Bloodied Sands

[Thal Mantis]

​

POINT NADIR​

RESH 9376​

OUTER RIM​

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Thal, the Deathless slave was coming home. The prodigal son of the Red Tower- returning. But not to step on the sands once more, not to alleviate the recently dry activity. No-

He was coming for revenge.

Blinded by hate- he had nearly forgotten what he had learned in the time he had spent at the Silver Jedi. But he was returning- trained. Armed with two lightsabers of his own construction, the former Gladiator was even more deadly than before. The transport he was on was one of little import, a typical transport that ferried workers, ne'er-do-wells, gamblers, and people making their usual criminal rounds.

Scum like him.

He leaned his head against the bulkhead, before the pilot spoke- in Bocce. Bocce was the language of the underworld, along with Huttese. It helped to speak the language. Thal sat up as the docking procedures went over. As little as their was, at least. Not like the usual spaceports where there were a litany of customs, docking procedures. Here- they simply gave you a spot to land, and you did. The pilots were experienced enough to keep themselves in check without a massive flight crew or tower to control them. In a way, Thal respected that.

But as the other passengers unloaded and the pilots exited last, Thal stood up from his seat.

How many slaves, he wondered did they carry?

Fathers without sons, mothers without sons, daughters taken, sons enslaved, families broken, lives ruined for them to turn a profit.

What was once hands turned to fists. They were doing the usual maintenance of the aircraft when they stopped to look at the brute at the end of their spacecraft. They asked him if he forgot something- being that he was the only one left on the ship. Thal had gone off the radar of the Silver Jedi. He was somewhat confident that it would take some time for them to track him down- if they kept the Silver Shadows off of him, at least. Not like he thought he would make their radar.

The two pilots were relieved when he smiled and shook his head.

They were less relieved when he used a single hand to hold one's throat, while digging a single thumb into the eye socket of the other pilot. Hate and rage gave him strength- moreso than the Silvers did for him. Raw, brutish power let him kill the man rather quickly. He dropped him to the floor, and took the other pilot, who barely had time to scream before he smashed his face into the bulkhead.

When the man's face looked like hamburger meat, Thal was satisfied. Thal wiped his face of the blood and finally stepped out of the spacecraft. For a while they wouldn't be found, up until the people who were concerned with profits moreso than safety would check on why the hell a craft wasn't moving when it should've. By then, Thal would be long gone.

Point Nadir was a big place.

Nearly 20 million people in a single rock- but Thal had one goal in mind.

The Red Tower. For the moment, he would have to start his rampage at the bottom level. He looked up, wondering how long it took for them to build it. Curling his hands at his sides-

Thal then began to wonder how long it would take for him to rip it all apart and kill everyone that he could.


OOC:

Stop him or join him-

All are welcome!

 

[Sanguine]

Sig sat half asleep on the transport, only coming to when he heard the pilot speaking to them in Bocce. Sigs Bocce was poor at best but he knew enough to get the gist. When you travel as much as he does it’s important to pick up on other languages. Sigmund stretches his arms and casually looked at the passengers around him. More or less what you’d expect to see on this type of ship. With a singular exception.

A brutish looking human brooding by himself. The man appeared to be deep in thought as his face morphed into a myriad of expressions. His hands clenched and as this happened, the doctor felt activity in the force. A dark heavy presence. The darkness only seemed to grow as other passengers exited the ship. He grabbed the small leather bag that contained the contents of his life. Mostly clothes, and medical supplies, along with a single lightsaber blanketed in dust. He told himself he kept it on him just in case he needed it but the truth was he kept it because he was a sentimental old fool and it was the only thing he had to remember his master by.

As he shuffled off the shuttle he eyed the human. He wasn’t certain that the dark presence was him but it was his best bet. Against his better interest Sig decided to wait outside the shuttle for the man. He hated getting involved in matters that didn’t concern him but if the man truly was force sensitive and filled with rage, it could mean death for someone else, and as a doctor Sig had sworn an oath to help and heal.

He exited the ship and leaned up against the outside of it waiting for the human man to exit. As he waited he heard a short shrill yelp before the sound was cut off and again the dark presence, heavier than before. Sig rested his hand on his bag as he watched the man exit the vessel alone. And once again against his better instincts, Sig called out to the man.

“Hey!”

[member="Thal"]

 

[Alana Sunrider]

There came a day in every Jedi's life when they found themselves needing to go out wandering the galaxy. Well, not really as far as most Jedi orders were concerned. But, with the Green Jedi, they understood. After all, they were famous for rejecting authority and restrictions. Especially growing up as she did, scavenging on a mostly forgotten world, living under close watch and order of higher-ups was... difficult. She needed to get away from temples and monasticism. Get her hands greasy and embrace the real galaxy that surrounded them, live with the real inhabitants.

That was what had brought her to this hunk of rock. Hardly a reputable part of the galaxy. It was a shadowport after all, but when it came to scavenging and finding parts, there was no better place for rare pieces of junk, either to buy or sell. She'd gotten her hands on a few of them, and was looking for someone to lighten her backpack in exchange for some credits or something else of some valuable.

Not that she was supposed to accumulate wealth, but it was an old habit ingrained in her from childhood. Plus, she was self-funding this period of walkabout, rather than pulling on Jedi funds. Self-sufficiency was a key Jedi tenet, wasn't it? Reliance on themselves and the Force.

The woman shifted through the crowd, a poncho draped across her form as others pushed past her. She was trying to be discreet and unnoticeable. It was rarely healthy to be known as a Jedi in a shadowport such as this. Even for a Jedi Knight, it could be incredibly dangerous.

Something surged in the Force and she stopped, letting the movement of the crowd carry her over to the edge of the street, riding an eddy into the lip of an alley. It was the Dark Side, alright. She remembered the familiar surge of anger and hatred that had always gnawed at her growing up. It was concerning. Not like there was a Sith nearby, in hiding, but actively embracing the Dark Side.

She chewed her lip for a moment and then let out a sigh, pushing off into the crowds towards the feeling of darkness.

 

[Thal Mantis]

[member="Sigmund Stakar "]was speaking into the void.

But still, the voice carried with it a response from the brute. He turned his head towards the Jedi. He could sense him, the force being the way that it was. Reaching out- meant you could be reached all the same. Thal turned his head towards the incoming Jedi, measuring him up and down. As far as threats were concerned- the young man didn't find the older Jedi to be much of a threat.

So he turned his head- and marched onwards.

The darkness only grew around Thal. And it made people- even without the force, part ways for him. He was ascending from the bottom depths. There was a reason he started here. It was poignant, poetic, and symbolic. He was going to assault, slaughter the Red Tower from the ground up. Point Nadir would survive- but that place, the Red Tower, oh it would burn. It may not fall, but it would feel his wrath.

Hands, twisted, mind, corrupted by hate, revenge. Hate was an understatement as to what Thal felt here. But he simply didn't have the vocabulary to describe it. He was walking to the entrance to the Red Tower. Time slowed. He began to count the guards. Gauge their reaction times. Gauge the biggest threats. Where they kept their weapons, and in what position. Who to strike first- and how. He began to walk quickly. People there for the enjoyment of themselves began to part away from him- fearful of what he was even looking like he was about to do.

And compared to what he wanted to do- just looking like it was a very minor threat.


[member="Alana Sunrider"] l @Sigmund Stakar

 

[Allura Kahli]

Seated atop a pillar along the path to the Red Tower, a woman dressed in all black kept watch over the crowd below. With the way her eyes might seem solid white from afar few that ever bothered to look up stared for long. Allura smiled at the reaction. Loneliness at people's discomfort gazing into the eyes of a species that literally evolved in literal darkness? Whatever for? She was quite content being who she was, and the only reason the Jedi had convinced her to leave the underworld was because of assurances they wouldn't kill her at the end of a job -- unlike the old employer.

Yes, they thought they'd rehabilitate her no doubt. Help her see that by helping the poor, the downtrodden, and the helpless that Allura Kahli, Umbaran Assassin, could take up a new life's purpose in uplifting the world. She attended each and every class that sought to teach people that happy, flower-filled way of life. Not because she wanted to be "more," but because it was absolutely hilarious listening to them. Allura was the kind of monster the Jedi needed but couldn't bring themselves to own consciously. Someone that did what they couldn't. Jedi captured high-value prisoners to keep them from becoming martyrs, and admittedly sometimes that might be necessary; but most of them could be taken out of the picture, and Kahli would handle that affair for them.

Every so often, however, there was a target that didn't deserve to be killed. Not the Jedi would do it, but Kahli didn't think everyone deserved to die. Just the really bad ones. See, she did believe in a better world -- she just disagreed on the means used to get there.

Which brought her back to smiling at the passing crowd. She turned her uncovered head aside, and in the direction of one rogue Jedi Thal. A man with eyes a woman like her could appreciate. Not to mention that blood-thirsty scowl. If there wasn't a very real chance he'd try killing her for getting in his way, she might have found him attractive. No time for sentiment or forming attachments on the job, however.

Silently, the long-coat wearing figure slipped from her perch and dropped to the ground below. The crowd rustled a bit at her sudden appearance from above, but Kahli gave them no mind. She strode out to stop just short of intercepting Thal as he approached the tower. "Think you can take the entire Tower on your own?" the Umbaran asked with a faint smile on her lips.

Tag: [member="Thal"] | [member="Alana Sunrider"] | @Sigmund Stakar​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

[member="Allura Kahli"] [member="Thal"] [member="Alana Sunrider"] [member="Sigmund Stakar"]


The Red Tower's door opened. A cyborg the size of a light cruiser chucked Jerec into the street like he was skipping a rock. His tough coat couldn't shield his head or hands from road rash. Burning, yanking pain blossomed around his left ear. When he picked himself up, he left a decent amount of blood and skin on the ground.

"And you're lucky," the huge cyborg growled. "Very, very lucky."

"Ungh." Jerec hawked and spat blood. "You sure you-"

"Kark off, Asyr." The cyborg shouldered past him, hard, and a couple of guards fell into step with him. Their focus, it turned out, was on a grumpy-looking young man with what might be blood on his hands. The kid looked about as mad as Jerec felt, and maybe in a better position to act on it. Or just a little less interested in staying alive. Jerec squinted in the asteroid city's gloom -- was the kid even armed? And more important, who was the lady with him, the one with the swoopy hair?

With a forearm cannon, the cyborg drew down on both of them. The guards followed suit.

"Eh, screw it," Jerec mumbled. A little holdout blaster slid into his palm, and he put two shots into the back of the cyborg's brainpan.

 

[Thal Mantis]

The world was viewed through the lens of fire, of hate.

He only took a second to notice the woman with the short hair as she came to him. She came to him in such an odd fashion- that normally, he would've reacted. But he had tunnel vision, a singular goal, a singular desire. The force grew around him, like an inferno. His hatred emanated off him in waves, like flames. Thal was drowning in his own hatred, in his own rage.

The sea of blood began to rise, the thing he always saw in his dreams. He used to think he was drowning. But he understood the visions now. He wasn't supposed to be under it. He was supposed to be wading in it. The sea of blood was the one he was going to spill. For revenge, for retribution. For justice.

It was not the Jedi way, the voices of [member="Romi Jade"] and [member="Coren Starchaser"] screamed in his head.

But-

Even unknown to Thal, he was a victim from the day he was born. Abandoned, forgotten. Used, abused, and let loose. The Red Tower made him.

And they would feel his wrath.

The timely attack of [member="Jerec Asyr"] set Thal off. His hands reached out- and telekinetic cracks appeared in the ground, same as the temple. Thal was showing a potency for it- although uncontrolled as it was. The Cyborg fell forward, and the cronies turned to fire on the spacer that attacked them.

There was a familiar, frightening snap-hiss.

Thal's twin blue blades cut down the other cronies, flying towards them like spears. He retracted them back to his hands, as the people began to flee. He stared at the doors that lead into the lower rungs of the tower. Already, the Point Nadir response teams were coming after him. Cronies, thugs, second-rate security guards. He charged, gripping his lightsaber handles tightly. He launched himself at them, before they had time to set up an effective counter to the oncoming onslaught. He knew the layout of the tower- the close quarters and tighter hallways would prove advantageous to the brute giant of a man.

And as for anyone who stood in his way-

Nothing but maiming and murder.

Thal, began to sate his thirst for vengeance. It started with the two that were about to kill the spacer, and in a few seconds, he had killed six more, with a terrible display of violence and the ability to kill. Ice blue eyes looked behind him as the doors began to close. They could be opened by anyone willing- sure.

But who would follow Thal into the depths of the Red Tower, into the depths of depravity of the galaxy. Slavery of many kinds- the most deplorable being what they did to women. Slaves made to kill each other. Slaves forced to work. Exploited people. For profit. For gain. For power. But Thal knew real power, he felt it in his hands. It did not matter how rich, who they were, the ones he was about to kill- they would die all the same, no matter the numbers in any of their accounts, no matter their names.

They created him here. They made him what he was.

And they would reap what they sowed.

 

[Allura Kahli]

The Captain watched the man prowl by in silence. His Master would not be terribly impressed with such all consuming hatred. Getting through such a think head was not going to be easy. Unfortunately there wasn't time to try getting through to Thal because all of the men started in their effort to kill one another.

With the crowd becoming a bother, Kahli started shoving heads aside to get the panicked animals out of her way. Once she got to the edge the stealth field generator kicked on so she did not beg to be shot. Thal, of course, carved a bloody path through those in front of him. Not that the assassin blamed him at this point. They were going to die regardless; anyone inside the tower was going to be lucky to live through this.

After she sprinted across the open ground, the cloaked figure leaped over Thal and those he was slaughtering in that moment. There were plenty of guards whose footfalls were rapidly approaching as well. The man's efforts to draw attention to himself was working. Kahli assumed he wasn't so thick to come here if he wasn't sure he could kill them all, so with that in mind the Umbaran would simply leave him to it.

His invisible companion was going to bother herself with delving deeper into the stronghold to locate their control center. Strength of arms was one thing, but automated defenses were another. If she was lucky Thal's ultimate target would reside there as well, and Kahli could claim two for the effort of one. Three if the blind rage could subside long enough to get a word in.

Rogue Jedi were absolutely the worst -- there was always the chance you could turn them around. Sith were simple -- you didn't bother, because they didn't want to turn around. Thal might say the same, except the man wasn't using his head for anything other than tactical analysis. If Kahli could gain control over the intercom, perhaps she could have a chat with the big oaf as he occupied his time slaughtering people. Give his mind something more to do.

Tag: [member="Thal"] | [member="Alana Sunrider"] | [member="Jerec Asyr"] | @Sigmund Stakar​

 

[Jerec Asyr]

IMMEDIATE: [member="Allura Kahli"] [member="Thal"]
OTHER: [member="Alana Sunrider"] [member="Sigmund Stakar"]

Jerec's holdout tracked to a guard and blatted twice. A lightsaber got there first. A blue one, and though Jerec was no authority on Jedi, that struck him as incongruous. It wasn't the only one, either. The Jedi butchered the guards in a couple of heartbeats, or at least it felt that quick. Then the Jedi moved into the Red Tower's entrance. The woman had gone somewhere or other; she didn't appear to be among the steaming bodies.

Clear-cut choice: walk away (run, more like) or help this guy carve his way through the Red Tower. Kill a lot of criminals. Wind up with a bounty of some kind over and above whatever he might have already earned. Loot the ruins.

Jerec ran his fingers through his hair and found more than one spot where the Red Tower's guard cyborg had left him low on skin. "In for a peggat, in for a wupiupi," he said to himself, scooped up a dead man's rifle, and followed the Jedi.

He kept his distance. Getting in the way seemed not the wisest survival strategy.

 

[Alana Sunrider]

What in the name of the karking Force and all the Sith ghosts in Ambria was going on here? Even for a shadowport, the sheer amount of hatred and rage that Alara felt radiating from one of the towers was beyond excessive. The Sith ghosts who had haunted and plagued her childhood would have been impressed at this, and yet, it didn't feel like a Sith. Not that she had encountered many of them, but there was certainly something distinct about them. Some called it a stench, but for her, it was more a sense of endless, calculated ambition. This was something far less controlled. Far less calculating.

She broke into a run, pushing her way through the crowds and knocking people aside as she ran for the direction. Terrorist attack? Sithspawn escape some smuggler? Her feet slowed as she came to the door of a tower, its entryway littered with bodies. Alara paused and knelt, inspecting them. Nothing she could do for them at this point. Definitely killed by a lightsaber though. No sign of the use of any Dark Side abilities directly, except for the amount of rage she felt overflowing from within.

"Stay back!" She called to the terrified people inside. "Doesn't look like you'll be able to handle this on your own. Dark Jedi or Sith maybe." She pulled out her own lightsaber, its purple blade crackling to life. "I'm a Jedi. If we work together, we can end this threat. I'll engage directly while the rest of you go around the flanks. I can keep the lightsaber busy enough you could potentially land a shot."

The security weren't thrilled about working with a Jedi, but it was better to take a rogue Force user on without someone who could go toe to toe. They looked at each other, and then nodded. Alara darted in, head cocked to listen for the sound of violence. It was easy enough and she ran ahead while the others filtered into other corridors to get ahead and to the sides.

The sight of the juggernaut slaughtering his way through the tower made her breath catch. Was she really capable of this? She doubted she had the saber skills to go against one who killed so efficiently with two lightsabers, not one.

"Stand down!" Alara called. "Put your weapons down and end this madness." She was relived to hear her voice didn't shake as she pushed forward, but that didn't ease the nervousness she felt.

[member="Jerec Asyr"] [member="Allura Kahli"] @Thal @Sigmund Stakar

 

[Thal Mantis]

It was like a landslide- emotions long since buried in the depths of Thal's mind, came crashing out. He was crashing, but he wasn't a wave- he was an avalanche. An avalanche designated for one thing and one thing alone. The destruction of everyone and everything in his path.

His lightsabers dragged on the ground, scorching the very ground he walked on. Fires bloomed, from where he cut power or gas lines. People had long since fled. It seemed like the entirety of Point Nadir's criminal elements had come to try and stop him.

The keyword, being try.

But Thal's violence, his skill- he was on a practical rampage. The force gave him strength, the force gave him power. And the power came from nothing but pure hatred, pure animosity, pure unending agony of a life stolen by the men he was slaughtering. The security forces that arrived with the Sunrider only received a moment's attention from Thal. He could sense weakness. Weakness got anyone killed in the pits. So he knew when someone was scared, afraid. It was an exploitable weakness.

He reached out with his left hand, warping the force around the woman. But not her, no. He could sense she was a Jedi. Not all the goodness in Thal was gone- just his rationale. He lost his inhibition to violence. All the lessons of peace and understanding went out the window fairly quickly. The guards the woman were with, protectors of nothing but profit and the trading of lives for credits. They received no mercy. He was not that good with the force- but his hate, his anger- let him shape his growing telekinetic ability with frightening levels of destruction.

He didn't crush them- he crushed the air around them. The sickening crunch as their own bodies were pulled inwards, bones cracking into a sickening orchestra of death. He stared at her for a long while. Her words didn't fall on deaf ears. He heard her words clear as day.

But he would not stop.

She would have to kill him to stop him.

He turned and continued. The hallways were lined with bodies, in various states of dismemberment and carnage. His lightsaber blades swatted away their attempts at returning blaster fire. Thal let out a war cry and pushed on, and began to charge. Nothing but hate, nothing but malice. The people following him- or helping him, would have a brief respite, as Thal had to ascend to a higher level.



[member="Allura Kahli"] l [member="Alana Sunrider"] l [member="Jerec Asyr"] l @Sigmund Stakar

 

[Allura Kahli]

Kahli's right foot pressed down upon the left shoulder of a Human male uncomfortably seated on the floor before her. The tip of her kukri pressed against the right side of his neck to help encourage him to remain perfectly still. He was free to whimper all he liked, however. She liked it when the enemy trembled before her. Made a woman feel special.

Her left hand picked up a microphone, and her finger pressed the transmit button. "Attention all captives, prisoners, or slaves. This is your only warning: return to your cells for lockdown in sixty seconds. Anyone outside of their cells may end up slaughtered by a very cross young man. The choice is yours." Would they be set free afterward? That would depend on whether Thal was victorious, wouldn't it? Or if he cared. Allura didn't care. They could all stay right there if that's all the fight they had in them. She wasn't a charity, and this wasn't an official mission.

No doubt whoever was in charge or some underling would then call back; they'd go on and on about 'who is this' and 'who gave them the authority to lockdown' and come on, come on, come on.

Kahli pressed the transmit button again. "Unsheathed Sword," she paused to give the man a second to recognize a disembodied voice was there, "you're doing great work. Not often I see someone like you willing to follow through no matter the cost -- to yourself, to others, to those that believe in you. Heart-warming stuff. But have you considered what will happen after you settle your grievance here? If you regain control of yourself, you can return with your head high, knowing you weren't swallowed by the filth all around you. If you don't," a brief pause as a silent shrug, "well there's always the Confederacy. I'm sure they could use a man consumed by hatred and anger. Shock trooper, perhaps. Not glamorous. No friends. Lots of blood and lamentation though. Will that be your 'thing' now?"

The transmit was released to give him time to think about what she'd said. If he could think right now. A soft sigh followed a particularly needy whimper; the pale eyes of Umbara fell to her captive again. She gave him a little pat with the flat of the blade. "Don't worry, this will all be over soon. You're safer here with me, anyway."

Tag: [member="Thal"] | [member="Alana Sunrider"] | [member="Jerec Asyr"] | @Sigmund Stakar​

 

[Romi Jade]

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Location: POINT NADIR​

RESH 9376, OUTER RIM​

Objective: Stop Thal...?​

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Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/mfNQheLOzzI[/youtube]

Rushing into the next square, she stopped to scan the several corridors -- every cell in her body screamed in alarm.

He only took a second to notice the woman with the short hair as she came to him. She came to him in such an odd fashion- that normally, he would've reacted. But he had tunnel vision, a singular goal, a singular desire. The force grew around him, like an inferno. His hatred emanated off him in waves, like flames. Thal was drowning in his own hatred, in his own rage.

Her fingers dug into her skull, with the psychic backlash being a bit overwhelming in that moment. Again, she was overcome with the deepest sense of pain and dread she had ever experienced. The bodies aligning the corridor avert her attention...

Ehuhh

She hadn't a chance to contact [member="Coren Starchaser"] when she spotted Thal slinking away under the shroud of night; both of them had taken to the younger Jedi like...mentors almost. But whatever, hopefully they'd both live through this to fill Starchaser in later.

She moved from a standing start and flew after him, pursuing him up and over piles of...bodies. Several of the bodies bore the characteristic blackened gapes of lightsaber wounds, instantly cauterized by the blade that had opened them. The corpses still sat there, dead hands locked around the dual grips of their quads.

As she raced through; the smell: seared flesh and ozone.

She came up on a zigzag path down. The deeper she descended, the darker and danker became the surroundings. But Romi had already decided that she would try to save him, even if that meant chasing him to the core of the planet -- she'd always been like that.

The pursuit led ever so close.

He turned and continued. The hallways were lined with bodies, in various states of dismemberment and carnage. His lightsaber blades swatted away their attempts at returning blaster fire. Thal let out a war cry and pushed on, and began to charge. Nothing but hate, nothing but malice. The people following him- or helping him, would have a brief respite, as Thal had to ascend to a higher level.

"Thal!" Closing the gap between them, "Wait! Stop!"

She stopped some feet behind him, manipulating her corkscrewing body to throw a free hand -- on whatever reflex, she erected a last minute barrier of shimmering energy between the group of men and Thal.

[member="Thal"]

 

[Thal Mantis]

​

​

All that hate. All that violence.​

By now, the Red Tower was bleeding, hemorrhaging credits and blood that they could not soon replace. Thal lost count of how many men he killed on the way up here.

And now, he was faced with the Arena, and all it stood for. Suspended in the air, for the sport, for the joy of others. Lives traded for nothing more than numbers on a screen and the smile of wicked men while others died for them.

Thal could not see anything else but the blood, that unending, raging sea within him. The one he was supposed to bring. He wondered how much he had left to go.

​

But a voice- cut through the air more than his blades did. It was by her intervention that the men on the other side of her barrier were able to form a defense, sweating nervously as they saw him stopped by the same barrier that prevented them from killing Thal.

Thal's eyes turned a more blue hue, stopping. He was knee-deep in the ocean, but not yet drowning. He turned to face the one person who had dared to try and actually physically stop him- unfortunately, [member="Allura Kahli"] and her attempt to deter him, and the desperate shouting of [member="Alana Sunrider"] did little to stop the rampaging brute.

Her face said it all. The disappointment. The panic. The worry.

He threw his hand towards the people running away from him. Tears of anger, loss, regret. Tears formed in his eyes and his voice shook. His soft voice broke into a scream. He didn't need to ask why she was here. Those words were spoken with her actions, with her attempt to stop him.

His revenge lay just beyond the barrier that she erected.

His dream lay just shy of a few meters, vengeance personified.

He spoke finally, screaming at [member="Romi Jade"].

"They took everything from me! They made me kill! They made me a monster! They trained me! They deserve this! None of them deserve to be alive! And nobody stops them! I have to do this-" He deactivated his lightsabers and touched his chest with an index finger.

"They can't do what they did to me to anyone else!"

Tears formed in his eyes, years of anger and pain unleashing at once. The man was broken-

But maybe this wasn't the thing to fix him.

 

[Romi Jade]

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Location: POINT NADIR​

RESH 9376, OUTER RIM​

Objective: Stop [member="Thal"] ...?​

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​

Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/mfNQheLOzzI[/youtube]

Her lips quivered -- the pain he was feeling was evident.

"They took everything from me! They made me kill! They made me a monster! They trained me! They deserve this! None of them deserve to be alive! And nobody stops them! I have to do this-" He deactivated his lightsabers and touched his chest with an index finger.

"They can't do what they did to me to anyone else!"

"Thal...seeking revenge is not our way. You're acting on pure emotio--"

Tears formed in his eyes, years of anger and pain unleashing at once. The man was broken-

She put her free hand up in a guard; it was a non threatening gesture. "Listen to me...You're not a monster. You're not a murderer....You're better than this, stronger. "

She stepped forward, "Don't feed into this lie anymore. Come back home, with me. We'll figure this out...."

 

[Thal Mantis]

​

His voice trembled, not with a failure to find words, but a failure to communicate with them his heartache, his rage. It was not the darkness that drove Thal forward, it was what brought forward that caused him to have such rage, such anger, such hate.

Thal was unwanted by his own mother, his own father.

He had recently discovered this- the absentee father was not as bad as a neglectful mother. She sold him to slavers, for a mere 2000 credits.

2000 credits was worth a lifetime of suffering, of anger and of pain for the young man. His father, more than likely, had no idea who he was, where he was, or even that he existed. But his mother- didn't even have the decency to give him to anyone reputable. Just squandered his life away for credits.

He turned to the men he was about to kill, who were more or less cowering from him. The dark side festered in the air around them, warping and twisting Thal as he spoke. It was then, surrounded by all the guards, clutching a meager blaster pistol, that he saw him. His master, the man who cracked the whip. His slave-driver, the man who profited the most from his conquests in the arena.

Corak. He stopped to think for a moment, then his eyes, so filled with hate- turned away from Romi.

"They wanted a monster."

It was true- the monster that made them mountains of credits in the arena, was the same one that came to haunt them in the end. The Silver Jedi didn't teach him to do this. The Silver Jedi had some great combatants- but the violence that Thal could produce came from years of fighting in the arena. His skillset was impressive, but his mindset is what set him apart. His drive, his willpower, his bloodlust set him apart from other Jedi. He knew what it was like to take life. He trembled, then sighed.

He deactivated his lightsabers, letting the blue blades fall back into the leather-wrapped hilts.

He closed his eyes and turned towards the slavers. He opened them, centering himself. Finding a balance.


"And they'll get one."


He turned and began to dig his lightsaber into the wall, into the electronics, the pipes. Sparks flew, and the lights faded away. Emergency lights cracked in the area, dim red lights, and the sprinklers came on, showering the area around them. Steam hissed from his lightsabers. He twirled them both, turning away from Romi. He reached out with the force, pulling one of the slavers directly into the barrier Romi erected. The sickening sound of his body cracking and breaking on it was enough to let him break through it.

He grit his teeth as he began to run, partially hidden by the dim lights. The twin blue blades disappeared as he ran forwards, only to appear mere feet from the collection of men before him. They were frozen in fear, before Thal began.

In a few seconds, over a dozen men slumped over, dead. Cut, dismembered, or sliced in one way or another. Only a few blaster shots reached out, some going near Romi. At the end, Thal walked back towards Romi, before collapsing to his knees in the hallway.

It was over.

It was all over.

He placed his hands on the ground-

And began to cry out. Tears fell from his face, before he dropped his lightsabers, and held his head and cried. Years of pain and anguish were finally let out- and he had achieved his dream.

But failed, in so many more ways than one. Failed himself, Romi, Coren, the Silver Jedi.

But maybe- it was his destiny, his birthright to suffer.

[member="Romi Jade"]

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