True colours

[Perth Levov]

The Sith Master stepped toward her, almost close enough for her to touch. His spinning lightsaber held off attacks from the sides, but was vulnerable from the front. Perth stretched out a hand.

Sensing her intent at the last moment, the Sith tried to disconnect his weapon and fight her with two blades instead of one, but it was spinning too quickly for him to do it. Perth's hand gently touched the saber hilt – and it cracked at her touch.

A sharp whine reached her ears, the crystals struggling for balance. She realized she needed to take evasive action. In cracking the saber hilt, she must have damaged the power connection that channelled the crystals inside his hilt, and now it was overloading. If he didn't deactivate it soon, it was going to explode.

But before it could ignite, the Sith threw it to one side and the nearby wall took the brunt of the blast. He nodded and for the first time she realised he took her seriously.

 

[Perth Levov]

And she knew she had to act quickly. She had been working on using the Force without verbal commands or hand gestures. She had made inroads into this aspect of her abilities but when she needed to call on the Force deeply, she needed full concentration. It made her vulnerable but now unarmed, she was sure this was the best time to take the offensive.

She raised her hands and touched the Sith Master's mind. He let out a scream and dropped to his knees. When he stood up the sky was thick with a swarm of flying horrors. Their wings were torn and ragged, leather flaps of skin hanging from exposed bone. Their bodies were small and malformed, their twisted legs ending in long, sharp talons.

Their features were inhuman, but their burning eyes were unmistakable: each creature was staring at him with a hate-filled gaze. As one, they swooped down on him, their mouths screeching out a cry.

Swinging his arms wildly at the demon flock, he crouched low to the ground, his free hand coming up to cover his face and ward off the talons clawing at his eyes. As the swarm enveloped him, he caught a glimpse of Perth standing a few metres away, her face frozen in intense concentration.

The Sith realised it was a trick; the beasts weren't real. They were just figments of his imagination born from some repressed memory, some terrible fear manifested in physical form. But wouldn't he have conquered these fears long ago?

He knew how to defeat these demons, and he struck back. Unleashing a primal scream, he channeled his terror into pure rage and lashed out with the dark side. It tore through the swarm in a burst of searing scarlet light, utterly obliterating them.

 

[Perth Levov]

Perth watched as the Sith huddled against the ground, his arms waving wildly at invisible foes, but she didn't let her concentration falter. His mind was strong; if she let up even for an instant he might break free of the spell.

For a second she thought she had won as the Sith let out a shriek, but the burst of energy that followed sent her reeling backwards.

Regaining her balance she saw that the Sith was on his feet again, and she knew he had resisted the spell. But she still had one more surprise left. She had not perfected the spell, but she knew it well enough to use it against a weakened foe.

Again she opened herself up to the dark side. This time, however, she didn't attack the Sith directly. Instead, she let it flow through her, drawing it from the ground of the planet itself. She called to power buried for centuries, summoning it up to the surface in wispy tendrils of dark smoke snaking up from the concrete that rippled and split as she did so.

The thin tendrils crawled along the ground, reaching for one another, twining themselves together into writhing tentacles each several metres long.

Then, in response to her unspoken command, the tentacles rose up and lashed out at the Sith. But even as it did, she felt her mind falter - this dark sided magic was taking a lot more power than she was used to handling.

 

[Perth Levov]

The Sith Master saw the strange black mist crawling across the dirt and somehow he knew this one was no illusion. Somehow Perth had given substance and corporeality to the dark side, transforming it into a handful of black, serpent-like tendrils rising up from the ground. How she managed to do it, he had no idea and the anger in him subsided, to be replaced by nothing short of terror.

Suddenly the tendrils flew at him. He waved an arm to deflect the closest one, but as it touched his forearm, the material of his armour melted away as if it had been splashed with acid. A chunk of flesh beneath simply dissolved, and the Sith screamed in agony.

The damage was far from life threatening, but he fell hard to the ground, his brain reeling from the encounter. His mind was sent reeling from the brief contact. The pain radiated through every nerve of his being, but what he felt went far beyond any mere physical sensation. It was not the usual heat of the dark side that he was used to but rather an empty chill of some void spreading through him. It touched every synapse in his mind and it clawed at the core of his spirit. In that instant he tasted utter dejection, and felt the horror of nothingness.

Exhausted, Perth had to end the magic. She was still an acolyte. A few seconds was all she could manage of this level of power. And against a lesser opponent it might have worked - but not a Sith Master. But her actions made her believe she now had the ascendancy.

Somehow he managed to stay conscious and his forearm was throbbing madly, but the hollow darkness that had threatened to overwhelm him faded, allowing him to ignore the pain.

He immediately unleashed a lightning blast at his former apprentice – sure it would end her life. But from nowhere she produced not one but two sabers and they activated with a crisp snap-hiss before bathing the area with a bright scarlet light. And the blades seemed to sparkle in a way he’d never seen before. Some of the lightning hit her on the shoulder, but she was able to catch the remaining bolts with her lightsabers, rendering them harmless.

But every act drained her to a point where she thought she could find no new reserves.

And her reactions were now visibly a fraction slower than normal. The effort to keep the tendrils animated had pushed her ability to draw on the Force to its limits, leaving her vulnerable.

 

[Perth Levov]

Pulling the Mandalorian's vibrosword from his back – it appeared she was not the only one to hide a weapon – he charged toward her.

She brought her lightsabers up to defend against his attack, but without the full power of the Force behind them her movements were awkward and clumsy. She parried the blow, but didn’t react fast enough as the Sith dropped down and took her feet out from under her with a sweep of his leg. As she fell he twisted the handle of his vibrosword so that his blade caught one of hers, wrenching the hilt from her grasp and sending her weapon flying across the road.

And without a moment's respite, he brought his sword down for the coup de grace, only to have it intercepted mid-swing by Perth’s remaining saber. But his sword bounced off her blade and entered her elbow. Skin, muscle, sinew and bone were severed instantaneously.

Her disembodied forearm and fist tumbled harmlessly to the ground, lightsaber hilt still in the grip of her hand.

She had been told there was a price to pay!

 

[Perth Levov]

Yet despite his triumph he hesitated. It was an old Sith weakness – to gloat. She had no saber left to use and only one good hand. Further, she was now weak with the Force. Behind his mask, the Sith Master smiled. And although she could not see his features, she knew it.

He stood over her as she'd fallen knees first to the ground, her good hand nursing the stump of her elbow and her eyes fixed on the concrete at his feet.

Something must have warned him that the fight was not yet over and without a word, he brought his sword down swiftly onto her exposed neck.

 

[Perth Levov]

She was weak. She was tired. She was just an Acolyte. But she was no quitter.

With every last ounce of energy available to her, she connected with his mind. His anger and openness to the Force made the connection easy. She sensed his hatred and felt the power in his arm as he swung it down.

And then it stopped, centimetres from her neck. It was so close it burned her skin - but did not break it. It bubbled and the pain was shared. He felt it as much as she did and he took a step back. And then his arm was raised again. But this time he turned the blade hilt in his hands and slowly inserted the sword below his rib-cage. She shared his pain now but did not relent.

Finally, sure he could not recover, she severed the connection. Her own pain had not subsided, but at least she could no longer sense his.

Clumsily she got to her feet and awkwardly prised the saber from the fingers of her own severed hand. Activating it, she brought it down quickly, severing his head.

The internal injuries would no doubt have killed him, if he wasn't already dead – but there was a satisfaction in delivering that final blow herself. Her sabers had served her well. She still had a lot to learn but her progress was sure and deliberate. Her path to becoming a Knight was truly underway.

And the price she’d had to pay? Worth it.