Darth Skygge

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

[SIZE=medium]NAME:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Myennial / Myra Tyrell / Darth Skygge[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]FACTION:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Sith (haven’t decided which specific faction yet)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]RANK:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Sith Knight/Master (depending on which is approved)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]SPECIES:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Human (Onderon)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]AGE:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] 28[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]SEX: [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]Female[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]HEIGHT:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] 5’6”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]WEIGHT:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] 130 lbs.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]EYES:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Piercing blue eyes[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]HAIR:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Dark hair, varies from dark brown to black.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]SKIN:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Tanned, but not overly so.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]FORCE SENSITIVE:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] Yes.

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(Required: 2 Weaknesses Minimum) :

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[SIZE=medium](+) Stealth: Darth Skygge is a master of shadows. She is at her best when moving unseen, striking hard and fast before her opponent knows she is there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium](+) Dexterity: Skygge is quick and agile. Lacking the pure physical strength of a warrior, she makes up for it in following the first rule of combat – be where the attack is not. If she can’t dodge, she deflects, using her opponent’s strength against themselves.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium](-) Strength: Or rather the lack thereof. Her frame will not support the muscle of a warrior.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium](+/-) Force sensitivity: Skygge is Force sensitive, but she doesn’t have the raw Force power that a Sith should have. Instead she has to rely on careful application of the Force to do what she needs to do.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium](-) Inner Conflict: Skygge is a deeply conflicted individual. On one hand she wants to embrace the Sith philosophy; on the other, she has dedicated herself to the light.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium](-) Atonement: Her time as a dark Sith has left her mentally and emotionally scarred and riddled with guilt. She feels a burning need to atone for many of the deeds she’s done, and this need will guide many of her future actions.

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[SIZE=medium]Skygge is of average height and has a fairly athletic frame. Long dark hair – almost black – frames a hard face, and piercing blue eyes leave a person feeling as though she is staring into their very soul. A sharp nose completes the image of a woman who has seen far too much in her thirty years. She tends to avoid clothing that will stand out, instead preferring dark or drab colors. She usually wears a black combat jumpsuit under her clothing, and she carries a single lightsaber at her belt.

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[SIZE=medium]Origins.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]What are origins? The first stages of existence. The beginnings. A derivative of a word meaning [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]to rise[/SIZE][SIZE=medium].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was on such topics that the Dark Lady, no longer Dark, meditated as her shuttle hurtled through hyperspace. Ilum had been a place for present awakenings, but in discovering who she was she was now forced to deal with who she had been. She was forced to return to her origins. Her beginnings.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She began with her birth on Onderon. Mother sensitive to the Force, father as blind to the all-encompassing presence. Mother who trained as a Jedi, father who piloted a cargo hauler in Iziz city. Her given name was Myennial, a family name, her grandmother’s.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She returned to that terrible day, when she was five, when both of them had died. Force sensitive herself, she’d felt the blows that killed them, one after another. Pain – so much pain – had stabbed through her tiny mind. Even the physical pain of her recent injuries had not touched the memory of that day.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She remembered the day that she was found by the Jedi. He’d been a kindly soul, a follower of the ancient way who sensed the ability in her and took her for training. For years, he’d been as a father to her, training her to touch that mystical energy. The void that her parents’ deaths had left, he filled. She’d never returned to discover what happened to them. Only once had she been to Onderon since…but she was getting ahead of herself.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She recalled the day she built her first lightsaber. That had been a glory, descending to the surface of Dathomir, killing a rancor for its claw, and finding an abandoned crystal to power the new weapon. Her master had been so proud.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She returned to the day that her master abandoned her to another, telling her that he could train her no longer and giving her to the care of one who treated her as less than she was. Who resented her. Whose training was as harsh as her former master’s had been full of love. Who claimed that all emotion led to the Dark Side and attempted to beat that emotion out of her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She recalled the day she abandoned this new master and the way of the Jedi entirely, striking out on her own. Changing her name to Myra Tyrell to avoid notice. Journeying to Dathomir, and the year she spent living on its surface, learning to survive on her own. Her fascination with the Sith and their philosophy. Her meeting with the Dark Lord, Necros, and his admonition to find what she sought. Her trip to the dead world of Korriban and the horrors she encountered there, the struggle for survival that left her bruised and battered, but with the prize won – the location of the Sith stronghold of Xa Fel (or so it was called by them) deep in the Core.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And then she remembered her first day of training on Xa Fel.[/SIZE]
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- From Dark Designs

[SIZE=medium]As the apprentices began speeding through the woods, Myra slackened her pace. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]Let the others deal with the predators[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], she thought. Silently she ran, calling on her limited abilities to shield her presence from the local wildlife. Running in and out of shadows, she managed to avoid detection for some time, until the lead apprentice, Ithron, was himself halted.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra passed him like a shadow, and at once she became a target. One beast in particular began the hunt; she felt its mind revert to its predatory nature. It stalked her through the undergrowth, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Not content to be prey for a carnivorous animal, Myra used the Force to flip a strong, pointed stick into one hand and a fist-sized rock into the other, never breaking stride. After several minutes, the beast tired of its game. Moving with incredible speed, it launched itself from the shadows, intending to rip the human in half with one pass. Myra felt the attack coming and rolled, driving the stick upward as she did so, hoping to catch the beast in the stomach. No such luck. She barely had a glimpse of two rows of razor-teeth as the shape flew past.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra came out of her roll on her feet, stick pointed like a sword at her attacker. Her eyes took in the sight. Long snout, two rows of teeth. Six legs, the foremost with three-inch claws. Body long and lean, covered in gray and black hair. Yellow eyes. A creature of Sith alchemy, certainly, and deadly. Briefly she thought the lightsaber at her belt, but the Sith Master's words rose up in her mind. Nothing but your feet and your hands.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The creature growled as it circled, searching for an opening. Myra circled as well, making sure to keep the sharp end of the branch facing her opponent. Then, ever so slightly, she let the point droop. The creature moved faster than she had anticipated, but not faster than her Force-enhanced muscles could ract. The hand holding the stone came around with blinding speed, crashing into the animal's head even as Myra spun away. The creature stumbled as it landed, briefly stunned. Thrown off balance by the strike, the beast never saw the lance that pierced its side and drove it into the ground or the stone that crushed its skull.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra stood over her would-be killer, pleased with herself. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]The first test, passed,[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] she thought. Once again Myra slipped into the shadows and ran towards the rendezvous.[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=medium]That had been only the beginning of tests, and the only one she’d actually passed. Vividly she recalled the punishments doled out by Lord Vance Jas, the blinding pain as lightning passed through her body, the numbness and tears that followed. Even as she thought on them, she shuddered. It was that day, too, that she’d met Ithron.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She hadn’t known him then, of course, though they had met before. It wasn’t until several days later, when he’d challenged her to a fight, that she’d known him. They’d trained together at least once as Jedi apprentices, and their duel had begun on friendly terms. Then she’d tricked him, trying to win, and something had broken loose. He’d given in fully to the darkness within him, and it had given him power, but it had changed him as well. She’d resisted, holding the full power of the dark at bay. She’d run from that fight and survived, but that day she had looked into the face of darkness and known that such unrestrained hatred was not her path. It led only to destruction.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Yet it was the Sith way, or so her teachers said. And she’d parroted those lessons right back until she began to think she believed them herself. They had certainly been at the forefront of her mind when she had attempted to turn that young fool Ben Firestar on Telos. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Telos…[/SIZE]

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- From Apprentices I: The Basics

[SIZE=medium]The smell got worse. The city seemed to have no actual sewer, or else the entire place was the sewer. Refuse sat in the streets, and animals and children came out to play in it. It was both disgusting and pitiable at the same time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Interesting[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], Myra thought, [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]that I can still feel pity. Aren't the Sith supposed to be governed by hate? Ithron is. Why not me?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]In truth, Myra still had not allowed herself to be consumed or even controlled by the Dark Side. Her Jedi training had not completely departed her, much as she would have liked it to. She hated the fact that she wanted to help those children despite knowing that whatever illness they contracted would either kill them or make them stronger. It was the way of life.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Which was the very heart of the conundrum of the Jedi. They saw life as something to be treasured. They saw illness and pain as something to be avoided. The Sith saw them as a training method, a way to increase one's skills and abilities. Illness and pain were the path to knowledge, which would lead to power and victory. And pain was reality. The Jedi couldn't sit away in their ivory towers and hope that the galaxy would right itself while avoiding its pain and suffering. If they weren't going to do something to fix it, what good were they?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]That was a question Myra had asked herself for years now. Ever since the disappearance of her Master, she had wondered. The Jedi did little to alter the path of the galaxy, opting rather to allow it to stumble blindly through its wars and to allow its citizens to be ravaged, beaten, murdered, and robbed. And still they did nothing. The Sith at least had focus, they had numbers, they had will, they had power. And when it came down to her base desires, Myra wanted power.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Not the power of some Sith, though. She didn't want menial power that could lift rocks and affect one mind, though she didn't refuse it. She wanted the power to affect great change, the power to set the galaxy straight again, to achieve peace, to end the fighting and unite all citizens and factions in one common goal and under one ruler. If that ruler were her, so be it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But such thoughts and desires were weighty for an apprentice. Myra was still but a learner, and not the most promising at that. The recent duel with Ithron had proven her relative weakness. Much hard work would be required to achieve her goals, but she hoped this mission would be the start.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She was still not sure why Master Jas had sent her here. She could feel the life around her, both the criminals and their prey, the hunters and the hunted. Perhaps there was something her that he wanted, or perhaps somthing that he wanted her to learn. Either way, standing at this crossroads was not the way to do it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Excuse me, Lady," came a voice from below her, interrupting her thoughts. It was a girl, no more than five years of age, covered in sewage. "Lady, my toy fell down the sewer. Can you help me?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So. Apparently Telos did have sewers. Myra looked at the girl and softened for a moment. She pitied this poor wretch, this girl who probably should have been dead already. Most likely several of the gangs had already taken advantage of her. She smiled and was about to speak when she realized that pity had once again invaded her mind. She could not allow it, she could not![/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And in her mind, the darkness spoke. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]Release me[/SIZE][SIZE=medium].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She nearly screamed with the anguish as she fought the light that existed in her. The girl took a step backwards, but it was too late. Green-white light flashed, and the child fell, cut in two by Myra's blade.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra ran, her mind swirling. The two natures within her bickered and fought for control. On the one hand, she felt pity for the girl she had just killed and for her parents, who would soon be grieving their loss. She felt pain at the thought that she had just ended an innocent life, the life of a child whose only crime had been to approach her and ask for help. On the other hand, she had caused pain, and through that pain could draw power. Was this the conundrum of the Sith? Power only through the pain of others?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She fled through the streets, these questions and others whirling through her mind and giving her a headache. She needed to find somewhere to sort these problems out, and she needed to do so quickly. Still she ran, her legs tiring but her mind going as strong as ever.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]A tear leaked down her cheek as she remembered that girl. It had been an act of pure evil, of pure darkness. And it had not led to greater power; when that fresh-faced boy of an apprentice had seen the girl dead, instead of returning to Xa Fel with her he’d attacked. She’d escaped easily – he was less of a duelist than she was – but her power would have been greater if she’d avoided the murder.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She’d seen him again, of course. On Coruscant, then on Korriban, when she’d returned to that place with Ithron. He’d been there when Ithron had betrayed her in his own search for power, when the three of them had battled in the depths of some long-forgotten Sith Lord’s tomb. Had it not been for the timely arrival of Master Jas, she’d have died there, died from Ithron’s red blade shoved through her gut. Ben had escaped again, but he’d been on her side there. He’d been there to kill her, thinking her an evil blight on the galaxy, but when her life was threatened by her companion, he’d stood over her and fought to defend her. It had made no sense.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She remembered the long journey throughout the next two years, the destruction of her first blade and her discovery of the two new ones that would become her companions for the next stage of her life. Learning to wield them together had been a challenge, but it was one she had undertaken with a purpose. She’d been following the footsteps of a long-dead Force user – the blades had been hers – and the discoveries she’d made gave her hope. This woman had walked the balance between light and dark, in the end; she’d discovered that razor’s edge and balanced it. It was then that she’d taken the name Skygge and devoted herself to the Sith way, or at least her version of it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She returned from that journey almost a Knight, but it wasn’t until the near destruction of Xa Fel that her powers finally came into their own. A rogue Sith, one who wanted the galaxy to burn, had discovered the nexus of power and decided to end it. His Void Knights and his Huntress had landed with him, and while the Sith faced the masters of her Order, she dealt with the Knights and the Huntress.[/SIZE]

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- From Homecoming

[SIZE=medium]Skygge watched as the Void Knight crashed through the undergrowth. Compared to her he sounded like a kryat dragon. She moved behind him without sound, without an indication of her presence. And she knew something that he did not know. She knew that there was another following him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]There was a beast on Xa Fel, one of the most deadly in the galaxy, a creation of Sith alchemy. Some had postulated that it was a hybrid between the Vornskr and some other sort of animal, but what sort no one was quite sure. What was known was that it had the ability to hunt through the Force while still hiding its presence. Not only that, but it's six legs and two rows of teeth were incredibly dangerous in combat. Fighting one was hard enough.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The Knight didn't have a chance. An entire pack of the beasts were on its tail, subtly influenced by Skygge's manipulations. Twelve beasts against one Void Knight. It was over in moments.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Skygge smiled. It was not the Sith way to live in symbiosis with nature, but she still retained those parts of the Jedi philosophy that were useful to her. She had, in the past, fed this pack with apprentices who were, as she deemed them, unworthy, and they knew that whenever she touched their minds, food would follow. As such, she protected herself from both the beasts and her enemies.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Two down, three to go[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], she thought. Two of the Void Knights had gone completely in the wrong direction, and it would take them a long time to hack their way back to where Skygge was. The Huntress, though, had disappeared. Apparently whoever it was was as skilled in stealth as Skygge was. This would be interesting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The Void Knights had turned towards Skygge's position, thinking wrongly that she had killed their comrade. Skygge touched the beasts' minds once more, warning them that danger was approaching and pointing out Force signatures. Some might have thought it a courtesy to those who had helped her, but Skygge had a different purpose. The Knights, upon reaching the beasts, would find twelve creatures with teeth and claws waiting. Likely, they would die quickly, and even if they did not, they would be in no condition to fight. Now, time to find the Huntress.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Skygge thought back to the last indication of the Huntress's presence. It was still near the punji pit, and so she headed in that direction. By the time she reached the area around the pit, the other Knights were quite close to the beasts. It had been thirty minutes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Skygge stepped out into the path and looked around. The Huntress was still invisible, both to the Force and to the naked eye. As screams echoed through the Force - presumably the death of the remaining Void Knights - Skygge spoke. "Huntress, your allies are dead. It is you and me now, alone. Show yourself."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The Huntress leapt from her tree, saber ignited, and rushed forward, screaming like an animal. In that one moment, Skygge had a thought. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]Perhaps she is not the Huntress - perhaps I am. And an animal cornered always fights.[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] This thought caused her to smile, as did the thought that Skygge had one great advantage over the Huntress. She could control her rage.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Skygge quickly dropped into a Makashi stance, one saber extended and waiting. The Huntress's blows came quickly and powerfully, but they were without thought, without strategy. As such, it was easy for Skygge to predict them and to simply deflect them. She knew her strength would not permit her to block the blows directly - the Huntress in her rage was much stronger than Skygge - but she could give the appearance of strength by simply turning the blows and dodging, both of which she could do well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Still, the Huntress forced her to retreat, back towards the traps Skygge had set. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]A foolish attempt[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], thought Skygge. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]There are more traps than the one, and I know exactly where they are. She only has an idea, whatever the Force allows her to see.[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] At that thought, Skygge's eyes narrowed. Ducking under a strike, she confirmed what she had initially thought. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]The Huntress is blind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]As the next blow came, Skygge backflipped over the pit, allowing the Huntress's saber to pass under her harmlessly. The Huntress stood on the edge of the pit for a moment, growling out the words, "I'll kill you, Dacien." With that, she leaped over the pit to continue the battle...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And felt the heat of a lightsaber slicing through her unprotected stomach. Skygge, spinning away from the inevitable first powerful strike, had [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]moved[/SIZE][SIZE=medium]. From her belt the second saber had flown into her hand, and she had caught it in a backhand grip. At the same moment it had ignited, and Skygge's spinning action caused the tip of the saber to slice open Hestia's entire stomach, from one side to the other. It was not a mortal wound, but it would be without treatment.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The Huntress's eyes widened in surprise as her advance was momentarily halted. Unlike characters in holovids, though, Skygge wasn't about to wait and let her gain the advantage. Skygge's spin ended in a vicious sidekick that sent the Huntress flying back across the pit, landing hard on the other side. But the Huntress wasn't finished yet. She rolled to her feet, moving a bit more slowly than usual, and found herself facing her adversary once more. Skygge, knowing that she was now the dominant fighter, had walked around the pit, both sabers by her side. Bringing them up, she dropped into a Jar'Kai stance, though an unusual one it seemed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Her first stroke evidenced why. During Skygge's recent journeys, particularly in the Unknown regions, she had developed a sub-form of combat that fit her style perfectly. It combined the artful form of Makashi with the twin-saber element of Jar'Kai. It was perfect for a girl of Skygge's size and ability who wanted to utilize the deadly advantages of twin-saber combat. Having these particular sabers made it that much more deadly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The strikes came quickly, little strokes that were easily blocked by themselves, but the speed at which they came forced the Huntress to duck and dodge more than block. Thoughts of offense were almost non-existent now, as all her concentration had to be focused into stopping the linked attacks of her adversary. It seemed to be one continuous stream of attacks, never stopping, never relenting, each one potentially deadly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Finally, the Huntress saw an opportunity and took it. Blocking one of Skygge's attacks, and seeing her other saber not yet ready to swing, Hestia stepped forward and drove her saber point towards Skygge's stomach, intending to impale Skygge as Dacien had impaled her. But the Sith, thinking quickly, spun away from the jab, the saber barely catching the edge of her cloak. Skygge planted her foot in front of the Huntress and slammed her elbow into her back, sending the Void Knight flying forwards to land on her face.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And then Skygge heard it. The Force storm was expanding and shrinking unpredictably, and for the first time she saw the dark clouds in the sky. Knowing from her readings how dangerous these were, she melted away into the forest, leaving the Huntress to her fate. Skygge once again closed herself to the Force and, running, headed away from the storm, sure that the Huntress would be unable to follow her. As she ran, she meditated upon the one name the Huntress had spoken in her rage - the name 'Dacien.'[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Several hours later, Skygge stepped out of the woods near the ruin of the Sith Temple. Her eyes took in the panorama of death, the carnage that had been wrought while she and the Huntress were playing cat-and-mouse in the depths of the forest. The incredible waste threatened to overwhelm her, but for now she needed to show strength. She was the senior Apprentice, though something inside her told her that title was no longer applicable. Recon Klain had other business to see to; she could feel him moving away already. Lupercus could not be trusted with the training of these; he was more likely to kill them to fuel his own power than to put them to use. Vance was dead. Necros was dead. Ithron had left.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So the task would fall to her. She would be the leader of the remaining Sith, she would use their skills and abilities as needed to fight back against this Dacien, against all those who would oppose...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]That presented an interesting question. The thought had not occurred to her before; what exactly was it that she opposed? Certainly not the 'Light Side' of the Force, though she did see the deficiencies in using only the Light. It was chaos she hated, and it was the Huntress, her Knights, and her master who embodied that chaos. She would strike them down, but she would do so in an orderly way, a way that would not only defeat them but would also strike fear into the lawless elements of the galaxy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Skygge?" came the query that brought her back from her reverie. "Where were you during the battle?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was Ruan, one of the Apprentices, his face suspicious. She glared at him, her eyes full of fire, giving not a hint of caving to his accusations. "That is no business of yours. But just for your own sake, I will tell you. I killed six Knights and the Huntress, the head of the Knights. With all the death here, I did more than any of you."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"I think you ran," he said, hand twitching towards his lightsaber hilt. "I think you left us here to die because you were scared. I accuse you, Skygge."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Several other apprentices had gathered, watching Ruan's power play. He had been one of Vance's prime students before this attack. Now, with Vance gone and the other Sith dispersing, it seemed that he was trying to eliminate his only rival.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"You do not know what you are dealing with, Ruan," Skygge responded in an even tone. "I have learned much since the last time I was here. I have traveled the galaxy and learned some secrets that even you could not know. I will give you one chance to retract your accusation."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Ruan smiled. "I don't think so, Skygge. You are a coward and a traitor, and it is time that the Apprentices had a new leader among them." His hand shot to his lightsaber hilt.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But it never made it. Blue-white lightning rent the air between the two Sith, a display of power no Apprentice was permitted. Force Lightning sprang from the female's fingers, penetrating the meager defenses that Ruan attempted to raise and wracking his body with pain. He screamed as he flew backwards, landing on the ground several feet away. The lightning stopped, and Skygge strode forward to where he lay in pain.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Twin lightsabers flew from her belt, igniting as they touched her hands. "I declare today, before all of you, that by right of contest and power I am assuming control of the Apprentices. No longer am I to be known as Myra or Skygge. From this day forward," she stopped overtop of Ruan's trembling form, sabers crossed just above his neck, "I am Darth Skygge, Knight of the Sith Order." With a flash of red, Ruan was dead and the sabers were back at her belt.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Kneel, Apprentices, and listen to what I say," she continued. They followed instructions. "A new power has dawned on this galaxy. It is chaos in its purest form. This force has attacked us here, in our home. It is ready to burn the galaxy to the ground, and then what will be left for us? If the galaxy burns, even if we can defeat it what will there be to rule?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"I say no." Her voice was calm, but it projected so that all could hear distinctly. "I say we do not allow chaos to claim this galaxy. Some have said that the Sith are meant to cause chaos to all but themselves. Some of you may have listened to Ithron or Lupercus when they talked of the ultimate Dark Side. I say that you have just seen the result of the ultimate Dark Side, and can one of you say that what you have seen is desirable? Do you want to be mindless tools, used only for the good of the one who has the most power?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"You have seen what has happened here this day. When Vance Jas died, he left behind a power vaccuum that others would seek to fill. They would do anything to claim that title. You saw what Ruan did here, and you saw its results. You may challenge me, if you so desire. That is entirely your choice. But I say that we can all grow more powerful together, by combining our strength to throw off the menace that threatens to drown us all in a sea of fire. Stand with me, Apprentices! We will see the galaxy remain whole, and at the end it will be in our hands!"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was more words than she had spoken since she joined the Sith, and she was pleased to see its effect. Sith Apprentices were rising in silent approval, others bowing their heads to Skygge. She smiled. "Thank you, Apprentices. Now, we have work to do."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She’d led the apprentices from the ruins of Xa Fel to the all-but-dead world of Katarr, a world she’d discovered in her travels and one that her predecessor, whose blades she bore, had apparently tried to heal. The planet had been entirely consumed millennia ago, but her predecessor had managed to reawaken one small patch on the surface, and there she established her own academy. She’d kept the crusade against Dacien Palestar alive until he, like most other nihilistic Sith, finally himself burned out. She’d never heard from the Huntress again, and Palestar himself disappeared, perhaps in death, perhaps into anonymity.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Then came the turning point. One of her apprentices, mad with power, had attempted to kidnap and murder two newborns, the children of two powerful Jedi Knights. Skygge had gone after him, found him locked in a cell, and killed him out of pity for his state as much as out of a need to punish his terrible judgment…[/SIZE]

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- From Cataclysm

[SIZE=medium]Nothing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]No guards. No prisoners. Nothing but an empty maze of cells. Drawing on the Force, Skygge searched for her apprentice. He was near – she could feel him – but he was not the only one. Someone – something – was coming.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She smiled. It had been too long since she had met a Jedi.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But first things first. She moved quickly down the last hall, to the cell at the end. It was a cell designed to keep a Force user captive, or at least a weak Force user like this one. Staring into the cell, she shook her head. Her apprentice was rocking back and forth on the floor, muttering to himself. He’d lost his mind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Igniting one saber, she quickly slashed through the lock, and the door slid open. Her apprentice rose to his feet, smiling – a smile that quickly turned to a look of shock. He stumbled forward, bumping Skygge. Blood and froth formed at the corners of his mouth, the warm red liquid beginning to run down his chin and onto her clothing. Her lips twitch slightly, forming almost a snarl. His handless stubs groped at her, attempting to hold himself up.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Then came the hiss of a lightsaber behind her, sooner than she had expected, interrupting her fun. Now her face did twist into a snarl. For the first time in a long time, Skygge allowed her anger to boil over, if ever so slightly. She waited a moment longer, then withdrew her lightsaber from the apprentice’s belly and, as he fell to the floor still writhing in the agony of his death throes, her saber came around in a deadly arc…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]That’s not her![/SIZE][SIZE=medium] she thought even as red met blue. Through the odd, colored light, Skygge studied her opponent. A Jedi, certainly – that much could be read in her determined eyes. But not a powerful one. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]Alright, woman[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], Skygge thought, [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]now you’re just being annoying[/SIZE][SIZE=medium].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]A slight grin formed at the corners of her mouth. Dropping her left hand from her saber, but still holding the other at bay, she placed her fingers only inches from her opponent’s stomach. Teeth bared, lips furled back, she let loose with a blue-white blast of electricity.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Her opponent’s eyes went wide for a moment as the blast hit her at point-blank range. Then she was forced back, slamming into the wall on the other side of the corridor. Skygge dropped her hand and stared down at the Jedi.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It had been a short blast, but with it she realized that she was nearing the limits of her abilities. She’d been drawing on the Force too much, too much for her limited abilities to handle. She might be able to win this fight, but facing the Master alone now was not an option. Unless…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Release me[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], a voice seemed to say.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]“What?” she said, not realizing she had spoken aloud.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Use your anger – it can give you strength. Release me![/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]“I…”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]RELEASE ME![/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]“NOOOOOO!!!” she cried in anguish. Her guard was down, and she barely saw the blue light descending in time to dive and roll. She was in automatic mode now, and she belatedly realized that it had not been the Force that had saved her but only her extensive combat training. Reflexes, not insight.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Get back control,[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Skygge[/SIZE][SIZE=medium], she told herself even as her guard came up to block the next attack. [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]Control…control…control…[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] It became a mantra that began to drown out the other voice, the voice of the creature inside her. The voice of the depths of the Dark Side.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The blades flashed, Natalya driving Skygge back, down the corridors. Her assault was furious, but Skygge could see in her eyes that there was no anger, only determination. As Skygge gained control, though, her defense improved and, finally, she came to a halt, standing her ground. She caught one downward stroke on her blade and thrust her fist forward, bringing it with a sharp crack across Natalya’s cheekbone, splitting the skin. A superficial wound, but it forced some space between the combatants.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]“You fought well,” Skygge said as she stood ready. “But you should know that you cannot win this fight, and I have no desire to kill you. You are too much like me for me to enjoy that.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And that was when the Masters had arrived. Only the timely arrival of one of Skygge’s own apprentices, carrying a stolen flash grenade, had saved her. The mother and the father at once – she could not have handled them on her best days. Skygge’s apprentice Elana had helped her to the roof where their ship waited…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]

[/SIZE]

- From Cataclysm

[SIZE=medium]"Where are you going?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Even as the thruster's screamed overhead, Skygge heard the mother's voice behind her. There would be no disguising the steel in the Jedi Master's tone and it chilled the Sith to her bone. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]With the wind howling between the figures, the ship roaring overhead, and sirens blaring below, it seemed there would be no end to this night's dance of death.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Her apprentice hissed and started to draw their own saber in a futile attempt to protect their master but a wave of the mother's saber sent a force strike that put the apprentice on their back.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The ship was hovering, but Darth Skygge knew she would not be able to summon the strength to make a jump and deflect any attack. If she somehow made it to her ship, she knew exposing herself to the attack would leave her crippled.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So the Sith used the only trick she had left.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Her voice.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Do you think that your children will be safe even if I am dead?" she asked, turning around activating her saber. It's extraordinarily long handle was actually two sabers connected and she kept the other edge retracted. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"They will be safer," the Jedi Master quipped back. "And just maybe, your dead body would give others pause."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was hard cold logic that stopped Skygge's taunts in her throat for her own self-image gave the words truth. If she, Darth Skygge, heir to the Sith Order after Xa Fel, was killed by protection of the Jedi Master's children, would other, lesser Sith still try?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]YOU ARE NOTHING! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Darth Skygge's eyelid twitched at the voice within herself.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]RELEASE ME![/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"After thousands of years, you should know by now, Jedi, that you will never stop the Sith!" The tired smile on Skygge's face masked a movement by her free hand.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"And when will you Sith ever realize that you will eventually face the consequences for your bad choices in life?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]RELEASE ME!![/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Darth Skygge let out a frustrated cry as both she and the mother attacked at the same time and as they struck, a blinding white light enveloped the Sith's mind before she lost consciousness.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]***[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Darth Skygge opened her eyes, feeling drained. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Steady Master," she heard her apprentice admonish. The ship was dark which translated into silent mode which, then, meant they were hiding from system patrols. If there were poweful force-users in any of the Commonwealth vessels, there was always the possibility of them 'feeling' the presence of one with the power that Skygge possessed. The apprentice was too weak to be of concern but now that she was awake, the Sith Knight was another matter.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But all that Skygge felt was her labored breathing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"The ship fired.." Skygge noted with a small satisfied allbeit tired smile. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"The ship fired," her apprentice confirmed and looked at a medical monitor overhead.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was then that Skygged realized she was hooked up to various devices. She tried to flex her hands but found only a numb sensation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Startled, she tried to sit up, "What is..?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The apprentice's firm hand held her in place. "Remain lying, Master."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"What happened?" The Sith Knight tried to remember for found other images coming up in her mind rather than a playback of her last fight.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"The ship fired throwing off the Jedi's attack. Her saber caught your blade's hilt, causing it to explode in your hands."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Skygge felt a stab of fear as her eyes darted to the bundled wrappings over where her hands would have been. "Were they?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"You still have them, Master," the apprentice commented as they read the results of the latest passive sensor scan.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"If not for your saber exploding, the Jedi's saber would have sliced through your shoulder and down into your heart. As it was, you both were forced apart so only the surface muscle was penetrated. The tip of her blade missed your heart."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Darth Skygge looked down at the emergency gauze and medical stitching that trailed the left side of her body from her shoulder to an exposed breast.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The medical monitor beeped and a solution was injected into Skygge forcing a sudden sluggishness of her wits.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Get some sleep, Master. We will be out of this system soon enough."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But Skygge did not hear the other's voice. She was not even concerned about the physical damage to her body for in her mind, replaying over and over were the images seemed to invade an otherwise mind empty of any other presence.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Images of fire.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Temples aflame, banners swept aside.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She was shown a glimpse of the past. Or was it the future?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Strange creatures.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]There will be war..[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And then, there was nothing.[/SIZE]

- From Colours of the Force

[SIZE=medium]It was a three day journey through hyperspace from Katarr to Ilum. Skygge spent these days in meditation, focusing on drawing the healing currents of the Force that swirled around her into her body. Her injuries were bad, but not such that she would be permanently disabled. She still couldn’t raise her left arm, but the actual wounds were healing nicely.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was in these three days that she felt more closely connected with the Force than ever before, and she used the connection to contemplate on the true nature of the Force. She felt adrift in a vast sea of blue and red – light, but not light. It was liquid, or something like it, but it was glowing. It swirled and flowed around her. Blue and red, red and blue.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But they did not mix. Whenever red and blue drifted together, they repelled one another. On the few occasions the red and blue light collided, a black spot was created, a hole that swallowed both red and blue, leaving only emptiness behind. Skygge observed all this with wonder.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Perhaps she had been wrong. Perhaps her dead mentors, the ones who had written the books on which she had based her theories and her teachings – perhaps they were wrong as well. Perhaps there was not only one Force. Perhaps there were two. Or perhaps there was really one Force, but it was separated into two mutually exclusive sides; an objective standard of light and dark.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Perhaps.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But that was the big question, and it was not one that she was prepared to answer, for when she looked into herself, she was confronted with reality. When she looked into herself, she saw the deepest, darkest black imaginable. It was emptiness. The more she healed, though, the more that black seemed to be tinted with the tiniest bit of blue.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Perhaps.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Perhaps Dolash could answer the question. She could not.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Dolash.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Master Dolash, as she knew him before he had retreated to Ilum for quiet contemplation, before she had departed the Jedi for the journey that had brought her to this point, where the great question was laid at her feet. As she healed, she remembered . . .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]A mission. A real mission, with a real Master.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myneniel could barely contain her excitement. It had been over a year since she had left the Temple, even as an errand runner, and even longer since she had participated in an actual mission. Her status as a Masterless Padawan made her something of an oddity; she didn’t fit in anywhere. Had her Master died, it would have been different. As a Padawan whose Master had abandoned her, though . . . [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myneniel had never forgiven her Master for disappearing and leaving her Masterless. She’d been stuck at the Temple for so long, learning with the Younglings, and she was tired of it. She wanted to do something, to have some input, to make an impact on the galaxy. But without a Master, she could not advance, and until she got a new Master, she was stuck here.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But now Master Dolash had taken notice of her and asked her to accompany him and his pseudo-apprentice, Marek Zolar. It was an honor to train with one as accomplished as the Jedi Knight, and an honor Mynenial did not take lightly. She quickly packed her kit – not much, but all she had. Two spare sets of robes, a rancor tooth (for luck, of course, though she didn’t tell Leia that), and her lightsaber. She stared at the lengthened hilt for some time – a dual-phase blade, emerald and amethyst gems providing the color, a diamond to focus the energy. A well-constructed weapon. She had built it under her Master's tutelage, and now as she stared at it, she recalled her former Master. Mynenial still felt fondness for him, but now that slight emotion was drowned out by the roaring of anger.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]He had abandoned her, just as the Jedi were slowly abandoning the galaxy. Master Dolash was one of the few who was still active, and as the Empire and the Sith slowly spread their lies and hatred, the rest simply sat back and watched. She had resolved to give them this one last chance, here, with Dolash . . .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She woke and shook her head. Those were memories best not revisited now. They carried with them too much sorrow, too much pain. She had been hurt on that mission – not physically, but emotionally, mentally. It was then that she lost all faith in the Jedi.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Only Dolash’s final words lingered still in her mind. He knew, she thought. He knew then what I was planning, and he did not stop me. Perhaps he had a vision. Or perhaps . . .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Perhaps he simply recognized that I needed to discover things for myself. That I needed to make my own decision.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was that thought that brought her here now. At the end of the mission, Dolash had turned to her and said, “Mynenial, when you find yourself, or if you find yourself lost and adrift, seek me out. I will always be there for you, to help you find your way.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]***[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She must have fallen asleep again, for a soft beeping woke her. Her eyes opened, and she pulled herself to her feet and made her way to the cockpit. The trip was over; they had arrived at Ilum.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Her left arm was working again, marginally. She could lift it now, though gripping things was a bit of a problem. She hoped Dolash wasn’t looking for a fight.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]As she reached the cockpit, the ship dropped out of hyperspace over what appeared to be nothing more than a ball of ice. Snow covered the planet, pole to pole. Skygge closed her eyes and reached out with the Force, tentatively, feeling for that familiar presence. “He’s here,” she said quietly. “Elana, take us down. Land there,” she added, pointing out coordinates for a landing site.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The apprentice obeyed, skillfully piloting the ship through the slight turbulence of re-entry. As the ship descended towards the landing site, Skygge could see a figure approaching. It stopped about eight meters from the ship as the vessel settled on its landing skids, apparently waiting for something, or someone.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The ramp lowered, and Skygge descended, right hand at the hilt of a temporary saber, and found herself face to face with the Master she was seeking.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]“Welcome, Mynenial,” said Dolash, smiling slightly. “I’ve been expecting you.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]***[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]After what seemed like hours, they reached the cave. It had actually only been a little over an hour’s walk. Even with the short distance, Skygge could feel the physical exertion start to tear the barely-healed wounds open, especially the internal ones. She would need another healing trance tonight.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]For now, though, she contented herself with resting. Sitting heavily, Skygge drew on the Force for strength, allowing its power to fill her aching body and soothe the pain. The cave was warm, or relatively so, compared to outside. Taking a moment to bask in the warmth, she could feel Elana doing the same. This was a strange warmth, though, not heat but . . . something else. Furrowing her brow, she sent out tendrils of the Force, probing the cracks and crevasses, trying to find its source and failing. As she closed her eyes to concentrate harder, though, she found something she did not expect.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Blue fluorescent gaseous light swirled around them, warm and soothing. The light, or gas, or whatever it was, flowed from the rocks, the dust, the ceiling; this place was thick with it, almost suffocatingly wonderful. It flowed around her and into her, filling that emptiness in her soul, warming her very heart. She fixed her mind on Elana and saw the girl’s anger fade under the healing flood.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Then she turned her focus towards Dolash and nearly gasped.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The light did not affect him or enter him so much as it was him, swirling in and through him as though he were a part of the very fabric of the light itself. He shone with it, every cell in his body seeming illuminated with the light. The light was so bright, yet so warm, it captivated her, stealing every iota of her attention, fully demonstrating the incredible contrast between his light and her dark soul.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She opened her eyes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Dolash sat there, mundane, normal, staring at her as though he were waiting for something.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Enhancing her short-term memory, Skygge recalled his question. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"The temple is far from warm but it will suffice, and I have the means to ensure you will not freeze. I am afraid I can offer only scant hospitality, but you are already likely tired enough from your journey. We shall wait here at the cave mouth for you to recover your strength.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]"Until that time," said Dolash, as he settled on the ground. "You have found me. I am here for you. What do you wish to say?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So . . . open-ended, it was. She pursed her lips, considering her answer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]If you find yourself lost . . .[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Finally, she looked directly into his eyes, her green fire meeting his black serenity. “Master Dolash,” she said slowly, choosing every word, “you once told me that when I found myself lost, when I did not know what to do or where to turn, I could seek you out and you would help me find my way. Master, I am lost, and I need your help.” She paused, then added, “Much has happened to me since we were last together. You must know that I left the Jedi Order, not long after the end of the mission on which I accompanied you. I spent a year in seclusion on Dathomir, then I sought out the Sith. I unlearned, then relearned, everything I once knew. I questioned every teaching, of both sides. I became powerful, and yet . . . and yet now, now I find myself empty. I feel . . . I feel as though something inside me is dying. Yet this place has revived me.” She paused again, aware that she was now rambling. “I have lost myself, and I need help finding my way again. Can you help me?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She’d spent weeks, if not months, in a chilly cave on that cold planet, visiting with the hermit Jedi and learning from him. He and Elana had clashed several times – she was still consumed by hate for the Jedi – but Skygge had lost all ability to hate. Had lost almost all emotion entirely. She was an empty vessel, waiting to be filled. And filled she was…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]

[/SIZE]

- From Colours of the Force

[SIZE=medium]Two weeks had passed – two wonderful, incredible, amazing weeks – and Myra felt better than she had since leaving the Jedi temple years ago. After only two weeks with Dolash, she realized that in joining the Sith, while she had learned much, she had taken more steps backwards than she had forwards. The Dark Side was a palpable force, at least to her, and while it dangled freedom as bait, it waited silently with chains to bind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But the Jedi had the wrong of it as well. Even Dolash recognized that. The Jedi limited themselves, adhered to their rigid code, bound themselves to it. The Jedi Master would not admit it, but Myra knew it was out of fear. Fear of the Dark Side. Fear of their own strength. Fear of the galaxy. And such fear could not be permitted if one was to truly understand the nature of the Force.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Elana seemed to be coming around, though she still was an unbridled well of emotion. Her temper slipped far too easily from her grasp. That trait would get her in trouble one day, if it didn’t kill her. Still, she accompanied Myra in most of her talks with the Jedi Master, and though she still did not trust him, her questions to him showed she understood his teachings.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Amazing. To think that in two weeks she could go from hatred of the Jedi to pleasure that an apprentice of hers was understanding a Jedi’s teachings. That was sometimes the way of things, though – the way of the Force, Dolash might say – and who was she to deny what was happening?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She was scheduled today for a training exercise with the Jedi Master, one similar to what she had done as a Padawan in the Temple. This time, she would be more aware, though, of what she sought. And it would be colder. A lot colder. Wrapping the borrowed ice-cat cloak tighter around her, she stepped from the climate-controlled cave into the icy blasts of Ilum.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She saw the Jedi Master waiting for her, placid as always, and dressed only in the robes he typically wore. Arrogant Jedi, she thought, but without the malice that might have accompanied the thought two weeks ago. Myra stepped up beside him and waited.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]After several long moments, Dolash turned to her. “You understand the task you are undertaking?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra nodded, but did not respond further.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Dolash turned back to stare across the icy wastes. “Then be off. Let the Force guide you.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Without another word, Myra set off at a jog, her half-closed eyes not really seeing, allowing the world to come into focus only through the Force. She leaped from snow-covered rock to snow-covered rock, barely touching before moving to the next, never sinking below her ankles in the white covering. Her path led her straight towards a rocky outcropping some five kilometers distant; she’d been past it before and knew its location, but today she’d set foot on it and, if all went well, inside it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]As she ran, the last few weeks played themselves over in her mind. She and Dolash had talked – actually talked – for hours on end. She would never have imagined it two weeks ago – her, sitting and having a conversation with a Jedi. But talk they had, about topics ranging from the Force and its nature to the failures of both Jedi and Sith.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]During that time, her shoulder had healed to where the stiffness was barely noticeable. Not bad, for almost having lost the arm. Dolash had surreptitiously been checking on her each night; she’d felt his mind probe her injuries each evening. He’d been careful about it, but she knew, and she appreciated it. None of her Sith masters would ever have cared enough to check.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The outcropping grew closer with each step, each leap. And with each step, each leap, she left another piece of her old life behind. This journey, though it covered only a few kilometers, was a turning point. It would irrevocably change everything she was – both Jedi, and Sith. She would become something new.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]An hour later, she arrived at the outcropping. It jutted from the snow and ice like a tower, though it was, as far as she knew, a natural formation. She knelt before it, her mind reaching out and searching for anomalies in the rocks, and she quickly found an opening. This was it. With a deep breath, she stepped forward and descended into the cave.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Darkness surrounded her, engulfed her. Ilum’s faint light faded quickly behind her, and all became absolute blackness. She could not rely on sight here; the Force would have to guide her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Down she went, meter after meter, turn upon turn, descending into the utter blackness. Her mind reached out, feeling everything around her, searching, searching for the goal of her journey. Step by step, she descended, never wavering, passing along narrow bridges across vast chasms, squeezing through passages too narrow to seem almost impassable. Down, down, always down into the black.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And then she found it. She knew, before even touching it, that this was the one. Or, in her case, the two. Grown, nurtured here in the dark, yet she could feel the warmth radiating from them. Twins, they were, beginning on the same day, in the same hour, in this same place. She could feel the Force flowing from them; they were ready to be harvested.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And so she began. In total blackness, she coaxed them out of their housing with the Force. With the Force she shaped them, willing them into the form necessary. From her pack she removed the rest of the supplies she would need and began, without sight, by touch and the Force alone, to build.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Two days later, she was finished. Without sleep, without food, sustained by the Force alone, she had completed what she had set out to do. Some Jedi and most Sith saw this process as simply the creation of a tool. She knew better. Everything she was had been poured into this process. Her life had molded that which lay comfortably in her hand now. It contained all she had been as a child on Dathomir, all she had learned in the Jedi Temple, all that had been taught her by her first Master, all she had become on leaving the Order, and all she had experienced as a Sith. All her life had been preparing her for this moment, when the blackness that had gripped her would be shattered by the combined colours of the light and the dark. The colours of the Force.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]With the press of a button, the darkness that had obscured her sight for the last two days fled from the amethyst light of the newly constructed lightsaber. And Myra smiled.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The darkness around her banished, Myra stood and turned. Going out would be easy, but something told her she was not yet done here. By the light of her blade, she began to descend deeper into the caverns.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The light of her blade, and an interesting light it was. Amethyst. A combination of red and blue. The two sides of the Force, coming together, forged into one beacon that guided her on her path down into the darkness and that would guide her once again back to the light. A fitting color. A fitting blade.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Down Myra went, though she knew not for what she sought. The blackness grew ever thicker, ever deeper, but the amethyst glow kept it at bay. The light – both stronger than the darkness, and defined by it. An interesting philosophical analogy, Myra thought. In order for the light to truly shine, there must be great darkness; else the light is unremarked. Without the darkness, the light is nothing. But the tiniest light drives away darkness, despite the latter’s overwhelming force.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]A very interesting concept, and one that bore much consideration.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The Jedi had made it their mission throughout their long and fractious history to eliminate the darkness. To drive it away. To create in its place a galaxy of only light. Yet when they believed they had achieved their goal, when they had been a thousand years without the Sith, they were forgotten. Their deeds were, at best, unremarked, and more often than not decried as heavy-handed or dark in themselves. The Jedi had not been trusted.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Then the darkness returned. Overwhelming, overpowering. Vader and the Empire eliminated all but a few of those Jedi, and the light, which had weakened in the midst of so much of its own, was nearly extinguished. For years, while the Emperor reigned, there was so little light it was all but invisible.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Yet that light was rekindled in the being called Luke Skywalker. A blazing beacon, driving back the darkness, relentless in its pursuit to eliminate even the shadows.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And where had that left the Jedi? They had once again taken control, once again driven away the darkness, and their light was once again unremarkable. It was drowned out by all that was around it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So the darkness returned, more powerful, stronger than before. The Jedi were disbanded, their Temples abandoned or in ruins, their members scattered across the galaxy and now hunted by the greatest darkness the galaxy had yet seen. Once again the black was overwhelming, once again it oppressed that which sought to end it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So what was the answer? Was the galaxy condemned to forever sway back and forth between light and dark, between day and night, with billions and trillions paying the price of that devastating pendulum?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Or was there another way?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra considered that as she descended. What could end the cycle? Could it be ended?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The answer, if there was one, was not to come, at least not this day.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Deep within this cavern, buried by centuries of ice and snow, a creature lay sleeping. A relic from the ancient war with the Sith Empire, it had slumbered with the death of its last master. Created and sustained by the Force alone, it had waited in silence and darkness for a sign of life. Now, as it felt the presence move through the caverns above, it stirred. And it was hungry.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra continued down cautiously, a nagging in the back of her mind telling her all was not well. Blade extended before her, step by careful step, she descended, eyes and senses alert for danger.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The creature’s blood-red eyes watched Myra enter the grotto, saw her step into its domain. Saliva, black and acidic, fell from its jaws as it crouched, waiting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra moved through the large chamber, trying to stay as best she could in the center. Reaching out, she probed her surroundings, trying to locate the source of that nagging sense of danger. Nothing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The creature felt the human’s touch, light as a feather, run across its skin. It soaked in the ecstasy of that feeling; even above mating and eating, the Force was its pleasure. It drank in what Myra gave, leaving nothing around it but emptiness.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So it was when the creature leaped, Myra felt only the briefest of warnings. She dove and rolled, attempting to evade, but she still felt the burn of claws dragging across her back. An involuntary cry of pain escaped her lips as she dropper her saber and scrambled to her feet. A moment’s searching found the blade, and she called it quickly to her hand. Setting herself in a well-known Form I stance, her eyes and senses shot around, waiting for the creature’s next strike.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It came swiftly, from the left. Myra swiftly turned to meet it, bringing her blade around in an attempt to slice through the outstretched claws. The creature was too fast, though, rolling past her and slicing at her once again. Her heavy robes warded off its strike, and she swung her blade in a backhand strike, trying to sever its hide. Her blade felt no resistance, and when she turned, she saw the beast crouched, ready to strike again.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]It was like nothing she’d ever seen. At least three meters of coiled muscle under hard, scaly skin. Blood-red eyes glaring at her with hate. An elongated muzzle with razor-sharp teeth. Claws seventeen centimeters long. It moved fluidly, silently. And she could not sense it through the Force.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Not content to wait for it to strike again, Myra attacked, bringing her blade around in a series of blows designed to corner it for a final strike, which she delivered with as much power as she could muster; but once again the creature dodged away from her, not letting the blade so much as score its scales. It lunged again, feinting with a claw before shooting forward towards her legs. Myra leaped high over the attacking creature’s mouth as it snapped shut beneath her, then whirled and brought her blade down towards its head. Instead of severing it, as she expected, the lightsaber bounced, sending her tumbling one direction and the creature another. It rose, stunned, as Myra collected herself and scrambled to her feet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]While the creature was still shaking off the effects of the blow, Myra charged forward, bringing her blade around in a powerful strike, sending it flying once again across the cavern floor. It came to a rest some five meters away, its eyes roving but unfocused. Myra leaped again, raising her blade for a killing blow. She hacked at the creature over and over until its organs no longer inhaled oxygen.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Turning her back, she began to walk away before she heard a slight stirring behind her. Whirling, she saw the creature rise to its feet, its dismembered body pulling itself back together through what could only be the Force. Howling, it hurled itself towards her, but Myra was ready. As it came, she twisted her hands on the saber’s hilt, swapping one crystal for another. The blade, in an instant, changed from amethyst to silver-white and shot forward to a new length of a two meters, spearing through the creature’s blood-red eye and penetrating to its brain.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The creature, impaled on the blade, twitched violently, then spasmed such that it slid off the end and rolled to the ground. For another long moment, it rolled and writhed before the violent motions carried it into a chasm and out of sight.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Myra, her back bloody and her muscles tired, knelt in the grotto. Her blade levitated before her, she bowed her head and left the conscious world behind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]This creature had been of pure darkness. A creation of the ancient Sith; there could be no doubt of that. And it had been defeated and banished by the light. By the focused light. Perhaps that was the answer to the question. It was not the Jedi that would save the galaxy, or the Sith. Both followed their own agendas too narrowly, their own sets of rules, pushing and pulling on one another to the point where the galaxy would soon be destroyed under the strain.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]But focused light in the midst of darkness…that was what the galaxy needed. And that was what she would become.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Deep within the bowels of Ilum, in a cave darker than the blackest night, in a chasm well over a mile beneath the surface, the beast stirred. Battered and broken, it began to move feebly, slowly, as its flesh and bones began to reattach. Slowly, ever so slowly, it regained consciousness. Clambering to its feet, it reached out with its senses and found its quarry, on a ledge far above. The creature’s red eyes, whole once more, blinked slowly. Malice and hatred filled the creature, hatred of the thing that had caused such pain. And slowly, ever so slowly, it began to climb.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Several hundred meters above, Myra meditated. She felt the Force flow through and around her, felt strength returning to her limbs, felt her head clear. Strength came to her then, strength in the Force. Dolash and Elana, she thought with a smile. Thank you.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She knelt for a long time, hour after hour passing in silent contemplation of life and the Force. Several times she began to rise, but a subtle prompting made her stop. It was not yet time to leave. In the depths of the darkness, a new creation of light was being forged, and she was not yet complete. There was something still to come.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The slight scratch of a claw on a rock was her only warning. Myra dropped flat to the ground as she felt the massive dark-side beast pass just above her, claws and teeth scrambling for purchase on her person. Rolling sideways, she brought her blade up just in time to batter aside its next lunge. Grabbing hold of the cavern wall with the Force, she dragged herself quickly towards it, sliding out from under the beast’s snapping jaws and managing to somersault to her feet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]The combatants eyed one another for a moment, neither moving, both looking for an opening. Apparently, this contest would not be decided by her lightsaber, and the Force was ineffective against this creature. So how to kill it? Myra thought. Then there was no more time to think, for the creature leaped.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]As it moved, so did Myra, rolling to the right and bringing her blade around in an uppercut swing designed to shear through the creature’s underbelly and sever it in two. But the blade simply ricocheted off the creature’s scales and sent it tumbling into the wall. It landed lightly on its feet and rushed her again, and once again she dodged and sent it tumbling.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Again and again the combatants engaged, neither scoring an effective strike against the other. Around the ledge they danced, claws and teeth and blade, illuminated only by the amethyst glow of the lightsaber. Strike after strike Myra used, trick after trick, movement after movement, and the creature just kept coming. She tried once more to lengthen the blade and stab it through they eye, but the creature was ready this time and took the lengthened blade on its cheek instead. Time after time they approached and clashed, and time after time they both extracted themselves uninjured from the battle.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Yet it could not continue forever. Myra was beginning to tire. Her blows began to slow, ever so imperceptibly. Her dodges came with less and less room to spare. And in that moment, she heard once again the pull of the Dark Side. The temptation to fully surrender to its power, to grab that river of chaos and evil and use it to destroy her foe.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]So easy it would be. To reach out and embrace the darkness. To give in. To become that which she had so long resisted. So easy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Instead she pushed it down. She denied the darkness a hold on her. She was surrounded by the black, but she refused to let it in. Instead, she poured her energy into her lightsaber, the smallest of lights that shoved back the ever-oppressive dark. And in that light she found her salvation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]As the creature moved forward to meet her, Myra extinguished her blade and closed her eyes. Instead of dodging, she pulled into herself all that she was. From her earliest days on Onderon, to her time in the Temple, to her wanderings, to her apprenticeship on Xa Fel, to her training of others on Katarr, to her attack on the Corbans on Capricia, to her training with Dolash. She drew it in and forged it – forged herself – into a blade of light.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]She felt the creature hit and heard its scream. Her eyes snapped open. She still stood rooted in place, her body surrounded by a swirl of blue, green, and purple light. The dark beast had struck her and tumbled backwards. It writhed on the ground, light streaming from every orifice of its body. Scales began to melt away. It screeched again in pain as the light dissolved it from the inside.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]In moments, it was over, and Myra once again stood in the dark. Yet it was no longer dark, for she burned with an inner light that would not, could not, be quenched. She had found her balance, she had found her peace. She had found, for herself, the colour of the Force. And it was light.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And now she came to the present. Hurtling through hyperspace, immediate destination determined but future unknown. And Darth Skygge, finally whole, smiled.

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]SHIP:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Currently just a stock transport ship with basic defensive armament.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]KILLS:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]None (yet)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]BOUNTIES COLLECTED:[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] [/SIZE][SIZE=medium]None now, and probably none ever…[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Dark Designs – http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=9124[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Passion, Not Serenity - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=9484[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Apprentices I: Recruitment - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=10346[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Apprentices II: The New Generation - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&p=167784[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Darkness Rising: The Emperor's Hands - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&p=152497[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Apprentices IV: Seek and You Shall Find - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&p=156201[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Homecoming - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&p=159462[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Sith Exodus - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=13074[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]For the Crusade: Blitz - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&p=162485[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Cataclysm - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=13112[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Colours of the Force - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=14012[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Fractures - http://rebelfaction.org/forums?m=posts&q=50139[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]NOTE: I think all those links work. The board has transferred sites a few times, so if one doesn't work. please let me know. I'll try to correct it.

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Board Transferred From: The Rebel Faction (www.rebelfaction.org)[/SIZE]

Undin Jaii Kryze · Aug 26, 2016

CHARACTER TRANSFERS

Please list all role-plays at your previous board that are relevant.
Please list what roleplay board you're transferring from.
Please request your transfer in the Rank Title | Sub-Account Name Change thread.

These are the transfer rules for chaos [member="Darth Skygge"]

I hope it helps.

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

Forgot to include the transfer board - fixed.

Just requested the title. Not sure if the 50-post requirement is just for this board, or if they take into account posts on the other site as well. So put the request in just in case.

I'm not a fan of spamming posts, though, so it might take me a while to get to 50 if the requirement is only here.

Titan · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"], check out the "Posting games" Sub fourm in the Water Cooler. Also, you may want to spoiler your bio by putting spoiler tags in like this:

[/spoiler]
Words
[/spoiler]

Just remove the slash on the first spoiler tag.

Undin Jaii Kryze · Aug 26, 2016

The water cooler is a place where writers can talk with their characters and play games such as "Last Words" or "You wake up in bed next to them"

[member="Darth Skygge"]

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

Fixed.

Aerin Kath · Aug 26, 2016

hey, if you wanna do some force stuff

( knights of ren- 'balanced' forcers, ssc- jedi hippies, one sith- dying traditional sith faction, sith Tri- dunno their deal, and then there are random stuff from factions that aren't really forcer focused but have forcer sects of their own)

Delsin Shaw · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"], A passion was put into playing this character. Looks like she has survived literally through blood, sweat, and tears.

Good bio, and a lot of history. A very good read.

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Aerin The Lost"]

The name kinda turns me off there, as I really, really don't like the new canon, but I'll try to put my biases aside and check it out impartially.

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Zephyr Carrick"]

Yeah, there's a lot of history there. She's been my favorite character on TRF for a long time.

Thanks! Glad you like it.

ADM. Reshmar · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"] Well well well
hello again there. Good to see another old TRF hat in the game.

Gir Quee · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"], welcome to Star Wars Chaos, you once knew me as Corise Lucerne.

In any case, there are a few other former TRFers hanging around the place, notably Reshmar and Kamon (though he's currently not active on the site right now).

In any case, if you have questions about anything, feel free to send me a private message.

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Reshmar"], Good to see you, man! We're gonna have to do some RP stuff together. I've cajoled Irtar into coming over here too, and I've got PMs out to Omnae and Telan, since TRF is dead.

[member="Gir Quee"], Good to see you too! Wow, when I was looking over this, I thought it was TRF 2.0, and you guys have confirmed it. I'm planning on bringing Wes over, too, so maybe we can get into a couple RP battles again. Assuming I can find a faction for him to join. If not, maybe I'll found a new TNO.

ADM. Reshmar · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"] man I miss telan. he taught me how to do this stuff. We keep trying to get Smarts over here

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Reshmar"], Irtar and I are both in semi-regular contact with him. We'll drag him with us.

ADM. Reshmar · Aug 26, 2016

You can join me in the Imperium, its minor right now, and im thinking of changing the name anyway, but with all of us TRF peeps coming over we can wreck... I mean have fun with the people here.....

ADM. Reshmar · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"] OMG OMG OMG! Im so fangirling now. To write again with Telan....

Darth Skygge · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Reshmar"]

I meant semi-regular contact with Smarts. Don't know what happened to Telan. I have his AIM info, but I don't think he's ever on anymore.

And if you make the Imperium into The New Order, you'll get Wes and the new incarnation of Irtar, at least. And probably Simon Kaine, too, if Omnae decides to join us. And Telan, if we can get in touch with him.

ADM. Reshmar · Aug 26, 2016

[member="Darth Skygge"] Ah ok Telan is an enigma wrapped in a dream sucked into nothingness of a black hole it seems....

Gir Quee · Aug 26, 2016

Darth Skygge said:
[member="Reshmar"], Good to see you, man! We're gonna have to do some RP stuff together. I've cajoled Irtar into coming over here too, and I've got PMs out to Omnae and Telan, since TRF is dead.

[member="Gir Quee"], Good to see you too! Wow, when I was looking over this, I thought it was TRF 2.0, and you guys have confirmed it. I'm planning on bringing Wes over, too, so maybe we can get into a couple RP battles again. Assuming I can find a faction for him to join. If not, maybe I'll found a new TNO.

Yeah, I first thought that too when I came over, but there are some noticeable differences. Mostly in that there are a lot more Force-users here, along with a focus on player characters dueling.

I'm mostly doing private threads at the moment because of being busy in real life, but perhaps sometime in the future our characters can encounter each other.

Darth Skygge

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Sentinel of the Outback.

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