Ask Yavin IV A Life of Sacrifice, United Work.

Vahn Berand

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Yavin IV​

The leather wrapped hilt of Grandmaster Oota Boan sat on the surface of a knee high bare marbled stone table in the circular meditation chamber. Vahn remembered what it felt like to pick up that saber, to hold it in his hands. He’d felt anger. Resentment. Hatred. But also, for a few moments he had felt a deep sadness. It was like the saber was crying in those moments when he first picked it up. Since then however, it had been remarkably quiet by the time he had gotten it back to Yavin. Now, it merely radiated an oppressive, possibly purely psychological oppressive aura to the Knight.

Vahn stood just beyond the table, one hand slowly stroking through the dark, short cropped beard on his chin. Loose, silver-grey robes hung off of him as he remained still. His eyes bore into the saber as it sat there, and a thousand thoughts ran through his head. He had never done something like this before, so was he even the right person to be involved? Strangely, he felt compelled, responsible in a way he didn’t expect, but his better sense had encouraged him to seek help from other Jedi for this task. He regretted that it was only feasible for a few trusted Jedi to be involved in this process. Many Jedi hadn’t had a chance to say good bye to the old Grandmaster, himself included, and whatever was left of Oota Boan would be sheltered somewhere deep inside the kyber. Vahn's throat was tight for a moment, and he swallowed hard. This was the least he could do.

Vahn carefully knelt down onto a cushion before the table, tenderly picked up the saber, and slowly, methodically started to unwrap the leather from around the hilt. There was an uncharacteristic reverence to the Knight’s motions, every turn of his hand deliberate, with the weight of the saber cradled against his palm. He set the leather wrappings aside, folding them carefully up before turning back to the saber.

Master Boan had once let him look at his saber when he was very new to the Jedi back on Ajan Kloss. He had been dangerously interested in sabers, and so the Master had allowed him to take a close look at his own, seizing the chance to teach him about the proper use and purpose of a Jedi’s weapon. Defense and protection, never for attack. His own beliefs about the purpose of the Jedi had radically shifted since those first teachings by the old Healer, but this, this he remembered. Every step, every turn of a screw or shift of a plate. He remembered, and his heart was heavy.

It was only when he slid open the crystal shroud that Vahn recoiled, the saber tumbling from his grasp.Vahn remembered the Grandmaster’s saber; a brilliant cyan, like someone had pulled a shard of the sky down below into the Jedi’s hand. He had expected something. He had expected much. He knew the Grandmaster’s kyber crystal had been bled. He had seen the black blade in Asminys’ hand, but even still he didn’t expect...this.

Oota Boan’s kyber crystal sat inert in its shroud, like a glistening shard of obsidian. Red smoldered deep within like the remains of a fire. A spike of fury swelled in Vahn’s chest, and it took a great effort to beat it back down.


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Alexandria Voran

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Where was he? Why could she not find him? Why wouldn’t he answer her questions? Why couldshe let no him go. Jedi Master Alexandria Voran sat on a small hill looking across the jungle onto the Temple. Her eyes closed, her hands outstretched, her body full of the Light. Her mind raced down a thousand different paths…searching…searching…searching. The sun warmed her face, but she was far beyond her physical body. Alex had faced the pain of Max’s death, the pain of losing him. She fought off the fear that once threatened to consume her. Still, every few weeks she climbed this hill and looked. Max would find her again one day in the Force. She knew it. Lately, the pull to speak with him again had grown stronger.

New Alderaan, Byblos, Sullust, weighed heavily on her heart. The Order was changing into something she did not fully understand. Her place among the Jedi was transforming. Max would know the answer. He always did. Alex retreated into her mind, her feet landing softly atop the hill. She shook her head. Was she not wiser than this? Apparently not. Her mental walls carefully clicked back into place. She had another horror to face today.

The Jedi Master threaded her way through the jungle back to the Temple. A familiar path carried her towards the large mediation chamber. Pain…shock…fury spiked against her senses. The door to the room flicked upon, revealing Vahn kneeling before the stone table. Alex’s eyes flicked to the saber. Grandmaster Boan’s lightsaber twirled on the floor, displaying the poison red crystal within. She carefully steeled her mind. Her footfalls rang in chamber as she moved to pick up the saber. Wrongness rang in her sense. The corruption of the crystal seeking her mind. Alex very carefully set the saber back on the marble table, stepping back once it rested. “It is painful to see the memory of the Grandmaster perverted by the Darkness.” Shocking to see the corruption but Alex had faced such darkness twice before. “We will set it right.” She had contained the curse on Ajan Kloss and purged the darkness of the Ubese. The Jedi Master had fought this battle before. A battle that would begin when the last of their number joined.

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Corruption was not something so simply defined when it came to the Force as when it came to physical corruption.

Physical corruption could be seen as pitting in metal, the visual appearance of craters in metal and the like. But corruption in the Force was not something that could be seen so easily. Symptoms of the corruption showed themselves in the color of the kyber crystal, a bright and violent red that mirrored the dark and vibrant violence that had tainted it.

In this case, the corruption was more subtle than might have otherwise been expected.

Although the Darkness within the tainted kyber crystal was palpable to those around it, it was not actively seeking to connect with them. It wasn't reaching out, no, what both Jedi would be able to feel was the Invitation that the Darkness was projecting through the Force without words. Just the sudden and paralyzing demand that they come to it.

That they reach out and take the crystal in their hands and face the consequences of their foolish decision to attempt to break the hold on what rightfully belonged to the Darkness now.


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Alexandria Voran

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Vahn stayed silent. Alex understood. What they were about to face was a darkness they did not fully understand. It was not only the corruption of the crystal but the corruption of the Grandmaster’s crystal. The saber had once stood for all the Order. Now, it was a perverted condemnation of the Order. Alex took a deep breath as she sank further into the Force. She was uncertain of Vahn was ready. She hoped he was, but frankly it would not matter. Her journey had prepared her for this moment. She was ready. The darkness did not freight Alexandria Voran.

Her eyes focused on the crystal again. It did not reach for them. No. It waited to be touched. So be it then. Alex let the Force fill her soul, the Light bursting alive in her heart. She brought forth every ounce of strength she possessed. Decades of learning, her love for the Order, and her faith in the Light. She would face whatever darkness the Sith had left behind. She would heal what was broken.

Alex stepped forward and grabbed the crystal.

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The Darkness within the crystal pulsed outward as Alexandria moved forward. There was a deep sense of anticipation within the Dark Side of the Force and it radiated out into the room around there. An ever-growing sense that the events were proceeding exactly as the Darkness within the crystal had foreseen.

That they were playing right into its hands but that there was nothing else for it. Trying to purify the crystal from the outside would be an exercise in power versus power and the crystal had seeped in the Darkness long enough for that to be a major issue.

It opened itself up for them to walk inside, for them to find it's true weakness.

As Alex reached out and touched the crystal, physically nothing would change. Within the mind of the Jedi Master, however, everything would have changed. She would be transported to a circular room of cold metal and bright lights. Her body would appear as it had in the physical word, lightsaber and clothing as it had been before she entered the mindscape of the crystal.

Or rather, the mindscape of the tormented remains of Oota Boan's spirit held captive by the Darkness.

In the centre of the room, the Ithorian Grandmaster was suspended in midair. Were that this was only by telekinesis though... no, Oota was suspended in the air by a trio of tendrils of metal wiring and shining lights of the brightest red. Two of them entered through the back of his hands, puncturing straight through the flesh and bone to emerge the other side before plunging back into the forearm to burst out the top and repeat the motion in a sicken stitch pattern before both of the limb-based tendrils were down his throat, keeping his mouth stretched wide in an impossible sequence of screaming and gagging that went without end.

The third of the trio did much the same as the limb-based ones, stitching its way through the former Grandmaster. Unlike the others, it did so up the length of the old Jedi's spine before forcing its way into the back of his skull, breaking clean on through to seize him by the brain-stem.

Each of the tendrils trailed away from Oota to a door built into the side of the chamber, three doors for three tendrils of stark metal and dizzying lights that held the tortured Jedi aloft. There was silence for the longest time save for a ringing that would be persistent. It was only after a moment that Alex (and Vahn if he entered) would be able to tell what it actually was.

A message being broadcast, over and over again, through the Force as quickly as possible.

I can feel them. Make them stop. Make it quiet.


Over and over again, a dozen times every five seconds projected from the thoroughly defeated and defiled Grandmaster Oota Boan.


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Vahn Berand

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The kyber crystal was cold, inky gravity to his senses. He could feel it drawing him in, pulling on him, inviting him in like the colorful display of a predatory pitcher plant. He held back, refraining from pushing on the crystal with his Senses but his attention orbitted around it, twisting his thoughts and gaze back onto it whenever he tried to pull away.

Vahn didn’t notice Master Voran approach until she got in close enough to grab hold of the crystal. He had been locked in his thoughts, trapped in a loop of his memories of Master Boan, that moment back on the Gladiator when he first retrieved the corrupted kyber crystal, and the sickening invitation that still cause an icey weight to settle in his belly. A bad habit of his at times, really. Especially now when he needed to keep his senses sharp. He admonished himself inwardly, and straightened his posture. He had never been the strongest with the various esoterica of the Force, instead preferring more seemingly practical, physical applications of his Sensitivity. He had the courage, and certainly the willpower to face this...thing. But the aptitude? The finely honed touch with the Force? That was much less his area of expertise. This is exactly why he had requested the aid of other Jedi, and Master Voran in particular.

Vahn looked to her as she drew in the Force, transfixed at the display of a Master. She burned white hot to his mind, filling the room with her very presence, bathing him in the comforting presence of the Light. If he had been uncertain at first; his spirit was bolstered now. He calmed himself, focusing on his own source of inner strength as the Force flowed through him, sharpening his senses.

“I’m ready, Master Voran. Possibly more than ever,” Vahn said, his attention fixed onto the smoldering kyber crystal. He was wise enough to know where to follow, and he would follow her lead, reinforcing her where needed.

He thought he was ready for anything. However it only took a moment for the lie to be exposed when he joined his focus with Master Voran’s, and he found his consciousness pulled into the residual mental realm of the corrupted Kyber crystal.

Vahn had long reasoned that whatever fragments of Oota Boan’s presence that remained in this world were tucked away in the recesses of the semi-sentient mind of the Kyber crystal, and this put urgency to his desire to purify the crystal. In a sense, it seemed he was correct, but only in the most horrifying manner possible. His hand curled into a trembling fist despite himself.

He wasn’t a rookie. Vahn had seen many awful things over the years before and after he became a Jedi, especially out on the Rim. This, however. This was new, and horrible. The sight of that strung up body churned his stomach, and the horrible cycle of screaming and gurgling caused him to tense up in reflex. Then, he took a steady breath, and took a few steps closer towards the nauseating display. He kept his senses well guarded as he approached. His instinct to help pulsed strongly but he knew he needed to be cautious around such obvious influences of the Dark Side. His gaze followed the wires away from the sight of the Jedi’s body to the three doors.

“Three doors,” Vahn observed, his gaze wandering over the cold metal. Anything so he didn’t have to look at the mangled representation of Master Boan. The message through the Force, repeating and looped as it was was familiar to him. When he first touched the sabers of Asminys, he had felt something, a flicker of emotion. His brow was furrowed in thought.

“Each is as good as the rest, but…” Vahn turned towards Master Voran. “I can only imagine things get worse from here on out,” he looked up to the suspended image of the Grandmaster. He was wary of all manner of tricks, of deceptions.

“The suffering isn’t a trick, is it?” Vahn then asked Master Voran after a moment.


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Alexandria Voran

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Alex never moved but her spirit began a journey unlike any other. The Morellian Master knew she could not overpower the crystal. Her skills were great but limited in the crystal’s domain. No, Alex knew she would need to find another solution. A way to weaken the corruption to the point of expulsion. She prayed Vahn was strong enough to stand with her. If he wasn’t, she would fight this battle alone. That was not completely true either. She was never alone…not while the Light beat in her chest. The world around her changed to reveal a circular room, doors on the side, and the Jedi in the center. Vahn did stand beside her. What greeted the Jedi was a horror. Alex expected the worst but not even her mind could conjure what they witnessed.

The Grandmaster strung up like puppet, tortured in a manner she could not comprehend. Sadness rang through her heart. Her mind clattered with the same words over and over. I can feel them. Make them stop. Make it quiet. Oh, Oota what have they done to you? It was a tragedy she needed to face. She would set this right. A horrible truth was weighing down her soul. “It is not a trick.” Oota’s soul was being ripped apart by the corruption. The pain he felt was real…he was trapped…he was suffering. Alex’s face hardened. She would end his pain. “We face this together, Vahn, as one with the Light.” Determination blossomed. Failure was not a choice. The Force had prepared her for this moment. She nodded and walked forward.

The middle door with the tendril of Darkness spiking into Oota’s spine was where she chose to start. She could not meet the Grandmaster’s eyes. The pain was too great. She kept her gaze locked on that door as she moved forward. I’m coming Oota. She pushed open the door and stepped through, assuming Vahn would follow closely behind as to not get separated.

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Indeed, Vahn may have been prudent to question if the suffering was a trick or not. The Dark Side of the Force was known for such vicious trickery but, in this case, it was not a trick at all. Suffering was rolling from the remains of Oota's spirit in waves but it was quite genuine - there was no need for the Darkness to formulate a trick when the truth was far more terrifying, far more viscerally disgusting, than anything it could trick them with.

Alexandria was the one to make a decision as to which door to attempt to move through first. The door behind Oota's back, with the cabling connected to his spine, was her choice and the door opened without a hint of resistance. Like the first room, the one the door opened onto was wide and circular but unlike the main chamber, it was far from clear.

The tendril of technology and suffering that connected to Oota's spine split a million different times, forming a cage around the room of wires. More than could possibly have ever been made from the cable that they had followed but logic was an odd concept in the dreams of a corrupted crystal. Within the mesh cage created by the wires, they found their foe.

Darth Asminys stood as he had the day he helped slay Oota Boan himself, his lightsaber held idly in his right hand.

"You could not live with the failure of your Order, of your Grandmaster."


The pale humanoid ignited his lightsaber, the bright red of the blade pulsing in time with the agonized mental screams of Oota Boan.

"So you seek to wash away the stain of him. To wipe away the bitter taste of my triumph from yourselves. Truly?"


The figure that was not truly the feared Darth still held itself as his equal, angling the point of his saber down slightly as he held his blade in front of himself.

"You merely allow me the chance to add your blood to this monument to my ascension."



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Alexandria Voran

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You are not alone Alexandria. She reminded herself the Force beat in her heart. The souls of all those Jedi who came before gave her strength. There was no horror the Darkness could conjure that would turn her aside. Pain beat against her mental walls. The door slid open, reveling the room beyond. The Jedi were greeted by the tendrils forming a cage of unrelenting suffering.

Pain pulsed in time with the veins. She stepped into the room, Vahn behind her. Alex’s eyes were immediately drawn to monster in the center. Asminys. But of course, it was not the Sith Lord, but a piece of the Darkness in the kyber. A piece of Asminys left behind. She smiled. Alex had no cause to fear Asminys. She had broken him once. She would break this version as well.

“No.” Her voice was calm, unyielding steel. “We honor him as we failed to do before.” Her indigo blade sprung to life. “We accept our failures.” She did not fear the past. She did not fear their mistakes. They made them better, stronger. The physical world was far behind, this was spiritual, and here she would reign supreme. Alex struck out with her mind, a dagger of focus seeking to drive the apparition to its knees. What did she know of Asminys? She had seen him break the Grandmaster's crystal. Would this piece of the Darkness remember? Her mental spear carried Asminys’ memories of that breaking, and the strength of the Grandmaster's spirit.

Her saber was held to her right in a defensive posture. Ready if she needed it. Alex trusted Vahn would be ready to end this vision.

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Vahn Berand

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Vahn followed Master Voran into the central room. His gaze was fixed forward. He would like to think he was remaining task oriented, but no, it was anything, everything to avoid looking at the horrible display of torment behind him. It was like one of the Nabooan gates of hell had opened up for the two Jedi’s viewing and displeasure. He could feel a shifting in his mind, a slow movement of his thoughts. He wasn’t scared, not really. Disgust had bled into resolve. This was the Dark Side? This was the true nature of the Sith? Everything Master Vetan had said was true. The Empire. The First Order. They were both polite facades laid over the true barbarity of the Dark Side. Even their violence was a winking distraction from the true nature of the Dark Side. Vahn could feel his spirit crystallize into raw defiance. The Jedi were needed. The Jedi were needed to repulse this Truth. He took a breath, and stepped into the middle chamber.

The image of Asminys set him on edge. He remembered this presence. The crystal had produced a convincing image. Was this, like the Grandmaster, some fragment or aspect of Asminys himself? The residual soul-stuff imprinted onto the flow of the Force itself. He listened as the spectre of the Sith Lord spoke.

“Failure?” Vahn asked, his head tilted incredulously.

“How could he have failed, truly failed, when we’re still here? We each have our own lessons from him. He lives on in us. In each of us. His warmth, his wisdom lives on. You Sith, you have it all wrong. You think failure is the ending. But it’s just the beginning. We’re still here. We’re still loving, living, fighting; no, defying you. All it took was one Jedi to destroy you the first time.”

Vahn took his saber in hand, lazily sweeping the hilt in a short arc in front of him..

“But now we are many.”

His saber snapped into existence with a metallic hum, the blade held in both hands near his head, pointed down towards the ground in a defensive posture. He wouldn’t attack. Not yet. He would face this as a Jedi; a bulwark against darkness. He had faced Asminys once before. Now, now confronted by his shade, Vahn would not be cowed.
 

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The apparition of Asminys did not smile and it did not rage against the Jedi as they tried to dispute it's claims. It cared not for their musings and their justifications - it was a slice of the Darkness given something resembling a form, it did not want or need or react to posturing such as Vahn's defensive pose. However, it knew enough about combat because the Darkness knew what Asminys knew when he had helped slay the Grandmaster.

The mental attack, the spectre endured with a wince of pain before shoring it's mental barriers. Asminys' spectre would never be the most powerful force user but it knew enough from the man to defend itself enough to close the distance and begin to carve a bloody path through it's enemies. Mental damage to the apparition showed itself to the Jedi however from before the shielding could fully form, a trio of blood trials began to leak out from the apparitions right eye.

Pain lanced into it's mind even as it launched itself forward at Vahn, thrusting it's saber directly for the Knight's unprotected head. With his saber posed in both hands, but pointed down, the Jedi would need to reverse his grip entirely on his saber to actually move it, let alone to try and block the lightsaber as it lanced forward.


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Alexandria Voran

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Asminys’ shade was true to the spirit of the master. It attacked without hesitation…without preamble. The Darkness cared little for the words of Jedi. Alex may have agreed but she did not fight alone. Words mattered. Vahn would need her support just as she would need his. When Asminys leapt she reached out with the Force. The mindscape reacted as she expected. The Force thrived all places.

Her entire strength was put behind wrapping his body in the Force, tightening invisible bonds around his arms and legs. She squeezed. She had to desire to crush Asminys but rather slow every ounce of his action to give Vahn time to move and end the shade. As Asminys moved forward she continued to apply that pressure all throughout his body. Slow.

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Vahn Berand

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The shade of Asminys rushed him, but Vahn didn’t wait to receive the attack. He dove in, ducking subtly under the guard of his own saber so that his eyes were exposed over his leading hand. His saber caught the underside of the Shade’s like a parrying stick and pushed upwards as he shifted offline subtly. Alex’s binding attack of the force would be all the Knight needed for the vital opening. The two blades snarled as they dragged along one another until Vahn could step in, his free hand shooting to seize the spectre’s lead wrist, and then twist upwards to tangle the shadow’s arms with his own for the brief, essential moment.

Vahn would snap his saber off then, disengaging from the Spectre’s own blade locked above his head before quickly angling the hilt to where it was near point blank with the face of the image of Asminys. He thumbed the activation switch then, and the ocean-deep blue blade ignited once more; he intended to end this instantly, and the blade would be able to pierce through the face and skull of whatever soul-stuff the being was composed of.


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Using the Force to entirely envelope, someone was a useful technique but it was not as versatile in combat as some believed it to be. Draining and concentration heavy were but two of the downsides – another was that it was purely physical. As soon as the Force gripped the spectre, it could see that Vahn was preparing to take advantage of it’s current position.

When Vahn went for the grapple, so very close, he would be met with a slam of a point-blank Force push that would hit him directly in the face. The effect would be similar to running face-first into a brick wall and then that same brick wall continuing to throw you backward. With the Knight have focused entirely on a physical lock up, so close, there would be little chance of him blocking and no chance of an evasion.

With Vahn dealing with the Push, the spectre would pulse the Force against the hold Alex had on its body to disrupt her hold should she try and keep it. If she did or didn’t, the spectre would pull its blade back into a defensive position, keeping both Jedi in front of it as it held its blade in a typical Makashi salute for a second before sweeping it’s blade to the right in a relaxed position.

“Again.”



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The shade was not Asminys. Alex needed to remind herself of that, but the corruption was still powerful. Perhaps not as strong as the Sith Lord but damn close. They had underestimated his power. She had become lost in the physical, failing to remember they did not challenge the Lord but the corruption. Alex’s mind cast back to Ajan Kloss…to Max. What had they done? They had not physically challenged the curse. No. They had used the Light to burn it out.

When the shade flexed, she released the hold. Her strength in the Force immediately shifted, her soul filling with the Light. Her left hand extending, a pure soft white light expanding ever outward. She poured hope, love, and compassion forth. She remembered the Grandmaster, Maiko, Max. All those who had made her the Jedi she was today. “You are not welcome here.” She kept her eyes trained on Shade Asminys as the Light continued to expand, Alex seeking to burn the corruption out.

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Vahn’s vision broke into white light and he was left stumbling as he ran face first into the wall of kinetic force. The follow up force would send him backwards, but Vahn was familiar with ways to break a fall and even as he was launched back he twisted in with the movement and rolled across the ground onto his feet. It hurt, but he was still in fighting condition. He then wobbled in place for a moment before he found his feet again and settled into a ready stance in front of Alex, his weight balanced between his legs. He raised a hand to his nose, pressed down on his left nostril, and snorted out a clog of blood that had already formed. It felt real. It all felt so real, down to his body’s reactions to pain and injury.

He was going to charge again, to make another attack when he felt Alex’s presence burning out from behind him. That’s when he remembered. This wasn’t a physical battle. This wasn’t a contest of arms. Meeting power with power was not the way of the Jedi; this was the way previous generations of Jedi had failed. So he took a breath, and he settled in between Alex and the spectre. Every Jedi had their role in this new order. Some Jedi, like Alex, were supposed to be the Light. The power that burned away the darkness through compassion and love. Other Jedi, like Vahn, were intended for a different role. He was here to make sure those Jedi could do their job, to target the agents of darkness with surgical precision, and not kill or overwhelm them, but to simply counter. To give the other Jedi the chance to do their own jobs.

Vahn swept into a defensive stance, his saber held in both hands, the blade hanging off to the side at an angle towards the ground once more. He would protect Alex. He would prevent the shadow image of Asminys from doing any harm to her as she burned out the Darkness like rotted flesh. Vahn would be the iron barrier between her and harm.


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The specter noticably recoiled at the touch of the Light against its form, for a moment showing an expression on its visage aside from the typical anger and coldness it had shown before. For a split second, clear as a flash, was the brutal and naked fear in the heart of the specter at the very introduction of the Light. It lasted only for that same amount of time - a split second - before the specter regained its control.

And fear was once more masked by rage and hatred.

"You dare believe you can expel me from my prize?!"
it hissed as it rushed forward, the Light beginning to form pits across its face where it literally was beginning to burn away, "You dare?!"

Launching itself forward, it thrust it's left hand downward, streaming a continuous blast of Sith Lightning at the floor between it and Vahn. The lightning would bounce off the ground at a 45 degree angle, aimed at Vahn's lower legs as it thrust it's lightsaber directly for the knight's heart. If it could cut down Vahn, it would be able to reach Alex before she could switch to a more physical defense.

That was it's plan at least.


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One second. A fraction of a moment. A raw, palpable, pulsing fear, that you would never notice if you weren’t watching closely. Alex was watching. She saw and felt the shade shiver in terror. The emotions were quickly replaced by burning rage, but it was enough for her to know the truth. Light would always banish the Darkness. Her eyes locked with shade Asminys when he spoke. The Force roaring in her heart, her soul burning bright with the Lightside. She repeated her words. “You are not welcome here.”

Shade Asminys jumped. Alex did not move. She continued to pour every ounce of her strength into the Force. The Light building to seemingly impossible proportions. Shade Asminys would be burned out…he would be banished. She trusted Vahn to protect her should the Light fail to cleanse the shade. Yes…she trusted him.Leave this place! Alex’s eyes lit with the power of the Force, glowing softly. Her full strength as a Jedi Master was brought forth. Everything she learned from Max on Ajan Kloss, Maiko on Ubesse, and Yvain on New Alderaan. Asminys would be burned from this place.

@Nefieslab @The Steel Stag
 

Vahn Berand

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Jedi Order
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Jedi Master

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The Steel Stag
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Vahn was ready. His defensive posture had allowed him to observe and prepare himself for the spectre’s reaction. The lunge was expected, the same attack twice? The lightning was new however, but he had experience with such attacks before. The Sith he had faced on Denon was particularly fond of lightning and he had drilled defenses into his muscle memory in case he had to defend against it once more.

He threw a hand forward, and he burned with the Light as he summoned a wall of protective force before himself, a barrier separating the spectre of Asminys and the woman he had found such sudden trust in. For the first time since that event so many years ago, perhaps. The barrier formed low at first, catching the Sith lightning and dispersing it off to his flanks, before flashing upwards to form a more complete shield.

His defense was imperfect however. The saber had found a partially formed weak spot in the barrier before Vahn could seal it up fully. Now it was everything he could do to maintain the wall, to keep that blade of dark side energy from piercing through. Bit by bit it creeped through, and Vahn poured everything he had into locking the blade in place. He grit his teeth, and pushed both hands forward as he drew as deeply from the Light as he could, fueling this defensive ward against the shade before him.


@Nefieslab @Valen Pelora
 

The Gatekeeper

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Vahn had not taken into account that the shade of Asminys did not simply stop after a burst of Force Lightning, instead opting for a continuous stream of power as it felt its existence threatened by what Alex was doing to it. The continuous battering of energy against the lower shield would weaken the shield enough that when Vahn sought to expand the shield to block the lightsaber thrust as well, something had to give.

The shield would crack and the shade's lightsaber dipped through, slicing through Vahn's outstretched hand to severe each and every one of his fingers. Even in the process of shattering, the shield provided enough of a delay that the lightsaber thrust was not allowed to keep enough momentum to cut through Vahn's torso as intended.

Before the shade could try again however, one of it's legs gave out and it fell in a clatter to the floor. Panicked eyes sought out the leg to try and find out what was wrong with it, to find that half of the leg had been utterly erased by the cleansing light. Screaming in rage and pain, the spectre was barraged with more and more of the Light until it could no longer hold its form.

The area they had found themselves in would immediately begin to feel less oppressive and instead of Asminys a new figure would appear. A shadow of one of Oota's memories, key ideals, began to recite something over and over again.

"Through the Force; all things are possible."



Based on the defense presented (and to add some spice in the "dream world"), I have decided that it would not be wholly successful as implied. However, damage in this dream-scape does not transfer to real space - Vahn still very much has his whole hand in the real world.

While in this alternate world, Vahn has the instinctive knowledge that he had two options going forward during this experience;
- Keep the damage as it is but suffer no pain from it, detaching the pain from his consciousness
- Reverse the damage but feel as though the fingers are being burned continuously

@Valen Pelora @The Steel Stag
 
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