First Reply Shadow Grows

[Aiden Porte]

Pal Veda​

Aiden could feel the battle raging around him, the hiss of blaster fire, the shrieks of the sithspawn, the scent of ozone and scorched stone thick in the air. Veda's shots cut through the chaos, sharp and precise, each report echoing like punctuation in the storm. But Aiden's focus was elsewhere. The artifact pulsed brighter now, its heartbeat a deep, malignant thrum that pressed against his chest like a physical weight. The dark side coiled from it in tendrils of smoke and whispers, clawing for purchase in his mind.

He planted his feet in the center of the cavern, lightsaber angled low, its blue radiance trembling against the tide of red. He could feel the strain in the Force, a tug-of-war between corruption and clarity. He drew in a slow breath, letting his heartbeat fall into rhythm with the deeper current beneath it all.

The Force is life, he reminded himself. It binds, it flows, it restores.

Closing his eyes, Aiden reached outward. The power moved through him, not as fire or rage, but as a flood of light breaking through cracks in stone. He raised his free hand, palm open toward the artifact. The darkness resisted, shrieking in soundless fury. Around him, the creatures screamed too, driven mad as the light began to swell.

Aiden's focus sharpened. Every memory of peace, of calm, of hope he'd ever known, the laughter of his Padawan, the quiet strength of his comrades, the voice of the Force itself. It all gathered and coalesced into a single point of brilliance.

"By the will of the Force," he murmured, his voice steady amid the chaos, "Let the light return."

The cavern erupted in radiance. The blue of his saber flared white, the energy around him igniting into a wave that poured through his outstretched hand. It struck the artifact like a star being born, consuming the red glow until it shattered in a burst of ash and fractured light. There was a shockwave that would send them blasted back.

The sithspawn howled, not in defiance, but in despair, before their forms dissolved, torn apart by the brilliance that filled the chamber.

When the light finally dimmed, Aiden slowly stood up, amidst the fading dust, his breath steady but his body trembling from the exertion. The dark pulse was gone. Only silence and the faint hum of his saber remained.

He turned his head slightly, catching Veda's silhouette in the beam of the flashlight still sweeping the cavern's edge. "It's done," Aiden said quietly, voice rough but sure. "The light endures."

Aiden moved to help Pal.

"Are you alright my friend?"

 

[Pal Veda]

The vile creatures came faster, lurching out from their hiding spots, long concealed by the literal and figurative darkness of this wretched cave. Manipulated and mutated by a corruption beyond Veda’s comprehension. But they bled and died just like every other Sith monster he’d had the unfortunate opportunity to encounter. So he kept blastin’, one at a time, anything to stall long enough for Aiden Porte to accomplish the mission. Red bolt after red bolt, disgusting slithering body after disgusting slithering body.

Veda could feel the shift, the tension in the air as the private tug of war between the Jedi and ancient evil played out on some other plane of existence. His flashlight became more of an ad hoc targeting system than a necessity for sight, for the crimson glow of the artifact radiated throughout the room, at first matched but then outshone by the glow of Aiden’s lightsaber. Hell, the glow of Aiden himself. This drove the sithspawn mad, and they began writhing in the red dirt, screaming and shrieking to the point that Veda wondered if his ears would burst. At least they had ceased their attack.

He turned to the Jedi in time to see the finale. A magnificent wave of energy carried across the room to the pulsing object. In an instant, the artifact exploded, and the shrieking demons dissolved into nothingness. Indeed, nothingness seemed to hang in the air, replacing the foul sense that had filled it only moments earlier. But a bright star remained.

“Am I alright?” Veda was still trying to process the events that transpired over the last few seconds. Hesitant at first, but coming to realize the pair were no longer in danger, he holstered his blaster and grabbed Aiden’s shoulder. “I’ll be okay. But you . . . You decimated it!” He took a long look at his friend, trying to examine his face without blinding him with his light. “But you look like bantha poodoo. Let me help you.”

Without giving him a chance to say no, Veda wrapped his arm under and around Aiden’s back to help walk the exhausted Jedi back out into the sunlight.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Pal Veda​

Aiden's lungs burned as if he'd been holding his breath for hours. The Force still crackled faintly through him, wild and electric, its aftershock humming beneath his skin. His saber dimmed to a steady blue before he finally deactivated it, the chamber returning to a muted stillness that felt impossibly fragile after all that fury and light.

He didn't protest when Veda caught him under the arm, truth be told, his knees welcomed the help. The air outside the cave beckoned like a promise of peace, but for the moment, all Aiden could manage was to steady his breathing and make sense of the stillness.

"The artifact's gone," he said softly, the words more exhale than statement. "The dark can't hold here anymore."

He looked at the place where it had stood, now just a scorched impression in the stone, rimmed with faintly glowing dust that scattered like starlight when the breeze moved through. The last remnants of its energy shimmered faintly, almost beautiful in its death.

Aiden's gaze shifted to Veda, catching the smirk beneath the concern, and a tired but genuine smile tugged at his mouth. "You did well," he murmured. "Those creatures would've torn through me before I ever reached the core if not for your aim."

"Let's get out of here." Aiden said with a small laugh.

As they moved farther into the open air, the quiet of the canyon seemed almost peaceful again, only the whisper of wind filling the space where screams once echoed. Aiden looked back toward the cave, his expression distant, reflective. The memory of the artifact's destruction still shimmered in his mind, its last pulse, the way the darkness seemed to shatter like glass.

And yet… something faint lingered.

A thread he couldn't quite name. A cold flicker beneath the surface of his thoughts, subtle enough to dismiss. He pushed it aside, attributing it to fatigue, to the aftershock of channeling so much power in so little time. The Force still hummed through him, alive, constant, but deeper within, something else now stirred, quiet, watching, patient.

"Let's get back to the ship," Aiden said after a moment, straightening a little though his voice remained soft. "We've both earned some rest. And maybe a meal that doesn't involve sand."

He gave a faint smirk, the kind that carried more warmth than humor, then turned toward the canyon's edge. As the two men walked back into the light, the sun caught his shadow, long, fractured across the stones, and for an instant, it seemed to move just slightly out of rhythm with him.