Ask A Monk and an Abomination

[Darth Malicia]

Abafar. The last place she thought she'd return to, yet here she was. A great deal of emotion surged through her as she stepped foot on the planet again. Her two cultists remained in her ship, per order, so she walked towards the Cadre compounds alone.

When the planets dry air rushed throughout her Cadre-armours coat, something about it triggered memories. The last time she walked this planet she'd been wearing the same thing. The coats silvery touches, the spikes on her mask, they were all meant to symbolize her containment. Now she stood on the planet, in the same armour, free. Not only free, but ascended. Her very presence here stood in defiance to her former masters. Stood in defiance of putting a leash on the Dark Side.

The sound of durasteel clicked beneath her boots, stopping at the door when she paused to look up. Most of the Cadre-Masters bodies were on the second floor, though two were just beyond the threshold of the front entrance. But as much as she tried to feel something about the bodies, nothing came. The flutter of emotion from the first step she took on the planet was already gone, and it prompted her to step forward.

The door hissed open, still operational and unlocked from that final day. For the council member, revealing a pile of twisted, dried out flesh, bones and ragged Sith robes. Malicia's cold eyes flicked to the remains of two of her masters, yet the emotion still didn't come.

Why?

This was the place she'd been made. These were the men and women that stripped her of her freedom and treated her less than human. They hadn't acknowledged her humanity. They'd tortured her, sent her into life changing fits of madness, into pain beyond human tolerance, into the clutches of the Dark. They had been the source of her anger for so long...

Yet now, standing here all these years later, she could not help but understand them and their willingness to do anything for their pursuits. Malicia stood for only a few more seconds then continued on, walking past the bones as her cold, near-void like eyes settled forward. The facility was maze like, with several security checks and doors that often resisted lightsabers. It wasn't the best to stroll around in, but her memory of it was sharp enough.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Hunting for a wayfinder he hoped he didn't ever have to use but that he knew he would have to. An artifact ancient even by Jedi and Sith standards and one that had been created by an insane example of the Dark Side corrupting a leader of an entire people. The Zeffo sages that had fallen to the Dark Side had been monstrous but there was something worse, something far beyond them lurking beyond the edge of the Galaxy.

He tried to focus on other things, on politics or or the Sith or on teaching the latest crop of Padawans. He did his best to focus on them but it didn't make a difference; what he had seen and come to Know on Dathomir was inescapable. There was something beyond the edge of the Galaxy that needed to be confronted and he could only do that if he chased it.

Chased it and it's damned wayfinder straight into the final resting place of the last creature to 'see' it and understand anything more than the vaguest senses of pain, hatred and hunger.

He had constructed a new lightsaber purely for the trip, as though part of him understood that he wouldn't be able to avoid combat this time. Another saberstaff that could split on his command; another blue crystal that had spoken to him in soft whispers. There was the subtlest of hints that it wasn't his true saber through the Force, that it would serve until he created his true saber.

Abafar was a wretched place and he knew he would need it. Still, he held it unlit in his right hand as he made his way toward the dead citadel he had come here for, his hood up and a scarf around his mouth. The planet was dusty and hot but tracks were all but impossible to actually see, though he didn't need to see tracks to know that he wasn't the only one here for the place.

The rumors and scraps of information he had hunted down said the former masters of the place had purchased the wayfinder so here he was. Everything about the place made him shudder. It felt wrong on a level few places ever did and only ever places so beyond repair that even the Light despaired at them.

Worse still? He could recognize a presence further within the citadel as he stepped in through a side door, one that still led to the main entrance hallway but had been broken open. By who or what he wasn't sure but that hardly mattered now. His thumb hovered over the activation switch as he stepped further inside.

Into the belly of the beast he went.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

A ripple coursed through the darkness of the planet, causing a tip of the Darth's head. The Dark Council member paused, feeling her hunger stir at the sign of life. One singular life that stuck out and with it...

The light.

She turned her head and her near void-like eyes drifted in the direction of it. They lingered there only for a split second before something almost instinctual took control of her, propelling her towards the source of the light.

There was no hesitation, no careful thought of how to approach. Both were already very aware of one another. Like he was a beacon of light, she was a concentrated mass of darkness within the darkness here. It rolled off her in great crashing waves, reeking of the dead. The hungering dead. The sense of it would only grow stronger as she drew closer to him.

Part of her mind knew that she should be angry that someone was trespassing on her and her siblings past. But, she was still struggling with a sense of detachment, one that was slowly vanishing as her eyes passed over lightsaber marks that she remembered being made.

No, not now.

The Light does not belong here, Malicia projected, focusing back on the source of it. Why have you come to this place, Jedi?

Different corridors dotted the left and right of her, but she remained straight on the path. Though the hall she strode through was lit by it's windows it was still dimmer than the outdoors. Shadows crawled along her skin, her robes, the walls.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Ah she could tell that he was here?

That presented him with some issues and, potentially, some solutions as well. He recognized her presence in the Force even if it was even darker than it had been the last time he had faced her. When last they had faced on the sands of Tatooine she had felt... unfocused. She felt as though she was still trying to find her direction and now? Well now she had found the direction and focus in her life and it was damned terrifying.

Still, he was here for a reason and having a Dark Side user around might actually prove useful. There were bound to be some traps and detectors that only the Dark Side could get past and she was going to be his ticket through those same obstacles. Still... heading deeper into the building was the only way. Thankfully for him, Max arrived at the top of a staircase leading down and, well, without knowing anything about the place he was reasonably sure that down was the best bet as to where the valuables would be hidden.

Standing at the top of the stairs, he replied to her both aloud and through projection.

"The Light belongs everywhere." he refuted with a small smile, "Light is the natural state of the Galaxy - the Dark Side is the invader."

His grip on his splitsaber tightened ever so slightly as he centered himself, preparing for what was to come.

"I've come for something from the vault, a wayfinder. Don't suppose you mind just handing it over?"

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

"Do you truly believe that?" Malicia projected, grabbing her lightsaber finally and tipping her head towards his voice. "After all the cycles... the endless fall and raise of the light and dark. The deaths of millions, trillions, every single time."

Slowly, a form of a man appeared in the distance and the Darth's hand began to raise. She noticed he was near a stairwell. One that lead down to an old security check that needed cards to get past. And past that? Jail cells, her.... bedroom, medical rooms for both testing and treating so interesting subjects didn't die prematurely.

The Darth's eyes flicked between the void and her natural cold ones. "No," she said out loud this time so the Jedi could hear. "I am a part of nature. I cull life because it is natural, because it is the place of the Dark."

"And I am it's vessel." As it had been for years now, her mind gave way to her hunger and her eyes emptied into complete voids. Writhing, dark tendrils poured from her hand, barreling towards the Jedi at the end of the hall, desperate to get the man's life in its grips.

She expected him to move down the stairwell, saying nothing about the wayfinder comment. If it was truly in the vault, both her and this Jedi were on the same playing field. Her masters had not told her how to get into the vault.
@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

He had heard the argument before.

That balance meant that both 'signs' needed to exist in a certain balance or harmony. It was usually an argument given by Sith who didn't actually learn any philosophy during their training (understandable in many cases) but wanted to feel as though their cause was just, like they were actually the heroes of some story. Probably something about how sentients were wired; everyone wanted to see themselves in the right in some way.

She was part of nature... because she culled life?

"That's the definition of a virus born from hubris." he responded with a small, sad, smile as he held his saber out in front of him for a moment, "I don't imagine talking will be how this debate ends however..."

Tendrils of the Dark Side?

Well he had seen that only once before and he really hadn't enjoyed the results on Onderon so he was going to have to respectfully decline the offered hug by the deadly reaches of the Dark Side. He would, as she guessed, jump backward down the stairs, using the Force to guide him to help him land safely at the base of the stairs. While he was in the air however he thrust his left hand forward, Force Flash lancing out from his palm as both a flash-bang and as a more physical representation of the Light that he would emit to fend off the tendrils.

Mainly though he just wanted to try and reach the vault before he had to fight. Landing lightly at the base of the stairs, he glanced over his shoulder, cursing slightly at the locked door before igniting both of the blades of his saber in it's saberstaff configuration as his mind raced for a way to open the doors.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

Her expression remained blank at his answer. He was right, this debate wasn't going to go anywhere. As she expected he went for the stairs, light flashing from its doorway and colliding into her tendrils. They hissed at it and disappeared after as she lowered her hand and continued moving forward.

"Beyond that door is where I was raised," she said. "And where the bodies of my failed siblings are kept." Malicia didn't explain why she told him. It was an untold warning that he was dangerously close to somewhere very personal to her. He may not understand that, or care. What he did or did not understand mattered very little, really.

She turned at the top of the stairwell to face him, reaching out with the Force to pull at the rooms ceiling. Her lightsaber remained in her other hand, and her mind alert to the Jedi's movements. She wanted to bring the ceiling and everything above it down on him, or to force him out towards her, or get some sort of reaction out of him. An ear-piercing whine mixed with a deep rumble filled the room as everything began to shake and crack.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

She was raised in the dark cellar of a dark tower on a dark planet behind locked doors? That… actually that explained a lot to be honest. Her pale skin for starters but also her connection to the Force being so blatantly characterized by hatred and a hunger for a power she hadn’t had in her life before. It was sad and he knew it likely meant that she was the product of her upbringing, that those who raised her should be held responsible for her.

But even with such an ‘excuse’, she had to be held accountable for her own actions and they were heinous so he couldn’t afford to just let her go. Still though…

“I’m sorry.” He called up to her without a thought for how little she likely cared at this point, “I’m sorry they hurt you and I’m sorry the Jedi weren’t able to stop it. But that will not stop me from doing what I must…”

The ceiling?

Kark.

Fine – direct confrontation it was.

Using the Force, he pumped power into his legs and he shot forward not in a jump but in a dash up the stairs at speed. Force Speed, used in small doses, was able to eat up short distances quickly and he was able to do that to avoid the worst of the debris by virtue of just not being there any longer. With his lightsaber blades ignited, he would lead with a downward diagonal slash with one end of the blade aimed at her left shoulder.

He doubted that he would actually score a hit but he needed to get her to move, to engage with him, rather than just try and fling him back down the stairs with the Force.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

He was...

....sorry?

His words were currents in a tidal wave, gathering before the peak of it slammed down on her. No one had ever... ever reacted... this way, and because of everything tied to his words a sense of vulnerability struck her.

From icy cold to an inferno within seconds.

She hated the look in the Jedi's eyes. She hated him for looking up at her with... pity.

"You're... sorry?," Malicia hissed, venom dripping from the words. "Your sorry is worthless," she snapped, her void-like eyes gaining a fiery edge. "Words cannot change the past, cannot undue what was done to me and my siblings."

"Kark you," she said in a low hiss, noticing him beginning to move. She dropped her focus on the Force, and instead of trying to stop him from coming up the stairs she prepared to move.

When his lightsaber came towards her, it'd miss her as she moved out of the way to the left, igniting her lightsaber in her right hand so the blade crossed from one side to the doorway at the top of the stairs to near the other. Ideally, catching his legs with her blade as he sped forward, or stopping him. And, protecting herself from being cut since she was out of the way and the doorframe was at the end of his swing.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Of course, apologizing was probably something she wasn't used to and it was definitely something she had discovered, thanks to him, that she didn't like at all. It was just his luck that he would damned near stumble into something he hadn't actually meant to find. He had long since decided that he would leave the mocking of opponents to Hannibal and here he was doing it by accident! If he got out of it alive he was going to have to make sure he mentioned it to Hans.

Bloody arse would probably just laugh of course but still.

She had a point but she seemed to be under the impression that he pitied her, which he understood was something that many people absolutely hated. Max himself wasn't fond of it and he had little in his life that evoked pity these days. So he just sighed once at her insult and in the face of her rage.

"Yeah... expected that response..."

But it didn't matter - he was a Jedi and he was sorry he wasn't able to stop the process that had created her before it created her and before it broke down her brothers and sisters. With his upper blade missing as she moved to her left, he narrowed his eyes slightly and pivoted more to his right, her left, as he brought his bottom saber around with him to block to his left, stopping his saber before it could cut into him.

The pivot also brought him out of the door so he would step backward as he made the block to keep distance between himself and the Sith, aiming to keep at least five feet between them at least. He kept his eyes on her, the Light humming around him as he brought it closer to him, readying himself to move.

"We don't have to do this."

One last appeal for peace he knew was likely doomed but one he felt he had to try.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

His first words only made her frown deepen. His block moving her back somewhat as he pushed through the doorway then backed up in a defensive position. She wanted to press an attack right away until he spoke. It threw her off, but his words didn't help. Again. They only made things worse.

"Yes, we do," she said icily.

Her grip tightened around her hilt, her body almost naturally leaning towards that which she wanted to destroy. "Because I wont let you desecrate my siblings resting place," she hissed, her body tensing and shaking in her anger, in her desire to utterly obliterate the man in front of her.

The Dark Side stirred, soon whirling violently around her, feeding off her rage, feeding off a deep chasm of emotions that she feared to expose. The gathering of her power shaking the very foundation around them, forcing the building to whine under the pressure.

Malicia began moving towards the Jedi, lightsaber up and ready, expecting. "Get away from my siblings," she growled deeply, rumbling from the depths of her chest. She expected him to unleash on her at any second, to strike at the monster in front of him. And yet, the more she thought of him breaching that door, the more the thought consumed her in its entirety.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" she screamed.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

He was 0 for 2 as far as de-escalating the situation was concerned wasn’t he? Trying to do his best to keep from being the aggressor, to keep from having to actually cross blades in combat, and yet it was approaching a certainty at this point. She was a far cry from the cold cruelty he had sensed to begin with, now she was raging and she was burning brightly with her intent to let out her aggression on him. Trouble was that he didn’t really want to let her do that.

She had things to work out and she probably knew a few more of her triggers now because of him which was bad – being the cause of several triggers was a recipe to getting stabbed a lot in his experience. Already he was beginning to regret the fact that he wasn’t a lot stealthier than he was. If they had some Shadows this would have been a mission for them but he was just lamenting what ifs at this point.

At this point she was literally shaking with rage.

“I don’t want to desecrate anywhere or anyone; I just need the wayfinder, please!”

Max couldn’t help but ask, one more time, for a way to resolve the situation without violence. It wasn’t something that was going to happen however as she immediately decided to start shaking the very building itself from the foundation to the roof… lovely. He held his saberstaff in front of him in a guard position, his right side slightly further toward her than his left.

She wasn’t going to let him pass without violence was she? Fine – violence it was. Reaching out with the Force, Max didn’t use it to affect her or himself but rather a chunk of the ceiling above that had been cracked by the shaking of the foundations. He Pulled downward, bringing a chunk of the ceiling plaster hurtling down at the Sith from above, directed by his left hand moving off the hilt of his blade to push downward to help make the movement with the Force faster.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

His words, whatever the result of them may have been, were wasted on her. She had long slipped into Force rage, unintentionally, and all of her rancor was focused pointedly at the man she was moving towards.

Even if she had full control over herself, he hadn't backed down and that alone sealed the fate of their encounter. He planned to trend near her siblings remains, and likely where their spirits remained. To disturb them, possibly destroy them with his Light. How could she ever trust that he wouldn't?

When he reached out the Darth reacted immediately, turning her forward momentum into a dash and spilling her rage into a stream of lightning. If the precious little room between them helped seize the pain she craved to inflict upon him, he'd feel the lightning make contact on his torso's unguarded areas. The power of which would send him flying backwards.

But even with a dash, an edge of the plaster he ripped from the ceiling dragged down her back, causing her to scream and interrupting her lightning after the initial burst. Adding to her rage, adding to her desire to destroy him, solidifying her loss of control.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Talking was not getting them anywhere or, rather, it wasn't getting him anywhere. The Sith was happy enough to start slipping further and deeper into rage and the Dark Side as they continued. She was probably never going to listen to him, never allow his presence to go unanswered with violence but he still had to try. He was a Jedi and he would defend himself, he would fight those who would do him harm but it was never his first choice.

But the choice had never been his it seemed.

Still having his lightsaber gripped in his right hand, he was able to pull it back, further over his chest for the top blade to stand between himself and the lightning. The lightning was drawn to the saber, which absorbed it without input from him at all but the blast was strong enough and wild enough that not all of it was dispersed by the saber, stray bolts warped around the blade to impact sporadically across his chest and upper arms.

The strength behind the burst also had an effect on him, sending him skidding backward and threatening to spin him to the right from how it had impacted. Along with the pain of even some of the lightning impacting, it left Max gritting his teeth and grunting in pain as his chest and upper arms burned. Nothing he couldn't stand but enough that he had to squash the anger that instinctively reared up from the pain.

It would take a second to do so as well due to the environment he was fighting in.

Summoning as much of his strength in the Force as he could, Max stabbed his bottom blade down into the floor, crouching to do so with the top blade standing vertically in front of his chest and face as he stared her down. As the blade sank into the floor he pulsed out the Force through the cut he had made and the damage she had made when shaking the very foundations of the place - to shatter the floor they were both standing on.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

Seconds after tasting the bitterness of her lightning, the Jedi stabbed his ligthsaber into the floor, focusing his power into it. It shattered the structure beneath both their feet, the breaking and uproar of debris almost deafening. Malicia fell through with it all, screaming in anger at the Jedi.

Her fall was a short one. Landing and rolling off a laboratory panel onto the floor, debris of all sorts gathering on top of her. The red glow of her lightsaber extinguished, but her scream rang again from beneath the clutter. The Darth, devourer of life, cradle of the dead, sprang out of it, pushing the debris away with the Force and her anger.

For a second all she saw was red, though her lungs jerked suddenly when her breath caught. Her gaze settled on an operating bed, and she screamed again. Louder this time. As loud as her lungs allowed before they'd pop, in a deep, rumbling growl. Both her hands shot out to send a violent wave ripping towards the bed, tearing it from its spot and sending it flying into the wall with a great crashing screech.

And then she looked around the room again and growled "Face me, Jedi!" both out loud and in the Force, adding "Coward!" for reasons the Jedi would know, but it still might work. She was hyper aware of her surroundings and only had one desire on her mind, so she began walking out of the laboratory, into the halls.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max was glad that she fell but he was also pretty mad that he was now falling as well - in an ideal Galaxy that hadn't been part of the plan at all. But he was now free-falling with some rubble ahead of him and a drop far longer than he thought he should be facing. His fall was, also, not to the same area she was in because he could practically taste her screaming at him and yet it wasn't coming from the same room.

Spinning in the air to face the new floor he was approaching, he blinked once.

How in the name of the Force had they ever managed to make such a massive dome down here to cover what was clearly an underground arena? Reaching out with the Force, he slowed his descent until he landed heavily in the middle of the area with just a small bending of his knees. Letting go of the Force, he breathed a little bit as he gazed around the arena, devoid of life but not free from people.

Or rather, what had once been people.

There were corpses around that looked to be roughly a decade dead by his (very vague) estimates. Dressed in robes of some kind, he rummaged around through the pockets of their robes and pouches of their belts. Pocketing a key card that looked kind of important, he tutted once. He could practically see the walls vibrating from a scream he could both hear and almost feel in his bones this time.

"No - you're mad at me and you're going to try and hit me." he snarked back instinctively as he rushed to the other side of the area to a side door with a card reader, "My Master always told me to back away from women who wanted to try and hit me. Said they didn't really love me."

Kark it.

She already wanted to kill him - he was allowed to be a little bit sassy about the whole thing.

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

Malicia didn't care for whatever the Jedi was blathering on about. The only thing that really registered in her mind was his No. She grunted.

Right before she left the lab, the sight of a locker forced the Darth to stop. Her eyes drifted as a memory played out against her will, but all she did was scream in reaction. And scream again, right after, even louder. It was a way to force herself to stop, to focus on finding the Jedi. She grabbed the lock on the locker and ripped it off, tossing it behind her. It snapped and cracked, and she opened the locker to snatch up a passcard.

"What would your brethren think if they knew you were running away from one of the Sith that killed Oota?" she hissed through the Force. She knew that her words would prompt some type of response. Even if it didn't bring him to her it still might achieve something she wanted.

If the Jedi didn't reemerge she'd continue forward, past the doors threshold and down the halls that were somewhat still lit with power. She was fairly certain the Jedi had fallen into the arena but he had many escape routes through it so she had a different plan. A door appeared on her right, and with a swipe of her keycard the panel beeped and the door opened, allowing her into the control room.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max wasn't as in tune with the Sith's emotions as he would be someone who wasn't using the Force but he was pretty sure even a Force Blind could feel someone what she was putting out. It seemed that in her rage and hatred of him and, more, of this place? She was almost projecting her thoughts and feelings.

Probably confident in her ability to ensure that she was able to kill him so he wouldn't be telling anyone else about it. Didn't seem like an unreasonable assessment considering she was literally leaking bloodlust and Max was only here for a blood wayfinder.

The lengths and depths he went to sometimes amazed even him.

He did stop at the door for a second, the keycard granting him access, when she spoke about Oota. Max himself hadn't known the Grandmaster very well and, quite frankly, he had disagreed with a lot of the man's policies for the Jedi. Still... he wasn't going to let someone just smack talk him like that.

"Probably that I should achieve my objective... and ignore the woman thrashing around like a child throwing a tantrum because she's confronted with a past she's realized she can't outrun."

His response was short and blunt as he moved into a long corridor that was, badly, lit by emergency lighting. There was something, a source of cold and hate, that he could feel was... here somewhere but he couldn't tell where. It was the wayfinder, he was reasonably sure, but it could honestly have been any number of things in this place.

Up to and including another Sith for all he knew.

"Tell me though... does it hurt to come back here? They say childhood trauma cuts the deepest."

@Dread

 

[Darth Malicia]

Malicia stalked around the room, making her way to a panel with a large screen. Of course the control room had power. Not enough power to run defence systems but enough for the basics. Including cameras. Her yellow eyes flicked from one screen to the next then the next until she saw finally found the Jedi. Room A-B3. She looked at the camera near the room, spotting a vent.

His answer, however, made her pause. The very first instinct that reared its head was another flare of anger, one she opened her mouth to vent out until something dawned on her. She wasn't talking to a fellow Sith. Either this Jedi was trying to make her angrier for one advantage or another, or she'd managed to brush up against his ego. For some reason, both options... tickled her.

A slow chuckle rumbled over the two Force users telepathic connection.

"You do not know my name, do you?" the Darth projected. If he cared or not she wanted him to know it. "I am Darth Malicia, and I've tasted the souls of many Jedi, young and old."

It was all the Jedi got before she accessed the panel in front of her and cut off the power in the room he was in. The rooms power would flicker off unless somehow stopped, leaving the room pitch black and the doors out locked and unusable. The moment she saw the camera on the screen blink out, Malicia left the control room.

The Darth moved like a hungry wolf through the halls towards the room the Jedi was in, moving straight for the vent. Stopping by it, she raised both her hands and her eyes faded away again, back into their voids. Her hunger was released once more. Writhing wispy tendrils poured into the vent then out of the vent in the room the Jedi was in. The life-stealing tendrils started to fill the room, threatening to cover every corner, empowered by Malicia's rage and bloodlust.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Oddly enough, no, he didn’t know her name. They hadn’t exactly had much of a chance to talk before she had started raging blindly at him. The blind part he had been hoping to use but from the response he got, he could see that she had likely caught onto the fact that he was trying to keep her sloppy rather than cold and calculating. Sith who were angry were dangerous but they could also be considered far more predictable and, thus, easier to manage in an encounter compared to Sith who honed their connection to the Dark Side to a scalpel-like edge.

He had heard of her and her exploits. People had talked about Ajan Kloss and the woman had never left the minds of the surviving Jedi; she was on the board as a key part of the Sith.

“And I’m Max.” he responded with a smirk even as darkness took over the room he was currently in, robbing him of sight for a moment, “I’d say it was a pleasure to meet you but, well, my mother didn’t raise a liar.”

Darkness never bothered him.

After so long with literally half of his sight being gone, Max had long since gotten over any hang ups about the dark. And he had also long since gotten rather accustomed to using Force Sight to give himself an edge over people who expected him to be half-blind. It didn’t give colour or too many details but he was still able to use it to ‘see’ the room.

A locked door?

Probably how she expected him to try and escape – he could practically feel her approach if only because she was practically dripping in malice and hunger and wasn’t shy about sharing the fact either. She was like a void and he was beginning to realize why she had been such a terrifying opponent to face on the battlefield. When the Darkness began to invade the room, reaching out to snuff out life and warmth, he gritted his teeth and planted himself like a tree.

The Light pulsed around him as he drew upon it to act as both shield and sword in the next moment, a barrier of the Force wrapping tightly around him to help stave off the drain. It was partially successful even if he could still feel his fingers and toes starting to go slightly numb, as though his body wasn’t responding properly to their demands. However he didn’t have to resist it when he could try and cut it off at the source – Max placed both hands directly against the vent the Darkness was seeping in through and his eyes flashed as he drew upon the Force.

“What can a man do in the face of such reckless hate?” he gritted his teeth as he pulled, hard, on his connection to the Force, “But stand resolute and say – No More!”

The Force rippled as it ran through his body, for a second giving up any attempts to protect him as it responded to his demand instead. A powerful pulse of the Force shot out from both hands, a Force Push that thundered outward, shattering the vent and a large part of the wall as well, sending them exploding at Malicia. Max, paler than before and shivering from the lingering touch of the life drain, ignited both blades of his saberstaff as he held it tightly in both hands in a horizontal guard in front of him.

“No more, Malicia.”

@Dread