Chasing Desires: Karasym's training (Acquisition/First Kill)

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

"I will not fail you 'Father'!"

...As the transmission ended, another 'child' of the Animus had been sent off to bring truth to the undeserving. Broken and refocused into harbingers of death, each pupil had been groomed to face another in declaration of hate... this 'Ledo' Pseudon's hatred for countless lies and atrocities done in the name of right and lightside judgments. The fools drove off more and more everyday, and Ledo was there to steer them along his coarse of action. Ledo was there. Ledo was here, upon Ossus.

Ledo's day's were filled with dozens of moments here and there as if each of his children were the only one under his ever watchful eyes. He held strong connection to each of them, able to follow their successes and failures; yet just as he had trained himself to detach from their loss in the Force, so would he move on to another conquest. Ledo lifted from his seat aboard the newly stolen bounty hunter's ship, black shadows ending where robes had already began. As he lowered his head in response to another failure, a most recent student had faced his last target upon the list, the emptiness melted deeper from his hollowed eyes. The darkness was always stronger in such angered moments of failure, yet still Ledo's power was unseen. Even more so than breathing, was it second nature for Ledo to conceal his signature/ his presence/ his darkness/ and physicality all!

Frequently did Ledo visit Ossus near the Temple he used to call home, and not draw one bit of notice. A constant Immersion let him flow powers of concealment and meditation, granting but full immunity from the Jedi Masters he had called peers. The fools! He would see their end with a certainty only numbers could grant. And he would dispatch as many as it took to reach his vengeance conclusion. Yet even as he spent so much of his days sending out the blades of his design, so too did he fill his hours in search of future weapons yet sharpened to his aim.

Stepping twice back from the chair down the simple and short cockpit hallway, Ledo felt it! A wild and desperate emotion flailed about the cognitive Force, disrupting a wave towards Ledo's notice; yet still a focused and purposeful entity nearly free from inhibition. The soul had just left the planet! ..Young, this male sought after loss. What was stolen from him? He was lied to, mistreated even! Ledo sought the source, the reason of his manipulation... And just as the emoting heat mirrored his own as a youth, he had placed it! And as he placed it, the answer became revealed. A girl. Hmm... Ledo spun back around and began preparing the ship to follow, tracking the course just off planet. Ledo would follow him through the physical or otherwise, but once in the 'Father's' sights never lost ...until death!

 

[Moriarty]

Karasym's heart burned with a firy anger which he had never felt before in his life. The Jedi order tricked him for the last time, and he was certain of it. He wasn't desparate enough to join a rabbling pack of buffoons such as the Bogan, but he wasn't going to turn from his darker self either. The anger burning in his heart fed power which he never dreamed he had in his entire life. Even though the force was more powerful in him than almost any Jedi he'd ever met, he had no control of it. Like his emotion, the force spread out from his body as waves would in a pond after an acorn fell in it. The force echoed his emotion, his pain, his loss.

As tears streamed his cheeks from the anger swelling inside him, he searched himself. He realized it wasn't just the fact the Jedi were going to exile him like they did Shauna, it was that they exiled Shauna. The thought of her face in pain and sadness left him at a loss for words. He reconciled with the force to calm his restless heart, but all he felt was a burning hole where a purpose should've been. He knew what he had to do at that moment; become more powerful than the Jedi and the Bogan. He had to become fear itself in order to find Shauna and protect her from certain death, and perhaps call her back from exile.

As Karasym pushed the throttle faster, but felt another pressence following hot in his trail. It was another being of the force, like himself, but a truly alien being. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It wasn't Bogan or Jedi, but something darker and more powerful. Naturally, due to his training under Master Djara, Karasym would feel obligated to turn and fight, but in all truth, he felt as if the 'light' side was just a ruse to gain more power and falsly acquired trust. Karasym felt that in his own nature, this being would help him sate his lust for revenge, and help him gain control over his own true power.

He slowed the ship to a stop so that his follower could catch up and hail him. He felt it was a smaller ship than the freighter he took, but held more defenses and offenses. It must've been a bounty hunter ship. This being, whoever and whatever it was, may have possibly been a bounty hunter, or at least stole one from a dead bounty hunter. Karasym waited patiently for his enticer.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Whatever the name of this momentary transport, Ledo cared not. His focus lay on the permissive craft slowing before him. Yet too allowing, so as to trigger this man's paranoia; Ledo slowed his ship to parallel that which he followed, but failed to conclude a full airlock connection.

Yet just as any creeping thoughts might begin to grow in the boy's mind, all would seem normal - as if the hiccup in lapsing time had not occurred. A trick of an experienced mind, Ledo's reach had connected with the newly titled 'ex'-Jedi and his viewed world. ...But a dream.

The airlock had connected after stabilizing anchors had extended, and the cool inner walls of steel hissed with a steam of smoke that shook loose from the weight of joining pieces in space. A smooth character, dressed in long tattered and charred robes strode aboard the welcoming ship behind parting doors. And though all the reality would be accepted and believed, an eerie heir wafted from each image and object subliminally. Ledo's name seemed easily accessible even before speaking. Karasym would just know it: 'Ledo'. Even though it was not so, Karasym would possibly see a glowing red crooked smile of lips from ear to ear and the reflected light off of his black eyes from underneath the lowered hood. And then, upon meeting each other face to face, he voiced his thoughts as if shared by link.

"Mmm. You know ...who I am?" His flat tone was like any other, even given to interpretation in Karasym's portraying mind. Yet Karasym would only sense what darkness the Ledo allowed specifically in purpose and direction. Ledo's unmistakable accuracy and control would not allow any question or doubt to feel Ledo's degree of power or full presence. More than a master in skill and experience, Ledo's gifts would tell this story with total believability.

 

[Moriarty]

Ledo the thought echoed in his head as if he had heard the name before. Not just that, a description of who he was, his power, everything he was capable of, all of it came with the name. Karasym had heard rumors before. But he was told they were rumors only. He never figured there was someone as powerful as him roaming the galaxy. Karasym sensed the darkness and chaos in Ledo's pressence, which then became focused with direction.

"You are Ledo. You are Father," Karasym said as obediently as possible. There was no turning away now. He was going to embrace the path laid before him, find the girl he loved and offer her a chance again, and slay all of those who betrayed him. He could feel a smile creep over his face. He felt as if the force was giving him another chance to do what he was meant to do from the begginning.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

"Yes... And you are my 'child'." Already, Ledo assumed his hierarchy, imprinting the ways of Karasym's future upon him.

Ledo's hand reached out, just as the ship's interior seemed to build a jarring rumble of pealing metal and contorting gravety. The reality was caving, or giving way; releasing as Ledo had felt a possible disturbance to his plans. A third ship had followed the two shortly from the planet below, and Ledo did not care for any interruptions. The scene caught up with reality and the boy would find himself looking at a closed airlock door. Just as soon as he'd realize the intensity of fabrication, the outer layers would bang as Ledo's ship connected airlocks. He was to physically board the ship this time, and leave his to distraction.

As the doors opened, almost exactly as it had in the halusination, Ledo emerged as he had before. Indifferent to the boy before him, he would turn with a strange knowledge of the inner workings of the ship and disconnect the airlock and seal the doors shut. Ledo's covering robes swayed as he payed no attention to Karasym and made way for the controls. Sitting in the cockpit, Ledo set coordinates to a nearby planet of no particular meaning and set the ship in motion. Just before the jerking departure would take hold of motion, Ledo's ship left behind shown a blaze; the perfect weapon, yet no connection to Ledo, awaited time to detonate its self destruct. Both masking their leave into space and any trace of Ledo, the ship blew and they were off.

Staying comfortably silent, Ledo awaited arrival and set the current ship adrift in orbit of the life giving planet below. They were truly alone, and Ledo stood and stepped around the chair to address his latest student.

"...I ...am Ledo, Pseudon of the Animus and you will be the manifestation of my hatred. Now. I would see your own hate." Ledo motioned for the boy to sit on the floor, back a ways. Ledo would join Karasym and have them close their eyes in further joining of their minds. Ledo would begin his first lesson, sitting in the confines of Karasym's ship but freeing themselves to train in a more spacious arena. There they would be, in the same ship; only it would seem four times as wide. Ledo would stand as he would expect his pupil to do the same, continuing to see the extent of this 'child's' obedience. Ledo would show the hilt of his lightsaber and expect to see the boy's own weapon in open declaration of hostility before battle.

 

[Moriarty]

"I will obey," Karasym said, letting his hatred and anger flow unbound. To many Jedi and bogan, it would seem that his own hate was more than all of theirs combined; and 'Fathers' moreso than his. Karasym felt it, and embraced it. He sat down directly across from Ledo, mimicking his actions as to seem like a mirror. He closed his eyes in meditation, feeling the space of his ship widen to at least four times as big. When his eyes reopened, he saw Ledo standing adjacent from him, revealing the hilt of his dark weapon.

Karasym revealed his two lightsaber blades as well, accepting the test of his own strength. Without the Jedi to restrict and hold him back, he felt as though he could put into use every technique he ever learned. The hatred pumping through his veins was never greater, and it fueled a power in the force he had never once felt before in his entire life. Karasym drew his lightsabers, the glow of the green blades painting a perfect visual of the quiet hum emanting from the hilts. In a beautiful display of controlled grace, not so much to impress Ledo, but to ready himself, the blades swung around his body in a dazzling light show before finally being aimed at Ledo, assuming his own battle stance.

"Let me show you the hatred I'm capable of," Karasym said through gritted teeth. He could think of nothing else but revenge for himself and his exiled lover. Thoughts of pain and betrayal flowed through his mind. He wanted nothing more than to paint a future in which their consulars would see nothing but their own grousome demise. The thought made him smile.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

"GrrrAAAHH!" Ledo's teeth shown full, squeezing the muscles of his face in one wrenching pull of a grin. With that, Ledo's blade extended forward with a quick single handed thrust of red into Karasym's stomach to begin their training. The pupil would react or die!

 

[Moriarty]

Ledo dashed toward him with monstrous agility, but, as if second nature, Karasym reacted with almost equally adaquet speed. It was normal for any force sensitive being to react faster than the normal of their race. He sidestepped and blocked the oncoming attack and countered with a strike to Ledo's neck with his other lightsaber in reverse-grip. His face made no expression at all as he moved, keeping a plain look which would keep any other opponent guessing at whether their attacks had any effect on him.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

The folly of reversed grip - the hand leads the blade. Ledo's left hand caught the wrist just below Karasym's right hand and made his own knuckles bash into his nose.

"Hmmph"

All the while, Ledo twisted his right hand and the saber within it to lift and cast aside the block enough to freely fall with a simple hacking slash into Karasym's neck at it's left side (Ledo's right).

"...Yahh!!!

 

[Moriarty]

Karasym once again blocked the oncoming blade with his lightsaber, ignoring the throbbing of his nose after a punch. He chuckled a little, in fact. He had learned that to experience pain as a negitive force shows weakness. He decided to always imagine pain as a way of getting stronger and nothing less.
Karasym, after blocking the lighsaber blade, roled around behind him as quickly as possible, rose his lightsabers to Ledo's waist in a cross ressembling an "X." He swung the blades, which would've cut Ledo in half.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Cutting down against Karasym's block, Ledo followed the momentum to turn pivot and face his quick and crafty student; but with less movement required than Karasym's rolling around Ledo's back.

Yet the momentum of Karasym's attack left his movements open for alteration, as his arms had lifted to pull away from each other in a scissoring motion. Ledo swung up his blade, the tip nearly cutting into the ground, and caught the two blades at their connection and lifted the already lifting blades up and out of the way for his foot to collide swiftly with a kick to the soft of Karasym's belly under sternum. The pushing kick would knock back the lower of his spine and force his head down just as as his pelvis shot back from the force, as Ledo's own attack moved to catch his student's head in the raising blades of junction.

 

[Moriarty]

With little time to react, Karasym stopped from bending down any further, keeping his head from ramming right into Ledo's blade. Not a second to waste, he knocked the blade out of the way with his left lightsaber and kicked at Ledo's knee. If the kick made contact, it would pop the knee out of place slightly. And while Ledo bends down, Karasym would fake swinging his left blade at Ledo's neck while making a stab into Ledo's back with his right blade. Should Ledo react too slowly, the blade would penetrate his back, leaving Ledo at Karasym's mercy. Karasym was already feeling angry about how long it was taking him to finish the dual.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Ever the aggressor, Ledo reacted to the lifting foot of Karasym lead first by the signaling torso and body language of his ever striving pupil. Ledo bashed forth his knee, bent to connect with Karasym's kick to send back that much more force and knock Karasym back off his one footed balance; as Ledo planted that same foot forward to bring down a hard diagonal slash straight through any attempt by cutting into Karasym's chest from left shoulder to right hip.

Haaaa!!!

 

[Moriarty]

Karasym reacted quickly by rolling out of the way before the blade made any physical contact with him. He decided to use a different tactic, feeling the rage pent up inside him. Karasym threw both of his lightsabers spinning away from him at a good distance. When he felt it was time, he focused the anger into energy and released it. Instead of the result he was looking for, The energy from his anger released into a destructive display of lightning, aimed directly at Ledo, but still uncontrollable to the point where it struck around the walls as well. Karasym didn't cease with the new trick, but kept it going, finding that it released all of the pent up anger he felt for all who had betrayed him.

His lightsabers then circled around and came flying back towards him. The lightning ceased as he caught both of his blades. He looked down at his hands for only a millisecond, trying to collect what had just happened. Instead of a force push, I get lightning. This is turning out better already. He thought. Not looking to see if his new trick did any damage to his master at all, he lunged foward, swung his left blade at Ledo's lightsaber to knock it away and swung his right at Ledo's left hip. If the blade made contact, it would sear right through him, leaving him sliced in two.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Ledo but stood there, his hands lowered to his sides and facing Karasym; his lightsaber in his right hand, and a power unknown to his student in his left. Karasym would not know it, and Ledo would have it no other way for the time being, as Karasym's new powers seemed to stop conveniently beyond control. Ledo stood unharmed, save the discomfort of waiting; his student's little performance was so broadcasted that Ledo breached the very strength of that power before it could take hold. Ledo would leave it an unknown for the time being, but his student's power was far greater than what was allowed; as he so enjoyed knowing his students better than they knew themselves.

Having utilized Force Breach in interruption of any harmful lightning, Ledo but lifted his lightsaber to bait the obvious obstruction of Karasym's view of Ledo; and, as anticipated, Karasym knocked it out of the way in order to attack further. Ledo, however, would not stand still to be cut in half. As his saber was knocked to the right, so Ledo moved forward and to the right; passing Karasym, yet standing inside Karasym's left arm. Wrapping his own arm over Karasym's, Ledo spun in to place his back into Karasym's front; blocking Karasym's right lightsaber with Karasym's left lightsaber and pointing the tip of his own crimson lightsaber at Karasym's throat. Ledo's elbow would punch back into Karasym's solar plexus as he pointed the red beam. His left hand had a firm grip of Karasym's wrist and palm, his thumb pressed firmly upon the bones of Karasym's knuckles as his fingers were wrapped around the flesh of Karasym's palm and fingers. He would have no trouble ripping open the hand and loosing its grip of the lightsaber should he desire, and Ledo right arm was positioned so that any attempt to stab him would be easily blocked by the already lowered beam of his own lightsaber. It was a total checkmate as Ledo saw it, as any attempt to move around him would be thwarted by wrenching forward Karasym's left arm to throw the entire body over Ledo's as his left hand was disarmed. Karasym's right hand saber would be of no danger as the possible throw would swing that arm away from Ledo and open up the pupil to Ledo's will.

Ledo would stay still, only moving into one of those options should Karasym decide he unwilling to yield. Ledo didn't put it past this student, his anger was great and Ledo was most pleased with its first outcome. Ledo would mentor this one to greatness, and pattern Karasym's hatred along his own; as their vengeance would seem a similar thing. Ledo saw it all perfectly.

 

[Moriarty]

Karasym didn't want to admit defeat. He wanted to keep going, to see if he could best Father. He wanted to unleashed his raging anger into victory. But in all great wisdom shared by any being period, he knew when he was defeated. The crimson blade aimed near his throat, hes left arm sieged, and any attempt to escape thwarted by a simple physical contact by any point in his body, thus ending his life in a foolish attempt to be stubborn and unwilling. Reluctantly, he withdrew his blades, for he knew when he saw defeat.
"Teach me, Father, to master my hate. To become the face of fear," He said, staring directly into Ledo's eyes. Karasym knew no fear any longer. His heart told him the strength he wielded was something the Jedi could never comprehend. And they wouldn't be able to even when he finally got his chance to cut them all down. He knew then he needed to learn to control it, for the display of thunderous power he witnessed coming from his own hands was proof. He never felt such power before. It stemmed from them both. A common hatred towards a similar ally. He knew then what his destiny was.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

"Yesss..." Ledo felt the focus of this student. He would become a great power of absolution and death! Nothing would please him more than to stand over the bodies of his justice by Karasym's hands. However, Ledo never did believe that his students would succeed to the end, trusting only in the success of numbers. Karasym would only gain such trust after becoming a Chronicler of death's record. Even then would there be powerful foes ahead.

Ledo's lightsaber had retracted into the folds of his robes, no longer needing mentor Karasym's skills in such a fabricated world. Ledo's hands extended out right and left fully in submission of the body. Now he would force Karasym's power of will.

"Show your power to me! Prove yourself worthy, and break free of this reality as you would the shackles of the Jedi! They hold you to their will, to their ways of training. Make them your own! Crack the coating of their lies, their hold, their ignorance! And wake from this trance, if you dare!?!"

It was Ledo who held Karasym captive in the depths of their joined trance, yet it was within Karasym's reach to break free and awake. By any means would Karasym have to destroy the projection of Ledo's image. Yet, it was no longer Ledo who stood before him. As Ledo spoke, his voice became another's. His face and body became another's, and the man that stood before Karasym would take the form of his subconscious evil. The person he felt most wronged by would take his place, and so Karasym would symbolize the transition into the next stage of his training. The form that Ledo took would not fight back, nor move even an inch but to react to any pain caused. Ledo awaited his student's hatred. If Karasym was not strong enough, as Ledo first thought, he would be doomed - his mind trapped within a shell, his body a lifeless being to rot and decay in absence of a soul. A trick Ledo was only able to use once on any subject, yet still extremely dangerous having claimed more than a few would be students of his.

Though they were not aware, the ship that brought them hence had indeed arrived and began orbit of a lush and dense planet. The name would not be important to Ledo, only their business on it's surface. He would teach this one command over chaos, rather an embracing of it; to become the storm of his anger.

 

[Moriarty]

Karasym looked down, feeling somewhat at peace as Ledo spoke. He had succeeded in embarking on the way to mastering his anger into a controlled power. Something the Bogan only dreamed of, and the Jedi feared. He envisioned himself, as any Jedi consular would when scrying their own future, as a great and powerful death dealer. He wore black, carrying two blue blades to symbolize the redemption of his enemies' sins through death. At his side was his own pupil; something he didn't even think about. It was a young girl with the same amount of anger and hate as his own. Not only that, he had his arm around her, as one would a lover. Only one person came into mind; Shauna.

When Karasym looked back up, he didn't see Ledo. Instead, taking Ledo's place, was his ultimate betrayer. It was the grandconsular of the Jedi order; Master Atruous. His smile faded, and his facial complexions were replaced. Instead of joy for his future, his face was filled with total rage for his betrayer. He didn't think, he only acted. He pulled his green blades out, gripping them so tight his knuckles were white, and rammed the blades into Atruous' chest. He was so lost in his rage, the black lightning which he uncannily used earlier sparked visibly from his hands. He didn't withdraw his blades until he saw the life from Atruous' eyes fade, or he was satisfied to leave him writhing in pain. Thinking on it for only a second, he withdrew his blades, feeling it would best serve his hatred to watch Atruous squirm on the ground with only an ounce of life left. Karasym snickered.

"I only did to you physically what you did to me emotionally, backstabbing swine," he said. Karasym held his hand out, wanting at least one more moment of torture before his betrayer died, and unleashed a furious storm of black lightning unto Atruous' body. When he stopped, he only snickered.

 

[Lyeric Ubbal Arathilion]

Karasym's snicker would sound different to him, hollow and less satisfying. The air he breathed would even seem thinner and less empowering. It was reality, embracing his return. He would find himself still sitting as he had been shown by Ledo, his welcomed Master and Father of blessing knowledge. And so was the reality that he had left. It would seem a drug, as the real was not so filled with Ledo's power but rather devoid of it in his disciplined Mastery; and Karasym would feel its emptiness. In this was there growing bond. Karasym's new-found power would seem diminished, having yet to physically perform such acts he had done but moments ago in their dark meditation. It was there, and all the same to Ledo. When the time was right, Karasym would feel its memory's sting as if it never left. Yet as his senses returned to him, Karasym would not see Ledo standing before him or any replacement; only the condensed version of their dream, empty.

With his back to the cockpit, he would here Ledo's voice again; the sound echoing reminiscing power of their first training exercise. "Come! Make yourself ready my child." The ship would rattle a bit, entering the atmosphere. Depending on how long Karasym took to look out a window, he might but see the ship encased in branch and shrubbery batting and cutting at the ship's hull as they come in too fast.

It was Ledo's purpose, to show Karasym from this point on how to conduct himself once on his own as Ledo would one day send him off to bring about their joined vengeance. Somewhat crashing the ship would force them to find another means of transportation, as Ledo did not wish any of his children to become dependent upon anything or anyone; yet to use everything and everyone around them as if presented tools for the taking.

The hectic chaos that Ledo's life swarmed had now become Karasym's. And as the ship's loud and annoying warnings caught aflame, Ledo's grinding teeth took shape of a possessed grin. Soon Karasym would know the reason, as trees gave way to a small group of huts and simple nature-crafted houses.

Crashing and destroying a few of the settlement's homes, Ledo waved off the fumigating smoke from his nostrils. His student would survive and learn, or die in the wake. Ledo's left hand lifted with a fist that thrashed open to a flex, as the left corner of the cockpit tore out and open. "UNLEASH YOUR HATRED AND TAKE FROM LIFE, AND FEEL DARKNESS EMPOWER YOUR PURPOSE!!!"

Ledo sprang from the cockpit to the outer nose of the wrecked ship. Already much of the small village had broke into flame and ruin. Many of the villagers assembled before them with crossbows, blades, and other unique but outdated weapons. The enraged demon that was Ledo ruptured space around him, much similar to the manner in which his ship gave entrance, blasting into a Force enhanced swirl into the air and landing in the middle of the 'warriors'. His blade flew from hand's grasp, cutting and terrorizing the bodies before him as blood splashed about to mirror the flailing tosses of his robe's tails with each turn and attack. Spinning, ducking, and leaping over his prey; Ledo was a force of havoc and hellish savagery! One untouched by the simple beings around him, now screaming in fear of the devil that swarmed about them.

 

[Moriarty]

Karasym was right behind Ledo in his wake, whetting his blades' appetite by slicing through the bodies that surrounded them with a wretched attrocity. The ship they escaped had crashed off in the distance and was followed by a loud explosion. He then knew the ship was completely destroyed. It didn't matter to him, however. Surely one of the buffoons they were slicing into pieces owned some sort of transport, regardless of how new their kind was. This race was covered head-to-toe in long, thick fur that ranged from brown to grey. They were taller than both Ledo and Karasym, and looked as if they had more muscle mass. The language they spoke was, more-or-less, growls and roars. They were like a mixture of bears and men. Karasym hadn't ever seen anything like them, and didn't care either. They were attacking them, and he was fighting back.

When all the beasts of the village were killed and left to rot in smaller pieces, Karasym examined the bodies for anything that seemed current to the date. The entire village, however, was very primative. They were old, and used old things. Karasym chuckled in frustration. Feeling there was nothing else to do, he closed his eyes and reached out through the force for anything that felt like a ship. In a matter of seconds, he found one. A small freighter that looked as if to be in an abandoned republic outpost. Abandoned or not, Karasym could easily erase the data of the ship from the records, making it theirs.

"Come, father, I've found a ship," he said, expecting Ledo to follow him, or take the lead of he felt the ship as well.