Ask Revelations on Yavin IV

[Lyra]

Lyra was looking for clues. Following rumors of an ancient Jedi artifact, a generations-old text supposedly packed with secrets of the Force, she arrived on the Outer-Rim world of Yavin IV in a lone starfighter. The planet reminded her much of Ajan Kloss, except the air had a different feeling to it. A sensation, an electricity, which left her arm crawling with goosebumps.

It wouldn’t stop her from venturing further.

Leaving the safety of the cockpit, she stepped out onto an abandoned landing platform which led into the ruins of an old temple. Covered in vines and blankets of moss, nearly overrun by the surrounding jungle, Lyra knew the temple as the very home the Rebellion was born in. The site at which the first Death Star was destroyed.

The whole planet was a historical monument, and so was the temple. Whatever secrets were hidden inside, if they were any left, she had no idea.

Lyra only prayed she was the only one there.

She entered the main hangar into the base, left open to the elements, lightless under the fading sun. With a quiet indrawn breath, Lyra took out her lightsaber, newly-made, and activated it. Blue light sprang out and the darkness of the room fell away.

“Creepy,” she whispered, a vain attempt to stay calm.

While she didn’t know where exactly to go, she followed her gut. Because, somewhere deep in the temple, she could already sense a strange presence of the Force. Something she never felt before. Lyra assumed it was the artifact in question, but she couldn’t have been further from the truth.

It wasn’t what she was sensing in the Force, but who. It wasn’t an artifact of the Jedi.

It was a Sith, and she hadn't a clue.

@Sunfrog

 

[Castor Azari]

Joining the Sith Eternal had given Castor the drive he needed to make something more of himself and in doing so he had immersed himself into the role he had adopted, fully committing to the Order, their goals and beliefs. Partly because of his desire for respect from peers but also because of what he could gain from the potential information found in ancient artefacts was why he had chosen to come in search of one.

Castor had been exploring the temple for a while and though the only light was from the crimson lightsaber blade and the whole building was eerily spooky, he was unafraid. He had been acting on the premise of rumours of an artefact within this temple and came in search of it. After all, he had nothing to lose and a whole lot more to gain.

At the unexpected change in the Force, he halted. It quickly became apparent that there was a lightsider here and he could only imagine it was a Jedi so he rolled his eyes at the thought of having to possibly confront a Jedi. Although he didn't have anything against the Jedi personally, they did tend to get in the way and were just frustratingly inconvenient, he didn't care for them at all.

Castor turned back on his heels and followed the presence of the other being within the temple until he could see the blue glow of a lightsaber reflecting off the wall around the corner and he slowly turned the corner to face the person. "Back off and you won't come to any harm." He offered what he thought was a young woman, though it was difficult to tell with the lack of light.



@Feng Mian

 

[Lyra]

Lyra walked into what used to be a command center. It was a large room, and in the center was a round table blanketed in dust. She imagined diplomats, officers, maybe even royalty, had gathered around there to discuss many years ago. Now, it was just a table. Around it, a dozen translucent glass screens checkered the room, and Lyra watched her reflection in them as she moved. Her blue lightsaber glinted through.

Pale light in the dark.

She could feel herself coming closer to the artifact, but there was a sinking feeling accompanied by it. A knot in her stomach. A sensation of something wrong. It was like her gut was telling her to turn around and leave and never return, but instinct and the Force had her continue. She kept going, and going, until she was met by the voice of someone else.

A dark figure stood in the shadows.

Lyra instantly locked into a defensive stance, unsure of who, or even what, she was looking at. He was emanating dreadful feeling, one she was terribly unfamiliar with. Being new to the Jedi Order as well as the Force, she was unfamiliar with a great many things. She only hoped the stranger she had encountered wasn't the kind she had heard about.

"Who are you?" she said, squinting into the darkness. "What are you doing here?"

@Sunfrog

 

[Castor Azari]

The newcomer chose not to heed his warning and instead pressed on with the matter which irritated Castor but she would soon learn of her mistake at her own detriment. With the realisation that if the young woman were to figure out any more about him then she could relay it onto the Jedi Order which would be problematic so he knew she could not be allowed to walk out of here. At least it seemed that she wasn't the wisest of Jedi and didn't know when to keep her nose out of other peoples' business so she would likely get herself killed soon, one way or another.

Although he didn't have a great deal of experience with Jedi, Castor knew enough about them to know they were people he wanted to avoid. They chose to be weak by rejecting the most easily accessible part of the force and he couldn't respect that choice as it was making them stagnant as a result. His parents had tried to convince him to join the Jedi when he was a teen but he believed them to be just as oppressive as his family and did not care for his force sensitivity until learning of how it could benefit him.

"I imagine I'm here for the same reason you are." He replied, ignoring her question about who he was. She wouldn't be around long enough to find out. Castor closed the distance between them until they were metres apart and after seeing an opportunity to attack, he raised a gloved hand and reached out with the force to choke the Jedi.


@Feng Mian

 

[Lyra]

“The same reason?” said Lyra, echoing his words but with deep suspicion. “What do you mean you...”

Her voice was cut off as a heavy weight fell onto her shoulders, and a tight pressure surrounded her neck, like a pair of invisible hands had grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. Her eyes widened with shock, and she dropped her lightsaber to the floor in a metal clatter, its brilliance gone. Darkness swallowed them both.

She was being choked by the Force. How?

Lyra, new to the Order and the Force, had known little about the Dark Side aside from snippets and mentions scattered throughout the archives, and warnings from her Master. From what she was told, the Dark Side of the Force was a pathway to many abilities some would consider to be unnatural.

What she was experiencing now? That was unnatural.

Her fingers clawed at her throat in a vain effort to escape his grasp, and it was only when she stood on the brink of giving out that she pulled the Force inside her and released. Hard. Immediately, a wave of pure, raw power swept across the room. Screens exploded into shards of glass and collected dust scattered into the air.

Lyra fell to the floor, narrowly escaping death, and tried to catch her breath. “Who… what… are you?”

The answer should have already been clear enough: Sith.

@Sunfrog

 

[Castor Azari]

Castor tightened his grip and then held it steady, waiting at least for her to pass out so that he could kill her that way. He had never killed anyone using Force choke before but the feeling of the Dark side rushing through him was exhilarating and only spurred him on and fuelled by rage towards the Jedi he tightened his grip more, glaring intensely at the young woman as he did so but moments later was knocked off his feet by an unseen force.

As his attention had been momentarily diverted elsewhere, he was unable to continue with the Force choke which allowed the Jedi to escape from his grasp. He stared at the Jedi for a moment, wondering how such power could come from someone so weak. Still, it wouldn't help her in the end. He ignored her probing again and this time said nothing to her. The time for talking was over.

Castor pushed himself back onto his feet and stormed over to her, igniting his lightsaber when near enough to her and bringing it down over her head. After what she had witnessed, it was all the more important that she didn't escape the situation alive and Castor would do all he could to ensure that that was the case.



@Feng Mian

 

[Lyra]

Her senses were screaming at her. Natural instinct told her to fall back, to leave the temple, the planet, and widen the space between her and her would-be killer. The raw power of the Dark Side he projected, which came at Lyra in one wave after another, threatened to drown her and what little strength in the Light she still possessed.

She was a candlewick in the middle of a raging storm.

Fear gnawed at her insides, but she refused to let it leak through. She refused to run. As much as she wanted to, as afraid as she was, Lyra couldn’t cower away in the face of evil. She was a Jedi, like the legends before her. Rey, Luke, Anakin Skywalker. She had hope in them, and in the Force, to help see her through the horrors ahead.

But you’re no Skywalker. You’re nobody.

The thought came like a whisper over her shoulder, a knife in the dark. It pained her, more than the choke, but she couldn’t stick to it. She noticed the man rise and move towards her with the same intent he showed before: death. Nothing changed, and he gave no answer to her question. He was going to kill her.

No.

Lyra called her lightsaber back into hand, and ignited and caught at the very last second. She gasped, struggling to hold her own against the man.

His lightsaber burned red, like nothing she’d ever seen, and it made her sick to her stomach. Lyra had heard from others in the Order about the revival of this “Dark Jedi,” but to see it for herself, alone, terrified her.

Desperate, she pushed her lightsaber off his and quickly paced backwards, completely on the defensive. She wasn’t sure if she could contend with the likes of a Sith.

@Sunfrog

 

[Castor Azari]

It should have been easy. It should have all been over by now, the threat eliminated and the secret of the Sith secured but the Jedi wanted to put up a fight. They were weak but they were courageous and on some level he could respect that but he could not respect their beliefs and their inability to keep out of everyone else's business.

Castor had initially been willing to allow the woman to leave as the battle of the Sith was not with the Jedi by default but with the skewed beliefs they held. However, upon realising the threat that releasing her could create as she had already seen too much, he quickly decided against it and thought the best course of action would be to prevent her from sharing with anyone what she had seen today.

He was surprised at the strength the Jedi possessed, although wavering, but his surprise quickly turned into irritation as it was clear the situation would descend into a duel which was what he had hoped to avoid. The fear of the Jedi was evident through the Force. Good, he thought. Jedi were taught to diminish their emotions, not use them to their advantage and it only made them weak. He advanced on the defensive Jedi and raised his blade again where it was met by the brilliance of a blue blade.

After a brief struggle between the two, with Castor proving to be the stronger of the two at the moment, Castor drew back and took a more aggressive approach and launched into an attack inspired by the lightsaber form Ataru and by using the aid of the force he hoped to overpower the Jedi in the duel swiftly.


@Feng Mian

 

[Lyra]

Lyra was being pushed to the edge.

One step after another, she was forced back, her guard hacked to pieces like it meant nothing to the man. She’d raise her lightsaber high, only for it to be struck back down. She’d hold it at an angle, like a shield over her chest, only for a vicious jab to break it apart. She’d do the same, thrusting her lightsaber forward to ward him off, only for him to swat it aside.

He was too strong, and Lyra was not strong enough.

Light flashed and sparks burst each time their sabers met, and every time, Lyra stumbled back. Shards of glass crunched at her feet. She was being slowly driven out from the chamber, and it was in a matter of time before she was driven through his saber too. If she wanted to survive, she had to escape, and if she wanted to escape, she needed to find her way back outside.

To do that? She needed a distraction.

As her lightsaber was smacked away again and Lyra staggered back, the realization hit her. The answer was all around her, and inside.

Drawing on the Force, she swept her saber across the air to hold him off. Then, with a free hand, she collected and hurled the glass shards on the floor toward the man. If he tried to redirect it back, Lyra was ready to do it too. If not, she’d take the opening and sprint out from the room and into the hall.

She had to find the light at the end of this tunnel.

@Sunfrog

 

[Castor Azari]

Castor continued to advance on the Jedi in the hopes that she would crumble under the pressure of the duel and make a fatal error and yet despite her inferiority she had managed to keep herself alive this far. He was stronger than her both physically and through the Force, or so he believed as Jedi shut themselves off from the most potent Force abilities in fear of the Dark side.

It would only be a matter of time before he bested her, he believed, and so to avoid wasting any more time and energy than he already had he put more power behind his attacks and closed in on her, intending to end her life as quickly as possible. There was a short gap in the duel as the Jedi staggered back so Castor raised his lightsaber over his head to bring it down over the Jedi but was instead greeted by shards of glass being flung towards him.

He raised an arm to cover his face and turned his head to the side to protect his eyes as it was too late to react in any other way. Once the glass dropped back to the floor, he removed his arm to find the Jedi gone and he was left only with the sound of distant footsteps. Coward. Castor thought bitterly before following the sound. The Jedi could not escape and he would do all within his power to ensure she didn't.


@Feng Mian

 

[Lyra]

The old rebel headquarters was a maze. A terrifying labyrinth of crumbling stone and looming shadows. Lyra had ventured deeper than she expected, and finding her way out was much harder than it had been finding her way in. Every time she turned the corner, expecting to find the daylight, she was either met with another empty chamber or an extended corridor. Hope dwindled.

Her footsteps echoed over the stone floor, and through an enormous chamber. Like a throne room, or a great hall. She must have been somewhere in the center of the temple, which wasn’t good news on her part, but she could work with it.

At least now, Lyra knew where she was, and where to go next. Straight on.

However, behind her, she could see the faint glow of red in slow pursuit. It was only a matter of time before the Sith was on her again, and she feared when he did reach her, there would be no second chance at escape.

Afraid that might happen, Lyra swept her lightsaber across a nearby pillar as she crossed into another hall. Melted stone cracked and gave way, the column collapsing into the floor with a loud crash. She didn’t seriously believe it would hold the Sith back for long, but perhaps enough to stall him as she headed for outside.

She was close. She had to be.

@Sunfrog