Pacing the Shadows

[Delirion]

Delirion nervously balanced the lightsaber in her hand. Critically, she looked it over, as if she had to make sure that all was well with it, that it would not suddenly develop some defect and break apart when she was least prepared for it. But all seemed well with it.

This wasn't Adalric's saber, but her own. The one she had taken once from her parents' chamber and practised with when no one else was looking. The one she had eventually taken with her when she went to join Adalric. The one Adalric had frowned on as inferior compared to his own.

Well, Adalric's saber was hers now, too, and she agreed. His saber was much better to handle than hers. Which was the reason she now stood here with this one - if it were to be damaged by her own inexperience, then at least she would not regret it as much.

She looked around for Anbira, but he was not yet come. Uncertain as to whether she should be glad or afraid that he had accepted her invitation to spar with her, she now felt nervous. She hadn't seen him for a long time now.

The empty ruins lay in shadows around her, a distant crackling and the soft shuffling noise as her feet disturbed the pebbles on the floor being the only sounds that could be heard. The crimson sun was fading behind a dark bank of clouds again, and it looked like the rain would soon start.

She hoped it would be over before that - she felt rather unsure whether she had enough strength in her to fight with a weapon, let alone protect herself against the rain at the same time if it were to come to that.

She waited.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: From a vantage high above, Anbira Hicchoru watched the frail form of Delirion. Had he not sealed off his mind, she would have detected him for sure, but Anbira preferred to reveal himself in due time.

The aging Master held himself aloft in the air by the power of the Force alone. It was such impeccable mastery over the physical realm of the force that had brought such intimidation with his name. However, Anbira above all others knew that he could be beaten. However, few dared to harness the ingeniuity to do so. ::

I see you have come to challenge me, Delirion.

:: As Delirion's eyes drew to the sound of Anbira's voice, he relented his levitation, his body falling to the ground. Standing straight, the Master waited to the last second, and outstretched his hands towards the ground, bringing the levitational Force back, and rapidly decelerating his plummeting figure. Anbira came to a stop, his feet hovering two inches above the ground. The displaced air from his freefall caused a slight dispersal of dirt and dust on the ground. As Anbira levitated, he stared at the weapon Delirion now possessed. ::

I see you have constructed a lightsaber, Delirion. Will you be using your creation against me?

[Delirion]

She was slightly startled that he seemed to have fallen out of the sky seemingly from nowhere. So he had been up there all this time and she had not felt his presence?

That thought angered her. She should have known better, should have reached out with her senses. And he should not have sought to hide his presence from her.

She bit back an angry comment, and let her eyes gaze back to the lightsaber he had noticed in her hand.

"No, this is not of my own creation. It belonged to..."

Suddenly she realized that she had been about to give away a piece of her past she was not prepared to unfold to anyone. Almost without a pause, well used to having to improvise, she continued, skirting along the half-truths that had made up her last few years.

"... an old Jedi who was foolish enough to relinquish it to me. I made him pay for that wiht his life. Now it is mine."

She frowned at herself. How true was what she had said, yet how false also. It was all a matter of perspective. Yet what was hers?

No use brooding over it now - that would be a question for another time. Instead, she looked back at Anbira, and ignited the weapon. Its silver blade sprang to life with a low hissing, like a glittering snake.

"Use my weapon against thee, aye. But not out of hatred against thee - I challenged thee as I was curious to see how I would fare against one of thine own power. Shall we begin?"

[Anbira Hicchoru]

You would fight an old, unarmed man with one of those accursed abominations?

:: Anbira spread his arms wide, making it clear to Delirion that he carried no saber. ::

[Delirion]

This puzzled her and brought a frown to her forehead. He had come unarmed? How remarkable.

But she did not extinguish the blade.

"Old and unarmed you might call yourself, yet you are powerful - and well able to defend yourself against my blade in other ways. I would be folish if I would not use all the sources of power I can call my own. Therefore, the accursed weapon shall stay."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

An appropriate answer, indeed.

:: Anbira extended his left hand outwards towards Delirion, with the fingers extended and together. Suddenly, Delirion could feel a gentle and cool breeze blowing from behind her. ::

[Delirion]

Wind. How had he called that forth? Simply by extending his hand? And what was its purpose? Would it grow stronger? What was she to do against it?

What could she do against it?

The answer was simple. Nothing. She had no power of her own to counter it, therefore she would not try to. It would be futile until she knew what its purpose was.

But if calling the wind was connected with extending his hand towards her, then maybe she could disconnect it.

Delirion extinguished her saber and smiled at Anbira, keeping her mind closed to all else but her own thoughts. Then she stepped forth, gripping the saber handle tightly in her hand. Her free hand suddenly clasped itself around Anbira's wrist, and pulled it towards her. He took a step forward to follow the pull on his arm, and she proceeded to ram the saber handle into his collarbone as he came close.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: Anbira's jaw tightens as he grits his teeth in painful response. The stud of Delirion's saber struck him forcefully across his clavicle, causing a good deal of pain. It was nearly enough to break his concentration, but Anbira was relentless, and redoubled his efforts.

His right arm reached up, grasping Delirion's left hand, by the side that the saber's stud was held. With a turn of his hand, Anbira worked Deliron's leverage against her, forcing her arm away from his collarbone. At the same time, Anbira continued his technique.

As Delirion closed to such a distance, she began to realize that the breeze was not blowing from behind her, but was being drawn in...around Anbira. Around Anbira's arm.

Delirion's right hand suddenly felt extreme heat and pressure, as the air around Anbira's left arm seemed to shimmer and dance. The heat and pressure began to quickly mount, as Anbira drew the air around him into the area around his left arm. To what end...only he knew. ::

[Delirion]

She suddenly found herself standing close to him with both her hands pinned in place. One was held in place by his own hand, and the other... what was he doing???

She grimaced. The heat around her hand mounted, making her skin glow...

GLOW! Yes!!! That was the solution!

After the fight against Rama and his cohorts, her body had contained so much energy that her skin had seemed to glow. Now the energy lay not within herself, but outside.

She had never done this before, yet now she would have to if there was anything that could help her. Concentrating on how it had felt the first time she had ever experienced this, she pictured the heat in her mind as a field flowing around her fingers. Then she fell deeper within herself, until she became aware of every cell, of every pore of her body. She could feel the field of heat flowing over her fingertips, intensifying, burning her skin. She pulled at it, pulled it towards one single spot, burning her skin, burning into her flesh.

She pulled it in through her blood, letting the heat mingle with it, flowing into her veins, warming her, charging her body. She pulled it in, more and more of it, every bit of heat that Anbira could create, until nothing remained but air around their clasped hands. The pressure he had been building, released, and so was her hand. She let go of his wrist, pulled it away with all the strength she could muster, and stepped back.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: Anbira's brow furrowed as he felt all of the energy he siphoned around his arm being pulled away. He glanced into Delirion's face... ::

You!!

:: Anbira's left hand extended into an open palm, and he crafted a Force Push that sent her off her feet, sprawling backwards, but unhurt. For a moment, Anbira simply looked at his arm, flexing and unflexing his fist. ::

You have learned some interesting new skills, Delirion. I never thought such a techniques energy could be absorbed as such.

:: Anbira crossed his arms, and quickly spread them wide, drawing the Force to levitate him several inches into the air. ::

What else have you learned?

[Delirion]

She was lying on the ground, pushed back against it, leaning on her elbows. Inside her, she could feel heat, energy, running through her body. Not as strong as when lightning hit her, yet strong enough.

Now what could she do with it?

Anbira launched himself into the air again, and she was still lying there, thinking and watching him.

She could push against him with the Force now. Which would not accomplish anything. Or she could gather the energy in her body into her arm and fling it out at him. Which would most likely inflict damage to him. She did not want that.

There were stones lying on the ground around them both - one was poking into her back as she was lying there. Yet telekinetic skills she had never had much luck with. Trying anyway, she concentrated on pushing against one of the stones lying to his feet.

It shook against the ground, but did not lift.

She cursed herself, her own heritage, for this weakness. What else could she do short of--- the Ryhhhk!

A triumphant grin crossed her face briefly, then vanished, and she concentrated again. It did not take much concentration to call upon the birds - they were never far, the castle now mostly being their source for food and shelter. No, her concentration was given upon the attempt to raise more of the small stones, which Anbira watched with an amused look on his face.

The birds were coming - she could feel their now familiar minds guided by her own senses, as they centered upon Anbira as they plummeted out of the skies.

She finally gave up on the stones - it was no good, but with some luck she had managed to distract his attention long enough.

Slowly, she got up, a somewhat disappointed look on her face, to match the failure he had just witnessed.

"As you see, lifting stones I have not learned. But maybe a stone is too small a thing to work with..."

Behind his levitating body, in her mind, she pictured a stone wall much like the remaining castle wall. Reaching out with her mind, she encountered the link he held to the Force, the link holding him up. And then she gave it a little nudge with of her own, at the same time feeding him the impression of her own mind of the wall behind him.

Suddenly Anbira was flung backwards into a wall he seemed to have overlooked before.

[Ryhhhk]

Everything before the Ryhhhk's eyes poured forth a mystic shade of red, blinding the large black creature to anything - anything except the bits of molten mineral's on which it fed. Something becomed to it, calling him out. Was it a female? Yes. A female Ryhhhk, surely.

The crow-like creature hopped foward a few times, bounding away from the small stream of lava and taking into the air, it's razor-sharp beak still trailing a few small whisps of smoke left over from the delicious meal which it had taken in. Another thirty Ryhhhks turned their head, most of them males. Their leader had gone off to settle some private score, and now they would follow. A blanket of blackness covered the air between Bast Castle and the lavapit which rested beneath the peak. Their deafening caw came almost in unison, their movements coordinated through centuries of evelotion under the same harsh conditions.

Their target was clearly in sight, and just as the old man was pressed back against some barrier known only to his mind, the multitude of winged death-beasts swooped down upon him, slashing their fanged beaks at him without relent. Streaks of red, green, orange, and yellow were all that filled the Ryhhhks heat based field of vision as they all somehow continued their attack in unison against the one distinct bloch standing before their path; Blood began to draw up upon their beaks...

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: Anbira's body braced as he was thrown back against the wall...pain shooting through him. Or was it? Anbira concentrated, and the seemingly-tangible pain soon drifted away. It was a trick of the mind. How clever indeed.

As Anbira recognized this, the first of the Ryhhhk attacked, diving down and striking with its vicious beak. The bird grazed Anbira over his brow, causing a small cut to form as it flew back around. Anbira braced, and looked around him as a multitude of birds approached, squinting his eye to keep the dripping blood out. ::

You have interesting techniques, Delirion.

:: Anbira crafted a barrier from the Force, keeping the dangerous birds from him. He watched the black monstrosities, and singled one of them out. Stretching out with his hate, he drew one hapless bird into a pressure sphere. The bird shrieked and faltered as the sphere drew tight around it, causing the pressure inside to increase. After a few seconds, Anbira released his hold. The bird rapidly depressurized, exploding in a shower of red and a maelstrom of glossy black feathers. The other Ryhhhk reacted in fright to this calamity, and began to retreat. ::

[Delirion]

The bird's death screams echoed through her mind with a savage pain that made her entire body shake. How dare he! These were her birds, her pets, they trusted her - and he had just killed one brutally.

Anger welled up inside her, more anger than she had felt in a long time. He would pay, no matter what he was - she did not care.

What enraged her most was the fact that he was still hovering angelically over the ground, even after taking that illusionary blow. It didn't even seem to throw him out of his concentration. Well, that would change now.

Anger. She concentrated on the anger she felt, the pain she had felt at the moment the ryhhhk had been torn apart. The savage energy flowing through her body was not enough - she needed more, needed to feed her own anger with it, fuel it, make it boil and bubble over.

Heat. There was heat in the atmosphere around her, in the air. What she had done to the heat he had released himself, she could do now. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, opening herself to her surroundings, sensing the flows of energy and heat and the force all around her. She pulled herself into it, let her mind mingle with it, pulling it back into herself as she let herself fall deep within her body. And the natural heat the planet gave off, soaked through her skin, into her body, into every part of her, feeding the anger within her, until she felt more alive and powerful than she had before.

With other vision than that of her eyes, she could now sense the flow of force that held Anbira in the air. She could twist and pull at it, warp it - she could do that, she knew she could. But it would not be enough simply to drop him to the ground to come to land on his feet.

No.

A sneer distorted her face. He would now learn exactly how much she could do with her "interesting techniques".

Her body tingled with the energy flowing through her, her anger at him being released into it, searing her inside out. She shunted that sensation out, boxed it in and put it into a part of her mind where it would not interfere for the moment with what she would do. Instead, she concentrated on the flow of force emanating from him, and on her own mind.

Inside her mind, she visualised the castle keep as it was now, with herself and Anbira inside it. Then, distorting her own sense of reality, she turned the image on its head. Suddenly Anbira and Delirion were hanging from the natural ceiling the castle gound was providing now. Distorting the scene even more, she flipped her own image of herself around, until her head touched the top, not her feet.

She viewed that image for a moment, and something seemed amiss. Yes. He was still the wrong way round. He had to be on his head, not his feet in that image. She flipped him over, too.

Now the picture in her mind showed the Castle standing on its head, with both Anbira and herself hanging by their heads from what had once been the ground. It was surreal, chaotic, creating confusion even in her own mind.

Carefully keeping that image in her mind, she concentrated on the flow of force keeping his feet from the floor, and yanked at it. She would not be able to pull his feet from under him, yet the sensation of her trying to do this would be enough. She pulled at it with all her might.

Then she fed his mind the image she held of him in her own mind.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a puzzled frown on his face, then he suddenly flipped himself over so his feet were in the air. And came crashing to the ground, headfirst.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: The vertigo effect produced by Delirion's illusion caused Anbira to fall on his head, landing painfully on his neck. ::

Urmmpf!

:: For a moment, Anbira let his sense of surroundings return to him, as the pain washed away. After a few seconds, he stood, popping his neck. As his left eye went into a facial tick, Delirion felt a cold breeze gently blowing on her face ::

You are more skilled that I gave you credit for. Perhaps I shall guard my mental faculties more closely. Now, you can conjure wonder with the Force, but can you...fight?

:: With a subtle motion of Anbira's hand, he releases the sphere of pressurized air behind Delirion, the shockwave from the rapidly expanding gas rocking her forward with considerable force. At the same time, the Master raced towards his target with Force-augmented speed. He lunges forward at her staggering form, gripping his hands over her shoulders, and swinging his legs forward, planting them onto her clavicles, as he pressed away in a tandem press kick. The kick sent Delirion slamming backwards onto the ground, as Anbira vaulted off of her body, doing a backflip, and bringing himself back into a stable levitation, 3 inches above the ground. ::

[Delirion]

As she could feel the cold air brush past her face, she tried to guard herself against what was to come, yet it was too late. Suddenly, a great wave of pressure hit her in the back, flinging her forward, and she staggered at Anbira as he was rushing at her with great speed.

Time seemed to slow, sound seemed to slow, even, as she could see him running at her, grabbing her by the shoulders, swinging his legs at her. Time seemed to slow, yet still it was too fast to respond. And so it was that she was kicked, pushed backwards, pushed towards the ground with a force she would not have believed could be so powerful.

And in that small instant before she hit the ground, she wondered, with something akin to irony, if the stones would break beneath her, if the blow would be strong enough to make them give away and let her sink into the ground.

Then her body slammed into the ground with a sickening thud.

Torrents of pain thundered through her body, numbing her mind with piercing agony, replacing logic and clear thought with sharp white pain. Every bone in her body seemed crushed, driven out of her, and she wanted to pass out of it, leave it behind, leave it hurt and shattered on the ground. And along with the pain she felt now, the pain she had experienced before at the bird's death, was released again from that place at the back of her mind - but with it, came anger, and hate, and bitterness at her own weakness. And it were those emotions, those deep feelings, that fueled again the energy she had stored up in her body. The energy that now, through her hurt body, sought a release.

If she could yet have been able to control her own body and mind, she would have held up her hand and thrown it all at him, at Anbira, yet her body was still shaken. If she could have found some way to release this storm gathering within her, she would not have held back, yet there was nothing she felt besides pain.

Pain fed energy, pain fed her soul, her mind, leaving outrage, anger, hate, that he could do this to her, and sought release. She hated now, hated not only him, but also herself for being so weak. And as she sought a way to release her hate, she screamed into the silent evening.

The scream brought with it everything she had held inside her body, pain, anger, hate... and rage. And everything she had held inside her mind, pain, anger, hate... and confusion. It all stormed through her, out of her, into the air - and at Anbira. It was fueled by all that she had held inside her, all the energy, all the strength she had gained throughout the course of this fight - it was fueled by the Force.

And the Force spread out into the air with enormous power, like a great tidal wave of darkness, bringing with it all the hurt, and anger, and confusion that she had held inside. And so it hit Anbira with it, piercing through his mental defenses, bringing with it all the confusion and pain he had caused in her mind, shaking his hold on the Dark Side of the Force, until he was thrown backwards, slammed into the stone wall looming behind him, with bone-crunching force.

Later, when she would ask her brothers and sisters about what she had done, they would tell her that this was called a Force Scream, a power she had never heard of before, a wave of hatred amplified and fueled by the Dark Side, that is capable of smashing through mental and physical defenses with ease. Yet now she did not know, had not known what it would cause. Now, she lay upon the cold stone drained of all power, weak, almost lifeless, without thought.

Her eyes stared into the darkening sky, and everything around her was quiet.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

:: Anbira stood, but on shaky legs. His mind raced in frenzied and uncontrolled directions. Even his senses were blurred now, utterly put into shock by Delirion's Force Scream. The Master tried to gain control of his mastery of the Force, but found that the shock was making it difficult to do so. Therefore, he approached Delirion under his own power, with no help from the Force. His body moved slowly, his extremities twitching from sensory overload as he walked to the fallen woman. Kneeling down, he looked at her. ::

What...shall we do...now?

[Delirion]

His words seemed to come from far away, and she did not register their meaning. Something was happening - something felt different; that was all she could feel.

<font color="#c0c0c0">Yes, little one - something is indeed different...

I AM FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Adalric's spirit, freed from her mind when she had let her own pent-up anger and hate flow out of her, rejoiced. True, the power to break loose and break the link between their minds had been his, and always had been his; yet something had held him back - he had needed one last push. And she had provided it, finally.

Now his spirit was no longer restricted to roam the narrow paths of Delirion's mind, but could be apart, could explore and visit all those places of the Castle that he had once known before.

Now he looked down on her unmoving body, and if he had still possessed a face, there would have been a cruel grin standing on it right then. Her weakness amused him.</font>

Slowly, life began to enter her body again, made her skin tingle. All too much had she done, too much of her own energy and strength had vanished with one single scream.

Her vision returned, focusing onto the face of Anbira leaning over her. She could see his lips move, yet the words still seemed too far away to be heard. Then, with a rush, as she finally concentrated on herself, everything returned, sight, sound, and feeling.

A dull pain ran down her spine as she sat up, and shook her head. Apart from that, she seemed to be in one piece. She wondered if she would ever again feel pain after this, but knew that it was only an idle thought, a humorous idea. Of course she would.

Still trying to figure out what seemed so different now, beside the numbness she felt, she looked at Anbira. Somehow, his question now rang in her ears, even though it had been long since he had asked. So she looked at him, and attempted a weak smile.

"How does sleeping for a week sound?"

[Delirion]

<font size="6" color="#a0b0e0">THE END</font>