The Test: Pass or Fail? (Complete)

[Zasz Grimm]

It had only been a few days since his business on Bothawai was complete, at least, the reporting part of it. He had given his master the necessary needed for the Senator. And not only that, he had met someone. Someone who made an alliance with Zasz. Actually, it was more than an alliance.

He made an apprentice. Grev Drasen, a former member of The Sith Order. He was quite powerful already, he just needed some teaching, better teaching than anyone at the Order could've given him. But also, Zasz required something from his new pupil. He had to prove himself, to take a test of sorts.

He had taken Grev, from the planet they were on, into space, and had laid a course for Hoth. It had taken several days, but they were finally in low orbit from the planet. He plotted a course, and they dropped down into the atmosphere.

The Kehedrin eased down, and slowed as he was at the right place. And he engaged several lasers and they fired on what might have been a river. He let them fire for several more minutes. It melted the ice, and created a lake of sorts. He looked to Grev.

The smiled a bit as he moved the craft in position to the middle of the lake, and he looked to his apprentice as he moved forward. there was a rock inside the craft he had brought from Bothawai. He narrowed his eyes.

"Are you ready for your test?"

[imported_Grev Drasen]

“Are you ready for your test?”

Awaking from his trance like state, Grev glanced up at his newly acquired master from his daze. A test, he could only imagine what Zasz had amassed for Grev in that head of his. Respectively, Grimm wasn’t the most lenient of instructors, and a visible mean streak was present in him.

As was one in Drasen, which is probably why Hob had drawn him to Zasz.

Today however, Drasen would be on the receiving end of a callous punishment. But it wasn’t so much of punishment as it was a lesson, he figured. His master had wanted to test him; and he would ensure he lived up to the expectations. Either that or death - the latter probably not that farfetched when it came to Zasz’s sessions.

“I am,” he replied soberly, standing from his seated position. His eyes couldn’t help but wander towards the boulder that Zasz had retrieved from Bothawai. The rock, the freezing water, the isolation of planet Hoth; it had all been adding up in Grev’s head subconsciously. All he could do was speculate, and surely nothing could prepare at this time for what Grimm had in mind.

“Ready, Master.”

[Zasz Grimm]

"Good."

He had shown how much he could be a violent being in his training thus far. But Grev understood it, he understood that Zasz was teaching him to be better, teaching him to be stronger. Preparing him for the inevitable.

Revenge upon the Order.

But that was merely a few training sessions. If Grev survived this, Zasz would find him worthy of the knowledge he could supply him. He looked to the boulder and he pointed his hand at it, opened palmed. He grasped hold of it with the Dark Side, effortlessly, and he let it hover before his apprentice.

He pressed the button to the door, and it opened, freezing cold air from the planet of Hoth pouring into the ship, causing their clothes to wisp back and forth. It was very windy. He looked down to the lake, which was no doubt extremely cold.

He let the boulder hover closer to Grev before he spoke.

"You will take this boulder. You will drop into the lake, and you will swim out. If you drop the boulder, you must retrieve it. You must get to the end of the lake holding this boulder. If you do not, if you are standing on shore without it. I will leave you here, my apprentice."

The ship was merely 12-15 feet from the water. He looked to him, waiting for his response. Then he would wait no longer. He moved the boulder into his arms and pushed Grev out the ship. He watched him fall into the water, and sink with the large rock. He closed the door and move the ship to hover higher, so he could watch his apprentice.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

What seemed like hours (at least to him) of waiting for his master to begin, Grev stood with a somewhat deadpan stare plastered across his face. As the door opened, the chilled air resembled a lot like an arctic whip cracking against his bare flesh. The winds alone, being enough to chafe his face; he could only imagine being submerged in the depths of what to him would soon be an icy hell.

Doubt was one thing Grev felt determined to stray out of his mind. The second he began doubting would be the second that would lead to his failure. It seemed he was more worried about resurfacing with the boulder than resurfacing at all. He watched as the boulder was lifted toward him, and his feet edged closer to the door of the craft.

With a sudden jerk, Grev felt a strong force drive him out of the ship. Not having time to regain any sort of composure he splashed directly into the water, on his back. Without time to catch himself, the boulder soon followed after, nearly taking Grev out with it as it plummeted into the lake and quickly descended toward the bottom.

Using his natural instinct with the Force, he extended a hand to finger a grip on the rock, but his panicked state proved too much and he merely hindered the boulder’s path for a few brief seconds. If dealing with the numbing temperature wasn’t enough, the fact that it was nearly pitch black underneath the surface of the ice didn’t add to help his situation the least bit.

Pushing himself forward, he dove after the boulder once again, managing to wedge himself underneath it and drive it forward a few yards, at least. It was obvious to him at this point the only way he would manage to come out alive, and more importantly successful, would be pure adrenaline.

Moving towards the rock again he managed a few more yards, and then a few more. His baby steps wouldn’t hold up for long, and something else had to give if he wanted to stay alive much longer.

[Zasz Grimm]

Zasz merely watched out of the viewscreen down onto the icy waters. He saw the figure just barely beneath the water, and the snow that pounded the planet. He could sense the amounts of energy he was exerting through the force. He smiled, he was smart for this reason, but how long could he hold out?

Ah, this was much like the training of a famous Sith Lord, but this was different. This was not training, this was only a test. He grinned and then looked back to the water, curious to see if he had at least surfaced.

Only moments had passed, and it would take him much longer to get the boulder to the edge. His apprentice had to move with haste, else he die of hypothermia, he had to conserve his energy.

He had to survive.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

As the seconds began to pass, and slowly formed into minutes, the apprentice had yet to loom from the forlorn hold of the gelid waters. The boulder, which had well become formidable to Grev by this time, could be easily spotted from the master’s perch above; yet Drasen’s form had been buried from eyesight somewhere underneath the large mass of rock.

It had well been four minutes, a time that would be considered alarming to most, but rest assured the chances were his master was less than concerned. A smug grin was probably nestled along his face, in fact. But his brashness would serve its purpose well in the long run.

Suddenly a figure jarred from underneath the water, gasping directly for air. His body was trembling, and his body began to adopt a pale blue to its tone. With a brief inhale the apprentice submerged into the lake once more, retrieving the boulder with more so adrenaline than before.

With aid of the Force, he cradled the large object in somewhat of a grasping field, straining himself to drive the boulder towards the opposing end of the lake. He was well making up for his lost time at the start, adapting to some extent a strategy as he moved along the way.

His only real obstacle was keeping a mental blank, and form a pure concentration into keeping the rock moving at a steady pace.

[Zasz Grimm]

As Zasz saw Grev resurface, and without the rock, he narrowed his eyes He was fully prepared to leave him there, leave him on the icy planet of Hoth to die in a cold grave. But then, he watched him dive down one more, to the boulder, which Zasz could most definitely see. The water was a bit hazy, but it was easy to see through it, shadows, at least.

He saw him push on now, and he grinned and leaned back in his chair a small bit. He was persisitent, Zasz gave him that. Very determined. He will make a fine apprentice..

"A fine apprentice indeed."

[imported_Grev Drasen]

It could have a few seconds, or minutes, or even hours according to Grev; but if you asked him he wouldn’t have the slightest idea. He might as well have been unconscious, or at least his mindset was. His sole mental attraction lay upon the boulder in front of him, which was still being driven towards the other side of the lake at a considerable rate. He was almost like a zombie, unaware of anything except this boulder’s existence, and where he wanted it to be.

So to him what might as well have been a perpetuity, was roughly about five minutes of inadmissible labour and fatigue in delivering the rock to its destination point. His body was battered, froze, and near depletion, yet his mind was completely oblivious to it all; which in a sense was good for him, seeing how he had finished the mission. The effect that had tolled on him physically seemed to be the objection.

As the minutes had passed, a sudden burst emerged from underneath the surface, breaking through the layers of ice; the boulder busted through and landed atop the snow covered terrain of the lake shore. Seconds behind it followed its deliverer, the apprentice’s body shivering as he climbed out of the icy hell. His body told him to collapse, but he presented himself on a single knee looking to search for his master’s craft.

[Zasz Grimm]

He had seen the boulder rise, crash through the ice. He narrowed his eyes. He knew that Drasen would complete the task, but this quickly? He looked to him, as he knelt there, before the boulder. An exhibit of pride? Zasz grinned either way. He took hold of the controls and made the ship move downwards, and somewhat land near the lake, where he exited. The door to the shuttle slid open, and Zasz stepped out.

The winds pounded him, and made him move back a small bit. But he, was unaffected other than that. The icy cold was a small welcome to him. He looked to Grev, his new apprentice..

"You are worthy, Grev. Rise, so that you can feel heat, a warm bed."

Zasz stepped back. Now he had to get into the shuttle. Did he ever relent on this person? Zasz was coming off as quite the cruel fellow.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

The words of Zasz were enough reassurance for all of the suffering he had endured throughout this test, and now he had been ordered to walk himself to the shuttle. Standing, the water had been soaked into clothes and rolling from his skin seemed to freeze almost as soon as he had stood. The winds berated his skin, almost knocking him from his feet, which at this point seemed froze solid.

It would seem more of a task in walking to the craft than the actual test itself.

His master was waiting on him, and upsetting his patience would more than likely prove a far worse punishment than simply carrying himself to the shuttle. Grev nodded, and winced as he forced a step; it wasn’t so much the pain, as his entire body seemed numbed by now. He couldn’t feel his legs, which pretty much hindered any attempt of mobility.

With baby steps in line, he propped himself against the craft’s exterior as he finally reached the ship. He had reached the shuttle now, and he could only pray he had proved his worth enough to earn some lenience in his master’s eyes.

[Zasz Grimm]

As Grev made it close enough to the ship, Zasz caught his left arm, and held some of his weight. He pulled him more so inwards, and hit a button to close the door. He moved slowly in a hallway of sorts to a back room, which had the heat way up. Zasz had prepared it for Grev when he succeeded. Extra blankets lay on the bed. Also, clothes. Sure, they were from his own wardrobe, but they would fit the apprentice.

Zasz lightly set him down onto the bed, and began to walk out. He turned his head back, seeing him start to crawl under the covers, and get the extra blankets out and put over him. He smiled...

"You have a task. You'll find in a drawer, all the materials you need to create a lightsaber. The crystals needed, the metal. I expect it to be done by the time we arrive on Vjun. You'll need it."

And with that, Zasz left to the helm.