Years Before (Sayga's Training)

[Gio]

Sayga awaoke that morning in the newly constructed southern wing. He felt refreshed and utterly releived. Today, he would train to become a Crusader. Then after he completed his missions, he would be an official one. He threw on his black Acolyte hood and rushed to the outside training center of Ando Prime, the newly made Bogan base. He stretched and readily messed with his brown hair. His red eyes were focused on the set of lightsabers and many practice areas and equipment. But here, be meditated, awaiting the arrival of his new master. He was eager, but calm...

This session was private, Sayga wished to hide himself from the Bogan, until he could fully recognise who he used to be. Who he used to serve. Who he used to fight. He had aranged some time earlier to meet this Bogan. He would truly teach Almeda, rather reveal what Almeda had already trained in years ago, by fighting him. Reteaching him all he knew. Almeda stood firm. Perhaps, just perhaps, he would remmeber something about his past as well from this training excersise.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

Nikoj was bathed in shadows, the darkness fitting around him like the onyx, greys and cerulean of his cloak. Hanging upon that man’s narrow frame, lithe body swathed in ebony, the Dark Jedi watched his new Acolyte, his face no longer the expressive shell that it so normally was. Instead, he observed, intending to note the areas in which the other man needed improvement. It appeared as if there were quite a few. However, the man with ravenesque hair could see potential in the other; of course, that’s what Dark Jedi were, raw potential like oil that was lit ablaze. His job was to ignite the flame.

No peace, only suffering.
No knowledge, only instinct.
No serenity, only passion.
No harmony, only chaos.
No life, only death.

The words hummed through the Dark Jedi’s mind, repeated and then repressed, repeated again until they were his mantra as he pulled the Force to him, dragging it the way that a man would a rope in tug-of-war. Nikoj could feel the pure energy practically crackling in the air around him so that he had to struggle to breathe; it was wonderous to feel the power so close to the surface, so near to his grasp. With a near howl, the man pushed himself away from the wall.

A hand cast itself forth and he unleashed a volley in the form of a fraction of what he’d gathered into his chest. He could feel it surging towards Sayga, the Force Push that was given enough emphasis that it would have toppled any normal fully grown man. If the Acolyte had any training in the Force, which Nikoj suspected he did, then it could easily be debuffed into little more than a gust of air. That is if the guy could sense it coming.

Sayga just looked too calm. Serenity be damned, Nikoj was going to teach the other man the value of suffering, of death, of instinct, of chaos and passion; thus was the power of the Dark Jedi. It was training time.


~Nikoj

 

[Gio]

Almeda's concentration was broken, and his eyes pursed out from his closed waiting stance. Sayga felt the Force, the pure negative energy of it anyway, barreling towards him in one, aggresive push. In an instant, Almeda dropped his acolyte hood, revealing his brown Bogan Robes. He lifted a single hand to block the push with his own Force. But the pure negative energy clashing with his neutrality was overwhelming. Almeda managed to alude most of the energy, but he was thrown into a backflip regardless. He quickly shifted position in air, landing nimbly on his feet as he fell from the impact of tthe explosion.

"Thank you for coming here....master. I've lost my memory you see. I lost it a long time ago. I was once a Crusader, or perhaps a Knight. This is all I know. I cannot recall anything else. By instinct, I remember much of what I once knew. but i need to hone my skills. I need to retought in the ways of the Force.....the ways of the Bogan."

Almeda, although being almost twie the age of the man before him, bowed, down to his kness, to his new master.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

The Crusader for the cause of the Bogan shifted just a little as he saw the other man almost expertly push off his forceful maneuver. A smile curled almost insanely on the man’s lips so that he, for just a moment, didn’t look remotely human. Lifting his hand, he gave acknowledgement to the other man; who had at least earned as much with the small feat of aerial acrobatics that bought him down nimbly just a scant eighteen to twenty feet away from Nikoj.

"Thank you for coming here....master. I've lost my memory you see. I lost it a long time ago. I was once a Crusader, or perhaps a Knight. This is all I know. I cannot recall anything else. By instinct, I remember much of what I once knew. but i need to hone my skills. I need to retought in the ways of the Force.....the ways of the Bogan."

He listened to the words as they came from a bowed head. He could accept them, and accept the man who spoke them, but he would not make training easy. Indeed, he would follow in the footsteps of his own former master and teach until words became more than just an utterance, until the code of the Dark Jedi was something that flowed through Almeda’s veins.

Though the other man seemed to have kept many of his skills within the Force, he wasn’t unleashing his true potential, which was something that needed to be desperately rectified.

“Rise and face me.” He spoke in that silky baritone that seemed to drip from between his lips. “I wish to see how much of your old training you recall. I could easily do this by reciting abilities for you, but that will achieve you nothing save for a refresher. Instead, I want for you to fight me; no weapons for now, so that I can see not only that you know how to use the Force, but so that I can also see the depth of your strength and conviction.”

Being a man of few words, generally, he closed his mouth. Usually that would have been his speaking allotment for the night, but he was well aware that he would have to keep pushing, repeating certain words over and over and over again so that they too would fill the other’s mind and become his the prayer he spoke before and during every battle.

“No peace, only suffering.
No knowledge, only instinct.
No serenity, only passion.
No harmony, only chaos.
No life, only death.”

Came his deathly whisper as he stood poised, the gathered energy still floating about him as if it could somehow become tangible and break through the temporal barrier. He waited for the other man to make the next move.


~Nikoj

 

[Gio]

Sayga listened, attentively. He understood the man's methods. He understood the diversity in which the man had come from. Almeda stood, fully erect. he threw his brown scarf to the side, as well as his lightsaber. The mere presence of this man, it brought something dark out of almeda.

"If this is your will Master, then so be it. But I do ask, what is your name.?"

Without a moments more hesitation, Almeda brought his dominant hand back, allowing the force to fill him with energy. it felt stronger this moment, darker even. His hand began to crackle, and the normal pale blue electricity that would emerge from his hand turned into a dark blue, an indigo almost. With the Force lightning charged, Almeda poised his hand forward, dashing and expelling electricity at the same time. the crackles of energy surrounded him, as a moon surrounds a planet. the electricity formed around his hand, and finally when he approached his new, nameless master, he expelled the lightning forward. Almeda had always flt confident in his force lightning, it just always seemed like he had the potential, deep down inside, to make more powerful lightning, without using so much force power. nonetheless, Almeda drained the lightning charge in his hand towards his master, who appeared to be not a foot in front of him. He still had energy, but it seemed to have weakend him drastically.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

He could feel the power building in the other man’s fist as if he were somehow transferring all of his weight into that one spot, and as the crackling began, Nikoj was able to determine just what maneuver his Acolyte was using. Impressed, at the apparent knowledge displayed, he quickly deduced that the other man must have been a Crusader as he, himself was to be able to used the non-basic Force technique.

He didn’t bother to cast his saber aside as the other man unleashed the bolts of lightning, which flew at him . A few tendrilous tentacles of pure energy snaked over his form, only seeming to accentuate the pale white of his flesh, before he was able to move, literally having to cast both arms down and release that same kinetic energy as if he were performing a Force Jump.

Nikoj shot upwards, outside of the chaotic embrace of the lightning that was being flung at him, his eyes seeming to glimmer, as if they were indeed the metal of a gun. As gravity worked its sway over him, pulling him downwards, the man tugged his saber free, letting it flicker dangerously into life. As he descended, he slashed out, to hit the air next to the other’s head. He was clearly not aiming to hit Almeda at all; and so as he alighted on his feet just a scant few inches from the other, he let out the equivalent of a growl.

“There is no harmony, only chaos.” He let his saberblade die away replacing it once more at his side. “You are clearly gifted in the ways of the Force, and this has given you too much security in yourself. You have much to learn about the dangers of this galaxy, of the Bogan. Now get your weapon before my patience wanes and I trim off a few too many inches from your head. We have a second round to get to.”


~Nikoj

 

[Gio]

His new master attempted to intimidate him He even chanted something f the Bogan's Code to him. Almeda stared blankly, with somewhat of a scowl on his face. The intensity of the two eye-locked men was unbareable. Almeda could see into the man's soul. One of pure chaos, evil and power in it's purest form. it awed him internally, but his face showed no sign of changing. As if from nowhere, Almeda lifted his hand to his left. He summoned his lightsaber to him, it lifted at first very slowly, then came to his hand as if by polar connectivity. He spun it around, getting into the fifth form of stance. Only, it was reversed, as Almeda carried his lightsaber in his DOMINANT hand. He held it with one hand, upside down, and behind his back.

"Your torment makes you aggresive, your chaos makes you a monster. Perhaps, I need to lose my stoic demeanor before I battle you further."

He awaited further instruction from his new master, his ancient blood red saber glowing in awe of the deep pitch black space with surrounded them.



((OOC: Just so you know what my stance looks like http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:SecretApprentice_tfu.jpg))

 

[Insomnium Savant]

"Your torment makes you aggresive, your chaos makes you a monster. Perhaps, I need to lose my stoic demeanor before I battle you further."

The man chuckled softly to the reply as he saw the light saber fly into Almeda’s hand and watched the man thusly slip into a dangerous pose. Nikoj let his own saber come blazing back to life as it lifted from his belt, dangling before him. He had been working on his mastery over telekinesis, and though he couldn’t hold something for an extended period of time without becoming drained. Thus, he reached out and grasped his blade, as if plucking a flower from a bush.

“The monster is the thing that doesn’t feel, and doesn’t care about the lives that it destroys. There is no peace, only suffering, and through that suffering; we gain our power. The stoicism you wrap yourself in, the tranquility that you try to keep is nothing but a lie. This is not to say that you should act irrationally, but you need to realize that nothing is ever scripted. All is chaos, and in the midst of that chaos, it is the ones who are strong that gain power.”

The Dark Jedi spoke the words as if they were some kind of sacred text. The hand free of his saber lifted and he let the Force naturally filter through his chest, driving through his arm as it fed at his own souless power. “You are to push against me and I against you. Show me that you can do more than just throw around pretty lightning.


~Nikoj

 

[Gio]

“The monster is the thing that doesn’t feel, and doesn’t care about the lives that it destroys. There is no peace, only suffering, and through that suffering; we gain our power. The stoicism you wrap yourself in, the tranquility that you try to keep is nothing but a lie. This is not to say that you should act irrationally, but you need to realize that nothing is ever scripted. All is chaos, and in the midst of that chaos, it is the ones who are strong that gain power.”

Almeda ran the message through his head. it made sense. all his life, well, all that he could remember, he didn't act well when there was peace, but when the world in front of his was ablaze.....hew became stronger. he became faster. he became himself. It was finally coming to him.

"The world has corrupted me for the worse. i see too much good, to much eco-centricity among life. There is no equivalence is there? There is no similarity or area of safety in this life, is there? That's why my stance is aggresive. If I come here, hoping to live, then i will surely die. But if i embrace death, if I embrace the chaos in which this life embraces, then I harbor no constraint or lack of power. I'm beginning to see"

Almeda was beginning to understand what the Crusader was talking about. Maybe it was his former self, reacting to the teachings it had already heard. Almeda readied further his stance, more aggresively, more embracing. He brought down his saaber, even to his masters, and he pushed. he applied all the muscular pressure he had, and exerted some Force energy to assist with this sword cross. He began to replay his death in his head. He would accept the fear, accept the death, and he would be stronger. He would understand......

 

[Insomnium Savant]

Was the other man really beginning to see? Was he truly beginning to get that insight into the Darkside of the Force that so few were able to grasp? Words were one thing, but action, that was the nature of the Dark Jedi. Power was not child of safety, it wasn’t a child of order or reason. No, power was in action; and inaction was the ultimate affront to the truth of the Force.

In the end, when society was ripped away, when government was nothing but a figment of the sentient mind; there was a single principle, and that was survival. The power of the Force was in everyone, but only those who grasped it could attain the greatness of their cause. Only those who could shuck their fear of death, and give into the infinite had the power to command.

“You talk too much.” He hissed, his eyes blazing their almost glowing grey, crazed and burning with the power of the Darkside. He let his blade dance forward, his nimble fingers twirling it in an arch way from his body so that he could bring it down full force, but slow enough for the other man to anticipate his movements.

He wanted to see the fighting style natural to the other man.


~Nikoj

 

[Gio]

Almeda flew backwards, dosging the oncoming onslaut, returning with a swift uppercut of his own. If his fist didn't hit, his saber had a chance to. as he swung, he cried out.

"Silence is peace right? Then why should I be so!?"

 

[Insomnium Savant]

The man burst into laughter to the other man's banter. Oh, he definitely liked the man who he was duelling with, even if he certainly wouldn't admit it out loud. As he watched the uppercut come, he let the hilt of his saber slam down into it, his hand extending forward to release some of his gathered energy with about the force of a fully grown man, pushing the energy at the Acolyte, so that the man would have to quickly make a few choices.

He could block some of the force energy and lose time; or he could chance taking it, which would throw off his ability to make an offensive return immediately. Or he could dodge it altogether, and put more distance between them.

"You have mouth. Many a Dark Jedi would trounce their Acolytes for the show of attitude you've gven, but I will foster it so long as you use it to fuel your power. When it comes to the point at which you're needlessly endangering both yourself and our kind, then I will not think to destroy you. This is your first lesson. Who do you follow? Why do you follow them?"

 

[Gio]

Almeda moves to the left, side stepping the entire movement altogether. he put alot of distance between himself and his new master. When asked who he followed and why, Almeda charge a Force Push, hurling it at an upward angle, as to make it impossible to jump away from, and impossible to block without getting pushed back. The the man could do was sidestep, in which case, Almeda was ready to throw his lightsaber.

"I follow the Bogan. i follow them, because they are correct. power is derived from evil!"

 

[Insomnium Savant]

The Dark Jedi let his hand lash forward as if it where a whip, ready to crack some pain into the other's form. His fingers seemed to drift upwards as he felt the Force Push coming towards him. He instantly returned the favor, letting out a roar as he did so, letting his inborn bloodlust be fueled by the nearly mastered Force Rage. The duel fronts hit and exploded outwards to catch the oncoming push, and return it right back, as if he were spiking it back over a net.

The force of his return was enough to redirect the oncoming assault, but he hadn't bothered to make sure that it went right back to the Acolyte, so it likely could have gone anywhere. Apparently, the other man was looking to learn lesson two already.

"Never assume you can overpower your master." He hissed out. "That is who we serve. The Bogan is not you, it is not me. We are all Bogan, but we are not the Bogan and he is power. Do you know why we serve him? Because he gives us purpose, because he could easily slaughter many of our number. And, our glory is to be bound together by his name, by his cause, and fuel his power with our own."

Nikoj recalled that the other man had asked him his name a some time before, and he had ignored the question in favor of action. Now he felt the need to reply.

"I am Nikoj Dharmum, and I am your master. If you say something so silly as 'Power is derived from evil.' again, I will personally kill you. Power is derived from action, from instinct, from losing the fear of death, from embracing the chaos of who we are. We are passionate beings, and this only makes us so evil as the next biological organism. So cast of the petty little notion of morality; it only exists in the brains of those who can't comprehend something greater."

Thus said, he decided that it was time to delve into the other's saber skills once more. His first assault hadn't taught him much, but he could tell that the other man obviously had some saber skills. As soon as he unlocked which of the forms the other man knew, they could move on and hone those skills further.

 

[Gio]

Almeda was surprised at the sheer power of the blowback. Another Foorce was headed to him. It directly impacted his chest. he flew backwards. He did two backflips, midair, and landed with a slight pain in his chest which he brushed off. he heard what his master had said, and felt conflicted once again.

"You must forgive me master. My morality was given to me with years of unknowing. It is difficult to unlearn instinct."

Almeda turned to his master once again, lightsaber ready.

"Perhaps you should know what i know. When I WAS sixteen, I crashed on Tatooine. I was raised and healed to full health by a Jedi who found my pod. i stayed with him for several months. Then suddenly, once he retought me this reverse Shien form V I had already known, he abandoned me. It was the Jedi knight's morals that have filled me for years, along with military morals that I gained when I served, and loyalty morals that I gained as an assassin later in life. I understand far more than you know Master. But I shall not question you. What would you have me do?" Sayga bowed slightly as he said this.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

As the man related his history, the Jedi nodded to his words. He should have noted the style based on the way that the other had held his saber. Thus noted, he doubted that he could expand upon the style save for to work with the man extensively on his fighting strategy. At some point, he would have to go over the basics of the other saber forms with Almeda, but that could wait for just a bit. At least the man had grasped the importance of loyalty to the Bogan.

To the bowed head, Nikoj lifted his hand, finally letting his saber fall into darkness, only so that he could press it against his side. “I think that it is time that we take a break so that we may talk about the history of our kind. Draining our energies does neither of us good, and once you know some more about those who you seek to learn from, we may continue.”

Making his way towards the entry into the Temple, he mentally ticked a few things. The other could obviously Force Push, use Force Lightning, but there were many other basic abilities that they would have to cover before he would graduate the other man, such as Force Concealment, and Force Jump; however, those would come with time. They had much to cover.

 

[Gio]

Almeda lifted his head and resheathed his light saber. It was an older saber, very old indeed. But Almeda digressed. He picked up his scarf, and thought throughly, He once again dropped his scarf, this time, letting it float in the wind, he hurridely followed behind his master.

"I'm right beside you Master. I wish to kow two things. One, where are we headed iside the temple, and two, as I have not studied extensivelyinto the Nature of the Force, I have a question. I am almost twice your senior, although age holds know value, but how is it that I myself am much more resilient than most men my age? Hell, better yet, why am I so much more younger looking and agile than most men of any age? I look like a teen!"

(Note: Reverse Shien is a variant of Form V which is slightly more acrobatic and aggresive)

 

[Insomnium Savant]

Was the other man talking to him? About his age? Apparently he was. A hand descended as if he were going to take his sabre up once more when he recalled that he had decided that they were going to study some of the history. Damn him and his unnecessary penchant for the pendantic.

"We are going to one of the libraries housed within the temple so that I can show you the history just as well as you can learn it." He paused, not really knowing how to answer the second question, his long legs carrying him over stone-like walkways that were very-likely not rock in the least. "And, I am not sure. I have read before in my research that there are those who can manipulate the force to sustain themselves in battle. Perhaps you've channelled into something like that. Or maybe you're just something else, it's not my job to know one way or the other." He replied.

 

[Gio]

Almeda's face dropped slightly. His was blank and now in a scowl as they proceeded to the inner workings of the building.

"Feigning ignorance is a defensive strategy used to acknowledge to liability of new allies. the Force, when harnessed to a certaiin degree can literally slow the aging process for any sentient being. You didn't know that. Interesting..."

Almeda felt the need to test his new master. After all, what was teaching but learning with others. The long dark, forboding corridors loomed in front of Almeda. Although his memory was gone, he eerily recognised all of the areas that they passed, feeling as though he had existed in these dark halls throughout his entire life. Many Acolytes roamed, some seeming to be older than him, which proved the point, age is but a number. Almeda sighed, taking in the chaotic ramble of the people buzzing about, awaiting the pre-determined verbal lashing he would get from his master. maybe, even a physical one. He respected and apraised his teacher, internally, he just felt the need to be free, formless around him. his true self was trying to break free.

 

[Insomnium Savant]

The other man was apparently trying to test him; he'd even gone so far as to pretend he didn't know the answer to his own question. Of course, Nikoj had been well aware that the force had the potential to effect the aging process, the downside of which was evident in some of the elderly looking men who walked around them; some of who were only in their mid-twenties. Overuse of the Force could drastically accelerate aging.

Nikoj was an expert at fishing for genuine intelligences and the intentions of one's heart; and he made a note to beat the pesky little habit of assumed equality from his Acolyte. The Bogan were not an egalitarian people, and attempting to 'one up' one's Master was never a good idea. However, they were inside of the temple, so he could save said beating for later.

Meanwhile, he would allow the other man to operate under the assumption that he had diminished knowledge of the Force. Perhaps he would reveal more of his faults for Nikoj to burn out.

When they reched the doors of the library, the Dark Jedi moved to a halt, his hand resting over the frame before he pushed, letting the door swing open to greet them. "We're looking for the early histories."