Post: 3/20
Location: Crystal Cave
Objective: Find a crystal
Allies: [member="Mantic Dorn"]
Rafeesh felt the Force as he walked through the tunnel. Ten meters in he found that the tunnel headed more downwards. It was probably only a minute, but the silence made it feel like a lifetime. Another lifetime... He almost felt his mind crack with the walk alone. The quiet, the repetitiveness of his movements, even the visual ice looked the same the entire way down. He could have handled many things, but the thought of another lifetime spent unproductive was too much.
He realized only a little later that the Force felt different and it was affecting him. He felt as if he was being messed with. He sensed anger and sadness in him, but there was no reason for it. It was as if there was something outside that was affecting him, perhaps it was the memories. He did not think think about the possibility of what was wrong with the Force. There was no way that he would turn back though. He reminded himself of the light, his mission was that of the light in which he had fought. He was a warrior, more than that a soldier of the light. Nothing would force him to back down.
He came at last out of the tunnel to find a massive cavern. It had icicles that came down from the ceiling and had grown into the floor. It was truly impressive and it surprised him. He had not expected this beneath the surface. He must have traveled further down that he had realized, the only thing he saw of the surface was a thick layer of ice with snow that covered it along portions of the ceiling, those were the only areas where some light poured into the area. It was surprisingly bright, he welcomed the warm of his training saber as he ignited it to give him more light. He did not like the cold anymore, after cryogenic stasis it had always been a very frightening feeling. It was as if he could feel each cell slowly dying from a lack of heat and succumbing to the icy atmosphere.
He pulled his hood up and over his head, just to keep it that much warmer. It was a moment later when he heard something, so faint that it was almost completely covered by the saber's loud hum. He deactivated the saber and closed his eyes. His physical sight would not be able to work for awhile, and his hearing would take a bit. He used the Force to see through the darkness, an ability he had been taught by Mythos before turning. Rafeesh understood that what that Sith had stood for was wrong, but that did not mean that all of the lessons had to be forgotten. It was then that he saw the darkness that blinded even his Force vision.
He had been walking how long in this darkness and not realized? Rafeesh hesitated as his eyes opened and he took a deep breath to slow his heart. He began questioning himself. Had he grown used to the presence of darkness? So much so that even after having been in the light he did not notice it properly? That was quite depressing, he was not as light as he believed...
He felt a familiar presence. From the shadows stepped a figure shrouded in darkness. He was back.
"You thought I would leave just because you beat me once? You may have won the battle, but there is war to be fought. This is the next conflict, defend yourself Jedi or welcome the embrace of death."
Rafeesh hardly had time to think before a red blade flew through the air towards him. He had just brought his training saber and the activation before he felt the force of the moving saber hit. A fight had begun, but one that was of the mind not of physical. Rafeesh did move, but his enemy was nothing more than that of the darkness given form by the nexus around him. It would not show on sensors, it could be detected through the Force though. Rafeesh was in a battle and while his enemy may not have been real the conflict was.
Rafeesh knocked the blade back, while the enemy moved in and called the lightsaber back to him. It returned just in time to be taken up for a downward slash. Rafeesh rolled out of the way of this attack, moving to the right of hie enemy and throwing wild attacks at his aggressor. The enemy allowed his forward momentum to carry him out of the lightsaber strikes. He turned and pushed with the Force, knocking Rafeesh to the padawan's right. Rafeesh called on the Force to catch himself and maneuver to land on the ground safely.
Rafeesh looked to his opponent, still hiding in the shadows of that darkness of this place, using the Force to shroud his features.
"If you can defeat me, show yourself. You have no fear."
A laugh came from the enemy's lips,
"I may have no fear, but you do. You know who I am. Use you head, we have fought before."
Rafeesh had figured who it was from the beginning. But he had hoped to have left that behind. There was no time for regrets though. He brought his saber around and charged at his enemy.
"You're lying. You always are."
The Sith disappeared in a cloud of smoke right as Rafeesh was about to strike. He reappeared a meter behind Rafeesh.
"No. I have not lied to you. Let us fight the Sith. You can rebuild the Jedi as of old. You yourself admit that they are falling. You must stand up to repair what time has done. The galaxy shall war until it falls apart. The Jedi must be reconstructed from the ashes, the masters now will never accept a restructuring of the system. Especially one where they are not on top. Let us work together. I will give you the strength needed to destroy those that would rather see the Jedi fall apart than achieve peace."
Rafeesh whipped around and began swinging viciously at his opponent.
"You cannot turn me from the Light."
"You mistake me, I do not wish to turn you away from the hypocritical Jedi dogma. No, I see that you have found truth in it. I am trying to help you get to the real goal. You must fight through the shrouds of the Jedi and cut to the heart of the problem. And that is the fact that you still must accept." He began defending against from the attacks as he spoke, backing away step by step as the Jedi kept moving forward.
"I have seen your fondness of the Jedi return, brought back to life by the work of your master. I do not wish to destroy this. I will help you make it more pure. You know that the Jedi are corrupted. You know that your master agrees."
At last the enemy was backed to a wall and he defended one last time, Rafeesh stopping his offensive as well.
"You wish to destroy the Order. You are nothing more than a sickness."
The enemy's shoulders seemed to sag and he flicked his wrist and the shrouds disappeared. What stood before Rafeesh was a scarred, facially deformed, mirror of himself. He also had a strange armor that glowed a dark purple. His face was sad as he spoke,
"You are wrong. I have wanted what you wanted, nothing more. You may see me as a sickness, the Jedi have made you swallow that lesson, just as they fed you so many other lies. I would wish to clear your mind. Take the power of this place, it is dark yes but it can be used to strengthen the light. Let me show the heard of this place. Then we can return to your master, tell him what you have learned and help him understand. He can join you on a crusade to repair the Jedi."
Rafeesh stayed silent as he moved his saber quickly, knocking the lightsaber out of his opponent's hand. Before the red blade hit the floor Rafeesh called it with the Force and moved it in a wide arc downwards, severing both of the Sith's lower arms. He dropped the training saber and grabbed the enemy by the armor. Adrenaline and the Force flowing through him he threw the man across the cavern. He felt enraged at the Sith's never stopping tongue of lies. It irritated him beyond measure. It hurt him.
The darksider hit the far wall and slumped to the floor. He raised his head as the blood red blade waited near his neck. The defeated Sith looked up to Rafeesh and smiled weakly saying,
"I see I have failed. Strike me down. Do it and continue on your destiny. You have already taken your first steps."
Rafeesh blinked, the rage momentarily dissipated. What had he done? This was a trick of the darkness. He was being drawn into a trap. He could not give in. He dropped the lightsaber and brought his hands to his head. There was an excruciating headache. The Sith stood quickly and extended a newly formed hand and the Force pushed Rafeesh back, he tripped to the ground. Rafeesh had enough time to call his training saber to him before the Sith had pounced to him. The saber impaled the dark being. For a moment the enemy simply looked at the blade penetrating where his ribcage would have been.
"This is not the end. You will never remove me."
He disappeared and the room seemed to lighten some. Rafeesh blinked a few times before realizing that this had all been an illusion. He knew what he had to do. He sat up and looked around. The lifescanner had fallen off of him sometime during their fight and he could not see it in the darkness. He crossed his legs and brought himself into a meditative mindset. He had to clear his conscious. He had to put his mind back in alignment with the light. He had found another weakness and he would repair it.
