Kiss The Sky (Self-Training)

[Darron Wraith]

You either burn bright, and be a supernova for a minute. Or burn lightly, and be mediocre forever....


Illum

Sion Meditation Chamber

Not a sound could be heard, all the crew had been left in Imperial space. They wouldn't be needed for this, no. This was a most personal, and private affair that the one passenger of the Monitor-Class Corvette had been on. The wind and the snow outside were of no disturbance to inner makings of the ship, who's halls were completely barren. Every light from the bridge to the docking bay was off, and only the life support and one light were on in the entire vessel. Perched on one of the snowy peaks of the world best known for being where lightsaber crystals were harvested by Jedi Knights for their lightsabers, it hid in the anonymity of the storm. It's silver surface blending in almost perfectly with the mountain it rested on, and the snow fell hard on it. A gentle echo traveled through the empty halls, and to the back of the ship where the one light was on. The small room was barren, save for a holo-recorder, a shelf with training implements. On the wall adjacent stood weight training devices, but they weren't in use, like the man kneeling liked to do usually. Today was a day for reflection, for learning, and to find a truth deeper than most cared to look.

"Go further Jacen, don't hold back!"

Clenched jaw muscles protruded under his skin, and sweat ran down his shark cheek bones. Powerful muscles flexed as he focused harder, obliterating everything from his perception. If the Jedi equivalent to this exercise was the field of responsibility, the Sith was to push your perceptions as far into yourself as you could possibly brave. Months ago, said exercise was one of futility for him. Now it was second nature to dive as far into himself, and into the darkness that extended everywhere. His hate was limitless, and his rage at everything only motivated him further. Each act of darkness he perpetuated for the Empire, for the Sith, and for himself only drove him further and further into the night. There he could find all the answers to all the things he had been too afraid to ask as a boy. Who could've foresaw this path he had been cast upon?

Jacen Cavill could have been a Count of Serenno, and a General on his world given his military training.

The Force had other plans, more specifically his father.

"Don't dwell on the past, push towards the GOAL!" The monster was goading him on, Kryptus was pushing him further into the rabbit hole. Kryptus was the darkside to Cavill, as well as the title he publically brandished now. Named that by Ashin Varanin herself, Cavill had never understood why. " Did she see the future, did she see that I would reach for you?" A query he asked of the beast within, and silence was met, only the darkness was there for him. Sweat dripped down his chiseled frame, he had been in that position for hours, practicing something no one knew he could do. Extreme focus was needed, and blood could be seen pooling on the white pants he wore from where his fingernails where driving into the skin. The Force saturated him, and gave him a strength he would never posse. That thought was far from his mind though, his focus was simply on the answer from the dark he sought, that he craved.

"Yes, though how much you embraced me...well that was most unexpected." His nostrils flared at the thought, even the monster inside himself hadn't expected that. "So you all thought I would continue down that path, and be mediocre? Just a name that could be thrown in a list of traitors that would be executed?" This time what was said was vocalized, and the voice came out ragged from strain. A low murmur was now audible in the room, and the rattling of a few objects could be heard as the rage inside him burned. "You surpassed everything that was ever expected of you. You who have come from such a noble family with no true talents to offer to the galaxy save for their money." An imaginary hand touched his shoulder, and in the real world he could feel the palm brushing against the skin.

In his minds eye, it was different.

He was standing, and the man in front of him was HIM. Except his eyes were yellow, and he was clad in armor fit for a king, more accurately...an Emperor. Confidence was on Kryptus' face, and they both looked each other in the eye in this realm that Cavill had created. Blue eyes met yellow, and they simply paced each other for a moment. "I have so many things to ask you," came Jacen's voice. "I know, did you get what I told you to procure after destroying our progenitor?" Our was a most curious word choice as the two circled each other, but it highlighted something. They were cut from the same cloth, they stood titans together. What Jacen didn't want to acknowledge that day when he screamed to the Force for an answer and Kryptus had answered was a simple truth he would never acknowledge.

He was the Monster, and it had always been there. Jacen had simply unchained the the beast and let it free.

Their pacing stopped, and both extended their hands towards each others. Cavill embraced himself, and they shared a long glance before the exchange happened. "I procured it, except I willingly walk down this path." Kryptus nodded before speaking,"good, now extend your hands out and let your power be felt. Just because you can enhance yourself doesn't mean the world around you can't feel your power. Show me what you've been working on, and from there we can progress to the ultimate goal with this. Remember, nothing else matters except for POWER!" The former noble's head slowly nodded, and in his mind's eye they merged, like two shadows coalescing.

A sharp breath left his mouth, and he allowed the darkness within to extend outwards to everything in the room. Like serpents his will branched off and slithered quickly off towards their intended targets, and in his mind he could see the darkness as it literally wrapped around everything he wanted to touch. Greedy hands that were extensions of his will gripped everything, and for once a smile crossed his face as he smiled. This one perceived weakness of his had been something he had been working on, and it had manifested when he had killed his father. That rage was tantamount to what was about to happen, and he tapped the reserve of power as he sent the Force where he commanded it. His darkness wasn't a tool, it was a weapon of destruction for the Empire, and most importantly for himself. Power met with his thoughts, and a command was sent.

Everything that wasn't bolted in the room rose quickly, and floated by the sheer power of his mind.


Eyelids opened, and the blue pupils were replaced with the yellow that were his trademark. There was no shame in how far he had fallen, for he would rise from the shadows with all the power of the Force he could muster. Another tendril of power extended towards the injector that had floated to far off from him, and it quickly came to a no outstretched hand. It's handle was cool to the touch, and he quickly pressed the needle against his neck as he admired the handiwork of his power. "It is done Kryptus, the march to power won't be impeded by my own weakness." A smile crossed his face as Kryptus spoke from his mouth. "Good."

Then the world went black as pain seeped into his heart via his carotid artery, a powerful frame falling to the ground along with everything in the room. A gentle shake went across the entire ship as the vessel once more touched the ground, having only been floating a few millimeters off the ground but a second earlier.

 

[Darron Wraith]

Chapter Two: First Person Experiment While Training.

"Fire forges all, if one can survive the heat. They can see themselves transformed into something they never could have been in the first place. If they are too weak, the flames will simply swallow them whole."

Annaj Orbit

The Fist (Tulak Hord Star Destroyer of Darth Kryptus) - Hangar Bay

I can feel it, I can literally feel it all around me. Every inch of my powerful frame is covered in it, and I'm bathing in something that would wipe away any other fool who dared try something like this. This feeling isn't new to me though, it's location in accordance with my flesh is startling. I've felt this type of heat before, and I've felt it be released from inside me before. When that happens my own personal monster comes out to play, and usually that means I'm about to do something I once thought impossible. This heat is usually reserved for the furnace that burns deep inside me, where all that power I've been searching for my entire life comes from. That reservoir that never seems to run out, and it's from there that the monster I know as Kryptus generates from.

Yet the fire is on the outside of me this time.

It continues to crash against me, the force of the flamethrowers all firing on me all at one time. My hair is blown back, and the field of energy around me that I've created is practically glowing from the stress is under. I try to open my eyes, and hold them open to see the onslaught that I'm going under...but I can't. To do so would be to allow my eyes to be melted from the sheer heat, and I don't trust this shield enough to try and advance it further. The fact that my skin hasn't turned red yet is a testament to my hard work, to my dedication to digging further and further into myself to find that power that Kryptus keeps telling me about. I can see it, I just have to push myself further and further down the path to find that darkness.

To find all the power I'll ever need.

Well that's at least what I've come to believe, and the Sith Poisons I take on a weekly basis have definitely improved my connection to what I cherish most: power. My training has increased nearly three fold, and I'm pushing myself past limits I didn't know I could. All I had ever known since joining the Empire had been limitations. Everyone told me what I could, and couldn't do. Yet here I as, tapping into my rage, making myself the axis of the universe. Everything rotated around my rage, yet I was aware of everything around me. This understanding, this clarity gave the pair of us(Kryptus and Jacen) a limitless well of energy to fuel the shield currently wrapped around my body. With it, I was fully immersed in the darkside and protecting what my focus was on, myself. While at the same time fully aware of the events around me.

My left foot digs in a little harder, and the muscles in my abdomen reflexively tighten up as sweat rolls down my exposed torso. I'm trying my hardest to not move, to not give an inch to the flame being launched on me. Through the darkness, I can feel my own rage keeping me together. On the other end of the guns I can feel my men's fear, and the fact that I gave them the order doesn't help their hearts any. Why they still respect me, and serve me is a mystery to me. Why didn't they just stay with Voracitos? Why didn't they just leave me to my fate and let me toil in this "Fringe" as they call it?

"Jacen, your doubt is not needed here. Erase it, there can only be your focus or we will die!!"

His voice is mine, without the doubt. I can feel him roaring within me. "Stop thinking of other things, there is only the quest. The climb for power. You have erased all things, every step we take is for power. Don't lose sight of that goal or you will die in training!" He seems to have taken a pleading tone with me, and I sense the desperation of our situation. I can feel it all, it's getting much hotter around me. My shield is starting to fail me due to my lack of confidence, and I have gotten sidetracked. Where there was pale skin on my arms, I can sneak a peek and see the color of it changing.

I'm going to burn alive.

Fear begins to drip in, like cold water on the flames that my furnace produces. Except I don't need to be feeling the coolness on the outside, as the temperatures are rising outside me. I can feel fissures forming in my once pristine construct, and I can feel what is going to happen. "I have failed.." I mutter to no one. At this rate I can't tell if my mouth vocalized the words of if I am simply talking in my head. It doesn't matter, the conqueror of systems, and former Champion of the fat one has finally met a challenge I can't overcome. What had been a simple lesson from the one woman I loved in this galaxy..well I had changed it into something else entirely. This whole thing had been my idea, or rather an extension of the orders Krytpus had given me.

"You have failed, the fire will consume you. You weren't worthy of the gifts I have given you, and I should have left you to meet Radec's punishment boy."

"No! She was worth it, she was the entire reason for this!" I"m screaming out loud now, and I know my soldiers only heard one voice. Through the Force I can feel them scattering to try and turn the guns off, to try and save their foolish Master. "See, even they recognize you are weak, you are a nobody." Panic begins to strike me as a few blisters began to form, and I know I am only half a minute away from becoming the second coming of Lord Vader without the prosthetics if this keeps up. Open heat was coming through now, and my nostrils had no hair left on the inside of them. My blue eyes are shut as tightly as I can manage, then my monster speaks to me again. He always knows the buttons to push, and the poison has made me more temperamental.


"No wonder you have always been passed up. I was wrong to think you had some higher calling. You were too weak for the title of Count, too weak to stand up to that man until you were his bully. You were too weak to stand up at Roche and defend Ashin Varanin. You were too weak to get the Legion off the ground, and you most definitely didn't do a fething thing to Voracitos. Look at you, you are in the Fringe when you could be the ruler of it all. What does your company mean if it's just an act by you because you are too weak to rule with an iron first publicly?" I can feel the monster slithering in my head, and I know he's got more punishment for me before I die.

"You say you love power, yet all I see is some man who will never be anything but a footnote on how to not do energy shields. To think you really left the only people you loved behind for this. You tried to be a titan, and here you are being crushed under the weight of your own sadness. You are a most wretchedly weak thing, I have no use for you."

The weight of his words hits me, and my heart screams out against this. Flashes of all I have ever done, I can see them all. Every person I left behind in this mad quest of mine, and what did I gain? I couldn't finish an exercise for my monster, and now I will die for my weakness. This doesn't sit well with me, and my fear at the situation only intensifies as it morphs into pure terror. My knees began to sag under the stress of holding the failing construct up around me, and I suddenly feel very small. Everything I have ever done had led to this action, and in the end I can see how worthless it all was. "I failed myself, what have I done?"

My question is posed to the darkness, and nothing answers.

Only memories begin to flash, and the heat I'm feeling is suddenly starting to come from the inside. Have I started burning already? I That morbid thought quickly fades from my mind as I go on a journey, the heat building along the way.

A slap from my father as a boy, then a boot to my stomach in the military academy. My mothers warm touch on my shoulder after she helped me clean my wounds from a scuffle with my father. The beating I took before getting subdued and loaded into the shuttle, and I can hear my father's voice in my ear as he tells me how he's glad to have me gone. I can then see myself stumbling along, terrified of the monsters of Korriban. That fear I felt during those weeks was nothing next to the shame of having myself so far removed from the station that was mine due to my birth right. What followed turned me into something alright, it turned me into a fearful man who had learned a little bit more about myself.

My insides began to warm a little, and I can feel the outside lessening in stress. The cracks are starting to seal up, but my mind is still flashing. The Sith poison I take has done this, it has opened the path to fully connect to my emotions...and boy do they keep rolling in as the flames lick all around me in the Iron Skin pants and boots I'm wearing. It flashes forward to getting kicked out of the Vagrant Fleet for attracting too much attention, then I feel my rage at the collar the Fat-One puts on me. That embarrassment and shame at being his dog was too much, and my fire grows even more. I can feel my rage roaring, and a familiar slithering noise can be heard as the monster appears again. "Push." That's all he says, and my mind travels forward more.

The construct hardens as I remember all my conquests, and all my battles. I can see the failure with Shorn, then what I did to save Spencer. It's out of order, but my mind isn't in a good place. The poison is pushing me further, and Kryptus is whispering promises of power to me again, and I am left in awe of how fickle this power I wield is. The thought fades as my focus solidifies, and now I can open my eyes.

My yellow eyes, corrupted by the darkside. The heat is nothing, my power is overwhelming to it. The shield is perfect, and I began to wrap my telekinesis it. Doing as I had been instructed, I push myself further as a memory comes to mind. Muscles began to flex under unfamiliar sensation. I'm balancing in ways I shouldn't be. No longer bent down, I stand to my full height, and stick my hands out to my sides. I'm reveling in this power as I walk a hallway in a castle on Serenno. I see two images at once, my power surrounding me as my will wraps around the construct of energy I have made.

Then I can see myself holding his head in my hands.

Like in the memory, my eyes grow hot with rage. Except I don't let the blast escape them like they did that night. I cherish that image as I destroy the man who created me. As the satisfaction and rage course through my veins, my power grows and grows. It is a most wonderful feeling, and I revel in the monster I'm becoming. The poison courses through my veins as the dark tendrils of my power wrap around me. Words escape my lips as my will pulls me off the ground slowly but surely. "Goodbye," except I don't say that to my father. I speak it to the flames as I travel two meters above the fire.

I wobble a bit, but I can hear the cheers of my men as I learn to balance and steady myself. I am a titan, and the darkness is coursing through me perfectly. Full immersion had been achieved, and the universe was moving solely around me in that moment. In my minds eye I'm standing alone like I am floating, but then Kryptus comes up to congratulate me. He looks at me with his yellow eyes and says,"you did this." My now yellow eyes look at him, and I realize I am alone. For no longer are man and monster wholly separate like I initially thought we were. We are one and the same, and I acknowledge this as I float above my men.

"No, we did this."