Winter woes and aspirations.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

The chill in the air was brisk and the silence eerie. Winter had come to the mountains of Meras and the white peaks surrounded the robes figure that strode, trudging through the snow. If not for his large wide feet, he would probably be swallowed up by the sea of white completely.

His feet were bare and were the one indicator beneath the dark robes of who this figure could be, for there were no others in the universe with his characteristics. His race was all but extinct and those, whom had crossed his path, had met the same fate as his clan. That fate was death.

Today however did not appear to be an average day for this one, it was rare that he ventured this high among the peaks of the mountains of Meras. But this was where he had told his most loyal and longest standing apprentice to meet with him, at the very top of the highest peak in the range.

The time of that meeting was drawing nearer and nearer, just as the winds swirled more and more fiercely the higher the green beast known as Ogre strode.

At such an altitude there weren’t even any trees to protect one from the elements, but that was of no concern to the Sith Master. His metabolism was not the same as a majority of the creatures that populated the universe. Heat and cold had little effect on one that was as connected to nature as those of his race were, or more accurately, had been.

This would be a day of reckoning, of testing fortitude and strength, This would be the day that Darth Hera had longed for. This would be her day, and it would happen on the world that Ogre called home, in its most unforgiving place.

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**This was horrible. Her Master had bid her to visit the mountains of Meras and be prepared for anything. She knew not why, and she definitely knew that questioning his commands was not something that she would be advised to do.

He had set out hat same morning and had taken a different path than the one he had instructed her to. So with her weapons and a great deal of furs, robes and coverings she was on her way, moving up the slope to the place where Ogre had told her to wait.

She should have arrived where she was going at about the same time that Ogre would arrive where it was he had set out for, but she wasn’t as good at traveling through these conditions as her large beastly master was.

From a distance all that could be seen on the mountain side was a small brown speck againt the ocean of white snow. Her condition was good only because she was so well protected from the elements, but traveling and making good time without skis or snowshoes was very difficult as she gained altitude. It was so difficult that she lay on her stomach and began to traverse the slope in what almost appeared as a crawl.

She would do as her Master bid her, or she would die trying.**

[DarthHERA]

The terrain below her had changed dramatically over the past hour. The heavy woods of Meras had thinned and gradually disappeared altogether. The thick pine-scented forrest had given way to ever thinner and sparsely needled trees, scrawny and forlorn in their defiance as they clinged to the upper regions of the Mountain. But too, inevitably they were subdued by the rugged climate and inhopsitable environment until there was only the jagged outcropping of rock, blanketed by the pristine softness of the winter snows.

The speeder hummed through the chilled air. Now and again the wind buffeted the machine as it moved relentlessly forward and Hera had to hold tightly to keep it level.

She was wrapped tightly in Wampa skins, the thick rich fur encasing her body in warmth. She had on gloves made of Gungan hide, its leathery texture thick enough to help block out the cold, but thin enough to be functional and allow her to grip the speeder properly.

The landscape below was breathtaking in its beauty. Hera should appreciate it, but her mind was elsewhere.

The summons from Ogre was breif and to the point. She was afraid she had done something to raise his anger, though she could not think what. But that made no sense considering the place appointed for her to meet him. If he planned to chastise her, he could do that as easy in his Cave as anywhere else. Puzzled, she pressed forward.

She continued on, thoughts scattering on all types of possibilites and the world below her sped by in a crystal white blur.

[Aseloth]

This was most unusual. He watched from a distance as two of the main occupants of the cave where his brethren lived, hiked into the distance, their paths splitting and each of them heading up two separate mountains, both on foot.

His large dominating form began to shine and take another shape. A shape of one of the creatures he had encountered here on the new world his brethren had brought him to. Where there once stood a twenty-foot tall blue monstrosity, there now stood a white wolf, the wolf went trotting along, following the path of the female that had departed Ogre’s cave on foot.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

The crunching of the snow beneath his bare feet ceased as he stopped for a moment. The hooded head nodded slightly, as he confirmed what his senses told him was true. She was on her way to where he had directed. It would not be too much longer and this task would be underway. Even though from a certain perspective, it already was.

Only a few minutes longer traveling up the side of the mountain and Ogre stood a top its expansive mesa type peak. The terrain was nothing more than barren expanse, covered with drifts of snow and swirling with ungodly cold winds and no sign at all of anything having visited here in the last twenty four hours.

No tracks, no droppings, no foliage, no caves. This was probably the most inhospitable place on the entire planet. A fact, which made it the perfect place for what was about to take place.

[DarthHERA]

She eased back on the throttle, and the speed of her transport , (some of the windchill along with it), slowed notably. The green glow of the digital navigation-con read that she was coming into her approach line for the co-ordinates her Master had given her.

Idling the machine along slowly, Hera turned her head to scan the surrounds and an unhappy scowl formed on her face. Is he mad? What on earth is the Giant thinking?? A more bleak horizon Hera had never seen.

Though the rush of wind from the speeding transport had slowed, it still gusted in spurts and pulled rudely at her protective furs. Hera hated the cold.

She tugged out her feild glasses that hung from around her neck from nestling inside her clothing. As she veiwed the landscape, it took only seconds for them to lock onto the heat and motion of the individual who just now was arriving at the peak of the mountain. Dropping the glasses back into place, Hera accellerated and within moments arrived to the appointed place.

She shut off the speeder and climbed down, somewhat clumsily, from off it. Ogre stood there, watching her arrival and Hera thought again, as she always did whenever she saw him, what a formiddable being he was. She had always taken much pride in being his apprentice. His name was feared far and wide and a dark pleasure was Hera's whenever she heard of any of his successes. She tried to live up to his expectations, and whatever he required of her from this summons, she would give all she had to accomplish it and make him proud he was her Master.

She stood before him, looking up to him and though her teeth were gritted in response to the severe cold, she managed a breif smile.

"You planning a tea-party?"

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**She was getting closer and closer to her goal. The place her Master had ordered she go, and be prepared for anything. But traveling in these conditions and by the method Ogre had also specified had taken its toll. Clumps of ice and snow, covered the furs she was wrapped in as her crawling through the snow became slower and slower.

The extreme cold had affected her severely and she was already suffering from hypothermia. It seemed that she may not make it to where she had been ordered, and she would end up dying where she now stopped moving. The brown speck on the side of the mountain began to become obscured, as snow covered her still form.**

[Aseloth]

Moving through the snow in his current form was a simple thing. In his natural form it wouldn’t be all that difficult either. Being one with his environment was something that the ancient Kashirian always strived to achieve.

He had been following the clone for sometime. Remaining a distance behind, and now he noticed that her perseverance to achieve whatever it was she was doing here had come to some kind of end, or possibly she was only resting. The stillness of her body made that much apparent.

The white wolf moved closer and Aseloth used the senses inherent with the form he was in, sniffing at her body and prodding her face with his nose. Her scent did not reek of death, but her body did not seem as warm as it should be.

Unlike the clone, Aseloth was not under anyone’s individual instructions and cold do whatever he pleased or whatever he was moved to do by his own desires. Curiosity and the gathering of information regarding beings was one of his primary driving forces in his life and he found himself wanting to know more about this one, something that would require that she continue living.

Judging by the temperature of her body and the shallowness of her breathing, something would need to be done and need to be done soon, so that she would not perish in these elements.

The form of the white wolf began to shimmer with an unnatural light. With this glow the form began to mold and change, taking on a new shape. In seconds, Aseloth stood next to her in his natural form, dwarfing her body with his immense size.

A giant blue hand reached out and moved towards the fallen clone.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He didn’t respond to her question immediately, instead he moved towards the vehicle she had used to make her way to this meeting place. A bare clawed hand protruded from the robes and touched the surface of the metal, running along its sheen surface.

He stopped in what appeared to be admiration of the machine and turned to face his Disciple, a grin growing across his visage most likely from the comment she had made, or possibly even an indicator of something which he had planned, something that could quite possibly be very sinister.

“The keys are still inside it, I assume?”

His hand at his side patted the side of the speeder, making her certain of what he was speaking.

He was going to keep her wondering why he had summoned her to this place a little longer. Perhaps it would serve to anger her, and that anger would serve what he had in mind quite well.

[DarthHERA]

Oh no...He's got that look in his eye.

Hera knew something was going on. (Of course, it didnt take a genious, based on the location of their meeting, to figure Ogre had something planned). But now, looking at him - the slow deliberate way he touched the speeder - knowing on a whim he could destroy the vehicle and leave Hera to walk the long...very long...way back to the her ship. In these conditions it would be a test of endurance she was not excited to take. The cold and harshness of the environment didnt seem to touch him, and it wouldnt - his race were inherently designed to endure such extremes. Hera had no such fortune.

She took another glance about her at the desolateness of this mountain top and unconsciously moved closer to the speeder - as if that would help any.

"The keys are right there, Master." pointing to the side of the console.

"Can I ask what is our purpose for being on this forsaken ice-cube?"

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He turned and his eyes followed where she pointed. As he made visual contact with the keys, he raised a hand and they came flying to it. Closing his hands around the keys his grin grew even larger.

“Our purpose?” He said, turning and waking away from the speeder which he now held the keys for in his grasp.

After taking a few steps away from it, he turned to see that she was still standing beside the machine, bewilderment written all over her features.

“This way Hera.” His head cocked in the direction he had been walking.

“With what I have in mind, you will not be needing that machine.”

She could see his head shake slightly as if he were chuckling, but not so blatantly as doing it out loud and obnoxiously, at least not yet.

[DarthHERA]

The keys were swallowed up in the huge green fist. She stiffled the groan that rose in her throat. This did not bode well.

Ogre was in a good mood, that much was obvious from his grin. Hera had been his apprentice long enough to know that smile only meant one thing. Pain. Hers.

She stood and watched for a moment as he turned and moved without effort thru the deep snow. With a nod of his head, he directed her to follow him and his humor at her dismay didnt go unnoticed.

Stepping quickly to catch up beside him, having to take two or three steps to his every one, the snow flicking up with each stride made it even harder to keep his pace. She thought how infuriating he could be when he delayed telling her things. He could just come out and tell her, would that be to much to ask??

Ogre trudged along, still slightly ahead of her. "You realise, you arent guarding your thoughts, Hera."

She immediately reigned in her mind, cursing herself for an idiot, and focused on keeping up and keeping warm.

"Yes, Master."

A slight nod was all the acknowledgement of the noted rebuke and the pair continued forward.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

The two continued through the snow for only a minute or so, finally coming to the edge of a cliff. Ogre’s grin grew even wider as he looked over the precipice at the scene before him. Slowly his head turned and he looked to Hera, still smiling wide and wickedly.

“Do you see that mountain across the valley?”

A crooked green finger pointed directly ahead of where they stood. Hera nodded in the affirmative, cursing to herself for having to stand stationary for these few moments, because doing so allowed the cold to set in even more so, but this time she guarded her thoughts.

“I want you to travel there…..” His grin was still present and grew even wider as he spoke. “…by foot, and get something for me then bring it back here.”

[DarthHERA]

Standing on the edge, Hera felt slightly lightheaded. The direct drop, combined with the sudden gusts of wind that threatened to whip her over the edge, served to make her stomach flip. Ogre stood there like a mountain himself, feet firmly planted in the snow.

As he pointed out the mountain in the distance, she pulled the wampa skins tight around her throat to block out the icey wind that had found a small opening and was stabbing at her with its frozen claws.

Keeping her voice as level as was physically possible she asked him, "What is it you require?"

[Aseloth]

No sooner did the giant hand of the blue beat touch the fallen form of the clone then there was a blinding flash of light. This flash of light was typical of Aseloth’s ability. It occurred whenever he made purposeful and semi-prolonged contact with another creature. It was a transfer that would give him the ability to mimic her form.

This time was somewhat different than the other times he had used his ability to mimic. Usually the contact wasn’t as prolonged as this, as he lifted her from the snow and examined her limp, cold body. The magic traits of his mimic ability were still coursing through her every cell.

This had an effect, and one that neither of them would fully understand the total effects of, but the most noticeable one, was the fact that her body was growing warmer and her natural color coming back into her face. The magic from the Kashirian Demi-God was purging the hypothermia and making her healthy, though there was more happening than met the naked eye.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

“I want you to bring me the head of Leia Solo. She awaits on top of that mountain.”

The sparkle in his eyes told her there was something very sinister afoot here.

"I'll trade these keys for her head, and also bestow something else to you besides the gift of a speedy trip out of this frigid winter-land."

The hand he held the keys in opened for a moment and jingled them with a slight purposeful shake.

[DarthHERA]

He was such a tease.

Nothing like leading the horse with a proverbial carrot.

The keys, well yes, they would be a benefit. Hera was already feeling the chill begin to settle in on her, having stood still for this short time. If one stopped for too long on this snow-cone, one would stop forever.

But Ogre alluded to something else. A prize to be hers if she was to complete his bidding. She hadnt felt a hunger such as this in a long time.

But something seemed odd. "Leia Solo?"

She turned to look directly at him, undaunted by his wicked grin.

"The Jedi, Leia Solo is waiting somewhere on that mountain?"

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

“She is not ‘Jedi’ Leia Solo, but from what I understand you have met whom I speak of.”

He paused for a moment, closing his hand around the keys once more.

“Is my demand a problem?”

[DarthHERA]

Ahhh...the clone

Hera had met Dark Jedi Leia Solo once when recently visiting Meras, or rather, visiting Ogre's bar on Meras,with Lady Athena. And now the Jedi look-alike was to loose her head. And loose it Leia would. Hera was used to accomplishing the tasks Ogre required of her in the past and she intended this to be no different. The motivation was simple - her Master required it. The fact that there was a personal reward for this would only serve to make her more determined to despatch the unfortunate clone more swiftly.

Not even a slight feeling of remorse pricked at Hera's mind. She had liked the clone well enough - it was nothing personal. And with this cold calculated frame of mind Hera answered her masters question.

"Of course not, Ogre. It will be done as you have asked."

She held her annoyance in check - that he would even ask her such a thing rubbed her the wrong way. She saw it as a slight on her loyalty and committment. Perhaps it was a deliberate comment, designed exactly for that reason. Ogre knew how to push her buttons more than anyone. Instead she let it begin a slow-burn inside her to add to her aggressive bent.

She wanted more information if Ogre would give it to her.

"Is there any thing else I should know? Things I should be aware of? Can I take my nav-com device from off the speeder?" Though she could see the mountain clearly from where she stood, once down in the valley again, among the giant trees, it would be harder to get her bearings. She could do it without it, but the nav-com would save time.

She waited to see if Ogre would offer more information or instruction.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

His hand moved into the dark obscurity of his robes. And he looked at her as if puzzled.

“I have told you what is desired and I have told you that your machine awaits when you return.”

His voice grew louder with each word.

“You will not require any more unnatural assistance than what you already carry on your person!”

His eyes had a very different look in them now. Where there had once been sinister amusement there was now a kindling rage, kindling more and more with each passing second that he was questioned. It could be that he was still manipulating her emotions, or it could be that he was genuinely perturbed, she had no way of telling for certain.

[DarthHERA]

Hera's look hardened as Ogre's voice rose in volume.

So, practicalities are to forfeit to instant obedience? So be it.

That was all she needed to know. He seemed genuinely displeased with her and that angered her.
With an low snarl she bowed her head and glanced up at him from hooded eyes.

"I will find where you are and bring the head to you."

She bowed to him in parting even though she felt far from submissive right now.

Personal reward or not, he would have his bloodied trophy.

She turned and began to trek southward, moving parallel along the edge of the cliff, the mountain across the valley in her sight.

She knew how she would make her descent, but had to find the correct starting point.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He watched her move away, until the snowfall obscured her form from sight. He then turned and walked back over by her speeder, moving to sit in the fresh fallen snow. Reaching out in front of him, he began to chant and mash the snow before him into the ground, working it around until it was a sheen surface of ice. His chanting grew in volume and seemed to be in an ancient and not widely known dialect.

[DarthHERA]

The snow fell endlessly. Now and again the wind whipped up from the cliff and a white tunnel whirled around the fur-bundled figure.

Hera trudged forward, the hood of the wampa skins pulled completely forward and fastned to the neck of the furs. The garments were designed for full-body protection with small openings for sight and breathing, the fur trimmed low to allow vision, though this sometimes was obscured when the wind blew from one or the other side. She was well insulated. She, in fact, looked every bit a wampa - except of course for height and girth. And teeth. Hera completely blended into the white landscape, the fur being of the same color.

She had left her Master almost an hour ago, and still she was chaffing at the bit. Annoyed with herself. Annoyed with him. Sometimes she seemed to be in an eternal bad mood. And the cold wasnt helping. Despite the insulation of the fur, she felt cold. It was radiating up through her booted feet.

She was feeling tired too. It was hard going, the resistance of the deep snow with each step, the buffeting of the wind. The treeline was still a very long way off, which meant no shelter whatsoever from the elements. Fatigue was a very real element and time would be the deciding factor in defeating it.

Every now and then Hera stopped and turned toward the sheer drop of the ridge, scanning carefully and then returning again to the southward trek. Another 40 minutes had past and she turned, as had become her habit, again toward the ridge, the mountain she was to get to still looming far off in the distance.

Standing at the edge, she again scanned carefully. She looked upward at the sun - a dull glow from behind heavy snow-laden cloud covered sky. Its position allowed her 5-6 hours more before night would set in and the temperatures drop drastically from where they already were.

She looked down again at the cliff, its ragged, icy surface harsh and unforgiving. Further down the cliff face jutted unevenly lengthwise for long stretches, but that didnt start until further down.Here will have to do
It was not the best, but time would not allow here the luxury of being choosey. She needed the fastest way down from the exposure of this completely barren mountaintop.

Unfastening a clasp of her coat, Hera reached in through the layers and retreived the Morphal Crest (http://pub8.ezboard.com/ftheacropolisfrm10.showMessage?topicID=23.topic) from about her body. The weapon unwrapped from about Hera's waist and began its deep blue glow, its properties becoming fluid and pliable as its Mistress touched it both physically and mentally. She knelt down and balancing herself with one hand, she leant forward. With her other hand, she took one end of the Morphal Crest and conveying in her mind to the creature what she envisioned it to do, she drove one end like a small spike into the rock-hard ice surface of the cliff.

The Morphal Crest, a creature with incredible strength and inate morphing capabilites had been subdued and mastered by Hera many months before. It was her own created weapon and now, she would see just what it was capable of. The Sith continued to chanel via her link with the creature and it immediately stretched out itself in a type of descending zig-zag manner along the surface and at various intervals and drove itself into the ice to make 4 U-shaped hooks, or holds, into the cliff face.

Satisfied, Hera pulled on the end of her whip, coiled at her hip, just enough for easy grasping should she need it and with one glance again at the sun, she about faced and swung her legs carefully over the edge.

Finding first one foot-hold, she pushed hard on it. It felt solid and she knew that it would. The bio-ore it was made of was stronger than tempered steel. Add to that the fact that it has a will that had been harnessed only after hours and hours of bombardment by the darkside forces Hera had brought to bear in its forging.

Edging herself carefully over she grasped hold of the hand-holds first one, then the other. The Morphal Crest remained steadfast and Hera could feel its power even through the link in her mind.
The wind gusted in spurts and threatened to pull her from her precarious position. Hera summoned the inner force-strength and steeled herself against the unseen enemy. The Gungan leather gloves aided in grip and for the first time Hera was happy the species existed. Once lower down where the cliff jutted out more, she would have some form of shelter from the dangerous winds.

She edged down bit by bit, gaining a foothold on a small jagged outcropping moving one hand down a hold, then the other foot to another outcropping, and again the other hand. Reaching across with one hand to the cliff face, and holding the Crest with the other, she directed it to partly withdraw itself and stretchdown and reinsert itself in the cliff as it had before, making 2 more holds for her to continue down.

The progress was slow and exacting and the sun journeyed its sure trek across the sky. Light and temperature decreasing as it did so.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

The snow drifts that surrounded the green Sith upon the barren tundra of the mountain top which he sat near the middle of seemed to tremble and wither down to where there were all but gone, becoming yet another part of the monotonous landscape. Taking away any signs of uniqueness and beauty, from the landscape.

His chant ebbed with such evil power and energy that it effected a great deal of the environment around, but in this harsh and unforgiving place, it was hard to see much more than the vanishing drifts of snow.

The sheen surface of the ice before where the Sith Master sat began to radiate a color, very different than that of the whiteness that was all around this place. It became grayish and cloudy in the area that Ogre sat and images began to form in the surface of the ice.

The images were of another place, a bird’s eye view of what appeared to be the very landscape and scenery that he now occupied. But it was not the exact same place he now was, for in the vision provided, one could see the form of a person, working heir way down the ragged, and treacherous cliff wall.

Ogre now had his view of what was occurring with the mission that he had appointed his disciple. The players were all set, the show was nearing its time to begin.

[DarthHERA]

She pressed herself hard against the freezing cold surface, face and body coushioned from its roughness by the thick fur of her coverings. The sheen ice of the cliff had gradually given way to course rough rock and the occasional small spindly brush whose seeds had miraculously lodged in the small crevices and despite all odds, life had sprung up and bravely hung on.

Her fingers of one hand flexed and stretched as far as they could to grasp onto the jutted rock to the right of her. Her one leg stretched across also in the same direction, inching her booted toes onto a small out-crop of ledge.

She landed with a slight jump onto the hard ground of the mountain ledge. Calling the weapon to her with her mind, it immediately became a brilliant deep-blue liquid streak, withdrew itself from the rocky surface and then hardened into an arc-shape and flew into her hand. Hera slid the Morphal Crest inside her clothing and felt it wrap itself again to its place about her body.

She had made good time. There still was an hour or two of daylight. Hera felt warm despite the intense cold. The insulation of the furs and the constant movement kept her body temperature up, to even an uncomfortable warmth. But she wasnt deceived by that. Her exposure to the elements and the exertion of the decent would take a toll on her to some degree or other, regardless of how good she felt at the present moment. She had made it to the tree-line level now. Here atleast she would be sheltered to a degree from the wind and snow.


Fatigue. Cold. Hunger. Adversaries. She thought on these things
as she began her trek again. These things she would face - and defeat - before this journey was over. She wondered if she would face more than these. Would she be more powerful as a weilder of the darkside after this excercise is completed. She thought also about the reward Ogre had promised if she was successful.

Hera stopped midstride and turned around abruptly. She listened intently, but heard nothing unusual. She looked about her carefully, but could see nothing. She began moving again, trying to pin down what she thought she had heard. A voice? a chanting? She couldnt tell if it was real or an inner sense. It was too vague for her to latch on to.

Taking note of it nonetheless, Hera continued on, heading toward the slowly increasing forrest growth.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

His chanting continued as he sat and watched his veteran Disciple navigate her way down the cliff-side and towards the trees. He had not known of this new device she wielded until now. And thought, perhaps that was what Hera had come to talk to him about, when his servant, Dark Leia had told him that she stopped by the cave, but he had not been there to see her, he had been tutoring his wife in the ways of Kashirian magics.

Seeing Hera take notice of something strange brought a prideful feeling into the Sith Master’s heart. He could see it within her body language, she knew or at least felt the fact that she was being watched.

”Yes…” He began to think to himself. ”..she is truly a Sith whose power has grown in leaps and bounds since we first met and I began the continuation of her training. Her aspirations have served her well.”

His chant that had continued in a monotonous and rhythmic pattern seemed to shift, and as it did the scene before him within the sheet of ice changed to. It changed to a more desolate area, where he saw a familiar large blue creature and another just as familiar smaller dark clad figure.

This was unexpected and his expression changed somewhat to reflect surprise, but quickly faded as he realized it would prove to present Hera with even more of a challenge in the task he had set her out to perform. Yes most definitely more of a challenge considering the aura of energy he saw surrounding Leis as it seemed like she and his brethren Aseloth were actually communicating on some level.

The two he saw were where Ogre had directed Leia to travel, upon the top of the adjacent mountain. Darkness was approaching and he wondered if all the parties involved would survive the intense cold of the night. Hera herself was fortunate in one small regard, she had managed to drop her altitude level considerably and thus would not suffer quite the severe level of cold that Aseloth, Leia, and even Ogre would.

As it was Ogre would have to protect himself from that dramatic a shift in temperature and it was now time to prepare for that. His chanting stopped and the image in the ice vanished.

Turning to face where Ogre saw Hera had been instructed to leave her speeder, he smiled.

“This will do fine.”

Raising a single arm towards the speeder, he let his control over the Darkside of the Force, burrow into the soft snow, first as a small cylinder poking a hole, then the cylinder expander at its bottom, creating a tightly packed room under the speeder, with a small entrance at the edge.

The Sith Master walked towards his shelter and disappeared into the whiteness that surrounded him, and had even started to cover the speeder. By morning there would be no visible signs of life on this mountaintop, at least not until Ogre exited his icehouse.

[DarthHERA]

The trees were still small and scraggly looking. She was still at too high an altitude for thick forrest growth and it was becoming apparent that darkness would soon overtake her before she could find anywhere decent to set up some sort of make-shift camp for the night. She longed to build a fire and roast some freshly snagged game. Her stomach growled just at the thought of it.

But it wasnt going to happen. Not tonight. There was no starry sky or high moon to guide her in finding either of those things. The clouds were thick and heavy and the endlessly falling snow ensured there was not chance of it getting any better.

In the waning light and the fast falling temperature, Hera took her lightsaber in hand and as she kept walking, she stooped now and again to some of the more developed trees around her and lopped the inner (and a little drier) branches from off them.

She found a slightly upward sloping area of ground and began pile branch upon branch, angling some and made a small crude shelter completely cocooned with the layered foilage.

Sitting with her back up against the rise of the ground that now was covered in some of the branches, she tucked her legs up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. She pulled some more branches over her so that she was completely obscured. With her deactivated lightsaber in her hand, prepared to spend a cold, uncomfortable and completely miserable night. Her body began to shake with the cold and she knew she had to pull into her reserves of physical endurance. She closed her eyes, her conscious focusing on the force that surged within her being, resisting with the mental, the physicality of her surroundings.

And the darkness settled completely over the landscape.

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**She found herself completely unaffected by the conditions around her any longer, and she also found herself capable of speaking with Aseloth, but speaking was not in the literal sense, no being had ever heard anything other than a few grunts uttered from the massive being’s mouth.

She was able to communicate with him on a mental level, not so much in words but in feelings and emotions. The strongest emotion present was the love and connection to their surroundings, nature in all its forms and fasions, which included the very beings spawned by nature, be they Human, Kashirian, Wookie, or whatever race they may be.

She and Aseloth spent the entire pre evening hours just sharing this connection, communicating on a higher level than she had ever imagined possible. And when darkness finally came, she just curled up and slept right out in the elements, not feeling anything but a great warmth in her body and soul. The harshness of nature’s elements affected her not at all.**

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

His little ice cave became bright with the light of a new day, causing Ogre to wake and stir about in the small protective area. He reached into his pouch and withdrew some dried meat, plopping it into his mouth for a morning meal.

Looking towards where the entrance to the shelter had been it was obvious that it had been covered by the unrelenting snowfall atop the mountain. A mere thought formed into telekinetic action cleared the entrance of the impede, and Ogre moved out from the subsurface cavity.

Once outside, the results of the night’s weather was even more obvious. It was still snowing steadily and there was no sign that any had been here the day before. The speeder was little more than a snow drift above Ogre’s makeshift ice cavern, and there were no footprints of disturbances in the pristine flows of snow that lay on the ground.

With breakfast out of the way, his jaw still moving as he chewed the dried meat, it was time to check on how the players in this little task he had set into action, were faring. He clapped his hands together firmly, resulting in a loud sound that echoed through the valley between the two mountains, and just as the sound cascaded through the fresh layer of snow was lifted up and pushed aside as if it had never been there.

The speeder was once again in plain sight, as was the small circle of ice that Ogre has created the previous day. Ogre walked to where the ice was, sat down, and began to chant again. The mysterious dialect he uttered shaking the snow from the tops of the trees down in the valley far below.

Images of other places once again formed in the pool f ice, and Ogre could see that Hera still had not stirred from the shelter she had constructed the night before. The scene shifted out to the open, where Leia and Aseloth had been. Leia could be seen still sleeping. It looked almost as if she lay in a crater in the snow. She had been unprotected from the elements, yet no snow had covered her body, it didn’t even seem to be sticking to her.

Further inspection of the scene where Liea lay, revealed that the great blue beast, the brethren of Ogre, was no where to be found. Leia was all alone.

[DarthHERA]

It dribbled down the whole length of her spine. In a knee jerk reaction, Hera kicked arms and legs forward violently and threw herself forward and awake, sending branches catapulting haphazardly into the crisp morning air. The snow had dropped down into her coverings through a gap at the back of her neck and the heat of her skin had melted it to an icey trickle, before it clued in to what it was, and where she was. She had thrown back her hood thru the night as she could barely breath. The scent of the pine branches and the stiffling of the furs had almost been unbearable.

Rolling uncerimoniously out into the daylight, the glare of the pure white snow caused her to screw her face up and made her almost blind for the first few seconds of consciouness.
She pulled herself up to kneel, giving her time to adjust and get herself oriented again. She clipped her lightsaber back into its place and painfully stretched out her hand to uncramp the grip it had locked in overnight.

If I never have a night like that again, it will be too soon. I must remember to thank Ogre for such....experiences.. Inwardly, though, she felt ashamed at herself for becoming what she considered soft and pampered by her life of what seemed like luxury at her Base compared to the night she had spent.


She grabbed a handful of the soft new snow and rubbed it across her face, shocking but effective, and took a second look around her. White. It covered everything. The trees were laden with it.

Her stomach twisted inside her. Hunger. She knew it would hit hard in the morning, but still, it is a sensation that is relentless when it grabs a hold of a person.

Time to kill something she thought and began a light, if not awkward jog toward the forrest futher down the mountain. Hoping to come across a stream somewhere where she could snag perhaps a fish or other creature and refuel herself.

She wondered how Ogres night had been spent and thought of some of her Masters many attributes and how she strived in so many ways to emulate him. She wasnt sure how well she had succeeded. For the first time in a long while, she felt twangs of self-doubt. Perhaps she was just tired? These thoughts served to cloud over her and drain on her spirit without her realising.

Hardening her resolve, she picked up her pace and with a rythmic tread headed southward.

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**Morning came and she rose from her slumber out among the elements. Strangely she found herself not feeling hungry and there was something esle that she hadn’t noticed that was very different than it had been before.

Her sense of smell was almost so powerful that it was overwhelming, even among little besides frozen tundra and snow, she could pick up scents that she had never experienced before. Even stranger still was the fact that she was able to recognize these scents.

There were smells that seemed to waft all the way on this desolate mountain top from far bellow in the cold, but not so frozen lands back where Ogre’s cave was located. She could smell the porous limestone on a much larger scale than she could from even the time she had been living there, and from such a great distance.

She was able to pick up the scents of animals that dwelled at lower altitudes during this time of year. And among them was something even stronger, a scent she wasn’t sure why she recognized, but she did. It was the one known as Hera, and the scent was becoming more powerful with each passing second. She was coming this way.

Was this what Ogre had directed her to come here for, to meet with Hera? Could this be another lesson the great Sith Master was teaching his clone creation, another lesson in the ways of the Darkside? Knowing what she did about Sith and about the Darkside, she had a good inkling that this would not be a cordial meeting, not at all.

Then it began to dawn on her, why she suddenly had all these new senses, and why she was able to communicate with Aseloth as she had the previous evening. The Demi-God had somehow passed on his abilities to her, and with those abilities must also have come his knowledge and experience. It was the only thing that could explain all these new sensations.**

[DarthHERA]

Snow gave way to rain, gave way to a slight drizzling mist. The sun was moving higher in the sky and by the time it was noon, Hera had been moving almost non-stop for 6 hours. Apart from a short break to breakfast on rock-shanders (small shrimp-like creatures that lined a crystal clear stream) she had kept a steady pace.

The woods had gotten more dense as she had travelled. And her thoughts had crowded around her mind just as the trees crowded around her now.

The head of the clone seemed to not be such a difficult task. She didnt dwell on the "why" of her Masters request. He created the clone. He had the right to destroy it anyway he saw fit. But Hera had met this Dark Leia. She had force ability, that much Hera knew. Many physical capabilities would have been transferred, barring any abberritions that may have been happened in the cloning process. But still. This Leia was a new force-weilder in many respects. She had not "learned" the skills she inherited and would take some time to master them. Hera did not think Leia had done much in the way of training, though she thought she could perhaps be wrong in this assumption. If it was a fight Ogre wanted to test Hera by, there were many of deadly skill to do that with. This lead her to the question of "Why this Leia"? What was the reasoning? She could not see find a satisfactory answer.

And this bothered her. Or rather, made her very wary.

Hera climbed a large boulder to gage her progress. The opposite mountain had been lost to her view a long time ago. Hera had guided herself by the old ways of navigation. Sun position, though the sky was still heavily clouded, this was a little hampered; wind direction-it had been constantly blowing west since she had woken; the forrest growth itself helped to aid in judging her location. Serving with her Father in the Zaria Tor armies of Kwaylon when she was young and the basics of logistics and their long marches had laid a foundation that helped her now. Much had been forgotten, but many things had not as was proven in her using the woods as an ally rather than an enemy. Her father had always told her, "Look to your surroundings, they have the answer."


Standing up high now, Hera could see the Mountain peak where she was to find Leia rising up over the trees. The Sith Lord reached out with the force to probe the clone's whereabouts, but gently so. She didnt want to alert her prematurely. Her senses drifting in a wide arc, she touched lightly the mind of her Master, but did not connect. Almost like the touch of a shadow of a hawk flying high overhead. It flitted over him but did not stay. Moving on she encountered a strange disturbance, one that seemed familiar yet wasnt at all.

She peeled off her wampa-skins as it was much warmer compared to the higher elevations, and stood more comfortably in the more streamlined layers of clothing she had on underneath them. Jumping lightly off the boulder and carrying the heavy furs in her hand, Hera continued on, intending to make the base of the second mountain as soon as possible.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

Many hours passed and still Ogre’s chant continued. He wathed as both of the particulars of this conflict that he had arranged went about each’s own business.

Leia had stripped herself of the bulky furs and covering which she had once needed to warm herself, and he watched in wonder as she explored what must have been something she obtained from his brethren, Aseloth. For she was changing shape, becoming many different animals and even varying people that Ogre himself knew.

”They must be those that Aseloth has come into contact with. His mimic ability has been passed to her.”

He thought to himself, changing his chant some so that he could see how his apprentice fared. The scene in the ice morphed and he could see that Hera had also removed the coverings, which protected her from the elements, but she had not abandoned them as Leia had, she still carried them on her back. She was just now reaching the base of the mountain, and would soon begin the perilous climb that would take her to meet the task Ogre had deemed she perform.

Pleased with how things were progressing, Ogre ceased his chant, and rested his voice, so that he may be able to continue later and also so that he may nourish himself with food. Looking up to the sky from the pool of ice in front of him, he could see off in the distance, that the clouds were ominously dark and foreboding.

A more powerful storm was on its way, to add to the snow that was already falling.

[DarthHERA]

It glowed a deep rich blue and then the Morphal Crest formed ramrod straight, a sharp deadly barb at its tip, into a solid state.

With her eye never once off her target, Hera hurled the javelin, peircing the bird's brightly red-feathered breast and impaled it to the thick tree trunk.

The creature flapped its wings pathetically for the few moments it took for the Sith to walk the distance to the tree. As she plucked it free again, all life had ceased. Its woeful cries silenced.

As she pulled it from its spike, she took her dagger and sliced its head off cleanly, a mental image of Leia Solo filling her mind as she did so. The fire she had built from the drier ground debris found beneath the bases of the trees was burning warmly as she proceeded to pluck the birds feathers.

Re-skewering the bird onto the weapon, she slow roasted it until it was crisp, the aroma of it intensifying her hunger pangs.

She ate the toasted flesh with relish and felt envigorated again.
Somehwere in the back of her psyche she could hear again the sing-song lilt of a familiar voice. She didnt bother to look around. She was certain now, of its origin.

Glancing up at the glowering sky, the clouds heavy and threatening, she grumbled under her breath. She was beginning to hate these mountains

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**Before the sky even started to grow darker in the visible distance, she knew what was coming. Her knew connection to nature and the world around her told her many things about what was happening in the here and now and what would happen in the near future.

It was a sense of oneness with her surroundings, but it didn’t daunt her in the least. She was able to take the shape of almost every creature that lived in these mountains or those that lived in the lowlands where Aseloth spent the majority of his time.

She also learned that there were many other shapes she could take. People that Aseloth had made physical contact with, and when she assumed these forms she was surprised to find that she had new abilities that were distinct to these people. Her abilities were only limited by whom or what she could become, whom or what Aseloth had come into contact with. There were a plethora of options already available.

She began to wonder if she too could make physical contact with any creature and gain the ability to mimic it. Looking around with her heightened senses of sight, smell, and hearing, she can sense of find anything in the immediate vacinity except for a single creature, whose form she does not possess the ability to mimic.

That person was right this moment having a meal and was still a few miles away. By the changes in her scent, becoming stronger as the day waned on, Leia already knew she was on her way here. Leia would have to plan a surprise for the one she had met once before. Exactly what kind of surprise she wasn’t sure yet. She considered what it could be.**

[DarthHERA]

A hawk soared silently into view as Hera looked skyward. Its graceful form almost mesmerising as it drifted high on the thermal drafts.

The Sith struck with a deadly accuracy as her mind wrapped around that of the bird of prey's. Her control of the force allowed her to seize on its thoughts and, as Hera sat immobile on the hard cold earth before the fire, she began to see the expanse of the mountainous terrain stretch out before her. The rich deep woods, the white capped mountain, and there, the movement of a traveller.

She prompted, and immediately the hawk tilted and drifted toward the direction of her target. Hera could feel Leia was fairly close by.

While the Sith was eating earlier, Leia had somehow sought her out. There had been definte change in the individual Hera had met a short time ago at Ogres cave. Careful to protect and cloud her own mental images from Leia, Hera had gleaned as much from the clones open mind as she could. A supernatural heightening of the senses had taken place, and this had allowed Leia to locate her. The dark jedi clone had been unguarded in her thoughts and Hera now knew she was expected.


And now, as the bird circled, Hera had visual contact on the clone through the eyes of the obedient Hawk.

And as she studied the dark clone from above, one word kept resounding in Hera's mind. Leia had thought it and Hera had heard it.

.....Aseloth..

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He returned to his chants and magic induced viewing if the events that transpired in the distance, on the neighboring mountain. He could sense that Leia had no evil intent for Hera yet, but was plotting something mischievous. It would prove most interesting to witness.

Hera had every intent to remove Leia’s head from her neck, and Leia was merely thinking she was going to get to visit an acquaintance under friendly terms, but she was planning on using her new skills to make the visit different.

The ebb and flow of the Darkside told Ogre what Hera was doing. It was a most interesting use of her abilities, one he had not been aware she knew how to wield. His head began to nod and a smile crept over his face.

’With each and every second, she proves to be more and more worthy of that which I have brought her here for.”

He thought to himself as his lips continued on unrelenting in their foreign chant

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**Her body molded and shifted, taking a completely different shape, one that she had yet to try during her experimentation, but one she knew was available to her with the different and very new facts floating around in her conscious mind. New and different facts only acquired after what had transpired with Aseloth.**

[DarthHERA]

She had located the cloned Leia and Hera had been correct in her feeling that the dark jedi was fairly close.

It had been a relatively easy excercise to possess the conscious of the Hawk. Though a hunter itself and intelligent, it was, even so, a being easily manipulated by one trained in the weilding of the darkside. The trick was to keep ones own conscious on their own present surroundings at the same time. This became much more difficult when more effort was expended on a creature of higher resistance. Hera had yet to attempt this skill of possession on a humanoid or similar alien, or yet on an individual of force ability themselves. Perhaps one day..

Hera directed the bird to scour the surrounding area, so she could pinpoint a landmark and so make the distance to her target quickly.

Soaring up high, the Hawk lifted effortlessly its wings and circled giving Hera a panoramic view. A rocky outcrop caught her attention. It vaguely looked like a tall tower in shape with spiered turret-like edges to it. That would be the homing becon. Leia was located just before it and so Hera would easily be able to find her in that general area.

Before releasing the hawks mind, Hera turned it again to check on the clone and saw just in time, Leia returning to her own appearance. She had just transformed and then returned again to her usual lithe form. It had happened so quickly and the bird had looked on Leia just as she was regaining her own visage, that Hera had not a clear view of what the clone had been. But what she had glimpsed had been enough. And Hera was shocked by it, even though she could not fully comprehend how what she had just seen was even possible.

.....The clone could shape-shift?..

With an echoing "Caaw" the bird dipped momentarily in flight and its eyes rolled forward, returning to their natural clarity as Hera released her grip. It beat its wings vigorously and sped itself away trying to shake the oppression it had felt while the Sith had possessed it.

Hera stomped out the embers of the fire now dying in its pit. Disturbed by the things she had seen and sensed, she began to formulate her approach toward her masters Creation. This was an unusual turn in events.

With purpose she made her way, slipping through the dense woods with as little noise and disruption as possible.

[Aseloth]

The landmark that Hera had chosen looked as if it were but a regular outcropping of rocks and stones, only lightly dusted with the snows that had been falling. To the senses possessed by one of the Darkside, there was nothing unusual about this formation. And Leia with her new enhanced senses could not discern anything unusual about the nearby lay of the land.

It was rather unusual though and neither person failed to notice. For this formation of rocks had not been present in this location the day before. It was new to the landscape, but no one but that which was the stones knew any different.

Aseloth had a high vantage from which he could observe all the events that transpired, even when the blizzard looming ever closer arrived. The mimicking creature would witness all that transpired this day and night, unnoticed by those around, unless he chose to be.

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**She made another shift of her shape and while in the form, noticed the scent of Hera moving closer. Her now sharper than ever ears picked up the fact that Hera was trying to approach unheard and catch her by surprise.

This fact bode negatively on the mystery as to why Hera was here. It hinted that Hera’s intentions may not be pleasant ones, but Leia didn’t change her own strategy. She would still catch Hera off guard in a playful way with the form she had now taken.

Reaching to her back, she removed an item that she had always admired before and began to turn it in her hands. Seeing Hera’s reaction to this would prove most interesting and possibly even entertaining indeed. **

[DarthHERA]

It had occured to her that sneaking up on the clone with her now augmented senses was wasted effort, but Hera could not bring herself to relax the stealth. It just seemed wrong to crash through the serenity of such surroundings as if it would be a indication of sorts of the necessary violence to come. She decided that her guise of hunting the forrest prey would be her reason to Leia for her presence here in the first place, and she atleast must play the part.

The rocky towered formation was looming up ahead, the heavy clouds overshadowing it and a light snow was again beginning to fall. Hera stopped and climbed again into the Wampa skins that she had kept with her. She still carried the now spear-shaped weapon but reconsidered this as too threatening. She did not want to alert Leia to danger prematurely. There were far to many variables at hand now with these unusual changes in the clone and Hera needed to size up some how exactly what she was now up against. Even as she pictured it in her mind, the weapon liquified and then obediently wrapped itself lenghth-wise around her fur covered arm and solidified again. She did not fear, but she did not assume immediate success either....that reasoning in her life had so far served her well. Never underestimate an adversary. Any adversary. Ever. She would not have underestimated the dark jedi's ability, and now that was doubly true.

Hera had been mulling over the things she had picked up on so far regarding Leia. Aseloth was not completely unknown to Hera. She had seen him once, in the forrests of Meras while sparring with her comrade Dalethria and the somewhat lunatic Sorsha. And once was plenty in her opinion. But what the connection, if any, to the clone was unclear to her. The heightened senses. And the ability to shape-shift - atleast thats what Hera thought it was. The possession of another creature was still a newly mastered skill and Hera was not certain of all the side-effects of it. Maybe she had not really seen that changing of shape. Perhaps it was the fatigue of the elements wearing on her. She wasnt sure. Hera had to rely on her instincts and training to guide her.

Stepping into a small clearing, the falling snow serving to muffle her footfalls on the forrest floor, she came upon Dark Jedi Leia who had stopped midstride and turned towards her.

"Hello Leia."

Hera's voice was level.

She noted that no surprise registered upon the clone's face at her arrival.

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**She stepped out from the shadow of a tree amidst the increasing snowfall, and when Hera came to see her face, the Sith Lord found it not to be the one that Leia normally wore. It was quite familiar though. It was the face of the being she had left atop the other mountain roughly twenty-four hours ago.

She wore the green skin and all the trimmings that Master Ogre did. It was an exact match, from the facial features, to the clothes and weapons he carried. Ogre’s battle axe spun in her/his hands.

A green head nodded in greeting and Leia answered, but her voice was not her own, it was the voice of Ogre. Most likely another aspect of her newfound mimicking ability.**

“What brings you here Hera?”

**She waited and watched to see Hera’s reaction to what she had met with. As she watched she tried out something that she realized she now knew how to do. The spinning axe within her hands burst into a glowing green flame, casting an erre arcane light on the snow around them both, its flame causing all the snow falling around Leia to be completely warded off by the unnatural heat.

The snowfall intensified and the blizzard began to take full hold of the land they occupied making sight hindered and unclear as the entire world seemed to go white save for the green glow from the axe in Leia/Ogre's hands. Leia found that she could see through the snow clearly enough to gauge Hera’s reaction. Her heightened senses providing her better vision than any human eyes could give.**

<center><img src=http://thesithempire.clanpages.com/Sig4.jpg></center>

[DarthHERA]

Surprise

Yes, that was as good a word for it as any. Toss confused into there as well and that would work also.

Hera looked behind her as some do to reconfirm where they had just come from, even though they know full well where it was. Why people did that she didnt know. It was a visual reassurance of something they already knew, but still felt the need to re-affirm. Hera felt silly for doing it now, but it was a reaction to the incongruity of what was before her.

Ogre was the last person she had expected to see. She knew he was on the other mountain. She had heard his chants within her own spirit and knew they did not originate from this proximity. Besides, had she not just seen the Jedi clone not long ago with her own eyes, or rather those of the hawks, and had headed straight towards her? Hera knew it was the clone, more than by sight. She knew. Her force sense did not lie even though such fantasic visions tried to convince her otherwise.

Seeing her Master duplicated, even to his unique enchanted battle-axe stirred anger in her. Let the clone mimick who she pleased, but she was stepping dangerously when it was one Hera had pledged herself to in service and obedience. She felt a type of reverse-prioritorship for her master and she considered the dark Leia's mimickry bordered on insolence if not dis-respect. Reason enough in itself to kill the clone.

The axe glowed and strangely enough the blizzard began to whip up around them. Hera threw an arm up to guard her eyes from the whipping snow. She kept herself controlled, the time to use her force strength and command was not yet. She called to Leia, the wind snatching her words from her and thowing them away behind her. Verbal communication was almost impossible.

Instead, Hera stabbed into the clones thoughts.

"What trickery is this Leia? You greet a new friend with witchcraft?"

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**To be called by her proper name telepathically was in itself a huge surprise to Leia. She could sense the anger stewing to a boiling point within Hera, her thoughts and her scent betrayed her to Leia’s newfound senses. Not only the senses she had acquired from Aseloth, but also the strong force sense that she gained by taking this form.

Hera spoke a word mentally that Leia found curious and it caught her off guard. She had called herself a new friend to the clone. How very interesting that she presume to know how Leia regarded her. That presumption, along with the anger she sensed ebbing from Hera’s every pore make Leia angry also. That anger served to feed the arcane flames of the enchanted axe, which grew larger and more intense piercing the white world around even more effectively.

Leia’s response was reciprocated mentally, the thoughts even feeling to Hera as if they were those of her Master. The mimicking ability ran deep and Leia was no longer really completely herself, she was in many ways, three different people at once, herself, Aseloth, and the one whose shape she had taken, Darth Ogre Mal Pannis.**

”I can show you witchcraft the likes of which you have never seen Hera.”

**Although it could not be heard, it could be seen due to the glowing of the axe, Ogre’s lips began to move and a chant began to well up from deep within his mimicked form and be uttered amongst the blizzard.

At the same moment the chant began, amazingly enough, the winds began to whip even harder and the sky became alight with energy as lightening bolts leapt from cloud to cloud, their rumbling so loud that they cut through the howling winds as if a saber through flesh. Then a bright flash of bluish white crashed down between the two, its energy carried by the conductivity of the water the snow was made of.

Bands of the lightening leapt at each of the two, seeming to do nothing more than, flow harmlessly around the body of the green beast, as if they were at peace with their maker, for Hera however…**

[DarthHERA]

”I can show you witchcraft the likes of which you have never seen Hera.”

It sounded just like him. It even felt like his voice in her mind.

How can this possibly be?

Hera saw the arcane glow of her Master's battle-axe through the fury of the storm that billowed around her. Hera's mind felt stalled, slow almost. Is the axe real? How did Leia come by it? These questions seemed to saunter through her mind. Time appeared slow in direct ratio to the Sith Lord's confusion. It was like she was a bystander looking upon a puzzle that made no sense as some of the peices were missing, or more accurately, not revealed.

One thing Hera knew for sure though, she was beginning to hate this clone. Though her sense of appreciation for any being of power and violence remained-and the clone had exceeded expectations in both- the anger for the clone mimicking Ogre, and taking it upon herself to weild his battle-axe seethed and boiled within Hera. She thrilled at the sensation of perfect hatred that began to envelope her whole being.

The green glow increased drastically and Hera was mesmerised by its power. She even felt a greedy urge to weild the same herself. Lightening crackled from cloud to cloud and still Hera stared at is magnificent aura.

There was a loud rumbling in the clouds overhead it was that noise that broke the spellbinding grip of the light. Instinctively Hera knew a lightening bolt would be coming her way. She dove away to the side just at the same instant that the powerful bolt struck ground. The force of it shooting up a spray of snow and dirt at the very spot her feet had just been. The bands of lightening licked outwardly toward both beings. The Leia/Ogre was not harmed at all, Hera noted as she sent herself bodily into the driving snow.

Her landing was soft, cushioned by the snow, but getting to her feet was hampered by the same. Hera realised that she did not escape the bolts completely- her boots smouldered at the tips and she felt a pain jolting dully through her. She guessed the material of her clothing must be partially synthetic rubber for insulation from the elements, and this served to protect her for the most part from the deadly electrical charge from the lightening. She rolled over to a half sitting position, withdrawing her lightsaber as she did so.

Assuming the Dark Leia could see, or at the least "sense" where she was by her augmented ability, Hera saw no reason to belay the purpose of her presence here. Not to mention she ached to hurt something right now.

Igniting one end of the lightsaber Atropos Hera taunted the clone.

Come, "Princess", you have something I want


edit:cause I wasnt happy with what I wrote.

[Darth Ogre]

** Moving hand over hand, she began to spin the axe in front of her mimicked form as if it were a staff. The green glow of the flames grew even more and penetrated the whipping cascade of whiteness from the sky, the glow became a wall of light before Leia, a wall of mystical green flame.

Normal human eyes could not pierce the complete whiteout, but Leia’s eyes were no longer human, they were Kashirian, in more way than one. One because she had mimicked the form of Ogre, all the way to the weapons and clothing he wore, and two because she possessed the abilities of a Kashirian more ancient than the green Sith, an old Kashirian called only Aseloth. With her sight, she saw that the cascade of energy she had summoned from the raging Force storm, had not connected fully with its intended target and that angered her greatly.

That anger fed the arcane flame building in size before her, trailing from the blade of the axe that spun faster and faster with each moment. The white sky flashed with the Force storm that continued to rage, reflecting Leia’s anger as well. Lightening bolts shot and thundered from cloud to cloud, making for a bright strobe light effect as the light from its energy was reflected by the abundance of white snow in the air.

Muscles and blood veins bulged as powerful arms controlled the enchanted weapon. One hand came free of it and the other guided its momentum around as the body of the Sith Master turned sideways and brought its velocity and speed to an abrupt halt, pointing outwards from his body straight at the glow of the saber that cut through the air. Flames leapt forth from the end at incredible speed and plowed their way towards the now aggressive Sith Lord, becoming a massive bolt of energy composed of force lightening. A horrendous crash of thunder shaking the very ground they stood on at the very same instant.**

”Feel my rage Hera, it shall consume you in its fiery wake.”

**She had become totally immersed in the personality of whom she was mimicking, it was making her act very unlike herself and much more so just as he would.**

Edit: Changed to fit with your reply better and fix spelling error.

[DarthHERA]

All Hera could see was light. Blinding in its brilliance. The snow that continued to fall was but an afterthought compared to the magnificence of the power created by the clone and the weilding of the mystical axe. Hera closed her eyes, her physical sight now a hindrance more than a help.

Here she was confronted by the enraged form of Ogre - not something she had planned on, nor had prepared for. But that was inconsequential. She could not at all fathom the "how" of what she faced. That too meant nothing. The fact was this - her adversary was much much greater than first expected (even more so than Hera at this point realised) and she must excercise her skills like never before if she was to survive, let alone succeed, the appointed task set by her Master.

The violence in the raging elements lit the atmosphere around the two beings. Hera focused herself, willfully ignoring the deafening cracks of the lightening as it stabbed is jagged-white streaks across the sky. She opened herself to the anger, the power that exploded around her and claimed it for her own, allowed it to fill her like a deep well and felt the surge of power as she did so. Her own outrage at hearing the Dark Leia again speak to her with the voice of Ogre compounded upon itself to bursting point.

Getting to her feet, Hera stood at the same place she had landed. She saw clearly through force sense the clone and the building of arcane power. As Leia/Ogre cast the force storm lightening at her, she felt the earth shake beneath her feet as it struck with incredible force. This time she was ready for it.

Conjuring up the deep dark power that she had harnessed over years of commanding the Darkside, Hera allowed the mighty bolt to hit, absorbing through sheer evil emmanation, its power as it struck. Using her body as a conducer the lightening shot with blinding speed, beginning at her feet and up her legs, torso and fired in charged electric flame down her outstretched arms and out her fingertips directly back at its original caster.

Hera's head snapped upwards violently and a peircing scream escaped her body, the likes of which would quaill the soul of the righteous. Her lightsaber Atropos was flung off somewhere into the snow from the impact of the bolt through her being. The Morphal Crest wrapped about her arm began to glow a fiery red and the heat of it seared itself through the layers of wampa fur, clothing and into the soft flesh of its maker.

[Darth Ogre]

**Having been conducted through and redirected by Hera’s own body, the lightening had taken a new form, not like that which Ogre/Leia had released. Had it merely been reflected back it would have done no harm, but passing through the Sith Lord changed it, adding her angry essence to it, thus giving it a new shape and charge. A changed charge that would affect the mimicked Sith Master.

The enchanted axe still glowed with the green flame and absorbed some of the energy, but some of its power arced away from the absorption and found its way into Ogre/Leia’s chest. It hurt……a great deal, but only for an instant before the abilities she now possessed from her contact with Aseloth kicked in, and absorbed the charge of the bolt, storing it for later mimicry, as was Aseloth’s way.

The pain was enough to cause the Sith Master to yell out and his/her eyes become even more alight with hatred and rage, but his body was busy, and non physical retaliation was impossible at this moment in time as Leia tried to send yet another blast of the energy at Hera and found she could not, jutting the axe in Hera’s direction again with no result other than what looked like it may be a taunt.

The glowing axe was then raised in the air and the huge green beast began to charge in Hera’s direction, as the Force storm raging high overhead seemed to falter during the lack of mental manipulation over Ogre’s abilities as well. The blood lust in is eyes was unmistakable and he was quick and undaunted as he moved through the thick wall of white snow, aided by the gifted vision granted by the most unusual of means.**

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!”

**Came the deep guttural battle cry as Ogre charged wishing to draw blood and sample its flavor upon his lips.**

[DarthHERA]

The scream spiraled down into wild laughter. Hera had felt the bolt hit her opponent and was exhilirated by it. Her luminous blue eyes sparked with satisfaction. Every pore of her body felt on fire, from both the pain and pleasure of the dark power that was surging through her. It felt good to be so consumed.

She heard Ogre's battle cry as the clone charged her, having only enough time to raise an arm before the giant hit.

The pain from her seared flesh from the Crest barely registered on her due to the overwhelming sensation of evil energy that was waiting to be unleashed from her.

Hera pictured in her mind the Morphal Crest becoming a spike-edged armguard, and even as she thought it, so it became. She swung her arm in a backhanded fashion, the Crest changing in mid motion and with force-aided strength the raging beast and the spiked arm collided with shattering violence.

[Darth Ogre]

**Spikes penetrated green skin while at the same time the blazing axe came down to meet shoulder. Blood oozed from the wounds that the beast had suffered, but even the blood was that of the one it was mimicking. It sizzled and smoked as it came into contact with Hera’s clothing, burning through it rapidly finding flesh to scorch and sear.

Had her blow not struck Ogre, her arm would have been removed at the shoulder from the slice of the axe. But the spiked clash into the beast was enough to slow the momentum, thus producing only a heavy and ragged gash at the apex of the extremity. The magical fire the axe bore, not cauterizing flesh, but instead seeming to leap into the wound and burn in a most unnatural fashion.

The impact was fast and furious and caused both warriors to reel back after it occurred. Both human and Kashirian blood splattered and discolored both combatants and the snow where they had met.

The mimicked Sith Master was on the ground, bleeding from the chest, but just as the original would do, so did this one. Natural regeneration started to seal the wounds and slow the external bleeding. It rose, eyes still red with the lust to kill. A single hand which Hera’s blood had splattered upon from her own wound, raised up to his mouth and wiped the red stuff across lips, tongue and face.

Blood had been spilt on both sides of the equation and as a result of the rage filling each of them. It was far from the last of the stuff to grace this white winter battleground.**

[DarthHERA]

It was as painful to her flesh as it was shocking to her mind. The revelation that the clone had mimicked Ogre even down to bleeding acid blood. Hera let out an agonised wail as she flung herself instinctively away to avoid more of the blood that had spattered onto her and was even now still burning into her skin.

Her one arm had a deep trench ripped into it by the enchanted axe - and Hera knew she had gotten off lightly. She knew the damage that axe could do.

The Ogre/leia had gotten again to his feet. Hera was enraged at this clone. Furious at her use of Ogre's mimicked being, furious at the wounds she had suffered at his hands. She allowed the hate to course through her mind, her heart, through her entire spirit.

The snow around them begin to change direction as Hera waved one hand in a circular motion. It began an unusual swirl around the powerful energy signature that was the clone. It also began to change from soft falling flakes and to also mold together into small clusters. Hera channelled the force and bade the element to do her will. In obedience to the darkside's command, the snow swirled more vigorously and the clusters changed from their delicate forms to solid, iced shapes with a round solid center and long spikes shooting from off it - like a spney urchine one finds in some of the dark oceans. Hera continued to motion and the clusters moved faster and grew to a harder formation, the frozen spikes seeming to take on a momentum of their own.

Hera screamed at the top of her voice to the Dark Leia as she threw her arm toward her just as if she were casting a spray of stones.

"Time to feel MY rage, Leia Solo!"

Instantly the lethal projectiles hurled toward the clone from all directions and Hera watched in anticipation of the damage she hoped to inflict.

[Darth Ogre]

**Sharp shards of ice came hurtling at the form of Ogre. Aspects of nature turned against the Sith mimicked by Leia. She was now, more so than ever before, one with nature, due to her taking on of Aseloth’s abilities. She would find out soon if her being one with it, would protect her from its elements twisted into this fashion.

The points made sudden contact with the green Sith’s skin, but didn’t pierce it, they just proceeded to melt back into that which they were formed from, water, which then didn’t fall to the ground, but seemed to become a mist. The elements returned to where they were spawned, the atmosphere.

The wounds on Ogre’s chest were still not completely closed, but they were becoming so small that no more blood trickled from them. A deep resounding laugh echoed in Hera’s mind.**

”BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

**The laugh died down and his voice filled her mind, still deep and powerful in its tome, mocking her taunt.**

”Was that all there is to your rage? It didn’t even tickle Lordess."

**Just as the last mental projection of speech passed loudly through Hera’s mind another tremendous lightening bolt from the dark clouds above that could not be seen through the snow, surged downwards toward the spot just in front of where Hera stood, between her and the mimicked Sith Master. If it didn’t strike Hera, it would surely drive her in a direction other than towards Ogre.**

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He was still squatting upon the Mountain top semi distant from where the ‘interaction’ between Hera and Leia was taking place. His incantation of sight upon the ice pool in front of him, still being murmured in the strange tongue so that he could bear witness to the events he had set in motion.

The coming of the blizzard obscured the image the ice yielded, but a change in his tone of chanting seemed to wash away the whiteness in his produced vision, making the two combatants more clear. He could see all that transpired as the two exchanged blows and taunts, each displaying mastery over their emotions, using them as their weapons, feeding the Darkside of the Force with the turmoil.

This had been designed to be a formidable test and at first Ogre seemed surprised by Aseloth’s interaction with Leia, but was that merely a ruse to cloud his ture intentions from his apprentice if she were to probe around in his thoughts? He certainly wouldn’t put the possibility of her being able to delve into his thoughts beyond her abilities.

It did seem that the adversity had multiplied one hundred times, having the affluence and affect of Aseloth thrown into the mix of this confrontation. An evil direction this task had taken which could very well be attributed to the one who had set the stage.

Ogre’s chant continued on and the small signs of a smile seemed to spread and flourish upon his visage.

[Aseloth]

The towering pillar of rock nearby, that Hera had earlier in this venture used as a beacon to guide her to Leia’s position, remained unchanged. It was Aseloth in the form of the very land around, but he made no motion to move from the place he occupied as unmoving stone becoming covered by snow.

The creature was an inquisitive being that learned by observation and physical interaction. Standard methods of communication were not things, which he practiced. He had come to communicate with his brethren, Ogre and one a couple of occasions Dalethria on a level beyond that of physical speech, and more recently had done the same with Leia, though it was different than that he had done in the past with the others of his blood.

His urge to know more about the strange creature that seemed affixed to Hera was becoming overwhelming, but he would wait and see what direction this conflict would take, as he watched with gifted sight, before he would sample it’s essence, as he did with all new things he encountered.

[DarthHERA]

Once again she was forced to throw herself bodily out of the path of the deadly lightening bolt, this time however she managed to remain on her feet. One of these times, she was not going to be quick enough. She could not let this continue this way.

She had been standing, staring agog at the ineffectualness of her attack against Ogre. It appeared he gave no sign of defending himself, yet the dangerous ice-barbs simply evaporated and caused no damage whatever. She had never witnessed the likes of it before. Whatever had happened to make him (she corrected herself) - to make the clone - this way seemed to cause all natural elements to have no adverse effects on him. Hera was having increasing difficulty in distinguishing the clone and her master as the two separate beings they were.

The frustration mounted and seethed in an angry couldron of bitterness and rage within her.

She wasnt sure why but she thought she heard something, though it was so intangible not to be more than just a vague sensation. She spun around to look behind her, expecting something. But all she could see was her own chilled breath coming in sharp bursts in the ever decreasing light and the snow still steadily falling. The rocky tower-shaped outcropping loomed behind her, silent. The snow was building to several inches on some of its surfaces. Listening and peering forward, she could see or sense nothing and no-one on or around it. Unconsciously, she touched the Crest-still a spiked guard upon her arm. In an irritated impulsive gesture, she sent a sharp short jibe to the mind of her Master as he sat on the other mountaintop."Bah, your whole forrest is taken by witchcraft".

Still unconvinced that she was alone with her opponent, but could not afford to spend any more precious seconds with her focus not being on Ogre. ... on not being on the clone. However, the time she spent already was way too long.

She had not twisted fully back around before a great green fist thumped down onto her already savaged shoulder and grabbed her up in his hand, lifting her a good 2 feet off the ground.

[Darth Ogre]

**With her in his powerful grasp, Ogre wrenched and dug clawed fingers into the injury, quickly taking control of her other arm, wrapping massive fingers around the wrist and parts of the crest wrapped around her arm. The more than momentary contact of Leia/Ogre’s hand with the crest seemed to spark some kind of strange reaction. A quick flash of light emitted from where the contact took place.

Ogre twisted the arm still laced with spikes in front of Hera and threatened to lunge the sharp objects into her belly as his face, tusks now quite visible at so close a range, moved in close to hers, his hot breath warming her face amidst the snowfall and wind. He pointed a tuck at her eye and positioned it on her cheekbone just below it.**

“Ready to squeal for me like a stuck boar?”

**It was the first time during this entire encounter that she had actually heard his voice, and just like all other aspects of this mimicked form, it was the exact same as Ogre’s true voice.**

[DarthHERA]

“Ready to squeal for me like a stuck boar?”

Held in his grasp, so close she could see the light that glinted evilly in his peircing eyes, and a deep chuckle bubbled up out of her. "Oh, you'd like that wouldnt you?" She taunted him, her own eyes betraying no fear, for there was none there to be revealed. This was what she liked best. The closeness that was born between a killer and her prey. The moment, delicious in the
intimacy between a victim and his Reaper.

The claws dug deep, she could feel them forcing their way through the soft flesh of her back and shoulder. The pain was exquisite and Hera got a twisted kick from it that seemed to strengthen rather than weaken her.

Her eyes drifted to the weapon on her arm, itself also caught in the grip of the huge Sith Master, and back again to Ogres eyes. She grinned at him, "Yes, you know whats coming dont you?" He tilted his blonde head almost imperceptibly to follow her gaze, the sharp point of the tusk nudging forward slightly as he did so and breaking the skin beneath Hera's eye. She did not pull away, and the blood began to trickle so slightly, the smell of it so close it threatened to send him into a bloodlust frenzy. The Crest, upon Hera's mental prompting, began to liquify again - slowly, deliberately, winding in a deep almost hypnotic motion. She could not gauge the effect that all her bioweapon had been exposed to in this battle had had on it, but for now the Crest was responding the way she needed it to.

Ogre growled unimpressed and crushed his hand even harder into her body.

Hera continued her taunting, "You want me to bleed, to satiate that lust for bloodshed that consumes you.. The Crest continued folding upon itself, changing and slowly becoming what Hera bid it. The pain of broken flesh and ravaged muscle was reaching a crescendo as Ogre crushed her in his massive hand, but Hera was channelling it all with discipline taught by the very one who had her.....the mimicked form of the one who had her...in his unrelenting hold.

She leaned up, this time avoiding the tusk, to whisper in his ear.
"I have a little "witchcraft" of my own, Ogre.."

***************


"I have a little "witchcraft" of my own, Ogre.."

Ogre Mal Pannis heard her say it clearly, as if she was standing right beside him, whispering in his own ear. With assured control she spoke again to her Master as he sat on the Mountaintop. Is it the Clones head? Or is it your head, my Master I am to bring? Who is it I am really here to defeat?"

****************

Ogre/Leia grew tired of Hera's talking. He wearied of the endlessly moving liquid Crest. It was time to make her scream for mercy and then deny it. He was tired of wasting time. ....He was tired, he suddenly realised. He was tired and finding it hard to breath. He found his mind was clouding and he couldnt quite remember what he had just been thinking.

He rolled his eyes back to Hera's and saw a wild excitement had replaced the taunting anger of just a few moments previous.

"This is my witchcraft, Clone. Right now your blood is but a trickle instead of the usual pulsating rush to and from your heart...

the Morphal Crest kept moving and reshaping, but never forming and Ogre realised it was doing it of its own volition. Hera had been chanelling her dark power elsewhere. She had realised natural elements would not overcome this being that the clone had somehow become, but only the dark power of the force used within his own self. She had targeted his heart and the arteries around it, deftly constricting them as one would a persons trachea to stop air flow...only on a different and equally as deadly scale.

Hera resurged her attack and the clone felt a searing pain shoot from the center of his chest up and through his arm, radiating in a dull ache throughout his mighty body. He clutched with his free arm at his chest and felt lightheaded and dizzy and could barely breath.

Her voice was softer now, more menacing,
....Soon you will feel you only want to sleep. But be assured, my dark Leia Solo, I will take your head before slumber claims you."

[Darth Ogre]

**His/her grip on Hera waned and faltered, dropping the Sith Lordess from her position, letting her feet touch the snow below once again.Vision was becoming hazy and somewhat blurred as the air was not allowed into lungs or blood pumped through veins. It would not take much longer before the mimicked Sith Master became nothing more than a lifeless body on the cold snow.

But even through the signs of surprise and pain on his face, Hera saw a sudden sign of evil intent, a gleam in his eyes that told this was not the end, not yet, not by a longshot.

There had been many things that Leia had learned she could mimic in the early hours of this day while Hera traversed the mountainside. Many of the things she could mimic did not require blood or air to survive. Any aspect of nature that either Aseloth or, of recent, Leia had come into contact with could be mimicked and Hera watched as right before her eyes, the shape of Ogre changed quickly into a formless blob and then seemed to completely vanish into the whipping wafts of snow blown by the wind.

There was no longer a simple visible presence for Hera to concentrate her Force attack on. Ogre/Leia had seemed to completely vanish. But she has not vanished, she had taken on the form of some of the snow wailing around the Sith Lordess, completely camouflaging herself in the abundance of it.

The raging winds blew the snow that comprised Leia’s essence behind Hera a short distance and Leia once again took the shape of that which had seemed to stir such a strong and powerful reaction from Hera, the form of their Master, Ogre Mal Pannis.

Next to his right foot he felt something metal. It was Hera’s dual bladed saber which had been lost early in the confrontation. Hera was still searching around for where Liea had gotten off to but was hampered by the snow and the way that Leia’s essence of being had virtually spread out to cover a much vaster amount of space, but that searching would not take much longer now that the clone had shifted back to a more natural physical presence.

Ogre knelt and picked up the saber, and before Hera turned around, her attention was alerted by a very familiar sound, very close by. The blade of her own saber ignited and pierced her side, spurting out just below her ribs as it entered from her back and passed through her stomach. With but a follow through, pulling up and to the side motion, Ogre/Leia could cut Hera into two pieces and end her life.**

”Isn’t the pain glorious?”

**Came Ogre’s deep voice whispered into Hera’s ear.**

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He answered what he heard with his own mental call, a tone of amusement within its crescendo.

”That is all part of the trial my apprentice. Will you pass?

Life and death were on the line as a part of this test, just the way it should be for one who had progressed as far as Hera had. If she failed, she would no longer live, if she succeeded a life would be taken.

She was no stranger to taking life, but she wasn’t as intimate with being so near death as she was at dealing it to others.

[DarthHERA]

"Atropos". So named after the Third FATE who, with her shears, cuts the thread of life of mortal beings. The lightsaber was beautiful in craftsmanship, honed to a perfect balance by Hera herself. It was ironic that its first victim to feel its brilliant blue fire, should be its very creator.

As Ogre/Leia plunged the blade into her back Hera heard his voice mocking her, "Isn't the pain glorious?" as he savoured the feel of what seemed sure to be a kill-stroke.


***********************
Hera had heard her Master ask her clearly if she "would pass" his trial, and now his words reverbated again through her mind and heart, but she could not answer him.


***********************

Her rage was unprecedented. Never had she fought an opponent with such ability to deflect, hamper or render her attacks so ineffective as this aberrant clone. All the hate she felt towards this Dark Leia/Ogre had reached bursting point. She hated this clone for the pain that was continuing to course through her body from the earlier lightening bolts - the channelling of which had left still a lingering burning throughout her being; Hated her for the brutalized flesh and muscle of her shoulder from the cruel claws of Ogre's massive hand; Hated her for the seared and scorched skin from the acid blood; Hated her for the fatigue and weariness of the trek to this snow-canvassed battleground; For the draining chill of the freezing temperatures; For the staggering agony of the lightsaber wound; For her taking a form of the one she served loyally and used his skill as her own. Hated her for all of this. Yet, ALL this hatred did not compare to the overwhelming frustration Hera felt of fighting an adversary so skilled as to make Hera feel unworthy.

It was uncontrollable. The Sith Lord had never felt anything like this in the past. Though many challenges and formidable enemies had led her perilously close to death and inflicted their violent and brutal punishments to her body before this, she had always felt capable, able, effective. But not this opponent, Dark Jedi Leia Solo. Her frustration and anger of this consumed her.

She threw her arms upward, the one arm functioning by her sheer will alone. Ogre was standing close enough behind her for
Hera to thrust her hands backwards into Ogre's wild blonde mane, twisting and anchoring her fingers savagely into it. All her clarity of thought had now gone, replaced by the uncontrolable desire to lash out somehow, someway - the blinding unreasonable fury of action that comes from being denied something one wants with an unfathomable desire.

Gripping his hair in her two hands - the object, the clone's head, the prize - the very pinacle of her desire and ambition of this whole trial - Hera released the most unholy and soul chilling screech. A "Force Scream" (http://www.geocities.com/imperialintelligencehq/Dark.html). Something she had no conception or understanding of. It was an involuntary explosion of force power (http://www.fallenjedi.com/darklight.html) whose resounding effects were devestating in their impact.

The whole Mountain seemed to heave and shudder beneath their feet. A dull boom like a thunderclap, or detonation, erupted around the two and rolled outward across the forrest terrain. The long-term effect on all living beings within the Scream's scope remained to be seen, but the immediate impact was terrible. Creatures on the outskirts of the woods began to howl and call out in fear and bewilderment, those within a closer radius died instantly within burrows, nests and caves-their hearts stopped or their brains hemorraging within their skulls. Even the hawk that Hera had used for her dark purposes earlier fell from its high treetop home, its heart a cold lifeless stone within its breast.

The clone - the object and cause of Hera's incredible frustration-got the brunt of the Force Scream's impact. And Ogre, still alive but just barely, collapsed to an unconscious heap in the snow. Hera was also subject to the devastation of the Darkside phenomenon and fell to her knees, herself teetering on the brink of unconscious oblivion. With a weak and trembling hand, she reached down and lifted the lightsaber "Atropos" from out of the great Green being's open hand.

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**Agony, turmoil, and the sight of oblivion were all that Leia could see anymore, the last of which leaving him/her nothing but a heap of flesh in the snow. No twitching limbs, no struggle to regain footing, nothing but a slow and lobaored moving of his chest as air was drawn and expelled from his lungs.

The blade of Hera’s weapon had receded back into its handle after the effects of the devastation had done their duty. It came away from his unmoving hand with absolutely no resistance, and at the same moment that it did, the body shifted back to its natural form.

Dark Jedi Leia Solo, the clone created by Ogre’s own hand now layed prone on the carpet of cold before Hera. Her prize awaited, defeated and done, this battle was at an end. The task had not been easy for either of them, which was obvious as the Force storm that had earlier loomed overhead completely vanished and the blizzard seemed to move away at the same time.

Would Hera have enough left to do what her Master had bid her to do? For besides the immediate task of removing the head of Leia, there still laid the task of taking it back to her Master. No simple thing to be sure after what had transpired this day.

Leia was coming very near the time of fulfilling her mission in life……She was about to die.**

[DarthHERA]

The clone would not recover from the impact of such a powerful onslaught of dark energy. Having returned now to her natural form, her breath was but a whisper hanging softly on the air of this life.

She was beautiful laying there, the white snow framing her long dark locks and lovely face. The vibrance and power of her being was slipping away, like the quiet ebb of the early morning tide. Its destination inevitable.

Hera looked down at the clone from her kneeling position in the snow. Her body swayed unsteadily and her hands hung motionless at her sides. Blinking slowly, she tried to force herself to focus, to function. She looked up and noted dully that the snow had stopped falling. Looking down again, Hera leaned her arm that held the saber outward and took deep breaths trying to overcome the suffocating feeling in her own chest as a result from the pounding she had taken from her own actions. Leia's image began to darken and it seemed to Hera to be moving further away from her. Without comprehending her own passing into unconsciousness, Hera fell forward, a harmless arm stretching across the clone and the two antagonists lay in a unwitting embrace on the cold still ground.

**

The hours passed and no movement from either of the two as they lay in the surreal quiet of the forrest. Hera succombing into unconsciousness from the ravages of this battle was ironically what saved her. With the faint life that had remained within Leia - the oneness with nature and the resulting capacity her body had to ward off the adverse effects of the elements which she had received from Aseloth - seeped across unknowingly to Hera as they lay there connected for so long. The transference was slight, nothing remotely like what Aseloth had given to Leia, but it gave Hera an edge her body desperately needed. It was enough to help her survive the combined wounds she received at the clone's hand and the force scream.

**

Hera woke, not knowing for a moment where she was. She sensed death all around her. The forrest was thick with it. She brushed back the dark sweep of hair that nuzzled against her face, and then it all came flooding back to her. Hera rolled over, lifting her arm from off Leia and sat very still as she considered all that had happened.

Leia was dead. Her body cold and lifeless, yet still incredibly graceful. The dropping temperatures started to tell as Hera began to shiver - the regeneration power from Leia had been enough only to keep her alive, to keep her wounds from being lethal. And now the harsh elements again began their relentless trial.

The fire of hatred and rage had abated and Hera wasn't quite sure how she felt about the demise of this overwhelming adversary. This was definitely a testing that had a profound impact upon her.

Getting slowly, painfully, to her feet, Hera picked up her still deactivated lightsaber and returned it to its hip-clasp inside her tattered wampa furs. She walked over and plucked from the snow the Morphal Crest - now shaped to a solid rock-type formation which it had instinctively retreated into as protection from the unleashed dark powers earlier. She placed that also within the coverings, to a pocket inside.

Returning back to where the clone lay, Hera lifted Leia up into her arms in order to carry her back to where their Master, Ogre Mal Pannis, waited.

She would bring Ogre Dark Leia's head as instructed. If he wanted it separate from her body, then he would have to do that himself. Because Hera would not.

One slow step infront of the other, Hera began her long journey back. She was glad for the distance - it would give her time to think and try to grasp all that had happened. Time to try to understand the strange, but very real connection she now felt toward the lifeless Leia that she carried carefully in her arms.

[Aseloth]

During the hours that the two laid unconscious, Aseloth had taken his natural form again. The death of so many living things around had affected him as well,, but for some reason, the Force scream did not. He was completely pure in his essence, he was half mortal and half god, a Demi-God. The force scream like so many other force attacks that had been attempted against the monstrosity had been absorbed by his ability. An absorption such as that was not one that Leia could have mimicked unless she was Aseloth herself. Being given his abilities as she had was not that complete of transference.

He approached the fallen warriors and though Hera had received some aid from Leia’s connection with Nature, Aseloth also assisted Hera without her having any clue that it happened, save a few large footprints in the snow. Aseloth always made it a point to make physical contact, at least briefly with any being it came across and even though Hera was unconscious, she was not exempt from this tradition.

Leia however was beyond life when he arrived, she was already passed into the realm of oblivion. Death had claimed her and that was something the Demi-God could not change, just as he could not heal the dead aspects of nature affected by the horrible wake of Darkside energy. That healing would have to be done as nature intended, with the passing of time.

Aseloth was saddened that he had lost the new friend that he had been able to communicate with the night before on a level he had not communed with any other before except his own Father, but that sadness did not instill anger. It was very rare that Aseloth would become enraged, and having witnessed all the events that took place here made him aware that all was as it should be, one of these two women was going to pass on, and had.

Before he crept away back into the lowlands, a short trek for one of his size and girth, he made a point to make physical contact with the third living creature that had seemed to aid Hera during the battle. The customary flash of light appeared and then vanished just as quickly and then the blue beast of nature was gone on his way, to dwell amongst the lands of Meras again, until there was something taking place for him to witness and learn from again.

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

His watchful vigil did not end, even over the long period of time that the two lay motionless. He witnessed all that transpired, including Aseloth’s interactio with Hera and the Vorpal Crest. Hera had passed the trial of defeating his clone of Leia, but there was still much to do, for the distance was great for her to make her return, and she had a heavy burden to bear, both mentally and physically.

Leia had spoken to the Sith Master regarding her previous meeting with Hera and knew from that tale, that his Disciple had developed a possible friendliness with the clone, one which may wear heavily in her heart and mind in performing the task Ogre had laid out, but she had oercome it, as Ogre knew she would.

Aspirations of power and recognition were a very motivational thing for the ones who called themselves Sith and served the ways of the Darkside. Ogre would watch this joney back, but only with his magical sight, he would not intrude on Hera’s thoughts or even speak to her until she arrived and met with him face to face, if she arrived. How she brought Leia’s head was inconsequential, Ogre had not specified that it need be removed from her shoulders.

[DarthHERA]

The sun had risen twice since Hera's battle with the clone but, still, she had traversed less than half the distance back to her Master.

Twice she had spent the night on the same mountain where her hard won victory had taken place.

On embarking from the bloodstained battleground, the task of carrying the clone making every step an ordeal of its own, Hera had not gotten very far before she felt sure she would collapse. Looking around for any kind of succor, she noticed tracks in the deep snow which lead toward her. She followed the large clawed print that resembled that of a bears foot and found it led to a mid-sized cave.

On entering the den, she found it empty. The dark energy had woken its occupant from its hibernating slumber earlier and sent it fleeing in fear and bewilderment - its mind ravaged and agrieved to the point of delerium. Hera placed the clone to the side of what Hera assumed was the "bed" the animal had made itself of forrest foilage and debris and then she - exausted, cold, and severly injured, curled up and fell into a deep sleep.

She slept through a brilliant dawn that came from a sky finally free of snowfall, slept on through a day still and pristine, and on through until the stars showed themselves in the night sky.

I the early evening as finally, she woke, Hera pulled herself up to a sitting position. As she did so, a small pendant-like item fell from the inside of her clothing to dangle from her neck. She lifted it in her hand and remembered another time, another battle, when she had received it. She had all but been killed then in that fight too, were it not for the saving grace Ogre had disposed through the Talisman. Returning it to its place, no contact at all was made by Hera for Ogre's assistance. (And somehow, she knew that he knew she wouldnt try). This was something she must survive and overcome by her own means.

Gathering together the debris that was the bed, Hera moved it and placed it between her and the entrance to the cave. By the use of a technique that her father had taught her as a child, Hera set the dry foilage on fire. Then with the fire close enough to give continued warmth and the body of the clone beside her,
Hera began a deliberate meditation. She had done this on occassion in times past when a concerted and specific channeling of her dark energy was required to build strength and bring focus for a specific purpose. The purpose this time was simply to give her enough strength to make her necessary journey. Within moments, her breathing slowed, her body relaxed and a thick enveloping aura began to surround and engulf her. The power of the darkside was being concentrated and directed to serve her greatest need. She would stay this way, entranced, through the long hours of the night and only rouse herself from it with the arrival of the sun the next day.

****

The fire was gone, so too was its heat. All that remained of it were dark ashes, which Hera stepped over by way of leaving the cave.

With the clone again in her arms, and a semblence of strength returning to her body from her disciplines of the previous night, she again began her slow trudge down the mountain. Her wounds still sore and threatening to inflame into infection were a worry and so she kept her eyes open for any plants that resembled the healing herbs that she had a small knowledge of. Her destination was still a long way off.


******************

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

Upon seeing her enter the cave an curl up to rest, Ogre knew then and there that it would be a good while before she awoke. She had many physical and mental wounds tat would require a great deal of time to mend even if only partially by the effects of sleep.

His chant ceased and he rose from where he has been sitting in the snow, turning to the pile of snow that was Hera’s speeder he raised a hand and the snow was tossed aside, baring the machine to the open air again.

His food supplies had come to run short and there was also something he wished to have when Hera arrived back, if she did, so that the end of her task would be more fulfilling than hearing what Ogre would say to her.

He climbed into the speeder and zoomed back down the mountain, heading for his cave. The trip there and back was not all that time consuming and he returned bearing what he had retrieved before Hera had risen, as revealed to him by the vision he summoned once again.

She was still making her way to him, to fulfill that which he had required of her, an end to his test was nearly in sight.

[DarthHERA]

Progress was steady though maddeningly slow. Hera stopped occassionally to rest and go through the mental and spiritual excercises that continued to aid her. She did not feel stronger after these, but she did not feel any weaker either. The fatigue and pain remained constant and in this she knew she was accomplishing it through her command of the force. This pleased her.

A large part of the time she that she had been travelling since leaving the cave Hera had spent going over the battle with Dark Jedi Leia Solo. Seeing again in her mind the conflict and reveiwing it in the calm and clarity of hindsight. She now was able to assess and conject as to things that had transpired during the fight that she had had no time to do during it.

She knew now she must have absorbed something of Leia's essence or life flow that had helped her - something Leia would not have allowed, and Hera would not have accepted had they been awake to stop it. Still, it had happened despite them and it had brought an added revelation of the clone she was now returning to her master. It brought an understanding of what a loss she was to them and to the cause of the Darkside.

*****************

Night had fallen again, but Hera could see Ogre as he stood, watching her approach. There was a full moon and its light reflected brilliantly off the white surface of the frozen ground. There was not a breath of wind, and his cloak hung still - so much so he looked like a huge statue, or sentinel watching for her arrival.

Each step forward brought Hera a feeling of overwhelming pride as she could sense his approval of the prize she brought him. She walked up and stood before him, tilting Leia's head upward with her arm.

"I have brought what you asked of me, Master."

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He was now face to face with his disciple among the cold evening upon the mountain top. She had succeeded in her task and done as he had required of her. The head of Leia solo was before him, atop the shoulders of the lifeless body that Hera held in her arms.

Ogre reached out with a large three fingered hand slowly and moved it to Hera’s chest, where he could still see the Sith healing Talisman that he had once given Hera after a session where they had fought savagely . His hand met the cold dark steel and immediately Hera began to feel the talisman do what it had done by his bidding once before. Her wounds were purged of infection and vanished without a trace.

Ogre’s eyes had been closed when he made contant with the ancient Sith aritfact and now, as he moved his hand away, opened. They looked a little weary and tired, for he had in only a few moments expelled a great deal of his force abilities and caused them to flow through the amulet and into Hera’s body. But his actions that followed failed to display that weariness. He took Leia from Hera’s arms, lifting her effortlessly, accepting the prize that had been brought.

“Your task was a hard one?”

He asked knowing full well that it had been, as he turned and placed the body in a lying position at the rear or Hera’s parked speeder. Crossing her arms over her chest as she lie in the snow.

Hera’s senses suddenly found new life after the healing was done and she smelled cooking meat, warm bread, and the scent of rum wafting through the air. A nerby fire’s light could be seen flickering upon the side of her stationary speeder.

Ogre finished with his placement of the prize and looked back up at Hera.

“You have done as I expected and earned the rewards you were promised, but before we get to all of those….”

She could hear him jingle the keys to her speeder within his cloak.

“…how about a hearty meal and a spot of rum to get the chill that the talisman didn’t from your bones Sith Master Hera DrenKast?”

[DarthHERA]

The Talisman had done its healing work. Hera immediately felt the strain and weight of the past trial evaporate - the pain vanish and regeneration of her body with the healing of all wounds.

Ogre lifted the clone from her, his manner was of one used to having his bidding done and so showed no surprise that she had accomplished the set task. That response, in itself showed her that her Master had much confidence in her. This pleased Hera and her satisfaction from it made what she had endured pale in comparison.

She smiled for the first time in four days, "The task was a little difficult, yes."

She could smell hot food.....and better yet, Rum (only Ogre knew how much she loved that drink) and looked over to see the glow of the fire he had waiting.

They were already moving over towards the fire, Ogre placing Leia down carefully beside Hera's vehicle. He jangled the keys in his cloak and Hera had never been so happy to see a speeder before in her life. Thank the gods, she wouldn't have to walk all the way back down from this frozen torment. Stretching her hands toward the warming flames, Ogre was still speaking. Something about a meal and rum and bones.. Hera, in her mind, was already gulping down the food as he spoke. That was until she heard him address her as Sith Master.

A wide grin spread across her face and she could not remember ever feeling more pride and such great satisfaction than she did at that moment. She was grateful for all she had learned from her Master. From his teachings and from his example in the ways of the Darkside. It had always been her greatest honor that he had accepted her as an apprentice so long ago. And she would continue to follow him and learn from him. She would always remain his apprentice.

Still grinning, pleased with herself, pleased that Ogre felt her worthy of such title, Hera bowed slightly, "I would be very happy to share a meal with you Sith Master Ogre Mal Pannis. Im sure your cooking is far better than my scewered bird on a stick from a couple days back."

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

He walked over the fire and turned the spit above it that held a large wild boar, stuffed with vegetables and sizzling over the fire. There were logs around the fire to sit on and he seated himself on one, reaching off to the side to pull two open bottles of rum from the snow.

“Naturally chilled to perfection.”

He said as he offered her a bottle. Upon some of the stones that circled the fire sat large loaves of bread, warmed by the heat of the fire the rocks absorbed. He clanked his bottle against hers and then took a healthy drink from it, the night sky above clear and full of stars as he looked up while swigging. He placed his bottle back in the snow beside him and reached out over the fire and tore away some of the meat from the boar and offered it to Hera.

“I’m sure a good meal is just what your body is craving after such a vigorous ordeal. There is enough here to feed a dozen and its been prepared in your honor. You have earned all the rewards I could ever possibly bestow.”

After she took the food from his, he turned to look at where Leia lay and grinned.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret now that the deed is done…..”

[DarthHERA]

The smooth liquor had a warming effect from the inside out. Hera always enjoyed her rum, but it never tasted as good as it did now sitting here in this frozen waste, her trial passed, her Master pleased with her, sitting smiling across from her. Times like this were rare in a persons life and Hera knew enough to appreciate the moment.

The food was more than good. She had not felt hungry during the long trek back. The thought of trying to eat had caused waves of nausea to flood over her due to her weakend state. But the restorative effects from Ogre through the talisman had releived all that and she realised she was completely famished.

She watched Ogre as he moved about the campsite he had made, wondering if he realised how much she admired him and how deep her loyalty to him ran. Yes she had ambitions and agendas of her own. Power was something innately craved by the Sith, and Hera was as selfserving and as lustful for greater power as any sith. But one true constant had remained since the day she had become Ogre's apprentice and that was she would continue to serve him with determined obedience. She had made a vow, and it would stand.


She followed his gaze as he looked to the clone and raised her eyes to him inquiringly. [i]"Secret?"[i]

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**From out of a hole in the snow a head popped, a very familiar one to Hera, for it was the same as the one on the woman she had just carried back for the last two days. Ogre had placed the body Hera brought back, not far from the entrance to his self fashioned underground ice igloo and now there was Dark Jedi Leia Solo coming out from inside, very much alive.**

“Greetings Hera.”

**Came the very recognizable sound of her voice. The lifeless body of her exact duplicate lying not more than a meter away from where she came from. Ogre chuckled and raised his bottle of rum from the snow again drinking heartily.**

[DarthHERA]

Hera twisted around where she sat, shocked at the arrival of Leia, alive and well. Her eyes darted from Leia, to the dead clone in the snow, to Ogre who was chuckling lowly, quite pleased with himself. She turned her eyes back to Leia feeling awkward and forced a weak, guilty smile in greeting. "Oh, erm, Hello Leia.... You're looking well."

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

“I’d say that’s a surprise to you….no?”

Came a question amidst his chuckling.

“You may want to drink some more of that rum now. There is plenty more where it came from.”

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

**Leia nodded in greeting and walked over to the logs around the fire. She noticed that Hera looked as if she had just seen a ghost, and she couldn’t help but smile at her Master’s deceitfulness. She sat on the log and proceeded to pick up Hera’s bottle of rum and offer it out to her.**

[DarthHERA]

It was indeed like seeing a ghost, quite literally.

The two seemed to be enjoying themselves immensly and Hera, though still feeling a bit sheepish about the fact that she had without hesitation set off to kill Leia in obedience to her Masters directive, allowed herself a small laugh at her own expense.

As the Dark Jedi held out the bottle of rum, Hera took it, calling another easily to herself via the force and tossing it to the clone.

"Seems Ogre knew I'd be in need of more than one bottle and has supplied plenty. " She tossed him a chiding glance.

Nodding in the direction of the dead clone laying in the snow Hera said in a serious tone, "If there are no hard feelings...perhaps you will join us in a drink?"

[Dark Jedi Leia Solo]

“I, like you would follow any order our Master would give. You were doing his bidding just as I would have done.”

**She uncorked the bottle and raised it into the air.**

“To our Master.”

[DarthHERA]

Grinning, Hera lifted her bottle also.

"To Ogre, evil genius mad scientist in One."

[Ogre Mal Pannis]

And with that, the trials for Hera’s ascension to Sith Master were complete. Her aspirations had come to fruition and the woes of the relentless cold had been overcome as well as the task set forward by her Master. Much had been learned, Ogre, Hera, and even Aseloth had all gained new insights from the conflict.

The trio of Darksiders sat and spoke boisterously throughout the evening, enjoying vast amounts of food and drink, the firelight flicking in the clear pristine evening upon the mountain top.

Then came the next day, and what had previously been a place of despair and hardship was left behind and in the past. All had returned back from that place, with their new outlooks and positions.

Woes such as those that had been faced would undoubtedly be meet again sometime in the future, but for now, this chapter was ended.