Kei's Training Pt 2

[Lilaena De'Ville]

[aka I can't think of a good title at the moment so sue me]


De'Ville met Kei Durall in the belly of the Aranar. He'd been with her for about a week, and she'd given him a day of recovery after their first training session. They were in a small room that had a few crates and cans let in it from when it had served as food storage. "Take a seat," she said, gesturing to one of the boxes while she sat on another one. "Last time we tested you physically; this time we will work on your connection to the Force."

[Kei Durall]

Kei had been meditating in preparation for this training. He knew it would be another embarrassment, but he would push onward whatever it took. He took his place on the box that Lilaena gestured for him to sit.

"What is it you will be having me do then?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She raised an eyebrow. "Close your eyes. Feel the Force around you, how it touches and moves through everything. It is the force that binds us all together, makes us one with the universe. We have the ability to sense it, to manipulate how it reacts with the world around us.

"Can you see how it flows through you and connects you to the things in this room?"

[Kei Durall]

Kei closed his eyes and began to focus. He reached out with his senses, and after a moment, began to feel the things around the room. He could feel Lilaenas presence the strongest, but he could also feel the box she sat on, as well as all the other boxes around them. He reached out further, a lonely can that was dropped at some point and kicked into a corner. A shelf that had a few boxes of canned goods as well. Kei reached out, not with his hands, but with his will, and one by one began to pick up the can that was in the corner, then the other boxes that were around them. He reminded himself to continue breathing, and after a moment, began to set the things down back in their original positions.

"Yes, I can see it." He spoke as he let an exhale out.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"You have a grasp on telekinesis already, which is good," she said. De'Ville closed her eyes as well. "Do you feel the stack of crates to your left? Push them as hard as you can with the Force."

[Kei Durall]

Kei did not raise his gaze, using the force to sense them. He focused on the boxes. More than that. He looked into the very souls of the objects themselves. Did they have souls? Who knows what it is, but every object had something about itself that identified it. He refrained from using his hands yet again. He knew using gestures with the force increased concentration, thus improving the strength of the ability, but he desired to gain a fundamental grasp of the force instead of getting the most power out of it.

With a short burst of energy from Kei, a wave came across the crates creating a light draft in the room. It wasn't as powerful as he had liked, but he had figured it might turn out that way. Only the top-most crate fell off which caused the rest of the stack to rock enough to send the second crate from the top to fall as well. Kei managed to catch the two crates before they hit the ground and set them back on top of the original stack. "May I try again?" Kei asked, still keeping his focus in the force and already preparing himself to have a go at the boxes again.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Yes, but first, remember a time when you felt afraid. Feel that emotion again, remember why you felt that way. I am trying to teach you how to use a power that means you need never be afraid again. Does the memory make you angry? Feel it, focus on it, and push​."

[Kei Durall]

Fear... The one thing that Kei thought he had under control, yet he had no idea just how afraid he was. Having pushed it so deep down inside of him, he thought it was gone, but it still lingered. His thoughts jumped back to his mother. How he had watched his mother be murdered in front of the eyes of his younger self. His dad standing over her body, with a blood soaked knife. His insecurity from that point on was unfathomable. The depth of brokenness and fear that seized him, and choked him in his sleep at night. Nightmares had haunted him since that day, yet he thought he had no more fear. Kei hated his father from that day on, with a hate that knew no bounds.

Tears began to pour from behind his closed eyes, and the once calm control and focus he had was now gone. He was still nothing more than a child deep down, trying to be what he ought to be on the outside. The raw emotion that Lilaena asked him to seek out, got the better of Kei. He pushed... but what was he pushing again? He didn't remember. He was lost in the unstable flow of emotion that he had hidden from himself for so long. He heard what sounded like Lilaena shouting something at him, but it was lost in the current of his emotion. He didn't even know what was happening anymore, but he was still pushing.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He sat still for a moment, unstable emotions growing strong, and then the Force burst from him against the crates. They slammed into the bulkhead behind them, and then were splintered and crushed as he kept pushing. "Stop, stop!" He was lost in the flow of the dark side, and the side of the room was starting to creak.

She shoved at him with the Force, and knocked him off his box. As he blinked and came around, she said, "Perfectly executed. Now you need to work on refining that process, keeping the anger there at the surface without losing yourself to it."

[Kei Durall]

Kei was laid out on his back after Lilaena pushed him. He rolled to his knees, face to the ground as Lilaena finished what she was trying to get Kei to understand since their training that day. The tears still ran down his face, which he tried to wipe away, but to no avail. He didn't want her to see the fact that he was falling apart, though he was sure that she knew. What kind of an apprentice is that anyway? He thought to himself. Lilaena allowed him the couple minutes he needed to recover from the situation. He wiped his face one more time and stood up, walked back towards the box that he was sitting on previously, and placed himself there once again. The tears were gone, but his face was still stained and slightly pink. He took a deep breath, hands still trembling and looked Lilaena in the eye, waiting for her next instruction.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She watched him impassively, and when he had collected himself enough to look at her again she continued. "Do it again. Find that fear, that anger - but do not let it control you. Don't lose yourself to it. Use it as a tool, a means to the power you crave."

[Kei Durall]

Lilaena set up another stack of crates for him to try again. Kei summoned what determination he had left, and began to focus. He didn't want the fear to control him. He didn't want to be controlled by his emotions. He wanted the power that could be extracted from them if used correctly. Kei once again recalled the fears that had just overcome him. The brokenness that resided in him. He wouldn't let it get the better of him this time though. If it beat him this time, how was he ever supposed to attain the power he desired. He realized that he could pour the fear, the anger, the sadness, everything, into the force. It made the load easier to bear on him as well. It felt like one great ball of mixed energy that would incinerate you just by touching it. He took hold of it and pushed at the crates, which smashed into the wall, crushing and splintering the back half of the crates. Victory danced in Kei's eyes, as he took a deep breath. It was a victory that he would relish, though not until Lilaena was satisfied.