Torrents [The Training of Ebon Dir - II]

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth leaned against a stone pilar, the rain beating down upon him. The acid had litle effect on him now, as he had grown acustomed to mentally shielding himself in a viel of Force energies. After so much time spent wandering Vjun, he had learned more than just the truth behind the planet (That it was worthless, beyond it's geothermic activity, and endless supply of chaos and destruction) - He had learned how to survive in it's bleak and almost unbreathable atmosphere.

It was a world ripe for the Dark Side of the Force, and all those who would wish to tap into it. Ebon would soon learn just how to properly achieve this.

A few glistening metallic orbs laid beside Jeseth's feet as he patiently waited for his dark brother's arrival.

[Ebon Dir]

::Ebon approached his teacher again, this time with a noticable limp and fresh bandages on his leg::

Forgive my grumbling, but did we have to meet so far from the keep? This rain hurts like hell.

[Jeseth Cloak]

A glare was shot at Ebon, Jeseth's steel eyes beginging to burn through him.

You have been gifted with the Force for a reason. Use your pain - Let it flow through you!

Jeseth's arm came up, knocking Ebon to the ground. The metallic orbs rose from their places and into the winged Dark Jedi's hands. He activated them both and released them into the air... A humming could be heard as they circled around Ebon quickly, moving much faster than the average remote. A single shot was fired at him as Jeseth calmly moved away, watching them begin their assault on the training Dark Jedi, the rain pouring down on him.

Now use it.

[Ebon Dir]

The rain, which had started as an annoyance, began to truly hurt, burning the skin with every drop. Taking the words of Jeseth into mind, he didn't block out the pain as he usually would, instead, he let each raindrop feed the fire within, fanning the flames of his anger.

Ebon attempted to get up, grimacing as a pain shot up his back. When Jeseth had pushed him to the ground he had hit a sharp rock, hard. Working through the numbness that gripped his lower body, he dodged nimbly to the side as shots from the remotes continued to punish his body.

Focusing on one of the two remotes, Ebon hit a button on his saber. As it deployed with a characteristic snap-hiss, he brought it up in a quick motion, intercepting a shot and sending it to the ground where it then dissapated. This dance continued for several minutes: Ebon blocking shots while others made it through his defenses, sending painful jolts through his body, and all the while the rain fell.

When the two remotes flew close to each other and hesitated for a fraction of a moment as they adjusted their flight path, Ebon made his move. As a shot aimed at his head was fired by one of the two remotes, Ebon brought up his saber in a lightining quick motion, blocking the shot and sending it directly at the second remote. Ebon didn't even pause to see it destroyed; instead he continued the swing of the saber through the shot, ending it my slicing the remaining remote cleanly in half.

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth grinned as a blue light errupted forth from the hilt of Ascension, the saber which Trace Sha had left behind. It's steady flow of paslma spread out through the rain, coating both Jeseth and Ebon in it's cold blue hue.

Jeseth's black gloved left hand appeared to grip the saber harder as he remembered what pain could truly amount to.

"The Sith allow the Dark Side to dominate their destiny, and they serve it as willing slaves... you must remember that the Dark Side is your slave - Remember this always, and forever shall the Sith be forced to bow before your will.

Your strength with the Force is impressive, but you must learn how to control your anger with more ease, so as to make it unoticable to others... Otherwise, illusions will become increasing difficult to keep up."

Jeseth dissolved beneath the acid rain, the light of his saber slowly vanishing from the mind's eye. Ebon could see Jeseth standing beneath the entrance to the court yard, shielded by from rainfall. It had all been an illusion...

Come inside. We have yet more to learn.

Jeseth stepped through the shadows, vanishing within the haven's walls. As he made his way into the depth's of Bast Castle, his foot steps echoed behind him, and he hoped that Ebon would soon follow those same echoes to find him. He could only imagine how infuriated that bit of trickery would make the man, but that was the intent all along. Now Jeseth would see how much control over his own emotions Ebon truely had.

[Ebon Dir]

An illusion!?

The burning anger in Ebon's mind reached an intensity greater than the burning of his acid-spattered skin.

He felt a fool, tricked so easily. An illusion....
He detested the things and everything they stood for. A battle fought from a distance was a battle fought by a coward, in his mind. Swallowing his pride, he fought the urge to strike out as his brother. He was to blame for this, not Jeseth. Jeseth had simply taught him a valuable lesson. Ebon made a solemn promise to himself, that he would make it his goal to learn to see through the illusions other force users would invariably try to use on him.

With a final sigh, he made his way quickly to the relative safety of Bast castle.

[Jeseth Cloak]

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Jeseth's footsteps echoed off in all directions, shadow's just slightly bending down every hall way - that had always been a good sign of the Dark Jedi's presence, yet now it served to confuse Ebon to no end. Differently paced footsteps sounded their way down each hall, all of them intersecting just at the center of the room closest to the ancient court yard's entrance. The floor was covered in a strange and polished painting, depicting a man melting above a pit of flames. Something struck Ebon at the back of his mind as he remembered the cliff just along the otherside of the area in which he trained... sulphur smoke constantly rose while it rained, making it difficult to see or even breath, and adding to the constant down pour of acid rain.

Jeseth smiled slightly, taking his time and allowing his few returning memories to fuel his grand illusion... Pain - so many years of pain. How could he have forgotten so much?

Jeseth could still see Ebon there, watching him as if on a holoprojector which functioned deep within the reaches of his mind. He had (at least for the moment) triumphed in his trickery. He could clearly see growing frustration in his brother's face. How fun this game would soon become... and all the while, Ebon would never know the truth behind it all - at least, not unless he managed to find Jeseth, first.


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[Ebon Dir]

Son of a...

Illusions, everywhere, illusions...

Confusion and anger rolled and boiled inside Ebon. He was badly burned from being exposed to the caustic rain outside the keep; he wanted to get this training session over and dress his blisters before they caused permanent scarring.

Sorting through the illusions, Ebon picked an image of Jeseth that seemed to be real, walking toward him with a quick, deliberate pace, Ebon ended up walking directly in the brocken remains of a pillar,causing shots of pain to wrack his body. With a snarl, he activated his lightsaber and proceded to quickly reduce the stone pillar to a pile of rubble. Gingerly, he reached up and touched his nose.

Broken.

Forgeting what he saw, Ebon concentrated, instead, on his ears.

There were echos everywhere, but his sense of hearing was excellent, and his pain addled mind was already working quickly. Many echos came from dead corners and blank walls, working quickly, he narrowed his choices down to two open hallways. The footsteps eminating from one seemed a bit unnatural, far too heavy for a person like Jeseth. Instead he chose the other hallway, from which the sounds of a light, even pace emminated. Stalking quickly down the hall, Ebon began to gain on the footsteps. "I've got you now, you illusion wielding coward," he thought to himself.

Suddenly, his right foot found no purchase and he stumbled forward into the inky blackness. He sensed himself falling for a fraction of a second, the came to a momentary, bone-jarring stop. The stop was only temporary, however, for he began to slide down a steep slope as the small landing he rested on broke away. Miracurously, his arm shot out and found a purchase. His fingers gripped an outcropping of stone and stopped him.

Lying on a rubble-strewn slope, bruised, burned and battered, Ebon gave up.

"Help!....."

[Jeseth Cloak]

It seemed an eternity, as he hung there, waiting for someone to answer his pleas - Nothing came. Shadows bent from their natural paths, avoiding his very grasp.

You have failed.

The words rung out in his mind, halting Ebon's thoughts, his worries fading within the foreground of his consciousness. A gloved black hand gripped around his wrist as his fingers began to slip, pulling him up slowly. Jeseth stood there before him, his figure still nearly invisible through the shadows.

[Ebon Dir]

Failed?! What the hell do you mean, "failed"? Where was the test?

[Jeseth Cloak]

Here.

Jeseth's hand lashed out from the shadows, striking at his chest and sending him toppling down the slope below. Ebon roll over a few times and finally completed the 3 meter drop to the floor below, impacting with a soft thud. Jeseth leapt downward, bending his knees as he landed.

"We've played enough games... In a true battle, help will not be granted to you. You've failed to see through two of my illusions, allowing yourself to be easily manipulated and confused. As I've said, you are gifted with the Force for a reason. You did well to choose the proper path, but at times illusions, even when discovered to be false, can be no more than bait leading into a greater trap.

A Sith would have had no mercy upon you. A Jedi may well have acted in the same manner. We are threat to them all, let that be remembered."

Jeseth extended a hand to Ebon, squinting his eyes, his other hand stroking over the hilt of his saber as if in readiness.

[Ebon Dir]

::graciously taking Jeseth's hand, Ebon hoists himself back up::

I....I see your point. But that doesn't change the fact that I hate illusions. Is there any way I can learn to see through the stupid things?

[Jeseth Cloak]

Jeseth nodded, then extended his hand.

"Of course..."

The wall before them shifted slightly, fading slowly into a pool of oil like colors and shapes and then finally settling into the crystal clear image of a path leading straight out onto a plain of grass and sunlight.

"You need but reach out with your mind, and break the bonds which form these images. Control: That is what you must have. Control over your surroundings, over your own mind... and most importantly, over others' minds as well."

Waiting, Jeseth walked towards the tunnel, touching his hand to it and watching it ripple as he did so.

[Ebon Dir]

::Ebon looks suspiciously at the path::

That path is not there. It was not there before, it is not there now. There is no sunshine in this cursed place, nor is there any grass.

(slowly, the image of the wall gradually takes over in his eyes as the illusion fades away)

::Ebon looks at Jeseth::

I could wee through that illusion, true. But I alsoi *knew* it wasn't real. The problem comes from situations where I do not know I am looking at a lie. What I seek is a way to detect these falsehoods.

[Jeseth Cloak]

"And are you so sure that the illusion was final?"

Jeseth watched Ebon, holding his hand out to the wall one more time.

"Look closely. You must use more than just your eyes... and think deeper than reality."

[Ebon Dir]

No, it is still a wall. It was a wall before we got here, and will be a wall long after we leave.'

::turns on Jeseth::

I'm tired of your speaking in riddles and half-truths, brother. I am not here to play mind games , I am here to learn about the force. Now I relaize that much of the power of the force is in the mind, but I do not have the patience for this skipping about the questions.

[Jeseth Cloak]

(ooc) I'm not sure if you're familiar with this, but it's similar to what Yoda had Luke do... I'll write in what you find in the cave once you get there. (ic)


Jeseth shakes his head and lets go of the Force, the "wall" becoming a gaping whole which merely led down an empty cave.

"Then step into the cave, and embrace your destiny. Afterall, the only thing to fear is fear it's self."

he could sense Ebon's frustration, but all Jedi, light or Dark, would have to learn to control their emotions. Jedi merely choose to supress the power, Dark Jedi would have to learn to use it.

[Ebon Dir]

::Ebon groaned inwardly as the wall faded away...he had been so intent on believing it was not a sunlit path, he had failed to realize that the wall, too, could be an illusion.

With a firm expression on his face, he made his way down the stairs, pulling his cloak close around his body. As he decended further into the darkness, the voices in his head began to get louder. At first it was the pointless, endless babble of a child...his fallen friend and, ever since that day, his everpresent companion. But eventually, the familiar voice faded away, overcome by screams and the pitiful wailing of the dying. Images began to flash before his eyes. Here a woman was impaled on the glowing blade of a lightsaber. There an elderly man flew into a wall, propelled by some unseen hand; his body impacted the unyielding stone with a sickening crunch, and his lifeless body slumped to the ground. Surrounding all was a background of helpless people, fleeing some unspeakable terror.

The scene changed and he was now peering into a large hall, through the partially opened front doors. Inside, no motion was seen, but everywhere, there was carnage. Blood, pieces of clothing, and gore was everywhere....from the shadows emerged a person, he turned and his eyes, and Ebon's eyes met.

With a start, Ebon came out of his hallucinations...again in the cold, lifeless stairwell in the lower levels of Bast Castle. Turning he emerged into the hallway in which Jeseth stood, his face pale and his body shivering.::

[Jeseth Cloak]

Suddenly, Jeseth just seemed to waver in his solidity. Everything around Ebon was melting away, and he seemed to fall further and further away from reality... until he came to a very abrupt halt. He was surrounded by nothingness, dark, black, cold, nothingness. A voice echoed out to him softly, whispering...

Ebon... It hissed, almost hungrily, Ebon... come to me, Ebon.

It seemed to read his thoughts as he wondered about it, then he heard it call out to him once again.

Ebon... I am yourself.

[Ebon Dir]

The voice sent shivers down his spine. Though it said it was him, he found that hard to believe--why would he be afraid of himself?

Bracing himself against the darkness, he called out to the emptyness "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

He never noticed that the voices he normally heard in his head had gone strangely silent.

[Jeseth Cloak]

A cold touch fell upon his shoulder, fingers gripping his flesh tightly. As he turned, he stopped to look into his own eyes - they were white, glazed over, and the copy of himself that stood before him seemed to be decayed and rotting. It smiled, then attempted to pull him toward's itself.

"I want you to embrace me... become one with your destiny, Ebon."

[Ebon Dir]

The sight before him was repulsive reflection of himself, long dead and decaying.

With a snarl, Ebon pulled away from the thing, stepped back a few steps and dropped into a protective stance.

"Death may be my destiny, but I'll be damned if I'm going to embrace it."

[Jeseth Cloak]

The figure reached out and touched Seth once more, but this time it had all faded away. Jeseth standing there with his hand on the man's shoulder.

"What did you see, brother?"

The Dark Jedi glanced into the cave, then gave a quick snip of breath in his throat. Hmph. He had gone ointo that place once, and he knew what resided there. It was a place of revelation, and yet things did not always turned out as they may have been explained to by that cavern's visions. They all meant different things.

[Ebon Dir]

"I saw memories...memories I have tried to supress in the deepest part of my mind. I saw innocents slaughtered by the souless Sith.

And I saw myself, long dead."

::Ebon turned to Jeseth::

"Tell me, what exactly was I supposed to learn from this? Was there anything to learn, or was this just another waste of my time.?"

[Jeseth Cloak]

"Knowledge is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps it was a waste of time for you." The Lord of Deception made a walk around Ebon, then placed a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me brother, you came to learn of the Force... do you not feel it?" He fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. "I see that perhaps you miss the underlying point of all that which I have attempted to convey. I might need to give you more tangible examples."

A rock spun in it's place on the ground, kicking up a bit of powdered rust. It shot itself at Ebon, but with enough time to allow him to catch it. Jeseth walked slowly away from the man. "Dodge them. All of them." Several more stones rose from the ashes and dust of the long abandoned corridor, beginning their journey towards the Dark Jedi in training. Every one of them had been set into motion to allow him just enough time to dodge them, but to make any mistakes critical. Jeseth merely watched in anticipation, his eyes gleaming.

[Ebon Dir]

A backflip and a twist to the right allowed Ebon to avoid the first volley of rocks. He dodged the first few shards with ease, but as time wore on, his reflexes grew more sluggish. The long day of training had taken a toll both mentally and physically. Ducking to the left, he narrowly missed a projectile streaking towards his head; leaping at the last possible moment he avoided another, but a large piece struck him in the side, knocking the air from his lungs.

Stumbling, he was unable to avoid another stone, instead, he just raised his forearm to protect his face. His energy waning, he hardly felt it as a stone missle struck him in the temple, throwing his vision into a tailspin. He was saved from unconciousness by a sharp pain in his elbow which was just struck by a smaller pebble.

The lightsaber!

He activated the saber with a distinctive snap-hiss, using it to strike at the pebbles he couldn't dodge. Amazingly, he could seem to sense the rocks before he turned to see them, sometimes striking backwards with his saber to hit them with his back turned.

But the use of the lilghtsaber only prolonged the inevitable.Finally, he could no longer keep up with the projectiles and a solid crack to the back of the skull dropped him in an instant.

[Jeseth Cloak]

He managed to evade more than he realizes... but he has yet to call upon the Force at will. It seems that it is danger which prompts him to a reaction - danger and pain.

The Dark Jedi stared at Ebon's collapsed form, considering other approaches to instructing the young man. He had learned best when placed in danger, but that would not suffice at all when he encountered challenges which required him to act without motive, or at least without a motive dictated by nature. Like any sense or ability, it would take time to master. "Come, brother. You've had enough for now... We will continue some other time. When next you wake, there will be a task in wait." Jeseth picked Ebon up from the ground and carried him to his quarters, leaving him there and walking off. A day later, the man woke up, but Jeseth was nowhere to be found...

[OOC: I'll continue this post soon... just too tired to think anymore right now]