Tradition Demands

[Zef Halo]

ILUM

Frigid cold populated the notorious planet of Ilum. Wind had picked up the last hour and Vitor appreciated the fact that he remained in the warm compartments of his ship. His comlink stood on the nightstand next to him and the businessman awaited impatiently the call of his Master - Lord Fa. From what information he could gather from holobooks and source, Ilum was a planet notorious for its crystal caves and its Jedi history.

Vitor played with the lightsaber hilt in his hands, his mind blank. He was almost sure he knew why they came here. Yet, with Lord Fa one could never be completely sure.

Taking a look from the viewport of his shuttle, the acolyte could see in the distance the ruins of the Jedi temple there. Recent history had marked it with blood and scarred it with the sign of the Mandalorians.

And how the wheel turned as the wheel willed.

The Mandalorians were now as scattered and in ruin as the Jedi and this temple of theirs.

However the Sith still remained.

[member="Tai Fa"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

Personally Lord Fa did not believe in lightsabers.

Oh, they were effective enough, if not still the best weapon if you wanted to slice and dice. But Tai did not believe that you should approach all problems by trying to slice your way through it. If that approach needed to be applied, then he had his echani molecular-compression long blade.

That thing had saved him quite often and was very powerful in the right hands.

After a brief discussion over the comms a shuttle broke through the atmosphere and landed near Vitor's. For once, it was decided not to meet in one of the ships, but instead go out there... outside already.

Lord Fa descended his ramp cloaked in heavy fur that clouded his silhouette, but he wore it with dignity. There he waited for Vitor to exit outside as well.

 

[Zef Halo]

Wearing thick but flexible clothing, Vitor did not fully feel the cold outside as he stepped out of his ship. At the exact time, he could see adjacent to his ship was Fa's own ship. Its ramp was slowly descending and upon it walked down the figure of the Thirriken Sith. The acolyte approached his master and with a long bow of his head, he acknowledged him.

"Lord Fa." He raised his head and looked into the eyes of his master before glancing at the maw in front of them. The mouth of the crystal caves. Not the natural one that was located in the ruins of the Jedi Temple a click away from here but a mouth most likely open after the Mandalorians' excursion to Ilum.

Vitor wondered what remnants of the Jedi's presence would still be intact within the cave.

A whisper of death echoed through the Force from the caves. Vitor, much less inept in the Force than Lord Fa, could still feel a very thin cold shiver run up his spine. Instinctively, his right hand fell upon his hip where the lightsaber hilt grazed his palm.

[member="Tai Fa"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

"Avendahl." Lord Fa replied absent-mindedly while studying the ruins of the Jedi enclave. Whole thing had been a mess apparently, causing quite some friction between certain members and certain clans of the Mandalorians. This amused Tai to a very large degree, the most damage those barbarians were doing was to themselves.

If only the other enemies to the Sith were just as stupid.

They kinda were, but not enough to collapse by themselves, which was a shame.

"We are here for two things." The Thirriken finally said, to fill the silence. "One, for you to find a crystal viable for the lightsaber you will construct."

"Two. Our work in Humbarine has followed us here."

Well, technically they followed it here, but that was just a detail that wasn't important. There was a meeting taking place within the crystal chasms, a little consortium of forcers, magnates and other rabble who figured out their plans. Much more details the Thirriken did not possess.

But suffice it to say that they would have to eliminate this issue, before they could consolidate.

 

[Zef Halo]

The mention of finding a crystal for his own lightsaber brought a certain dose of excitement. He felt that it had been high time for him to construct his own lightsaber and leave this one behind. Not that he believed there was much differences between lightsabers (oh you dear ignorant child) but because it felt right to have his own lightsaber constructed by his own hands and not taken from a jedi killed by someone else. Semantics, to an extent, but Vitor believed in them.

At least in this case.

When Lord Fa mentioned of Humbarine, Avendahl's face turned into a frown. He felt slightly frustrated that there were still remnants opposing Fa after Vitor's successful long-term operation on the planet. The feeling of having not been good enough stirred anger within his veins but he kept his cool.

"Yes, My Lord." Vitor said trying to keep the frustration from being too visible as the master and acolyte made their way into the caverns. The shivering feel that ran up his spine grew stronger the deeper they went in. His hand itched to grab his lightsaber. Whatever these caverns were, they certainly were special. "Have you ever ventured here, Lord Fa ?" The acolyte whispered and saw his breath form a small cloud in the frigid cold of the caverns. He wondered if his master had indeed been here before, remembering that the weapon the Thirriken wielded did not look anything like a lightsaber.

Yet, it was as deadly as one, if his memories from the savages' world served him right.

[member="Tai Fa"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

"Only once." Lord Fa thought back to those early years under the tutelage of the Sith. Ilum had not been under control of the Sith back then, or any other nation, it just was.

A silent monument of unchanging potential.

Frozen in all time for the world to see. No, not much had changed on Ilum since the first and last time he had walked here, moved through the caverns and picked his crystal. It was a surprise when they told him they wouldn't make a synth crystal instead, but thinking back to it the Thirriken could see there were no means back then.

Years before the Sith had moved into the Galaxy at wide and made rare commodities increasingly more available.

"We must be wary." Lord Fa cautioned. "They picked the caverns deep, thinking nobody would track them here, there will be sentries on the look out near the ruined outpost of the Jedi."

Would Vitor realize it was best to split up and deal with them separately in the snow and wind?

The Master left it to his Apprentice to figure out their tactic.

 

[Zef Halo]

The duo of master and acolyte proceeded further down into the caverns, the wind but only a cold breeze running through the crevices of the walls. Whatever storm was picking up in the outside was left behind them. Despite the eerie feeling that the caverns emitted, Vitor preferred their companionship rather than that of a snow storm. Meanwhile, Lord Fa warned him of the dangers that would occur moving forward.

Finally, he un-clipped the hilt of the lightsaber from his hip and held the cylinder in his hand with confidence.

The caverns would divulge into separate paths and on the intersection is where Vitor halted. A moving light took his attention from the path on the right before he glanced back towards his master.

Silence was the Thirriken's response.

"I will take on the right path, Master Fa." He motioned his hand at where the moving light lingered further down and then glimpsed at the left path which seemed bereft of any light. "We will keep in touch through the comlinks." Vitor opened his left hand to reveal his own comlink before crouching and moving forward as subtly as possible. Would Fa follow him ?

Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Avendahl did not mind at all. He finally felt the urge to take the initiative, not in an usurping way, but more of a way to tackle his frustration of not completely eradicating Fa's opponents from Humbarine.

This time he would complete his job.

If he wanted to grow stronger, to overcome his limits, Vitor had to become bolder.

​

[member="Tai Fa"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

No, Lord Fa did not follow his student.

In this the lad would be alone and without assistance. A dangerous task, to be sure, to deal alone with the survivors of their plots on Humbarine, but a lesson that needed to be learned. Would Vitor be careful or brash in his attempt to restore his own honor after the failure that was Humbarine for him?

Did the Thirriken believe that Avendahl was a failure? Not at all. Under the circumstances and time-schedule they had worked, it actually surprised how well they had performed.

But the peacock was not as generous with his praise as he was with his advice.

What did praise do? How did it make a young man strong and resilient and capable in all the right ways? The answer was that it did not, in fact it could turn one weak and complacent.

Two qualities that Tai did not wish to invest into his pupil.

"Good hunting, Avendahl." He merely said, before taking the path to the left and into the darkness. This was no issue for him, of course, because those who were strong in the Force had no need for light to find their way in the shadows. Already the Thirriken's eyes closed and the path ahead lit up inside his mind eye.

He could not see, yet he saw all there was.

"Interesting." Lord Fa mumbled to himself as footsteps radiated on the ground, residual energy of a strong sentient. "Perhaps my path is the right one, after all."

 

[Zef Halo]

With a curt nod, Vitor continued onward headed to the source of the light while sticking to the walls. It was the most subtle way, he deducted after scanning the area.

The closer he thought he got to the light, the more lightheaded he felt for some reason. Vitor halted to massage his forehead before he continued but the feeling continued growing stronger. Along with that, he felt a tension stir. Its source unknown as well. Avendahl forced himself to focus as the light drew nearer to him. He wanted to ask his Master if he was feeling the same but he refused to do so.

This time he was completely alone. No Lord Fa, no Guul and not even June.

It felt odd without her.

Vitor shook his head and focused on his mission ahead. He kept going but the distance to the source of light seemed to always remain the same. When Vitor realized that, the light disappeared and a strong feeling of cold fear shook him.

The Humbarine sentry posts seemed the least of his problems now.

[member="Tai Fa"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

The path winded downwards to a slope and the further down Lord Fa went, the greater the crystal formations were becoming.

They weren't the special ones, not the ones that you felt a connection to if you just opened yourself to the Force, these were the simple ones... those who separated the apprentices who were ready from those who were definitely not. But the path he saw within his mind was still going down, at least until he reached a crossroad that went left, right and forward upwards.

The difficulty was that the path also separated itself in little strands.

"Avendahl." The Thirriken spoke softly and patiently. "I have reached another crossroads."

The Sith pondered on his choices, each one seemed to be just as tricky as the next and he wondered if that had been the point of it all. The hunt had already started, his prey was so close he could practically feel its scent in the air...

"I go left."

And left the Lord Fa went, because the shimmering of the strand made him interested.

 

[Zef Halo]

He kept on going and going until he finally quit. Vitor knew for some time now that this was some sort of anomaly. The only way he could explain it was - it had something to do with the force. He had learned over time that his senses seemed greatly developed thanks to the mystical power. In this case, he concluded, that his senses were not as developed as he wanted them to be. The lack of comprehension and visible solution did stir fear within him.

Abruptly his comlink beeped and the familar voice of his Thirriken master echoed in the endless tunnel ahead of him. Avendahl looked cautiously around before picking up the communication device.

"That is all well, Lord Fa." Vitor said almost whispering. "I seem to have fallen on an endless path. The source of the light - unreachable."

An unorthodox idea came to his mind and fiercely activating his lightsaber, he stabbed at the wall beside him. The blade slid in normally but when Vitor pulled it out, the wall was one again.

"And the walls seem to revert abnormally back into shape after a lightsaber was thrust in them."

What the kark was going on?


[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

The Thirriken was distracted for a moment.

But he did hear Vitor's words, he simply declined to answer right away. Instead he reached into the Force and masked his force signature, letting it cascade around the area and mingle it with the residual power of the place. In the distance, still a reasonable distance away, he could hear voices. They were echoing, bouncing from cavern wall to wall and reaching him just so.

It was a bit too far away to make out the words clearly though.

"Center yourself." The Sith reprimanded, then, softly into the comms. "What you see is not real. The caverns have their own life to it, born from centuries if not more of Force immersion."

"It is trying to make you stray from your path."

For a brief moment he pondered what else to say. What else was there to say? Either Vitor would be able to regain control of his senses, cast out the malignant influence of the caverns... or he would die, all alone and surrounded by the shadows of the others who had fallen across the years.

"I will see you on the other side." He mumbled then, before disengaging the comms for now. The last thing the Thirriken needed was to suddenly have the voice of his apprentice filtering through the area, just as he was about to creep up towards the voices ahead. The element of surprise was what would win him this day, especially considering the amount of different voices.

A difficult task ahead.

 

[Zef Halo]

Lord Fa had been short and direct to the point. The red light on his comlink signaled that there was no feedback from the other side. His master had shut his comlink off. Fury began building up within him and regret. Both targetted at Vitor himself. He remembered how much ambition he had when he had bowed his head to Lord Fa. The ambition to be independent again.

And there Vitor was. More or less crying for help to his master. Pathetic. Avendahl regretted his hasty decision and shut off his own com as well.

Anger was a useless emotion and source of energy when targetted at oneself. He changed the target of his emotions to the illusion. Vitor blamed it for his cry to his master earlier and his own shame that followed.

The color of his eyes began changing to sulfuric and a dark scowl covered his face. Vitor's hateful gaze focused only on the deceiving light at the end of the tunnel. The emotions steamed of him and slowly the light began dissipitating as if carefuly being erased by Avendahl's frown on it. The walls around him began melting and his whole view soon changed to the dimly lit from reflections of crystals reality.

Time to hunt.

[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

"He has the higher ground."

"Feth him and his higher ground. I say we infiltrate his headquarters, plant explosives and detonate them when he is in."

"Are you insane? That will kill hundreds if not thousands."

"He pushed us out."

"I need you two to quiet it down. We are all in this together, whether we like it or not."

"Asmadan is right. If we are going to pluck the peacock we will need a plan."

By this point in time Lord Fa had grown one with the shadows, his approach a whisper of purpose and his presence hidden by the sheer magnitude of the Force shaking around the caverns. His dark cloak blended into those same shadows, allowing him to practically wander into the central cave where the heated discussion was taking place right now.

There was more light there - centered around the center of the place - in the form of a single light pylon. Half a dozen stood around it with more on the fringes, simply looking at the discussion enfolding, but not interacting directly.

The feminine voice had been a Jedi, the one talking about insanity. A heavily scarred Rodian - his blade had cut straight through his shoulder, before moving up and metal edges scrapped across his face... only an explosion in the distance allowed him to get away, before his death could come - had proposed the explosives. More were there and Asmadan, a Duros, was keeping them all together.

Interesting.

Within himself he could feel the Darkside clawing, like a living, breathing thing. It scrapped against his sentience and whispered of death. Release me... and I will solve all your problems.

 

[Zef Halo]

The Force had saved him earlier in the caverns from being forever trapped in an illusion. The Force had saved him from triggering the sentry alarms which would bring the two Sith's mission to a failure. His subtly had failed him unfortunately and Vitor had acted in the heat of the moment - throwing his lightsaber at one of the sentries before he could aim and then, to Avemdahl's surprise, he gripped the other men with an invisible hand. It had stopped him from alerting his higher ups and ruining the Sith's mission.

Grabbing his lightsaber from the body of the guard, Vitor felt no remorse of taking their life. After murdering once, it became less taxing. The acolyte saw it as a price and this accepted it much easier.

Down the next tunnel after the sentry point was where the Humbarine usurpers had gathered. Vitor would make his way there and appear to arrive from the opposite way [member="Tai Fa"] had come. The acolyte, though, had no idea that his master was already there.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

One should take his decisions within the span of seven breaths.

Take too long and the moment is gone, the momentum weakened and devoid of its energy.

Determination crumbles. Your stride of purpose halting, your wings broken and your spirit shattered. It was a weakness that could not be accepted, no, one should always move with determination and purpose. Always move by instinct and let it sort itself out, otherwise you would keep standing on the threshold forever and never make the decision that would shatter all illusions.

Lord Fa made his in five.

As a shadow he descended into the room proper, his long blade cutting through a throat and using the collapsing corpse to push himself off into the air and glide. His form was devoid of continuity, but the sharp metal cut through anything regardless.

Ten breaths in the room devolved into chaos as they realized what was happening.

Lightsabers were ignited, blasters reared, but their target... where was their target? Now Vitor would hear the clashes of battle being fought, of a harsh unearthly screeching he had come to know from his Master.

When the blood song ran hot in his veins and the screams caused chaos in minds.

 

[Zef Halo]

It happened in a moment but at the same time Vitor felt what he was seeing as static as a framed masterpiece on the wall. A very familar masterpiece at that. Unknown to the poor souls who were witnessing it at this very moment, but the artist of death was none other than his master - Lord Fa. Avendahl still had the memory of the phantom flurry that sowed deafh on that unknown planet.

It was no different here.

He was thrilled but also could not hide the fear at the sight of what the Thirriken was capable of.

When fear overcame the conspirers, they fled only to be met by the blue blade of the acolyte. He had to be merciless. No one to be spared lest his failure came to bite him back again.

Humbarine was Lord Fa's.


[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

"They will realize who you are." The Jedi whispered up towards the shadow clinging against her robes. Talons were buried deep inside her flesh and there Lord Fa hung, his beak so close to the twi'lek and her whispers.

"They will realize what you are."

The Thirriken cocked his head gently and this movement caused the edge of his blade to cut just a little bit deeper against the skin of her throat. She stilled herself, because even as a Jedi she did not welcome death. Maybe she still had hopes that with her associates cut down and her plans in ruins, that there was still something to be salvaged by the situation.

Asmadan was dead, the second on his target and with him all hope.

"Why would that matter?"

"You are Sith. They will never accept you."

Tai laughed, the first time Vitor would ever have heard him truly laugh and it was a soft sound. Soft and chiming and beautiful.

"They already have, Jedi, because I gave them you never thought of - prosperity." But before she could react to that his edge already cut deep into her throat. The gurgle of a last death stroke came out and Lord Fa held vigil across her corpse for a while, murmuring incantations to himself in old and pure Sith. Within his wing something glowed, if Vitor payed attention he would just be able to see a little crystal disappearing back into the folds... now shining slightly.

"You did well, Apprentice."

 

[Zef Halo]

The Jedi at the feet of the Thirriken was speaking, however her whispers were not heard by the acolyte. He could see why. The odd blade of his master was slowly making its why through her vocal cords and bringing her closer to the death.

Abruptly a sweet summer laugh echoed in the caverns. Its source was Lord Fa. It was the first time he heard it and it threw him back. It was as beautiful as it was insidous, Vitor came to realize when the body of the Jedi fell. Blood poured like a spring from where the blade had been previously.

The acolyte saw his Master's beak move but he was deaf to his words. Vitor was deaf to all sounds suddenly. An invisible force twisted his head to the right, his eyes falling upon the small pond that had formed at the wall of the cavern from the fallen Jedi's blood. In the middle of it a sanguine beacon called him and he followed it.

Vitor grasped it, his own hand now dripping from the other's blood, and held it in front of him. The invisible power he was under influence of abruptly snapped him back into reality.

Finally, with a delay, he figured out his Master's words and thus bowed his head in respect.

"Thank you, my Lord." Vitor raised his head and scanned the area. It was all Lord Fa's work. The acolyte finished off those fleeing or dismembered but still alive. A gruesome picture he would never forget but he knew he had to get used to it.

Vitor dreaded his master as much as he looked up to his power.

[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vitor Avendahl"]

It was with pleasure that the Thirriken looked on as his apprentice walked with a daze before his eyes.

The mesmerizing grip of the crystals was on him, he could practically feel their grip on him as they pulled and pulled, towards its resting place amidst the still-warm blood of the deceased Jedi. Perhaps it should have amused him that the Vitor's first lightsaber had been stolen and this crystal was cloaked in blood.

Perhaps.

"Let's go. We still have much to do."

And with that they left.

In their wake a clean-up team would soon arrive, to ensure that no trace remained of the scene. Only once Lord Fa had stepped into his ship, did the mesmerizing grip of the amulet let go of him and reveal the Thirriken inside the shadows. Much work had been finished within this short span of time.

The last resistance wiped out... there was still much work to be done, but it was manageable now.

So much more manageable.