Shell games (Daria)

[Silus Xilarian]

Reflexes kicked in, and Silus tightened up his stomach and took the hit. He could have easily regrouped and struck back, or even blocked the hit, but instead he let himself stumble and fall. Immediately the three guards posted near him took off toward Silus and Daria.

"Now its three on one. And you dropped your armor back there. Good luck."

Silus pushed himself back. As the guards came, the first guard drew a vibrosword and ordered Daria to put her hands up. Sometimes the easiest way to learn how to swim was to dive in head first and hope for the best.

[Daria Nytherciria]

They wanted her to put her hands up – Daria grinned – so she did just that. The nearest guard with the vibroblade looked suddenly confused, and the two flanking him seemed to loose themselves for a moment. The first of the squad suddenly felt as though he was having a splitting headache, and the blade slipped from his grasp.

Nimble fingers reached out as Daria ducked and swept the weapon up by the hilt, turning the tables flawlessly.

[Silus Xilarian]

That was way too easy, Silus thought as he pushed himself back up to his feet. The guards were standing there, pain was pretty evident on their faces.

"Very good, and you three need to head back and have yourselves examined."

Silus motioned for Daria to follow.

"The more you open yourself to the force, the more powerful you will be with it. Your skill is one taught from birth im sure, you use it naturally and almost without thought. At first, much of what I teach you will probably require heavy concentration, but the more you do it, the easier it will become, to the point that it requires as much concentration as throwing a punch."

Silus veerred off to his right, toward a small lift that would take them down into the city.

"Have you ever meditated before?"

[Daria Nytherciria]

“No.”

Daria was silent for a moment, but was clearly thinking.

“Well… now that I think about it, I suppose we did practice a form of meditation to try and refine our mental abilities, to make them stronger.”

[Silus Xilarian]

"Then this will likely be a similiar process. By clearing your mind, you can focus on the force more easily. The better you can sense the force, the easier it is to manipulate it."

Silus opened the lift, and the pair stepped in.

"There are more direct ways to manipulate the force, however, once you learn the basics..."

[Daria Nytherciria]

“If it is so easily manipulated, why is there not more who exploit it? Why is it only a select few who wield it for themselves?”

[Silus Xilarian]

"There are many who are gifted with the force. Some dont realize it, and never take the steps required to learn its power. Others train, but are held down by their own mind, subconsciously limiting themselves. A few however, take their skills and become something much greater than they could have ever imagined."

The lift stopped, and the doors opened up into the city...

[Daria Nytherciria]

Daria stepped out, barely looking ahead, but rather transfixed by Silus.

“So everyone has the potential. How baffling! We truly are the intellectual elite if it is but we scarce few overcoming such trivial obstacles as you have mentioned.”

Her head turned, to look out into the city.

“Where to now?”

[Silus Xilarian]

"Somewhere quiet. We could leave the city, but Id prefer that we dont get eaten alive during your first lesson..."

Slowly, they started into the city. Silus seemed to know where they were heading, but he didnt walk at a very fast pace. His apprentice had many questions, and he wanted to have plenty of time to answer them. Most of them at least.

"Not exactly everyone has the ability to weild the force, I only said that many people do and never use. A large majority of the galaxy, does have some potential, but their senses just arent attuned to use it. With proper training, they could gain some power. You and I, for example, are part of the lucky few granted with the ability to use the force more naturally than the majority of the galaxy. Our power is limitless, we just have to learn to use it."

[Daria Nytherciria]

“Eaten alive?” Daria snorted.

“I am a hunter. I can handle whatever animals this planet has.”

[Silus Xilarian]

"You're mouth with kill you quicker than anything else. Theres nothing wrong with confidence, but you have no clue what is outside of those walls."

Silus' tone was deathly serious. One could say that the preacher preaches to himself in this case, since Silus was probably the cockiest person on the planet, aside from Salvestro, of course. But Silus had been outside the city before. He was confident that he could handle the dangers of the jungles himself, but it surely wasnt something he wished to do on an everyday basis...

"We'll venture outside the city soon enough, but not before im confident you can handle it."

[Daria Nytherciria]

Daria made an indignant, “Hmph.”

Somewhere in her mind, she understood, however. She recalled her first journey into the wilds of Doz’rah, how she had been so sure the beasts would fall at her feet in the blink of an eye. A sabertooth whipsnatch had almost torn her leg right off that day, and if it were not for her elders she would have surely been the meal for a hungry pack of beasts.

“What is outside the walls?”

[Silus Xilarian]

"Well, If you've seen a warbeast patrol yet, just imagine one of those, without a rider, trying to eat you."

Silus commented as he started into an alley between two buildings. Just ahead was a manhole cover.

[Daria Nytherciria]

“Into the sewers?” She asked, her thoughts jumping ahead of her as she spotted what they were headed towards.

[Silus Xilarian]

"That doesnt bother you does it?"

Obviously, she didnt realize just how clean the sewers were. Few people knew that the sewer systems in the palace sector were even used any more for waste disposal. The tunnels were now used for traveling in secret from the palace to various places nearby. Silus had took some time after Giran was crowned king to explore. They would probably come in handy one day.

Silus leaned down and grabbed the manhole cover then pulled it to the side.

"Its a bit heavy, but make sure you pull it back behind you." He said as he slipped inside. By the time Daria would reach the bottom, Silus would have disappeared.

[Daria Nytherciria]

Having trekked the jungles of Doz’rah and braved the caverns of the dead Brak’tul, Daria imagined a trip into the sewers would be a walk in the part. She wriggled down into the darkness after her tutor, and eclipsed the outside world with the cover. Once her feet had hit the ground, her eyes darted about and searched the shadows for Silus.

“… Drannit.”

It struck Daria only then that there was no … sewer-like odor. This was not what she had been expecting. A few steps forward and she still hadn’t caught sight of Silus, so assumed she was meant to continue on walking.

[Silus Xilarian]

The sounds of wind on fabric shot by behind Daria, but when she turned, no one was there.

Just ahead you'll find three paths......Two of them take you somewhere you dont want to be. Ive gone down the other. Use your senses.

Silus' voice seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once. As Daria trekked further, she heard all sorts of strange noises, but none that she could gather any clues from.

[Daria Nytherciria]

The split in the road presented itself and Daria came to a halt. Frowning to herself, she lowered into a crouch and ran her palm across the ground in front of the left hand opening, before repeating the same process with the other two. Her brow knitted further as a result of this, as she strolled back and forth, pacing the same piece of concrete for five minutes or so.

Finally she appeared to be resolved and made down the central walkway. Moments later, however, she stopped and quickly backed up, her eyes reeling downwards and picking out a shape in the darkness which she doubted was friendly. The mentalists feet carried her right out and winding out into the right-hand chamber, which she moved down at a brisk walk – confident it was the correct choice.

[Silus Xilarian]

You almost missed me....

Silus' voice surrounded her again, this time a bit louder. Behind her, Daria could hear footsteps, but there was nothing there when she would turn around.

As she continued forward, the footsteps seemed to follow her, stopping whenever she stopped...

[Daria Nytherciria]

There was a technique the Doz’rah used when hunting. It was effectively like sonar. Just as they made a blast zone with their mind-wrecking abilities, they sent out rings which rebounded and returned to the mentalist. It was a relatively primitive ability which had only come into being some generations ago, and thus only worked while standing still and for short distances. What made Daria think of it was trying to locate the disembodied voice – but either Silus was too far away or simply not there at all, as no signal was given by the sonar.

Somehow, though, she knew she was going the right way. Something was drawing her further into the murk and she was able to walk confidently without even drawing a weapon.