Relics of The Father

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The vault hissed open with his coming. Cedric paid the ancient passage little mind; he had trod its halls hundreds of times in his youth. He and his siblings had explored every inch of the Graywall before the fall. He moved in complete darkness, not having bothered to turn on the lights due to his familiarity with the tunnels. Each step was a journey all its own, though the agony of his injuries had subsided to a dull throb. He was just happy to take a step without the assistance of the cave.

His senses extended far beyond that of the physical, stretching over every crack and crevice of the hallowed halls. Defensive emplacements and security droids stood down as he drew close, each having been programmed to allow for his passage, and his alone. Had any other Graysons lived, Cedric would have allowed them access as well, but the force did not will such things.

Save for one other, but one so far from his reach that she may as well have been dead.

A second set of doors rumbled apart, letting a faint pale light drift into the inky blackness.

Cedric smiled as he stepped through the portal.

 

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The room was cold.

The scent of cleaning detergent filled Cedric's nostrils. The room was preserved immaculately, the care droids having tended to it every day for as long as Cedric could remember. The room itself was a relatively large vault lit by a faint pale light that hung from the ceiling. Banners from past victories lined the walls, their emblems hailing from dozens of forgotten civilizations. Each was a trophy of a war won, a crusade carried out, a world liberated - the deeds of his forefathers.

Cedric could only hope to carry a fathom of their greatness in his blood.

The room contained a single glass case seated on a dais at its center. Roots from the great tree grown at the heart of the Graywall pierced the ceiling here. Cedric felt pure life thrumming through the massive wooden veins of the tree; the empyrean was at peace here.

In respectful silence, Cedric approached the glass.

 

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The casing opened with a simple gesture of telekinetic power. Cedric felt a shiver run down his spine as the latches were undone, the treasure within thrumming with power. It reached out to him, filling his limbs with the kind of warmth one might associate with a mother's embrace. In a way, it very much was.

The Jedi Knight peered down at the lightsaber within. It was a truly ancient thing, though it looked as deadly as any modern blade. Well, it would be, were it not for the twelve places the blade had been broken.

"You assume much coming here." The voice was ethereal in nature. It was quiet and gentle, like a cool breeze on a warm summer's day, yet something about it left Cedric ill at ease. The knight peered down at the weapon, the shattered mask cased along side it, then to the lockbox hidden beneath the lightsaber itself.

"You put a box within a box?" The knight turned about to face the apparition. It was the specter of a slender, elderly man clad in the traditional Jedi robes of old. His face was weathered and worn, but one could easily see the resemblance with which he shared with Cedric. They had the same nose.

"I did not, but my son did," the figure approached slowly, "As did my son's son, and his children after him. All leading up to you," the figure peered at his descendant. "Cedric Grayson, you are not worthy of this lightsaber."

 

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"What do you mean I'm not worthy?" The youth peered at the specter of his late ancestor with obvious annoyance. Yes, he had failed numerous times in his life, but he'd chosen to persevere. Was that not enough of a show of his worth in the eyes of Vicarion?

Evidently not.

The specter strolled around Cedric, its ghostly fingers trailing along the glass case at the center of the room. Its ethereal eyes traveled down to the weapon Cedric had coveted so, then to the compartment kept beneath it. "This lightsaber has helped maintain the peace for thousands of years. It is a truly ancient weapon, one that can only ever be wielded in times of great need by my descendants. It must be used by a Jedi."

Vicarion turned to Cedric. "And you are no Jedi."

The knight blinked. "I have fourteen years of training that say otherwise."

Vicarion laughed. "Anyone can learn to swing a blade, and anyone blessed with the force can do what you do - the circumstances of birth do not make you a Jedi, nor does might without wisdom." The ghost turned to face his descendant, and for the first time, he smiled.

"You're saying I don't have wisdom."

"As well as a myriad of other things, but you can be salvaged. You must prove to me your dedication; you must take the Jedi Trials."

 

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"I've already completed the trials," Cedric reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, and breathed a heavy sigh. A few moments of silence followed his bluster; Vicarion seemed entirely entranced by the shards of his old weapon. Cedric watched him out of the corner of his eye with only the vaguest interest. Internally, he was calling upon the old mantras to control his humors. It would not do to have an outburst at Vicarion; if anything that would only make the situation worse.

He could just take the weapon. It wasn't as if Vicarion could stop him.

"You have not completed the trials. You have been tested yes, but no master has ever truly knighted you. Your training was unorthodox Cedric; it has made you into something of a enigma to me, and I must test your will. Do you accept?"

The knight hesitated for a moment.

"Do we start now?"

"We do."

"Then begin."

 

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The vault's back wall began to rumble and shake. It made Cedric jump, though he quickly realized there was no danger. He knew of the tests his forefathers had been forced to undertake beneath the vaults of the Graywall, he just hadn't expected such a test to be issued out to him. He peered over at Vicarion.

"Do I go?"

"You do. Begin your trials."

The doors closed behind Cedric as he stepped through. Oppressive darkness assaulted Cedric's vision; he was forced to rely upon the empyrean to see. He called out for Vicarion a few times, but the Jedi Master never opted to answer. For the first time in a very long time, Cedric was well and truly alone.

He continued deeper into the caves. The air grew colder the farther he descended, but he could hear the sound of running water below. After walking for what felt like an eternity, Cedric found himself stirding straight into a door. The portal hissed apart once he'd slammed into it, bathing Cedric in harsh pale light.

Before him lay a simple dueling chamber lit by powerful white lights. Lightsabers and weapons of similar make lined the walls. A single robed figure sat in the room's center.

"Hello?"

 

[Adron Malvern]

​Now, my son. You shall face your darkness.

​A familiar, yet hushed voice called out to the High Moff causing his eyes to open. Covered in a blanket of darkness, obscuring his surroundings Adron was unsure of where he was or how he had gotten here.

​Another vision. He mused, accepting the reality that The Force was guiding him to. Slow deliberate movements were used as his hands searched his body, searching for that which he was never without. The cool kiss of metal against his hands revealed that his lightsaber was indeed on his waist where it belonged. Uncertain eyes searched the darkness, searching for the eerily placed voice of his deceased father. When his eyes were met with nothing but an empty black void he retreated from such thoughts, instead turning his mind to the reason of this event.

​Clad in the shadowy robes he had taken up as a Dark Jedi, he took a step forward which caused the world around him to flicker away. The blinding pristine lights fell over him, causing his eyes to fall to the floor in retreat. When he looked up once again he could see his surrounding vividly. A Jedi Dueling center, not unlike the one that he had used at Blackgate manor.

​Hello? ​A voice called out to him, one that was familiar yet saturated by years of absence. Adron pulled the hood from his head, turning towards the source of the voice. Eyes narrowed in confusion scanned over the Jedi, before Adron's hand fell to the lightsaber on his waist, pulling it from it's place on his hip.

​"Grayson." He said, his eyes scanning the room once again for any sign of a trick or deception.

​"Why am I not surprised?" His thumb rolled over the activation pad, the snap-hiss of his purple blade flying from it's home in the emitter echoing through out the chamber.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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The voice had grown more haggard than Cedric remembered. It was tempered with experience and pain, aged with the trauma of a youth squandered for the sake of conflict. Cedric recognized it instantly as the reckless boy from Serenno.

"You're my first test?" A hint of amusement laced its way into Cedric's words, "My first trial? Are you my trial of skill? Spirit?" Cedric reached for the weapon at his side, but was remiss to find nothing there. A moment's thought reminded him as to why he had even come here in the first place. Another moment's thought had one of the lightsabers on the wall flying into Cedric's outstretched hand. The weapon hissed as it came to life in his fingertips, the blade a bloody crimson that crackled with such ferocity that one might fear it could explode. Clearly the crystal within had been cracked and abused, but the knight had little time to be picky about his weapon.

"Are you a vision, or are you being tested as well?" The crimson blade roared as Cedric took up a defensive posture, his blade held alongside his midriff. "Am I your punishment, or are you mine?" There was no mirth in those words.

Nor was there any mirth when Cedric fell upon Adron, his blade falling in a murderous arc to cleave the traitor in two.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​As Cedric Grayson spoke, Adron had descended into silence, calm focused eyes falling on his opponent. Bringing the blade of his lightsaber to stand parallel to his body, he offered a salute of respect. Respect for the skill his opponent had honed, and nothing more. As the luminescent blade of his favored weapon cut through the air, it found itself held out from the man, the tip of the weapon hovering just above the ground.

​Silence had shrouded over the two, the only sounds being the soft hiss of their lightsabers. That moment felt as if it could hold an eternity within it, until finally....

​The soft sound of a lightsaber cutting through the air brought Adron's focus to a single point. Watching as the crimson blade was launched into the air, Adron's eyes had become keen and his body prepared. The moment Cedric's blade closed the distance, Adron's feet worked in unison, his left leg fleeing behind his right as his body was turned to the side. As the crimson blade flee past the Moff's shoulder, Adron's grip would tighten around his own weapon. As Cedric's arc fell, Adron's lightsaber would rise, aiming to carve over his opponents chest.

​As the purple blade flew home to find it's mark, Adron's left hand would move behind his back. The bridge between The Force and their world would be opened to him as he harnessed the power's of the twisting nether, focusing them into his left hand.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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A feint as good as any.

One had to make sacrifices in battle, and Cedric had learned to make them in the most efficient way possible. Adron's lighsaber scoured across his phrik plated chest, burning the material and little more. Had Cedric not been wearing his usual attire, the blow would have been fatal. As things were, the force of the blow sent Cedric sprawling back a step or so. The pain brought on by the superheating of his breastplate gave him pause, but it did not keep him from honing in on Adron.

In one quick practiced motion, Cedric hurled the sputtering crimson blade in a bloody red arc to bisect Adron from shoulder to hip. The moment the weapon left his hands, he'd called a force pike to him, the lightsaber having been forgotten the moment it left his fingertips.

"Why the empire?"

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​The moment Adron's blade found some semblance of it's mark he was eager to press the momentary advantage. However his opponent was not some errant Jedi whom he could hope to outmatch with brute force or aggressive tactics. As Cedric was pushed back the Count too took a step back, wary of any counter that the Jedi may take against him.

​Bringing himself whole once again, Adron's blade returned to it's neutral position elongated out towards the floor.

​When Adron's former predecessor moved again, there was a moment of surprise when Cedric hurled his lightsaber out towards the Dark Jedi. The movement was unlike a Jedi, and to disarm himself seemed foolish in it's own right.

​Time to think was not given, yet again Adron side-stepped the attack, bending his back as he arched back to dodge the crimson arc of death spiraling towards him. His movements, while fluid, lacked the speed to dodge such an attack unencumbered. A hot sensation shot through Adron's left shoulder as he stared at his opponent. He did not take a moment to access the burn on his shoulder. It was superficial and likely held no long term damage, yet it still hurt like a Rancor's bite.

​The question to come was met with a hushed scoff. Who was Cedric Grayson to judge him? The man who had abandoned his people to a war torn galaxy, only to come back years later to attempt and gather the ashes?

​The anger from this fact filled Adron, and as the shadows of the Dark Side flowed around the man they were harnessed into the focus he had already been building. "The Empire is a means to an end. It didn't really matter to me where I went, it just mattered that I got somewhere." Strafing forward to close the distance, Adron's lightsaber would lead the charge as the tip of his purple blade was eager to meet the head of his foes force pike. His arm would swing deliberately, attempting to bat the head of the force pike out of the way.

Cutting his feet against the ground, Adron's left hand would come from his back, his palm aimed towards his enemy. Calling on the Dark Side of the Force he would let out a deafening yell as the kinetic wave flew from his palm, directly towards the Jedi before him.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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"A rifle is a means to an end. A sword is a means to an end. The empire is nothing but a sinking ship." The premonitions had told him so. Adron had made a foolish choice in new friends, though Cedric supposed he couldn't fault the man for it. Any port in a storm, after all.

"You ran," the purple blade clashed with the emerald pike. The weapon was knocked aside, though Cedric quickly righted it to spear through Adron's chest. "You ran from the war; from our people. I left them in your care, and you abandoned them."

The pike was raised. "I left to fight the great enemy, and you let the Sith burn our cities and rape our women. Then you helped hunt down the survivors to prove your loyalty to your new masters." Something in the air shifted. Cedric felt it rumble within the force, but he was too caught up in his words.

"You're just another snake in the grass."

The blast of kinetic energy smashed into Cedric's midriff. His armor buckled beneath the force of the blow; his body crashing into the back temple wall. Pain rang out through his limbs, and he was made painfully aware that without the force's protection, that attack would have surely killed him.

It seemed the danger here was just as real as it was outside.

With a pained grunt, Cedric rose to his feet. The pike sputtered to life in his gloved hand.

"Ah, that makes sense," Cedric's disgust was obvious, "You fell." He spat the words.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​"I fought." The words were spoken absent any sense of pride or honor, merely reality. "And in the end, I was the one who ended the war. You allowed the Sith into our own ranks, you allowed our planets to believe you were as a god, and when you left it shattered them. The Dominion was doomed from the moment you left. All I did was euthanize it." He said, rolling his blade over in his hands.

​As his opponent recovered, Adron paced, allowing the Dark Side of the Force to cover him like a blanket woven in hatred and darkness. "You think I killed them to show my loyalty?" He asked, the faintest hint of a scoff erupting from him. "I destroyed them to test my skills. I set the remnants of The Dominion to fire, to burn away your failure....and mine." His pacing was paused as his blue orbs washed over the man.

​"No, Serenno fell. Where were you when my people were butchered before me? Where were you when my home was leveled to the ground? Where were you when my friend gave his life..." Adron shook his head, not caring to hear an answer from the man. His answer was irrelevant, a shallow excuse to cover the truth.

​Adron charged forward, breaking from the restraints of Makashi, and taking on the movements more akin to Shii-cho. His lightsaber would fly in a wide arc, aiming for his opponent's shoulder, yet in the last moment he would bring his hilt in towards his chest, and aim a deadly jab towards Cedric's gut,

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70nupCPrjNw​

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Vaapad was a lightsaber form lost to time. It was as much a state of mind as it was a form of combat; a way in which a Jedi might utilize his opponent's rage against him. It was a technique preserved within the darkest catacombs of the Black Library for eons, a technique Cedric had spent years learning to hone. He was in no way a master of the art, but his proficiency with it was obvious. It could be seen in the predatory stare with which he affixed Adron, the Moff's words bouncing off of Cedric's shield of self-assuredness.

"Fighting the Great Enemy, the enemy the Dominion was forged to stop. The fabric between this reality and that of the empyrean has been shattered Adron. There are creatures from the beyond that sought to devour everything we had created. That is why I named you regent; they had to be stalled."

The fallen one's presence within the Great Ocean was that of a hurricane. It destroyed everything it came into contact with, disturbing the natural flow of things and shattering any sense of peace within the dueling room. Cedric fed upon it; met it in the way a beast master treats its rancor, and then he turned it back onto Adron.

The rancor was let loose.

The lightsaber flew wide. Cedric prepared to take the blow to his shoulder plate. Then it came in, jabbed at him. The pike whirled in Cedric's fingers, its cortosis haft clashing with Adron's blade and knocking it aside. "My only failure was in trusting you."

Adron's words stung. The sting did not show. Cedric moved with deadly efficiency, the long pike sweeping in a series of crossing slashes that aimed to carve Adron into meaty ribbons.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​As his opponent's staff came into contact with his blade, Adron let out the faintest curse. As a duelist he was fully capable of reading each and every moment within a duel. This moment told him one thing, his momentum was broken. Instinctively taking a step back, he was met with an onslaught of vicious savages from Cedric's force pike. He retreated, allowing the man to gain ground as his lightsaber hilt was kept close in towards his chest. With each swipe of Cedric's force pike, the hilt of the lightsaber would rise, allowing him to use the base of the blade to parry those strikes.

​"I did what I had to do, to save my world." Adron offered, the soft blue pearls that were his eyes becoming overrun with the corrupting orange tint of the Dark Side.

​Once they had returned to the center of the dueling room, Adron halted his enemies advance. When Cedric's pike came down once again, the former Count would not meet it with his lightsaber. Instead his free hand would fly forward to meet the weapon. Like invisible tendrils, the Force would wrap around his enemies' pike, hopefully stopping it in it's tracks. If it would be halted, Adron would thrust his own lightsaber forward, aiming for Cedric's bicep.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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The pike should have speared through his throat. The apparition of Adron should have died instantly, and the trial should have been over. Yet it was not. Cedric weapon was held mere inches from Adron's open palm, and the apparition's own blade was moved to dismember him.

A moment of dreadful calm fell over Cedric. He understood that if he allowed his outrage to drive him any further in this confrontation, he was going to die. It seemed as if time itself ceased to exist; Cedric mind came aloft into a realm of peace he had not felt in quite some time. There was serenity in that place. There was a purity to this combat.

The empyrean beckoned to his call. A telekinetic wall of energy formed in his free hand, freezing Adron's own blade in the process.

Each combatant stood there, hissing weapons mere inches from one another. The force flowed through them like conduits, one of the Ashla, the other of Bogan. The entire room shook with the force of their struggled; weapons were tossed about in a maelstrom of energy that rolled off of them in waves of violet light.

Cedric's very being fought against Adron for dominance. His disgust for the shadows that the Malvern boy had embrace was almost tangible in the air.

"You did what you had to do to keep your position of power. Don't make yourself out to be a martyr Adron!" The room shook as a sound like thunder battered the cavern walls. "You were a coward!"

The energy between the two of them bubbled outward until it could no longer be contained. The resulting boom shook the entire Graywall down to its very foundations.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​Less than an inch. That was how far Adron's blade lingered from his opponent's bicep, prepared to cleave the fleshy appendage in two if it could only offer the softest of touches. As they stood, in a seemingly perpetual stalemate, Adron could not help but laugh at Cedric's words.

​"When I come for the Sith...I will come for you as well." The hushed threat, made promise, was offered to Cedric only moments before their opposing union was brought to climax. A soft clap erupted through the room as the rushes powers of The Force were released from their focal point. Weapons were flung about, furniture was destroyed, and the lights in the top of the room shattered as the repulse exploded outward.

​When next Cedric's eyes would open to take sight of Adron, the High Moff would be gone. The apparition that had been projected across the galaxy would have faded back into the Force, only silence would remain in place of the Dark Jedi.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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"You've chosen the wrong side." The words felt hollow as they fell from Cedric's lips.

The force of their collision had left his voice raspy and pained, but he wasn't seriously hurt. The knight wasted no time in rising to his feet, lips parting to speak further to the moff, but Adron was gone. Cedric closed his eyes to reach out with the force, but his old ally was absent from there as well.

The youth frowned.

"What was that trial?"

The ghostly apparition of Vicarion appeared before him. "A link. It was a precursor to what you must do, but also a form of communication. You and that boy are eternally tied to one another."

"Why is that?"

"I do not know, but the Oak brought him here just as it did you. We must press on nonetheless."

"Agreed."

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

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The doors to the dueling arena seemed to evaporate into nothingness as Cedric drew closer. His wounds were healed with each step, the cave's ethereal energies providing him with a reserve of energy previously untapped. Part of him was unsure as to whether or not he had truly been wounded at all, or if the entire duel had been nothing more than a force-induced hallucination. The answer eluded him, and he opted to file the question away for later when it might be better answered.

The hall that followed the arena was utilitarian in nature. Pale white lights lit the long narrow passageway ahead of him; nothing save for a single door at the end of the hall was of note. With the path clear, Cedric did not hesitate to march onward, his mind reaching out to the specter of Vicarion.

"What's next?"

"I do not know. I only guide, I do not prepare the trials. The Force itself does that." Came the ghostly whisper of his ancestor.

Cedric brow furrowed. "Am I safe?"

Vicarion snorted, "You are never safe my child."

The door hissed open. Cedric stepped through.

 

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The smell of old oak welcomed Cedric into a forgotten place. He recalled it well: the fireplace, the books, the glass pane that overlooked the great city below. An oath had been sworn here; an oath that he had not seen to in over a year. It was one he doubted had been kept, one he did not expect to be withheld.

Why the trials brought him here, however, he did not know.

"I don't understand why I am here." His fingers brushed along the desk, his eyes peering out into the evening light of a city he knew was not real. "This is where Ra swore to serve me, but I don't see how that has any bearing on my standing as a Jedi."

Vicarion's ghostly visage appeared in the glass pane. "You do not see how your decisions affect the lives of others. My children have always moved with great purpose, often not understanding the great changes they leave in their wake. This was one of those times."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"She swore to you, offered herself in the only way a woman can. She almost pulled you from the path." The apparition faded.

"But she did not." Cedric's brow furrowed.

"No, but your unspoken refusal sent her down another path. The girl fell."

The voice came from Cedric's own mind now. "Had you partaken of her, you would have fallen too. Great power would have been yours, perhaps even the seat of lordship over all the Sith stars. This place is a vergence within force; a turning point. You have been summoned here to meet with her once again, and perhaps choose to walk another path."

Cedric parted his lips to speak, but Vicarion's presence was gone. He was alone in the office...or so he thought.

A presence formed on the edge of his mind. Before he could register what it was, the door had opened once more.