Heart of Ice: The Mountain

[Aran Finn]

Hoth​

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@[member="Eldoc Quasat"]​

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Cold. The high winds in this part of the ice world of Hoth chilled the bearded man to the bone, through his many layers of warm clothing and freezing his soul. His soul had once been warm enough, as warm as it could be given his turbulent past. But that was before the madness, and before he lost everything. And now the ice winds of Hoth made little difference to the temperature of his soul. Sure, it turned merely cold into frozen solid, but the Dark Jedi Knight doubted it would even unfreeze again. So cold. It was early morning on Hoth, during the heart of summer here in the southern hemisphere, and yet it was still so cold. Nothing even melted a little ... the bearded man wondered if it would snow later. He hoped not. Falling snow would make his trek up the mountain all the more arduous, and he needed his strength. There was a being on the summit of this mountain, he had heard. The strongest in the universe, more god than man. Perhaps a man no longer. He was someone who the bearded man could test his strength against. Perhaps he would be found wanting. Perhaps not. Either way, things would remain ... so.

The dark side was the strongest side of the Force, but the light side always prevailed in the end. Does that sound right to you? No, was his answer. Darkness would have the final victory. And from that would stem righteousness, order and a galaxy without sin. Peace. It was only logical. The strongest would prevail, and the righteous would maintain. Total victory. Total pax galactica. That was the bearded man's goal. But this challenge would not wait. He had to prove, prove to himself, that he was not beaten yet. That he could bounce back stronger than before, quicker than the last time he had experience failure. The Dark Jedi Knight had no time to heal, he could not afford that weakness.

And so he began his trek up the mountain with a slowly unraveling mind, thinking of other things than his own weakness. Trying desperately to forget ...

 

[Eldoc Quasat]

Eldoc pondered to him self how he ended up on this god forsaken world of all of them as he felt not even his layers warm enough for this cold. He had to get stronger, after his pitiful performance and needing to be rescued. He had vowed to get stronger. To take on the best. That was what brought him here. On the frozen planet of Hoth. He made his trek carefully and with a determination that only one truly set on their path could have. He used both sides of the force. Granted he more than often used the dark side but he still kept a grasp on his early teaching. He felt the healing magic the sith had worked on him still going through. It was odd not to feel pain again. He had grown so use to his wounds, and sadly they had healed all of them despite his protests. So he went, now fully healed by some miracle. He came here to face the best.

The problem he had always faced was that he didn't belong with the sith or the jedi. He had grown to hate both. The Jedi had abandoned him and the Sith had chased him away the moment the empress was no more. Now he was freelance and he was running out of motivation. He needed to prove himself so that perhaps after that he could face the Empress again. That was his wish, his desire. He needed to be worthy to enter her presence again, after he failed her. Well he felt he did anyways so he stayed away from the fringe. Now he needed to prove himself capable of being her hand again, and perhaps do more for the fringe. So he was here, to face a god.

@[member="Aran Finn"]

 

[Aran Finn]

But it wasn't the divine being's presence he sensed now, it was that of another. Someone who obviously wasn't a god, or a demi-god ... he was just a man. A strong man, maybe as strong as he was himself, yet just a man. Was he another challenger? In spite of himself, the bearded man felt rage welling up inside of him. It was a ball of hate so strong that it compacted tightly against his chest and made it difficult to breathe. He had built that ball of hate up over years of abuse, hard living and it had grown with every defeat he had suffered. Fighting this supremely powerful being was his right and his alone. He had made this journey and now it was he who would test his strength. This other man, this other darksider, he would have to wait his turn.

So he trudged off in the direction of @[member="Eldoc Quasat"] to face him, defeat him, and continue up the mountain alone. For if he couldn't defeat this opponent, this man, how could he hope to beat a god?

 

[Eldoc Quasat]

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"]
(so sorry I forgot about this)
Eldoc trudged towards the new presence. It was cold, which only drove him, as his body ached from the chill. He used that pain to drive him as he made his way. He finally came across a man, a fellow Dark Jedi. “ You came to face the being as well, I suppose this means I have to fight you, unless you want to turn around or wait your turn. “ He said with a smirk, wondering what the response would be. His body ready for a fight. His hand waiting to call his saber to it, his ancient Imperial Knight Armor only updated enough to keep it useful.