Venris exited the passage and stepped into a vast chamber dotted with glowing crystals along the ceiling. The cold seemed to fade away, but there was a fog covering the floor so thick that he couldn't see a thing past his own knees.
"What in the...?" Venris muttered, taking smaller steps now and glancing around cautiously.
Scared of not seeing where you're going? Don't know where your path is taking you? That's not a great deal different from your day to day life now, is it?
Venris ignored the taunting and took another step forward...only to yelp and fall forward, barely latching onto a ledge in time. The fog dissipated, and Venris could see the abyss beneath him. Cursing, he pulled himself back up as the cavern became darker.
I told you to tread lightly, brother.
"You also told me you would spare him," Venris hissed, rising to his feet. "I still remember how that ended."
Jedi do not usually hold grudges, now, do they?
Venris looked around the chamber, trying to locate a path. "Just shut up already," He breathed heavily and wiped some sweat from his head, "Why is it so kriffing hot in here now?" He could barely see in the dim lighting now, and the fog was now rising up to the point where he couldn't see the walls or ceiling.
This place knows you well, brother.
The phantasm chose to manifest itself once again, whispering into his ear as though Sedita Helion was truly standing in the same room. "It knows that I've left my mark on you since your first visit...and it knows that step by step you've been moving closer to the darkness."
Venris spun with a snarl and siezed a collar made of real fabric, slammed his weight against a very real form and stared into the glowing yellow eyes of a man who looked like a paler, demented version of himself as he slammed the phantom figure of his brother into a wall.
"Oh my," Sedita chuckled as Venris lifted him off his feet. "You don't look happy to see me at all."
"Shut," Venris spun and threw Sedita towards the void he had almost fallen into. "UP!"
Sedita stopped by the ledge, the fog momentarily lifting around him to show how he was inches from falling. He rose to his feet and dusted his clothes off. "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. Your master was considered an appalling example of a Jedi, an outcast, a reject...a failure. It only makes sense that you would follow in his foot steps."
Venris reached for the hilt of his vibro sword...only to find it missing from its sheathe. He looked down and felt that his knives were missing too, even the new blaster given to him by Vassara upon joining the Expeditionary Fleet.
"There is no room on this world for such crude weapons," Sedita smirked, reaching under his robes. "If you wish to strike down a Sith, won't you need....this?" He held out a familiar grey handle.
Venris recognized the weapon he himself had created over a decade ago, along with the emerald blade that sprang from it as Sedita seemed to admire the craftsmanship. "Yes, brother...I took this from you along with your Master...would it not be just to take your revenge with it?" He deactivated the blade and held it out. "Take it..."
Before Venris could form a response, Sedita released the hilt and left it floating in mid air, just within reach of Venris as the spectral doppleganger stepped back and folded his arms behind his back. He was perfectly vulnerable, even willing to be struck down...now would be his chance.
Holding out one hand, Venris wrapped his fingers around the lightsaber hilt and watched as the green light of the blade lit up the chamber, felt the warmth of its glow and the heat near the base of the hilt. For a moment he was a Jedi again, wielding a blade of light against the darkness that gathered behind Sedita. He could do it now, strike down the shame that had plagued him for years, avenge his master...avenge...
I may have been different from the Jedi in some ways, but I could never argue against striking one down in anger...my young padawan.
Venris slowly turned as a second figure emerged from the fog.
"You are many things, Venris. But you are nothing like your brother." A wiser, older voice said, attempting to placate him. "Do not lower yourself to his level. When you followed me and turned away from the Order you would help others, tempered your anger at injustice with what I taught you...you are not a cold blooded killer, you are not a Sith."
Venris spun towards the hooded figure. "He took you from me!" He levelled the blade at Sedita. "He...did this to me!"
Venris pulled back his left sleeve as far as he could go, showing the disfigured flesh leading from his wrist to his shoulder. An image flashed through his mind of Sedita gripping Venris' arm, the younger Helion brother on his knees and the body of his master laying a few feet away; Sedita had a blood thirsty smirk on his face, and force lightning travelled from his hand and along Venris' arm as he howled in agony. He had only survived the encounter because Sedita had believed him close to death and had abandoned him, taking his lightsaber and his master's as trophies.
"He took you away from me and ruined my life!" Venris let out years of pent up rage at the injustice that had befallen him and his master, of the crime that Sedita had gotten away with. "He killed you, he would have killed me, and to this day he still kills more and more innocents without consequence!"
"And striking him down in anger will not soothe the pain, it will only make the temptation to turn all the sweeter." A hand rested on his sword arm. "Defy the darkness, my padawan, even make use of it, but do not embrace it...that is what I taught you for so long, that is why you are here, because you rejected the call once and you can do so again. The first step towards the dark side is always made by choosing to answer when it offers you power, satisfaction...the choice is still yours to make right now."
"The obvious response of a Jedi," Sedita said, stepping forward until his throat rested at the tip of the green blade. A pair of hilts materialized in his hands, and blades of ruby red light sprang to life. "If you will not seize this opportunity, brother...I will finish what I started."
Venris looked between the two, the dark clad figure of the man who had ruined his life and the man clad in robes woven from strands of light who had been like a father to him. He shut his eyes and raised his arm overhead, tightly gripping the lightsaber.
"Choose..." Both whispered.
The temptation was powerful. With a single stroke Venris could put an end to the pain that had latched onto him for so long, tormented him in private, and mocked him whenever he felt a semblance of peace. But...it would also spit in the face of everything that he had been taught, make him little better than a thug. Even as a mercenary he had held onto the values he had been told to respect, conducted himself to show mercy when it could be given, help others when able...
Venris lowered his blade and shut the lightsaber off. "I did not turn before," He opened his eyes and stared coldly at Sedita. "You are dead to me, Sedita...but I won't let you drag me down with you." With a flick of his wrist he tossed the lightsaber aside and heard it clatter before falling over an edge. "Strike if you will, I wouldn't expect anything different from your type."
Sedita growled and crossed his arms in an X, both blades poised to strike. With a snarl he shot forward and cut at Venris' neck with both blades...and passed right through the flesh, leaving no damage as the images faded. The room now appeared barren and featureless as the rest that Venris had passed through before now, with moderate natural lighting and a new path open before him.
You resisted the temptation...and with it you have freed yourself of your brother's hold. Go...there are still obstacles between you and your prize, but you may face them.
Venris nodded and pulled his hood back up over his head. He left the room behind and delved deeper into Ilum, wondering what hallucination or spectral foe would face him next.
