Training An Assassin(Aiden Dekker's Further Training)

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Very good my apprentice." He said taking the ribbons and tucking them into the last of their supply packs. "Let's head farther up the mountain. This time, you lead, just head up the mountain. Try and see if you can lose me. You won't be able to most likely, but it would be interesting to see you try without my guidance."

And with that Mirrik slung a pack over his shoulder and tossed the other to his apprentice.

 

[Mars]

Aiden caught the pack and slung it over his back. He began moving up the mountain side at a the pace of a light jog, progressing into a solid run complemented by the Force. Aiden used the technique shown to him earlier to hide his footprints and Force cloak to hide his presence in the force. He wouldn't leave much a trail for his master to follow on.

((Sorry for the short post.))

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

Mirrik took to the trees and leapt from branch to branch. Quickly keeping a tempo upwards and feeling through the force. Occationally he would let out a force push on some dead tree's attempting to knock Aiden off his guard. He knew though he only had to vaguely feel something was off in the force and keep that up in order to stay close, and then it would only be a matter of time before his apprentice ran out of energy. Force cloak after all was a draining talent.

 

[Mars]

Aiden kept moving at a high pace. It was cold outside as it always was on Ando Prime but the Force kept him insulated against the elements. The mountain side was draped with snow. Soon, the use of Force Cloak felt useless and as though the energy would be better off used to increase his speed. As he let go of the energy sustaining his shield, Aiden launched foward at a blinding speed using Force Speed. This was one of his favorite powers and his was very experienced using it and so shot onward very quickly. Still using the technique learned yesterday to hide his footprints, Aiden changed direction, darting up a path that was less traveled and more packed with snow.

Mirrik most likely is close but I damn sure won't make this easy

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

Mirrik saw the direction his apprentice headed but only for the breifest of moments. "Perfect..." he said, then used his own power in the force to move forward and pass his apprentice. When he got to the top he cut down several trees and sent them rolling down the narrow pathway. After that he sprinted up a bit farthe and used his lightsaber to literally cut into the mountainside in such a fashion as to cause the snow to cascade downwards where his apprentice would be dodging trees...

 

[Mars]

The dark apprentice continued moving when he heard a crash in the distance. A cluster of trees had fallen, most likely Mirrik had knocked them down. The first came rolling down the hill and Aiden jumped over it with ease. The next two came tumbling end over end and he was force to duck as one nearly took his head off. As he was dodging the trees snow began to fall and he felt a slight chill go through him as though to tell him to move.

With renewed fevor, Aiden broke into a true sprint, launching foward out of the way of the final tree and trying to avoid most of the snow. A large portion landed on him as he drew his lightsaber which allowed him to cut an escape hole in the soft, but densely packed snow. Leaping upwards, Aiden landed on the snow and continued his treck. Within a few minutes Aiden had reached the top and met his master there. He bowed and spoke in a highly respectful tone

"You found me master. I tried my best. What would you suggest to do in a similar scenario, where one is being chased by those so strong in the force or needs just that added element of stealth?" Aiden may not have exactly compleated the task of avoiding Mirrik, but that was highly unlikely. He would learn as much as possible during the time he spent with the man as it was not every day one was able to be trained under one of the Bogan's favored agents.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"You can meditate while cloaked heavily in the force, it keeps you from moving anywhere, but if you can get enough distance it's a very good way to stay cloaked for longer periods of time. Patience is something often not stressed in our order, but in situations where one must flee then you should be exceptionally patient."

 

[Mars]

Aiden nodded towards his master as he spoke, taking in the info as he said it. He was right and patience would be important in a chase scenario.

"What is next master?" Aiden asked.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Next?" He said pointing that way, up at the very top, just before the craigs leading farthest up above the clouds was a large rock looming over, it's underside veiled by shadow. With that Mirrik started off once more. As they got closer you realized this was another cave, but unlike the last this one was far deeper, and the darkside was strong here.

 

[Mars]

Aiden followed his master through the rocky mountains. As they grew closer and closer to the cave, the feeling of the Dark side permeated the area. You could feel the darkness in the very air as they walked towards the incredibly deep cave.

Aiden grinned as he felt the surge of it entering his body and empowering him. The feeling was like none other.

"Master, where are we? It is so....powerful and....dark." He said.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"This is where we settled first, these caves. Before we were discovered by the monks who's temple we now inhabbit." He said solemnly as he walked into the cave. There were various markings and words lining the walls. Dark incantations, and phrases of the code or other teachings of the bogan. As he entered Mirrik looked Solemn. "It was here of course, that we first came. I remember it so long ago. It was here the first bogan lived, and it is here that he is burried. Though it will not be an easy task, we shall visit his tomb. It's something I make all my students do. Physically you will be in great danger. But other than the physical test why do you think I have you come to this place?" He asked curiously. It wasn't a trick question, there was after all a right answer.

 

[Mars]

Aiden pondered what his master had just told him for a moment. The origin of their order and the body of the Bogan founder. His Master seemed saddened by the cave, as if some great tragedy occured here.

"I believe you brought me here to show me the origins of our great order. To show me where we came from, where it all began. To show me the tomb of our first leader. There are many things hidden here and I feel you brought me here so that I may benefit from them sir." Aiden said. The area was so infused with the dark side that he felt he would easily destroy any of the pacifist monks of the Jedi. Here, submerged in the power of the dark side, he was powerful.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Yes and no." Spoke Mirrik. "I brought you here to feel power, to taste it. To understand that this is not a tenth of what the current bogan can manifest and that if you try and plot for yourself no matter how much power you gain it will be nothing compared to one who gives himself fully to the darkside. The last bogan tried to guide the order, he died trying to do so. What should that tell you?" He asked heading further into the darkness. No light was guiding his way, this was a place he knew by heart, he had trained here as an acolyte, and partially as a crusader long ago when the order was just born. Now it was a shell, a shell filled with the darkside, but it was nothing of its former self.

 

[Mars]

Aiden listened to his master speak. One-tenth. There was so much power here, it blew his mind that their current leader was able to manifest power onto something ten times this. Aiden felt as if he grew stronger nearly for being here, one who trained here every day would have power unimaginable.

His master asked him a question, about one who attempted to guide the order. The answer was not immediatly obvious to him but it came slowly.

"One cannot hope to guide those who have given themselves over to, and can control, the darkside if they have yet to do so themselves. He who attempts to do so will deservingly die for his foolishness by those more powerful then he. He who answers the call of the Darkside wields immense power sir." He said with emotion in his voice. The cave made him feel strange, empowered and invigorated, as if he was unstoppable. He almost wished some Jedi would attempt to defile their lair so he could rip them to shreds.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Hmm...again you've touched on the subject, but not in full." Mirrik walked deeper into the cave, eventually the light from the entrance faded, and he was using the force to allow him to see, rather than light. A thing he hoped would not be lost on his pupil. Light does not give one the ability to see clearly if one has power in the force, a metaphore for the jedi and bogan obviously.

"Yes, giving oneself to the darkside allows for power. However, more importantly it allows for chaos. Chaos is not a purely distructive force. It's what we all came from, it's what we all go to. It's from where patterns are able to immerge and from where patterns are destroyed. It is and is not and always will never be but shall continue to exist." As Mirrik spoke the words reverberated off the walls. The farther in they went the more the darkside grew.

"So you see, that is what we are trying to return the galaxy to. It is not destruction that we seek. But Chaos, because Chaos is so much more..."

 

[Mars]

Aiden kept walking through the very dark cave. He always used the Force to see so navigating the dark halls of the cave was not much harder for him then a well lit hallway. It was well known to him that this was a difficult concept for many of the Jedi and Bogan recruits to grasp but he had been practicing since birth

Mirrik explained how he had only partially answered his masters question. That Chaos was the overall goal and power was just a means to an end from the way his Master had explained it. The contradictions made sense, yet did not, and formed paradoxes most would be lost on. He explained that they were attempting to bring the galaxy back to its chaotic origins, whatever they may be.

Chaos. Aiden tossed the word around in his head. It held power in its unpredictability but power was only a means by which to achieve more chaos leading to a never ending cycle.

"Through power, we may attain Chaos, through which we may attain more power and further Chaos. Power is our means and Chaos is our end. So Master, Chaos is the goal of our order, yet the Bogan guides us as though we were organized as any other. How does one control the anarchy sir?"

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"Power...think of the bogan, and all his disciples as one organism. Moving together as we do, we promote chaos, we are lead by the most powerful, and so that too promotes chaos. It is a very difficult balancing act we lead, more so than any jedi."

Finally they ceased walking, they had entered the burial chamber for the previous bogan, and the darkside was at it's fullest here. "I brought you here to explain all this, because it is here that you are strongest in the darkside, without being in the bogans chambers themselves. It also is a place that allows for contemplation, training, and growth."

 

[Mars]

Aiden stopped a few feet from Mirrik as the two reached the assumed destination. Mirrik spoke of the Bogan's balancing act of power and chaos. The fragile, unbreakable balance that held the order together. Were they stood was an area of great power for the dark assassin. It was flooded with darkness and power. He grinned as the Force flowed through him.

"I understand Master. There is great power here. Shall we meditate here or perform some other exercise?" He said. Merely being here was an experience few would have in the order. That fact that the darkside flowed even more powerfully in the Bogan's chamber blew his mind as to the level of power their leader controlled.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

"You'll stay here a week. No food, no water. Sustain yourself with whatever you find in the caves, which is likely just going to be the darkside itself. If you're still alive when I come back we'll duel, if you do well enough in there I might let you leave..."

He said this as he turned to walk back out of the cave. As he went he pressed a button with the force on the outside of the cave, shutting it off with a solid stone door, to thick to cut through with a lightsaber. The large door closing seemed to stir something within the cave, several deep growls were heard farther inside...

 

[Mars]

Aiden nodded curtly to his master. A week, no provisions, in the dark cave. That spelled meditation to him quite clearly. He sat in the chamber his master lead him to where the dark side was the most powerful and stood, channeling the darkside to him. There was but one entrance to the room, and it would be filled with lightning if anything came through. Preparedness always helped though and Aiden refused to be caught off guard as growls came from deep witihin the cave and pulled his sabers to his hands but did not ignite them.