Relics & Rivals

[Symm]

An annoyance. That, in Kathar's mind, was a very apt description of what they faced now.

He looked down at the raised platform, then up at Karn once he stressed the word 'Time'. Eyes narrowed very slightly as the other quoted his words back at him, but before he could respond, some of the floor panels rose back. Huh. Karn gestured him to the other platform, and he stepped on - with similar results to the Sith. The rumble in the dark followed by platforms coming into sight.

"Oh, I am definitely not going to Korriban; not willingly." Well, unless it was to invade the planet and tear the Empress from her throne. That would be well worth the trip, surely?

The other mentioned cutting him down, and Kathar looked away. This time, he knew why: He knew with certainty that at the end of this, once they'd retrieved whatever the vault contained, that unless he got it, Kathar might have to resort to cutting the Sith down. The thought saddened him, and he believed it was merely due to his Jedi restraint around taking a life; of course, there was more to it he wasn't willing to admit.

He copied Karn, removing the backpack and shedding excess weight. Kathar checked his belt, ensuring the lightsaber would remain attached, then looked ahead to plan his route. "And I definitely don't like any of it," he said, as Karn sprinted towards his part of the course, "And I won't fall!"

The wink from Karn caused Kathar to let out a frustrated breath, and then he too started his course.

The Jedi began simply enough: He ran to the edge and leapt, landing on a close platform gracefully. There, finding the floor stable beneath him, he jumped again: This time to a series of platforms with jagged tops that prevented smooth landings.

So, instead of landing atop them, he landed on their sides and hopped between them, rapidly flowing from one wall to the next. As he skipped between them, he called out, "We're taught that nothing is for certain, and even the visions the Force gives are open for-"

Once those platforms ran out, he leapt to - what he assumed was - a safe, level floor.

He was wrong.

As he landed, his weight shifted platform to one side, and he quickly found himself scrabbling for purchase. The floor seesawed to one side, and only a quick boost of the force brought him up and over - to land on his stomach, where he swiftly spread his weight out as evenly as possible.

"-interpretation." Kathar gasped out, careful to not move too much. "Some of the platforms aren't as stable as they appear."

[Rugs]

The first gap posed little challenge. Karn had always been naturally athletic, now honed by training and bolstered by his ability in the Force. He took a running leap across, paying no mind to the infinite chasm below.

Karn landed on a narrow, elongated platform with a graceful roll and kept going, only sparing a passing glance to Kath’s side of the room as he sprinted along. The Jedi moved fluidly, gracefully. Karn wouldn’t have minded watching Kath take the course himself, just to watch him move but no, now was not the time for such thoughts.

The platform shuddered beneath his feet as he reached a point about three-fourths of the way along its length. Karn’s heart dropped into his stomach as he felt the platform begin to sink lower and drew on the Force to quicken his pace. He jumped away just as the platform’s slow descent turned to reckless freefall.

He landed one on of the off-kilter platforms as Kath began to speak, apparently not done with the conversation. “So we’re doing this?” he muttered — at Kath, but not loud enough to carry across the room — as his footing failed him. The platform was slick — much more than it had any right to be, for all that its surface looked the same as the rest of the floor.

No time to think. Only react, to follow the Force coursing through his body.

Karn crouched, partly to keep his balance, as he slid down the platform. At the last moment, just before his leading foot left the edge for open air, he pushed off with all his strength. The gap ahead was more narrow than the last, but his next refuge was not a platform; it was a hexagonal stone pillar, smooth on its sides save a handhold groove that ringed its center. No room for error. If he missed it, it was over.

His hands stretched before him, slender fingers reaching for the hold...

Contact!

Karn met the pillar more roughly than he would’ve liked — he grunted as his chest hit its hard surface — and, after taking a moment to steady his breath, put his feet against the surface and began to shimmy his way around to the opposite side.

“And what would you say those visions leave open to interpretation?” Karn called back to Kath. He could see the Jedi, just around the pillar’s edge, a bit ahead of him. “They seemed pretty explicit to me, but if you’ve got another idea, by all means, enlighten m-”

His words cut off sharply into a cry of pain as a hail of darts pincushioned his left side and back. The rush of more passing behind him was the only way he realized that fortunate positioning had been the only thing that saved him from taking the full brunt of whatever just hit him.

Karn looked back as he felt liquid warmth on his side, on his back and soaking into his shirt. He thought, if he squinted, he could see tiny holes lining one of the wall’s stone blocks.

Why was it hard to focus, all of a sudden?

The pillar rumbled, just like the falling platform had. Karn groaned and pushed himself onward. He jumped from the pillar and crashed gracelessly on the next platform, taking care only to fall on his right side to avoid pushing the thin metal darts deeper into his left. He landed hard on his shoulder, sending a lance of pain shooting into his arm.

It was... hard to get up. He looked to Kath’s side of the room. The Jedi split into two, then rejoined to one. “Kath...” he said as he pushed himself slowly, wearily up. A droplet of blood fell from under his shirt as he staggered on. Just a few more platforms left to clear. He could make it — he’d have to make it. He did not have to fake the fear that gripped him and fueled his connection to the Force as he pressed onward.

Just a little further.

“Kath, I think something’s wrong.”

[Symm]

Steady now on his tilting surface, Kathar surveyed the path ahead, trying to pick out the quickest and safest route.

That was a difficult task. It seemed that as Kathar and Karn progressed through the chamber, the feats of agility required grew increasingly difficult and dangerous. The assessment wasn't helped, of course, by the fact that the platform Kathar stood on started to sink, rapidly, taking the Jedi down with it.

With no further time to think, Kathar lunged upward and away, hands raised to catch a ring suspended from the ceiling, seen at the last minute. He hung there to catch his breath once again - and listen while Karn started to refute his statement.

Strange. It seemed like his hands were getting warmer.

Kathar hung his head backwards and looked up at the bar he hung from - and found the cause of his concern. The metal bar had begun to glow, only slightly at the moment, but noticeably. He quickly surmised that if he stayed here much longer, he'd find his hands start to burn, which would make the rest of the course that much harder.

As Kathar came to that realisation, Karn cut off with a yelp, and Kathar jerked his head around to look. There, barely visible behind a pillar, he saw the Sith - but couldn't make out what was wrong with him. Aside from hanging from the side of a column, of course. Then Karn moved on, out of sight. Ah, probably just had a similar realisation Kathar had earlier with his platform.

Still, it sounded like Karn was in pain. He ground his teeth in concern, but then had to bring his thoughts back to his own predicament. Shifting his hands only temporarily resolved the problem. The heat was beginning to be unbearable, and it was only a few seconds away before his hands would start to sear.

So, with a grunt, he lifted himself up and then pushed forward, propelling himself into a swing. Once, twice - three times, before he released and soared onto the next platform. He landed in a roll and came up on his knees, hands thrust forward to arrest his momentum.

'Kath, I think something's wrong.'

The plea caused Kathar to snap his head around to the other side of the chamber. "What's wrong? Karn?" He caught sight of the Arkanian and thought the man looked pale. Well, paler than usual. "You can make it. You're alm-"

He cut off as twin visions came to him, the Force offering him a rare glimpse of the future. Or at least, they were rare, before this cursed citadel.

There was no time to plan. In less than a second, Kathar shoved both hands out in opposite directions. He pulled deeply on the Force, and a moment later showed why.

Two things happened. The first, on Kathar's side, a sharp scythe dropped from the ceiling on an arc that intended to split the Jedi and the platform he stood on in half. The second, the ceiling above Karn started to drop towards the Sith to crush him. Both of these events, not merely powered by gravity, had power behind them, driven by some machinery hidden in the walls. Yet, neither accomplished their task.

Kathar held them both back with sheer will, telekinetic power flowing from his fingertips to fight back against the diabolical traps. His arms began to shake with the effort, sweat beading on his brow. The man squinted towards Karn, managing to yell out, strain in his voice, "Go, Karn. You can make it. I believe."

He held the two pistons back, long enough for the machines to set the chamber rumbling as they fought against the hold. A tone, low at first, started to cascade up the octaves. Just before it reached an ear-piercing frequency, Kathar let go. The Jedi released a burst of power onto the platform beneath him and used it to propel himself the remaining distance, where he landed at a run, stopped only by the wall at the other end of the chamber.

Behind him, the scythe sliced through the position he'd stood in moments before, and the piston slammed down onto its sister platform below - surely crushing anything remaining on it.

Kathar spun around, having lost sight of the Sith, and yelled desperately, "Karn!"

[Rugs]

Karn stumbled as he tried to keep pressing on. He could see Kath — three Kaths now, then one — ahead of him. “Gotta... catch... up.” He willed himself on. Why was his breathing so heavy?

“What’s wrong Karn?”

“I don’t know,” he called back. It was all he could spare the strength for if he was to keep going. Yet despite this, a surge of power from the room’s opposite side drew Karn’s gaze to Kath. He saw the Jedi standing, both hands out and could feel an incredible amount of Force energy swirling around him. Karn gasped as the scythe came swinging down, then stopped.

Groaning overhead pulled his attention up, and he saw the ceiling come plummeting down toward him. This too came grinding to a halt. Karn looked to Kath, realizing that it was he keeping the ceiling from crushing him, all while holding the scythe away from him.

Karn staggered forward, trying to move as quickly as he could, though his body — yearning desperately for rest — began to rebel against him. He’s strong. Karn wasn’t sure he could replicate what Kath was doing, not without drawing extra energy as he had with the droid.

The display was at once enrapturing and horrifying, knowing what he did of one of the fates that might await him.

Karn jumped weakly — even with the Force fueling him — from the platform just before the ceiling came crashing down where he’d been standing. He saw Kathar go flying forward, covering the rest of the distance at once.

The rest of Karn’s course was, blessedly simple compared to the beginning. Another platform to hop over and one final tilted one. He rode it down, face twisted to a grimace of determination as Kath encouraged him, and jumped...

There was a sinking in his gut, an all-consuming fear as his feet left the platform, that he wasn’t going to make it. His arc was too narrow, his push off of the stone too weak to cover the distance. As time seemed to slow to his perception, Karn — letting out a panicked yell — let loose a blast of the Force behind him.

It was enough.

Karn covered the rest of the distance, at the cost of his previous control over his own momentum. He landed awkwardly, stumbling as he tried and failed to catch himself. He fell to the ground on his left side, forcing some of the darts deeper into his flesh as he groaned in agony.

He sat up on his knees and began pulling his bloodstained shirt up over his head. Some of the darts came loose, jingling lightly as they fell to the floor. The majority did not.

He began picking at what darts he could, along his side after throwing the shirt away. His pale skin was smeared with blood in places, but otherwise clear and smooth over his defined physique — save for a faded scar that began under his left arm and down his side, to the edge of his stomach. Behind him, the room shifted and rumbled as it ‘reset’, slowly returning to the way it’d been as they entered. Karn didn’t notice this.

“I need... help,” he said, pulling bloody darts from his side. “I can’t reach some of my back.” He looked to Kath, fear in his expression. There were four of him now. He wasn’t sure if he was looking at the right one. “Something is on these... tranq I think.” More darts clattered on the floor.

“Thank you for saving me... again.”

He was falling forward as the world went black.

[Symm]

There! A flash of colour against the drab stone of the chamber caught Kathar's eye. Soon after, Karn flew entirely into sight, landing poorly and collapsing against the stone floor. Then the younger force user reached for his help. Kathar rushed over while the other started to collapse, sliding at the last moment to catch Karn before he hit the floor.

'Thank you for saving me...again.'

He went to answer, but Karn passed out in his arms. Quickly he plucked the remaining darts out of the Sith, then reached to feel for a pulse - for the second time on this adventure. The pulse was weak, but at least it was still there. He held Karn against him, keeping him from the cold stone floor, and spoke in a low, distressed voice, "Come on Karn. You survived Nar Shaddaa; you can survive this."

The Jedi stretched his hand out towards the chamber entrance. At the far end, his backpack began to quiver and shake, yet it didn't budge. Kathar pulled, his arm vibrating with the exertion of using the Force again after holding the traps at bay. "Come on," he growled, yet it still didn't move. His hand curled into a fist and slammed onto the ground, "Come on!" The yell echoed through the chamber, and suddenly the backpack soared across the room.

Kathar caught one of the straps and dropped it at his feet. A deep chill settled over the Jedi, spreading from his core to his extremities, but he ignored it. There were more pressing matters to worry about.

Kathar upended the pack onto the ground, eyes and hand looking for something in particular. Seizing a device, Kathar loosened his hold on Karn to grab one of the darts and hold its tip against the small medical slate. The Jedi wasn't a medic, but he'd come prepared for a variety of situations, and an analyser just happened to be on that list.

While the device analysed, Kathar patched up the holes Karn got from the darts. After what seemed to be an eternity, the machine beeped and reported its results. It couldn't identify the exact toxin, but it suggested several remedies that would help lessen the effects. Probably a good thing, given how many of the darts found their way into Karn! Kathar's eyes scanned the list of solutions and, thankfully, found one that he had with him: A light medication to partially counteract the effects of the tranquiliser. It wouldn't immediately wake the Sith up, but it would prevent him from going into a coma. Well, that would have to do.

"You'll be fine, Karn. Get to prove me wrong about those visions."

Kathar dropped the medical slate, quickly dosed the Arkanian, and reached to recheck his heartbeat. It took nearly a minute for the effects to kick in, but his pulse steadied. Kathar let out a breath of relief, then set about wrapped Karn in Kathar's winter jacket to keep him warm. He rests the other man's head on his leg, then leant his head back against the wall. A hand remained on top of the jacket and Karn's chest, to keep a check that Karn still breathed.

What a day.

That was the last thought before exhaustion set in. Kathar's eyes closed, and soon he was asleep.

[Rugs]

Karn drifted through a dreamless sleep, unaware of Kathar’s actions to aid him.

"Come on Karn. You survived Nar Shaddaa; you can survive this."

Words drift across the void, a lone light in the formless black that enveloped his mind. Karn heard them, in a way, but did not hear them, did not recognize them or process them. He simply drifted.

"You'll be fine, Karn. Get to prove me wrong about those visions."

Karn’s face moved as if thinking, as if on the verge of waking, then stillness.

Drifting.

---

Karn’s eyes fluttered open. His head was resting on something that was at once firm and softer than the stone floor should have been.

Kath.

He recognized the Jedi with some sluggishness as his brain struggled to lurch into gear. The coat wrapped around him was warm but didn’t feel quite like his. It was a bit too big, tailored for a bulkier body than his own. But it was so warm, so comfortable.

He inhaled deeply, not fully aware that he put a pale hand over Kath’s on his chest as sleep — real, restful sleep — took hold of him.

---

Karn was on the run.

No, that wasn’t quite right. He went about his normal life about the Sith Temple, at his master’s side across the stars. But with every interaction, he could feel invisible walls closing in. He could feel the Sith — Viren, but not only him — pressing him, searching for some secret, the nature of which he barely even understood himself.

Janse. Visarion. Thraken. Hakk. Any of them finding out could prove disastrous.

Karn was on the run.

Truly now, running through a maze of the same windblown sandstone that filled the Vally of the Dark Lords. He ran like a hunted animal, evading prying hands from the walls, evading hands that reached for him out of the shadows. As he passed one dead-end he saw a small creature, made of shadow with glowing green eyes, watching him from atop the wall.

It had no mouth, but he knew it was grinning.

Left. Right. Right. Right. Left. Dread swelled in him as he ran and ran and ran. He needed help. Where was Kath?

We know. A chorus of voices whispered on the wind, growing louder like thunder. We know we know we know we know WE KNOW.

Light flashed and he found himself standing at a dead end. The sandstone wall slid shut behind him, blocking his escape.

Darth Viren towered before him, helmet cradled under the crook of his arm. Disappointment shadowed his master’s stern face. “Apprentice...” he began.

Karn fell to his knees. “No, master,” he pleaded as tears welled in his eyes. He threw a hand before him as if to shield against Viren’s displeasure. “I’m sorry!”

---

Karn awoke with a start. He squinted for a moment at the fear that receded from his mind, unsure as to what caused. A dream — perhaps an unpleasant one. Whatever he’d dreamed of, the details were fading, like morning fog as Korriban’s sun rose over the Temple.

Realization dawned abruptly on him that he was still laying on Kath’s leg, that his hand was still over the slumbering Jedi’s. Part of him wanted to recoil and move away, to jerk his hand away from Kath’s but, no, he didn’t. He felt oddly at peace, laying against Kath, even in the depths of Sadow’s citadel.

Some pain lingered from the myriad puncture wounds, but he could feel no fresh blood — and guessed the Jedi wouldn’t have wrapped him in his coat if he’d still been bleeding.

Karn sighed, looking up at Kath in a moment of silent admiration. He was strikingly handsome, and far more capable than Karn imagined when first they met outside the entrance. And more than once, he’d saved Karn’s life. Even though they should be bitter enemies, he’d saved Karn.

Even though it’d be easy to let Karn die, to let the Sith lose another member, Kathar had gone out of his way to help.

It’s just because he needs me to get out of here, he told himself. He knew the lie as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

But now the task was nearly done. The third relic, a smooth glass sphere, awaited them. Soon they’d have access to the Vault.

Soon, their temporary alliance would be at an end.

"Every single Jedi I have ever faced most likely believes that, given the chance, they would strike me down where I stood; but this is a falsehood,” Viren’s voice echoed over Karn’s thoughts. “Their teachings advise against the extreme prejudice of taking an opponent's life. That is the weakness you must exploit."

Karn swallowed hard. His hand tightened softly on Kath’s.

"When the time comes, apprentice, are you ready to strike down those who would threaten the Order? Once and for all? Are you ready to snuff out a life for a cause greater than yourself?"

At the time, he’d wondered why Viren asked him such a question. It seemed so obvious, nearly patronizing. But now... Now, I don’t know.

Karn noticed the Jedi beginning to stir. Again, he had the urge to jerk his hand away, but resisted. Instead, he smiled. “Hello,” he said as Kath came to. “I can’t say the coat’s the best fit, but it is comfortable.” He smiled, then glanced down at their hands.

“Your hand is scarred,” he said, finally letting go as he traced one of the marks with his fingertip. He sat up and shrugged out of Kath’s coat. The air was cool on his bare skin, but no worse than what he was used to from Arkania. His shirt, laying in a stained pile, appeared to be quite ruined. At least he had his heavier gear in his bag, at the room’s far end.

“What happened?”

[Symm]

To Kathar, it seemed as though he'd just closed his eyes when he heard Karn say 'hello'. In his rest, there had been no dreams. His mind, exhausted from the exertion of the trials, refused to conjure up any images. A blessing perhaps - he'd seen too many visions of late.

The first thing he noticed, of course, was the hand wrapped around his own. He followed Karn's gaze down to their interlinked fingers and silently watched as the Sith withdrew from the grip and traced the scars present. Kathar allowed the silence to stretch after Karn pulled away and queried as to their origins, averting his gaze from the other man's bare torso.

"Another reminder of the past," Kathar said, finally breaking the quiet. He slowly pushed back against the wall to come to his feet. A wince crossed his face as his body complained of the unfortunate sleeping position. Kathar brought his hand up to rub at his neck, considering leaving the story there.

No. There was a good lesson in this story.

Some fellow padawans - friends - snuck out of the Temple with me after passing one of the Trials. We went to a bar on the lower levels."

The man walked over towards the final key, reaching out to take it from its holder. "A fight broke out. The owners were some criminal gang and sent combat droids at us. The other padawans got overrun, severely injured, and I ended up taking a few blaster bolts to my hands, protecting them. Lost my first lightsaber in that fight, ended up having to use my friends."

Kathar rolled the sphere in his hands, then turned back to Karn, "I almost got banished for that, but luckily no one died. The Temple gave me a second chance and trusted me enough to continue my training. I promised then that I would never betray that trust." Eyes caught Karn's for a moment, then flicked back to the sphere.

He crouched down to collect the things back into his backpack. "And yours...is that from Nar Shaddaa?" Referring to the scar on Karn's torso - it was hard to miss. Well, when Karn was shirtless, at least!

[Rugs]

Karn remained seated as Kath rose to retrieve the final relic. The chill air should have been more biting, but it was invigorating, comforting in the way that subtle reminders of his home were. That wouldn’t last, if the upper levels remained as frigid as when they’d departed.

Still, he sat, listening — at first thinking Kath was going to cut whatever tale the scars told short, but then he spoke. Spoke of defending his friends, at cost to himself — at cost of a lightsaber, destroyed in the fray.

“I promised then that I would never betray that trust."

The significance of the look, of the moment of contact between Kath’s green eyes and his own white, wasn’t lost on Karn. The three visions were always there, always hanging over them, adding weight to every moment and interaction.

He could not help but smile a small, subtle smile, even as a tinge of sorrow set in at the edge of his mind. Even as silence lingered after Kath turned the discussion to inquire about the scar that trailed along his side.

“Defending your friends. I wouldn’t expect any less.” He said it simply, earnestly, as he stood. For all that he had — and probably would, once they moved on with their journey — teased Kath, he could not about this. Not when he’d be dead, had the Jedi not extended the same courtesy to him. Karn stretched, working out of the tightness from laying for Force only knew how long laying on the ground. That the muscles of his chest and stomach and back contracted and relaxed again as he came to stand at ease was not an intentional show, but he was not particularly shy about it.

“As for this...” he lifted his arm and traced the scar along his side, “not from Nar Shaddaa. It’s older than that. I’ve had it about a year.” He picked up his ruined, bloody shirt and turned to head toward the chamber’s entrance, motioning for Kath to follow. “My master — Colubus, the one you saw — at the time had me fight a Tuk’ata. It was to-” He cut himself off.

Colubus had initiated the training exercise, against Karn’s fierce protests, to address a glaring weakness. The emotion that powered him, that made his usage of the Dark arts so incredibly potent, was, at times, a double-edged blade. In certain instances, where Karn allowed fear to manifest into sneaking self-doubt, he lost his ability to focus enough to touch the Force at all.

Whatever he thought of Kath, whatever he might have wanted with Kath, that was information he could not share.

“What do you know of Tuk’ata?” He said instead, looking over his pale shoulder at Kath. “The small, younger ones, can be dealt with easily enough, but this one was old. Bigger than the two of us put together, and mad. I’m lucky this scar is the worst I got out of it.”

He knelt by his sack and fished out his heavy, white winter shirt. The bloodstained, hole-riddled one, Karn folded so that the — thankfully, dried— blood was mostly on the interior.

Karn worked his mouth after pulling his new top over his head, trying to find something to say, some topic of conversation to strike up. Anything to delay moving on to the Vault, to the end of this alliance of convenience and of necessity.

The journey’s hardest steps lay ahead, and not only in whatever awaited them beyond the Vault’s sealed entrance.

“You said they nearly banished you, after what happened at the bar.” Karn looked at Kath, briefly, then moved to retrieve the coat he’d discarded before they challenged the obstacle course. “Why? I mean, I’m guessing you and your friends broke some rules or something in going out, but...” His words trailed off as he picked up his coat.

“You went through all that, to protect them.” Now Karn looked at Kath fully, making eye contact before he shrugged and picked up his bag. “I know what I am, Kath. I know you probably don’t want my opinion on it, but honestly, from the outside, they should have praised you. Is that not what the Jedi are supposed to be? Defenders, protectors of those who can’t protect themselves?” He motioned to Kath’s scarred hands. “You took your punishment in the crucible. You carry the reminder with you now for the rest of your life.”

Karn’s brow furrowed, his expression twisting as he honestly struggled to understand what happened to Kath. “And they considered punishing you further? Considered throwing you out for doing what they taught you to do?”

It made no sense, to Karn. But then, considering the Jedi Oder’s slow decision to join the Republic’s war effort against the Sith, perhaps it made all the sense in the world.

[Symm]

As Karn stretched, Kathar kept his eyes angled down and away, daring not to allow himself a look. Lips set in a thin line betrayed little of his thoughts. Though when the Sith traced their scar, the Jedi glanced up and followed the trail of the hand.

A sentence suddenly cut off drew his gaze to Karn's face. It was a strange occasion - the Arkanian had never held back before. What could Karn be hiding?

Kathar was close to being fully packed. The only thing that remained was the heavy jacket, now discarded. He looked at it as though it contained some poisonous arachnid - but eventually, he reached to shove it into his backpack.

"Tuk'ata? Dangerous sith beasts," Kathar reached back to the teachings of the Temple, visualising the creatures in his mind. They were not something Kathar wished to face in combat. Yet, Karn claimed he fought one - and won? "That's impressive, but...I can't believe your master put you in that much danger on purpose."

He crossed the chamber and walked to the door, where he leant against the stone while waiting for Karn. The younger man railed against the Jedi's potential punishment, and once again Kathar found himself looking away.

"Everything has consequences, Karn. Luckily for my friends and me, nobody died. But what if the next group that did what we did weren't so lucky?" Kathar rubbed one hand over the back of the other, feeling at the scars there. "What if the next group killed their attackers? We had droids, but the next time it could have been real people. What if an innocent person got hurt or killed?" The Jedi shook his head and looked up to Karn, "If we'd followed the rules, we wouldn't have been in that situation, and we wouldn't have to worry about the what if's. But we didn't, so we do."

Kathar pushed off from the wall and started down the corridor, "The Jedi are meant to have good judgement, and we failed that test, miserably."

[Rugs]

“I know actions have consequences,” Karn said, sounding more frustrated than he felt. Kath seemed to be avoiding his gaze more, ever since they finished the latest trial. Why?

“Even allowing that you made the wrong choice in going out, what good would kicking you out have done? There’s a difference between acknowledging that, yes, maybe you did something you shouldn’t have,” he put one hand forward, palm up, “and throwing you out on your ass for it.” He raised the other, watching Kath’s back as the Jedi began to head back down the corridor.

Karn sighed and pulled his bag to him with the Force. He slung it over his shoulder and moved on, after Kath. “Life isn’t so black and white, Kath. Sometimes we have to deal with circumstances, whatever they are, the best ways we know how.” He ran a hand through his hair, irritated. Why did he care so much? Wouldn’t it have been better, if Kath had been cast out of the Jedi? Perhaps, in that alternate world, he would have made his way to the Sith.

“They do you a disservice if all they think to teach you is that inaction is preferable to action and that blind adherence to the rules is better than facing risk. Do they just expect you to spend your days sheltered away in the Temple?”

“Obviously not, if you’re all the way out here, in the heart of Imperial space,” he added with a grumble. “As they emerged into the central chamber again, Karn sighed and shook his head. “Anyway, I’m-” he cut himself short. He’d been about to apologize. What was getting into him?

“That’s just my opinion. For whatever it’s worth.”

Karn’s heart dropped as they turned to the corridor that would lead them back to the Vault. Their time was almost up. Soon they’d be enemies again. Karn hadn’t the faintest idea what, but he knew something of incredible value must be locked away within the Vault, for Sadow and his disciples to put such stringent obstacles in the way.

He liked Kath. He enjoyed his company, far more than he should have for a Jedi. But he could not let him have whatever secrets Sadow locked away--Viren might actually kill him, if he did.

And Karn expected that Kath — duty-bound as he seemed to be — would feel the same way about letting precious Sith artifacts return to the Order’s hands.

So what were they to do?

He walked on, trailing behind Kath as they returned to the Vault. “Delving into a Sith reliquary? That requires a different skill set.” Karn smiled sadly as he watched the Jedi before him, in another moment of quiet admiration. I thought that was all bluster up top, he thought, but you’ve seen us both through this.

They returned to the Vault’s antechamber, to the heavy, gilded doors that barred the path of any who approached without the relics. Karn had pulled out his datapad, jotting down a few notes about the trials themselves.

Kath, in possession of each of the relics, would have to put them in their places around the door.

“Kath, I-” he started, then stopped again, letting what he’d been going to say unsaid.

He pushed down the mounting dread, hardened his resolve and flashed the same confident, boyish smile he’d given Kath before. “You ready for whatever’s on the other side of those doors?”

[Symm]

"That's not what they teach us," Kathar replied, keeping his eyes ahead in the corridor. "But Jedi are expected to have sound judgement, and we displayed a lack of it. We can't just go around doing whatever we like, whenever we want. We have obligations: to the order, to the council, to the Republic. And those obligations involve following some rules."

Sometimes, the ruled chafed, but where possible Kathar sought to follow them as close as possible. He recognised that there were times when the rules had to stretch; his recent journies through Hutt Space and beyond merely reinforced that knowledge. As for breaking or completely disregarding rules - Kathar wasn't sure on that. He glanced at Karn again as he thought about the rules, then cast his eyes to the floor, feeling a sense of shame wash over him.

In what seemed to Kathar to be too short a time, the two men reached the door to the vault. As he looked upon the portal that blocked their way, he couldn't help feeling sad. Sad that this journey was about to end. Sad, because he knew what would have to happen once whatever object inside that vault was retrieved by either one of them.

He set his backpack next to the doorway and turned to Karn, returning the boyish smile with a small one of his own. "I don't know, but I'm going to have to be. Karn..."

The Jedi trailed off, then shook his head and pressed on, "Karn, I can say it's been...nice; to get to know you. I wish that your parents hadn't sent the Jedi away. Things might have been different." Kathar knelt and retrieved the keys, beginning to place them into their slots. "But we both know what has to happen at the end of this. So whatever beginnings of a friendship we have...it can't work." He let his eyes rest on Karn for longer than he'd had since they'd slept, then tore them away.

Kathar gently slid the last key into place and took a step back.

The cube from the droids began to glow with the same red energy that powered them. That lightning, potent in the Force, spread through the lines of the sigil, intersecting with the other two keys. The chamber rumbled as the cube split down the middle, then shot red lines straight up and down the door. Eventually, the portal rolled open, pulled not by machinery but by magics long since forgotten.

The sight that greeted them was a vast chamber, comparable to the foyer they'd first seen when entering the citadel. Massive pillars, inscribed with Sith runes and sigils, supported a heavy roof - necessary for holding up the mountain above them. The first thing Kathar noticed was the plinth, above which hovered a black and red, heavily inscribed, pyramid - immediately recognisable as a holocron.

The second thing Kathar noticed was the skeletons. Dozens of them spread throughout the room, with no organisation to them. Kathar wasn't good at biology, but he recognised various skulls of multiple different species, some with disturbingly cracked and broken bones. The room was also covered in a fine layer of dust, as though whatever machinations that kept the rest of the citadel cleaned didn't venture here.

As Kathar stepped into the room, he felt the hair on the back of his neck raise, and the Jedi set his hand to his lightsaber, "Something's wrong."

[Rugs]

“Karn...”

The smile faded from Kath’s face. Karn could feel a change, a firming of the Jedi’s resolve as he braced for whatever was to follow. For once, the Arkanian broke eye contact, looking sheepishly at the floor. Even before Kath spoke, he knew what was coming--what had to be coming.

"Karn, I can say it's been...nice; to get to know you. I wish that your parents hadn't sent the Jedi away. Things might have been different.”

“They might have,” Karn said.

"But we both know what has to happen at the end of this. So whatever beginnings of a friendship we have...it can't work."

Karn felt as if Kath punched him in the stomach. Pain, sorrow washed over his face, through his presence as Kath slid the last relic into place. Why? The Force stirred as the red energy spread across the surface of the two doors and enveloped each of the relics in turn.

Why did it hurt? He’d only know Kath for a few hours. He was attractive, yes, but there were pretty faces at the Sith Temple. Despite the early animosity between them, in that short time, he’d built a better rapport with the Jedi than he’d done with many of is Sith peers in years.

Was that why? That he’d forged the beginnings of a friendship when such things were preciously rare? Was it that he owed the fact that he yet drew breath to Kath?

“That might be true, yea,” he said, sadly. “But it might not be.” It was his weakest response yet to Kath’s assertion that the visions — whatever they meant for what the future might hold — may not come to be as they seemed.

“I’ve enjoyed fighting by your side,” Karn said as the doors rumbled open. “I’d like to call you a friend.” An unspoken but... lingered in the dead citadel air as the way, now open , revealed a sight that made Karn gasp in awe.

His white eyes were immediately drawn to the pillar in the Vault’s heart, atop which was, unmistakably, a holocron — a repository of ancient knowledge, locked away for more than a millennium. Countless souls had tried through the centuries to grasp it, and now, it stood before Karn, within grasp. If he could only take it and bring it back to the Sith, Darth Viren — perhaps even Empress Renata herself — would see his potential, his strength, his worth to the Sith Order.

Yet it was the same holocron, the same desire that set his ambition aflame, that sank Karn’s heart. He looked to Kath, lips pressing into a thin line. I can’t let you take that. And I won’t let you stop me.

The unspoken but... yet lingered.

I’m sorry, Kath.

Karn looked into the room again as he stepped forward, following Kath. He gasped again, for entirely different reasons. Corpses — no, skeletons — littered the floor. As did dust, in sharp contrast to everything else they’d seen. “What is this?” Alarm filled his voice as he unclipped his long-hilted lightsaber from his belt.

He knelt near one of the skeletons near the entrance. It was whole but badly damaged. The ribs were cracked and pressed in, and the femur was cracked nearly in two. A chunk of the skull was missing, or so Karn though — closer inspection revealed that it’d been knocked into the interior.

“Kath, this is-”

“More challengers come.” The voice boomed through the Vault’s expanse. Karn turned to its source — to the Holocron. A flickering projection of Naga Sadow, from the waist up, loomed over it. Karn’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as the projection scowled at them both.

“Two babes, barely old enough to walk outside without projection.” His scowl deepened. “One of shadow. One of light. Is this what has become of the Sith?” He looked at Karn, then turned to Kath. “Or have the Jedi changed their ways?”

“No matter. You’ve passed three trials, but the real test remains. Prove yourself worthy, where countless others have failed before, and this holocron is yours. Fail,” the projection began to fade, “and join those who have come before you here. Forever.”

On the foremost pillars, a pair of crystals — each the size of Karn’s torso — came aglow with the same blood-red light that had powered the droids. Matching pairs on each of the pillars down the entire length of the Vault flickered one, one after the other, bathing the Vault in sanguine light.

At the far end, a pool of shadow remained, untouched by the light. Over this, a pair of massive torches, each larger than the Sith or Jedi, suddenly blazed with roaring light. This revealed the holocron’s guardians, and terror gripped Karn’s heart.

Two terentateks slumbered beneath the blinding flame. One rose, then its fellow. They were massive beasts with thick, powerful muscle evident beneath their tough skin. Pale scars crisscrossed their hides, and the left horn of one was sheared off in the middle.

“No...” Karn stepped back. “No, no, no. Kath, we need to-” he turned to flee, only to see the Vault’s doors seal behind him. Trapped. “We can’t....”

Behind him, the beasts roared and stalked toward their prey.

[Symm]

It was a wise decision for Kathar to look away from Karn. If he'd seen that look after denying their friendship, Kathar would have reacted unwisely. Yet even without looking, Kathar knew what Karn felt because he felt it too - even if he wouldn't admit it to himself. The logical part of Kathar's brain was at war with the emotional, and the Jedi was finding it difficult to 'win' the battle in the way the Order proscribed.

'But it might not be.'

Green eyes closed as those words echoed in his mind, followed by the double punch of the Sith hoping for the Jedi's friendship. It just wasn't possible.

Thankfully, to Kathar, further introspection was interrupted by the voice of the long-dead Sith Lord. Booted feet carried the Jedi closer to the Holocron, kicking up small clouds of dust with each step. The fact that Sadow addressed their particular situation stopped him in his tracks, and Kathar's mouth twisted into a frown, "How did..."

By the time Kathar's mind processed this strange occurrence, the chamber became enveloped in the crimson light of whatever power had become imbued in the crystals. He traced the path of the light, cascading down to the other end of the chamber, till finally, the torches illuminated the guardians.

Like Karn, Kathar stepped back involuntarily, and a rare flutter of doubt crossed his thoughts. He looked behind as Karn turned and saw the chamber doors slide shut, leaving them locked in with the beasts.

"Karn," Kathar said, and for once some anxiety trickled into his voice. Perhaps it was Karn's evident stress and panic at this situation that bled into the Jedi. Recognising this, Kathar took a moment to centre his thoughts, then repeated, "Karn." Much calmer, this time. "What are these things?"

Nothing in Kathar's studies had touched on the terentatek, and that posed a problem for him. He had no information about them, no information about their weaknesses or strengths. The only thing he knew was they had killed many, many people before them, and so he assumed they were dangerous.

Not particularly helpful.

Kathar held off on igniting his lightsaber, though he did bring the hilt into his hand.

As he did, the beasts started to charge.

[Rugs]

Karn sat atop a shallow ridge on the edge of the Valley of the Dark Lords. Korriban’s sun was setting, casting its last warm rays across the fiery sky. The Arkanian acolyte saw none of this. He sat cross-legged on the rocky ground, eyes closed and hands palm-down on his thighs. A collection of rocks — some as small as a fingernail, others the size of his head — orbited around him as he delved into the Force, deep in quiet meditation. Yet he could feel the sun’s warmth on the back of his neck, feel the wind stirring his pale hair as the day faded and surrendered its heat for the cold of the desert night.

“The fauna of the Valley — name them.” Lady Colubus stood near Karn, arms folded as she watched her apprentice. She seemed at once keenly focused on the eighteen-year-old and on everything around them.

“Shyrack. Hssiss. Wraid. K’lor’slug.” Karn paused, drawing breath. Through the Force, he reached out to lift another rock from the ground. The others wavered as he strained at the limits of his control. He pressed on; the Force was his tool. He dictated its use and bent it to his command. The rock rose slowly, trembling as it joined the others.

“And in some of the tombs, Tuk’ata.”

“Good.” Colubus said. “You are forgetting something, yes?”

Karn frowned. “Terentatek? They’ve not been spotted in the Valley for centuries. They’re myths, at this point.”

“Are they?” Karn could hear the amused sneer in Colubus’ voice. “I seem to recall a certain acolyte telling me that Tuk’ata were ‘myths,’ once.”

“And now I’ve slain one.” Karn smirked, despite his focus on keeping the rocks aloft. He felt annoyance ripple through Colubus but didn’t care. He’d wanted to take a trophy from the beast, but she’d refused him the chance. His life, she’d said, was trophy enough.

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Know this, Karn Albrecht,” she said, using his full name with a tone that implied he’d earned more training repetitions for himself before returning to the Temple, “some ‘legends’ yet slumber beneath the sands. I know you venture into these tombs. I am not a Jedi, to stay your feet from a treacherous path, but should you ever find yourself staring down one such legend, you’d best be certain of a plan to kill it, or run.”

---

"Karn.” For the first time since they’d met, Karn heard real fear in Kath’s voice. This did nothing to allay his worry, even after the Jedi seemed to center himself.


“What are they?” Karn barked a cold, mirthless laugh. Here he was, about to die with a Jedi he had the hots for, in the tomb of an ancient Sith Lord. Killed by myths.

“Terentateks,” he said, back pressed to the wall. His hands trembled as the beasts roared, but the blade remained yet unlit. One stepped on a skull, crushing it like paper. “Some call them Jedi Killers, though I doubt my allegiance will gain me any mercy. Creations of ancient Sith magic, or so the thinking goes. They feed on the blood of Force-users.”

What were they going to do? “They’re supposedly resistant, if not completely immune, to the effects of the Force,” Karn’s voice shook. If that was true, his greatest asset — his talent in the Dark Side — was worthless in this fight.

That was all well and good — he reached for the Force, tried to calm his mind enough to focus, and found nothing, as if grasping at empty air

The beasts charged, shaking the floor with their heavy footsteps. One seemed to be closing in on Karn. The other, scarred and slightly larger, focused on Kathar. We’re going to die. Karn ignited his lightsaber, throwing more blood-red light across his face.

As the terentatek rushed at him, he danced to the side, lightsaber flicking out as its massive hand stretched out to swipe at him. The blade flashed as it grazed the creature’s thick hide. It left a briefly glowing trail, but the terentatek, seemed, if anything, more enraged by Karn’s stroke.

Karn backpedaled, hopping over a partial skeleton as he retreated towards a pillar. His mind raced, trying to think of some plan, some strategy. Again and again, he tried to find the Force through the panic clouding his mind, but grasped nothing.

“Watch out for the claws and horns!” he yelled to Kath, realizing something he’d forgotten. “You’ll get poisoned!”

[Symm]

Terentateks. With a rarely felt sense of urgency, Kathar dredged through his memories and lessons. The word struck a familiar chord, yet for some reason, he couldn't quite remember why. He listened, rapt, to Karn as the Sith explained their near immunity to the Force. Once again, that fact scratched something inside his mind. Why couldn't he remember? Kathar was usually well versed in threats, simply because he needed to know how to defeat them.

The terentatek interrupted this train of thought as it charged. It seemed for a moment that Kathar wouldn't react, but at the last moment, the Jedi lunged inwards, jumping to the side that put him in the middle of the room. The massive beast, surprisingly agile for its size, pulled up and swept an arm towards the jumping Jedi, clipping him and sending him further into the chamber.

Kathar tucked and rolled into the strike, landing with one leg outstretched behind, the other bent at the knee and his free hand on the ground. As he slowed, the dust billowed up behind him as a burst of the Force kept him from sliding further. The lightsaber ignited with a crack of energy, orange light vying to dispel the red.

'Watch out for the claws and horns! You'll get poisoned!'

Quickly he assessed the impact zone, but thankfully he'd been struck by the meat of the arm rather than the claws, "Good to know!" He yelled back.

That last piece of the puzzle, the poison claws and horns, finally slotted into place. "They're meant to be extinct!" That was why he didn't remember them immediately. The Temple taught that the creatures were all dead, killed by the Great Hunt and completed by Revan. So Kathar, ever practical, pushed that piece of trivia to the 'not useful' part of his memories. After all, why bother learning how to kill something that didn't exist anymore?

Kathar watched as the terentatek that struck him continued forward, seemingly now interested in Karn. "Hey!" The Jedi twisted his arm back, then thrust it forward and threw his blade. The orange lightsaber twirled through the air, spinning end over end, and Kathar guided it with the Force. The glowing blade struck a glancing blow against the beast's back, scorching a line that caused it to spin around and let loose a roar that vibrated through the chamber.

The weapon spun back and landed in Kathar's hand. He raised the weapon, grasping it in both hands, and angled it straight at the creature, parallel to the ground. "I don't suppose the Sith have any secrets about killing them?"

Kathar's beast began another charge.

[Rugs]

There was no time to think — even though Kath taking a blow from the other monster speared a pang of worry through his heart — as the beast rushed him down. Karn darted around the stone pillar, using it as a shield as the terentatek’s heavy swing slammed it into and knocked chunks loose with a disconcerting amount of force. He tried to poke around the far side, but it was there, swinging downward in a blow that would’ve cracked his skull open across the floor if he didn’t hop back with a startled yelp.

He kept trying, and failing, to find the Force. The connection fell just short, like a starship engine with a busted power converter.

“They’re meant to be extinct!”

“Well they’re clearly not!” Karn yelled back. Panic strained his voice as he ran away from the pillar, trying to put some room between himself and the terentatek that was so eager to maul him. A shout from Kath, a whirring lightsaber darting through the air to draw away the second, which was focused on him.

Karn felt a spark of jealousy. Why could Kath touch the Force here, when he could not? How could the Jedi stay so calm, when he had been chosen by the Praetor Magnus? Jealousy ignited anger — at his own weaknesses, his own failures played out again and again. The Force inched closer to his grip as the terentatek hunting Kath shook the Vault with a roar.

Karn skidded to a halt, turning to face the beast chasing after him. He’d circled around to the middle of the room. The for all his dexterity, he’d underestimated how fast the terentatek could move. His eyes went wide as it rounded on him, too close to dodge. Karn tried to protect himself.

The blow knocked the wind from his lungs and sent him crashing into a skeleton. Worse, he heard his lightsaber go clattering across the floor, kicking up dust as the crimson blade retreated into the hilt.

Karn picked his head up, dazed and coughing. Some dust went into his nose, his throat, making it hard to breathe. Get up, he told himself weakly. I’ve got to get up. His chest hurt, badly. The old injury from the hammer droid in the first chamber seemed to come aflame from the terentatek’s blow, and Karn desperately hoped the sharp pain in his side wasn’t a broken rib.

The floor trembled as the terentatek took one heavy step after the other. He looked up to see its mouth open wide, rancid spittle dripping from sawtooth teeth onto the dust-covered floor near him. It raised a heavy hand above him, readying a smashing blow.

Karn closed his eyes. All he could see was Kath, again, coming to aid him, to pull him out of the fire at the last moment. But no. Not this time. Kath had his own terror to fight, and couldn’t.

Anger swelled within. Why should he rely on Kath? I won’t let him save me. The Force came, as a trickle.

Then a flood.

Karn yelled as the terentatek’s hand came swinging down. His lightsaber tore through the air, blade ignited in his telekinetic grip as it returned to his outstretched hand.

A flash of contact. The terentatek howled and recoiled as a claw fell loose to the floor.

Karn was already moving, rolling away from the beast and springing to his feet. The Force dulled the pain in his chest. He couldn’t ignore it forever, but it would have to do. He threw, with all the strength he could muster, a blast of the Force at the staggering terentatek. Bones flew as if caught by a gale. The dust clouded the air as it was thrown free,softening the light from a nearby crystal.

But the monster didn’t care. It felt to Karn as if the threads of the Force touched the creature and became unraveled. No, it set its feet and glared at him, murder in its eyes. So there’s one confirmation.

“I don’t know.” Karn said, finally answering Kath’s question. He retreated again from the terentatek. Though retreat was rarely his way, he needed time to think. After some hesitation, he hit a switch on his lightsaber — the dual-phase control. The blade extended instantly, more than doubling in length and gouging a glowing trail into the floor as Karn moved.

Another trick, another bit of unguarded information revealed to Kath. It wouldn’t matter if the terentatek killed him. “All I can think of is to create distance,” he called back to his Jedi companion, slowly circling back around in his direction. “Though... just because we can’t use the Force on them directly doesn’t mean we can’t use it to hit them with other things.”

[Symm]

The orange blade sliced through the air in a rapid series of defensive strokes, merely keeping the creature at bay while Kathar ceded ground to it. He concentrated on the fight to the detriment of his surroundings, and so didn't see when Karn got hit and get skidding into a pile of bones; he most certainly didn't notice Karn struggling to retrieve his weapon.

Finally, Kathar found himself backed up against one of the pillars. The terentatek reared back and slammed a claw forward, seeking to impale the Jedi against the column. Kathar sprung up, one foot boosting off of the terentatek's arm as it slammed into the stone. The Jedi front flipped over the beast and, at the apex of his jump, sliced through its shoulder.

He landed smoothly behind the creature but soon found a piece of masonry ripped from the column thrown at him. It caught him square on the face, and the Jedi staggered back, dazed from the impact.

Coincidentally, it was around this time that Karn suggested hitting the terentatek's with other things. Perhaps the creatures heard him?

The Jedi looked up, and the world suddenly appeared redder. Blood from a cut on his head streamed down into his eyes, and Kathar kept stumbling back, trying to get some distance from his adversary. He waved his blade in front of him while his other pressed into his face, trying to wipe the blood away while also attempting to make sense of the world.

From a distance, Kathar would probably look a little drunk as he swayed and stumbled.

The terentatek swung around while the column behind it shook, masonry crumbling around the missing chunk.

[Rugs]

Karn’s lengthening of his lightsaber achieved its primary objective, in keeping the terentatek at bay. The beast, already stung twice by the weapon — and Force only knew how many others in the prior centuries — had enough basic self-preservation instinct to know that it was perilous.

Even so, that only slowed its advance. Karn swiped at the terentatek as he retreated, keeping the blade whirring as an ever-present reminder of what would happen if it stepped poorly. One good hit. The extended blade bought him three meters of precious space. Space where he could use to act, while the terentatek could not. Even as tough as the creatures were, a lightsaber blow to the head would kill them.

Should kill them.

Karn, hearing a lightsaber’s hum behind him, dared a glance at Kath’s direction, confident that the Jedi was handling himself well, if not better than he was.

So it came as a surprise to see the ginger stumbling as if dazed, blood smeared on his face. No. “Kath!” Karn barked the name. “Hold on!”

You could let him die, a dark, quiet voice whispered from the deepest recesses of his mind. He’s played his role. Let him die and the holocron is yours without trouble.

Let him die and there’s no chance for him to kill you.

Karn hesitated. It was a momentary thing, a stutter to his step. The terentatek, sensing his distraction, charged.

No. He pushed the voice aside. No, I’m not doing that.

Everything that came next happened very quickly. The Ternetatek was on Karn, lifting him from his feet and slamming him to the ground with such force that his vision filled with stars and his ears rang. His hold on the Force nearly slipped as he nearly blacked out. The terentatek roared, lifting him again with its massive hand. Its claws broke through his thick winter shirt, nearly pierced his skin as it began to squeeze the breath out of him.

Then his lightsaber, dropped again in the collision was in his hand, and the terentatek’s was no longer attached. Karn swung again as he felt to the ground, taking off one of the beast’s legs. As it fell to the ground, screaming and howling in rage as acrid green blood broke through the cauterization along with the stump and sprayed onto the bottom of Karn’s shirt and pants.

He pressed on, relentless, flourishing his crimson blade. A clean stroke that cut the beast’s neck open flowed into a thrusting stab that sent the plasma burning through its thick skull and brain.

A rush of giddiness nearly broke through his pain-addled mind as the terentatek thrashed wildly in its death throes. I killed it. I killed it. The sounds of the other and terentatek and Kath’s lightsaber drew him back to the present.

He turned on his heel to see the beast lunging at the Jedi as the once-crumbling pillar failed completely and collapsed. Karn should have been concerned about getting trapped in a cave-in, as the crystal that had long clung to the pillar’s face shattered into sharp, heavy shards.

But he saw the monster coming for Kath, saw what would happen if it found him, and knew he was too late to stop it, even as he broke into a sprint to aid his friend. “Get down!”

[Symm]

Swiping the blood away proved more involved than it seemed. Each time the Jedi cleared his vision, more blood spilled down over his brows to once again obscure it. Kathar couldn't stop the blood and keep his eyes clean, as he needed to keep his lightsaber in front to ward off the terentatek. Still, each time he wiped it away, he got a brief look, seeing the terentatek stomping forward. To Kathar, those brief glimpses revealed two translucent creatures, the head injury splitting his sight into two. That was no good.

He heard, as though from across a canyon, Karn yelling something. Kathar tilted his head, trying to make sense of whatever the Sith said, but his addled mind was unable to string the sounds together into words.

Finding his battle with blood futile, the Jedi gave up and returned his hand to his lightsaber. Unable to trust his vision, he closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, trying to sense the threat. It was, really, a frequent exercise for Jedi apprentices; though usually they were attempting to deflect blaster bolts and not many tonnes of murderous rage-beast.

His senses stretched out through the room, seeking out the creature. In his mind's eye, he saw the image of Karn once again, that blazing bonfire of barely controlled power. He saw too the echo of the Holocron, a stain darker than his Sith companion's, seeking almost to suck in the light; like the Maw, inexorably drawing everything and anything to it. What he didn't see, however, was the terentateks. It was almost as if they didn't exist in the Force, or something about them cloaked it from his senses.

With each passing moment, the terentatek drew ever closer. Once again from that great distance, Kathar heard Karn yell something. This time he concentrated and was able to discern the final word, 'down', but by the time he'd deciphered it, it was too late to heed the warning.

Still, all was not lost. While Kathar couldn't sense the beast, he could sense where it wasn't. The Force flowed through everything and left an imprint visible in his Sight, so Kathar searched desperately for where the eddies of the Force seemed disturbed without explanation.

At the last moment, Kathar Saw it. He raised his blade in a parry, the blade slicing through the creature's claws - but it didn't stop him getting struck by the meat of the thing. Luckily, it sent the Jedi tumbling in Karn's direction, rag dolling across the ground to come to rest some metres in front of the sprinting Sith.

Kathar blearily pushed himself up, surprised that he'd held on to his saber. He shook his head and spat blood to the ground.

[Rugs]

Despite Karn’s efforts to warn him, Kath took a heavy blow from the terentatek. Even so, the Jedi got a lick in himself, slashing off some of the massive beast’s claws before he was sent careening back and away.

“Kath!” Karn yelled as he watched the Jedi hit the floor, hard. His stomach clenched, fearing the worst as he drew more on the Force and pushed his body beyond its natural limits to hasten his pace.

Kath was back on his feet as Karn reached him, and though a part of him wanted to stop, wanted to be sure his companion was okay, he couldn’t. Not with the terentatek roaring for blood — and esepcially not if Kath was still dazed. “You’re fighting me now,” he yelled at the raging monster as he hurtled toward it. His blade, returned to normal length, flew from his hand in a throw at the terentatek’s head. It moved, lighter on its feet than the one he’d faced despite being larger, out of the way of the worst of the strike as the lightsaber sailed wide, shearing off one of the thick spines arising from the back of the creature’s heavy head and shoulders.

Shit. Karn’s finger’s flexed as he forced himself to slow. The lightsaber began looping back around, burning through the edge of one of the pillars as the terentatek assaulted him.

He skittered out of the way of the first blow, grunting as an outstretched claw tore open the front of his shirt. He barely spared a thought to let his lightsaber blade die as it sailed through the air toward his outstretched hand — toward Kath, if he didn’t grab it — as the Terentatek charged and put him on the ground with a blow from its broad head.

Karn scarcely had time to react before he felt himself being lifted from the ground, felt a claw pierce his side as he yelled in pain. Then he was airborne for two heartbeats before crashing, headfirst, into the collapsed pillar’s rubble.

The chamber spun crazily as Karn slowly opened his eyes. A sharp, blinding pain split his head. He felt warmth spilling down the side of his face, and along its center, following the curve of his nose.

The steady, stalking rumbling floor hailed the terentatek’s arrival. It stalked toward him, jaws wide as it readied for the kill. Karn instinctively reached for his saber, only to realize it wasn’t there.

Deep, desperate terror took his soul as the monster closed in on him. “No,” he said, tasting iron on his lips. “No, you won’t be the one.” Fear became rage, became fuel at the thought that this... this base creature could think to stop him. Karn lifted his hands, drawing deeply on the Force as the crystal shards behind him rose slowly from the ground. They rotated flatly, turning their sharp ends to face the monster. “Not today.”

“Kath!” He called. “My lightsaber is by you!”

At the same time, he let the shards fly.