Final Casting Call (Drake Shadowstalker)

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The word had gone out less than twenty-four hours ago: a coded message, delivered to Drake's quarters. It contained a set of coordinates accurate to a hundred metres, and nothing else.

Je'gan sat comfortably at his desk, tinkering with a bit of circuit board. The desk, and all the furnishings of the room, were made of solid Shadow. So, for that matter, was the room, and the tower itself. The sheer work it had taken was ridiculous, but it was sufficient for his purposes, and nobody, but nobody, would approach a glossy black tower in the middle of the jungle, which tower emitted a palpable feeling of negative emotion of every conceivable variety. That he was still fine-tuning it was a downside, true, but he had other ways in which to occupy himself when that grew boring.

The Sith Knight's mind was questing. When Drake arrived, Je'gan would be at the stairs out front, waiting for him...and advising him not to touch the stairs, the low wall that stretched in a rang around the tower, or anything made of that same infinite black.

Or at least, not yet.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

The Sith Apprentice arrived at the dwelling place of Je'gan. The building looked to be made out of the same substance that Drake was trying to learn the mastery of.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Welcome to Shadows' Hold.

The telepathic voice was loud enough to set off echoes inside Drake's head. Watching his greatest Apprentice closely, Je'gan descended the stairs with cloak flowing out behind him.

You recognize it for what it is. You can command the first stage of Shadow...this is the second, which I will teach you to make today.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Olra'en's voice echoed inside the Sith Apprentice's head. He nodded his head in response and remained silent.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The Sith Knight cocked his head.

You seem...unenthused. Troubles? No longer satisfied with your teacher, perhaps?

[Drake Shadowstalker]

"I am merely working on showing no outward emotion. I think it better for someone to have to guess at what I am feeling, rather then know outright."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Colour me impressed, Drake. You're thinking like a Sith.

Lift that rock, please.

The boulder in question was just that, a boulder, wieghing easily four or five hundred pounds. Such a task would take prolonged effort, but Je'gan was confident that it was within his student's capacity.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

The immense size of the boulder did not daunt the Sith Apprentice. He was accustomed to such challenges and this was no different. Drake relaxed himself and brought his anger forth. It rose like a tidal wave within him and he projected it outward. He could feel the Force enveloping the boulder. In the recesses of his mind, the Sith Apprentice willed the boulder to lift off the ground. He pictured it in his mind. The struggle was well fought, for the boulder eventually began to inch off the ground and hung suspended in air. With effort, Drake continued to levitate the boulder.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Very good. I assume you still have respectable energy reserves?

[Drake Shadowstalker]

"Of course."

The verbal communication broke the concentration of the Sith Apprentice and the boulder dropped back to the ground, sinking slightly into the earth.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Good. Let's move on.

There is a prisoner in the bottom levels of my tower. I would like you to read the name running through his head, identify the three emotions he feels in conjunction with that name, and then give him the will to break through the Shadow that makes up his cell's door.

Mindreading, Drake could do. Sensing emotions, Drake could do. Enhancing a mental attribute was something else entirely. Severe creativity would be needed, first to find the necessary thought-node out of thousands and then inflate it by injection of Drake's own willpower. Mentalics was about ingenuity, after all, and Je'gan couldn't think of many better tests.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake reached out towards the depths of Olra'en's tower. He felt the life force of the man being held prisoner. The name going through his mind was easy to learn, Sith. The emotions were all on the surface and easily read. Fear, Anger, and Apprehension.

The next part was without a doubt the most difficult. Forcing the man to do something against his will. Drake ran through all the things that the Sith Knight had taught him and began to breakdown the mind of the prisoner.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Eyes slitted, Je'gan observed both Drake's mind and the prisoner's closely. His commands were not being fulfilled to the letter - but he'd almost rather have it this way. Drake was and had always been highly independent, and Je'gan saw no reason to break that.

That's right. Focus on the self-control, suffocate it, infiltrate his mind. Make him believe he can break through with only minor pain.

The efficacity of his Apprentice's mind control impressed Je'gan deeply, and he couldn't help but let that be seen. Drake was ready for Knighthood, that much was certain. A handful of other tests would be administered, after which Je'gan would teach some new skills.

And then...

Well, that was anyone's guess.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake succeeded in infilterating the mind of the prisoner and giving him the thoughts and notions that he could escape through the Shadow that comprised his cage. The Sith Apprentice felt the life force of the man ebb as he tried to break through the Shadow. Within seconds the life force was gone and the prisoner lay dead on the ground.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Excellent. Now...Illusion. Do the best you can. Surprise me.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Illusion was one of the things that Drake had been working on since Olra'en had first introduced it to him. Perhaps he could really impress his mentor. The Sith Apprentice knew a good illusion to perform. A Wompa...

Drake began by picturing the beast clearly in his mind. He made sure that the detail was superb and no one but a Force user would be able to recognize that it was in fact an illusion. When he thought he had succeeded, Drake projected the image outward. The illusion was one of the biggest he had attempted to create but his confidence in his abilities was strong.

After a few moments a Wampa did indeed materialize, appearingly, out of mid-air. The beast roared and Drake directed the illusion at Olra'en.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good," he said unflinchingly as the creature's immaterial claws passed through his head. "Very good. Now...change how you look, and match the face to your own expressions."

[Drake Shadowstalker]

The third task that Olra'en had set for the Sith Apprentice was difficult and not one that he had practiced nor been taught. Drake went through the preparations in his mind and began. The process was slow and Drake was hardly aware if he was doing it correctly. AFter a while he thought his appearance had changed enough and he maintained it.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The scars were gone, for one thing, which gave Drake's new face an entirely different aspect. The senior Apprentice would have been unrecognizable as an unscarred version of himself.

But Drake seemed to have gone beyond that...and Je'gan, yet again, confessed himself impressed.

"Good. Now fight me."

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake allowed the illusion to fade and his scarred face became visible once more. The Sith Knight would now have Drake fight him. This was something the Sith Apprentice was more then willing to comply with.

During combat was when Drake felt most comfortable. Only then could he fully unmask his anger and unleash it as a powerful offensive force.

He pulled back his cloak and withdrew the lightsaber that Olra'en had given to him only recently. Drake had of course practiced many hours with the blade. It had taken time for him to get use to the lightness of the weapon. It was unlike anything he had wielded in the past. The weapon was just as likely to kill the one using it if the wielder was unskilled.

Drake ignited the blade and the solid shaft of light erupted from the handle. The deep red glow reflected on the face of the Sith Apprentice and made him appear even more sinister.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I didn't tell you to pull out a weapon, Drake," Je'gan said quietly as he withdrew Magor's curved hilt from underneath his cloak. The blade that hissed forth to wave menacingly in the air was a pure sky-blue.

He was not unaware of the irony.

"I said to fight me."

Magor spun in his hand as he stepped adroitly in with his left foot. A quick horizontal slash to Drake's shins stopped half-way and flicked up for a similar strike at the older man's breastbone.

"Use anything you wish, of course. You're a Sith Knight. Act like it."

[Drake Shadowstalker]

The Sith Apprentice brought his saber up and absorbed Olra'en's blow. Drake countered and swung at the Sith Knight's abdomen.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan brought his arms high and rotated his wrists a hundred eighty degrees, pointing his blade straight down to bat Drake's attack aside. Without hesitation, he pushed off towards Drake with his back leg and yanked his left hand - now the higher one due to the weapon's inverted hilt - back, scything the blade up point-blank.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake pivoted on his back foot and twisted his torso just in time and the blade of the Sith Knight sliced through nothing but air. As he straightened himself, the Sith Apprentice swung with both hands at the back of Olra'en.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

As Je'gan flew past Drake, his shoulders began to turn, bringing his left arm over his head and Magor to a vertical block behind his back. The two blades clashed viciously, and then Je'gan was past, touching down with his forward foot and wrenching it to pivot on his toe.

Spinning, he came around to face Drake and immediately advanced to close range with a flicking stab for the older man's forward knee.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake, holding his saber in both hands, rotated his wrists away from his body. The blade of the weapon swung down and pointed at the ground. Quickly, the Sith Apprentice swung to the left and connected with Olra'ens blade as he stabbed. He kept contact with the blade and attempted to swing it in a wide arc over both of their heads.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Rather than resist the move, Je'gan went with it. His blade moved just a hair faster than Drake's, arcing around for a tip-of-the-blade slash at his erstwhile student's right pectoral.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake's blade can down from the arc and knocked the Sith Knight's saber askew. He took a stab at Olra'en's midsection.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

...parried, as Je'gan pulled his lightsaber up and yanked back and to the side with his elbow. Drake's weapon hissed past the Sith Knight's chest; raising his free left hand, Je'gan raised the stakes with a focused telekinetic blast, a Force-push of mid to high Apprentice level concentrated into a beam an inch wide.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake was not prepared for the force push and it hit him full blast. The amount of power used was minimal, for if Olra'en had used his best push, the Sith Apprentice would have been in the air for a while. Nonetheless, Drake was knocked briefly from his feet and landed firmly on the ground a few paces back.

Cursing himself silently, the Sith Apprentice flipped back onto his feet. He had become to focused on the two sabers and neglected any possible force usage. The Sith Knight had obviously been aware of this and exploited it.

Drake came to within striking distance of Olra'en. He feigned an attack to the right before opening a barrage of hacks and slashes.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"That's right," Je'gan growled over the hiss of blades, parrying for all he was worth. His left hand found its way to Azubah's hilt for stronger blocking. "Use your anger, Drake. Blast me into oblivion and take my place, my rank. Lord Shadowstalker, Sith Knight of TSO. Has something of a-" Crack, snap. "-ring to it, does it not?"

Je'gan began to ease his way forward, tightening the range at which their blows were being exchanged.

"You've proven yourself," he said, taking advantage of a brief pause in their duel.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake's blade froze in mid-strike. He flicked the igniter, and with a hiss, the shaft of light disappeared into the hilt. The expression of the Sith Apprentice did not change in the slightest. However, he couldn't help but feel proud of himself. Olra'en's approval meant more to Drake then he had originally presumed. Drake nodded his head and remained silent.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan, too, hit the switch to turn off his lightsaber - and hit it again an instant later, blade only half-retracted. In the blink of an eye, Drake was staring at the tip of Je'gan's lightsaber.

"You trust your Master..." Je'gan said slowly. "That's good; that's very good. You've come a long way, Drake."

His lightsaber returned to his belt as he walked over to the railing of the staircase and patted it.

"Time for this. Make me some Shadow, please - first stage, the stuff you already know how to make."

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake had mastered the basics of the Shadow technique and could form it with ease. He brough his arm half-way up with his palm facing towards the sky. He went through the process, which took very little time. The Shadow materalized and enveloped his hand. The tendrils of the substance waved in the air.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good. Now...come with me. Don't touch the walls or floors with anything other than the soles of your shoes."

He travelled up the stairway into the atrium of the tower, where there were shadows.

"Before we start this, I have to tell you about another of my Apprentices, Zereth Lancer. He's very interested in stealth, and he has a technique whereby he actually manipulates the shadows around him through the Force to obscure himself from sight. I looked into it, and I found that there are...well, let's see if I can explain this right.

"The Force is in everything - and though it's a more than a bit melodramatic, the Dark Side is in fear. Fear, and emotions like it, are associated with shadows. That association, somehow or other, can be found through the Force. It took me a while, so I'm going to just transfer the knowledge of how to find that to you in a minute.

"So I hit on a plan. I decided I would link Shadow to the reality, the existence of shadows and catapult the Shadow into existence. When I did that..." He gestured around. "I got something like this. Black, pliable, all the corrosive properties of the original. Not made of atoms or particles of any kind, which is very important: it can't conduct electricity or heat.

"With me so far? If so, reach into my mind. The knowledge of how to find the cues in the shadows is there, as is the knowledge of how to force Shadow into existence. It takes a fair bit of power," he warned, "but once it's summoned, you can control it without any power expenditure at all."

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Drake delved within the mind of the Sith Knight, searching for the knowledge that would assist him in solidizing Shadow.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

That's right...keep looking...but be prepared for resistance...

A crown appeared in the plane of Je'gan's mind, iron set with diamonds. Before it, the darkness of the Sith Knight's mind coalesced into a figure of purest black.

Come take it, if you can.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

The Sith Apprentice willingly excepted the challenge that Olra'en had set before him. And like all others, he would prove up to the task. He dug deeper and deeper within the recesses of the Sith Knight's mind. Resistance was encountered as promised and did not catch Drake offguard. Snakelike he moved through the mind of Je'gan, twisting and turning.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Drake's evasions and deceptions were good, Je'gan admitted subconsciously, even as he began to block off each probe in a box and force it out. The traps were specific and convoluted; should Drake get even one probe past them to get the knowledge Je'gan guarded, his training in mentalics would be effectively complete, sans only a few subtleties.

[Drake Shadowstalker]

Frustration began to settle over the Sith Apprentice as Olra'en continued to evade his attempts at searching out the knowledge. He could feel the Sith Knight fighting off his attempts. He just needed to break through one time. Exhaustion would eventually settle in and leave him without anything, he needed to hurry.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan allowed himself to feel no sympathy for his Apprentice as, ruthless, he clamped down on the tendrils of thought. If Drake couldn't do it...well, he wanted to specialize in combat anyways. It wasn't the sole determinant in Knighthood, even Knighthood by Je'gan's standards. If Drake could manage to do it, though, the Sith Knight would be highly pleased.

And that entailed...rewards, rewards not limited to the knowledge of how to form second-stage Shadow.