Two Apprentices, and Two Prizes, Victory and Defeat (Jareth, Jardo)

[Raien Keth]

Byss
Morning​

Kethanite Proving circle.​

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Background Threads. Byss Factory | Massassi Temple​

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Sith built apprentices by letting the strong rise to the top. Victories and defeats were both instrumental in building desire to avenge failures, wounds to learn from, triumphs to be prideful of and conquests to gain from. So it was both his apprentices would face each other here, under Byss’s green and blue skies. Darkside energy was rife on Byss, force nexuses somewhat common, it was natural he would bring his training here, to empower the connection to both his apprentices in the same way. The one singular desire of their Master, was to unleash their potential, with no holds barred as to the result, putting them against each other was just one more way to do just that.

Today before him would be Jareth who had proven himself capable and was growing in ability, and a new Sith Jardo who would need to earn his name and place here. To earn the right to stand, not only against Jareth, not only as every Sith must, but as the left hand of the Betrayer. He would need to do so when it mattered most, pushed to the edge. Could he stand?

The Kethanite Proving circle:

Dark midnight blue colored smooth metallic floors. The proving circle had a small central circle of blue fire, and outside of it a rounded proving circle, intermittent walls that were lined with nothing but cold hard metal for comfort, or gaps to enter, leading to a rocky surface outside. This place was picked because of the markings of the darkside here, the depth of the connection, alongside much of byss, this was one more tainted biome, more so at this exact spot.

Sixteen Massassi warriors, Sith spawn creatures from Darth Krayt's tomb looked on at the gathering, standing to the sides, hideous red creatures, hulking forms, twisted from the Massassi they used to be. Now in judgment of the worth of the apprentices that would come, they carried a variety of force weaponry by their sides such as pikes, or dangerous looking axes, and non of it looked pretty.

Standing beside the blue fire, Darth Surtr looked into it, the blue flame burned away its certainty, doubt eliminated to those that carried it, because the fire would always remain within them, hungry for more. At least by the time he'd finished with them both!

[member="Jardo Snow"] | [member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

​

Massassi​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo was armed, and he was coming face to face with a man who'd been training far longer than he had. Great, this was gonna be a fun fight. He moved his hand across to the pike strapped across his back, sighing. He knew he'd need to find a way to channel the force into this, otherwise he was going to find himself dead.

[member="Raien Keth"] had set this up, of course. He wanted to see how well his Apprentices could hold their ground. Well, that's what he said, Jardo actually knew that he wanted is to see which one of his Apprentices would be more useful to him. He shook his head, slowly attempting to channel his force into this fight.

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust was kneeling in the Kethanite circle, using the force to take in the surroundings. The Massassi standing about him were powerful creatures, he felt that, Jardo too was strong, though completely raw in his potential. His emotions, Dust felt someone who was... Confident... Perhaps too much, but also a professional by appearance. Not one to make rookie mistakes off the bat. Dust wondered at his masters intent for this situation, but it seemed Jardo was rearing for a fight. Jardo... It sounded so much like Jado that Dust was almost offended at it. He would stand slowly looking across at the other, prepared for what the other might do.*

Dust: "I see my master has chosen another strong within the force"

*Dust would make conversation, bolster the ego of the other, and use his force empathy to influence the mans emotions to further bolster the cocky, headstrong nature that he felt with his empathy ability. If this were meant to be a fight, he would use this weakness to encourage Jardo to make mistakes due to his headstrong nature.*

[member="Jardo Snow"] [member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03F6ydmxXgA​

One of the first things both men would learn about their Master is he did nothing so simple as it first appeared, he played the long conflict. They must prepare themselves for the unexpected here, and endure, as in life any Sith must.

“Jardo and Dust. Many traits you will need in your ascent. Not just this.” Raien levitated out his saber in front of him over the blue fire, catching it and fixing to his belt. “If you wish to know more, and your potential. Follow, if you can.” No further introduction was given to Jardo yet, Raien led a baptism by fire, if there ever was one, it by far bred the strongest students.

For now! Their first challenge was to keep up!

Drawing the darkness of this place into his muscles, digging into the ground for stability, Raien lunged forward, straight through the Massassi warriors blocking the way, which was no small feat, the forward momentum needed to knock one of the huge creatures off its feet and make a hole through was significant.

How would his students follow him? Calling out in the force to them both.

~Each of you has your own method, your own skills, use them, find them, dig deep into the darkside of this place.~ They might use the structure for height, agility, the force, they might fight their way through, sneak, walk, finding their potential and their path was what mattered, not his.

Their Master though a Knight was slower but powerful in short bursts, another lunging jump took him upward toward the blue ridge that overlooked the proving grounds, and loose stone that would make footing difficult. Darth Surtr’s heavy metal boots clawed for grip in his own ascent up the ridge line.

Conquering the Kethanite Ridge, something out of the past, something that would be born again here, in their own way.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo instantly took off, running towards the Massassi Warriors, pike first. However, he knew he wouldn't have the power to fight through them, so instead he dug the pike in the floor, using it and a mix of the force to hurl himself up over them.

Calling upon the force as he jumped over them, Jardo hit a secondary jump, forcing himself even higher, landing on the cliff just behind Raien. He climed for a few moments, surprised that his first use of the force was a force jump. He was happy he had hit it, now he just needed to do it again.

Jardo kicked off a small brick of falling rock, using it to hit a second force jump, throwing himself up above Raien. He was scared at his power, but it excited him to know he was finally calling upon the force. Self trained, shall we say. Though, it might of just been the fact they were on Byss.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust wasn't a power house to barrel through the Massasi like Surtr, and he wasn't a gymnast like Jardo so it took him a moment to consider his course before channeling the power of this planets dark nexus to enhance his empathy ability. The Massassi were placated, emotionally calmed down and Dust walked through their ranks at speed, he didn't need to keep up with Darth Surtr in terms of speed, merely find his particular emotions out and use that to locate him. He continued quickly taking in the surroundings seeing if there was any way to cut the distance between he and his master. His own awareness was tested as he began to climb the ridge, using the force enhancement his master had trained him in to propel himself onto each hand hold in turn. He wasn't going fast and he didn't need to: it was Dust's intelligence as much as his athleticism that gave him strength.*

[member="Jardo Snow"] [member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Each found their own way, themselves, because “growing your own force qualities, your own path in the force is what gives you definition, advantage and strength.” Surtr stated, struggling for grip against the loose stone ridge, but that wasn’t enough, not yet. Any fool with force potential could claim to be a Sith, and anyone could die in obscurity, your own personal talents made you or broke you when it counted.

The Incline.

Looking up as he climbed, darkside welling into his muscles, metal boots cutting out a hole to strengthen his stance, he shoved those same force energies into the ridge’s peak above them. Rock sped up, sped up and cracked, splintering to fall, force resonate, one of his hallmarks. Above them on their climb, chunks of rock came tumbling down toward all three men. Darth Surtr didn’t spare himself, far from it, he took the full force of the stone and endured, the bruises giving him power to push through. He used the pain to leap high and clear to reach the top of the incline, and look down at his apprentices.

The others now faced falling rock, both jagged pebbles and larger fist sized chunks. It was not a high climb to the top of the ridge, but it would likely hurt if they fell. Fall or rise, endure, dodge, throw aside, use their intelligence, all was their choice to define them or perish.

“Show me your strengths.” Surtr’s raspy rebuilt voice called from on high from the top of the proving ridge, while they struggled to conquer their second trial of the day, and you'd be right to think today's trials were only just beginning.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo looked up, watching the rocks fall. He muttered slightly to himself, letting the falling rock hit him. Lucky, they didn't cause much damage, but they did slow him down. He took his time removing the lightsaber from his belt, using it to slowly slice through a peace of falling rock.

Placing the blade back, he kicked off the wall once more, aiming a force jump towards a point on the cliff where he could try and hide from the falling rock. He even took the time to rethink his basic plan, before running back out, launching himself once more up the cliff face, using the falling rock as motivation. He drilled it into his mind that it'd all be over once he powered through it, and he gave everything he had to climb that cliff.

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust saw the rock raining down. He had failed to resonate the doors in their earlier exploration of Byss; however, Dust had been practicing the concepts since then. It was time to reveal his progress. he felt the rocks as they came down and began to resonate them until they shattered outward. The fragile rocks bursted outward from their centers, impacting other pieces of rock and all in all turning it into a harmless shower of pebbles and dust raining down to Dust as he climbed steadily. His ability was still relatively weak, but the dark side empowered environment of the planet allowed Dust more control and strength in his abilities. It accelerated his learning. Soon he found his way to the top of the ridge having slowed his progress little as he threw himself upward using his force enhanced muscles.*

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[Raien Keth]

No rest, none.

As they began to reach the top, their Master lunged again, jumping to a large stone boulder, like he had so many years ago to two other apprentices to look down, posturing? No he had no time for it, he’d picked the spot so he could easily see both. Surtr noted something about both, though they were different they looked with their eyes at what came toward them, most people would, but you didn’t always have your eyes or your mind to rely on.

Both were taken and tested.

Force shadows left him, black smoke and shade welling up from the ground, the darkside made real on the surroundings. Both men had, or in Jardo’s case would, face his force shadows and have to see through them, of course your eyes were useless, but a Sith didn’t need his eyes.

However… he wasn’t testing their eyes.

He was testing their mind, denying them the distraction of the outside world.

~Focus your will, form a shield, a barrier, or an image or a memory, a distraction. You must push me back with only your thoughts, keep me out, deny me or mislead me away from you.~ Their Master's mind echoed out to both me.

Reaching deep down in the force, in his cocoon of shadows, it answered his call, its intensity only bolstered by the nearby proving grounds nexus's taint.

Surtr was a Knight with some skill at this technique, but he was focusing on both men at once, trying to penetrate their minds, to dominant their thoughts, and force them to kneel, painfully. He wasn’t sparing them any pain whatsoever, every training session with him was as real as it would be out there, so you were always prepared for it.

Their Master didn’t want them to kneel but the weak of mind may be crushed to the floor, “push through it, find your own defenses”. He made hard Sith, Sith who were impregnable when trained correctly, but that wasn’t just the body, many opponents would attack your mind just as readily, and they must find their own method of dealing with it.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo slowly bent over, almost forcing himself to stay standing. He'd felt some things in his time, but this was just insane. He knew the memory he would use, but first he had to try and overcome this pain. He groaned, calling upon every last bit of the force he could find. He gave everything he had into forcing the memory into his head.

It worked for slight moments, before it was broken once again. Jardo moaned, forcing another image into his head. He needed something to distract him from the pain. He groaned once more, forcing the image further and further into his mind. He could sort of say it worked. The pain was still there, and man it hurt, but it wasn't as bad as it could of been. The image he was using was of the Dark Lord, he wasn't exactly sure how it would work on Keth, but it sort of helped him.

[member="Raien Keth"]
[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust had faced pain of the body many times, often from this very Echani, but this was the first time he truly felt pain of the mind. Sickening, overwhelming, intense in ways that baffled the imagination: Surtr had truly invaded the mind of Dust. A labyrinth would stretch before Keth. These were the constructs of the mind of Jareth, ground to Dust by Surtr upon their first meeting. The walls of the once noble labyrinth stood in shambles and at the center a building could be seen. The natural protections of the mind of Jareth had been broken by the horrors he had witnessed so lay an open path; all Surtr would need to do is walk straight to the city at the center where he could dominate the mind and force Dust to kneel. Simple in concept, but something waited in the mind of Jareth... Something powerful and chaotic. Dust had begun to black out from sheer force of mental duress. His anchor in the real world faded as he started to kneel. Slowly as Surtr progressed deeper into the mind. This was the moment, even with divided attention Surtr would have the strength to fool with the unprotected and broken mind; however, even as the invasion seemed complete something happened. For a split second Dust was no longer in control, but nor was Surtr. Through the pain it would look up into the eyes of Surtr and let a slight crazed laugh escape. In reality, Surtr would've seen a wild look and a laugh, almost desperate in nature, while Jardo would've merely heard the laugh. In the mind though, Surtr would've seen the face of insanity. For a fraction of a moment Surtr would perhaps even feel the insanity inside his own mind, the contagious crazed laugh might echo in the halls of his own mind, calling him too to break for a moment. A hint of what was to come.*

[member="Jardo Snow"] [member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

In truth this was training even their Master, focusing on two minds at once was difficult, no doubt about it, keeping two attacks in your own head, and deepening the focus on both was no small task. In defense some used invisible walls, steel minds, misleading images, or fear and terror when you entered their mind, each Sith had their own method.

Jardo:

Raien Keth had never met the dark lord, that would need to change in time. His apprentice drew the Betrayer’s focus to pause for a time on the possibility, giving him a moment’s respite. Impressive in his ruse. Eventually he relented, releasing Jardo, the man might feel his Master was satisfied with his ability. ~Focus on showing them what they want to see, or what they think they want to see.~ The Betrayer advised to Jardo in mindspeak, if this was his natural choice of defense, ~it could extend to your luring them into a false sense of victory,~ as one simple example of the possibilities the ruse offered.

Dust:

Jareth on the other hand, was intriguing and it had his Master attentions wandering with no real end in sight, the maze in his mind would prove a formidable defense if designed correctly. ~Focus on leading them in circles, or into traps of your own, to this beast you have.~ Raien advised in mindspeak. He had encountered mazes before but never with the beast at the core. Not dust or Jareth, something else, and something interesting. ~And whoever you are, do not cower inside these walls~ He said through the force to the beast, taunting, to the insanity itself. Chaos wasn’t something to fear, it was something to conquer, it brought swift change and force potential to the surface when crushed into your palm.

Both:

“Never Kneel, but once in your life.” He said to both men, “when you claim your identity as a Sith.” Jareth had already done so, the same would be asked of Jardo by the end.

With that they were released. They had endured and passed another trial, so that when they faced this attack again they might be more resistant to it, enduring. The shadows in front of them however did not stop.

Force Enchancement.

“No time to recover when it counts, use the darkside, draw of it to replace that which you expend, use the force as the tool it is, your tool, and your domain to conquer. It is endless, and so then is your power. The more you become that which others fear to be. Draw deep of it, conquer it, endure it, or become it” Force enhancement, whichever way they chose to use it, they would only grow stronger. Raien Keth had in no small part become what Jedi and often some Sith looked at and withdrew from, sacrificing all he used to be, to make it so.



Force Barrier, learning the hard way.

Fueling his muscles with the darkside, he would give them the technique he lacked, until [member="Kei Amadis"] crystal was returned. “Push a shield around yourselves, visualise it, endure it. " This technique came in many forms, a sphere force of negation and invisible, a visible battering ram, a shimmering translucent shield, a temporary pressure to defect what they now face, or whatever form they could come up with, he had seen it all.

Through the shadows at first, a wave of pebbles would batter both apprentices, small cuts and bruises, unless they acted quickly, and worse was to come as rock was resonated around him, flung at both men, small but building, building the pressure and the challenge.

By the end of this fight, and it was a fight, just not what they were expecting, they would be able to endure far worse, if they were still standing. That went double for their Master who was slowly but certainly tiring himself from this exertion.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo had thought fast a few times. Shooting the Wookie was an example of that, but I don't think he'd ever thought this fast. He felt the pebbles beating against the raw flesh of his face, and he instantly started to imagine the shield on "The Rogue Skipper". It took him a few moments and a large beating before he could visualize that shield around himself.

Yet the beating didn't stop.

Jardo growled, forcing the barrier out further around him, and he felt the small pebbles just bouncing off of it. Yet he looked up and realized that his barrier wouldn't hold those boulders out. So, he did the only thing that he thought of. Dropped the barrier, literally gave everything he had and called upon a Force Enhancement. He waited just a few moments, until he saw a large boulder flying towards him, until he kicked into action, using the force to quickly move the boulder down the edge of the cliff face. It was clear he'd called upon the force, to make the "push" type effect stronger than it should of been.

Jardo dropped to one knee. He had forgotten about the pebbles, and these were starting to hurt. He slowly moved his arm up to a bloody cut on his cheek, and he snapped. He threw out a force barrier with everything he had, causing the pebbles, and even a boulder or two to harmlessly bounce away.

Jardo looked over to [member="Raien Keth"]. He was tiring, which finally meant the beating would stop, which would be lovely. He knew he had signed up for basic hell, but this was overkill. The blood on his cheek proved that. Anyway, Jardo called even more upon the force, trying to push the barrier further out. He wanted to see what he could do. This was a trail to him... well technically it was, and also to [member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"], so yeah...

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust chose a strange route: he was shaken from the words of his master.

~And whoever you are, do not cower inside these walls~

*He had felt it but denied it until that echoing laugh rung out inside his mind. There was something coming. As the pebbles rained toward him he just stood for a moment. He allowed the rocks to batter him, blood started dripping from wounds across his body and a simple phrase flashed behind his eyes, "The best defense is a good offense." He wouldn't shield himself. Did protecting his fiancé work? did shielding Jado work? No. He needed to defend himself proactively. He could see through the darkness, a wall of the force that could obscure a force signature and vision, but not empathy. He could feel the emotions of his master and that showed him where he was. This would be an endurance battle, Dust began to raise the temperature around his master, heating it up to higher and higher temperatures. He condensed the water in the air to better conduct the natural heat in the environment, and then he manipulated the living force to heat that small space of air around Surtr. The dark side energies flowing through the environment made this almost too easy as it took little of his own energy to accomplish the task. The air behind the dark cloud, especially around Surtr would become almost unbearably hot, rising in excess of 130 degrees fahrenheit and climbing slowly from there. The high humidity environment created would conduct that heat excellently directly to the skin of the Echani Sith. It would be like standing in direct sunlight on Iridonia, except with much greater humidity to make the heat stick. He would not cower behind a shield, at least not yet.*

[member="Jardo Snow"] [member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Dust impressed him, the best defense was offense, though force barrier could prove invaluable and be used offensively if you were smart. If your opponent was dead, it didn’t matter either way! A black laugh was evoked from their Master as he began to burn, lacking barrier for now to stay the heat, he was forced to draw his shadows to him, cooling them greatly, force fear and cold aura surrounding his body in a tight shell. Not using ice, a blizzard or heat, this was the energy itself inverted which he preferred to work with, though he had yet to master force or living fire the opposite, perhaps in time.

It meant everything but a tight circle around Raien became visible, and the assault on them ended, holding his shadows around his body, leveling the temperatures out though barely. Dust had already moved ahead. “Good, very good. What is your name?” His gritty voice called to the beast inside dust, dust inside Jareth, he was beginning to see the pattern inside this apprentice, a split personality he had not trained before, but the potential was impressive, a faceless Sith for all occasions. A Sith Master he had long respected named Sorcha was made of similar techniques, and she too loved her fire. “Cease.” He called to the beast, and he would only ask once, a tight grip would form around the beast's neck if he failed to head the call, squeezing and raising him up until he did.

"Force wave, a telekinetic push attack Jardo, it is coming, almost there," he observed through the force, if Jardo continued to use push in this manner. For Jardo's part he saw him fight, and stand, an Echani mind sensed the motion and saw the warrior he could become on his journey. However when someone wanted you really dead, this was nothing, merely a warm up, if a brutal Sith initiation, “you will both need every lesson you have here and then some. As you’ve risen from your knee Jardo, you will never kneel again to any man, you claim your right to be a Sith, and let none take it from you, not Jedi, not Sith, not I, not any challenge you face.”

He looked down upon them, jumping to be at the same level, because they had earned it. “The wounds you have received, what are they?” He spoke to both his apprentices together, “and what have you learned from them?”

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"] | [member="Jardo Snow"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust, or whatever the insanity in his mind might be called, retreated. The living force was left to itself and no more manipulation of the environment would be noticed. The so called beast was forced into its corner within the mind of Jareth and Dust returned fully to reality.*

Dust: "My wounds are weakness as it leaves the body. One hundred different reasons to push on and seek victory. In truth they are strength to me, pushing me to the edge of my limits and a step further beyond."

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]

 

[GhostOfProtocol]

Jardo looked around. He had heard what Raien had said, and he spent a few moments taking in everything before coming up with an answer to his question. "Wounds are but a reminder of what one went through to get here". He smiled, happy with he answer as he watched Raien jump down to him and Jareth. He eyed him lightly, wondering if this was a fight waiting to happen.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]
[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Better they find their own meaning in their wounds, only knowing to do so was enough and he was satisfied, because doubtless before each journey’s were done, they would suffer their share.

“Drop your weapons.” Surtr commanded each and waited till they did so before proceeding, pulling them aside and away. Today was about training force powers, and the bodies ability to endure them, not martial skill, yet.

Tired yes, now they were ready to face each other, and him.

A Large Sith Coin was levitated in front of him, extended out between all three. “A relic of an ancient Sith meditation sphere, small connecting events and objects like this have the power to shape all that follow them.” As these few Valarith coins had done on many worlds, tainted with the darkside they had power over those that held them for long enough, tainting them the same. Influencing the currency of worlds in times past to bring them further into line with Sith symbolism and development.

“Take it, if you can, the force is yours to demand results from, command it here.” This was one of six remaining coins in his possession and quite valuable, beyond that it was a darkside relic, their first if they could claim it.

If either moved to grab it physically, he’d shift the golden Sith coin higher out of their way, while if they force pulled they’d meet resistance, what then was the answer? That was up to them, and then they had each other to worry about, because only one was taking it and victory home.

Behind his mask Surtr’s focus deepened on both. Physically and mentally battered, now they were ready to see what they had left, when they went beyond what they thought possible.

Spoiler

Coin Sub in his signature.

[member="Jardo Snow"] | [member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust dropped his saber and the secondary saber from his earlier exploration with his master. He began focusing on the task at hand, feeling the force flow through him. The dark power of Byss fueled his strengths and his empathy slowly began to influence the emotions of Jardo. Jardo might feel a slight tingle in the back of his mind, he would find his feelings shifting toward arrogance and his own power. Yes, he was a powerful warrior, well trained and deadly. He had made so many leaps in his force potential in such a short time, almost able to create a force wave. Jumping huge leaps when it wasn't long ago that he did not even know how to feel the force around him. All of these thoughts and feelings might flow into Jardo's mind, all pushing him toward his natural tendency to an ego through force Empathy. Perhaps causing him to make a brash move, or even just the first move. This was a fight, win or lose something was there to be gained, and Dust would try to use his fellow apprentice to gain himself victory. All the while Darth Surtr and Jardo might notice that the usually calm skies of Byss would begin to darken, more quickly than one might expect. A storm was brewing and they were at the epicenter, but how could this storm be used?*

[member="Raien Keth"] [member="Jardo Snow"]