she looked down at the assorted items.
When the acolyte was good and blindfolded, she picked one out of the box by hand and threw it at his head. He could either catch or dodge, up to him. Later she would be determining which to catch and which to dodge. It was also a test; if he were to rage, then the lesson would be over. If he could not put his pride away for long enough to be taught, then he was not ready to learn.

"Catch"

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka stayed absolutely still as he sank deeper and deeper into the Force, searching for answers to his internal questions. He felt the actions of Ophidia more strongly the more he allowed the Force to flow through him, but paid them no mind as the cloth was draped over his right shoulder, after all he had not felt any negative emotion aligned with the action. That thought brought him up short. Never before had he been able to feel peoples emotion but right now he could do so, for every presence he felt emotions could also be felt. 'This bears looking into.' Making the mental note, Xavka continued to delve into the Force in search of his answers.

The question he was trying to answer was about his attitude towards Ophidia. He knew himself well, had strived to do so after hearing the quote: "know thyself and the battle will be half won.", however it know appeared that he didn't know himself as well as he thought. In any other situation, Xavka would have given his respect towards those that beat him in a fight, but his instincts argued that he should not do so for Ophida and that confused him. So he had decided to use the time while said woman prepared for the next lesson to study his emotions.

Stopping his delve into the Force, Xavka turned his sight inwards and began to study the emotions that flared at the thought of Ophidia. He had just stripped aside the instinctive anger and need to challenge when he felt something fly towards him through the Force.

Yellow eyes snapped open as Xavka's hand came up to direct the Force he had gathered inside of him. Immediately it wrapped around the stone that was heading for his head and brought it to a stop. He looked at Ophidia and waited for the expected anger to bubble forth but it did not. Confused he raised a brow in silent askance, as well as thought, towards Ophidia.

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Hmm, good. Put the blindfold on or else there won't be any challenge. The lesson is battle-precognition, to anticipate an attack and react accordingly. Anyone can do this with their eyes open, this is why we practice blind."

She took two more stones from her box and begun juggling them. One little slip and she would have a major headache, not to mention a serious injury to her image and reputation. She caught two of the stones in her right and the third in her left as soon as her apprentice got his blindfold on. First she feinted, pretending to throw but not letting go of the stone. Then she threw at his leg. The second two ground against each other as she rotated them in her hand before tossing one into her hand and throwing it, quickly followed by the second. Both stones aimed at her apprentice's chest. She didn't throw too hard, seeing as they would have a long day of work ahead and she would rather not break his breast bone, but hard enough to hurt a little.

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka let out a small hum as he slowly tied the blindfold around is eyes, not that it would have any effect on one of them, trying to work out what had caused the usual emotional response towards Ophidia to not even stir let alone bubble to the surface and overwhelm him. Eventually, as he tightened the knot behind his head, he came to the conclusion that by stripping away his emotions during his meditation he had prevented them form surfacing. He could easily se many possible uses of that sort of thing.

His thoughts on the subject came to an end as he noticed, through the Force and his own senses, that something was flying towards his leg. Stepping forwards he let the stone skim past his legs only to grit his teeth as the sound of stone grinding on stone overwhelmed his hearing, driving a metaphorical spike through his brain. He recovered in time to reach up and bat away a second stone from impacting with his chest but failed to even notice the second that hit was enough force to bruise before bouncing off of his torso to roll onto the ground, joining the others thrown before it.

Grinding his teeth, he focused on the thought that this was part of his training and quelled all emotion, setting his mind on succeeding. Shifting slightly, he settled into a slightly wider stance and waited for the next was of training.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Good, good. Be wary of your surroundings Acolyte Duquo, feel the Force. Trust in it, and it will never betray you. Unlike your senses."

With a flip of her hand, she sent one of the stones from the ground, straight at Xavka's head. She thought he would be ready to dodge it. All the Iridonian had to do, was to take control of his immediate surroundings. That did not mean he would have to exert power on the area, but to be aware of it despite a lack of senses. In some ways, precognition was heavily intertwined with sensory abilities of the Force. With senses, it was far easier to anticipate and react, take away the senses and one would become aware of the underlying precognitive ability granted by The Force.

If Xavka had a lightsabre, then she would be shooting at him with a stun-blaster, but she had yet to see such a weapon on him, nor had she given him one. Shooting him outright would be useless, so she kept throwing rocks at him until he could seamlessly anticipate and react to even the more complicated sequences of attacks. Of course, even with a basic understanding of Battle Precognition, it was difficult -if not near impossible- to anticipate everything, or to have the time to react.

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka nodded at Ophidia's advice before sinking back down into the Force. Manipulating his own presence in the Force, Xavka spread it out, wrapping it around the tendrils of the Force before sinking into a void to await for the Force to twitch, warning him of an incoming attack from Ophidia, even if it was just a thrown rock.

While he sat waiting, Xavka once again began to investigate his emotions towards the Rattataki. Below the anger and rage, Xavka found an emotion he could only describe as expectation. Frowning, and absentmindedly moving his head to one side to dodge a thrown rock as the Force warned him about it, Xavka began to consider why he would be feeling expectation. Looking into his memories, it took Xavka a short while, about three dodges long, to come to the conclusion that, out of everyone he knew, Ophidia was the only person he saw as a possible Matriarch and wanted to make her prove herself as such. Frowning, and dodging, again, Xavka did the same thing he did was the anger before and slowly began to try and unravel the emotion, destroying it and the emotions it generated.

Rising out of the void of meditation he had sunk into, Xavka focussed his attention on the exercise of dodging and listening to the Force like Ophidia was telling him to. After five minuets had passed of the same activity, Xavka was shocked to realised that he was beginning to "hear" a warning from the Force about a throw before it was even done. Realising that caused his recent success to stop as he was too slow to dodge the next throw and soon had a headache echoing through his mind. After that point on, Xavka's reaction slowed as the non-physical throbbing continued on, disrupting his concentration, preventing him from reacting to the received warning from the Force fast enough and causing him to dodge at the very last second.

A few minuets later, Xavka felt a few seconds go by with no warning from the Force and slowly opened his eyes, yellow gazed fixed on the feminine figure before him. "We done?" The question was poised with a hesitant tone, no more anger or rebelliousness immerging at the sight of the Rattataki he was currently learning from.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"We are done with this part for now. You should always be aware of your surroundings, and in time anticipating attacks will be as natural to you as it is to breathe. Whether you are quick enough to react to them, that is a different matter entirely."

She called the rocks to her and rotated them in the air before putting them back in the box. Her hands clasped behind her back, she started pacing back and forth in front of the Iridonian.

"You have done well, Acolyte Duquo. There is a long road ahead for you, but you have done well indeed."

She stopped and turned to him, a small smile curling the ends of her painted lips.

"Last time we met, I gave you something. No, not the directions here. I gave you an ability besides exploring telekinesis. I planted a seed in you to learn one of the trademark abilities of the Sith. Do you remember?"

She was gathering the Force to her hands; her fingers crackled with electricity. She would give him another shock to jolt his memory so to speak, but not yet. Force Lightning was not a skill he would be able to fully utilize yet. Still she felt the need to bring it to his attention.

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Xavka stayed silent while [member="Darth Ophidia"] spoke, holding his tongue and simple staring at the Rattataki with yellow eyes, each a different shade of vividness. He held his silence when the woman spoke of planting the seeds for the next ability he would be learning, having no desire to speak up as he held the knowledge that the information would be given or would be shown. And he was right. With a sharp snap arcs of electricity began to form between the outstretched pale fingers of Ophidia.

The sharp hiss and spits of the lightning as it was held at bay by sheer willpower trigger the memory of being under its mercy while on Iridonia. A memory of his muscles spasms and then seizing before beginning to alternate from one mere moment to the next, never being able to settle as the alternating current ran rampant through his nervous system, making a good effort at overriding his control over his own body.

Even as the shadow of the pain inflicted upon him by the woman he was to call Master ran through his body, Xavka stayed quiet, simply holding his stare as he ran the words he sought to speak through his mind. Right now the more composed side of Xavka was the dominant personality and was warning him to proceed with caution.

"Force generated lightning. I take it this will be my next lesson?" His tone was clipped and his words to the point. He made no effort to mince his words, preferring to, in this instance, dive directly to the point and not beat around the bush. However even with this controlled moment, Xavka could not fully supress the spark of anticipation and determination that flared within him as it always did when he was presented with the option of learning.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Exactly, very good."

She removed her hands from their clasped position behind her back to her front, making them visible to Xavka. They no longer crackled, but she could feel the electricity within her flesh, she extended a hand toward her apprentice. Pain was the key to Force Lightning. Physical and mental pain, created the dark emotions through which he would be able to channel the electric current.

"I am going to expose you once more, then explain to you how to replicate the effect."

Perhaps if she kept explaining to him, she would not go off in another rage. He had done well so far, very well in fact. It was no longer a question of if this person was worthy to be Sith, but when he would step into their ranks. Not too long, but not quite there yet. The lightning she shot this time was different as she withheld some power. It formed a single arc that would dart at Xavka and then envelop him. Through the pain, memories could be dug up, suppressed emotions could surface. It was a matter of bringing out his pain so he could channel it into a new ability.

"Lightning is the purest expression of the Dark Side, take it in you. Let it become part of you. Feel the power it grants you."

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

A sharp scream ran through the Force in warning, but before Xavka could react to the new threat, lighting arced from Ophidia's outstretched and curled hand. Although it was but a single bolt, to Xavka's mind it was once again a large mix of strands of crackling energy, directed towards him as he lay on the dusty grounds he had been fighting on until recently. Intangible dust clogged his nose as his body fought while not doing so against and oppressive force that was no longer within his mind, no longer forcing his body to move beyond his will.

The sheer terror that Xavka felt in a single instance of witnessing that blue streak that cut effortlessly through the air paralyzed his mind, freezing it in that moment long past in which he had suffered at the mercy of the arcing electricity as it caused his muscles to spasm uncontrollably as they contracted and relaxed in an endless cycle as the alternating arcs of energy ran through his body overwhelming him.

While the single moment of freezing occurred in less than a second, it was enough to drive Xavka to his left knee as sheer, blinding terror ran through him. The pain was manageable compared to the hellish magnitude suffered in Iridonia, enough for Xavka to fight against it, but his mind was stalled, not allowing for that fight to happen and continuing to torment his body with the pain of the Force empowered volts running through his body.

'NO!' The thought ran through Xavka's head as a scream, jolting him out of his weak state, restarting his mind once again. Through pure will he did as he had done so for a long time and forced memories he did not wish to feel at that moment of time to the back of his mind, locking them away in the subconscious for now. Forcing his quivering legs to take his weight, Xavka pushed himself to his feet and urged his body to stand in the way of the relatively weak onslaught, keeping his gaze locked onto Ophidia's, staring into her eyes in quiet defiance.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

Terror, excellent. Xavka was full of it, and at the same time he showed defiance. She stared back into her apprentice's eyes while a smile spread across her lips. The mix of passions in him would be perfect for the production of lightning,
"I can sense your fear, Xavka. Don't hide from it. Harness its' power! Feel the anger it spawns inside you. Let it seethe in you, my apprentice."

She wanted him in high gear before he tried lightning. To give him a proper lightning-rod, she slipped the hilt of her lightsabre into her hand with a deft movement.

"Lightning is born from fear, hatred, anger. Your passions are your strength; Force Lightning is the purest expression of this."

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Growling slightly, Xavka nodded at the words of Ophidia. Instead of focussing on the feeling of fear and trying to suppress it, he focussed on redirecting it. He continued to feel the flames of fear lick at his mind, but ignored it, adding those flames to the fires of anger instead. Fuelling his anger through his fear, he focussed on letting the emotions wash over him in a wave of passion.

Despite his own thoughts on the matter, he bowed to the wisdom of his Master, but resolved to find a way to follow his beliefs. This method felt to close to loosing control of himself for his own liking and went against the teachings of his clan, on methods on how to control oneself in the heat of battle, not that he often had success in practicing those teachings.

Regardless of his inner thoughts though, he turned his attention to Ophidia. "You say that Lightning is born from passion. But how is it shaped? That which births it surely does not also shape it."

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"You shape it through the Force. I gave you a spark when I exposed you to my lightning on Iridonia. Funnel your passions to your hand and extend it through the Force like a current. The Force will obey your command."

The tip of her lightsabre whirled back and forth as she spoke, aiding her in highlighting the crucial points of her words. When it came to Xavka's doubt about her words, it was a common misconception. As he had not uttered a question about it, nor would she utter an answer. She had the same doubts once, but had found that using ones' passions was not the same as being controlled by them. They were a source of infinite energy for her will to manipulate. The lure to give in to the passions completely was strong, but that was the nature of the Dark Side. Only those with the strongest will would master it.

"Sometimes, techniques of the Dark Side demand that you simply do. It is a sensation, too fickle to grasp with words. Now, focus on me, draw a line between us and funnel your passions through it. Strike me down with your anger, if you can."

[member="Xavka Duquo"]

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Nodding in silence to Ophidia's words, Xavka reached down into himself through the use of the Force and released the mental grip he had on his emotions, letting the fierce flow of rage and fear fuelled passion to rush through him, curling through his body, screaming around his body like a vicious river rapid. Wrestling control of his darker half, his more animalistic and feral half, Xavka directed the rush of emotions into his hands.

Focussing all of his rage, all of his anger, his fear and his passion Xavka reached out into the Force and added that to the feral maelstrom swirling around within him. Just as he was about to release all of his gathered passion in one large shock while commanding the Force to give the passion form, Xavka paused to remember the last thing his Master had said. To try and strike her down.

Deciding to take the chance to attempt to do so as a way to cleanse himself of the negative emotions he felt towards Ophidia, the ones that would only stir trouble, Xavka instead suppressed most of the gathered Dark energy, compressing it to make it seem smaller. Focussing, he then released the remaining energy towards Ophidia.

With a sharp crackle, blue sparks leapt from his outstretched and clawed fingers, arcing across the gap between he and the Rattataki. Focussing further he tried to make the arcing current surge fuelling it further with the Dark.

His next actions was to release the held back Darkness from his second hand, starting it of as a weak trickle of lightning that joined the existing stream, then, suddenly, he released the rest of it, forming a lower and stronger arc in the hopes of catching his Master unaware. He did not care if it worked or not, but took the chance to purge himself of the negative emotions that he felt towards Ophidia which had caused him to rebel against her authority.


[member="Darth Ophidia"]