Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Weekend Treasure Hunt 16: Against the Fall of Night (open to Jedi and Jedi-like persons)

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

Venris smile as he sighted Vassara returning from the caverns. As she dropped her belongings he simply pulled her into a hug for several moments before releasing her. "Let's just say Captain...it's just really good to see you alright after what I saw down there." He admitted before holding up his crystal for her to see within its container. "On the brighter side of things however I am very proud to say that it was worth every moment spent down in that place again...and I don't intend to lose this one."
 
[member="Venris Helion"] [member="Tyranus Collik"]

"You guys too!"

Vassara smiled at the group. The cavern had been rough and now it was time to leave, time to get out of here. After a quick headcount she gathered up her things and flung them up the ramp, letting them land haphazardly in the hangar bay somewhere. She squinted in the cold, suddenly she didn’t feel it as much.

Odd.

"Are we missing anybody?"
 
Gherron tried for an actual smile then, wanting to lighten the mood a little, even when he felt like dropping off the side of the nearest cliff. He brought his hand to his new pendant, tracing the Jedi emblem with his finger. He could feel a budding friendship start to grow between himself and Xander. Perhaps they could learn from each other in the future. After their hunt for Ilum's crystals, he would ask about accompanying the man whenever he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. It had the potential to bring both of them closer for the long run. Noticing a few small crystals to the wall on his left, he stopped for a moment to dislodge them, two green and a smaller blue.

[member="Xander Carrick"]
 
Location: Inside the Caves
Gear: Armorweave suit with Duasteel bracers and Calves, Double bladed lightsaber, Dawnstar, and Battle Helm
People Near me: [member="Gherron Vael"],

Taking a look around as Gherron stopped, he plucked crystals from the side. Two green and a blue it looked like. I looked at him for a second and then the crystals. Wondering why it was different? I reached out and plucked out my own blue one. Looking it over, I realized that these looked a little bit like ice more than they were a crystal. I pointed to it with my left hand as I spoke,

"These don't look like the normal Ilum crystals."

I tapped on it with my knuckle as though that might do something. Despite that, I pocketed the crystal. Looking to Gherron, I nodded my head easily.

"Well we got what we came for. Lets try and find our way out now."
 

Jaxton Ravos

Mindwalker of the Outer Rim
The beast was strong, dang strong, so taking it down wasn't exactly easy for the unarmed zetlron. Had he a lightsaber he'd have cut it up, simple as that, but without it? WIthout his durasteel prosthetic? His options became quite a lot more limited. Thankfully it wasn't too quick, at least not as quick as Jaxton was with the Force. Without the Force he'd probably be dead by now. It's first move was for his neck, the beast wasting no time in going for the kill. Bestial hands wrapped around his neck as Jaxton pulled up his own arms, putting them inside of the beast's grip. With the Force enhancing his speed and strength he pushed outwards, just barely getting the vicegrip of the reptilian ape off his neck. His hand pulled around the ape's neck and Jaxton went for a Force-enhanced knee to the gut.

The ape didn't even care. It just went for a chomp at his good arm. Jaxton screamed as the pain set in, and went for another knee to the gut. The gorgodon didn't care. Gorram it. Jaxton thought to himself as he took his stump'd left arm and punched the beast in the eyes. With the Force enhancing his speed and strength the hit hurt like a schutta on the recoil, but the beast let go. Albeit with a chunk of his arm still stuck in it's teeth. Jaxton gritted his teeth, barely keeping the pain contained as he charged forward, hitting the beast's chest with his shoulder and wrapping up for a tackle. He managed to get enough momentum to throw it to the ground. It flailed it's arms and began trying to beat on his back, but Jaxton heard the scuffling of feet. Fur perhaps. And a few "bum"s and "boo"s and "ba-doo"s. Seemed his little friend was coming over. Jaxton just needed to hold on a little bit longer until-

The arms of the ape finally died out as Jaxton heard the spear enter the back of the creature's neck. A sigh of relief as Jaxton felt the creature go limp. He stood up and looked at the beast, then the young Talz before him.

"So, can you understand or speak basic?"

"Bam bom boo badabadoo."

"Excellent."
 
Clearing out the ice was very satisfying and quick. The drill worked as intended and cut right throuhg most of it, and then they stopped, having somewhat reached the desired point. The hole was big enough for a few of them to lean in and work their tools on the last ice cover. Chisels, brushes and a very thin drill were all moved up to the ice as they could finally see the crystal themselves. Another minute went by and they had made it to its small chamber, apparently the crystal was residing in a small hole, not much bigger than the crystal itself. Delyna reached out for it as she felt her hand going more and more numb, she wrapped her fingers around it and quickly pulled it out - and the room changed in an instant. The corridors all changed a bit, revealing that two of them at least led upwards, while four seemingly led further down.

The crystal was placed in a small wooden box with blue silk on the inside. Then it was pocketed. "Most wonderful, let us continue." She calmly gestured towards the first tunnel then began walking down it. The group followed. A small layer of frost lay on the path they had chosen, and every step they took left a new footprint in the cold floor.

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Fourteen minutes later and the sound of running water began filling the corridor, and not much time passed before they made it to a large room with multiple holes formed by running water, water which all ran down the bottom of the room and formed a river. The largest of the holes was further down the river where a lot of water seemed to get through. A naturally formed ice bridge could lead them over the small river, so they tried to pass it with careful footsteps. After they had all passed the narrow passage they headed for the next tunnel.
 

Jaxton Ravos

Mindwalker of the Outer Rim
"How's about we try this. Put your right hand up if you understand basic." Jaxton said, and the alien boy continued to just look at him. "Guess that answers that question." The Zeltron mumbled to himself as he stood up and began to look up to the cliff. He was fairly certain that was where he needed to go, but he had no idea on how to get there. Also, the cold was getting worse. Exposed skin and blood and all. Needed to patch that up quick.

"You have any bandages or cloth?" Jaxton asked and tried to show his clothes, then his wound. He could have torn off a part of his shirt or pants, but he was trying to shield exposed skin. Not increase the amount of it. The Talz looked at him for a moment before pulling out a bandoleer. Jaxton shrugged, but took it. It would have to do for now. He took a moment strapping it on and making sure it had enough pressure to stop the blood flow, then looked at the Talz and then up to the cliff once again.

"Can we get up there." He said, pinting to the top where the Talz had came from and jumping a bit.

"Do da boom dawoom da badaba." The creature honked and handed Jaxton a spear. The Talz then pointed at the cliff then made a motion of hurling it up.

"But where's the rope?" Jaxton asked, before realizing the alien boy wouldn't understand that. He pondered a hand motion that would properly convey 'rope' to another sentient, but couldn't figure one out that he thought would work. So he looked at what the Talz held on him, and found no rope or rope-like instruments. With spear in hand he closed one eye and looked at the cliff once again. Around seven, eight meters high. Too big to jump, and Jaxton didn't have enough strength in TK to lift someone like that. No rope to get up there. But maybe he could . . .

Taking the spear and flipping it around into more of a Javelin hold he eyed the middle of cliff then spread his legs into a running stance. Took a deep breath, then two short breaths, then began to ran, taking a few paces before chucking the spear up above. Several honks of protest as the spear flew in the air, embedding itself into the cliff about four meters high. Jaxton walked back to the other side of the room, picking the probably complaining Talz and throwing it onto his back. It promptly got quiet, as it got an idea of what Jaxton was doing.

Jaxton took a moment and tried to rub his hands together before realizing he was still stumpy. Not letting himself get disgruntled he lowered his body, stretching his legs out and touching his hand to the ground. Another couple of deep breaths before he charged forward, letting the Force enhance his speed despite the weight of the young Talz on his shoulder. A couple meters away from the wall he jumped, stretching his right arm up and towards the spear. It bent downwards from the weight as Jaxton shifted his body, letting his feet unto the icey stone wall. Using what stamina he had he began to rush up the wall pushing up from the spear and towards the edge of the cliff. His palm reached the floor above, Jaxton fighting to bring the rest of his body up there. The Talz didn't wait for him, climbing up his shoulders and onto the cliff. It was a good thing too, as it reached out and began to pull Jaxton up, up enough that he could pull himself up. Jaxton sat a moment as he panted heavily from the exertion, and hoped to himself he didn't have to jump back down.
 
Gherron, upon looking at the crystals he'd found, discovered his friend was right. They did't seem like the everyday crystals one usually found in Ilum's caves. Either they were simply formed with the ice, or they were something much more. Slipping the crystals into a small pouch, he nodded to Xander and began walking back the way they'd come. After a few minutes of walking, he would speak up a bit. "So, that helmet of yours. It's pretty neat." Now that he had a chance to think about it, he'd never seen smething quite like it, and it fascinated him.

[member="Xander Carrick"]
 
Location: Inside the Caves
Gear: Armorweave suit with Duasteel bracers and Calves, Double bladed lightsaber, Dawnstar, and Battle Helm
People Near me: [member="Gherron Vael"],

Looking over to my side as Gherron put his own crystal away. I shrugged my shoulders and decided to just leave. Later on I would try and figure out more about this. maybe even use it for my own lightsaber considering I only grabbed one. A nice clear blue color. As we walked for a minute or so, Gherron then asked about the helmet I had. I smiled. Shaking my head.

"Yeah. Made it myself when I was a Templar with the CIS. When I was a kid I moved around a lot, and well, sometimes you didn't want people to see your face. So I made a helmet that could easily be carried around my neck. Look."

I lowered myself so he could see my neckline. There was a rather large choker around my neck. made out of a nice grey colored Songsteel. After pointing it out, I began talking about it again.

"Made it so if I suddenly had to fight, then I could use it. Just a flip of a switch."

As I said switch, I used the force to activate my helmet. While really it would seem like is that it activated on its own. Which was a nice way of making people think twice about having to mess with me if they didn't know how in the world the helmet formed. Once again the HUD came up and the eyes flashed on a brilliant yellow-gold. My voice now sounding metallic.

"I've used it since I was a Jedi padawan. Only bad thing is that you can't be moving your head when you do it. or else you might clip your chin or pull a few hairs. And trust me. It doesn't feel all too good."

Tapping the side where a circular part where all the sleeves were connected to, two hollow clings came from it. As well as inside the helm fairly loudly.

"If ya hit this hard enough right here, it will bend just enough to prevent closing back up. It might fold half way, if you are lucky. Getting stuck in this means you need to take it apart without being able to see it, then fixing the leaves, and then putting it all back together. Its a pain in the ass."

I turned it off and the sleeves slid back home to where they belonged. Turning my head back over to Gherron,

"Pretty nifty though."
 
"Now that that's over with," Mark said aloud, "let's continue and get the heck out of here."
And so Mark continued down into the depths of the caverns. The sound of rushing water began to make itself the dominant noise in the cave. It grew louder and louder until it was louder than starting up a freighter. Mark came to a doorway and nearly fell into the raging waters below it. A massive underground river stood between Mark and the rest of the hallway. The second trial was set to begin.
 

Jaxton Ravos

Mindwalker of the Outer Rim
"So where'd you come from little guy?" Jaxton asked as they walked, knowing he wouldn't be able to understand the Talz's response but extending his mind, hoping to get a feeling for the boy telepathically.

"Bum bam ba doo." The creature replied, as Jaxton attempted to feel the stray thoughts of the alien's mind without forcibly ripping the thoughts out of him. Oddly enough Jaxton couldn't feel anything from the Talz. No locations, no thoughts on him, no thoughts on their environment, no nothing. Overall his mind seemed guarded. Protected. Jaxton was no mentalist, and finding a mind that he couldn't penetrate wasn't a surprising thing, but the sheer amount of defense this child held was astounding.

"Is that so hunh? Sounds like an interesting place." Jaxton relied, though he wasn't quite sure why. Even if the Talz could understand him there wasn't really a way for the alien to share what knew with Jaxton. Conversation was a bit of a moot point, but there was no one else around at the moment, and Jaxton was trying to be friendly.

"Dum ba bada dum." It honked, and Jaxton was beginning to think that the Talz's language was one of tonal changes rather than an expanded vocabulary. Which would only make understanding the him more difficult. Perhaps Jaxton needed to keep around a protocol droid for situations like this. He thought for a moment what that might be like. A peace-loving droid that far more whiney than useful. Or perhaps a droid that mistranslated at every opportunity in order to fill some sort of programming of bloodlust towards "inferior organics". Perhaps instead he should just start learning more languages.

"So left or right?" Jaton asked as they met a fork in the caverns. Jaxton knew where he wanted to go, but he wasn't sure about the Talz. This time the alien boy knew exactly what he wanted, and pointed to the right cavern. Jaxton looked at the Talz for a moment and pointed left. The alien boy rather enthusiastically pointed right. Jaxton looked at him a bit confused, then sat down and closed his eyes and began to meditate. Feeling the surroundings around him. He was still feeling a strong urging to push left, that feeling in the middle of his gut. Intuition perhaps, or the guidance of the Force, or both, one in the same. But the Force, it was guiding him towards something else. Caution perhaps? Yes, caution. He began to stretch out his senses, not to the paths but to his surroundings. Looking for something that might be trouble.

His body reacted quicker than his mind, Jaxton finding that he had jumped back and hit the wall, finding an odd creature in front of him. Humanoid in form, but skeletal, and with bone claws expanding from their forearms. Jaxton put his forearm-stump on the left side of the stabbing claw, then used a quick force-enhanced strike to the other side his his palm. The long bone extension fell the ground, as another went to stab at his chest. Jaxton moved quick, evading the target but not the strike. The bone cut at his right arm, slicing through his winter gear and leaving his blood exposed to the cold. Right hand extended quick, grabbing at the creature's neck. His vicegrip pulled the yevetha off of the ground.

"Who are you?" Jaxton asked as he prodded at the man's mind, hoping to sense an answer he didn't speak. But the Yevetha seemed strong. Stronger than Jaxton could read or influence. Jaxton let go of his vicegrip and threw a Force Push at the man. Jaxton was never good at telekinesis, heck, most knights were better at it than he was, but he could push him back a foot. Maybe two. As he gained just a hair's length away from that dangerous bone claw Jaxton closed his eyes and felt the Force. Listened to what it was saying about the assailant. About the Talz. About how they were one in the same, and yet were neither child nor assassin.

Jaxton felt his forearm move across his chest, intercepting a bone claw and shoving it aside. The rest of his body went downwards, heading to the ground. His hand was open, and went to grab at the Yevetha's ankle, curling around it and ripping it upwards. Jaxton opened his eyes, and the Yevetha and Talz were both gone. All that remained was a small slug in his hands.

"How long have you remained here, preying on padawans and gorgodons?" Jaxton asked.

"Longer than you can imagine." The slug replied. "And I will continue to do so." The Croke said and lightning poured out of it's body into Jaxton's arms. He clenched his teeth, but the shock was only temporary. Channeling the Force he altered the magnetic field around body, and redirected the current of the creature's Sith lightning, back into itself. There was no blood curdling scream, just the sight of smoke and the smell of a crisp burn. There was a deep sigh from the Zeltron when he put the body on the ground. A shame it had to end that way, but perhaps Illum would be a safer place now. Continuing forward he took the left path, eager to finish his journey, and get the heck out of this place.
 
One of the agents quickly filled a plast flask with the clean, fast running water of the underground stream. The water-room had a very serene feeling to it and all the pure and smooth sided holes in the walls cast off reflections of far-flung light from unknown sources. As he made his way up the group they took one last peek back before heading onwards into a new unseeming tunnel.

Due to the formation of this particular tunnel, sound seemed to run through it nicely, ringing off the walls further and further. It was suitably high and narrow, with a curved ceilling. At one point they realised it would be impossible to shuffle past each other at this point, but they decided to continue along anyways.

"There, it widens and leads to a small room." It was the oracle who led the group and she who gestured ahead. Her clean voice was carried back past the group and beyond. She looked back to the others and smiled softly, her clear blue eyes meeting theirs, then they emerged in the new room.

ice_cave_by_stephweatherson-d4y4smi.jpg

It was nothing as breathtaking as the last one, yet still the simple nature of the new widt was welcoming. There were only two exists from this room - the one they came from and one which led to a bigger room. They split up a bit and moved around in a relaxed formation. Leaving behind the small room they found that the other room had two new tunnels and many large grooves - all not much deeper than a few meters. A few crystals darted the far top of the room, under which most of the group had gathered. Their attentions all focused on the same clutch of crystals. "It seems they are shaped somewhat like a ma- Get back!"

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Most dashed back as she commanded, and not one second later a large form, almost two meters of height landed on the ground between them, made of pure ice. As his form hit the ice beneath him it cracked and small shards flew off in all directions - and Delyna both tumbled and dodged backwards as the figure, seemingly unaware of her changing her position, off handedly flung his right hand after her, before marching towards the nearest agent with a determined posture. The creature made little sound itself, but as blaster fire grazed it and fragments of ice coated the room much noise filled the cave and called out beyond it. "Others may hear this, let's get this over with quickly!"

The dual-blaster pistol wielding agent with a medium set of armour on should have turned and ran, for just strafing backwards while firing hardly put up any resistance to the mystical construct's quick movement. Each step it took brough it much closer to the gunman, and though most shots hit it, each only did so little to the imposing being. With a simple swat of its powerful right hand, the massive body of ice send a "wosh" through the air as it collided with the man, then sent him flying a bit as he cried out in pain - landing on the ice floor, only left to collect himself.

The oracle pulled herself up as she went over to the downed agent, while the man of ice gave chase to another agent. The structure of the rooms was still quite solid despite the trauma of the situation, she heard it swing for another agent who dodged. And someone cursed at it. One of the women barked orders at the two others, trying to get them to lead it around. Divide the pressure and keep it off them while they grinded it to dust. Delyna's hands moved to the downed man's medkit as he just seemed to squirm around in pain, dazzled. She pulled out an autoinjector and pushed its cold and thin point under his vest and into his stomach. Another near miss. While pulling forth a random book from her pouch, Delyna moved over to the nearest ice groove and sat down in tranquil.

The golem had managed to corner another agent, the woman. One of the men rushed over to catch its attention but even though he shot wildly at it within arm's reach, it ignored him and it slammed its target up against the wall behind her with both its hands, the impulse sending cracks over its already weakened form. The woman gasped for air as she fell over and the being turned, seemingly aiming for Haymire. Each step it took more and more cracks appeared, then the sounds of clicks started - blaster cells running dry. She looked up from her book on the history of the art of Serenno, most famously the painter Juvokij, an old court artisian. It was halfway across the room, and she closed her book and in turn - her eyes.

It took another step, still being blasted by the fire of the last remaining agent. Then another blaster source opened up. It took another step. The sound of its shards falling to the floor became constant. It sounded like an entire city of glass falling down upon itself in a final protest. Then it all fell apart. Still with no protest or bellow from the hostile guardian. Delyna opened her eyes again. "Good work. Let us rest here and harvest the crystals we can while our wounded recover. If others have heard it, let us hope they wont find us here."
 
It looked to be at least 200 feet down to the churning waters below. Bits of ice partially covered the walls on either side of the gorge. One small entrance led to the rest of the tunnels on the other side of the gap, which Mark estimated to be 60 feet or so. There was nowhere to jump, nowhere to climb to. Mark was stumped. There was nowhere to go. How could he be expected to reach the other side of the gap, even with the aid of the force?
On closer inspection, there was a faded engraving in the wall.
"Trust in the force and it will guide you."
"What in the world could that mean?" Mark pondered.
Mark wondered whether or not that meant he needed to find a new path using the force, perhaps even a leap of faith down to the bottom. He tossed some sand and pebbles out into the gorge to measure the height of the fall, and something amazing happened. The sand was floating.
Then, Mark understood. He threw out more sand. It too floated, or so it looked to be. Mark was seeing a bridge made entirely of force energy.
He tentatively stuck his foot out and placed it on the bridge. The bridge would hold his weight. He carefully made the crossing with no issues except very tense muscles and a fast heartbeat.
Mark slowly entered the tunnels again and was met with an amazing sight. A cavern full of glowing crystals everywhere he turned.
"Finally." Mark said. "What I've been after for so long is now within my grasp. I've just got to find the right one."
He began searching and found none that seemed correct, so he allowed the force to influence his actions, to find the correct crystal for him. He had just gotten in tune with the force when a dark figure slunk out of the shadows behind him. Mark sensed its presence and turned to face it.
"Who are you?" he asked.
No answer.
"I'm not afraid of you."
For another moment, there was no answer, but then, silence was followed by a distorted and vaguely familiar voice.
"You will be."
A short distorted laugh.
"You will be."
 
There was no warning as the shadowy creature pulled what resembled a lightsaber from its cloak, only briefly revealing its head, which was covered by a black and silver mask. It activated the blade, which glowed an ambery dark red in the darkness of the cave. The thing charged in Mark's direction, who dodged and activated his own lightsaber.

The thing charged at him again, and just as Mark was about to parry the incoming blow, the shadow flipped clear over his head and onto a large chunk of glowing blue crystal, which in turn turned a deep red and faded out altogether.

As the duel raged on, it was clear that, though Mark had been able to hold his own so far, the creature was simply toying with him, holding victory right in front of him before snatching it away. All the while the creature muttered things like,
"There's much power in you, but fear too. If only you could turn that fear into anger, you might get farther in life."

And every time Mark would try to question or reason with it, the thing would fall silent, fighting harder and faster.
 

Jaxton Ravos

Mindwalker of the Outer Rim
Jaxton continued up the left path and soon found why the Croke hadn't intended for Jaxton to follow it. The trail was short, leading to a small hovel littered with the bones of Gorgodons and what appeared to be other smaller creatures. Some humanoid, some weren't, but Jaxton had the sneaking suspicions that the ones that weren't Gorgodons were sapient. Jedi padawans who'd lost their way in the tunnels or travelers who'd lost their way amongst the stars only to get more lost at Illum. He needed to do something, honor these dead men and women somehow. For a long while Jaxton merely just tried to dig, but found that the frozen rock of the cavern below was dang hard, and with no tools? Missing one hand? With enough Force Speed Jaxton could have punched through it, but he'd had a broken forearm before he could dig anything suitable for a burial, let alone a mass burial.

Without many other options Jaxton sat the center of the small circular room, and began to meditate. Trying to find guidance from the Force on what to do, perhaps echoes of the young Jedi killed and buried here. But the Croke Dark Jedi? He had been here longer than Jaxton thought. The air of this place, it crept up on him. Quicker and quieter than it should have. As Jaxton meditated corruption began to come at him, the entire home a Nexus of the Dark Side. When Jaxton felt it, the overwhelming feeling in his gut of wrongness he opened his eyes and stood to his feet with a gasp. More than just his eyes his senses had changed, perhaps lying to him. The cold had left him, the room was completely gone, replaced with a stark white nothingness that implied a nihilistic infinity. Save for one thing, the man standing right in front of him.

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"Who are you?" Jaxton asked, and the man let out a familiar cackle.

"The question is not who am I, but when are you?" He asked, in a tone that sounded corrupted.

"No. You can't be-"

"I am! Did you think you could just bathe in the pool of knowledge and remain a man?"

"The Force doesn't make us gods."

"Tell that to the trillion people on Coruscant, serving the One Sith due the conquering of a holy war."

"They can rise up. Empires have ruled more of the galaxy with more power and been overthrown."

"And yet the Sith still remain. Things have changed since the Plague Jaxton. You, We, I are the evolutionary imperative. We survive because we are strong. And the rest of the galaxy shall bend at our heels because they are weak."

"I am strong because the Force gives me strength."

"NO!" He, I yelled. "You are strong because you take your power. When you discovered your talent of the Force you didn't wait for the Force to decide a path for you, you went out and found the Jedi. When you chased down the Sith Lord Odium you could have ended him as he went Beyond Shadows, tried to cleanse the Dark Side from the Pool of Knowledge. But instead you took it's power. Bathed in the darkness, because you knew you needed to!"

"I was trying to save people. Odium was a murderer, a beast who had lost sight of all but his own hunger."

"Tried to save people? In killing this man you saved no one. The planet of Erida was destroyed, serving as a mere morsel to the nautolan's power."

"No. He can't have come back. I killed him."

"Search your feelings. You know it to be true."

"I . . . how can I?"

"You can't stop him. Unless you consume him yourself. Take his power as your own. Do what you should have done at the Font of Power."

"But can I? No, I can't."

"You can. You've felt the drain of the Force before, you could learn that hunger. Take that power."

"I- I shouldn't."

"You should. You want to save the Galaxy but it will not be saved. Thus your only option is to build a galaxy that will save itself."

"N- no. No. I need to protect the weak, not eliminate them."

"They will eliminate themselves if you do not. Why not prey on their weakness, fuel your strength? You abandoned the Jedi long ago, why hold so quickly to their values?"

"Because the galaxy is worth saving."

"Is it? Do you forget why you left the Jedi? You hope to protect but their will always be those who deem life valueless, even amongst your own ranks."

"But there are those who will help a stranger, heal an aggressor. There's hope for the Jedi yet, far more than when I left."

"And you'd try to help them? More of the Jedi may be as you were when you left, but if you join again you will leave a worse person than the one you left because."

"I won't."

"I will consume you. Become you. Even should you not accept it now it will only be a matter of time until the Pool corrups you. We shall ascend to another life, whether you wish it or not."

"No!" Jaxton screamed, and the pitch-white realm they inhabited began to shake. "I will lose the Force first." He declared, and what was hopefully his former future disappeared with the blink of an eye. The white surroundings disappeared to show the small hovel he previously inhabited, with but one change. A decent sized rock, previously hidden under the snow, was now creeping out past it's frosty blanket. Jaxton went down and pulled it out of the snow, before walking just outside of the hovel and into the cavern corridor from which he emerged. He looked at the wall of the hovel, pulled the rock back, then launched the rock at the wall with all the might force speed could give him. It cracked into the wall, the small cavern shaking before stalactites and snow came tumbling down, giving the dead a burial of sorts. At the edge of a debris laid a small blue crystal and Jaxton looked at it and knew that it was his, but only for a short while. With a frown as he knew his time was winding down he picked up the crystal and began to head home.


[member="Shule Windspeaker"]
 
Something was wrong with this whole thing. Mark could sense no living force energy in this creature, only hate, and fear, and envy for the lives of others.

The duel continued. Mark was getting tired now. Even being able to harness the power of the Force, a fourteen year old body could only go so far, and the creature was beginning to get the upper hand. In the heat of the moment, Mark was unable to block one of the thing's frantic slashes and was hit in the shoulder. Suddenly, everything changed.

He was no longer in the cave on Ilum, but in the Jedi Temple courtyard on Yavin IV. Except, something was wrong. The skies glowed and unreal red as several star destroyers loomed overhead, dropping out TIE fighters like hatchlings suddenly learning to fly. Stormtroopers and dark jedi swarmed the temple, killing every Jedi in sight, but they passed through him like he was nothing. He tried to help, but try as he might, he could accomplish nothing. Similar images kept coming: a huge round space station wiping a lush planet out of existence, legions of soldiers turning on Jedi generals and killing them without mercy, two massive planets colliding, breaking one in two like a fruit. Until, suddenly, Mark realized what was going on.

He forced all of the images out of his mind, pushing himself back to the present. He was once again facing down the creature, but now with a new understanding.

"You hide beneath that cloak and mask, hiding from everything around you, distancing yourself from everything. Does that make it easier for you to kill? Oh wait. You've never actually killed anything have you?"

"If you only knew the power I've achieved." It said distantly. "Why, I could be a God."

"Oh, you'd like to call yourself a God wouldn't you?" Mark replied. "But, you're not a God! You're just a parasite, feeding on the love, and joy, and jealousy, and fear, and hate and sorrow of people. Of me!"

Mark swung his lightsaber around, throwing the thing's weapon to the other side of the room, where it proceeded to disintegrate.

"Yes. I know what you are. You live in all of us. You live in me. But now, I reject you! Go away, and never come back!"

And with that, the creature made a terrible noise (A scream of anguish?), and fell to the ground. Like its weapon, it too disintegrated into nothing. The only thing left behind was its mask. Mark slowly peeled the mask off to see if there was even a face underneath, and was shocked to see one very close to him: his own. He jumped back, frightened for a moment until he realized what it meant. It was a warning. A warning that anyone could be drawn to the Dark Side, even himself.

Also left behind in the ashes of his enemy was a dark green lightsaber crystal. Mark picked it up and studied it. It was perfect. The shape and color were exactly what he needed. It was time to go.
 
Several Months Later...
Jedi Academy, Yavin IV

The lightsaber was nearing its completion. All it needed was one final component.
Clicking the final piece into place, Mark Sage looked down upon his creation and thought it a job well done. After years of recovering parts from archaeological digs and several part dealers and after an adventure on Llum to harvest the necessary crystal, it was finished.
Mark walked outside of his small dwelling near the Jedi Academy for some head room to test out the newly finished lightsaber.
As he found a nice spot in the academy's courtyard, friends and strangers alike turned from what they were doing, curious of what he was going to do. He activated the blade.

A brilliant, emerald green beam of light shot out of the end of this hilt with a hiss, quickly morphing to the insistant hum Mark had grown to know and love. 
Mark felt closer to being a true jedi now than ever.
 

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