Heart of the Jedi

[Dire Wolf]

((For Jace))

The definition of “Cold,” according to the galactic dictionary, is to have a relatively low temperature. Temperature, again according to the galactic dictionary, is the measure of the warmth or coldness of an object or substance with reference to some standard value. According to scientists it is the absence of heat that defines “cold,” so in essence... cold is only a word to define something that doesn't exist. In truth, who gave a good gorram about what heat or Cold was? Or is? Cold is cold. And Illum? Illum was so very cold.

Rhissai shivered. So very cold that it was almost beyond words. The woman snickered at the thought, “good thing you skipped on your sentencing, eh Rhiss? I hear this place doesn't hold a candle to the wastelands as far as “cold” is concerned.” She was, of course, thinking back to when she was labeled a “traitor” on her home world nearly two and a half decades before. “And all because you didn't break the mind of some kid, those people are pathetic,” The woman shook her head at the thought. Not that she was complaining about being sent away from that hell of a planet, just the fact that they nearly killed her because she was the only sane one around.

The heavy cloak that she wore while out on planets like this did very little to stop the biting cold. Very little. She had once described it as “just enough to remind you of what you could be experiencing if you were in a warmer clime,” again, she suppressed a snicker. That was very true. The woman thought this as she craned her neck upwards towards the icy spires of the Jedi Temple on the sacred world that she was walking about. It had such a majestic beauty, one that she felt couldn't be fully appreciated due to the merciless cold of the planet that it rested on. Rhiss turned back to Grandmaster Beleren just as she reached the massive door that allowed entry to the Illum's almost sacro-sanct crystal cave.

“One never forgets their first time here... though it may just be the oppressive cold that burns itself into one's mind.”

A slight smirk played across the side of her face as she gazed upon her long time friend and companion, now superior. They couldn't have selected a better Jedi for Grandmaster, Jace was by far one of the most powerful and wise that the Order had to offer. That wasn't to say, however, that he could still beat her at an unarmed spar... she simply adored the look on his face when she used another maneuver of Nsis'drrn that he'd never seen before. There had to be a million of them.

[Jace]

He had almost gotten used to the cold....almost. Jace had been to Ilum quite a number of times over the years. The first was of course when he was making his own lightsaber. Since then he had been here many a time to instruct others in lightsaber creation or even coming out here to meditate. Though it was obscenely cold, it was also very peaceful, and it helped Jace greatly in the past.

Jace looked ahead at his companion for this journey, and allowed himself a brief smile. She didn't seem to be enjoying the current climate at all. He wondered if the woman had forgotten her training in all her haste. Using the Force, Jace had shielded himself from the brunt of the harsh climate.

Serves her right...She is probably too busy thinking about how to beat me in a spar

He rolled his eyes at that last thought. It wasn't because he thought she couldn't beat him, but the fact that she always wanted to spar. If Jace was lucky he would avoid any sparring here, but that was just wishful thinking. That woman somehow always conned him into a spar, and it frustrated him to no end. Jace let out a sigh and just filed it away as his own weakness.

I will have to work on that once everything quiets down

They had reached the Temple doors, which would lead them towards the icy cave which held thousands of crystals. One of those crystal would find Jace today, well hopefully today. Finding the right crystal was not exactly a walk in the park. He almost hadn't realized that Rhissai had spoken to him.

"Indeed they don't" He stated in response to her comment

Oddly enough, Jace's first time here was a vague memory, one he couldn't recall fully. Such were many of his memories which were before his time as a Shadow. He had shut them out, blurred them, partly on purpose but for the most part he didn't know why. It didn't bother him much, he actually thought it might have been better that way. He reached the door and stood there waiting, almost as if he were expecting Rhissai to do something.

"Ladies first" He stated finally

[Dire Wolf]

A small smirk pursed the side of Rhissai's lips as Jace's statement finally reached her ears. To be honest, she didn't quite know why she continued to wait for him, even after he caught up with her. The cold had turned the woman's nose and ears into a light pink hue as she wrapped herself up into the heavy robes that the Jedi issued for cold weather missions. She reminded herself not to visit Illum while she was on vacation... if she ever got a vacation. She thought on that for a few short moments... Nope. She has never had a vacation.

Rhissai shook her head ever so slightly, “enough random thoughts for now, Rhiss, seriously.” Without any further ado she slowly opened the door to the crystal cave, her senses were almost instantly bombarded with the connection that this place had to the Force. Luckily, however, she had worked up her mental barriers in preparation for such an experience... remembering her first time in this very cave. She slowly turned back to her companion and gave a little nod, followed by a serious look.

“I will contact you when I find my crystal, unless I sense that you are in deep meditation. I would like to be present during the construction of your new lightsaber.”

She gave a slight bow to her long time friend and started off into the cave, noting all of the beautifully colored auroras that the light refracting off of the crystals created. After but a few minutes of walking the woman stopped dead in her tracks and sat down cross legged, opening herself up to the Force and all of its aspects. After but a few minutes she could almost hear her old Master's voice faintly, as if calling to her from a great distance away. Though this voice was not only separated from her by space, but also time...

“The crystal is the heart of the blade...”

The woman was thrown back into her earlier years, back when her companion was the meager age of seven and she was one step away from becoming a Jedi Knight. Rhissai was back in the very temple in which she meditated, Illuma stood over her sitting form... supervising the construction her padawan's first lighsaber.

“The heart is the crystal of the Jedi. The Jedi is the crystal of the Force. The Force is the blade of the heart...”

The emerald eyed twenty two year old shifted her gaze up to the much older woman that walked around her. It seemed that the Jedi echoed that quote since time immemorial, not that she knew that of course... that was the first time that Rhissai heard that proverb. She refocused her attention on the collection of lightsaber parts that lie before her, and with the quick thought they began to lift up off of the icy ground.

“All are intertwined: the crystal, the blade, the Jedi. You are one.”

Her mind accelerated towards a much later date, this time she was the master watching her padawan create his lightsaber. “That boy will become a great Jedi... hasn't he already become a master?” A little smile curled her lips at the thought, she met the padawan that he was training once... he seemed like a level headed kid. She quickly shook her head, casting her little walk down memory lane out of the window. Now was not the time for that, now was the time to find the crystal that would reside in her new shoto.

The woman slowly got up from her meditative position and scanned the large room, she would find her crystal today. Or tomorrow. Or by next week. In all honesty, she didn't care when she found it... so long as she found it. After finding a suitable place to begin her trek she began the search for her crystal.

[Jace]

He was about to say something, but instead remained quiet. Jace had wanted to tell Rhissai that he had in fact already found his own crystal. It had been just like with his first saber, arriving on Ilum only to be disappointed that he could not find his crystal. Though his crystal had not been on Ilum, he still came here to create it. There was something about this planet that made it so conducive to lightsaber creation. Maybe it was the hum of thousands of lightsaber crystals near you or maybe it was just the tradition, either way there was something.

Left and right, crystals surrounded him, bathing him in green and blue. He had yet to move from the spot he had been, completely lost in the beauty of the scene. Jace never had the time to sit back and just appreciate beauty at its core. Running around the galaxy for years and years in foulest places the galaxy could offer. There was no resentment in Jace's thoughts though. He did what needed to be done, there was nothing to resent in that. The council had given him a great honor, one which was engraved in his very core.

Instead of walking into the cave, he moved back to the main area of the temple. Moving to the relative center, he slowly sat down in a cross legged position. Reaching into his robe, he pulled out the various pieces. The electrum hilt first, followed by the focusing lens, the emitter, and the rest until he finally pulled out the crystal. The electrum hilt was a rare thing indeed, but this crystal was even rarer than that. The Sigil crystal, its abilities seemed so unfit for Jace, yet it had called so strongly to him. The Sigil crystal...his mind slipped into a memory of the past.


A ship, yes it was a ship, possibly a freighter. A man talking to him, he was tall, almost regal looking. The man's face was familiar, he was wearing brown robes, he was a Jedi. A familiar man, a Jedi, this was undoubtedly his father. Immediately everything began to focus along with the recognition of his father. He must have been nearing his age as a knight, 20 maybe 21. Ahhh he remembered now, they were accompanying a Republic boarding party. They had been tracking a crew of highly ruthless pirates over the last week. They had been evading the Republic quite deftly, so the Jedi were requested.

Jace had seen some ugly things in his 21 years, but what these pirates did. They murdered senselessly, even women and children. They mutilated corpses, and left messages for the Republic in the blood of their victims. He wasn't angry though, there was only a cold determination. They had worked hard to find them, getting closer every time, until today. Finally tracking them down, they had kept a safe distance as to not be detected. The pirates were stalking another freighter, and Jace would have loved to have taken them down now, but they couldn't. The truth was ugly, if they tried to catch them now, the pirates would most likely get away. The only thing left to do was wait for them to dock with the civilian freighter and move in quick.

Minutes passed by, excruciatingly slow minutes. Jace was patient, but knowing what could happen if they didn't act fast enough made him anxious. His father seemed to sense this, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Then just like that, the pirates moved in, disabling the freighter, and docking. The ship was suddenly alive with sound as it raced towards the civilians. Master and apprentice quickly made their way to the docking hatch, finding a squad of soldiers already waiting there. The look in both his masters eyes and Jace's own was clear, they were going in first.

Moments of silence followed which were suddenly broken by a sudden jerk. The light on the hatch, orange, docking was in progress. A beep, a green light, the sound of the hatch hissing open. His master sprang forward with his apprentice in tow, soldiers right behind. Jace sensed danger from the left, his lightsaber springing to life just in time to deflect a blaster bolt. Another one followed moments later, this time deflected back at its origin, resulting in a scream. He sensed his master had gone down the right, which meant the left was his. Signaling for half the troopers to follow him, Jace sprang forth into the ship.

Turning right into the next corridor, Jace initially encountered no resistance, and suddenly stopped. He didn't like this area at all, it was too easy to be ambushed. Yet what else could he do, this was the only route to take. Only one option was left to him, spring the trap. Jace motioned for the soldiers to hold, they would know when to act. A step forward and Force aided burst of speed put him smack in the center of the corridor. Sensing danger from all sides, Jace dropped to the floor, just as multiple bolts flew over his head, then his attackers were upon him.

Lightsaber flashing out at the nearest legs, Jace quickly rolled forward getting to his feet. It only took him seconds to realize that he was surrounded by at least five others. The sound of blaster fire told him the Republic troopers were occupied, he was alone. He didn't relish the idea, for it meant he would almost inevitably be forced to kill. Outnumbered, and surrounded, Jace needed to gain the advantage. He knew the best way to do that, was to strike first and catch them off guard. Launching forward, his left fist connected with the first pirate's nose with a sickening crack. His right arm swung out, lightsaber hilt connecting with another pirate's skull. Right arm coming forward and down, causing another pirate to scream as he lost his hand. He ducked just as a vibroblade passed through were he was a second ago. He spun to the right, his lightsaber connecting with the man's thigh, causing him to buckle. Rolling to the side just as a blade crashed on to the ground where he had been, he launched forward into the last pirate. The man slammed into the wall, and slumped to the ground unconscious.

The soldiers had dealt with the rest, so once again Jace ran forward into the ship. He encountered scattered resistance here and there, but nothing as serious as the initial encounter. Jace had a sense of foreboding and hence urgency, and was soon met with the answer. As he arrived at the cockpit he was greeted with a pirate impaling the captain and then throwing him off to the side. Jace could sense that the man was still alive, and as he stepped forward, the imposing pirate regarded him. He was a large beast of a man, covered in scars and tattoos, and all sorts of ugly. His mouth spread in a wide grin revealing his lack of teeth.

The padawan didn't have time to waste, igniting his lightsaber, he launched forward to engage his foe. Jace had underestimated his opponent in his haste, and was surprised by the man's agility. A block here, a parry there, the fight continued on. The longer the fight went on, the more life that left the captain. He had just dodged another swipe, and then with a sudden burst of speed slashed the pirate's left thigh, and then his right. Then raising his blade high and right, and brought it down in an arc slashing from left shoulder to right hip. Jace didn't even bother to watch the man fall, as he quickly made his way to the dying man. He yelled for a medic, but he knew it was too late. Slowly reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out something wrapped in a cloth and shoved it into Jace's hands. He wasn't supposed to take any rewards, but he couldn't say no to this man's last dying act. Stuffing the cloth covered item into his robe, he remained motionless until the light left the dying man's eyes.

He wondered how much time had passed since he had walked into the memory. Time seemed to mean less here on Ilum, as if it moved slowly. Once again he looked at the crystal that he had received on that day. For some 20 odd years he left it untouched, until a week ago when he decided he needed a new lightsaber. His old one had suddenly stopped fitting for him, it felt awkward in his grip. Jace wondered if maybe he had changed, and as a result, so had his preferences. Almost instantly as he had that thought, the crystal called to him from his quarters. Completely forgetting about it, Jace had been quite surprised to find it lying where he had left it so long ago. Wondering if it truly was right for him, he slipped back into memory once more....

[Dire Wolf]

Rhissai shivered slightly as she walked down the frozen cavern in the Jedi Temple on Illum. She had slowly started to hear her crystal whisper in her ear, calling to her like a lost child would its mother. It told her about how much different it was from her other brethren in ever single area, and about how she would be so happy when she found it. To the average person, this may seem like a disturbing set of thoughts. But not to Rhissai, she was a Jedi Master after all... and she had experienced this more then four times.

She cast her gaze out at the other crystals that lie dormant on the wall, their luminescent blue and green hues cast a serene light show across the stony walls of the cave. Again, she was reminded of another time during her past... far back to when she was still a padawan learner. Though Rhissai did not know it at the time, she was about to undertake in the brutal trial of flesh.

Almost 42 years prior the young Aphithirian woman found herself on Ralltiir beside a woman who was dressed in all brown robes, she looked to be considerably older... almost ancient. She was Master Creed. They were returning back to the transport with a senator from the same planet, the man was pompous and arrogant... she didn't blame the assassins for wanting him dead.

Rhissai was not known by the name “Rhissai'arckan” back then, if that could be called a name, she was known as “Jessa-mav'nkau.” Rhissai'arckan is only a title that denotes her accolades in the Aphithiri clans, and the only reason that she keeps it is to remind herself that she fell. To help make sure that she didn't do it again. She could feel herself getting ever closer to her crystal, it wouldn't be long now... no, not long at all. She delved back into her memories.

Jessa shifted her gaze up towards the forked path ahead of her, which forked off into three paths. They would be taking the middle of the three, which lead to the transport that would take the senator out of system. A florescent green bolt suddenly ripped through the air towards the VIP, but Master Creed was already inaction. Her gleaming yellow lightsaber sprang to life and moved to deflect the bolt.

The two moved as planned, splitting off so that Jessa's master had the decoy and the senator was guarded by Illuma. The plan was simple: Split off and run down the left and the right corridor. This would both split up the rather sizable crew of assassins and lessen the chance of the senator getting killed. So she sped down the hallway, her ward close behind, and locked the door behind her via the Force. Jessa was now effectively cut off from her Master.

Soon the girl and the decoy reached a large round room... and she knew that something was horribly wrong. Unfortunately she couldn't react fast enough when the flurry of blaster bolts ripped through the space between the mercs and the decoy. Her ward was quickly cut down in the maelstrom, she only narrowly escaped the same fate by using the Force to leap out. This also put her in the very center of the room... and the mercenaries. They slowly appeared from their cover and encircled Jessa, whose blade was already burning a florescent green hue.

She called the Force to her body, amplifying both her speed and strength to almost super human levels. Jessa waited a very brief moment before throwing her lightsaber out and the assassin who was directly infront of her, using all of her amplified might and the Force to keep the blade flying true. The young Aphithiri leapt after the blade, which had already plunged deep into the man's solar plexus, and landed on his chest. She quickly pulled the lightsaber out of the carrion's chest and leapt off of it in one smooth motion, cleaving a vertical slice in a merc's head as her jump reached its apex, and landed with a roll.

The girl whipped the blade around so that the emitter was facing backwards just before throwing it out again towards an assassin. She didn't even bother to find out if her lightsaber met flesh as she used the Force to yank out a blaster from a different man's hands. Jessa trusted the Force to tell her where to point the weapon before she fired, the bolts from her blaster struck an armored man multiple times in the chest.

Jessa ducked below yet another blaster bolt, whirled around, and threw her firearm towards the man that sent the bolt towards her. The rifle crashed into his skull, snapping his head backwards as his legs crumpled like a stack of cards under the weight. She enveloped the flying blaster in a pocket of the Force, then redirected it towards the head of another merc. The blaster flew into the second mercenary's head at incredible speeds, knocking him to the ground despite his thick armor.

A bolt ripped into her shoulder. Then another into her abdomen. And another into her chest. She was struck by what felt like hundreds more before she finally crumpled to the ground. Her vision began to fade in and out as a heavily armored man came arrogantly striding up towards her broken form. He held his vibrosword up for a moment, taking in her form for a brief second before preparing to plunge it deep down into her chest.

The blade fell.

But it never met with her body, no, a scintillating violet blade had stopped its decent towards her body. Black clouded over her vision and she fell into the depths of unconsciousness before she could see the violet blade sear through the man's body like it was nothing.

The woman gave a little smirk as she neared the end of her memory. Rhissai was such a foolish little girl back in those days, back before she had the weight of her past on her shoulders. Her first mistake was being so careless with that lightsaber of hers, if it never left her grasp she might have been able to walk away from that one.

“Ah! There she is...”

Rhissai spoke to herself as the formation that held her crystal came into view. It looked like every other formation that she'd seen... but it wasn't. It was her formation. The group of crystals held her crystal in its clutches. Her knees bent into a squat next to the group of crystals... now all that she had to do was retrieve it...

---Three Hours Later---

The woman held the tiny gem in her hands... it looked different then the rest. Instead of holding the deep blue hue of its brethren it looked almost like a tiny shard of ice. It was so very beautiful, she almost couldn't take her eyes off of the tiny shard. Rhissai tore her gaze away from the little gem for a moment to look towards the temple's general direction. “I really need to get back... making the lightsaber would be considerably easier with all the pieces gathered,” the woman thought as she stood up.

A smile cracked across her face as she spread her awareness outwards, searching for Grandmaster Beleren. It wasn't long before she found him and proceeded to walk towards her long time friend and new superior. Once the man came into her natural view she held out the little ice colored shard to him and offered a little smile.

“I surmise that you found your crystal before I found mine?”

[Jace]

Electrum...it was a rare substance indeed, precious to most for its values, precious to Jace from its acquisition. Electrum hilts were not unheard of in the Order, usually created by high ranking Jedi to signify their Force mastery. The 45 year old Jedi never wanted and never would want it for any such recognition. Jedi had few possessions and Jace had less than most, but there were two which he possessed which held greater meaning to him. The first being the Sigil crystal, and the other being the electrum hilt. Aside from being made of a precious metal, it was also unique in the fact that it had a slightly curved hilt. His training in the arts of the lightsaber were lacking in comparison to many of his fellow masters, but the one form he had trained himself to mastery was Makashi. A memory from Jace's past had once wielded such a saber with such a hilt, and noted that it was perfect for the expert Makashi user. Around the time Rhissai had discovered her crystal, Jace slipped into the past once more.

Lush green grass, almost as if he were sitting in an ocean of green, he lost himself in the beauty of it. It spread out for miles in front of him, and even to the sides. To his back was the Enclave, many no doubt had been trained there through the years. The plains of Mustafar seemed as if they went on endlessly, even past the far horizon of his vision.

"Just how long do you plan on sitting there?" A voice said suddenly from behind him

Recognizing the voice immediately, Jace quickly turned and stood up, bowing in respect to the person before him.

"Oh stop that!How many times have I told you not to bow like that?" stated the man in an almost annoyed tone.

"Forgive me Master Odiin, I have attempted to break the habit, but have had much difficulty in doing so" Jace replied in a tone of total seriousness.

"Bah!you are so difficult"He stated with a wave of dismissal with his claw like hand.

Jace studied the man, or rather Krevaaki man before him. The Krevaaki wasn't exactly aging with grace, but luckily kept his sanity about him. He was becoming slightly more eccentric as the years passed on, but it wasn't much different considering his past eccentricity. Master Odiin was one of the few Jedi who truly knew Jace, and interacted with him. Though he was no longer a shadow, he interacted very little with his peers. He sometimes even received looks of mistrust from some of his fellow masters. Removing such things from his train of thought he focused on the elder Jedi.

"To what do I owe the honor of your presence,Master Odiin?"

"Ahh right, typical Jace Beleren, never any time for pleasantries. The Enclave council wants me to take a group of younglings to Rhen Var for training" His tone changing to sounding akin to boredom.

"Why Rhen Var Master?"

"Climate training, seclusion, and for a number of other reasons I don't feel like listing out."

Once Jace thought about it, it made a good deal of sense. Rhen Var was technically a Jedi Order territory though few ever went traveled there. Mustafar was relatively close to Rhen var, and it would provide tough training conditions. It was said that many of the toughest and cunning Jedi came from the Mustafar Enclave. Training like this was no doubt one of the reasons. While Jace was pondering all this, he suddenly realized that he had no idea why Master Odiin was telling him this.

"Why exactly are you telling me Master Odin?"

"Well because will be joining me of course!"

"Master Odiin, I am honored by such a request but I have, I don't, errr there are..." stammering in his reply, as the Krevaaki's smile grew wider with every passing second.

"My my what a sight, the wavering Master Beleren reduced to blabbering" replied the chuckling krevaaki. "Oh Jace, this isn't a request" Odin added with a wink.The Jedi let out a sigh, and followed the elder Krevaaki back towards the Enclave.

It had been a day since their meeting on the warm plains, much different from the current climate. The old Krevaaki had made all the preparations in a quick manner the day before. Truth be told, Rhen Var was a planet more to Jace's liking, but his current company made him uncomfortable. It was not that Jace didn't like younglings, he was just extremely awkward around them. Most of Jace's life as a Jedi had been spent in seclusion, away from other Jedi. Jace barely knew how to interact with other Jedi, though he was slowly improving on that path with the help of his few friends such as Master Odiin.

The reaction Jace had received from the younglings was somewhat unexpected. He had expected them to complain, not wanting to be accompanied by such an unfriendly master. Instead they had looked at him in awe as if he were some sort of holonet star. Master Odiin later explained that younglings had only heard rumors of Shadows. Rumors which also stated that Jace had been one of the best of the time, and possibly in the history of the Order. Jace of course had never viewed himself in such a way, so had trouble understanding the young jedi's perspective.

An icy blast greeted Jace as the landing ramp lowered, and revealed Rhen Var in all its icy glory. As if it were just a natural reaction, Jace gathered the Force about him to protect him from the weather. The younglings were not as lucky but Jace assumed that was part of the reason they came here. His eyes scanned the area while simultaneously probing it with the Force. Jace wasn't expecting any trouble here but it was just a habit. Master Odiin then took the lead while Jace slowly fell to the rear of the human convoy.

The next few days were filled with a plethora of lessons and training techniques. Jace marveled at it all, never had he seen such rigorous training at such a young age. There was no wonder that some of the toughest Jedi came from the Enclave. The Krevaaki did not let Jace just sit and watch though, he personally trained him in the top techniques of Makashi. That wasn't all though, Jace was also learning how to teach the younger generation. The training had gone on smoothly until the final day of their stay.

The younglings had been sent out on a scavenger hunt which would test what they had learned in their training. Master Odiin was monitoring north while Jace dealt with the South. He could sense every younglings presence and their current state. There was a good deal of excitement, anxiety, and of course a touch of fear. There was nothing out of the ordinary until about a half hour until the hunt. He sensed confusion initially, then fear, and then a large amount of fear as the youngling made his way back towards Jace.

The Jedi began broke into a run towards the general direction of the youngling. He spotted the young child after about five minutes of running. The youngling was no longer projecting fear but an almost calm resolve, Jace was impressed.

"Master Beleren,Master Beleren, you must come right away" the youngling blurted and began running back the way he came.

Sensing the urgency and seriousness in the boys voice, Jace followed without word. Another five minutes of running ended with Jace staring at a body, a body of a Jedi. He studied the body and what he saw disturbed him greatly.

"There is no doubt about it Master Odiin, this man was killed with a lightsaber" stated Jace ten minutes later.

"We must get to the ship and contact Mustafar" the elder Krevaaki stated in a grave tone as he looked Jace straight in the eyes. The look in the man's eyes reflected Jace's owns thoughts. This man had been killed recently, and the killer could still be here. The fact that they hadn't sensed the killers either meant they were extremely dangerous assuming they were still on planet. The made their way back as quickly as with could with whatever caution they could spare. Sadly, it was all for naught, for they weren't the first to arrive at the ship.

Luckily, Jace had barely sensed them, before they came into view. Thus knowing what waited for them, the younglings remained where they were while Master Krevaaki would approach them. Jace meanwhile focused on completely hiding himself not from view, but from the Force. He would flank those that were in wait, but it would take time. Time which could mean life or death for Master Odin.

It had taken almost ten minutes to get to the other side of the ship without being noticed. As he approached he heard the sound of lightsabers clashing. Jace struggled to restrain himself from running into the fray, but he needed to assess the situation. The first thing Jace noticed was the body clad in black robes face down on the ground, dead. Then looking forward, he saw Master Odiin battling three other opponents. He was holding his own, but slowly being beat back, it was only a matter of time.

Waiting a few moments, Jace exerted the Force on the snow in front of one of the opponents. He lost his balance for a moment, enough for the Krevaaki to land a shallow slash on the man's side. The younger Jedi then rushed forward into the fray, as one of the Dark Jedi broke off to engage him. His lightsaber sprang into his hand, igniting with a hiss-snap, as he closed the distance between his opponent. Ducking under the first swipe, he spun to the left, jab forward twice. His opponent parried them with the decent skill but not for any decisive counter attack. Hearing the sounds of the other battle, Jace knew time was of the essence. Dodging a jab at his face, he spun to the left again, this time backhanding his opponent in the face. Jace pressed on as his opponent staggered backwards, continuing with a slash followed by a jab.

Suddenly a scream, as Master Odiin's lightsaber along with his hand fell to the ground. They would finish the krevaaki off in a matter of moments, Jace needed to do something quickly. His mind flashed back to many of the street fights he had been in through his years as a Shadow. Jace put on a show of weariness and left himself open, just as he had did back then to end fights quickly. The opponent who had become weary didn't notice the trick and stabbed forward at his chest. The light of victory came to the dark jedi's eyes, and then vanished as Jace dodged the stab with unreal agility. Jace's left arm locked the man's lightsaber arm in position, the graze on his side stinging. The electrically charged right fist of the Jedi, crashed into the man's face with frightening speed and a sick crack. Not wasting a second, Jace gathered the Force about him and sent a hurried wave of energy into the two remaining foe's knocking them off their feet. Total time for all that to happen was roughly 7 seconds.

The Jedi ran forward, shutting out the pain in his side, towards his fallen comrade. He could hear Master Odiin groaning in pain at the loss of his hand. The two opponents had recovered and now charged at Jace. Moments later Jace was on the defensive, dodging and deflecting as fast as he could. Luckily for him, one of them was injured and it was starting to take its toll. Jace was also beginning to grow weary from the extended battle and his own injury. He sent a blast of Force at the ground causing snow to shoot up in the face of both of them. Kicking out to the man on the left, Jace launched his offensive on the next. A blur of orange was all that could be seen of Jace's blade. His attacking were lacking strength, purposely, he had lulled his opponent into a false sense of security. With sudden strength, Jace deflected the man's attack to the side leaving him vulnerable. His blade flashed orange from right to left, and then left to right across the opponent's chest, the man falling dead moments later.

The last foe still remained, and Jace could not afford another extended battle. He was tired, and had sustained multiple injuries in the last fight. Walking towards the opponent, he snapped his lightsaber off and clipped it back on his belt. The dark jedi regarded him oddly for a moment before charging forward. Jace held both his hands out to the side, palms facing the ground. Focusing hard, the ice to the sides of him began to crack. His fingers bent almost as if he were gripping something as he slowly raised his hands. Two large chunks of rock and ice burst from the ground. The Jedi sent them flying at his opponent, the first one narrowly dodged, the second catching the dark jedi slightly. The rocks had done their job though, and kept his opponent distracted, which gave Jace the opportunity to close the distance. His opponent swung at him in a wide arc, but it was in vain. Jace easily ducked under the swing and came up in a vicious uppercut. The man staggered backwards, dazed, swinging his lightsaber around arbitrarily. He waited two swings before smashing his knee into the man's face. The dark jedi fell to the ground barely alive, but alive.

He secured all the lightsabers of the fallen foes and quickly made his way over to Master Odiin. Finding the man barely conscious but alive, Jace quickly got him on to the ship. Once he was sure he was secure, he brought the younglings and finally the two surviving dark jedi. Reporting the incident back to the enclave, Jace took the ship out of Rhen Var's atmosphere and back to Mustafar.

Three days later, Jace found himself stepping aboard a transport back to Coruscant. His robe was slightly heavier though, containing the electrum hilt of Master Odiin. He reflected on their last meeting as the transport began to take off.

"Please Master Odiin, you are being stubborn" pleaded Jace

"I will have none of it!"The krevaaki shouted back.

The Krevaaki had refused to have his hand reattached for the last two days. Jace had been recalled to the Temple, and pleaded one last time with the man. The eccentric Krevaaki was adamant though, and would not budge.

"Jace before you go, I want you to take this" replied Master Odiin, handing Jace a bag."I have no need for it, but I sense that you will sometime in the future"

Rhissai's voice jerked Jace out his reverie as he looked up and smiled. He wondered if master Odiin had known all along that he would end up using the electrum hilt to create his new lightsaber.

"You could say that, I see that you have found your crystal. Shall we begin with the construction?" Jace asked one of his few and oldest friends.

[Dire Wolf]

Rhissai bobbed her chin down once in a nod to Jace's question. There really wasn't much to say other than a “yup, lets get started,” and saying something like that would just be a waste of breath. The woman looked down at the little icicle that rested in her palm, to her it was beyond beautiful. It was far more luminous then the krayt pearl that resided in white fang, and more valuable than the Qixoni crystal that resides in the same tool. So this would reside in her new lightsaber, as would the second of the three dragon pearls that she recovered from that ancient krayt dragon. The third? Well, she saved that for her next padawan.

She pulled out the perfectly cut krayt pearl out of a compartment on her belt, letting it rest beside its new brother. The two crystals would be residing next to each other for all of eternity, even well after their master had passed into the Force. Rhiss smiled as she saw the light refracted off of the two gems, casting an aurora across her open palm. The memories of how she came across the jewel came flooding back into her mind.

Less than a decade prior Rhissai found herself in the barren wastes of the Dune Sea on the planet of Tatooine. She had been forced to endure the oppressive heat of that Force forsaken planet for over a week while in search of a Dark Jedi serial killer. Well, most Dark Jedi are serial killers, but that one was particularly nasty. The guy had taken a special interest in women and young children, toying with their mind like a kitten with a ball of yarn before squelching them under the considerable weight of his mental powers.

The council sent Rhiss because of her considerable prowess in the art of telepathy. They thought that perhaps her skill in that area would lead her to the killer, and allow her to take him down without as much of an incident. The Aphithiri woman knew that they were wrong. That would not change her actions towards the Dark Jedi, however, she would ask him to change his ways... he would say no... and she would be forced to drag him back to the temple either dead or minus a limb or two.

She stepped away from the great door that separated the “city” of Anchorhead from the consuming wastes of the dune sea. There were rumors of a Force-sensitive cave fairly close to the city, it was the closest thing that Rhissai had to a lead. Force sensitive caves were like a bright beacon in the darkness of night on dead planets like Tatooine. They attracted Force users like moths to an open flame... and so she hoped that it would attract this Dark Jedi. Maybe she would even get lucky and the said cave would be a safe house of sorts.

It seemed like the woman was walking for hours before she finally felt the cave on the fringes of her awareness. The woman also felt something else, something... dark... and it was distressed. This, for obvious reasons, concerned the woman... she hurried towards the cave. Rhiss was at the cave less than five minutes later. She nearly threw up at what she saw upon entering the cave.

A pile of bloodied gore, limbs, bones, blood... and two lightsabers. Rhissai slowly walked over to the pile of twisted parts, squatting down next to it, and observed the wounds. It looked almost as if something took his torso with a single bite and simply left the other limbs to rot. Her emerald amethyst eyes shifted up towards the mouth of the cave, almost expecting something to pop out at her. “What could have done this?” It wasn't long before her thoughts were answered by a slight rumbling in her feet. She ran towards the mouth of the cave at her best speed, but it wasn't fast enough.

If it weren't for lightning fast Force-enhanced reflexes Rhissai would have surely collided with the massive leg of an ancient Krayt Dragon. The woman launched herself upwards towards the high ceiling of the cave, the jump mixed with the momentum of her run did a fairly good job at propelling her through the air. And towards a particularly pointy stalagtite. Her lightsaber met her grasp just as the green sun leapt out of its hilt, Rhiss had been through far too much to be killed by stupidity. The woman curled her body to the side so that it would miss the pointy wrath of the spike, then she sliced out at the bit of stone just as she passed. It began to fall.

The woman twisted her body around so that her legs connected with the wall before her face, then she used the momentum of the fly-by to coil her legs up as close to her body as they could get. The woman sprung back off the wall in a Force powered rebound, propelling her towards the surprised beast at incredible speeds. A soft cushion of the Force wrapped itself around the falling stalagtite as it still fell through the air... Rhissai wasn't quite through with it yet. The woman angled the sharp end of the spire towards the dragon just as her grasp was solid enough to manipulate its flight path.

She hurled it towards the massive krayt with all of her ethereal might. The stone smashed into the huge beast's thick hide at incredible speeds, driving itself into the creature's abdomen. Or so she thought. The ancient krayt's hide was far to strong and thick to be buckled by a stone of that size, the creature was more or less unperturbed by the attack. A massive cloud of dust and shards of the rock clouded around the giant thing while Rhissai speed towards it, lightsaber in a reverse grip on her hands and over her head. Then she saw something swirl out of the cloud... something massive, like a giant reptilian tree trunk. Its tail.

The gargantuan two pronged tail slammed into the Jedi Master as she sped towards its master, easily throwing her off of her path and into the wall. She hit with the resounding thud and bounced off of the hard and uneven cave wall, then into the sandy floor of the cave. It took the woman but a few moments to recover, unfortunately... the Dragon did not need those few moments. The bull-krayt charged forward at his best speed, it was slow... but that didn't matter in such close quarters, he attempted to bite down on the woman and devour her whole. This would prove to be a mistake.

She threw the Force at the ground with all of her might, which wasn't nearly enough to push the ground down wards, but trying to push a heavier object tended to make the pusher go backwards rather than the heavier object budging. The push threw her up in the air well over the dragon's back, she fell in a controlled tumble down onto the thing's spiked back. The green line of plasma ignited once again in a controlled fury of heat and magnetism as she ran up towards the beast's head, dragging the blade across its back along the way, until she reached the base of its skull. Rhissai raised the hilt well over her head, the scintillating blade of plasma once again pointing down, and drove it down towards the creature's skull.

The Krayt thrashed its head around, shaking the Jedi off of its back just before the searing blade could dig into the thick skull. Instead of charging towards its prey, the angry beast decided to bat her around with massive claws like a cat would a mouse. If the claws connected with the woman's body they would rend her flesh like it was a piece of parchment. Upon recovering, Rhissai rolled forwards, then just as the creature's arm was about to connect with her body she leapt away while swinging her blade upwards towards the barren ceiling. The florescent blade easily seared through both ends of the dragon's arm, disconnecting it from the body. A loud, angry, and blood curdling howl erupted from the hurt Dragon's gullet as it reeled backwards, tripping over its stump of a leg.

Rhiss coiled her leg muscles up, filling them with the Force, and launched herself towards the creature's horned skull. The raven haired woman landed with a powerful drive of her legs downward, the kick that was aided by the force of her flight and the Force itself. Her incredibly powerful strike would have killed a normal creature, but not the Krayt Dragon, the head of which was forced to slam into the sandy ground of Tatooine. She almost instantly whirled around to the side of the Dragon's head, using one of it's horns to support her weight, and slammed the blade of her lightsaber into its huge eye. The small green sun plunged into the soft organ like it was butter, easily searing through the flesh and bone, and driving itself deep into the thing's brain. Killing it.

With a sigh, the woman deactivated her lightsaber began to walk out of the cave. No. Not yet. She turned around and viewed the massive broken form of the krayt... she heard that it had pearls inside its gullet that were used for grinding food. These pearls were near priceless... but that was not her concern. They could also be used as incredibly powerful lightsaber crystals if tuned and cut just right. She slowly turned around towards the beast, her lightsaber once again cutting at the blackness of the cave with a bright green hue.

Another smile arched her lips as she viewed the second of the three pearls that she recovered from the dragon that day, what could best be described as pride filled her heart as she thought of the third gem. But it wasn't the vain sort of pride... no... this pride was directed at the one who would receive the third pearl. Her next padawan. It would be much like the Qixoni crystal that resided in white fang... except hopefully without the whole “dieing” part from Rhissai's perspective.

Sat down with her legs crossed and retrieved all the necessary parts from the pouch that she toated along just for the construction of her new lightsaber. First she retrieved a polished lens that was shaped from an adegan crystal, the lens would to produce a more energized blade upon installation. Then she retrieved the rest of the pieces, which for the sake of sanity I won't go in depth into their description, and laid them out before her. The woman then picked up the two crystals off of her palm with the Force, using invisible hands to hold them up in the air while she focuses solely on them and the Force. This process of communion with the Force would imbue the crystals with the amorphous, all knowing, and all seeing cloud that was the Force. It would allow them to be strong enough to hold the glowing blade.

--Two days later--

Emerald green eyes slowly opened to see those two crystals, now imbued with the Force, hanging in mid-air like two tiny glimmering stars. She slowly allowed the crystals to descend down into her open palm, then settle on the soft flesh of her hand. After a relatively short amount of time she called invisible hands to the pieces of her disassembled shoto, picking them up and fitting them into each other. The aphithirian woman showed extreme caution through the slow speed of the parts as they slid into each other and clicked into place.

It took the better part of the day to finish her lightsaber, nearly fifteen hours. Her eyes finally opened once again as the final piece, the handguard, finally clicked into place around the emitter. She had always been fond of the style of hilt that she used for her lightsabers, it was comparable to the katanas of earth (for lack of a better example). The hilt was considerably smaller than white fang's, however, it was a little under half the size. The woman had but two more things to do before she considered the lightsaber completely constructed... first was etch one of her own personal musings into the hilt, and the other was wrap it in the hide of an animal for a better grip.

The woman took the tanto-sized hilt in her hand and slowly flipped the activation switch. An icy-blue sun quickly leapt out of the hilt, casting a hue of the same color across the stony ground and Rhissai's feminine features, and cast a deep shadow where the glow could not reach. The cold color starkly contrasted with the woman's fiery green eyes as she looked at Jace. A little smile curled her lips as she gazed at the Grand Master, the scintillating icy blade crept back into its hilt the very moment that she flipped the activation switch once again.

[Jace]

Looking down once again at the parts laid out in front of him, he spotted something he had almost missed. There, along with all the other parts was another crystal. Jace stared at it for a few moments before recognition kicked in.

A Ruusan crystal, I don't remember bringing that along with me

Jace had acquired the crystal a long time ago on one of his many missions. It hadn't called out to the Jedi, so he had left it back at the temple, or so he thought. The crystal was known to help a Jedi focus his use of the Force. It made sense for a Force adept such as himself to have one in his lightsaber. The crystal somehow found his way here, and Jace could only assume that it was the will of the Force. With that thought in mind, Jace closed his eyes and slowly began to focus on the items in front of him.

The first step for Jace would be to imbue the crystals with the Force. To the Jedi master, this was the hardest part when it came to the construction. His first lightsaber had taken around three weeks to complete in which the first week and a half was spent on imbuing the single crystal. Time varied when it came to lightsaber construction, ranging from days to as long as a month. If one had taken longer to create a lightsaber, it didn't mean it was better or the person lacked the skill to do it quickly. Lightsaber construction was a completely personal process, it was made to tailor to the qualities of its constructor.

Focusing on the Sigil crystal, Jace slowly began to test it with the Force. In this deep state of meditation, he could sense the very structure down to its molecules. Every contour and edge highlighted through his Force vision. It was necessary of course, for lightsaber construction involved bonding at the molecular level. Literally manipulating the molecules to bind the lightsaber to perfection. No longer testing the crystal, Jace began to pump the Force slowly into the first crystal. Small doses at a time, almost as if he were injecting hourly doses of medicine into a patient. It was an excruciating process, too much or too little, and the lightsaber wouldn't function properly.

Many hours passed until finally the crystal had been imbued to Jace's liking. He gave himself a small mental break, for lightsaber construction was a mentally exhausting process. He began to focus now on the Ruusan crystal, just as he had done before. The Sigil had been the primary crystal, this was a secondary one, providing support. Jace pressed on with injecting the Force into the small crystal. It was amazing how focused one's mind became in meditation. Enough so that it could go down to the very particles that an item was made up of. When Jace was first learning to meditate, he had been completely and utterly amazed. He had no idea that the Force could do such things. Jace had always studied heavily regarding the Force, soaking up whatever knowledge he could. His Master had told him that one could never truly learn everything about the all powerful and mysterious Force.

A full day had passed by the time Jace had managed to imbue both crystals with the Force. Now it was time to bond all the parts together to create the lightsaber. This meant bringing the focusing lens, emitter, power cell, and the rest all together in perfect harmony. He first studied each part with the Force, slowly, meticulously. It was important for him to know the exact composition of each part. The Jedi lost track of time as he focused on bringing each part together and in the proper place. Hour after hour the Jedi pushed on with the construction, constantly refreshing himself with the Force.

Twelve hours later, and there was one final click as the activation switch clicked into place. The lightsaber levitating in front of the Jedi, slowly moved into his hands. Jace now aware of his surroundings, heard the telltale sound of lightsaber ignition and satisfaction radiating from Rhissai. Jace then thumbed the switch causing a dark yellow blade with a brownish tint to spring to life with a hiss-snap. Jace opened his eyes slowly to see his old friend smiling due to the completion of her saber. The Jedi was about to congratulate her when flurry of things happened at once.

Jace suddenly felt multiple presences close by, and turned to see as the doors of the temple opened. These were no Jedi, they were surrounded by an aura of malice and malevolence. Their dark robes blowing violently in the wind, reflecting their intentions. Jace rose to his feet slowly, still gripping his newly crafted lightsaber. He looked over at Rhissai, his eyes speaking volumes. There would be no talking here, these people had come to kill them...

[Dire Wolf]

((meh, not feeling this one as much... but here she is.))

Rhissai looked into the newly crafted deep yellow blade of her old comrade's creation as it sprang from its sheath. While yes, she had to admit that the hue of the lightsaber was unique, she was not a big fan of the color. That was not necessarily his fault, though, it simply reminded her of the color the Dark Jedi that taught her used in his lightsaber. The memories came flooding back to her, both the ones that involved her doing unspeakable acts and the final one that involved him being cut in half. She quickly cut them off before they could take hold... before they had a chance to make her reminisce on the subject.

Then she felt it... an odd, dark, and familiar presence entered her extended awareness.

A temporary gust of chillingly cold wind bit at the bits of exposed flesh on the woman's tattooed shoulders and blew her midnight black hair about. The woman slowly turned, latching her newly crafted shoto to her belt, to see the massive door that led to the temple ajar. Her fiery eyes scrutinized the men in the flowing black robes as they arrogantly strode from the door and towards the two council members. She managed to tear her emerald scrutiny away from the Dark Jedi and to the man who now stood at her side, her eyes saying all that she did not.

Her soft flesh slowly laced around the cylindrical haft of White Fang and unceremoniously pulled it off of its clip. She slowly slid her index finger up the hilt and to the handguard and depressed the activation button ever so lightly. The contained wrath of White Fang's shaped silver star sprung out of its hilt with the all too familiar snap-hiss, the argent hue cast a shadow across her otherwise soft feminine features.

Rhissai walked up to greet the intruders to the almost sacro-sanct temple, though this greeting would be far from warm... it would be far more comparable to Illum's icy demeanor. The woman stopped about twenty feet from the small group of Dark Jedi, spreading her feet outwards and placing one just ahead of the other. She moved White Fang so that the bottom of its pommel was a meager few inches from the brown leather band that kept her tunic from unraveling. This was one of the advanced stances of Ataru, which relied on acrobatic movements that she so enjoyed.

“Turn back now, there is nothing for you here.”

“On the contrary, Jedi “Master” Rhissai'arckan... there are many things for us here. But two entities have drawn our attention to this place.”

“... and they are?”

“Grandmaster Beleren... and you.”

The woman furrowed her brow slightly at that. So they meant to kill two high council members while they were on a planet that had such a strong connection to the Force? And the light side to boot. It would have made much more sense to attack them each separately while they were out on missions... away from such a pool of the light side.

There was a shift in movement to the left of the group caught her eye, the rustle of black cloth lapped at her ears, and the snap-hiss of a crimson star burning to life in the icy blue environment plunged her mind into full alert. Rhissai's gaze instantly shot over to the black-clad creature that held the scarlet sun in his grasp, he looked to be nothing more than an acolyte... much like a few of his “brethren” that were now attacking her.

Rhissai was up and flying through the air in a flash of black hair, tanned skin, and brownish attire that easily outmatched anything that the Dark Jedi aggressor could conjure. The jedi master twisted her body about in mid-air so that her head would be pointing down towards the fallen jedi nnce she reached the vertex of her jump. She swung her saber quickly in a downward verticle slash that ended with the argent blade passing through the man's head, cleaving it in two. His carrion stood for a second, his muscles thrown into jerks and spasms due to the abrupt loss in brain commands, before he crumpled to the ground.

The woman hit the ground and rolled her weight backwards into a somersault, effectively evading one of the red swords that was waiting for her decent. She threw her silver sword back towards one of the Dark Jedi that engaged Jace in a duel... she was sure that he would appreciate any assistance that she could lend him. Invisible hands shot out from her mind and wrapped around the hilt of the new shoto that she constructed, then yanked it off of its clip and over to her physical hands, which met the short lightsaber with a tight grip.

The ice blue blade leapt out of the pommel almost the instant that her hands met its grasp, using her telekinesis made this possible, and pressed the handguard of her saber into her temple so the emitter pointed towards her enemies. Rhissai once again shifted her stance so that her feet were wider apart, lending the woman more stability, and hunched her back over so that her center of gravity was lower. This was the defensive art of Soresu, which relied on an impenetrable defense... Rhissai was far better at this form then she was at Ataru... despite the fact that she mastered both.

A crimson blade lashed out at her, she threw her smaller saber forwards and effectively deflected the attack. This defense threw the Dark Jedi's blade backwards, giving her a huge opportunity to counter attack. She took it. The woman ended the mini-fight with a quick jab of her lightsaber into his sternum, the searing ice-colored blade easily drove deep into his flesh. Killing him. The black clothed man fell to the ground limp as a wet noodle.

Then, yet another flash of movement caught her eye... this time it was in the form of a slow, but powerful, vertical swing from an over-muscular man's shoulder. This would be his final swing. The Jedi Master sped into his strike with speed unmatched by few that even the Order could muster, then threw out her free left hand to grab ahold of his wrist... stopping the strike with her steely grasp. Rhiss flipped her short lightsaber around so the emitter was pointing backwards, then plunged the blazing line of plasma into his chest twice. She looked up at the pain that lanced across the man's face as he fell onto his back... that look quickly set into his face. Permanently.

Rhiss called to the Force to lend uncanny speed and agility to her actions after she saw the third of the four Dark Jedi that attacked her do just that: attack her. The Force wasn't the only thing that aided her actions... but it was also her racial abilities. Being an Aphithiri she was faster, and stronger, then a human of equivalent size and muscle mass. The Force only built on that natural speed and strength, the former of which she would utilize at that particular moment in time.

The icy blue lightsaber still faced backwards in Rhissai's hand as she juked the falling lightsaber and darted towards the Dark Jedi, once she was within range the woman lashed out at the man's thigh. Once lightsaber connected, searing a wide and steaming slash in his leg, he let out a blood curdling scream and fell to his knees. The Jedi Master unceremoniously drove her lightsaber into his back, it easily burned through what little armor he was wearing, his rib cage, his heart, and finally out through the other side. The woman held her shoto there for a few brief moments before withdrawing its fury from his cadaver.

“One left, Rhiss, then its time to help Jace out... heh... poor old man is probably still on his first.” A wry grin pursed her lips at the thought, which was her was hilarious. But then... she had always enjoyed a little competition with her old friend. Rhissai looked over at the final dark jedi (to attack her, Jace still had his), and smirked slightly... she could feel the hatred rolling off of him in waves. He believed that it gave him strength... power... oh how wrong he was.

The Jedi Master simply stood there, not in any particular stance, with the lightsaber in her hands pointing down towards her feet at a natural angle. This would hopefully trick the Dark Jedi into thinking that she was leaving herself defenseless. Not following a lightsaber form in the middle of a duel was particularly fool hardy after all, it was like fist fighting a black belt in karate and hoping to win. It just simply couldn't happen.

The man clad in midnight black robes rushed forward, his red lightsaber held in a definite Djem-So style. This wouldn't help in in the least. Rhissai waited until the Dark Jedi was almost close enough to execute a vertical swipe at her. A pocket of the Force enveloped the man until it was more than strong enough to not only pick up but hold his weight... then it did just that. Rhissai didn't stop there, though, she used his speed and momentum to whip him around and slam his body head first into the stone.

She turned to Jace with a sigh, hopefully he was already finished.

[Jace]

Endless hate, there was no need for such feelings, yet those standing before him reverberated with it. They took pleasure in taking life, in greed, and sin. How they differed from the one they had come to kill yet so similar at the same time. All children of the Force yet misguided hearts had led them down a dark path.

A path of which they can be redeemed the Jedi reminded himself

It was true that Jace had dealt with the ugly side of the galaxy, many times the result was death. Though with his own eyes, he had also watched as those who were considered evil, do good. A change of heart could lead a person away from the path of darkness. As he looked into the eyes of those robed in darkness, he knew there was little chance such a thing would occur. This didn't mean that the Jedi master wouldn't try, he must. In this cloak of darkness there may be a frightened being looking for proper guidance.

"There is no need for violence" he stated in a soft tone.

His reply was the hissing of multiple crimson blades coming to life.

"How pitiful, the grandmaster of the Order attempting to beg for his life" chided one of the cloaked figures

Jace snapped his lightsaber off and clipped it back onto his belt, holding up his hands in a gesture of calm. One of the Dark Jedi took this as the Jedi dropping his guard and launched forward.

Fool Jace thought as he launched forward with frightening speed. The Dark Jedi not expecting such a direct attack swung his saber in a wide horizontal arc which Jace easily ducked under. Right fist shooting out, connecting with dark jedi's ribs, causing the man to stumble back. Giving no time to recover, the Jedi sprang forward, this time his left fist smashing into his opponent's jaw. There was a sickening crack and a thump as the man hit the floor unconscious but alive. The attack was undoubtedly brutal but non lethal unlike most battles using a lightsaber.

Shaken, the other darkly robed figures were momentarily paralyzed. Though aggression was not the way of the Jedi, Jace would have been a fool not to use the opening. Had he not, death would have inevitably been the end result. Gathering the Force about him, he shot his palm out in the direction of the other dark jedi. Anyone who had been trained in the Jedi arts was always taught to keep a basic shield around them so they wouldn't be susceptible to Force attacks. These shields of course were only as powerful as their caster;Jace's command of the Force overwhelmed their barriers. Two of them were thrown bodily backwards while the other was knocked off his feet.

The Jedi made to move towards them when he sensed danger from behind, and spun out of the way as a crimson arc passed before him. A jab followed by another, both deftly avoided by the expert close combat practitioner. The Master knew that the others were recovering and would soon be upon him. His opponent was using a rough form of Makashi, which happened to be bad luck for the man. The Jedi was an expert Makashi user and that also meant he knew how to counter it effectively. He preformed a series of feints and dodges until the dark jedi finally got careless. The man stabbed forward at Jace's face, leaning forward too much in his all or nothing attempt. The Jedi spun to the left, red dominating his view for moments as the blade passed before his eyes. As he completed his spin, his right hand grasped the dark jedi's blade wrist. Jace's left palm shot out and slammed into the man's elbow with a resounding crack. The foe screamed out in pain but was cut off as Jace's knee crashed into his chest. The man doubled over and one more punch from the Jedi saw him fall to floor without a sound.

He heard a roar of pure rage as turned to see the three others charging towards him. Jace quickly scanned the area until he found what he was searching for. He focused on the wall to his right and with a surge of the Force, yanked a chunk of rock out. The Jedi sent it hurtling towards his three opponents across the room. Two of the Dark Jedi, dived forward narrowly dodging, the last was not so lucky. Jace cringed as the large stone connected with the foe though with an undoubtedly broken body, the man remained alive. He had managed not to kill any of his opponents so far, but he sensed that he would not be so lucky anymore. The two who had almost closed the distance between them seemed to possess greater skill in the Force than the others.

Lightning began to crackle and jumping across Jace's forearms and hands. He flipped backwards, his motion suggested a handspring as two crimson blades passed harmlessly by where he was standing moments before. Energy surged through his arms as his palms touched the ground. Jace's muscles forearms tensed as he sprung off the floor but not before sending a surge lightning causing a minor explosion. A wall of dust shot up between the opponents;Jace crouched and launched forward through the dust. Fist connecting with the one man's stomach, leg connecting with the other's chest. He pressed his attack towards the opponent on the left, jabbing, but his opponent would not be taken down so easily. He baredly dodged and upward strike at his chin, and realized that it was only preparation for the true attack. Jace's left shot upwards, grabbing his opponents wrist just before he could bring the blade down in a overhead strike. Suddenly sensing danger from his right, the Jedi's hand flashed to his hip bringing his lightsaber to bear just in time to block the other opponent's attack.

Now in a deadlock, Jace had a moment to study the features of his attackers. They both seemed middle aged, had they been Jedi, they would have been approaching the level of a master in both skill and age. The seasoned Jedi had been in many battles and knew this deadlock did not favor him, he needed to do something quickly. Electricity surged through his left hand into into his opponent's wrist causing them to numb slightly. This was enough for Jace to push them backwards and disengage with the other opponent. The middle aged Jedi knew little of the defensive forms of lightsaber combat so it wasn't an option he considered. Before he could contemplate more on how to proceed, his opponents decided before him. They slashed at him again and again, and he would parry their attacks with the skill that was expected of a Jedi master. The dark jedi pushing their numerical advantage, attacked aggressively and with no reserve. Jace on the other hand remained calm, dodging and deflecting where necessary. Within minutes his opponents attacks were beginning to slow as they tired from their relentless attacks.

The Jedi master moved forward with surprising energy and began his offensive. Lightsaber to lightsaber combat was Jace's focus in the saber arts. His blade moved too fast for the eye to see, seemingly only a brownish yellow blur against its red counterparts. Finally Jace spotted an opening as he batted aside his opponent's blade and stabbed straight into the man's chest. He quickly pulled the blade out, ducking under the other's swipe, and slashing the man's thigh and then finishing by bringing the blade down and through his collarbone. His lightsaber snapped off as she sighed at the necessary bloodshed.

It seemed that Rhissai had already dealt with her attackers a little before he had finished with his own. He made to walk towards her when he noticed another cloaked figure standing in the doorway. This man resonated darkness that surpassed the level of all the others the Jedi had fought. He had an odd sense of foreboding, as if this man where someone he or Rhissai may have known. Seeing multiple black figures behind this man, Jace knew that the battle was not over just yet.

[Dire Wolf]

Rhissai shifted her gaze from the crumpled form of the Dark Jedi who was slammed into the ground over to Jace, who had just finished with his Dark Jedi. For a moment, an extremely brief moment, she found herself skirting with the old days... the ones where she lived for battle. War. Death. But she quickly squelched it... very quickly. She couldn't afford to go back... not now... not ever. She looked into the blue orbs that were set into Jace's head, but they were not looking back, however, they were gazing towards the door. Rhiss traced his gaze to the massive gateway... only to see a form whose features were darkened by the bright light.

The woman didn't need to see the man in order to tell just who he was, it was oppressively dark presence that gave him away. It was her old “Dark Master,” or so he used to make her call him... he was an old Kiffar by the name of “Mako Vel.” A little growl erupted from the hollow of her throat as the dark shape stepped from the light to reveal that it was, indeed, Mako. Though, she was somewhat puzzled as to how he was alive. The last time that she saw him he was dieing the slow death of his chest being separated from his abdomen.

“Well... look who it is. My my my... my pet.”

A small, but feral growl rumbled her vocal chords at his pet name, no pun intended. The side of her nose twitched slightly in a little snarl at the sight of his smirking face, and the black tribal tattoo dominating his face... it just irked her. Her features, to put it lightly, looked lupine... much like the true meaning of her name. Her eyes got wide as she realized what was happening, and the woman quickly squelched those negative emotions that cropped up upon seeing this man.

“I am not your pet, and to be honest the reason for you being here escapes me, “master.”

Her sarcastic response solicited a slight chuckle, followed by a raspy cough, to buckle the man's shoulders up and down. It took a brief moment of this arrogant chuckling before he broke out into a fit of raspy coughing. Once done he looked up at the raven haired beauty that was Jedi Master Rhissai'arckan with a little smirk on his face. Two weathered hands slowly moved up to each of his shoulders and flicked off the buttoned straps that held his midnight black cloak to the sleeveless black robe. Sick yellow eyes shifted up to gaze at his old pet as his cloak fluttered to the ground.

“You see, I am here for one true reason: you. That betrayal on Coruscant was nearly my bane,” the smirk that plagued his face turned into a full blown grin, “but instead... it will turn out to be yours.”

The last syllable barely passed passed his lips before his slowly moved to wrap around the elongated pommel of his double bladed lightsaber. His hands slowly pulled it off of its clip and held it lightly at his side, a crimson sun burned to life and cast a blood red glow across the slate grey stone and blue-green gems that littered the temple. Rhissai's own hand moved for White Fang, but was only met with nothing but air just as she realized that she cast it at a Dark Jedi. The woman scanned the large room for her lightsaber. It took her but a few moments to find its katana-style pommel, which was lying next to the cold carrion of a Dark Jedi. She cursed at herself inwardly and switched her newly crafted shoto to her strong hand and flipped it around so the emitter was pointing forwards rather than backwards.

“That is where you are wrong, “master,” this temple will not be my fall,” the contained fury of an icy blue star erupted to life, “it will be yours.”

Another chuckle bobbed the man's broad shoulder's as he saw the length of the blade that she wielded. Surely, she was joking... and he shifted his yellowish up to the woman and gazed about her face. She was serious, dead serious. Another chuckle erupted from the man's throat, followed by another raspy coughing fit. It seemed that her slice had done more damage than she thought. Sure, she cut him in half, but after he was repaired they simply couldn't fix those lungs of his. The black clad Kiffar tightened his grip on the pommel of his lightsaber and rose it up in a definite Juyo position.

He said nothing. Just as she said nothing. The two just hung there for a few moments in each of their respect stances, Mako held Juyo... the aggressor, and Rhissai held a defensive stance of Soresu, being the defender. Then he moved. The black form with a swiftness that not even Rhissai could match as he curled his body around, coiling up for a horizontal sweep. The woman barely moved her shorter blade up to block the attack that was already in motion, and within moments the screeching of her saber clashing with his tore at her ears. Then another quick strike swept towards her side from the opposite blade. The way that the rippling muscles clenched and relaxed in his arm sleeveless arm told the master of Soresu that this was a feint. It was.

This would give her the opening for her attack, which came surprisingly quickly. A quick stroke of her scintillating blade opened up the man's chest, but unfortunately she didn't account for the unusually short beam length in the shoto... so his life was saved. The man roared as he threw out an open palm towards the woman, and all that she could do in response was yell out a loud curse in Aphithiri as a massive wave of telekinetic energy threw her backwards.

The roar of the wind in her ears nearly deafened her as she flew backwards, she tried to think, tried to do something... but she found that she simply had no time to do anything but exist. Though, she could see the black form of Mako follow her at his best speed. For all of her telepathic prowess, all of her years, and all her training in the Force and its aspects... she could do nothing to stop what was about to happen. The rush of wind in her ear suddenly stopped as she slammed into the cold stone wall of the temple. The stone wall spiderwebed against the force of his push and her weight, Rhissai's vision cut out for a split second as her head slammed into the back of the broken wall.

Her body barely had time to bounce off of the hard wall before it was again slammed into it with another wave of the Force. Not half a second later a lance of heat slid into her shoulder... the very same spot that Ramseye impaled with the weapon of Exar Kun a few years before. The site suddenly came to her eyes as they shot open, her mouth opened wide to scream out in pain, but no sound passed her lips. It felt like he had dipped a rod of molten carbonite into her shoulder, even well after he withdrew the blade and observed her form as she fell, clutching the wound.

“Weak. You were always weak, and who taught you to be strong? Who showed you how to cope with the universe that you had been thrust back into? Me. And how do you repay my service to you? You betray me for that shrew of a woman that called herself you're “master.”

The raven haired woman only sat there, doubled over on a hand and knees, clutching her wound as his seething words spewed into her ears. Rhissai's long raven hair slowly fell to either side of her face and shielded the pain that it bore from view. The woman said nothing in reply to his rantings, all that she did was bide her time until the molten flesh in her shoulder had a chance to cool down. The shield of hair that was colored of a midnight hue parted slightly as she looked up at the man who was pacing back and forth like some kind of predator. His ranting still stinging at her ears... but she ignored it.

Rhissai's breathing grew heavy as the Force began to swirl around her form like a hurricane, whipping about her clothes and hair slightly like some kind of invisible wind. Mako believed that he'd won, and had gotten lost in his enraged rantings. He believed that he'd defeated his former apprentice. Mako was very, very wrong. The lightning began to jump from her arms to the stony surface of the temple as those emerald eyes gazed at his pacing form from behind a few strands of that raven hair. Unfortunately, the women knew the only way that she'd win this duel. He was far greater than her, in every single way... whether she liked it or not... he was still the master and she the apprentice.

A slight snarl curled around the woman's face as she threw hand, each of her fingers pointed straight towards the prowling creature that just now noticed the inner power that awoke within her. But by then... it was too late. Arcs of blue electricity danced about the small space between the tips of her fingers and the black-clad man, pouring volt after volt of supercharged energy into his body. She then picked the man up with the Force and threw him across the room, the lightning curled about the ever growing space her and her former master. She would continue to shock him until he passed into chaos. No. She stopped herself. She knew this path. She knew its allure. And most of all... she knew its power.

Dieing was a far better alternative then falling to the Dark Side.

Rhissai promptly stopped her barrage of lightning and rose to her feet with a sigh. She would defeat him with the light or die trying. Her shoto responded by flying into her grasp as the woman held out an open palm to her side. An icy blue hue danced about the stone as she walked towards Mako's recovering form. The kiffar called forth the closest lightsaber to his grasp for assistance as his former apprentice neared him, the weapon that met his grasp? It was none other then White Fang. A sigh compressed her form as she saw the argent sun erupt from the all-too-familiar hilt... he was going to use her lightsaber to fight her.

Her icy blue blade crossed diagonally across the woman's torso as she walked towards her former master. Mako had already stood up and was now walking to meet his former apprentice with her own gleaming silver sword. As always, his Juyo required him to strike first and strike fast. And he did so, almost whipping a flurry of swipes and swings in hopes that she couldn't react fast enough in her wounded state. As always, he was wrong. She barely had to move her light blue blade to defend against his furious swipes, expending barely any energy in her defense. It was quite the opposite for Mako, who had been expending copious amounts of energy in a relentless assault that was easily defended against with the slight twitch of her blade.

He soon became frustrated. And tired. The latter was far more important than the former. His relentless attacks quickly became sloth, and with that slowed speed came mistakes. And with those mistakes came a blade through the gullet. She just had to wait for the propper mistake. A twirl of a blade here, the misguided strike there, then finally... finally she saw it. He whirled around in a circle to muscle through her defense, she responded by spinning around the opposite direction and while curling her knees... dodging the attack. She curled her body around, switching the shoto's blade around so that the blade pointed backwards, and straightened out her legs while swinging with all of her speed.

The blade seared into the man's neck like a cutting torch, it easily seared through his neck like it was nothing but cloth. Rhissai stopped her spin with a crouch, she held the bottom of the hilt close to her chin with the blade pointing outwards, her body facing away from the headless man as he fell to the ground. His head managed to stay connected with his body until he fell backwards... then his cadaver finally slammed into the ground and his head rolling away from the force of the fall.

She gave a sigh and looked down at the ground as the blue star retreated back into the short pommel. Rhiss slowly rose to a standing position and walked over to the now cooling carrion of her former “dark master.” With yet another sigh she slid down into a squat over his body and retrieved White Fang. After her both of her tools were clipped to her belt, white fang to the thigh strap, and slowly put a soft hand on his chest.

“May your soul find the peace in death that you never did in life.”

[Jace]

His intuition had proved correct, it seemed that this man was from the past, but Rhissai's past. Though she had never completely confided in Jace, he had learned enough to know that there was darkness in her past. There were only two whom Jace considered close friends, and both had dark histories. He did not doubt them though, for they had walked a hard path and still returned to the light. The Jedi master had only truly walked that dark road once, and for less than a minute, yet it changed him forever.

In all honesty, Jace was quite disturbed by the return of this dark master from the path. His friend was strong in heart and will, but the Darkside was not an adversary to be taken lightly. The Jedi was not afraid that his peer would turn and betray him, he knew she would do no such thing. Jace was more worried that she would be driven by hate to kill the man that stood before her. While a Jedi tried to avoid taking life, it was every so often an inevitable outcome. Yet the Jedi never killed in anger or in hate, that was the way of the darkside. Anger it spawned from grief, grief derived from loss, and loss was a product of attachment. This is why the way of the Jedi was to avoid attachment especially between other Jedi. Who knew when a Jedi would fall in the line of duty and become one with the Force. That is why the Code stated that Jedi should rejoice in their peers becoming the Force.

There is no death, there is the Force...The Jedi recited to himself in his head.

He looked around him though, the bodies of those he had killed moments ago. It was one of the hardest aspects of being a Jedi to cope with. The Code said there was no death, yet Jace had seen light leave countless eyes whether by his hand or another. Jace had contemplated death time and time again, especially after he had taken life. The Jedi didn't have nightmares neither was he particularly struck by sorrow when he took a life. It was because of this that he recounted what he had done, making sure that it had been unavoidable. It was known to happen among soldiers, they just became numb to the killing. While he didn't show it, he was a compassionate man, and the though of becoming numb to killing disquieted him.

The Jedi while worried about his friend, knew that this fight was something she needed to do for herself. It seemed like there were still a group of others who were interested in Jace anyways. Dark robed figures stalked towards the Jedi master, their intent clear. A snap-hiss and Jace was bathed in a pale yellow glow. The Jedi could have gathered the Force once again and tossed them backwards, but he needed to conserve his energy. Throughout the minor break, he had slowly been rejuvenating himself from the previous battle. The Jedi was far from spent, but he had enough surprises for one day, he wasn't about to get caught drained of power.

They approached him warily, no doubt due to the bodies of their comrades that lay behind him. Closer and closer, the distance between the reducing with every step they took. One more step and then Jace suddenly rushed forward, catching the dark jedi off guard. He couldn't afford to let himself get surrounded, he needed to break their ranks now. A downward slash towards one was parried as he sent a roundhouse kick to another. He leaped back, avoiding a blow that would have undoubtedly been fatal. His blade was a blur now, managing to keep his opponents on their back foot, but he couldn't keep it up forever. He made a note to himself that once he got out of this, he would start learning Soresu. All this lightsaber combat really wasn't for him.

Jace cringed as a red flash grazed his shoulder, but he quickly made to shut out the pain. Over the years Jace had honed his ability to deal with pain, to him a graze on the shoulder was like being pinched. It was a sad fact that Jace had found himself in such positions where he had to deal with extreme pain but it was just an occupational hazard in the life of a Jedi. Jace had one thing going for him though, his opponents were not working together. It actually hurt them more to have four people attacking him rather than one. The Jedi soon realized the pattern in their attacks, truly realizing how clumsy they were. They were still four opponents though, and eventually Jace would be overwhelmed if he didn't even the odds.

It wasn't until minutes later that the Jedi found his opportunity. One of his opponents jabbed forward, overcompensating due to one of the Jedi's feints. Jace's lightsaber quickly deactivated as he half stepped the strike barely dodging. He gripped the man's blade arm falling forward with him. Using his leverage, he bent the man's wrists, wrenching his lightsaber out of his hand, spinning around and stabbing it through the man's chest all in one swift motion as he fell onto his back. He pushed the dead man off him, and rolled to the side just as a crimson blade crashed into where he fell. Jace rolled backwards and came to his feet, yellow blade in one hand and a red in the other.

Niman was another form in which Jace was quite proficient in. It was also the basis for duel wielding styles such as Jar'kai. The Dark Jedi charged Jace, attacking him with one strike after the other. Thanks to his Niman training, Jace was able to parry each shot smoothly. Confident that he could now wield both blades properly, he began his offensive. The Jedi was now able to deal with his opponents who numbered three now, and having an extra blade. Jace deflected a slash with one blade, spinning around, slashing at the opponent's neck with his other blade. The man dropped to the ground,head lopped at an unnatural angle.

Only two remained now, and their confidence was wavering. Jace pitied them, for he knew they would turn to hate and die needlessly. It was at this moment that Jace heard the all too familiar sound of crackling. He turned just in time to see lightning spring from Rhissai's fingers and then launch her opponent across the room. Those few moments he had lost focused had almost cost him his life as he barely deflected a stab at his torso. It had pierced Jace's side but because of his robe, the dark jedi believed he had struck a fatal blow. The Jedi gathered the Force about him, and struck the man point blank with it. Jace grunted as the crimson lightsaber exited his side and flew with the man until he crashed into the wall. The other Dark Jedi had slowly been backing away, ready to run for it, right up until Rhissai killed his Master.

Eyes full of hatred and despair turned on Jace, a Jedi who had seen that look one too many times. This man had convinced himself that there was nothing left for him, so it was all or nothing for him. In Jace's experience there were two extremely dangerous types of people in battle. Those who were protecting something dear to them, and those who had nothing to lose. This man was clearly the latter, and the despair slowly was replaced by fury. The man charged towards Jace, but the Jedi had clearly seen the end to this battle. Jace threw the crimson saber towards the charging man, who barely managed to knock it aside. It had also left him open, his eyes widened as he watched Jace's brown yellow blade penetrate his chest. He toppled to the ground as the Jedi master pulled the blade out, shutting it off with a hiss-snap.

Clutching his side, Jace slowly walked over to his friend and peer, and gave her a lopsided grin. Though it had been quite a dangerous and unfortunate series of events, they had both made it out alive. He also noted that the woman before him had restrained herself earlier from giving herself over to the darkside.

"Well I believe we have accomplished what we came for, I think its about time we head back"

Once Jace reached the ship, he would report back to the temple and have others come to clean this up. He had come here to create a new lightsaber, which he had done, but also ended up using it. There were Jedi out there who couldn't wait to get a chance to use their lightsaber. Jace considered the Jedi lucky who never had to use it. There was nothing glamorous or glorifying in killing others, something a person learned only once they had done so. The Jedi master merely sighed and began his trek back to their ship.